sallow-parchment

Updated: May 4, 2025

Set a Tartuffe's all-devouring eyes, and the sour humor of an Alceste in a sallow-parchment visage, and try to imagine for yourself the gait, bearing, and expression of a man who thought himself as good a doctor as the illustrious Bianchon, and felt that he was held down in his narrow lot by an iron hand. Are the hatreds and jealousies of democracy incomprehensible after this?

Honoré de Balzac - Poor Relations

Set a Tartuffe's all-devouring eyes, and the sour humor of an Alceste in a sallow-parchment visage, and try to imagine for yourself the gait, bearing, and expression of a man who thought himself as good a doctor as the illustrious Bianchon, and felt that he was held down in his narrow lot by an iron hand. Are the hatreds and jealousies of democracy incomprehensible after this?

Honoré de Balzac - Cousin Pons