THE WORKS OF ANATOLE FRANCE IN AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION EDITED BY FREDERIC CHAPMAN THE OPINIONS OF JÉRÔME COIGNARD [Illustration] THE OPINIONS OF JÉRÔME COIGNARD BY ANATOLE FRANCE A TRANSLATION BY MRS. WILFRID JACKSON [Illustration] LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY TORONTO: BELL AND COCKBURN: MCMXIII THE BALLANTYNE PRESS TAVISTOCK STREET COVENT GARDEN LONDON CONTENTS PAGE THE ABBÉ JÉRÔME COIGNARD 1 THE OPINIONS OF JÉRÔME COIGNARD 29 I. MINISTERS OF STATE 31 II. SAINT ABRAHAM 39 III. MINISTERS OF STATE (_concluded_) 53 IV. THE AFFAIR OF THE MISSISSIPPI 61 V. EASTER-EGGS 69 VI. THE NEW MINISTRY 81 VII. THE NEW MINISTRY (_concluded_) 88 VIII. THE CITY MAGISTRATES 98 IX. SCIENCE 107 X. THE ARMY 115 XI. THE ARMY (_continued_) 124 XII. THE ARMY (_concluded_) 130 XIII. ACADEMIES 137 XIV. SEDITION-MONGERS 148 XV. REVOLUTIONARY MEASURES 156 XVI. HISTORY 166 XVII. MONSIEUR NICODÈME 174 XVIII. JUSTICE 183 XIX. THE BEADLE’S STORY 187 XX. JUSTICE (_continued_) 195 XXI. JUSTICE (_continued_) 208 XXII. JUSTICE (_concluded_) 213 THE ABBÉ JÉRÔME COIGNARD TO OCTAVE MIRBEAU There is no need for me to tell over again here the life of Monsieur l’Abbé Jérôme Coignard, professor of oratory at the college of Beauvais, librarian to Monseigneur de Séez, _Sagiensis episcopi bibliothecarius solertissimus_, as his epitaph has it, later on secretary at the Cemetery of the Holy Innocents, and finally curator of that queen of libraries (the Astaracian), whose loss is for ever to be deplored. He perished, assassinated, on the Lyons road, by a Jew cabalist of the name of Mosaïde (_Judæa manu nefandissima_), leaving several incomplete works, and the memory of his admirable familiar conversation. All the circumstances of his odd existence and tragic end have been reported by his disciple Jacques Menétrier, called Tournebroche, or Turnspit, because he was the son of a cook in the Rue St. Jacques. This Tournebroche professed for him whom it was his habit to speak of as his good master, a lively and tender admiration. “His was the kindliest soul,” said he, “that ever blossomed on this earth.” Modestly and faithfully he edited the memoirs of the Abbé, who lives again in the work as Socrates does in the Memorabilia of Xenophon.