"_C'est
du rococo_," it is mere stuff, or nonsense, or rather twaddle. It was
born on the stage, about ten years ago, at one of the minor theatres
at Paris, though probably borrowed from a wine-shop, and most likely
will have as brief an existence as our own late "flare-up," and such
ephemeral colloquialisms, or rather vulgarisms, that tickle the public
fancy for a day, till pushed from their stool by another.
X.
March 18. 1850.
_God tempers the Wind, &c._--The French proverb, "A brebis tondue
Dieu mesure le vent" (God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb), will
be found in Quitard's _Dictionnaire etymologique, historique et
anecdotique, des Proverbes, et des Locutions proverbiales de la
Langue francaise_, 8vo. Paris, 1842. Mons. Quitard adds the following
explanation of the proverb:--"Dieu proportionne a nos forces les
afflictions qu'il nous envoie." I have also found this proverb in
Furetiere's _Dictionnaire universal de tous les Mots francais_, &c. 4
vols. folio, La Haye, 1727.
J.M.
Oxford.
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