Few people possess the kindly sense of the French abbe mentioned
in the memoirs of Madame Vig’ee de Brun, the celebrated
portrait-painter of the last century. This gentleman was,
unfortunately, extremely deformed, and, playing at cards with
him, Madame de Brun was so struck by his strange figure that
she inadvertently hummed a few bars of a tune called “The
Hunchback.” Immediately recollecting herself, she stopt in
confusion, whereupon the abbe turned to her with a kindly
smile, “My dear madame, continue your tune. I assure you it
does not offend me in the least; the association is so natural
a one, that I believe it would have occurred to me in your
place.”--London _Evening Standard_.
(1717)