the Opera, to a box which Lord Auckland had, and sat by a pretty little girl, Miss Herbert: the pieces, my old friends "Anacreon chez Polycrète" and "Flore et Zephyre." Lord Lansdowne mentioned at dinner the practice which they have in Ava of annually squirting water at each other,king, court, and all. Eat ice at Tortoni's afterwards. Lord John to-day mentioned that Sydney Smith told him he had had an intention once of writing a book of maxims, but never got further than the following: "That generally towards the age of forty, women get tired of being virtuous, and men of being honest."

11th. Went to see the Exposition of the year at the Louvre. The pictures strike me as not very good, but I yield to the opinion of others. William Locke (who, though an ultra-Fuseli in his taste, knows a good deal of the art) says the French artists are making great progress ; and Comerford, the painter, whom I met to-day at the Louvre, praises their historical pictures most warmly. Called afterwards at Galignani's: had already purchased, for forty francs, his complete edition of my works, in six volumes. Cruel kindness this, to rake up all the rubbish I have ever written in my life-good, bad, and indifferent ; it makes me ill to look at it. Went to Lafitte's for money, and found a long-wished-for letter from my darling Bessy. Dined with the Rancliffes, Lady Adelaide Forbes, Lord John, and Mrs. Villiers. The fashion now, it seems, among Frenchwomen is politics: they talk of passing the greater part of the morning at the Chambre des Députés, instead of at a milliner's, &c. &c. Went afterwards to the Feydeau; "Richard Cœur de Lion," which I had seen before. Wrote to Gallois to put him off a dinner we had fixed with him, on account of a fête at St. Cloud to

morrow.

12th. Went, at a little after eleven, to the cemetery of Père la Chaise, and have seldom been more affected than I was at this very interesting place, which throws a sort of charm over death, and is highly creditable to the domestic feelings of the French. The inscriptions, some of them, most simple and touching. Molière and La Fontaine's tombs are near each other, but not decorated or soignés. I did not see Ney's nor Labédoyère's: the name of the former, I hear, is effaced, and it is only to be found out with the assistance of the Concierge. The tomb of the Isabeys is remarkable. Suard's too, who died lately, very old: at the bottom of the inscription over him is, Il attend son amie; somebody wrote Qu'il attende. I saw there the tomb of poor Miss Coghlan, the Duchesse de Castries, uxor optima, as the stone called her. Afterwards went to the great fête at St. Cloud: a large party of us; the Lansdownes, Macdonalds, Lord Auckland, Fielding (Lady Elizabeth's husband), and Mrs. and Miss Herbert. I had the care of the latter through the day. Nothing could be gayer than this fête, and one of the jets d'eau was quite sublime. Went to a show to see canaries fire off little cannons, stand on their heads, pretend to be dead, &c. &c. Dined at St. Cloud, and walked about afterwards among the crowd of dancers, mountebanks, mirloton players, &c. &c. Returned to town at nine. I went to sup at the Café Hardy, on a salade de volaille, having got but little to eat at St. Cloud.

13th. Called upon the Herberts, and sang to them: the little girl sang one or two things rather pretty, which she promised to copy out for me. Went afterwards with Lord John to the Panorama of Jerusalem. Dined with Lady Charlotte Fitzgerald: company, Lord Granard and Mrs. Rawdon. Lord Lansdowne had called before I left

home, and fixed to go with me to the Opera: came for me to Lady Charlotte's at seven. The entertainments, "Le Devin du Village," "Le Rossignol," and the "Carnival de Venise." Extreme simplicity of the "Devin du Village; " it must be confessed, too, rather dull. Met Count and Countess Flahault coming out of the theatre: asked me to dine with Madame de Souza on Thursday next. This morning looked over some of the "Novelle" of Casti at a bookseller's, and found them much more licentious than I expected.

14th. Lord John mentioned that Lord Holland once kept a journal for a week of the conversations at Holland House, and that he reads it himself with much effect, being such an excellent mimic. Grattan was a principal person in the conversations. Buonaparte said to one of his servile flatterers, who was proposing to him a plan for remodelling the Institute, Laissons, au moins, la République des lettres. Dined at the Cadran Bleu, and went afterwards to the Ambigu Comique to see the " Songe;" the last scene most beautiful; the hinder part of the floor of the stage is completely taken away, and a moonlight valley with villages &c. made in it. The actors came up from this valley.

15th. My arrival in Paris announced in Galignani. Went with the Herberts and Lord Auckland to the Opera; "Armida," beautiful in music, in spectacle, and in dancers. The song, Plus j'observe ces lieux, et plus je les admire, delicious; the symphony mixing the flowing of the river with the warbling of birds. Went home with the Herberts, and on leaving them was stopped by an Englishman on the Boulevards, who begged me to go with him a little way to seize two fellows who formed part of a gang that attacked him last night. "If it hadn't

been for my own courage," he added, "by the Almighty God I should have been murdered." Told me that a young Englishman had been murdered on the spot a few nights since. His manner very suspicious. Made an excuse of some appointment, &c., and left him to seize the two bravos himself.

16th. Called upon the Herberts: sung to the little girl, and copied out the "Evening Bells" for her. Dreadful rain; got the two pieces of the evening, and came home and read them:-"La Coquette corrigée" and "Le Légs." Dined with the Flahaults: company, Gallois, Monsieur Trecchi, &c. Madle. Mars's acting very charming, but, in my mind, a little over-rated; her head shakes a great deal. The play one that reads better than it acts. Took ice with Lord John at Rucchesi's afterwards. Voltaire listening to an author, who was reading to him his comedy and said, Ici le Chevalier rit, exclaimed, Il est bien heureux ! By the bye, received a letter to-day from a Sir John Wycherly, of whom I know nothing, apologising for his taking such a liberty with "the first poet of the age,” but saying that he has his friend Sir Sidney Smith to dinner, and begging me, "like the bards of old, to waive ceremony and join the party."

17th. A poem on my arrival in Paris in Galignani : received a letter from a lady, who says she is an old friend of mine, and quoting some lines of mine from "Go, where glory waits thee." She ends the letter thus, "Who can this be? you will say. Come and see.' Went with Lady Adelaide Forbes and her sister to the Exposition des Produits de l'Industrie. Called afterwards at the Rue des Moulins, to find the lady who wrote the letter; but she was out. Dined at Beauvilliers' with Lord John; and then, he to the Français, and I to the Opera: “La

Vestale;" delighted with it, as usual. Few things set my imagination on the wing so much as these spectacles at the Opera. 18th. Left Paris at eleven, and arrived at Fontainebleau to dinner. Went to see the chateau. The table on which Buonaparte signed his abdication still shown, with the marks of his penknife which he dug into it. The old fellow who showed us the gardens (which were laid out in their present style by Nap.) told us the name of the place was taken from a dog of the name of "Bleau," who found out the spring of the stream that runs through it: showed us the court where Nap. took leave of his guards, which the old fellow described with much animation. Saw the theatre, and thought of Rousseau, &c. Had read the "Le Lépreux de la Cité d'Aoste”* in coming along; very interesting and melancholy.

19th. Breakfasted at Villeneuve [-le-Guiard]; dined at Joigny; slept at Tonnerre. Began to-day "Luther's Life," by Bower. Had great difficulty in lighting our fire at night at Tonnerre. I said the wood was like the houses at Paris, assuré contre l'incendie, which amused Lord John.

20th. Breakfasted before we set out; lunched at Villeneuve, and slept at Dijon; passed through Montbard, where Buffon's house is. Finished "Luther's Life." Lord John repeated to me some verses he wrote upon Dugald Stewart, which are very good indeed.

21st. Dined at Poligny, and slept at Champagnole : this last a wretched inn. Anecdotes on the way. It was said of Lord Eldon and Leach, that one was Oyer sans terminer, and the other Terminer sans oyer. Of a translator from the German Benjamin Constant said, Il

* By M. Xavier de Maistre, lately deceased.