and unfortunately it is said that God is always on the side of the big batallions.)-Voltaire, Letter to M. Le Riche, Feb. 6, 1770. Cf. "Wise men and Gods are on the strongest side."-Sir C. Sedley, Antony and Cleopatra, act 4, sc. 3 (1677, p. 38.); also "Deos fortioribus adesse (dixit) ("The gods fight on the side of the stronger.") Tacitus, History IV, 42. See One, on God's side, is a majority.

Dieu et la liberté (or Dieu et

liberté) (God and Liberty.)

VOLTAIRE (1694-1778)—to B. Franklin's grandson, in 1778, when asked to give him his blessing. Some say that he spoke in English. T. J. Duvernet, Vie de Voltaire, 1787, p. 300.

See God and liberty.

Dieu, je te prie que tu fasses aujourd'hui pour la Hire autant que tu voudrois que La Hire fît pour toi s'il était Dieu et que tu fusses La Hire. (Oh, God, I pray thee do to-day for La Hire as much as you would like him to do for thee, if he were God and thou wert La Hire.)

Prayer attributed to LA HIRE (Etienne de Vignolles) (1390-1442) before combat a after receiving absolution from the chaplain. -Chronique dela Pucelle. CARLYLE (in his Life of Frederick the Great, bk. xv, ch. 14), credits LEOPOLD, PRINCE OF ANHALTDESSAU (1676-1747) with a similar prayer before a battle: "Oh God, assist our side at least, avoid assisting the enemy, and leave the result to me.

Dieu m'a confié l'honneur des

Polonais, je ne le remettrai qu'à Dieu. (God has confided Poland's honour to me, I will

homme on

lier de Jars* case) although M. Fournier, in his Esprit dans Phistoire, credits either LAFFEMAS or LAUBARDEMONT (Richelieu's instruments) with it. Mme. de. Motteville's version is ". . . selon les manières même du cardinal, qui, à ce que j'ai oui conter à ses amis. avait accoutumé de dire qu'avec deux lignes de l'écriture d'un paurrait faire le procès au plus innocent." (. according to the methods of the cardinal himself, who, as I have heard his friends tell, was in the habit of saying that with two lines of a man's handwriting, could be made against the most innocent.) Another version is "Qu'on me donne six lignes écrites de la main du plus honnete homme, j'y trouverai de quoi le faire pendre. (Give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I will find enough in them to hang him). Donnez-moi un remède pour la fatigue, mais que ce remède ne soit pas le repos.

me a

an accusation

Give

let not that remedy be rest). remedy for fatigue, but LAZARE HOCHE (1768-97)—to his doctor (1797). He died Sep. 18,

1797.

sublime."-Marmontel, Eléments de littérature.-(1787, vol 5. p. 188).

"Le magnifique et le ridicule sont si voisins qu'ils se touchent." (The magnificent and the ridiculous are so near each other that they touch).-Fontenelle, Dialogues des Morts Anciens et Modernes, I (Scarron). "One step above the sublime makes the ridiculous, and one step above the ridiculous makes the sublime again."-Thos. Paine, Age of Reason, pt. 2. ad fin. (note) "Du fanatisme à la barbarie il n'y a qu'un pas. (There is only one step from fanaticism to barbarity). Diderot, Essai sur le Mérite et la Vertu. Dédicace.

Du temps que j'étais roi! (At the time when I was king!)

LOUIS XIV (1638-1715)—on his death-bed. Died Sep. 1, 1715. Ecrasez l'infâme !

66

infamous thing!)

(Crush the

Phrase often used by VOLTAIRE, (1694-1778) at the end of his letters, especially in the year 1762 and after. Sometimes he abbreviated it to "Ecr. l'inf." In a letter to D'ALEMBERT (1717-83) dated Nov. 28, 1762, he explains that by "infâme" he refers to superstition. "Vous pensez bien que je ne parle que de la superstition: car pour "la religion chrétienne, je la respecte et l'aime comme vous (You know that I only speak of superstition as for the Christian religion, I respect it and love it as you do.) Eh bien ! je n'avais pas oublié de vous obliger, mais j'avais oublié que je l'eusse fait. (Well! had not forgotten to oblige you, but I had forgotten that I had done so.)

66

Attributed to FONTENELLE (16571757) when spoken to on the subject of a service which he at first thought he had forgotten to render.

Eh bien, mes enfants, qu'est-ce que c'est? du canon? Eh bien! ça tue ça tue, voilà tout! (Well, boys, what is it? cannon? Well! that kills, that kills, that's all !)

M. DE SAINT-PERN---at the battle of Minden (1757), to the corps of the grenadiers of France (exposed to a severe fire from a battery), to induce them to be patient.

Eh! ne le tourmentez donc pas

tant! Il est plus bête que méchant. (Don't torment him so! He is more stupid than wicked.)

Said by LA FONTAINE'S (162195) nurse-during his last illness, to the priest who was urging him to repent.

Eh! qui nous fera grâce à nous ?

(Who will pardon us, eh?) Attributed (but contradicted) to E. CLAVIER (1762-1817), magistrate and Hellenist, à propos of the trial of GENERAL MOREAU, in reply to Napoleon, who wished him to be condemned, promising to pardon him afterwards. Cf. la Revue rétrospective (2nd series), vol. 9, p. 458.

Elle me gêne. (It [the crown] is uncomfortable.)

LOUIS XVI, (1754-93), at his coronation at Reims ( 1774).

On learning that he was king (May 10, 1774) he cried: "O mon Dieu, quel malheur pour moi." (O my God, what a misfortune for me.) Elles s'embrassent, elles se bais

ent, elles se disent adieu pour ne se revoir jamais. (They embrace, they kiss, they say good-bye, never to see each other again.)

GUILLAUME BAUTRU, comte de Serrant (1588-1665)—of a group of two figures, Justice and Peace embracing each other.

Elles sont trop fortes, elles grossissent les objets. (They are too powerful, they magnify objects.)

Remark by LOUIS XV (1710-74) -on a visit to the printing-works of the Minister for War, after reading a paper in praise of himself with some spectacles lying near. Embrassons-nous, si nous pouvons. (Let us embrace each other if we can.)

Said, on returning from a journey, by the DUC DE VIVONNE (1636-88) -to his sister MME. DE THIANGES. Both were very stout.

Empoignez-moi cet homme-là. (Seize me that man.)

COLONEL DE FOUCAULT, instructed to expel M. MANUEL from the Chamber of Deputies, Mar. 4., 1823, used the expression "Empoignez-moi M. Manuel." (Seize me M. Manuel). Hist. des deux Restaurations, vol. 6, p. 320. (1858). The same evening an actor used the words "Empoignez-moi cet hommelà" with great effect in a piece then being played, but was arrested and passed the night at the prefecture of police for his temerity. Bouffé, Mes souvenirs (1880), p. 60 and following.

---

Enfans, je suis votre roi, vous

êtes François, voilà l'ennemi; donnons ! (Children, I am your king, you are Frenchmen, there are the enemy; let us charge !)

HENRI IV (1553-1610)—to his troops before the battle of Ivry (Mar. 14, 1590). See Ralliez-vous à mon panache blanc.

Enfin je vais me mesurer avec ce Vilainton. (At last I am going to cross swords with this Vilainton [Wellington].)

"A usez de ces droits, fondez

"Votre gouvernement, affermissez

66

66

VOS

sinstitutions, éclairez-vous, en'richissez-vous, améliorez la con"dition morale et matérielle de notre France," etc. (Now, use those rights, establish your government, make firm your institutions, enlighten yourselves, enrich yourselves, improve the mental and physical condition of our France, etc.) Le Moniteur, March 2, 1843, P. 345. Guizot, Histoire parlementaire de France, vol. 4, p. 68. Guizot is also credited with having used the phrase 66 Enrichissez-vous "par le travail et par l'économie (Enrich yourself by work and economy), to the electors in Normandy.

En voulez vous des z'homards?

(Do

you want any lobsters ?)

"Societé de Jésus est une épée dont "la lame est en France et la poignée " à Rome." (I have seen in a little book, the Anti-Coton, that the Society of Jesus is a sword of which the blade is in France and the hilt in Rome). Cf. also Diderot, Euvres choisies, 1856, p. 298. Cf. also "C'est une sphere "infinie dont le centre est partout, "la circonférence nulle part." (It [Nature] is an infinite sphere, whose centre is everywhere, the circumference nowhere.) Pascal, Pensées, De la grandeur. . . la miserè des hommes, article 6, § iv. Est-ce qu'on emporte sa patrie à la semelle de ses souliers ! (Is one's country to be carried away on one's shoe soles !) DANTON'S (1759-94) reply, when he was advised to flee from France.

by DU FOR at the Moulin Rouge A stupid line of a song 'created' (Paris) in 1895. It was for a long time in everybody's mouth. Epée dont la poignée est à Rome et la pointe partout. (Sword of which the hilt is at Rome and the point everywhere). Phrase used by ANDRE M. J. DUPIN (1783-1865) in the Procès de tendance, Nov. 26, 1825, but Rousseau quotes it (in a letter written to Brossette Mar. 25, 1716) occurring in a book Anti-Coton, Refutation, &c., du Père Coton,

as

οτι

1610, attributed to a P. Rousseau writes "J'ay vu dans un

73. The mot is there "Polonois" (Pole).

Petit livre, l'Anti-Coton, que la

Est-il heureux.1 (Is he lucky).

Saying of CARDINAL MAZARIN (1602-61). It was his first question when it was proposed that anyone should enter his service.

Cf. Mémoires, fragments historiques, &c. published in 1832 by Busoni, p. 332.

Est-il permis de se faire remplacer? (Is anyone allowed to take my place ?)

Question put by the CHEVALIER DE CHAMPESNETZ (1759-94) on being sentenced to death.

Et qu'êtes-vous allé faire là

bas, Monsieur ?-apprendre à penser, Sire.-Les chevaux. (And what did you go to

do there, Monsieur? To learn to think, Sire. — Horses.) LOUIS XV (1710-74) is said to have asked the above question of, and received the above reply from M. DE LAURAGUAIS, who had returned from a journey to London Authenticity denied by the prince de Ligne (see Euvres choisies, vol 2, p. 342), but confirmed by Beaumarchais in a letter to M. de Lauraguais. (de Loménie, Beaumarchais et son temps, 1856, vol 2, p. 272.)

Etre malheureux pendant quatre

vingt-dix ans ! car je suis sûr que je vivrai jusque là. (To be unfortunate during 90 years! for I am sure that I shall live as long.)

LOUIS XV (1710-74)—at the death of MME. DE CHÂTEAUROUX (171744).

Et vous, qui en êtes l'auteur, je vous le pardonne. (And you, who are the cause of it, I forgive you.)

Dying words of the DUC DE GUISE (1519-63)—addressed to Admiral Coligny. Brantôme, vol 1, p. 435 (Pantheon edition). Montaigne (Essays, bk. 1, ch. 23) relates an anecdote of the duc de Guise at the siege of Rouen in 1562, in which a similar sentiment is uttered by him to an conspirator, "gentilhomme angevin, ou manceau" (a gentleman of Angers or Anjou or of Le Mans).

Excusez du peu! used ironically.

(Excuse the small quantity.) Written by RoSSINI (1792-1868) on the manuscript of a hymn to the Emperor, composed specially for the occasion and performed July Ist, 1867. The words referred to the noise of bells and cannon with which the piece concluded. E. Rimmel, Souvenirs de l'Exposition (1868), p. 16.

Saying used in the sense of Ne sutor supra crepidam (Shoemaker, stick to your last)-alluding to a phrase repeated several times in a letter from VOLTAIRE (1694-1778) to CHARLES ANDRÉ, a hairdresser, who asked the former's opinion of a tragedy he had written: "Monsieur "André faites des perruques" was the refrain of the letter. Faites-moi de bonne politique,

je vous ferai de bonnes finances. (Only govern well and you shall have sound finance.) Form in which a mot of BARON LOUIS (1755-1807) has become popular. M. Guizot in his Mémoires ponr servir à l'hist. de mon temps, vol. i, p. 44 (1858) says, quoting the baron, 66 Gouvernez bien, vous ne dépenserez jamais autant d'argent que je pourrai vous en donner." (Govern well, and you'll never be able to spend as much money as I shall be able to supply you with.) In "An account of a conversation concerning a Right Regulation of Governments for the common good of Mankind." In a Letter to the Marquis of Montrose, the Earls of Rothes, Roxburg, and Haddington, from London, the 1st of December, 1703, by Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun (1655-1716)—the dialogue described in the text as between Fletcher himself, the Earl of Cr[o][a]rty, Sir Ed[ward] S[ey]m[ou]r, and Sir Christopher]