FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   >>  
took it into his head to put egg-shells in his bed, and who obtained no other sympathy from his confederate than the words, "You are not very successful in breaking them." The Marshal de Saxe did not give much consolation to his Popeliniere when they discovered in company that famous revolving chimney, invented by the Duc de Richelieu. "That is the finest piece of horn work that I have ever seen!" cried the victor of Fontenoy. Let us hope that your espionage will not give you so troublesome a lesson. Such misfortunes are the fruits of the civil war and we do not live in that age. 4. THE INDEX. The Pope puts books only on the Index; you will mark with a stigma of reprobation men and things. It is forbidden to madame to go into a bath except in her own house. It is forbidden to madame to receive into her house him whom you suspect of being her lover, and all those who are the accomplices of their love. It is forbidden to madame to take a walk without you. But the peculiarities which in each household originate from the diversity of characters, the numberless incidents of passion, and the habits of the married people give to this black book so many variations, the lines in it are multiplied or erased with such rapidity that a friend of the author has called this Index _The History of Changes in the Marital Church_. There are only two things which can be controlled or prescribed in accordance with definite rules; the first is the country, the second is the promenade. A husband ought never to take his wife to the country nor permit her to go there. Have a country home if you like, live there, entertain there nobody excepting ladies or old men, but never leave your wife alone there. But to take her, for even half a day, to the house of another man is to show yourself as stupid as an ostrich. To keep guard over a wife in the country is a task most difficult of accomplishment. Do you think that you will be able to be in the thickets, to climb the trees, to follow the tracks of a lover over the grass trodden down at night, but straightened by the dew in the morning and refreshed by the rays of the sun? Can you keep your eye on every opening in the fence of the park? Oh! the country and the Spring! These are the two right arms of the celibate. When a woman reaches the crisis at which we suppose her to be, a husband ought to remain in town till the declaration of war, or
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   >>  



Top keywords:

country

 

forbidden

 

madame

 

husband

 

things

 

excepting

 

ladies

 

entertain

 

stupid

 
shells

permit
 

sympathy

 

controlled

 
prescribed
 

accordance

 

declaration

 
Changes
 

Marital

 
Church
 

definite


obtained
 

promenade

 

ostrich

 

opening

 

morning

 

refreshed

 

reaches

 

crisis

 

suppose

 

celibate


Spring

 

straightened

 

difficult

 
accomplishment
 

History

 

trodden

 

tracks

 
follow
 

thickets

 
remain

discovered
 
fruits
 

famous

 

company

 

reprobation

 

stigma

 

consolation

 

Popeliniere

 
misfortunes
 

victor