to the conducteur of a neat looking omnibus on which was inscribed" Hôtel de Meurice."

"I know we shall be well off there," said I, partly to myself and partly to my portmanteau, " and at our leisure we can at any moment better ourselves if we should desire to do so." It appeared that a great many other people, and a great many other portmanteaus, and other articles of baggage, thought exactly as we did, for I and my property had scarcely taken our respective places inside and out, when various lumping sounds on the roof, and various ascending feet on the steps, continued to follow each other in quick succession, until in a few minutes the interior, and I believe exterior, of the carriage were stuffed as full as ever they could hold, and then away we all rolled and rumbled.

Between the hats, bonnets, and shoulders of the row of people who sat before me in mute silence, I occasionally caught a glimpse, sometimes of something yellow, then of something green,-then of a pane of glass or two, then of a portion of a shop window,-then of part of the head of a gentleman on horseback; but when, driving under an archway, we entered the little yard of the hôtel de Meurice, with becoming modesty I frankly acknowledged to myself, that although in a handsome carriage I had just driven through the noblest, the finest, the most magnificent, and, in ancient and modern history, the most celebrated streets, boulevards, and "places" of Paris, I was unable to impart, either verbally or in writing, much information on the subject.

"With the assistance of a little time and reflection I hope to do better!" and suiting my action to the words of my thoughts, I was just going, as I got out of the 'bus, to look once around me to observe what the yard might contain, when I found myself surrounded and addressed by two or three waiters, who, with some fine bows, informed me, in French, that the table d'hôte had just been served, and that if I would like to dine there I could at once take my place. OH, Do!" whispered a well-known voice within me, and accordingly, influenced by it, following one of the "garçons" into a large, long, handsome room, I glided behind the backs, chairs, and bent heads of one row of people, and before the faces, glasses, tumblers, bottles of wine, knives, forks, and deep plates of another row of ladies and gentlemen, each of

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whom was more or less intently occupied in sipping or supping out of a silver spoon-soup. At the further end of this hospital of patients, all obediently taking the same medicine, were a few vacant chairs, which, almost before I could sit down, were filled by my fellow travellers.

As soon as the well-arranged feast was over, several persons arose from their chairs, and, joyfully following their example, I recovered possession of my hat and stick, and then, escaping into the yard, and walking out of the Portecochère, I became in one moment what, during almost the whole of the repast, I had been yearning to be an atom of the gay, thoughtless, happy crowd that in every direction were swarming along the streets of Paris.

It would, no doubt, have been correct and proper that, regardless of the vain occupations of man, or of the ephemeral fashions of the day, I should have commenced my observation of the city of Paris by a calm, philosophical comparison between its architectural formation six-and-thirty years ago, and its present structure. I had fully intended to do so; but my eyes would not allow my mind to reflect for a moment on any subject, and accordingly I had hardly proceeded ten yards before, I am ashamed to acknowledge, I found myself gaping into a shop-window at a large doll, with a white handkerchief in her hand, and on her lap, a paper, on which was written,—

"MA TETE EST EN PORCELAINE:

J'AI DES SŒURS DE TOUTES GRANDEURS.'
""*

Within, seated at a table, were three young women, very well dressed, never looking towards the street, but talking to each other, and sewing for their very lives. Beside me stood gaping, like myself, an old woman holding in her hand a roll nearly three feet long, and a soldier with a parcel in the folded sleeve of his one-armed uniform coat.

On leaving the window, my attention was attracted by light green, dark green, light yellow, dark yellow, blue, and parti-coloured omnibuses, driven by coachmen sometimes in bright yellow, sometimes in pea-green hats, and in clothes of such brilliant colours that the equipages, as they successively

* My head is made of china:

I have sisters of all sizes.

passed, reminded me of the plumages of various descriptions of gaudy parrots, which in southern latitudes I had seen flying from tree to tree. Then there passed a paysanne on horseback, with her little daughter behind her, both wearing handkerchiefs round their heads, the miserable horse also carrying two panniers full of sticks and other purchases he was evidently taking back to the country; then came rumbling by, driven by two soldiers in undress uniform, a rattling, badly painted, small low waggon, on which was inscribed,—

"TRÉSOR PUBLIC." *

Then passed, very slowly I thought, a "Hansom's cab," improved into a neat light chariot; then approached a waggon drawn by four horses, in light-coloured harness, with scarlet tufts hanging from each side of the brow-band of the bridles, also dotted along the crupper, their collars, as also the wooden wings affixed to them, being covered with a deep dark-blue shaggy rug. Close behind this vehicle I observed, on extraordinary high wheels, a one-horse cart, marked "Roulage," with shafts 25 feet long! then rolled by, as if from another world, a sort of devil-may-care old-fashioned diligence, having on its top, in charge of a rude, undigested, and undigestible mass of baggage, a sandy-coloured, cock-eared dog, stamping with its fore-feet, and barking most furiously at everybody and at everything that moved.

As I was advancing with one crowd, and at the same time meeting another, all, like myself, sauntering about for amuse ment, I saw in a shop a watchmaker earnestly looking through a magnifying glass, stuck before his right eye, at the glittering works of a watch, on which his black beard was resting like a brush. In another window were several double sets of pink gums, that by clockwork, kept slowly opening and shutting. In each, teeth, here and there moving from their sockets, went down the throats of their respective owners, leaving serrated gaps. In a short time up they slowly came again, resuming their places so accurately that it was impossible to see joint or crevice of any sort. To any gentleman or lady who had happened to lose a front tooth, the moral was of course self-evident.

*Public treasure.

Within a handsome shop, over which was inscribed “Café et Glaces," "I observed seated at an exalted bar-on which appeared a large basin full of lumps of ice, a quantity of lemons in silver-mounted stands, and a double row of bottles containing fluids of various colours,-two young ladies, who, according to the fashion of the day, were not attired alike. Both were intently sewing. Before them were about thirty little marble tables, round, square, and oblong. At one a man, and apparently his old wife, seated opposite to each other, were playing together, at dominoes, some of which were lying with their speckled faces uppermost, the rest on their white edges waiting to be played. Beside this happy couple sat, watching the game, an old gentleman with-for some reason or other -a toothpick sticking out of his mouth, and, for some other very good and glorious reason, a red ribbon in one of his button-holes.

In several windows were advertisements, addressed apparently to people of large appetites and small fortunes. For instance, in one I observed

"DEJEUNES À 25 SOUS PAR TÊTE. ON A DEUX PLATS AUX CHOIX, UNE DEMI-BOUTEILLE DE VIN, UN DESSERT, ET PAIN À DISCRETION.†

In others were notices exclusively addressed to the British people, such as-in one

in another

"L'OMBRELLES."

"BOTTES CONFORTABLES."S

A little shop selling a few faded vegetables and seeds, had magnificently entitled itself

“HERBORISTERIE."|

On strolling to the Boulevards, which appeared to be a region of beards black, white, brown, sandy, foxy, red, long,

* Coffee and ices.

Breakfasts at 25 sous a-head. Two dishes at choice, half a bottle of wine, a dessert, and as much bread as is desired.

Umbrellas.

Comfortable Boots.

An Herboristery.

short, sharp-pointed, round,-in short, it was evident that the beards of no two male members of the republic had been “born alike,”—I came to a large "CAFÉ," before which were seated on chairs, twisted into various groups, a mass of men enjoying the inestimable luxury of placidly puffing away half an hour or so of their existence. Some were reading, or rather half mesmerised-were pretending to read a newspaper, which, in a different attitude, each held before his eyes or prostrate on his knees, by a mahogany stick, in which the intelligence, &c., was securely affixed. Among all these indolent-looking men I observed very busily worming her way, a quietly-dressed, plump, pretty, modest-looking girl of about seventeen, supporting in her left arm a basketful of small bouquets, very tastefully arranged. Without the smallest attempt to extol her goods, and evidently without the slightest desire either to speak to or to be spoken to by any of the occupiers of the chairs, she quietly as she passed along put into the button-hole of the coat or waistcoat of each, a blooming flower, which, without application for payment, she left in the breast of man to vegetate and grow into a penny,-two pence, three pence, or to fade into nothing at all, as it might think proper, or rather, according to the soil on which it fell For some time I thought her speculation a complete failure. At last an old gentleman slowly raised his hand, and, on her approaching it, I perceived that from a variety of fingers of all ages there dropped into her basket a copper harvest.

After wandering homewards for some little time, I read on the corner of a street into which I entered, "Rue du 29 Juillet,"* which I was pleased to find was, as I expected, close to the point from which I had started, and accordingly, entering Meurice's hotel, I ascended a staircase,—was conducted into the room that had been allotted for me, and in a few minutes dropped off to sleep.

* 29th of July Street.