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wistful eye at her old habitation—a longing, lingering look behind. I was informed that she might remain in that situation for an hour or more, when her feathers becoming saturated with wet, and her head falling under the waves, she would, ere long, become food for a shark, or a snake, or fall a prey to worms of her own production. And such is the way of all flesh-Yorick, alas! is dead-the turkey is drowned or devoured-and dinner will be ready in an hour and a half, and such is the way of all flesh.

17TH AUGUST.

Eight sail in sight-interesting objects at sea-but none near enough to speak to.

Had some conversation with Captain Maxwell about the foreigners on board, in particular, and about the French and Spaniards in general, in which he said he had sailed with hundreds of them, of both nations, and entirely concurred in the remark recorded by Lord Bacon in one of his essays, that, "The French are wiser than they seem, and that the Spaniards seem wiser than they are."

Mr. Curran, who visited Paris in August, 1814, and

wrote several able letters from thence, speaking his opinion of the then French character, has the following forcible remarks :—

"Since my arrival here, (London) my spirits have been wretchedly low, though treated with great kindness; I find nothing to my mind; I find heads without thinking, and hearts without strings, and a phraseology sailing in ballast, every one piping, but few dancing. England is not a place for society, it is too cold, too vain, without pride enough to be humble; drowned in dull, fantastical formality, vulgarized by rank, without talent, and talent forcibly recommending by weight, rather than by fashion; a perpetual war between the disappointed pretensions of talent, and the stupid overweening of affected patronage; means without enjoyment, pursuits without an object, and society without conversation or intercourse. Perhaps they manage things better in France: a few days, I think, will make me decide.

(Paris) "I never so completely found my mind a magic lantern—such a rapid succession of disjointed images the past, the present, the future possible. One ought not to be hasty in taking up bad impressions; and I need not say that three weeks can give

but little room for exact observation, but from what I do see and hear from others, who have seen long and deeply, I have conceived the worst of social Paris, every thing upon the surface is abominable-beastlinesses, that even with us do not exist: they actually seem, in talk and in practice, to cultivate a familiarity with nastiness. In every place they are spitting,upon your shoes, in your plate, almost in your mouth; such a community of secretions, with, I think, scarcely any exception, is not to be borne. Then the contrast makes it worse;-gaudiness, more striking by filth, the splendid palace for the rulers, the hovels and the sink for the ruled, the fine box for the despot, the pigeon-holes for the people; and it strikes me with sadness that the women can be little more than the figurantees, much more the property, and that a very abused property, than the proprietors, receiving a mock reverence, merely to carry on the farce, but neither cherished nor respected. What a reflection, if, as I fear, it is true, that the better half of the species (for such I really think they are when fitly placed), should be so sacrificed; how vile the feeling and the taste that can degrade them from being the real directors and mistresses of man, to be the mere

soubrettes of society, gilded, and smart, and dexterous, and vicious, giving up all that exalts and endears them in their proper character of wives, and friends, and partners in good, and consolers in adverse fortune.

"Even before the revolution, manners were bad enough, but many causes since have rubbed off the gilding;—the banishment of the nobles; the succession of low men to power; and more than all, the elevation of plebeian soldiers to high rank, promoting, of course, their trulls to a station, where manners and morals, too, were under their influence; and this, added to the horrible example set by Bonaparte himself, in his own interior, putting everything honest or sacred out of countenance and out of fashion; add to this, what must have sent down the contagion to the lower orders-the conscription—the wretched men marrying without preference, merely to avoid the army, and then running into that army to escape from their ill-chosen partners; all these causes must have conspired to make a frightful carnage in manners and in morals too. In short, I am persuaded that a single monster has done more to demoralize and uncivilize this country than a century can repair.

"I really wish the thing over with myself; and trust me, that wish is not irreligious, or peevish, but rather a good-humoured feeling, that not wishing to eat more, I may be better for rising from table,-enough is as good as a feast.'

"I am every hour more and more convinced as to my ideas of society,—it is not for those who think or feel, it is one fool getting upon the back of many, to fly from himself. In France you can scarcely make even that experiment, for all here agree, that at the present moment all society is dead. Nor, is it wonderful that when all the actors upon the great scene are changed, the parts should be badly performed; but still I have found a society, such as it is called, and met with a great deal of kindness, and some persons of talent; but even then, I found society an orchestra, where the fiddlers were putting one another out, or rather, where every one played a solo, and every other bow was soaped.

"At this moment my friend enters; he differs totally from my opinion, saying, 'I have lived single in a great city-few friends-many acquaintances. I think I have done right, and shall continue— sameness would cloy. How many happy matches have

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