The Commission in Lunacy
THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY BY HONORE DE BALZAC Translated By Clara Bell DEDICATION Dedicated to Monsieur le Contre-Amiral Bazoche, Governor of the Isle of Bourbon, by the grateful writer. DE BALZAC.
believe you are quite safe under my guidance. This is not the first
time by many that I have driven this coach, - not to mention others;
and you may conclude that I should not have gained the ~sobriquet~ to
which my worthy friend has alluded without having ~some~ pretensions
to a knowledge of the art of driving."
Mr. Green murmured his apologies for his mistrust, - expressed perfect
faith in Mr. Fosbrooke's skill - and then lapsed into silent
meditation on the various arts and sciences in which the gentlemen of
the University of Oxford seemed to be most proficient, and pictured
to himself what would be his feelings if he ever came to see Verdant
driving a coach! There certainly did not appear to be much
probability of such an event; but can any ~pater familias~ say what
even the most carefully brought up young Hopeful will do when he has
arrived at years of indiscretion?
Altogether, Mr. Green did not particularly enjoy the journey.
Besides the dogs and cigars, which to him were equal nuisances,
little Mr. Bouncer was perpetually producing unpleasant post-horn
effects, - which he called "sounding his octaves," - and destroying the
effect of the airs on the guard's key-bugle, by joining in them at
improper times and with discordant measures. Mr. Green, too, could
not but perceive that the majority of the conversation that was
addressed to himself and his son (though more particularly to the
latter), although couched in politest form, was yet of a tendency
calculated to "draw them out" for the amusement of their
THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY BY HONORE DE BALZAC Translated By Clara Bell DEDICATION Dedicated to Monsieur le Contre-Amiral Bazoche, Governor of the Isle of Bourbon, by the grateful writer. DE BALZAC.