Who would have thought this crow
Recruited actors for the Cardinal?
LAFFEMAS (to Gracieux).
First you. What do you play?
GRACIEUX (with a low bow and a pirouette which shows off his hump).
I'm called the Sylph
Among the troupe. This piece I know the best.
[He sings.
"On the bald heads of magistrates,
Enormous wigs are spread.
Out of that fleece, in due time, come
Chains, gallows, tortures dread.
Whenever one called president
Shall shake his bigger head.
"Let any barber, strolling fool,
Wash, powder, and pomade
The hair which bald heads steal from beards,
Let them be combed and frayed
In shape of a right gorgeous wig—
Your magistrate is made.
"The lawyer is a sea of words
Hurled wildly at the bench.
A killing kind of mixing up
Of Latin and bad French—"
LAFFEMAS (interrupting him).