The Life of the Weevil 



extremely learned, but would it be very in- 

 telligible? I doubt it. When my eyes fall 

 upon a page bristling with barbarous and so- 

 called scientific locution, I say to myself: 



"Take care ! The author has not quite 

 grasped what he is saying, or he would have 

 found, in the vocabulary hammered out by 

 so many brilliant minds, words that would 

 express his thought more plainly." 



Boileau,^ who has been denied poetic in- 

 spiration, but who certainly possessed com- 

 mon-sense and plenty of it, tells us : 



"Ce que I'on concoit bien s'enonce claire- 

 ment." ^ 



Just so, Nicolas! Yes, clearness, clear- 

 ness always ! He calls a spade a spade. Let 

 us do as he does, let us qualify as gibberish 

 any over-learned prose that reminds us of 

 Voltaire's witty sally: 



"When the listener does not understand 

 and the speaker does not himself know what 

 he is saying, then they are talking meta- 

 physics," 



"And advanced science," let us add. 



1 Nicholas Boileau-Despreaux (1636-1711), author of 

 L'Art poetique and other poetical, critical and satirical 

 works. — Translator's Note. 



2 "That which is well conceived is also clearly stated." 



340 



