s, against
which so much has been said, were a thousand times better than all this
bedlam let loose in a court of assizes."

Marillac, who during this speech was amusing himself with singing his low
"G" while peeling an apple, interrupted his song, to the great relief of
a hound who lay at his feet, and whose nerves seemed to be singularly
affected by the strain.

"Monsieur de Carrier," said he, "you are a large landowner, an eligible
citizen and a Carlist; you fast on Fridays, go to mass in your parish,
and occasionally kill cows for bucks; I esteem and respect you; but allow
me to say that you have just uttered an old, antediluvian platitude."

"Gentlemen," said the public prosecutor, punctuating each word with his
first finger, "I have the greatest respect for the old parliaments, those
worthy models of our modern magistracy, those incorruptible defenders of
national freedom, but my veneration is none the less great for the
institutions emanating from our wise constitution, and it prevents me
from adopting an exclusive opinion. However, without pretending to
proclaim in too absolute a manner the superiority of the old system over
the new, I am in a certain sense of Monsieur de Carrier's opinion. In my
position, I am better able than any other person to study the advantages
and disadvantages of a jury, and I am forced to admit that if the
advantages are real, the disadvantages are none the less indisputable.
One of the great vices of juries consists in the habit that a great
number of its members have of calling for material proofs in order to
form their opinions. They must almost see the wounds of the victim before
agreeing on a verdict. As to Lambernier, I hope that they will not
contest the existence of the main evidence: the victim's still bleeding
thigh."

"Tra-de-ri-di-ra," exclaimed the artist, striking alternately with his
knife a glass and a bottle, as if he were playing a triangle. "I must say
that you choose madly gay subjects for conversation. We are truly a
joyous crowd; look at Bergenheim opposite us; he looks like Macbeth in
the presence of Banquo's ghost; here is my friend Gerfaut drinking water
with a profoundly solemn air. Good gracious, gentlemen! enough of this
foolish talk! Let them cut this Lambernier's throat and put an end to the
subject! The theatre for dramatic music, the church for sacred!

Le vin, le jeu; les belles,
Voila mes seuls amours."

A general protestatio