How many boon companions have I seen, who, after the loss of children, wives, mistresses, fortune, and even health itself, have eagerly resorted to a party to retail a piece of scandal, or to a supper to tell humorous stories. Solidity consists chiefly in a uniformity of ideas. It has been said that a man of sense should invariably think in the same way; reduced to such an alternative, it would be better not to have been born. The ancients never invented a finer fable than that which bestowed a cup of the water of Lethe on all who entered the Elysian fields. If you would tolerate life, mortals, forget yourselves, and enjoy it. GALLANT. This word is derived from "_gal_" the original signification of which was gayety and rejoicing, as may be seen in Alain Chartier, and in Froissart. Even in the "Romance of the Rose" we meet with the word "_galandé_" in the sense of ornamented, adorned. _La belle fut bien attornie_ _Et d'un filet d'or galandée._ It is probable that the _gala_ of the Italians, and the _galan_ of the Spaniards, are derived from the word "_gal_" which seems to be originally Celtic; hence, was insensibly formed _gallant_, which signifies a man forward, or eager to please. The term received an improved and more noble signification in the times of chivalry, when the desire to please manifested itself in feats of arms, and personal conflict. To conduct himself gallantly, to extricate himself from an affair gallantly, implies, even at present, a man's conducting himself conformably to principle and honor. A gallant man among the English, signifies a man of courage; in France it means more--a man of noble general demeanor. A gallant (_un homme galant_) is totally different from a gallant man (_un galant homme_); the latter means a man of respectable and honorable feeling--the former, something nearer the character of a _petit maître_ a man successfully addicted to intrigue. Being gallant (_être galant_) in general implies an assiduity to please by studious attentions, and flattering deference. "He was exceedingly gallant to those ladies," means merely, he behaved more than politely to them; but being the gallant of a lady is an expression of stronger meaning; it signifies being her lover; the word is scarcely any longer in use in this sense, except in low or familiar poetry. A gallant is not merely a man devoted to and successful in intrigue, but the term implies, moreover, somewhat of impudence and effrontery, in which sense Fontaine uses it in the following: "_Mais un 'galant,' chercheur des pucelages_."