retired corner of a salon, two sexagenarian lovers, who, with all the skill of old practitioners, go through the forms of a courtship, which it is not to be presumed they can carry further than the form;-might not one have fancied oneself in that island of Mr. Moore's,

"Where lips till sixty shed no honey,

And grandames were worth any money:" Might not one have fancied oneself in that island at the time when one saw Monsieur de Châteaubriand, (sixty years old,) desperately in love with a Duchesse,' (of the same age,) while Madame Récamier, (no younger,)-—flying France in jealousy of Monsieur de Châteaubriandcompleted the misery of her old lover, Benj. Constant, who was at once tormented by the reproaches of his aged wife, and the disdain of his aged mistress? It is marvellous when a people have a predominant passion, how it insinuates itself into all their affairs: We have seen the influence of French vanity in the government, the history, the society of France, we may find it in a remarkable manner even in the commerce. It has established this principle, a very agreeable one, no doubt, viz, that the way to make money is to spend it. If you ask the editor of a certain newspaper why he has race horses' he tells you that a race horse is an 'advertisement.'

6

His carriage is 'an advertisement;' his dinners are advertisements;' his mistress is an advertisement' and the more expensive, and the more faithless she is, the better advertisement' of course she becomes. This is a system and as an Englishman toils for wealth in order to increase his comforts, so a Frenchman displays his extravagance in order to make his fortune. Well then, you find this vanity the predominating genius of the camp, the court, the counter, -it reigns no less at the Bourse, the Morgue, or the prison. The Frenchman wishes to live with ostentation; * if he cannot do this, he does not care whether he lives or not.

Ab

Like most passions this vanity is good and bad, little and great; now sublime, now ridiculous; but upon the whole, perhaps, it appears in France, as more good than bad, more great than little, even more sublime than ridiculous. surd in the drawing-room; fatal in darker scenes; it has made the French army the most renowned in the world, and the French nation the most united. But it has also made of the French--a

* In 1810 a 'notaire's' clerk killed himself, leaving a piece of paper behind him, on which he declared that having duly calculated and considered, he did not think it possible for him to be so great a man as Napoléontherefore he put an end to his existence.

people eminently volatile: eager for changes that promise much disgusted with utility that cannot boast show, and impatient of plans that

:

run in a slow and quiet course to their perfection.

WIT.

Saying of M. de Talleyrand--How many events in France a 'bon-mot' has prepared-Vanity is the principal passion, wit is the principal talent and supplies the chief amusements of the French-They laugh at all things-Their ridicule only lowers you when it lowers themselves in their estimation-Definition of Chamfort of the old régime-Power of wit against a government-Discours d'un roi citoyen, 1830-M. Philippon and the pear-Béranger, "Nain jaune," &c.-Dramatic caricatures-Bons-mots or good sayings found among all classes and all agesConnexion between the French language, and the French wit, and French manners--How far it exists at present in literature and society.

"C'EST bien, c'est très bien, et tout ce qu'il faut maintenant ce sont les feux d'artifice et un bon mot pour le peuple." This is the saying with which M. de Talleyrand is reported to have closed one of those revolutions which his talent

and his times have given him the opportunity of deciding-un bon-mot pour le peuple !—saying well worthy of Pericles, when he captivated that polished and clever people of Greece,—to whom it is impossible to deny, that the gay, the inconstant, the frivolous, and witty people around me, bear a marked resemblance.

How many events in this country has a bonmot prepared!--How many has a bon-mot completed! A series of bons-mots, (begun by Voltaire, augmented by Diderot, collected and systematized by Helvetius,)—a series of bons-mots destroyed the ancient religion, sapped the foundations of the throne, and travailed the destinies of the monarchy, which Louis XIV. imagined he had fixed for centuries, under the weight of his solemn and imposing genius. "Ce ne sont pas les dépenses générales, ce sont les états généraux qu'il nous faut" said M. Despremesnil— and a bon-mot put that immense machine in motion which rolled heavily over the gay and graceful court of France. "Je ne veux pas être un cochon à l'engrais dans le château royal de Versailles" said the first consul, with the coarse energy of his character; and the laugh being excited in his favour, he kicked over the speculative pyramid of Abbé Sièyes—“Il n'y a qu'un Français de plus"-is put into the mouth