Upon this there appeared such a crowd of candidates that a large
fleet could not have contained them. Candide, willing to choose from
among those who appeared most likely to answer his intention, selected
twenty, who seemed to him the most sociable, and who all pretended
to merit the preference. He invited them to his inn, and promised to
treat them with a supper, on condition that every man should bind
himself by an oath to relate his own history; declaring at the same
time, that he would make choice of that person who should appear to
him the most deserving of compassion, and the most justly dissatisfied
with his condition in life; and that he would make a present to the
rest.
This extraordinary assembly continued sitting till four in the
morning. Candide, while he was listening to their adventures, called
to mind what the old woman had said to him in their voyage to Buenos
Ayres, and the wager she had laid that there was not a person on board
the ship but had met with great misfortunes. Every story he heard
put him in mind of Pangloss.
"My old master," said he, "would be confoundedly put to it to
demonstrate his favorite system. Would he were here! Certainly if
everything is for the best, it is in El Dorado, and not in the other
parts of the world.
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