and told me it was very superb, and that numbers of the first dukes
and marquises and counts had hotels. - The Count de B-, of whom the

bookseller at the Quai de Conti had spoke so handsomely the night
before, came instantly into my mind. - And why should I not go,

thought I, to the Count de B-, who has so high an idea of English
books and English men - and tell him my story? so I changed my mind

a second time. - In truth it was the third; for I had intended that
day for Madame de R-, in the Rue St. Pierre, and had devoutly sent

her word by her fille de chambre that I would assuredly wait upon
her; - but I am governed by circumstances; - I cannot govern them:

so seeing a man standing with a basket on the other side of the
street, as if he had something to sell, I bid La Fleur go up to

him, and enquire for the Count's hotel.
La Fleur returned a little pale; and told me it was a Chevalier de

St. Louis selling pates. - It is impossible, La Fleur, said I. - La
Fleur could no more account for the phenomenon than myself; but

persisted in his story: he had seen the croix set in gold, with its
red riband, he said, tied to his buttonhole - and had looked into

the basket and seen the pates which the Chevalier was selling; so
could not be mistaken in that.

Such a reverse in man's life awakens a better principle than
curiosity: I could not help looking for some time at him as I sat

in the remise: - the more I look'd at him, his croix, and his
basket, the stronger they wove themselves into my brain. - I got

out of the remise, and went towards him.
He was begirt with a clean linen apron which fell below his knees,

and with a sort of a bib that went half way up his breast; upon the
top of this, but a little below the hem, hung his croix. His

basket of little pates was covered over with a white damasknapkin;
another of the same kind was spread at the bottom; and there was a

look of proprete and neatness throughout, that one might have
bought his pates of him, as much from appetite as sentiment.

He made an offer of them to neither; but stood still with them at
the corner of an hotel, for those to buy who chose it without

solicitation.
He was about forty-eight; - of a sedate look, something approaching

to gravity. I did not wonder. - I went up rather to the basket
than him, and having lifted up the napkin, and taking one of his

pates into my hand, - I begg'd he would explain the appearance
which affected" target="_blank" title="a.做作的；假装的">affected me.

He told me in a few words, that the best part of his life had
passed in the service, in which, after spending a small patrimony,

he had obtained a company and the croix with it; but that, at the
conclusion of the last peace, his regiment being reformed, and the

whole corps, with those of some other regiments, left without any
provision, he found himself in a wide world without friends,

without a livre, - and indeed, said he, without anything but this,
- (pointing, as he said it, to his croix). - The poor Chevalier won

my pity, and he finished the scene with winning my esteem too.
The king, he said, was the most generous of princes, but his

generosity could neither relieve nor rewardeveryone, and it was
only his misfortune to be amongst the number. He had a little

wife, he said, whom he loved, who did the patisserie; and added, he
felt no dishonour in defending her and himself from want in this

way - unless Providence had offer'd him a better.
It would be wicked to withhold a pleasure from the good, in passing

over what happen'd to this poor Chevalier of St. Louis about nine
months after.

It seems he usually took his stand near the iron gates which lead
up to the palace, and as his croix had caught the eyes of numbers,

numbers had made the same enquiry which I had done. - He had told
them the same story, and always with so much modesty and good

sense, that it had reach'd at last the king's ears; - who, hearing
the Chevalier had been a gallant officer, and respected by the

whole regiment as a man of honour and integrity, - he broke up his
little trade by a pension of fifteen hundred livres a year.

As I have told this to please the reader, I beg he will allow me to
relate another, out of its order, to please myself: - the two

stories reflect light upon each other, - and 'tis a pity they
should be parted.

THE SWORD. RENNES.
When states and empires have their periods of declension, and feel

in their turns what distress and poverty is, - I stop not to tell
the causes which gradually brought the house d'E-, in Brittany,

into decay. The Marquis d'E- had fought up against his condition
with great firmness; wishing to preserve, and still show to the

world, some little fragments of what his ancestors had been; -
their indiscretions had put it out of his power. There was enough

left for the little exigencies of obscurity. - But he had two boys
who looked up to him for light; - he thought they deserved it. He

had tried his sword - it could not open the way, - the mounting was
too expensive, - and simple economy was not a match for it: - there

was no resource but commerce.
In any other province in France, save Brittany, this was smiting

the root for ever of the little tree his pride and affection" target="_blank" title="n.友爱；慈爱">affection wish'd
to see re-blossom. - But in Brittany, there being a provision for

this, he avail'd himself of it; and, taking an occasion when the
states were assembled at Rennes, the Marquis, attended with his two

boys, entered the court; and having pleaded the right of an ancient
law of the duchy, which, though seldom claim'd, he said, was no

less in force, he took his sword from his side: - Here, said he,
take it; and be trusty guardians of it, till better times put me in

condition to reclaim it.
The president accepted the Marquis's sword: he staid a few minutes

to see it deposited in the archives of his house - and departed.
The Marquis and his whole family embarked the next clay for

Martinico, and in about nineteen or twenty years of successful
application to business, with some unlook'd for bequests from

distant branches of his house, return home to reclaim his nobility,
and to support it.

It was an incident of good fortune which will never happen to any
traveller but a Sentimental one, that I should be at Rennes at the

very time of this solemn requisition: I call it solemn; - it was so
to me.

The Marquis entered the court with his whole family: he supported
his lady, - his eldest son supported his sister, and his youngest

was at the other extreme of the line next his mother; - he put his
handkerchief to his face twice. -

- There was a dead silence. When the Marquis had approached within
six paces of the tribunal, he gave the Marchioness to his youngest

son, and advancing three steps before his family, - he reclaim'd
his sword. His sword was given him, and the moment he got it into

his hand he drew it almost out of the scabbard: - 'twas the shining
face of a friend he had once given up - he look'd attentively along

it, beginning at the hilt, as if to see whether it was the same, -
when, observing a little rust which it had contracted near the

point, he brought it near his eye, and bending his head down over
it, - I think - I saw a tear fall upon the place. I could not be

deceived by what followed.
"I shall find," said he, "some other way to get it off."

When the Marquis had said this, he returned his sword into its
scabbard, made a bow to the guardians of it, - and, with his wife

and daughter, and his two sons following him, walk'd out.
O, how I envied him his feelings!

THE PASSPORT. VERSAILLES.
I found no difficulty in getting admittance to Monsieur le Count de

B-. The set of Shakespeares was laid upon the table, and he was
tumbling them over. I walk'd up close to the table, and giving

first such a look at the books as to make him conceive I knew what
they were, - I told him I had come without any one to present me,