VIRGIL ON "DOGGIES" 



just to thicken the bouillon, you understand, my lad/' the 

 benevolent operator was pleased to comment, noticing 

 inquisitiveness. 'Then, at the precise moment of alchemic 

 projection, the sliced shreds of bread were precipitated in 

 the caldron, and gently turned round with a wooden spoon 

 to let them take unto themselves all the unction of the 

 butter, all the essence of the succulent bulbs. And pre- 

 sently the whole thing was drowned under a cataract of 

 scalding hot water <some two gallons). After a bubble 

 or two of boiling the combination was completed and the 

 savoury caldron was set aside upon a nest of smouldering 

 ashes, ready against the next breakfast seeker. 



And the escholier, having absorbed the last crumb and 

 the last spoonful, hastened, greatly refreshed, by every 

 conceivable short cut to his heights of Montmartre Mons 

 Martyrum, by the way, some etymologists insist on 

 dubbing, in opposition to the Mons Martis theory, in 

 regard that it was the site of the martyrdom of St. Denis, 

 the French " Champion of Christendom/'' 

 He was a trifle lateno doubt as a result of short cuts 

 and Mr. Gilchrist proportionately stern, just at first. But 

 the dear enthusiastic teacher gradually mellowed under 

 the influence of that morning's reading the " Georgics," 

 most enchanting of all Garden Talk volumes. The old 

 scholar's geniality had completely returned by the time we 

 reached that " doggy" passage of the Third Book beginning 

 with "Wee tibi cur a canton fuerit postrema" 

 I can still see him smiling confidently at me over the line, 



101 



