scene as one can behold, on any part of this terraqueous globe, I should think. Then, to us islanders, who are accustomed either to the noise of the pavement of a street, with its line of mean brick houses on each side, or to the monotony of a garden or park, where even pleasure looks dull, and but half awake-there is something very exhilarating in finding the animation of business and pleasure united; the street of traffic, and the garden or park, one and the same; for such are the Boulevards; here, the brilliancy of gas-lighted shops, with gay colours of all kinds in the windows; there, the solemn waving of tall trees in the varied lights; here, the lamps of a theatre; there, benches and tables in the open air, where parties of well-dressed persons are eating ices, or taking coffee; here, young persons promenading; there, the elderly driving; and all this on a broad road, with rows of trees on each side, and houses of every variety of height and architecture, to add to the picturesqueness of the scene.

October 27.

To-day, our first visit was at the D.'s, a very pleasant American family, with whom we have lately had some agreeable intercourse. Mrs. D. made us laugh in speaking of an indefatigable literary countryman of hers, who was taking his leave as we entered. He had breakfasted with them a few mornings before, and had been then telling them that he had made fifteen pages for his travels on that breakfast; this was certainly more than they expected from so simple a matter. My acquaintance Mrs. E. called while we were with Mrs. D., and also, a young United States gentleman, bearing the celebrated name of He paid his devoirs to his friends among the company, with the ease and self-possession of an accomplished diplomatist of twenty years' standing, and he has not been so many years in the world, to say nothing of his never having belonged to any embassy, or never having pretended to belong to one. Afterwards we went to Miss T.'s; I believe I have not spoken to you of this young

friend of Mrs. N.'s ; she is a pleasant, frank-hearted creature, and I like her extremely. We had heard that she was setting off for England immediately, but when we arrived at her lodging we found she was out, and that she had changed her mind (which she had done half a dozen times during the last week) and that she was not going for a month. Mrs. N. is much interested in her, and had given her her advice most strongly in favour of going home, but she seems to prefer anything to that home, which is a quiet vicarage in -shire. At this I wonder now, although I am sure before I came abroad, I should have thought it very natural, so little are the ignorant and the young capable of judging of what is most for their happiness. When childhood is past, an indiscreet curiosity impels us to know for ourselves all that can be known of the world, as if that were necessary to our well-being, whereas, all that is necessary to it is the quiet fulfilment of a very narrow circle of duties. After all this you will be amused if I should ever wish to rove farther than France; I cannot answer for myself, for when I hear people talk of Italy, I feel very impatient to judge of it for myself, so in spite of all my wise reflections at this moment, I may wander again for further knowledge. Our next visit was to Madame R., an English lady, lately married to a Swiss gentleman. We were their first visitors, in their new state of double blessedness, and it is really a pleasure to see two such happy, good looking, good humoured persons. With them are no over-refined tastes, no morbid sensibilities, no high-reaching ambitions to disturb the even tenor of their way, and with them happiness should dwell. But you will be tired of morning calls. I must lay aside the pen.

October 28.

We have an evening for company every week, and this was one of our parties. They have become very large, as the town becomes fuller. Cards, cards, cards, are the neverfailing resource, and écarté seemed to interest a great many.

We remained in a corner, and were lookers on; occasionally Mrs. N. was joined by persons whom she had met formerly, both English and French, for as the Countess only seeks to extend her connexion, she invites persons whom she meets in the most casual way to her parties, and these, more particularly if they are gentlemen, accept her invitations. All this makes her house not desirable for ladies who do not wish to mix in society of that promiscuous sort. Now and then there are celebrities at these weekly parties, to make them more striking, but these generally happen to be of the Carlist renown, for both the Countess and her mother are of that party. On one evening we had a Madame de a celebrated beauty, and niece to the ex-minister who was tried after the revolution. Then there was an author, I know not of what, but certainly odd-looking enough to pass for a younger Caliban, with another writer, an Irishman, transformed into a French Vicomte, and an old general with a young wife, sufficiently fond of écarté. Sometimes these parties are varied by little scenes, as, for instance, one evening, one of the English ladies in the house would, as a public mark of approbation, present an artist, who had just finished her portrait, with a bouquet before the company. This amused us very much, for her profound curtsies outfrenchifying France, and her alarming animation of face, 'were an admirable contrast to the stiffness of the poor painter, who looked, as he accepted the nosegay, as if he were suffering from having on a coat which was quite too tight in the back. When such little scenes are sufficient to amuse us in our soirées, you may suppose that we find the monotony of card-playing rather dull.

But I am drawing to a close, and this is the place where the most important part of a woman's letter is to be found; my affair of importance is, then, the decision made since I began this letter, to leave this next month, and go to Madame A.'s: from her abode, then, you shall next hear from me. Good bye, until then.

L

THIRD BOARDING-SCHOOL.

LETTER XIX.

Paris, November 10, 183—. Do not be uneasy about my changes of abode, my dear Mother, they are all accomplished very easily; and here I am, at nine at night, safely housed in the pension of Madame A., in quite a different quarter of Paris from my former pensions, and one which I think I shall like better, as being nearer my friends. A fire had been kindled in my room before I arrived, for the day was cold and damp, and I have been sitting by it thinking of you for some time, wishing that you knew how comfortable I am, and that you could banish all fear that I shall not like this house as well as the M.'s-I am sure I shall. There is quite as delightful a garden here, if this were weather for a garden, but, alas! I must tell you there seems a great dearth of books; however, I can always procure what I want out of the house. The house is indeed two houses"two single gentlemen rolled into one”—so that it is very large and commodious. There is a jardin Anglais, prettily laid out in shrubbery and lawn, adorned with ill-made statues of nymphs, quite sufficiently dressed, and there is a jardin potager, which supplies abundance of vegetables and fruit for the breakfasts and dinners of the boarders during the année scolaire. There is a large field, where climbingpoles, and ropes, and swings, are fixed; this is the gymnase. There is a play-ground besides, and a large field where a cow is grazed, so that we are to have excellent cream; and there is a large strawberry and fruit garden: for the enjoyment of these latter things I must wait some time. For all this

concern, Madame A. pays 14,000 francs per annum; and to enable her to keep it up, she has sixty boarders and eighteen parlour boarders at present. She seems a very worthy and conscientious person. She has been celebrated as a pianoforte player, and the piano is the great basis of her establishment-there is no school in Paris equal to it in this line, she having the most eminent pianoforte composers and players to give lessons to her young ladies. When I tell you that from eight to fourteen hours a day is the regular rate of practice among the pupils, you may form some idea of the importance of music here; but I fear you will not form a favourable idea of the good sense of the directress of the establishment. No! I do not think she is so much to blame as parents. It is true that I have never seen anything of the manufacturing of young ladies, which equalled the pianoforteing here; and as there are a great many English girls in the house, they will surely return home Frenched and musicked in perfection. Yet Madame A. is a plain, sincere, pious person, but she must, to succeed, do what the world most approves; and, accordingly, she has succeeded, for she tells me it is just ten years since she began her school with one pupil.

To me her life, as she described it, appears a sad one; but it is an excellent lesson for me, for she does not go through her part sadly. I said to her, "I cannot conceive how you can exist thus, without a moment of repose, a moment of reflection, a moment for reading during the whole day, and every day the same." "Ah! mon Dieu!" she replied, "there is always something of happiness in fulfilling one's duties; if I were to permit myself to think perpetually how much happier I should be in a quiet little house in which I might dispose of my time as I liked, I should be very wretched; I do not allow myself to think so, and yet I have always been savage, always disliked society, loved solitude." All this makes me already feel an esteem for Madame A. But here I shall leave off for to-night, and to-morrow evening I shall tell you something of my companions, "my co-mates,