brilliantly ighted, as well by patent lamps, as by a chandelier in the middle. The furniture had a resemblance to what I had seen in fashionable houses in England. The carpet was of red baize with a Turkish border, and figured in the middle like a harlequin's jacket. The principal novelty was a blue ribbon which divided the room lengthways, the one side of it be. ing for the dancers. the other for the card-players. The ribbon was supported at proper distances by white staves, similar to those of the court ushers.

The ball had little to distinguish it from the balls of England and America, except that the ladies danced with infinitely more skill, and therefore with more grace. The fashionable French dancing is exactly that of our operas. They are all figurantes, and care not what they exhibit, so that they exhibit their skill. I could not but figure to myself the confusion of an English girl, were she even preseut at a French assembly. Yet so powerful is habit, that not only did the ladies seem insensible, but even the gentlemen, such as did not dance, regarded them with indifference.

Cotillons and waltzes were the only dances of the evening. The waltzes were danced in couples, twenty or thirty at a time. The measure was quick, and all the parties seemed animated. I cannot say that I saw any thing indecorous in the embraces of the ladies and their partners, except in the mere act itself; but the waltz will never become a current fashion in England or America.

There is no precedency in a French assembly except among the

military. This is managed with much delicacy. Every group is thrown as much as possib e into a circle. The tables are all circular, and cotillons are chiefly preferred from having this quality.

I did not join the card-players; there were about half a dozen ta. bles, and the several parties appeared to play very high. When the game, or a certain number of games were over, the parties rose from their seats, and bowing to any whom they saw near them, invited them to succeed them in their seats. These invitations were sometimes accepted, but more fre. quently declined. The division of the drawing room set apart for the card-players served rather as a promenade for the company who did not dance; they here ranged themselves in a line along the rib. bon, and criticised the severd dancers. Some of these spectators seemed most egregious fops. One of them, with the exception of his linen, was dressed completely in purple silk or satin, and another in a rose-coloured silk coat, with white satin waistcoat and small clothes, and white silk stockings. The greater part of the ladies were dressed in fancy habits from the antique. Some were sphinxes, some vestals, some Dians, half a dozen Minervas, and a score of Junos and Cleopatras. One girl was pointed out to me as being per. fectly à l'Anglaise. Her hair, perfectly undressed, was combed off her forehead, and hung down her back in its full length behind. She reminded me only of a school. boy playing without his hat.

We were summoned to the sup. per-table about three in the morn. ing. This repast was a perfect English

English dinner. Soup, fish, poultry, and ragouts, succeeded each other in almost endless variety. A fruitbasket was served round by the servants together with the breadbasket, and a small case of liqueurs was placed at every third plate. Some of these were contained in glass figures of Cupids, in which case, in order to get at the liqueur, it was necessary to break off a small globule affixed to the breast of the figure. The French confectioners are more ingenious than delicate in these contrivances; but the French ladies seemed better pleased with such conceit in proportion to their intelligible references. Some of these naked Cupids, which were perfect in all their parts, were handed from the gentlemen to the ladies, and from the ladies to each other, and as freely examined and criticised, as if they had been paintings of birds.. The gentlemen, upon their parts, were equally as facetious upon the naked Venusses; and a swan af. fixed to a Leda, was the lucky source of innumerable pleasant questions and answers. Every thing, in a word, is tolerated which can in any way be passed into an equivoque. Their conver. sation in this respect resembles their dress-no matter how thin that covering may be, so that there be one.

So much for a French assembly or fashionable rout, which certainly excels an English one in elegance and fancy, as much as it falls short of it in substantial mirth. The French, it must be confessed, infinitely excel every other nation in all things connected with spectacle, and more or less this spectacle pervades all their parties. They dance,

they converse, they sing, for exhi bition, and as if they were on the stage. Their conversation, therefore, has frequently more wit than interest, and their dancing more vanity than mirth. They seem in both respects to want that happy carelessness which pleases by being pleased. A French-woman is a figu rante even in her chit-chat.

It may be expected that I did not omit to visit the theatres. Mr. Younge accompanied me successively to nearly all of them-two or three in an evening. Upon this subject, however, I shall say nothing, as every book of travels has so fully described some or other of them, that nothing in fact is far. ther required.

I had resolved not to leave Paris without seeing the emperor, and being informed that he was to hold an audience on the following day, I applied to Mr. Younge to procure my formal introduction. With this purpose we waited upon General Armstrong, who sent my name to the grand chamberlain, with the necessary formalities.This formality is a certificate under the hand of the ambassador, that the person soliciting the introduction has been introduced at his own court, or that, according to the best knowledge of the ambassador, he is not a merchant-a negociant actuel. It may be briefly observed, however, that the French negociant answers better to the English mechanic, than to the honourable appellation, merchant. General Armstrong promised me a very interesting spectacle in the Imperial audience. "It's the most splendid court in Europe," said. he; "the Court of London, and even of Vicuna, will not hear a comparison

comparison with it." Every one agreed in the justice of this remark, and my curiosity was strongly expressed.

On the day appointed, about three o'clock, Mr. Younge accompanied me to the palace, where we were immediately conducted to a splendid saloon, which is termed the Ambassadors' Hall. Refreshments were here handed round to the company, which was very numerous, and amongst them many German princes in their grand court-dress. The conversation became very general; those who had seen Buonaparte, describing him to those who were about to be introduced. Every one agreed that he was the most extraordinary man that Europe had produced in many centuries, and that even his appear. ance was in no slight degree indicative of his, character. He possesses an eye," said one gentleman, in which Lavater might have understood an hero." Mr. Younge confirmed this observation, and prepared me to regard him with more than common attention.

The doors of the saloon were at length thrown open, and some of the officers of the grand chamber lain, with white wands and embroidered robes and scarfs, bowing low to the company, invited. us, by waving their staves, to follow them up the grand staircase. Every one now arranged themselves, in pairs, behind their respective ambassadors, and followed the ushers in procession, according to the precedence of their respective countries, the Imperial, Spanish, and Neapolitan ambassadors forming the van. The staircase was lined on both sides with grenadiers of the Legion of Honour, most of

whom, privates as well as officers. were arrayed in the order. The officers, as we passed, exchanged salutes with the ambassadors; and as the Imperial ambassador, who led the procession, reached the door of the anti-chamber, two trumpeters on each side played a congratulatory flourish. The ust. ers who had led us so far, now took their stations on each side the door, and others, in more splendid habit, succeeded them in the office of conducting us.

We now entered the anti-cham. ber, in which was stationed the regular guard of the palace. We were here saluted both by privates and officers, the Imperial Guard being considered as part of the household, From the anti-chamber we passed onwards through nearly a dozen most splendid apartments, and at length reached the presencechamber.

My eyes were instantly in search of the emperor, who was at the farther extremity, surrounded by a numerous circle of officers and counsellors. The circle opened on our arrival, and withdrew behind the emperor. The whole of our company now ranged themselves, the ambassadors in front, and their several countrymen behind their respective ministers.

Buonaparte now advanced to the Imperial ambassador, with whom, when present, he always begins the andience. I had now an opportu nity to regard him attentively. His person is below the middle size, but well composed; his features regular, but in their tout ensemble stern and commanding; his complexion sallow, and his general mien military. He was dressed very splendidly in purple velvet,

the

with gold bees, and with the grand star of the Legion of Honour worked into the coat.

He passed no one without no. ticé, and to all the ambassa lors he spoke once or twice. When he reached General Armstrong, he asked him whether America could not live without foreign commerce as well as France? and then added, without waiting for his answer, "There is one nation in the world ི which must be taught, by experience, that her merchants are not necessary to the existence of all others nations, and that she cannot hold us all in commercial slavery; England is only sensible in her compters."

The audience took up little less than two hours, after which the emperor withdrew into an adjoining apartment; and the company departed in the same order, and with the same appendages as upon their entrance.

Of the Country of Magadha, the Kings of which were Lords Paramount and Emperours of India for above Two Thousand Years. [Extracted from an Essay on Anu-Gangam, or the Gangetic Provinces, and more particularly Magadha. By Captain J. Wilford. Published in Asiatic Researches, or Transactions, Vol. ix. Printed verbatim from the Calcutta Edition.]

THE country of Magad'ha was thus called from the numerous families descended from the sage Maga, the offspring of the sun,

rable Twashtáh in the west. They came into India in the time of Crishna, at the request of his son Sámba. They settled in the province of Cicáta, now south Bahar. There are two tribes of Bráhmens in India; those of Can'yácubja, or Canoge; and the S'acas or S'acalas, thus called because they came from Sácam, or Sáca.dwípa. They are also called Magas, from their sire Maga; and from them are sprung all the Magas (or Mugs) in the eastern parts of India, the Burman empire, Siam, and China. I shall give an account of their origin and emigration to India, when I come to treat of the White Island. The other Bráh. mens in India are called Can yácubja, because that was their first settlement on their arrival in India, It is universally acknowledged, that the kings of Magad’ha gave every possible encouragement to learning, which they endeavoured to diffuse through all classes, by encouraging learned men to write in the spoken dialect of the country. Tradition says, that there were treatises on almost every sub ject in the Magadhi, Báli, or Páli dialect, which are supposed to be still extant. I could not, however, procure any; and I believe that they were doomed to oblivion by the Brahmenical class, who by no means encourage the composing of books in the vulgar dialects. Should they exist, however, they are to be found among the follow. ers of Jina; and Major Macken. zie says, that these sectaries are in possession of a great many treatises on different subjects. That this is the case here, I am credibly informed: but the Jainas are not of

a com.

a communicative disposition; and I hope that gentleman will find them more tractable than in the peninsula. From that circum. stance the dialect of Magadha is become the Sanscrit of Ceylon, Siam, and the Burman empire, where it is called indifferently Báli, or Magad'hi. Captain Mahony writes that word Magedee; and Mr. Buchanan, in his fearned and interesting Essay on the Reli. gion and Literature of the Bur. mahs, calls it Magata. Both say that it is the same with the Báli, or Páli, which last denomination prevails through the countries of Ava, Siam, and Ceylon, though hardly known in India, where they call it Magadhi. According to According to Capt. J. Towers, the word Páli is written in Aracan, Palit, where the letter T has a very peculiar sound. The country of Pali, or of the children of Pali, or Bali, the same with Maha-nanda, according to the Purán'as, included all the country to the south of the Ganges, from the banks of the Soane to the western branch of the Ganges.

The Báli characters, either square or round, are obviously derived from the Sanscrit; but is doubtful whether, in their present state, they ever prevailed, or were used in any part of India. Among the numerous inscriptions in Bahar, only a few in that character have been found. One was kindly sent to me by Mr. Dick of the civil service. It was obviously written in the Burmah character, but I could not decipher it.

The Bards of Magadha were in great repute formerly, and they are mentioned under the name of Magad has. They reckon three sorts of Bards in India: the Ma

gad'has, or historians, thus called because those of Magadha were the most esteemed; the Sutas, or Genealogists; and the Bandis, whose duty was to salute, early in the morning, the king or chief, in selected phrase, and well-chosen words, wishing him long life and prosperity. The usual name in India for a Bard is Bhát, vulgarly pronounced Bhat. It is not a Sanscrit appellation, though as. serted to be derived from it. Eat the original name, as it was pronounced several hundred years ago, was Bárdái or Bárdáhi, though some think it a different name, ap plied to the same class of people.

Bhát, or Bhat, is derived from the Sanscrit Varta, or Bar'tà; and which is the same with the English word and the German wort, a word. In the west, Bhats were equally called Bardi in Latin, and and Bhardh in Welsh. They were also called Vatcs, from fari, fatus sum in Latin, the same with Vártá, the letter R being dropped, as in the vulgar dialects of India. They were also denominated Eubages, from the Sanscrit verb Vacha, or Bacha, to speak, which becomes Uvácha and Ubacha, through va rious moods and tenses. Vacha, or Bacha, becomes also Bága, or Vága; hence the Irish word Bogh, rendered Logos, or speech, by General Vallancey. The word Bardai, or Vardai, comes obviously from the same root Vártá; but my learned friends are of opinion, that it comes from Bhár.dánam, which signifies to burden with; because they are burdened with the internal management of the royal household: and this is the case, to this day, in Gurjárat; being next to the Prad'háu, or