1827.] Luck and III- Luck. 159 



in that part of the country. She lived solitary and retired ; few people had 

 been witnesses of your flirtation ; and she thought that, in giving her hand 

 to a countryman of your's, the adventure would blow over. All your 

 cares and attentions reverted, therefore, to me. I was thus exempted 

 from all the long trials to which she put you ; and, having speedily replaced 

 you in her affections, our marriage had all the air of a reconciliation. She 

 is dead : I was sorry for her loss for, in spite of her whims, she had an 

 excellent heart. 



" In the course of some years afterwards, I furnished a great part of tho 

 capital for that colonial company, the projects of which so splendidly de- 

 ceived you. I felt a new desire for an active life ; but this time I did not 

 go in quest of the land of roses and beauty : I went to Africa, at the head 

 of a large expedition, into Guinea* Our affairs prospered, and might have 

 become still more successful ; for we had certain intelligence that immense 

 gold mines existed in the interior of the country. But how could we pene- 

 trate among barbarous negroes, the most of whom were cannibals ? I was 

 thinking on the subject, when I was all at once met by the deputies of the 

 great Dahomay, who, on examining my countenance, proposed to me to 

 accompany them. Of course, I did not let so fair an opportunity slip ; 

 and the descendant of Trudo Audati received me with the most lively de- 

 monstrations of joy and friendship. He offered to sacrifice a thousand 

 slaves to do me honour, and to present me with six hundred negresses for 

 my seraglio. I thanked him for his kind offers, but told him 1 did not 

 think bloodshed any honour; and, as for the ladies, I assured him that 

 six hundred mistresses were by no means necessary for me. He replied, 

 that my humanity and modesty pleased him, but that he himself had two 

 thousand ladies, and contrived to manage them without much trouble. 

 He then asked me my name, and when he heard it, he was going to pros- 

 trate himself before me; for it seems that Berr-Nahr, in the language oi 

 the Algemis, which is commonly spoken in Dahomay, signifies the most 

 divine. We became the best friends in the world: I found that he had 

 the greatest affection for you, and he employed me to revise your laws, a 

 little discredited by the accident of the insondo. I made scarcely any 

 change ; but it was necessary that I should shew some proofs of capacity. 

 Accordingly, I gathered your laws, and gave them the name of the Code 

 Bernard, or rather Berr-Nahr and this inspired the people with the high- 

 est opinion of my talents. Finally, having made use of my power to work 

 the gold mines of Dahomay, I left Africa loaded with wealth, and accom- 

 panied by the blessings of all the population, to return to France. 



" On my arrival at Paris, I became the object of general curiosity. I 

 was the modern Cicero, or Hippocrates the hero of the Volga the Lycur- 

 gus of Africa. The truth was, 1 was immensely rich. Of course, I had 

 a great number of friends, who spoke of nothing but my wit and talent, and 

 I swallowed the flattery without opposition. Patrons presented themselves 

 in all directions, who told me that an ex-king of Dahomay ought at least 

 to be a count in France, and I purchased the title which I bear. My friends 

 assured me that fashion required that I should keep an opera-girl : fashion 

 also required that the lady should receive the literati at her suppers ; and 

 these gentlemen persuaded me that fashion required that a great nobleman 

 like me, should be a member of the Academy. I had written God knows 

 why a quatrain on the Marquise de P , and I was made an acade- 

 mician. 



" Thus, my dear Monsieur Pigafet, without intrigue or cabal led by 



