A Carouse At Boileau's

Boileau, the celebrated French comedian, usually passed the summer at

his villa of Auteuil, which is pleasantly situated at the entrance of

the Bois de Boulogne. Here he took delight in assembling under his roof

the most eminent geniuses of the age; especially Chapelle, Racine,

Moliere, and La Fontaine. Racine the younger gives the following account

of a droll circumstance that occurred at supper at Auteuil with these

uests. "At this supper," he says, "at which my father was not present,

the wise Boileau was no more master of himself than any of his guests.

After the wine had led them into the gravest strain of moralising, they

agreed that life was but a state of misery; that the greatest happiness

consisted in having been born, and the next greatest in an early death;

and they one and all formed the heroic resolution of throwing themselves

without loss of time into the river. It was not far off, and they actually

went thither. Moliere, however, remarked that such a noble action ought

not to be buried in the obscurity of night, but was worthy of being

performed in the face of day. This observation produced a pause; one

looked at the other, and said, 'He is right.' 'Gentlemen,' said Chapelle,

'we had better wait till morning to throw ourselves into the river, and

meantime return and finish our wine;'" but the river was not revisited.



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