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Barnave.—It is Liberty! (Liberty staggering forward and singing a melody, of which are distinguished the following stanzas :)

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The Goddess they call Liberty
Is not of ancient pedigree,

A pampered lady fond of ease
Who at a cry will faint;
Dwelling in gorgeous palaces

And dawbing her cheeks with paint.

Behold a female stout and strong,
Of bosom hard and large!
Who tramps with terrible stride along
Where shouting squadrons charge.

Her sombre voice is hoarse and high,
Her skin is brown and tann'd;
There's a manly fire in her free eye,

And broad is her brawny hand.

She joys in the roll of the warlike drum,
In the powder's sulphurous smell;
In the gathering people's mighty hum,
And the toll of the alarum bell.

Qui veut dans son amant un bras qui la gouverne
Un corps de fer, un œil de feu.

Et qui dans son taudit, sur sa couche de paille
N'a d'amour chaud et libertin

Que pour l'homme hardi qui la bat et la fouaille,
Depuis le soir jusqu'au matin.—Barbier.

Her lovers are of the populace,
She clasps to her big breast,
Men of her own gigantic race.

And when she is caressed

It is the battle won and o'er

By hands where mud is mix'd with gore.*

Captain Brulart (regarding his own hands.) -Egad! she means me. Here, Madam, (pulling out a small vial) do me the favour to put one end of this in your mouth, and I will put the other in mine-oh! happiness, we will poison ourselves together.†

* C'est que la liberté n'est pas une Duchesse
Du noble faubourg St. Germain ;

Une femme qu'un cri fait tomber en faiblesse
Qui met du blanc et du carmin.

C'est une femme forte aux puissantes mamelles
A la voix rauque, aux durs appas,

Qui du brun sur la peau, du feu dans les prunelles
Agile en marchant à grands pas,

Se plaît aux cris du peuple, aux sanglantes mêlées,
Aux longs roulemens des tambours,

A l'odeur de la poudre, aux lointaines volées
Des cloches et des canons sourds :

Qui ne prend ses amants que dans la populace,

Qui ne prête son large flanc

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Qu'à des gens forts comme elle, et qui veut qu'on

Avec des bras rouges de sang.

† Eh bien! mon Arthur, nous mettrons ce mince cristal

Liberty (with rapture)—Yes; we will poison ourselves together.

(Captain Brulart and Liberty seen tenderly embracing, with the little vial thus divided together.)

Liberty-I am poisoned !

Captain Brulart (taking a piece of the vial out of his mouth)-Ha! ha! You see my vial had a false bottom; she has taken the wrong end. Ha ha!

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Galerian.-Alas! alas! Liberty is poisoned! alas! alas!

(Here a vast crowd of courtiers and secretaries of embassy, stepping down from some little books that may be seen on a small stall, marked, un sous le volume,' join in a joyful chorus.

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(In the midst of this confusion occasioned by the sudden and tragic death of Liberty a young gentleman holding a piece of skint in his hand, glides forward.)

à moitié entre nos dents. . . . et nous le briserons au milieu d'un de ces baisers délirans.... tu sais.... See Atar Gull.

* There is the same story of a false bottom in the story of Captain Brulart. The only difference is, that he (the captain) is taken in and not the lady.

↑ See Peau de Chagrin. The plan of this tale is— that a young gentleman going to drown himself meets

Princess Claudia.-Oh! Governess look at

this young man !

Governess.-I see-upon

his young features,

is stamped a cloudy grace; in his regard you see efforts betrayed and hopes deceived. The sombre impassibility of the suicide gives to his forehead a paleness, dead and sickly, a bitter smile draws into slight wrinkles the corner of his mouth, but a secret genius sparkles at the bottom of his eyes veiled by the fatigue of an orgie.*

Galerian.-As when a celebrated criminal arrives in the galleys, the galerians receive him with respect, so let all the persons present, expert in horrors, salute an incomprehensible grief- a wound, of which by instinct they suspect the profundity - thus recognizing one of their princes by the majesty of his gar

with a magical skin, which is to procure him the gratification of all his desires, but which is to shrink with his possession of each; as it shrinks, his life is to fade, and when it is quite gone, he dies.

* Ses jeunes traits étaient empreints d'une grâce nébuleuse. Dans son regard il y avait bien des efforts trahis, bien des espérances trompées, la morne impassibilité du suicide donnait à son front une pâleur mate et maladive, un sourire amer dessinait de larges plis dans les coins de sa bouche, &c.-Balzac. Peau de Chagrin.

ments.

Friends, countrymen, and brother

novelists, I say, gaze on that sad phiz !* Princess Claudia (regarding the young man with the skin, and sighing)--Tu as bien souffert pauvre ange !+

The young man with the skin looking around him on Captain Brulart, the Galerian, and the Governess-Thank God! there is nothing here to desire (he takes out a rule, and measures the skin,)-shrunk one hair's breadth since I left my lodging! and only because I wished not to wet my feet at that crossing! oh! oh!

Princess (rushing forward,‡)—I have only sufficient voice left to say I am yours, Oh! never, angel of my life, was man so beautiful!

Young man with the skin, (in a voice hoarse and muffled.) Fly, fly! What would cure you will kill me.-Oh, Princess Claudia, in giving you a kiss-I give up the ghost-Yes, I die.

* Comme lorsqu'un célèbre criminel arrive au bagne, les condamnés l'accueillent avec respect, ainsi tous ces démons humains experts en tortures, saluèrent une douleur inouïe, une blessure dont ils soupçonnaient par instinct la profondeur et reconnurent un de leurs princes à la majesté de ses vêtemens."-Peau de chagrin. + Peau de Chagrin.

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For this and what follows see end of Peau de Chagrin,' part of which is here translated.

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