Languages & literature > Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane > Volume 3

G I L B L A S. i6j
felf-f'jfficient ftarched airs ! I can’t comprehend how
thou, who haft an acutenefs of underftanding,
can’ll acommodate thyfelf to fuch ftupid guefts ;
this very day, (added he) I will bring hitlrer, fel¬
lows of wit and fpirit.” “ I lhall be obliged to
Jhee (anfwered I) and will entirely depend upon thy
talle in the choice of them.” “ Thou art in the
Tight (faid he) I promife thee fuperior geniufes, of
the moll entertaining charafters. I will go this in-
ftant to a coffee-houfe where they meet, and be-
fpeak them before they engage themfelves elfe-
where; for happy is the man who can have their
company at dinner or fupper, fo much are they
! admired for their agreeable humour,
i So faying he left me, and at fupper-time re¬
turned with fix authors only, whom he introduced
to me, one after another, characterizing each as
he prefented him. To hear him, one would have
thought that thofe wits furpaffed thofe of ancient
Greece and Italy ; and their works, (as he faid)
deferred to be engraven in letters of gold. I re¬
ceived thofe gentlemen very politely, and even af-
feCled to load them with civility ; for the nation
of authors is a little vain-glorious. Though I
had not laid any injunClions on Scipio toi take care
that our table thould be fumptuoufly fornifhed, as
he knew what fort of people I was to treat that
day, he had reinforced our fervices of his own ac¬
cord. In Ihort, we went to fupper in high glee ;
my poets began to talk of themfelves, and were
not ftlent in their own praife. One with a lofty
air, mentioned grandees and ladies of quality wlro
wete delighted with his mufe ; another finding
fault with the choice which a learned academy
had made of two members, modeftly obferved tfiat
«hey ought to have chofen him. The difcourfe of
the