1827.] Luck and III- Luck. 151 



which force imposes on itself ; in a word, all the benefits of legislation 

 strongly affected my mind. 1 accordingly betook myself to the study 

 of law, and became an avocat. I had acquired some reputation at the 

 bar, when I was called on to plead at the Chatelet, in a cause, of the 

 justice of which I was perfectly convinced. My antagonist, a man of the 

 name of Bernard as mere a blunderer as ever existed, but who contrived 

 to conceal his ignorance and fatuity under a false air of modesty pro- 

 nounced, in a stammering way, a very bad pleading, which, nevertheless, 

 was the production of some one else. His voice lowered so much during 

 the course of reading, that not a word was heard at the end ; and a buzz of 

 private conversation got up among the public, in the hall, and even on the 

 bench. I spoke in my turn, and was heard with the greatest attention : 

 but in the heat of delivery, a vehement gesture which I made, deranged 

 my wig, arid gave me so grotesque an appearance, that an universal laugh 

 burst from all quarters, which was augmented by the unlucky efforts I 

 made to repair the disorder in my legal head-dress. I not only lost my 

 cause, but every time that I appeared at the bar, the same laugh awaited 

 me on my occupying the tribune. I lost courage, and quitted a career in 

 which an equivocal gesture is sufficient to compromise the rights of the 

 widow aud the orphan. 



" Physical and moral inquiries into the nature of man had always great 

 attractions for me ; I was acquainted with some branches of natural science,, 

 and the medical system then in fashion seemed to me susceptible of im- 

 portant ameliorations. I devoted myself to medicine with ardour : I com- 

 pared Hippocrates, Galen, and Avicenna with the moderns, and fancied I 

 perceived that that the sublime science had degenerated, by losing its sim- 

 plicity in the hands of doctors of the bolus, and elixir. I had the courage 

 to combat inflammatory diseases by water, regimen, and bleeding ; I even 

 dared to proscribe Jesuits' bark, which then was in the height of its popu- 

 larity. I obtained numberless enemies among apothecaries, wine mer- 

 chants, and my brother physicians; but proud of the unexpected success, 

 which every day awaited my exertions, I boldy pursued ray course. 

 Being called one day to consult with a physician no\vly admitted, 1 recog- 

 nized in him Bernard, my old antagonist at the bar. He also had 

 become a doctor: and differing with me as to the manner of treating our 

 patient, he declared him a dead man if I managed him according to my 

 system. The patient, however, confided in me, in which he did right, 

 for he was speedily growing convalescent; when, having taken some 

 grapes by my direction, a cursed grape-stone stuck in his oesophagus, and 

 occasioned such violent efforts in his attempts to get rid of it, that it in- 

 duced apoplexy, and he died suddenly, to the great joy of Bernard, who 

 boasted every where of his prediction, and prated about what he called 

 the fatal effects of my system. My reputation suffered, and his increased. 

 In the wine-rooms and the apothecaries' shops, the clamours against me 

 redoubled. It was in vain that I proved that the unlucky grape-stone 

 alone had destroyed the beneficent effects of my care nobody would 

 listen to me. To add to my misfortune, Gil Bias appeared about the same 

 time, and it was thought that Dr. Sangrado was drawn for me. Every 

 body gave me the nick-name, and ridicule finished what ill-luck had begun. 

 I lost all credit and with me, I scruple not to say, the rising edifice of the 

 real art of curing disorders fell to the ground. 



" A nick-name in France often hurts more than a bad action. The 

 wound inflicted by the weapon of ridicule is only to be cicatrized under 



