CHAPTER XIV.
PHRASES OF POSSESSION.
“Gentilz Ouvriers, qui d’un soing curieux
Allez cherchant es plus vieilles reliques
Venez icy, et aux proffitz publiques
Imitez en les plus laborieux ...”
J. Bullant.
(From the ex-libris of H. Destailleur.)
Little Victor Dupuis is very like Master Tommy Smith in the habit he has of scribbling nonsense verses in his school books; one very popular quatrain in the good old days of the French monarchy was:
“Ce livre est à moi
Comme Paris est au roi.
Qui veut savoir mon nom
Regarde dans ce rond.”
Or, he would threaten borrowers with dire penalties:
“Ne me prends pas
Ou on te pendras.”
Becoming more ambitious, he would launch out into a Macaronic verse: