This was marvellously well engrossed.  An expert would have said that it was written in the eighteenth century.  Twenty-seven reports of receptions of neophytes followed, the last in the fatal year of 1792.  Then came a blank of fourteen years; after which the register began again, in 1806, with the appointment of Bordin as attorney before the first Court of the Seine.  And here follows the deed which proclaimed the reconstitution of the kingdom of Basoche:—­

God in his mercy willed that, in spite of the fearful storms which have cruelly ravaged the land of France, now become a great Empire, the archives of the very celebrated Practice of Maitre Bordin should be preserved; and we, the undersigned, clerks of the very virtuous and very worthy Maitre Bordin, do not hesitate to attribute this unheard-of preservation, when all titles, privileges, and charters were lost, to the protection of Sainte-Genevieve, patron Saint of this office, and also to the reverence which the last of the procureurs of noble race had for all that belonged to ancient usages and customs.  In the uncertainty of knowing the exact part of Sainte-Genevieve and Maitre Bordin in this miracle, we have resolved, each of us, to go to Saint-Etienne du Mont and there hear mass, which will be said before the altar of that Holy-Shepherdess who sends us sheep to shear, and also to offer a breakfast to our master Bordin, hoping that he will pay the costs.

  Signed:  Oignard, first clerk; Poidevin, second clerk; Proust,
  clerk; Augustin Coret, sub-clerk.

  At the office.

  November, 1806.

At three in the afternoon, the above-named clerks hereby return their grateful thanks to their excellent master, who regaled them at the establishment of the Sieur Rolland restaurateur, rue du Hasard, with exquisite wines of three regions, to wit:  Bordeaux, Champagne, and Burgundy, also with dishes most carefully chosen, between the hours of four in the afternoon to half-past seven in the evening.  Coffee, ices, and liqueurs were in abundance.  But the presence of the master himself forbade the chanting of hymns of praise in clerical stanzas.  No clerk exceeded the bounds of amiable gayety, for the worthy, respectable, and generous patron had promised to take his clerks to see Talma in “Brittanicus,” at the Theatre-Francais.  Long life to Maitre Bordin!  May God shed favors on his venerable pow!  May he sell dear so glorious a practice!  May the rich clients for whom he prays arrive!  May his bills of costs and charges be paid in a trice!  May our masters to come be like him!  May he ever be loved by clerks in other worlds than this!

Here followed thirty-three reports of various receptions of new clerks, distinguished from one another by different writing and different inks, also by quotations, signatures, and praises of good cheer and wines, which seemed to show that each report was written and signed on the spot, “inter pocula.”