Quand un bon vin meuble mon estomac,
Je suis plus savant que Balzac ---
Plus sage que Pibrac;
Mon brass seul faisant l'attaque
De la nation Cossaque,
La mettroit au sac;
De Charon je passerois le lac,
En dormant dans son bac;
J'irois au fier Eac,
Sans que mon cœur fit tic ni tac,
Présenter du tabac.
THAT Pierre Bon-Bon was a restaurateur of uncommon qualifications, no man who,
during the reign of ---------, frequented the little Câfé in the cul-de-sac Le Febvre at
Rouen, will, I imagine, feel himself at liberty to dispute. That Pierre Bon-Bon was, in an
equal degree, skilled in the philosophy of that period is, I presume, still more especially
undeniable. His patés à la fois were beyond doubt immaculate; but what pen can do
justice to his essays sur la Nature --- his thoughts sur l'Ame --- his observations sur
l'Esprit ? If his omelettes --- if his fricandeaux were inestimable, what littérateur of that
day would not have given twice as much for an "Idée de Bon-Bon" as for all the trash of
"Idées" of all the rest of the savants ? Bon-Bon had ransacked libraries which no other
man had ransacked --- had more than any other would have entertained a notion of
reading- had understood more than any other would have conceived the possibility of
understanding; and although, while he flourished, there were not wanting some authors at
Rouen to assert "that his dicta evinced neither the purity of the Academy, nor the depth of
the Lyceum" --- although, mark me, his doctrines were by no means very generally
comprehended, still it did not follow that they were difficult of comprehension. It was, I
think, on account of their self-evidency that many persons were led to consider them
abstruse. It is to Bon-Bon --- but let this go no farther --- it is to Bon-Bon that Kant
himself is mainly indebted for his metaphysics. The former was indeed not a Platonist,
nor strictly speaking an Aristotelian --- nor did he, like the modern Leibnitz, waste those
precious hours which might be employed in the invention of a fricasée or, facili gradu,
the analysis of a sensation, in frivolous attempts at reconciling the obstinate oils and
waters of ethical discussion. Not at all. Bon-Bon was Ionic --- Bon-Bon was equally
Italic. He reasoned a priori --- He reasoned also a posteriori. His ideas were innate --- or
otherwise. He believed in George of Trebizonde --- He believed in Bossarion [Bessarion].
Bon-Bon was emphatically a --- Bon-Bonist.
I have spoken of the philosopher in his capacity of restaurateur. I would not, however,
have any friend of mine imagine that, in fulfilling his hereditary duties in that line, our
hero wanted a proper estimation of their dignity and importance. Far from it. It was
impossible to say in which branch of his profession he took the greater pride. In his
opinion the powers of the intellect held intimate connection with the capabilities of the
stomach. I am not sure, indeed, that he greatly disagreed with the Chinese, who held that
