Little Pierre [antikvár]

LITTLE PIERRE CHAPTER I Inctpe} Parve Puer, Risu Cognoscere Matrem Y rnother often used to teli me a variety of things connected with my entry into this world that did not strike me as meriting the importance she attached to them. I paid no very great attention to them and they have faded from my recollection. "Quand vient Penfant á recevoir, II faut la sage-femme avoir Et des comméres un grand tas . . It may certainly be affirmed, if the stories told me were true, that the custom referred to in these lines of an old Parisian rhymester had not altogether fallen into desuetude in the days when the reign of King Louis Philippe was drawing to a close; for there was a great gathering of worthy dames in Mistress Noziére's bedchamber to await my arrival in this vale of tears. It was April and the weather was chilly. Four or five of the neighbouring gossips, among them Madame Caumont, who had a bookshop hard by, Madame Veuve 9