o the _Indes galantes_ performed,
nor the _Profonds abimes de Tenare, Nuit, eternelle nuit_, sung
without saying to myself: That is what thou wilt never do. So I was
jealous of my uncle.

_I._--If that is the only thing that chagrins you, it is hardly
worth the trouble.

_He._--'Tis nothing, only a passing humour. [Then he set himself to
hum the overture and the air he had spoken of, and went on:]

The something which is here and speaks to me says: Rameau, thou
wouldst fain have written those two pieces: if thou hadst done
those two pieces, thou wouldst soon do two others; and after thou
hadst done a certain number, they would play thee and sing thee
everywhere. In walking, thou wouldst hold thy head erect, thy
conscience would testify within thy bosom to thy own merit; the
others would point thee out, There goes the man who wrote the
pretty gavottes [and he hummed the gavottes. Then with the air of a
man bathed in delight and his eyes shining with it, he went on,
rubbing his hands:] Thou shalt have a fine house [he marked out its
size with his arms], a famous bed [he stretched himself luxuriously
upon it], capital wines [he sipped them in imagination, smacking
his lips], a handsome equipage [he raised his foot as if to mount],
a hundred varlets who will come to offer thee fresh incense every
day [and he fancied he saw them all around him, Palissot,
Poinsinet, the two Frerons, Laporte, he heard them, approved of
them, smiled at them, contemptuously repulsed them, drove them
away, called them back; then he continued:] And it is thus they
would tell thee on getting up in a morning that thou art a great
man; thou wouldst read in the _Histoire des Trois Siecles_ that
thou art a great man, thou wouldst be convinced of an evening that
thou art a great man, and the great man Rameau would fall asleep to
the soft murmur of the eulogy that would ring in his ears; even as
he slept he would have a complacent air; his chest would expand,
and rise, and fall with comfort; he would move like a great man ...
[and as he talked he let himself sink softly on a bench, he closed
his eyes, and imitated the blissful sleep that his mind was
picturing. After relishing the sweetness of this repose for a few
instants he awoke, stretched his arms, yawned, rubbed his eye