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But she turns the mistress of ceremonies into ridicule, and therein she is wrong. In an outburst of her vexation the dauphiness one day called her 'old Madame Etiquette, and, as the bon mots of a future queen are apt to be repeated, Madame de Noailles goes by no other name at court. Again not long ago the dauphiness gave a party of pleasure at Versailles. The company were mounted on donkeys."

Cornuel, whose bons mots sparkle from so many pages in the chronicles of the period. A woman of high bourgeois birth and of the best associations, she had a swift vision, a penetrating sense, and a clear intellect prompt to seize the heart of a situation. Mlle. De Scudery said that she could paint a grand satire in four words.

If your mother were in Paris, her latest bon mots and phrases would be recited to me daily; perhaps they would be only invented; but I tell you I will have nothing of the kind in the city in which I reside! It would be best for her to go to London; advise her to do so. As far as your grandfather is concerned, I have certainly not said too much; M. Necker had no administrative ability.

And the good behavior of rulers is a point to which Saadi constantly returns. It is one of his maxims, that the "bons mots of kings are the kings of bons mots." One of these is, "At night thou must go in prayer a beggar, if by day thou wilt carry thyself as a king."

These days were far from being their dullest; for, what with the varied and scientific knowledge of Lucien, which he took pleasure in imparting to his companions what with the practical experience of Norman amid scenes of Arctic life, and the many "voyageur tales" he could tell what with François merry jokes and bon mots and what with Basil's talent for listening not the least important element in a good conversazione, our quartette of young voyageurs found their indoor days anything but dull.

This was intolerable. Here was a man who not only could not have belonged to the 'world, but honestly did not wish to, and was persuaded the gross fellow that he and his world were better in every respect than the exclusive circles which listened to Sir William Fraser's bon mots and tags from the poets. Certainly there was nothing deprecatory about John Bright.

Mademoiselle d'Entragues and two ladies had taken possession of his closet, and from the casement were pouring forth a perpetual fire of badinage and BONS MOTS. The tennis-court, in a word, presented as different an aspect as possible from that which it had worn in the morning.

Our letters, therefore, though their sentences are not so balanced nor their periods so rounded, are more real, more truthful, more spontaneous, and more delightful than the laborious productions of our ancestors, who had to weigh every phrase, and to think out their bon mots, epigrams, and smart things for weeks beforehand, so that the letter might appear full of impromptu wit.

And as they were the sins of princes, it is the princes who have also suffered the penalty. This is one of the bons mots of Alexander VI, and refers to the ease with which Charles VIII seized Italy, implying that it was only necessary for him to send his quartermasters to chalk up the billets for his soldiers to conquer the country. Cf.

Hundreds of fiacres drive madly through the streets conveying women, flashing with jewels and as beautiful as dreams, from opera and concert, and the little bijou supper rooms of the Cafe Tout le Temps are filled with laughing groups, while bon mots, persiflage and repartee fly upon the air the jewels of thought and conversation. Luxury and poverty brush each other in the streets.