Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 60, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 April 1900 — Indorsing the Asp. [ARTICLE]

Indorsing the Asp.

In Marmontel’s tragedy of Cleopatra, represented in the Theatre Francais, when the Egyptian queen was about ready to commit suicide, she held in her hands a mechanical .asp,oil cunning workmanship, devised by Vaucanson, the most ingenious mechanician of his time.

This venomous reptile reared its bead and. before plunging its appareht fangs Into the arm of the actress, gave a shrill hiss. A spectator hereupon arose and left the house, with the simple but expressive remark, “I am of the same opinion as the asp.”