THE SAMARITAINE.
From an old print.
STATUE OF HENRY IV ON THE PONT NEUF.
Madame Roland lived in the house on the right.
And of spagiric physicians,
Of clever jugglers
And of chicken venders.
“I’ve a splendid remedy, monsieur,”
One of them says to you (Heaven never helps me!)
“For what ails you.
Believe me, sir, you can
Use it without being housed.
Look, it smells of sweetest scents,
Is compounded of lively drugs,
And never did Ambroise Paré
Make up a like remedy.”
“Here’s a pretty song,”
Says another, “for a sou.”
“Hi, there, my cloak, you rascal!
Stop thief! Pickpocket!”
“Ah, by George, there is the Samaritaine.
See how it pours forth water,
And how handsome the clock is!
Hark, hark! How it strikes!
Doesn’t it sound like chimes?
Just cast your eye on that figure of a man striking the hour——
Zounds, how he’s playing the hard worker!
See, look, upon my word, won’t you remark
That he’s as fresh as a Jew’s harp!
Bless me! it’s astonishing!
He’s striking the hour with his nose!”
Let’s watch these shooters-at-a-mark,
Who, to ornament their booth
Have four or five great grotesque figures
Standing on turn-tables,
Holding in their hands an ink-horn
Made of wood or bone or ivory,
A leaden comb, a mirror
Decorated with yellow and black paper,
Shoe-horns, lacing tags,
Flexible knives, spectacles,
A comb-case, a sun-dial,
All decked out with saffron yellow;
Old books of Hours, for use of man or woman,
Half French, half Latin;
Old satin roses;
A gun adorned with matches,
Two or three old cakes of soap,
A wooden tobacco-box,
A nut-cracker,
A little group of alabaster,
Its figures whitened with plaster,
A bad castor hat
Adorned with an imitation gold cord,
A flute, a Basque drum,
An old sleeve, an ugly mask.
“Here you are, gentlemen! Take a chance!
Two shots for a farthing,”
Says this rascal in his booth
Dressed in antique costume,
And tormenting passers-by
About his unmarketable wares.
“Six balls for a sou,”
Says this merchant of boxes of balls;
“Here you are, sir! Who’ll take a shot
Before I shut up shop?
Come on, customers, take a chance;
Nobody fails in three shots!”
Two hospitals were built in Henry’s reign, one on the left bank, l’Hôpital de Charité, and the other outside of the city on the northeast, for contagious diseases.