prophet is esteemed in his own country," is no where so perfectly or frequently verified as in England.

I have described the reception given to foreign lions in London: let me now state that given to strangers with less claims to attention.

A foreigner arrives with letters of introduction; or, in other words, certificates of birth, parentage, and-not education. He delivers them at the houses to which they are addressed, and, in return, receives a soup-ticket, bon pour un jour.

"What a horrid bore to have this man thrown on our hands!" says Madame la maitresse de maison; “his aunt was so prévenante for us at Versailles, that we must be civil to him. What is to be done with him?" "Ask him to dinner, to be sure," replies Monsieur le mari.

"But whom can one get to meet him?" demands Madame, with an air of chagrin and embarrassment; "people dislike so much meeting foreigners, until they are, at least, somewhat broken into our habits."

"Let me see: oh, yes-the Heberdens have been passing the winter at Paris; they, probably, know him; at all events, the gayeties of the Parisian season will furnish them with a subject in common. Yes, we'll engage

the Heberdens."

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Here is a letter and a card from le Comte de Bellechasse," exclaims Lady Grandison. "How tiresome! what is to be done with him? His mother was so civil to us at Paris, that we must be attentive to him,

"Send him a ticket for our box at the opera, mamma," says Lady Anna-Maria.

"And a card for our ball on Friday," lisps Lady Georgina.

"But if, through not knowing London usages, he should become a fixture in the box ?" soliloquises mamma.

"But even if he should, mamma, ours is, you know, a double box, and

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"We have always plenty of spare room for a beau, you would add-n'est-ce pas, Anna-Maria? Well, there is one advantage in a double box," continues Lady Grandison, "it enables one to return civilities cheaply."

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"Yes," answers Lady Georgina, "a double box at the opera is nearly as cheap a mode of returning civilities in London, as the sending tickets for the Chapelle is Royale, at Paris. Do you remember how we were inundated

with them?"

The poor foreigner receives the invitations, the necessity of giving which has caused so much embarrassment to the hospitable donors. After a dinner at each of the houses, to the proprietors of which he has brought letters of credence, he is engaged to make one of a party to Greenwich. Thither he, with some difficulty, finds his way on the appointed day. Having duly adinired the exterior of the hospital, and refrained from expressing his disapprobation of the exhalations arising from the mud, observing that the ladies do not object to them, his olfactory nerves are regaled with the mingled odours of fried fish within doors, and the fume of tobacco without. Such are some of the agrémens of this interesting excursion and at last, fit termination, the bill being demanded, the luckless foreigner finds that, for the refined enjoyment he has been invited to partake, he has a sum to pay that would have defrayed the expenses of a month in the land of his birth.

:

This is another cheap mode of returning civilities peculiar to London: cheap only to the inviters, however; for, to the accepters, it is rather a costly purchase.

The poor man returns, half dead, to his lodging, determined to eschew white-bait, cider-cup, and pink champagne, while he lives. After three days' suffering, and an apothecary's bill even longer than the Greenwich one, he is able to show himself once more. How you would pity the unfortunate victim, could you behold the lodging in which he has passed those three days, knowing, as you do, how luxurious is the accommodation of the apart

ment of a Frenchman comme il faut! No longer does he inhabit a spacious and lofty suite elegantly furnished; or an entresol, whose tasteful decoration and comfort are so inviting. Behold him in a small room, three parts of which are occupied by a four-post bed sufficiently large to contain half a dozen persons; this same bed piled with mattrasses, of a colour and texture alone sufficient to banish sleep, but crowned by a feather-bed that defies it. The drapery has become of a nondescript hue, from its long intimacy with the smoky atmosphere, of which the fringe has amply partaken. The light enters by one small window, which commands a view of the housetops, gutters, chimney-pots, and back-windows of the parallel street-an enlivening prospect for a solitary invalid! The paper that covers the walls of this chamber has been chosen with a judicious recollection of the smoky tendency of the chimney, and is in perfect keeping with the curtains of the bed and windows. A convex mirror, an ornament peculiar to English lodginghouses, graces the wall, crowned by an eagle that has lost one wing; yet, as though its escape from its captivity were still apprehended, continues to hold in its beak divers chains of brass, that fall gracefully back to the frame. One look in such a mirror is always sufficient to disgust the vainest man with his own physiognomy. The hall of this abode is generally occupied by three or four foreign couriers smoking cigars; and the house breathes of the united perfumes of soup, garlic, and gruyère cheese. The mansion stands in some populous street or square, in a district rarely visited except by foreigners, who seem to have a predilection for such places, and are ignorant of how vulgar they are considered to be; but, being kept by Frenchmen or Italians, their compatriots imagine they will be less extravagantly charged, if less comfortably lodged.

You will naturally wonder how. I can have acquired a knowledge of such an abode as the one I have described; but your wonder will cease when I tell you that it was

precisely in such a one I found la pauvre Comtesse de Mellancourt recovering from the effects of her sea-voyage, and lamenting her fate in being so lodged. Had I not informed her, that comfort, and elegance too, might be found in a London hotel, she would have submitted to her fate, and have returned to Paris exclaiming against the mal propreté, et manque de tous les agrémens, des auberges Anglaises. But Lord Annandale kindly recommended her to one where she did nothing but admire l'extrême propreté, et le tapis de l'escalier; which last household adornment, I observe, never fails to excite the admiration of your country men and women.

A dinner at Richmond follows the convalescence of the unfortunate foreigner, whose lodging I described; where muddy eels, cutlets,-such as are never seen out of England-ducks, that taste more of fish than do the eels, and peas, that "have fallen into the sere and yellow leaf," tempt his delicate appetite: and for this luxurious fare he has also to pay, though invited, a sum that would have furnished the most recherché dinner at Lointiers, or the Rocher de Cancalles. Do you not pity your compatriot, ma chère Delphine?

Read this description to Florestan, who has such brilliant notions of the advantages to be enjoyed here but tell him, also, that to the stranger who comes with a wellfilled purse, Thomas's Hotel, the Clarendon, Grillon's, and some others, offer comforts not to be despised even by his and your fastidious taste.

A London season resembles the Saturnalia of Rome; during which, though a perfect liberty is professed to be allowed, the chains of the bondsmen are heard to rattle even while they dance. All here are slaves; yes, posi tive slaves, and to the most tyrannical of all sovereignsFashion. Does it not appear absurd that la mode, which you in France control, and use as an accessoire to your pleasures, we English elevate into a despot? who, like all despots, avenges on his subjects the weakness that led to his elevation, by depriving them of all volition, or,

at least, all exercise of it. Endless are the sacrifices this Juggernaut exacts, and the penalties he imposes; but, in their submission to his decrees, his vassals are kept in countenance by their mutual emulation in shameless subserviency. So few, indeed, are the examples of refractoriness which occur, that these biped spaniels are seldom reminded that it is possible to rebel.

Nothing can be more indefinite than this imaginary good, yet nothing is more tyrannical than the laws it enacts, and the sacrifices it imposes. It prescribes certain quarters of the town for the residence of its votaries; certain persons, whose acquaintance, coute qui coute, must be cultivated; and certain others, who are to be as scrupulously avoided; certain equipages in which les élégants are to appear, and certain places where those equipages are to be exhibited; certain tradespeople who are to be employed; a certain style of magnificence in dinners, which must be adopted; and certain guests, whose presence is considered to be indispensable.

Now, as due attention to these laws entails expenses not unfrequently far exceeding the fortunes of the votaries of fashion, it is not to be wondered at that they are often involved in embarrassments, terminating in ruin, and not unfrequently in crime, and its worst consequences. The moment they can no longer support the appearance they assumed, they are driven with ignominy from the circle, to gain an entrance into which, they sacrificed fortune and fame. Their pretension and folly are severely reprobated by those, to concilitate whom, they incurred ruin; and they have not even the triste consolation of being followed into the retreats their poverty imposes, by the pity of their partners in error.

To propitiate this more than Eastern tyrant, his subjects form new friendships with persons they cannot esteem; and break through old ones with persons they loved. Even the ties of blood are violated at his mandate; for what daughter or son could exhibit affection towards the authors of their being, if they happened to