are Paris, I ascended a staircase which led me into a small room, where I found two gentlemen and three electric dials. The one on the left, which belongs to Government, and which is the most perfect, can work off with one hand 110 letters, or, with both hands, 180 letters per minute, three per second. The other two, called "Cadrans alphabétiques," managed as follows. On the right of each machine there lies on the table before the operator a horizontal brass dial, of about ten inches in diameter, the circumference of which is marked with an alphabet and figures corresponding with those on the machine before him. By this arrangement, and by the assistance of a brass radius terminating in a little knob, the operator, working horizontally instead of vertically, rapidly moves the radius of the brass dial from one letter to another, and, as fast as he does so, the corresponding letter at the same instant is repeated on the dial before him, and at its destination! Besides letters, there are used ciphers often expressive of a whole sentence. After thanking the chief engineer for the attention he had been kind enough to show me, I passed into the great covered promenade by which I had entered, and on looking along the range of offices inscribed on the wall, I perceived I had neglected to visit the "Bureau des Renseignemens." I accordingly opened its door and walked in. Within it I found an exceedingly intelligent gentleman, whose duty it is, from half-past seven in the morning till nine at night, on every day of the week, Sundays and all, to be badgered by any man, woman, or child who, naturally or unnaturally, may be hungering or thirsting for railway information; besides which he has to make, in writing, "réclamations" for every description of lost baggage. I felt ashamed to speak to him, but, as he instantly not only addressed me, but, on ascertaining what I wanted, with the utmost goodnature expressed an anxiety to explain to me everything that belonged to his department, I briefly ascertained from him that, during the summer, he and his assistant, then at rest, had to work "énormément ;" that of all travellers the country people of France give him most trouble; that it takes sometimes a quarter of an hour to explain to them un† Applications. + Enormously. * Alphabetical dials. necessary details which, after all, might be understood in two minutes; that of the various trains, the branches of the banlieue" (to short distances from Paris) are the most troublesome; lastly, that all days in the year, fête-days and festivities-which to all other people are moments of enjoyment-give him the most afflicting amount of labour. While I was with him, two or three people, quickly pushing open the door, asked him for information almost at the same time; and while one of them was bothering him with all sorts of little questions that appeared to me not to be worth a farthing a dozen, I heard close to me, exclaimed in a tone of honest joy, "HERE YOU ARE!" On looking round, I found a tall, strong, fine-looking young Englishman, pointing out with his finger to the upturned eyes of his comrade-a foot shorter than himself the precise hour of departure of the to-morrow morning's train from Paris to Boulogne. "OLD ENGLAND FOR EVER!" On walking, or rather crawling, out of the great yard— for I was very tired-I went straight into a café on the Place de Roubaix, and asked the waiter for a cup of coffee. In about half a minute he not only brought it to me, but, almost before I could look at it, as a sort of codicil to the will I had expressed to him, to my horror he filled and left with me a little wine-glass with brandy, and then walked away. This evil custom has of late years become so general in Paris that, as I walked along the streets, I saw within the cafés almost everybody who had coffee, either sipping, or about to sip, a glass of brandy." In returning homewards I stopped for a few moments to look at an open empty black hearse, richly ornamented with silver, to which were harnessed, but standing stock still, a pair of horses smothered alive in black trappings, edged with silver, and covered with silver stars and silver tears. The reins were black and silver. The coachman, dressed in a black cloak, with a pair of large jack-boots, with white linen wrapped round his knees inside, had on his head a black ocked hat edged with silver. Close to the horses there od, as chief mourner, a splendid, tall, well-fed man, dressa cocked hat, black coat with a collar of purple and silnd purple scarf edged with long silver bullion; lastly. resting against the wall of a shop, hung with black cloth decorated with silver, were four men in black. As I was gazing at the horses, coachman, and tall man in black, purple, and silver, I observed that everybody that passed on either side of the street, without looking to the right or left, either took off his hat, or with his right hand touched its brim. I thought at first they were all saluting the empty hearse; but on looking into the black shop, I saw within it, resting on two tressles, and illuminated by eight candles, the coffin of a man whose name, obliterated by the black cloth that covered his remains, nobody stopped to inquire about; who had died nobody knew why; and who was going to be buried nobody knew where. The civility, however, in Paris bestowed upon the living, is as politely extended to them when they are dead. SUNDAY, THE 4TH MAY. Ar nine o'clock in the morning, with my umbrella in my hand, I sallied forth from my lodgings to behold the great fête, the preparations for which had for so many days engaged the time and the talk of almost everybody in Paris. The weather was dirty, moist; and as there was every appearance that it would become more dull and more moist, I hastened to the Place de la Concorde, the fountains of which, surrounded by people, I found converted, as I have described, into enormous gilt wicker baskets full of roses, red and yellow, variegated with ruddy-faced apples as big as melons. The goddesses' heads were now completely concealed by bushes formed of the tops of young fir-trees. Encircling the whole there gracefully hung, increasing in size from the ends towards the centres, wreaths oomposed of 212 ground-glass globe lamps. In various parts of the Place several men were busily fixing fireworks; others, with large paint-brushes, rapidly converting a mass of huge wooden packing-cases into beautiful rocks, among which, entire fir-trees had been inserted. In every direction was to be heard the tap and roll of drums, preceding masses of moving bristling bayonets, dully shining over the heads of the crowd through which they were passing. On both banks of the Seine every vessel, and especially the long low baths moored close to the stone pier, were ornamented with flags. As I approached the Pont de la Concorde the concourse of people was immense. "Violà, Messieurs !" I heard every where, from voices, high, low, male, female, but already more or less hoarse and worn out, "le Programme détaillé de la Fête; la description des Statues, du Rocher de Cascade, pour la bagatelle d'un sou !"* 66 Achetez, Monsieur !" said to me a stout woman, with a brown, honest, healthy face, ornamented with a long pair of gold earrings, embedded in a white cap, beautifully plaited, as she offered me one of the armful of printed "Programmes" she was describing. As I was complying with her request, several other hands were stretched towards her for a copy, which she supplied with great alacrity, continuing unceasingly, but every moment a little more hoarsely, to exclaim, "Voilà, Messieurs, le Programme détaillé," &c. &c. &c. In the middle of her announcement, "Pardon, Madame," she suddenly said to one of her customers, "c'est une demoiselle!" The lady took back the money she had paid, and in exchange gave her the sou she had required. "What is a demoiselle, if you please?" whispered I to the woman whose offering had been rejected. Mais voyez, Monsieur !" she replied, presenting to me a copper coin, on which I saw the figure of Britannia. She had offered an English halfpenny instead of a French one. Here and there were to be seen standing bolt upright, or pacing backwards and forwards, a "sergent de ville" (Anglicè policeman), attired in a blue single-breasted coat, remarkably well made, with long broad skirts, edged round with small red cord, silver buttons-a silver ship, the arms of the city of Paris, embroidered on the collar-and a brass-hilted straight * Here, gentlemen, is a detailed account of the Fete; a description of the statues and of the rocky cascade for the trifle of a halfpenny. Buy, Sir!\ Your pardon, Madam! this is a young lady! sword suspended perpendicularly by a black belt beneath the coat. These men, usually well grown, well made, and who, generally speaking, have countenances highly intelligent, wear mustachios, but no whiskers; in lieu of which, from the end of their chins there projects a sharp-pointed beard, which seems to add, if possible, to the extreme sharpness of their appearance. After mingling with the vast concourse of people,-some looking over into the Seine-some at the new statues—some at the colonnade in front of the National Assembly,-I reluctantly left the joyous groups by which I had been surrounded, and walked to the Champs Elysées, where I found a scene of unadulterated happiness, nearly a mile long. The first group I stopped at was surrounding a small oblong table, at the end of which was a common wooden box with four holes in it, each about an inch and a half in diameter. Into them a number of men in blouses were trying to blow through a tube a little arrow. On the top of the box, perfectly happy, sat, quickly nibbling cabbage-leaves,munching a little, and then, apparently unconscious of the presence in creation of any beings but themselves, nibbling again,-six rabbits and a guinea-pig. All of a sudden I heard a slight general exclamation of triumph, caused by a competitor having shot into one of the holes; and almost at the same moment the blouse-covered arm of the man who had done so was stretched towards the largest and fattest of the rabbits, who, while in extreme happiness he was nibbling a piece of the green cabbage-leaf which he had just broken off, was suddenly lifted up by the ears, to be killed, skinned, fricasseed, and eaten by the conqueror; and yet his violently kicking hind-parts were scarcely out of reach of his quondam comrades, when,-so like mankind,-the remaining five went on, with their long thin ears lying on their backs, placidly nibbling and munching, utterly regardless of the game of Death actually performing before their eyes. After passing several turnabouts, billiards, and amusements of various sorts, I came to a lad of about seventeen dressed in a blouse, who, with a large table covered with square pieces of gingerbread of different sizes before him, was unceasingly exclaiming, "On les vend à un sou et à deux sous la pièce. S'ils ne sont bons, on ne les paie pas! On a |