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 amusement, 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.

THE STROLL.

THE next morning, after an early breakfast, and afterwards writing a few letters, I sallied forth from beneath my archway, to enjoy the harmless liberty of looking about me; but although the city had not yet awakened either to business or to pleasure, and although from its streets being comparatively empty, I had full opportunity for observation, and even for contemplation, -I must own that, had I not known I was in Paris, I should not have been informed of the fact by my memory. For the picture had not only, by the chemical process of Time, been dissolved, but, excepting the old sky,-which the artist probably felt he could not very much improve, he had re-painted and re-covered the whole of the canvas with new objects. For instance, with infinite labour, he had everywhere rubbed out that picturesque line of large, frail, creaky, cranky, crazylooking lanterns, which-suspended over the middle of every street, were lowered to be lighted-used always to be seen dangling over the roofs of the carriages that rolled beneath them; and in lieu thereof had substituted a double side series of beautiful gas lamps. Again, with great labour, he had not only scratched up and out that rude ill-constructed pavement of round stones for carriages, horses, and foot-passengers, which, inclining from the houses on each side, used-in the middle even of the gayest thoroughfares-to form a dirty gutter, which, in heavy rain, looked like a little trout stream; but instead of this concave surface he had substituted a beautiful convex road, bounded on each side by a white, clean foot-pavement. The frontage of the shops he had also completely altered; but the greatest liberty he had taken-and when a young enthusiastic artist has a brush in his hand, there is scarcely any liberty that he will not take-was, that he had actually filled up the foreground of his fine new picture of Paris, by crowding the streets with French people! whereas, all the time I saw the city, I can faithfully declare that the only human beings one ever looked at were Russians, Prussians, Austrians, Hanoverians, Belgians, British, and

wild-looking Cossacks, carrying, on starved little horses, lances so disproportionately long that they looked as if they had Quixotically come from an immense distance, and from an uncivilised region, to fight against the stars in the firmament of heaven; in short, a nation of brave men, who, singlehanded, had conquered the armies of almost every nation in Europe, were, from the insatiable ambition of one man, overwhelmed by the just and well-arranged union of half-a-dozen powerful nations, united together to wage war, not against France, but against the unrelenting enemy of mankind!

I was enjoying this mixture of feelings, and, without having reflected where I would go, or what I would do with myself, I was looking at everything at once, and especially at the variety of moving objects around me, when there drove by a gaudy omnibus, on the back of which, among several other names, I observed inscribed the word "PASSY." It was the little village about a league off at which I had last been quartered; and although I had since scarcely ever thought of it, in one second I recollected the happy group among which I had lived an "enfant de famille." "The good old people will long ago have vanished; the young ones will probably be grandmothers; however (waving my stick), I will, at all events, once again beat up their quarters."

In compliance with my signal, the 'bus stopped; and as it happened to be one of the few that carry passengers outside, in a few seconds I found myself seated by the coachman. "C'est la maison du Président,"* said he to me, pointing with his whip to the trees of the Elysée; thus evidently showing that before I had opened my mouth he was aware I was a raw stranger. As we were driving up the avenue of the Champs Elysées I had an opportunity-in the preparations for the approaching fête of the republic-of witnessing the latest improved method of making great men. summit of each of a series of lofty plaster pedestals, of elegant form, distant about 80 yards from each other, there had been inserted a sort of telegraphic signal, composed sometimes of a single beam, placed vertically, sometimes of a huge representation of the letter A, terminating in the letter I, sometimes of the letter X, sometimes of the letter Y, sometimes of the

*That is the house of the President.

On the