[Footnote: The original has _Grec_, a Greek. Can Caritidès have wished to allude to the _græaca fides_? _Grec_ means also a cheat at cards, and is said to owe its name to a certain Apoulos, a knight of Greek origin, who was caught in the very act of cheating at play in the latter days of Louis XIV.'s reign, even in the palace of the _grand monarque_.] _by profession, having considered the great and notable abuses which are perpetrated in the inscriptions on the signs of houses, shops, taverns, bowling-alleys, and other places in your good city of Paris; inasmuch as certain ignorant composers of the said inscriptions subvert, by a barbarous, pernicious and hateful spelling, every kind of sense and reason, without any regard for etymology, analogy, energy or allegory whatsoever, to the great scandal of the republic of letters, and of the French nation, which is degraded and dishonoured, by the said abuses and gross faults, in the eyes of strangers, and notably of the Germans, curious readers and inspectors of the said inscriptions..." [Footnote: This is an allusion either to the reputation of the Germans as great drinkers, or as learned decipherers of all kinds of inscriptions.] ER. This petition is very long, and may very likely weary... CAR. Ah, sir, not a word could be cut out. ER. Finish quickly. CAR. (Continuing). "_Humbly petitions your Majesty to constitute, for the good of his state and the glory of his realm, an office of controller, supervisor, corrector, reviser and restorer in general of the said inscriptions; and with this office to honour your suppliant, as well in consideration of his rare and eminent erudition, as of the great and signal services which he has rendered to the state and to your Majesty, by making the anagram of your said Majesty in French, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldean, Arabic_..." ER. (_Interrupting him_). Very good. Give it me quickly and retire: it shall be seen by the King; the thing is as good as done. CAR. Alas! sir, to show my petition is everything. If the King but see it, I am sure of my point; for as his justice is great in all things, he will never be able to refuse my prayer. For the rest, to raise your fame to the skies, give me your name and surname in writing, and I will make a poem, in which the first letters of your name shall appear at both ends of the lines, and in each half measure. ER. Yes, you shall have it to-morrow, Mr. Caritidès. (_Alone_). Upon my word, such learned men are perfect asses. Another time I should have heartily laughed at his folly. SCENE III.--ORMIN, ÉRASTE. ORM. Though a matter of great consequence brings me here, I wished that man to leave before speaking to you. ER. Very well. But make haste; for I wish to be gone.