Chapter 10 - Page 2

seen the "Lucrece" that is being
played at the Odéon?

MYSELF.--NO.

M. VIENNET.--It is very good.

MYSELF.--Really, is it good?

M. VIENNET.--It is more than good, it is fine.

MYSELF.--Really, is it fine?

M. VIENNET.--It is more than fine, it is magnificent.

MYSELF.--Really, now, magnificent?

M. VIENNET.--Oh! magnificent!

MYSELF.--Come, now, is it as good as "Zaire"?

M. VIENNET.--Oh! no! Oh! you are going too far,
you know. Gracious! "Zaire"! No, it is not as good as
"Zaire".

MYSELF.--Well, you see, "Zaire" is a very poor piece indeed!

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AN ELECTION SESSION.

February 11, 1847.

Thirty-one Academicians present. Sixteen votes are
necessary.

First ballot.

Emile Deschamps 2 votes.
Victor Leclerc 14 "
Empis 15 "

Lamartine and M. Ballanche arrive at the end of the first
ballot. M. Thiers arrives at the commencement of the
second; which makes 34.

The director asks M. Thiers whether he has promised
his vote. He laughingly replies: "No," and adds: "I
have offered it." (Laughter.)

M. Cousin, to M. Lebrun, director: "You did not employ
the sacramental expression. One does not ask an
Academician whether he has *promised* his vote, but
whether he has *pledged* it."

Second ballot.

Emile Deschamps 2 votes.
Empis 18 "
Victor Leclerc 14 "

M. Empis is elected. The election was decided by
Lamartine and M. Ballanche.

On my way out I meet Leon Gozlan, who says to me:
"Well?"

I reply: "There has been an election. It is Empis."

"How do you look at it?" he asks.

"In both ways."

"Empis?---"

"And ~tant pis~!"

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March 16, 1847.

At the Academy to-day, while listening to the poems,
bad to the point of grotesqueness, that have been sent for
the competition of 1847, M. de Barante remarked:
"Really, in these times, we no longer know how to make
mediocre verses."

Great praise of the poetical and literary excellence of
these times, although M. de Barante was not conscious of it.

April 22, 1847.

Election of M. Ampere. This is an improvement upon
the last. A slow improvement. But Academies, like old
people, go slowly.

During the session and after the election Lamartine sent
to me by an usher the following lines:

C'est un état peu prospere
D'aller d'Empis en Ampere.

I replied to him by the same usher:

Toutefois