be of particular utility at the present time. The beneficial parts of the revolution are brought forward in a brilliant and striking point of view, and no severity spared in reprobating its evils. The animated applause with which even these reproofs were received, is a strong argument how much might be effected by the stage, were it never suffered to deviate from the purpose for which it was originally intended-as a school of morals.

But I could not forbear often remarking upon the great inconsistency displayed by the mass of the people during this evening. In the drama of 'Brutus, whenever Tarquin was mentioned, they seemed to recur with no very favourable sentiments to their own king, yet in the afterpiece, the house resounded with their transports at this same king's no longer living at Versailles, but in the midst of them.

At our return home, it being Christmas Eve, we found all Paris illuminated. But to me, who had seen an illumination at Petersburgh, this appeared very poor and petty. There the streets are wider, the houses more magnificent, and there is a much greater profusion of lights. In comparison with the Russian capital, Paris cannot be considered as a fine town. Here are indeed a number of palaces, but they are scattered about, not arranged together; nor is there a street that can exhibit such a perspective as that of Newsky, at Petersburgh. Were it not for the innumerable concourse of people, and the multitude of shops, Paris, from the narrowness of its streets, the blackness of its houses, and the heaps of oystershells scattered about, would make a very melancholy appearance.

The chimneys here are also built in a very extraordinary manner. They project in the form of long walls on the outsides of the houses, and give them the appearance of prisons. This is principally the case on the Quay St Augustin, and its environs.

December 25.

This morning I returned madame de Rome's visit. I found her translating Crell's Annals of Chemistry,' in which she is employed by some literary person. We seated ourselves before the fire, on the chimneypiece to which lay several German works. Our conversation soon fell, as is commonly the case now in Paris, upon politics; and since madame de Rome is a confirmed aristocrat, she in her zeal called the national assembly, their twelve hundred majesties.

The baron von O and myself went to court about four o'clock, to see the king and queen go to mass. We stood in the hall, where a hundred Swiss were keeping guard. They were tall fine men, carrying long pikes, and in the old costume of Henry the Fourth. We waited a full hour, and I cannot say that the sight was worth waiting for.

At last the folding doors were thrown open. The king waddled by us with an expression on his countenance which seemed to say, ce n'est pas à mon goût. The queen sailed along, accompanied by the ladies of the court, all in such monstrous hoops, that they looked at a little distance like flying Montgolfiers. They came from dinner, they were going to mass, thence to cards, thence to supper, and thence to bed. Oh heavens! what an insupportable kind of life!

The king of the French has now the least trouble. some and most lucrative office in Europe. He has a revenue of five-and-twenty millions of livres, for which he has only to say "Yes," when a decree is brought for his sanction; and even for this he sometimes keeps the officers waiting a long time.

As all other spectacles, excepting Les Ombres Chinoises, in the Palais Royal, are shut up on Christmas-day, we went thither, but I could not endure it above a quarter of an hour. I expected to have found this petty kind of drama here in great perfection, but was extremely disappointed. The theatre is little and miserable, the scenery gaudy, the figures stiff and

awkward, and the wires by which they are moved often visible.

Among other things, a scene was represented, in which a Russian wife complained to a friend that her husband seemed no longer to love her, since he had not beaten her for three days. On this the husband appeared, begged pardon, and excused himself by saying, that he had mislaid his stick, which he had now found again; and at length, as a proof of his penitence, gave her a hearty drubbing.

"That is truly German!" observed somebody behind us. Good heavens, thought I, it is rather truly French ignorance! Strange! that any one should believe the old nonsensical idea, that a Russian wife had rather be beaten than kissed by her husband.

The orchestra consisted of one boy, who played upon the dulcimer. The room was stuffed so full of company, that it was scarcely possible to breathe. We began to draw our breath with difficulty even at the door.

The concert in the national circus commenced at seven. This circus is the largest room I have yet seen. It is a hundred and fifty feet in length, and being for the most part under ground, is lighted by sky-lights. It contains a very fine orchestra, a number of benches for the audience in form of an amphitheatre, a sort of rotunda, where are a variety of refreshments, boutiques, billiards; in short, a world in miniature.

The number of persons present might be computed at several thousands. The hall, I have no doubt, would contain four thousand. They were walking about, for the most part, dressed in a slovenly manner, and in hats. When the music began, one of the national guards came up, and begged me to take off my hat. I started and looked round, nor was aware till then that the herds had been all uncovered in a moment. Indeed, I cannot but consider it as somewhat ridiculous that we should be obliged to sit without

our hats here. In the theatre there is a very obvious reason for it, that the view may not be intercepted to those behind. But why it should be done at all at the concert, if not at the first entrance, which indeed appeared to me a very proper and natural thing, I cannot comprehend. I could not forbear asking the soldier whether it was customary here to salute the music? to which he did not know what to answer. The symphony commenced in B sharp. It was the first B sharp to which I ever in my life had taken off my hat.

Though the band was certainly a good one, yet it struck me, and the idea was soothing to my pride as a German, that the orchestra, on the whole, was certainly not so well filled as some. in my own country; that at Mentz, for instance, which I had visited not long before. I began after awhile to grow weary, as indeed I commonly soon find myself in a large company; and though I might also have had a ball for my six-and-thirty sous, I was much better pleased with the solitude of my own room. I therefore retired, leaving my companion at the concert.

"Alas!" I said to myself aloud, as I entered the coach, "I will go home to my Frederica ;" and for a moment my imagination deluded me so strongly, that I half expected to find her there. I have hitherto been but seldom alone, only for an hour or two in the morning, as I rise early; but never am I by myself, without thinking that she is with me, talking with me, and reminding me of a thousand happy incidents in our lives. I ask her, whether she does not hover about me? Whether she hears me? I look to the right and to the left of the air, in hopes that_my fancy at least, may see her image among the clouds.

It is said, that there are no such things as spirits, but that they may be created by a lively imagination, if it wish to behold them. Ah! then have not I a lively imagination? for a thousand and a thousand times have I implored my fancy to deceive me, but

in vain. I must look only into my own heart, if I would behold the image of my wife.

December 26.

I learned this morning that Vaillant, the interesting traveller into the interior of Africa, has left this place some months. He found Paris insupportable. The deserts he had been accustomed to traverse had for him far greater charms than the Champs Elysées, and he preferred the African hut to the palace of the Louvre. But among the human beings, the difference appeared still greater. He might certainly have sought in vain in the Palais Royal for a Narina. Dubrowsky, who was his frequent companion, describes him as of a gloomy turn, silent, and wrapped in himself, but unassuming, and often sitting with his eyes fixed, as if forgetting Europe entirely. He even seemed to have little more interest in this quarter of the world.

At last, his longing to return among his Hottentots became so powerful, that he suddenly decamped one morning, only leaving a note upon the table, informing his wife that he was departed for Africa, and should never see Europe more. If he had nothing else of the French character about him, he was at least a true Parisian husband.

This evening we were at the Théâtre de Monsieur, in which there is little remarkable either as to its exterior or interior. The performances were, The Trial of Socrates,' and 'The Universal History.' Oh mighty Socrates! how was thy memory degraded ! Had Mendelsohn been among the audience, he must either have laughed or fretted himself to death.

The mild philosopher mouthed, sawed the air with his hands, reviled his judges, uttered the grossest impertinences with the grossest audacity, was inconceivably vain, scoffed at all the gods, and preached pure deism. In short, he appeared as little like the genuine Socrates, as the figure of an old man with a