Page:Journey Round my Room by Xiavier de Maistre trans. Henry Attwell.djvu/26

8 more, I even think that had it not been for the intervention of certain powerful persons who interested themselves in me, and towards whom I entertain a lively sense of gratitude, I should have had ample time for producing a folio volume; so prejudiced in my favor were the guardians who made me travel round my room.

And yet, intelligent reader, see how wrong these men were; and understand clearly, if you can, the argument I am about to put before you.

Can there be anything more natural or more just than to draw your sword upon a man who happens to tread on your toe, who lets slip a bitter word during a moment's vexation caused by your own thoughtlessness, or who has had the misfortune to gain favor in the sight of your lady-love?

Under such or like circumstances, you betake yourself to a meadow, and there, like Nicole and the "Bourgeois Gentilhomme,"