They next thought of cramming his memory with literary fragments, and, perplexed about making selections, consulted Madame Campan’s work. She recommends the scene of Eliakim, the choruses in Esther, and the entire works of Jean Baptiste Rousseau.
These are a little old-fashioned. As for romances, she prohibits them, as depicting the world under too favourable colours. However, she permits Clarissa Harlowe and The Father of a Family, by Mrs. Opie.[A] Who is this Mrs. Opie?
[A] This is possibly a reference to that once celebrated specimen of English didactic fiction, Fathers and Daughters, by Mrs. Amelia Opie.—Translator.
They did not find her name in the Biographie of Michaud.
There remained fairy tales. “They would be expecting palaces of diamonds,” said Pécuchet. Literature develops the intellect, but excites the passions.
Victorine was sent away from catechism on account of her conduct. She had been caught kissing the notary’s son, and Reine made no joke of it: her face looked grave under her cap with its big frills.
After such a scandal, why keep a young girl so corrupted?
Bouvard and Pécuchet called the curé an old fool. His housekeeper defended him, muttering:
“We know you!—we know you!”
They made a sharp rejoinder, and she went off rolling her eyes in a fearful manner.