Page:Biographical and critical studies by James Thomson ("B.V.").djvu/72

 56 BIOGRAPHICAL STUDIES US drinking, with the glass, not the pen, in hand. And in the piece itself he sings of Harcourt — " Already aloft on the poop, To pledge me he takes his cup, Where sparkles and laughs the nectar ; And crying Masse ! to the troop, His voice alarms Gibraltar." Masse! being the summons to drink all together. In 1638 Saint-Amant returned to Paris for a time, and while there addressed to the Chancellor Seguier a petition for the privilege of conducting a glass- factory. This was readily granted ; and in his poem on Cider he has vaunted the miracles accomplished under his direction in this new enterprise. It should be remarked that this employment, and even the work- ing in the factory, was not considered derogatory to a gentleman ; the injurious and often dangerous nature of the work, as well as the beauty of the product, being held to lift it from among menial labours. At this time Adam Billault, jolly Master Adam, who, according to Baillet, does more credit to carpenters than to poets, visiting Paris, would first of all be pre- sented to Saint-Amant. The next year he rejoined d'Harcourt, then in Piedmont ; and he seems to have taken a gallant part in all the fighting, wielding pen and sword and glass with equal vigour and address. Early in 1643 he was again in Rome, where he com- posed La Rome Ridicule, a work which has been often imitated. It appeared at Paris the same year, without name of either author or printer, who were prudent in not revealing themselves, for the publisher was imprisoned, and ran some danger of being put to