Je jure alors, et meme je medis
De l'action de mon pere etourdi,
Quand sans songer a ce qu'il allait faire
Il m'ebaucha sous un astre contraire,
Et m'acheva par un discours maudit
Qu'il fit depuis sur un certain edit.
The father died in exile: his second wife had spent the greater part of
the son's fortune, and secured the rest for her own children. Scarron
was left with a mere pittance, and, to complete his troubles, was
involved in a lawsuit about the property. The cripple, with his usual
impudence, resolved to plead his own cause, and did it only too well; he
made the judges laugh so loud that they took the whole thing to be a
farce on his part, and gave--most ungratefully--judgment against him.
Glorious days were those for the penniless, halcyon days for the toady
and the sycophant. There was still much of the old oriental munificence
about the court, and sovereigns like Mazarin and Louis XIV. granted
pensions for a copy of flattering verses, or gave away places as the
reward of a judicious speech. Sinecures were legion, yet to many a
holder they were no sinecures at all, for they entailed constant
servility and a complete abdication of all freedom of opinion.
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