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to immediate and rapid profit any circumstance that can aid him is the
quality which distinguishes the able scoundrel, and elevates the villain
into the demon. To strike suddenly at fortune, that is true genius.
The true scoundrel strikes you from a sling with the first stone he can
pick up. Clever malefactors count on the unexpected, that senseless
accomplice of so many crimes. They grasp the incident and leap on it;
there is no better Ars Poetica for this species of talent. Meanwhile
be sure with whom you have to deal. Survey the ground.
With Barkilphedro the ground was Queen Anne. Barkilphedro approached the
queen, and so close that sometimes he fancied he heard the monologues of
her Majesty. Sometimes he was present unheeded at conversations between
the sisters. Neither did they forbid his sliding in a word. He profited
by this to lessen himself--a way of inspiring confidence. Thus one day
in the garden at Hampton Court, being behind the duchess, who was behind
the queen, he heard Anne, following the fashion, awkwardly enunciating
sentiments.
"Animals are happy," said the queen. "They run no risk of going to
hell."
"
They are there already," replied Josiana.
This answer, which bluntly substituted philosophy for religion,
displeased the queen. If, perchance, there was depth in the observation,
Anne felt shocked.
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