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a wild dog, now a civilized wolf, and a faithful subject of her
Majesty's. Homo is a mine of deep and superior talent. Be attentive and
watch. You are going to set Homo play as well as Gwynplaine, and you
must do honour to art. That is an attribute of great nations. Are you
men of the woods? I admit the fact. In that case, sylvæ sunt consule
digna. Two artists are well worth one consul. All right! Some one has
flung a cabbage stalk at me, but did not hit me. That will not stop my
speaking; on the contrary, a danger evaded makes folks garrulous.
Garrula pericula, says Juvenal. My hearers! there are amongst you
drunken men and drunken women. Very well. The men are unwholesome. The
women are hideous. You have all sorts of excellent reasons for stowing
yourselves away here on the benches of the pothouse--want of work,
idleness, the spare time between two robberies, porter, ale, stout,
malt, brandy, gin, and the attraction of one sex for the other. What
could be better? A wit prone to irony would find this a fair field. But
I abstain. 'Tis luxury; so be it, but even an orgy should be kept
within bounds. You are gay, but noisy. You imitate successfully the
cries of beasts; but what would you say if, when you were making love to
a lady, I passed my time in barking at you? It would disturb you, and so
it disturbs us. I order you to hold your tongues. Art is as respectable
as debauch. I speak to you civilly."
He apostrophized himself,--
"May the fever strangle you, with your eyebrows like the beard of rye."
And he replied,--
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