When, Among Other Topics Of Conversation, The Loss
The French Army Sustained At Waterloo Was Brought On The Tapis, He Said,
"Eh Bien!
Qu 'importe?
Dans une seule nuit a Paris on en fabriquera assez
pour les remplacer!" A similar sentiment has been attributed to the great
Conde.[78] We had a variety of amusing arguments and disputes on the road;
the Captain railed at merchants, and said that he did not believe that
honor or virtue existed among mercantile people (no compliment, by the bye,
to the young fabricant, who bore it, however, with great good humour,
contenting himself with now and then giving a few slaps at the military for
their rapacity, which mercantile people on the Continent have now and then
felt, before the French Revolution, as well as after). The whole road from
Turin to Alexandria della Paglia is a fine broad chausee. The first day's
journey brought us to Asti. A rich plain on each side of the road, the
horizon on our right bounded by the Appennines, on our left by the Alps,
both diverging, formed the landscape. Asti is an ancient, well and solidly
built city, but rather gloomy in its appearance. It is remarkable for being
the birthplace of Vittorio Alfieri, the celebrated tragic poet, who has
excelled all other dramatic poets in the general denouement of his
pieces, except, perhaps, Voltaire alone. I do not speak of Alfleri so much
as a poet as a dramaturgus. I may be mistaken, and it is, perhaps,
presumptuous in me to attempt to judge, but it has always appeared to me
that Voltaire and Alfieri have managed dramatic effect and the intrigue and
catastrophe of their tragedies better than any other authors.
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