Ecclesfield.
* * * * *
"AFTER ME THE DELUGE."
If stolen wisdom could be returned to its rightful authors, great, indeed,
would be the transfer of property. Prince Metternich is said to be the
sayer of "After me the Deluge." And yet the Prince took the saying from the
mouth of Madame Pompadour; and she took it--from whom? It may be reasonably
doubted that her brain originated it; for it was not an order of brain that
packs wisdom in few syllables.
"'After me the Deluge,' said Prince Metternich; a fine saying, but a
false prophecy we trust."
I quote this from an admirable paper in _The Times_ of to-day (April 10.)
on the Crystal Palace, and quote the subscribed from an _Essai sur la
Marquise de Pompadour_, prefixed to the _Mémoires de Madame du Hausset,
Femme de Chambre de Madame Pompadour_, in Barrière's _Bibliothèque des
Mémoires_.
"Madame de Pompadour, dans l'ivresse de la prospérité, répondit à
toutes les menaces de l'avenir par ces trois [_quatre_] mots, "APRÈS
NOUS, LE DÉLUGE," qu'elle répétait souvent."
In this case, "Pompadour _v._ Metternich," surely a verdict must be
returned for the lady, unless Voltaire puts in a future claim.