persuaded him that he is the only Romeo alive, she hopes to be selected as his Juliet.

Military men are courted, by the female aspirants flocking to reviews, and doting on martial music. Yachters are vanquished by delicate women, who tremble at the bare idea of a storm, and turn pale at a high wave, declaring, that" they are nowhere so happy as at sea;" that "a yacht is infinitely preferable to a house, and a sailor's life the most agreeable thing in the world, except that of being his wife."

It is thus that ladies in England administer to the weaknesses of the "sterner sex,” and subjugate them (apropos of the word subjugate, a man said, two days ago, that subjugate and conjugate were synonymous); while you, in la belle France, exact that deferential homage which is woman's due, and to which she cannot resign her claims, without being guilty of a want of respect towards

her whole sex. I attribute the mauvaise manière

of the Englishmen of fashion to the want of dignity of the women.

The long war took so many men away, that, owing to their scarcity, they became more in demand, and the claimants were so numerous, that the claimed grew saucy. This, I imagine, first led to the unnatural system of the men being courted instead of courting; a practice to which they have now become so used, that I know not how it is ever to be eradicated. A French grisette would expect-ay, and exact,

too

more attention than a London fine lady dreams of meeting from the men of her circle. Am I not a voluminous, if not a luminous correspondent? One thing I am sure I am, and that is, chère Delphine's affectionate friend,

CAROLINE MONTRESSOR.

FROM LA MARQUISE DE VILLEROI TO
MISS MONTRESSOR.

YOUR apperçu of the peculiarities in the manners and customs of your country, chère Caroline, interests me exceedingly, though it excites in me no desire to become a denizen de l'Angleterre. I was not prepared to expect such a total want of retenue in the circle denominated, par excellence, fashionable.

The English, who never do any thing by halves, have, it appears, exaggerated our French freedom and ease de société, just as barbarously as they do our modes; which they so caricature, that Herbault declares he never can recognise the original model of the chefsd'œuvre he sends to your metropolis, in the vile imitations of them which he sees on some dame Anglaise, who, fresh from her native isle, visits his magazine.

Liberty has degenerated into license with the society you describe-not an unusual event: but this is an evil that carries its own remedy; for license is always certain, sooner or later, to produce a reaction, as well in morals as in politics. I should, consequently, not feel surprised at hearing, in a few years, that the violation des bienséances et de la pudeur des mœurs which you mention, has led to a revolution, or reformation, re-establishing in England a puritanical severity of manners similar to that which marked the times of the Protector Cromwell.

I have such a dislike to revolutions, that I would deprecate any thing that tends to produce them. They are like earthquakes, which, if they overthrow what is faulty, also destroy much that is good; I, therefore, regret the indecencies that sully your society, because they will, probably, lead to a subversion of

manners quite as disagreeable as the present

are objectionable.

There are certain anomalies in English manners, that strike me as being very revolting. I refer to the odious publicity of actions for breaches of conjugal fidelity. With us, husbands are too sufficiently humiliated by a suspicion of the bad conduct of their wives, and shrink from taking any step to prove it. Thus, it never amounts to more than a suspicion, which extends no further than their own immediate circle; and the suspected individuals so conduct themselves in society, that no symptom of indecorous familiarity is ever apparent. Hence, public decency is not violated; and, consequently, public morals are not outraged, however private ones may be sometimes compromised.

With you, how different is the case! An

injured husband in England gives publicity to