318 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



in the Valley of Jehoshaphat I am under no appre- 

 hension it is you. You will continue there to 

 play the charmer's part, and as to the Great Judge, 

 you will win Him over to you. You have im- 

 proved His work; He will assuredly be well pleased 

 with you. 



" In the meanwhile, you will come and rest your- 

 self in our company after the indefatigable activity 

 which you have made the rule of your life. In the 

 intervals between your voyages from Suez to Panama, 

 and from Panama to Suez, you will communicate to 

 us your fresh observations as to the world, whether it 

 is improving or degenerating, whether it is growing 

 younger or older; whether, in process of time, as 

 isthmuses are pierced, the number of lofty and kindly 

 souls increases or diminishes. Our lives, mostly 

 passed in the shade, will be supplemented and com- 

 pleted by yours, all of which is spent in the open air. 

 Eor my own part, I never see you without fancying 

 what we might have accomplished together, if we had 

 associated to found some work in common. And, in- 

 deed, if I was not already an old man, I am not sure 

 that I should not propose some seductive and bene- 

 ficent scheme to you. But in order to do that, I 

 should be obliged to resign my post in the Academic 

 des Inscriptions et des Belles Lettres, the pure and 

 absolute friend of truth. This I shall never do, for I 

 derive too much pleasure from my connection with it. 

 And then the world is so strange ; as a rule it will 



