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 l’on concoit bien s’énonce 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-Despréaux (1636-1711), author of 
L’Art poétique and other poetical, critical and satirical 
works.—Translator’s Note. 
2“That which is well conceived is also clearly stated.” 
340 
