traveller

We are only looking at this chaife, faid they Your most obedient fervant, faid I, fkipping out of it, and pulling off my hat We were wondering, faid one of them, who, I found, was an inquifitive what could occafion its motion. 'Twas the agitation, faid I coolly, of writing a prefaI never heard, said the other, who was a fimple traveller, of a preface wrote in a Defobligeant. It would have been better, faid I, in a Vis à Vis 17).

ce

As an English man does not travel to fee Englifhmen, I retired to my room,

CALA I S.

VIII.

I perceived that fomething darken'd the paffage more than myself, as I ftepp'd along it to my room; it was effectually Monf. Deffein, the mafter of the hôtel, who had just return'd from vefpers, and with his hat under his arm, was moft complaifantly following me, to put me in mind of my wants. I had wrote myself pretty well out of conceit with the Defobligeant1); and Monf. Deffein fpeaking of it, with a fhrug 2), as

if it would no way fuit me, it immediately ftruck my fancy that it belong'd to fome innocent traveller 3), who, on his return home, had left it to Monf. Deffein's honour to make the most of. Four months had elapfed fince it had finifh'd its career of Europe in the corner of Monf. Deffein's coachyard; and having fallied out from thence but a vampt up bufinefs at the first, though it had been twice taken to pieces on mount Sennis, it had not profited much by its ad ventures *) but by none fo little as the ftanding fo many months unpitied in the corner of Monf. Deffein's coachyard. Much indeed was not to be faid for it but fomething might and when a few words will refcue mifery out of her diftrefs, I hate the man who can be a churl of them.

Now was I the mafter of this hôtel, faid I, laying the point of my forefinger on Monf. Def fein's breaft, I would inevitably make a point of get. ting rid of this unfortunate Defobligeant - it ftands

B 3

ftands fwinging reproaches at you every time you pass by it ")

Mon Dieu! faid Mons, Deffein I have no intereft) Except the intereft, faid I, which men of a certain turn of mind take, Monf. Deffein, in their own fenfations I'm perfuaded, to a man who feels for others as well as for himself, every rainy night, dif guife it as you will, muft caft a damp upon your fpirits You fuffer, Monf. Deffein, as much as the machine 7)

I have always obferved, when there is as much four as fweet in a compliment, that an Englishman is eternally at a lofs within himfelf, whether to take it, or let it alone: a Frenchman never is: Monf. Dessein made me a bow 8).

C'eft

5. it ftands fwinging reproaches at you eve. ry time you pass by. Da der Defobl. Herrn Deffeins Eh lichkeit anvertraut war, um ihn fo bald und gut als mög lich zu verkaufen und diefer fich gar nicht darum bemühtes ihn los zu werden weil er felbft Wagen zu verkaufen hatte, to musste der jedesmahlige Anblick des Defoblig. feinem Gewillen, wenn er eins hatte, Vorwürfe machen. fwinging ift fchon gefagt, in Rücklicht der Bewegung deffelben, wenn er beym Be fehen angeftoffen wird.

6. I have no intereft, Ich habe kein Intereffe," h. was intereffirt mich denn

d.

antwortete Yorick, wenn Sie anders Ihr Gewiffen oder Ihre Ehrlichkeit intereffirt!

7 you suffer -- as much as the machine. Dadurch dafs Sie fich nicht bemühen den Wagen zu verkaufen, leidet ihr Gewiffen eben fo fehr als der Wagen durch das lange Stehen, oder auch: Sie find eben fo gefühllos als das leblofe Ding! Eine bittere Zweydeutigkeit.

8. Monf. Deffein made ล, bow. Herr Deffein nahm dies zweydeutige Compliment in der guten Bedeutung und machte mir dafür eine Ver beugung.

- C'est bien vrai, faid he But in this cafe I fhould only exchange one difquietude for another, and with lofs: figure to yourfelf, my dear Sir, that in giving you a chaife which would fall to pieces before had got half you way to Paris figure to your felf how much I fhould fuffer, in giving an ill impref fion of myself to a man of honour, and lying at the inercy, as I must do, d'un homme d'efprit ").

The dofe was made up exactly after my own prefcription, fo I could not help taking it and retur ning Monf. Deffein his bow, without more cafuistry 10). we walk'd together towards his remife, to take a view of his magazine of chaifes ").

It must needs be a hoftile kind of a world 1), when the buyer (if it be but of a forry poftchaife) cannot go forth with the feller thereof into the street 2) to terminate the difference betwixt them, but he inftantly falls into the fame frame of mind and view's his conventionist with the fame fort of eye, as if he was going along with him to Hydepark corner to fight a duel. For my own part, being but a poor fword'sman, and no way a match for Monfieur Deffein, I felt the rotation of all the movements within me, to which the fituation is incident 3) I looked at Monfieur Deffein through and through ey'd him as he walked, along in prothen, en face thought he look'd like a

file

Jew

die fich beleidigt haben, und ihren Streit durch den Degen beylegen wollen, gewählt.

33

3. to wich the fitua. tion, (nehml. of fighting a duel) is incident. ,, Welche in einer folchen Lage gewöhnlich find. “ Ob ich mich gleich mit Herrn Defe fein nicht duelliren wollte, (denn da würde ich, unter uns gefagt, fchlimm wegge kommen feyn,) fondern nur mit ihm ging, um einen Wa gen von ihm zu kaufen, fo war ich doch gegen ihn eben fo feindfelig gefinnt, als ob ich mich mit ihm duelliren wollte,