“ ‘I am far from laying the least blame to the charge of those who have raised their voice hitherto, for having let this stroke escape them; my self-love being abundantly satisfied, to be able, after so great a number of orators, to present my observation as something new.’ ”

“Ah! prince,” cried Mirzoza smartly, “I fancy I hear the chiromancer of the Manimonbanda. Apply to him, and you will have the subtle and critical explanation, of which you would in vain expect the agreeable present from any other person.”

The African author says, that Mangogul smiled, and continued. “But I do not intend,” says he, “to relate the rest of his discourse. If this beginning has not given as much amusement as the first pages of La Fée Taupe , the sequel would be more tiresome than the last pages of the Fée Moustache .”