CHAPTER THE NINETY-THIRD.

("To their perverted taste," he went on,) everything one may have lawfully is held cheap and the appetite, tickled only by forbidden indulgences, delights in what is most difficult to obtain.

The pheasant from Colchis, the wild-fowl from African shores,

Because they are dainties, the parvenu's palate adores

The white-feathered goose, and the duck in his bright-colored plumes

Must nourish the rabble; they're common, so them Fashion dooms!

The wrasse brought from dangerous Syrtis is much more esteemed

When fishing-boats founder! And even the mullet is deemed,

No matter how heavy, a weight on the market! The whore

Displaces the wife; and in perfumes, the cinnamon more

Is esteemed than the rose! So whatever we have, we despise,

And whatever we have not, we think a superlative prize!"