The Harvesters

Well! But without a doubt. It is not necessary
That a lord, who is but a good father,
Should be more adorned than his children.

Your house looks like a barracks:
How, for a year now, have you changed nothing!
I have told you a hundred times, you are poorly housed.
Oh! This is a care that concerns me;
I want to bring you the architect I have:
He will know how to give it a little modern air.

An architect does to old buildings
What a doctor of medicine
Does to weak constitutions.
By dint of touching them, he hastens their ruin.
If I had a large number of valets with me,
If I were a great lord, or if I were born a prince,
One would be grateful to me for erecting palaces
To circulate money in my province.
My dear nephew, I want my house,
Of simple and modest appearance,
To announce to the eyes of reason
More comfort than magnificence.
To receive my friends and equals there properly,
I want it, like my heart, to be antique.
Gaiety and happiness are found under a rustic roof.
They lose their way in castles.

My uncle, however, if you would understand...

My time is precious, I lose it listening to you;
And my moments will be better employed elsewhere.
Take my ferrets: I will have you led
To all the best burrows.
The rabbits eat everything, try to destroy them;
I, I am going to return with our harvesters.

There she is, there she is; it is she...