s
hurry to speak. "Of course, the historian, Boulainvilliers,
advocates the 'Germany,' from its mention of the origin of the feudal
system,--that incomparable bundle of excellences, which Le Comte
de Boulainvilliers has declared to be _le chef d'oeuvre de l'esprit
humain_; and which the same gentleman regrets, in the most pathetic
terms, no longer exists in order that the seigneur may feed upon _des
gros morceaux de boeuf demi-cru_, may hang up half his peasants _pour
encourager les autres_, and ravish the daughters of the defunct _pour
leur donner quelque consolation._"

"Seriously though," said the old Abbe de Chaulieu, with a twinkling eye,
"the last mentioned evil, my dear Hamilton, was not without a little
alloy of good."

"Yes," said Hamilton, "if it was only the daughters; but perhaps the
seigneur was not too scrupulous with regard to the wives."

"Ah! shocking, shocking!" cried Chaulieu, solemnly. "Adultery is,
indeed, an atrocious crime. I am sure I would most conscientiously cry
out with the honest preacher, 'Adultery, my children, is the blackest of
sins. I do declare that I would rather have _ten_ virgins in love with
me than _one_ married woman!'"

We all laughed at this enthusiastic burst of virtue from the chaste
Chaulieu. And Arouet turned our conversation towards the ecclesiastical
dissensions between Jesuits and Jansenists that then agitated the
kingdom. "Those priests," said Bolingbroke, "remind me of the nurses of
Jupiter: they make a great clamour in order to drown the voice of their
God."

"Bravissimo!" cried Hamilton. "Is it not a pity, Messieurs, that my Lord
Bolingbroke was not a Frenchman? He is almost clever enough to be one."

"If he would drink a little more, he would be," cried Chaulieu, who was
now setting us all a glorious example.

"What say you, Morton?" exclaimed Bolingbroke; "must we not drink these
gentlemen under the table for the honour of our country?"

"A challenge! a challenge!" cried Chaulieu. "I march first to the
field!"

"Conquest or death!" shouted Bolingbroke. And the rites of Minerva were
forsaken for those of Bacchus.

CHAPTER VI.

A COURT, COURTIERS, AND A KING.

I THINK it was the second day after this "feast of reason" that Lord
Bolingbroke deemed it advisable to retire to Lyons till his plans of
conduct were ripened into decision. We took an affectionate leave of
each other; but before we parted, and after he had discussed his own
projects of amb