They returned to their favorite
studies, and produced new works, to the delight of lettered men
everywhere. But, as the human heart, even in the beat of men, has its
weaknesses, these eminent men, who could not for a single instant doubt
either their talents or their success or the universal admiration in
which they were held, were a little too fond of hearing these agreeable
truths told them in articles devoted especially to their works. Now to
heighten the zeal of the authors of these articles, the eminent retired
statesmen held in their hands an infallible method: They would take
these trumpeters of fame aside, and, without contracting any positive
engagement, would distinctly hint to these critics, (a word to the wise
is sufficient!) that, after a few years of these excellent and useful
services in the daily press or in the periodicals, they, the former,
would elect the latter members of the French Academy. A seat in the
French Academy was the object of the most ardent ambition. No sooner was
the breath out of the body of one of the forty members of the French
Academy than twenty candidates entered the lists, and canvassed,
canvassed, canvassed the nine-and-thirty living Academicians, without
losing a minute in eating, drinking, or sleeping, until the election
took place.
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