Dupin has a style of wit that is peculiar to himself. It is Gaulish,
tinged with the wit of a limb of the law and with jovial grossness. When
the vote upon the bill against universal suffrage was about to be taken
some member of the majority, whose name I have forgotten, went to him
and said:
“You are our president, and moreover a great legist. You know more about
it than I do. Enlighten me, I am undecided. Is it true that the bill
violates the Constitution?”
Dupin appeared to think for a moment and then replied:
“No, it doesn’t violate it, but it lifts its clothes up as high as
possible!”
This reminds me of what he said to me the day I spoke upon the Education
Bill. Baudin had permitted me to take his turn to speak, and I went up
to the presidential chair to notify Dupin.
“Ah! you are going to speak! So much the better!” said he; and pointing
to M. Barthélemy Saint Hilaire, who was then occupying the tribune
and delivering a long and minute technical speech against the measure,
added:
“He is rendering you a service. He is doing the preparatory work. He
is turning the bill’s trousers down. This done you will be able to at
once--”
He completed the phrase with the expressive gesture which consists of
tapping the back of the fingers of the left hand with the fingers of the
right hand.