I HAD once lost my portmanteau from behind my chaise, and twice got out
in the rain, and one of the times up to the knees in dirt, to help the
postilion to tie it on, without being able to find out what was
wanting.—Nor was it till I got to Montreuil, upon the landlord’s asking
me if I wanted not a servant, that it occurred to me, that that was the
very thing.
A servant! That I do most sadly, quoth I.—Because, Monsieur, said the
landlord, there is a clever young fellow, who would be very proud of the
honour to serve an Englishman.—But why an English one, more than any
other?—They are so generous, said the landlord.—I’ll be shot if this is
not a livre out of my pocket, quoth I to myself, this very night.—But
they have wherewithal to be so, Monsieur, added he.—Set down one livre
more for that, quoth I.—It was but last night, said the landlord, _qu’un
milord Anglois présentoit un écu à la fille de chambre_.—_Tant pis pour
Mademoiselle Janatone_, said I.
Now Janatone, being the landlord’s daughter, and the landlord supposing I
was young in French, took the liberty to inform me, I should not have
said _tant pis_—but, _tant mieux_. _Tant mieux_, _toujours_, _Monsieur_,
said he, when there is any thing to be got—_tant pis_, when there is
nothing. It comes to the same thing, said I. _Pardonnez-moi_, said the
landlord.
I cannot take a fitter opportunity to observe, once for all, that _tant
pis_ and _tant mieux_, being two of the great hinges in French
conversation, a stranger would do well to set himself right in the use of
them, before he gets to Paris.
A prompt French marquis at our ambassador’s table demanded of Mr. H—, if
he was H— the poet? No, said Mr. H—, mildly.—_Tant pis_, replied the
marquis.
It is H— the historian, said another,—_Tant mieux_, said the marquis.
And Mr. H—, who is a man of an excellent heart, return’d thanks for both.
When the landlord had set me right in this matter, he called in La Fleur,
which was the name of the young man he had spoke of,—saying only first,
That as for his talents he would presume to say nothing,—Monsieur was the
best judge what would suit him; but for the fidelity of La Fleur he would
stand responsible in all he was worth.
The landlord deliver’d this in a manner which instantly set my mind to
the business I was upon;—and La Fleur, who stood waiting without, in that
breathless expectation which every son of nature of us have felt in our
turns, came in.