ckney is the native of
Ghent. Everything that exists elsewhere exists at Paris. The fishwoman
of Dumarsais can retort on the herb-seller of Euripides, the
discobols Vejanus lives again in the Forioso, the tight-rope dancer.
Therapontigonus Miles could walk arm in arm with Vadeboncoeur the
grenadier, Damasippus the second-hand dealer would be happy among
bric-a-brac merchants, Vincennes could grasp Socrates in its fist as
just as Agora could imprison Diderot, Grimod de la Reyniere discovered
larded roast beef, as Curtillus invented roast hedgehog, we see the
trapeze which figures in Plautus reappear under the vault of the Arc
of l'Etoile, the sword-eater of Poecilus encountered by Apuleius is a
sword-swallower on the Pont Neuf, the nephew of Rameau and Curculio
the parasite make a pair, Ergasilus could get himself presented to
Cambaceres by d'Aigrefeuille; the four dandies of Rome: Alcesimarchus,
Phoedromus, Diabolus, and Argyrippus, descend from Courtille in
Labatut's posting-chaise; Aulus Gellius would halt no longer in front of
Congrio than would Charles Nodier in front of Punchinello; Marto is not
a tigress, but Pardalisca was not a dragon; Pantolabus the wag jeers in
the Cafe Anglais at Nomentanus the fast liver, Hermogenus is a tenor
in the Champs-Elysees, and round him, Thracius the beggar, clad like
Bobeche, takes up a collection; the bore who stops you by the button
of your coat in the Tuileries makes you repeat after a lapse of two
thousand years Thesprion's apostrophe: Quis properantem me prehendit
pallio? The wine on Surene is a parody of the wine of Alba, the red
border of Desaugiers forms a balance to the great cutting of Balatro,
Pere Lachaise exhales beneath nocturnal rains same gleams as the
Esquiliae, and the grave of the poor bought for five years, is certainly
the equivalent of the slave's hived coffin.

Seek something that Paris has not. The vat of Trophonius contains
nothing that is not in Mesmer's tub; Ergaphilas lives again in
Cagliostro; the Brahmin Vasaphanta become incarnate in the Comte de
Saint-Germain; the cemetery of Saint-Medard works quite as good miracles
as the Mosque of Oumoumie at Damascus.

Paris has an AEsop-Mayeux, and a Canidia, Mademoiselle Lenormand. It is
terrified, like Delphos at the fulgurating realities of the vision; it
makes tables turn as Dodona did tripods. It places the grisette on the
throne, as Rome placed the courtesan there; and, taking it altogether,
if Louis XV