Читать книгу Notes and Queries, Number 77, April 19, 1851 - Various - Страница 3

If stolen wisdom could be returned to its rightful authors, great, indeed, would be the transfer of property. Prince Metternich is said to be the sayer of "After me the Deluge." And yet the Prince took the saying from the mouth of Madame Pompadour; and she took it—from whom? It may be reasonably doubted that her brain originated it; for it was not an order of brain that packs wisdom in few syllables.

"'After me the Deluge,' said Prince Metternich; a fine saying, but a false prophecy we trust."

I quote this from an admirable paper in The Times of to-day (April 10.) on the Crystal Palace, and quote the subscribed from an Essai sur la Marquise de Pompadour, prefixed to the Mémoires de Madame du Hausset, Femme de Chambre de Madame Pompadour, in Barrière's Bibliothèque des Mémoires.

"Madame de Pompadour, dans l'ivresse de la prospérité, répondit à toutes les menaces de l'avenir par ces trois [quatre] mots, "Après nous, le Déluge," qu'elle répétait souvent."

In this case, "Pompadour v. Metternich," surely a verdict must be returned for the lady, unless Voltaire puts in a future claim.

Douglas Jerrold.

West Lodge, Putney Common.