“The lady of the castle showed us: these laces,

these dresses, these ribbons, these satin shoes;

These rings, these perfumes that make the ugly beautiful

and which would look so good on me all the more so on me.

What are you saying, my poor Théréson?

-What! am I not better than this bride,

Marquise but shady eye and deviated waist,

And shouldn’t we put, for good measure,

My fichus on her neck, her necklaces on mine?”

Louise Colet