those who, as aforesaid, truly understand and enjoy the habit, and at the same time whose gentlemanly feelings prevent their inconveniencing anybody-I enter my protest against such conduct, not only on the score of ill-breeding, illiberality, and bad taste, but on that of ignorance. With those who anathematize tobacco, one of two cases must exist: either they have never smoked, or, having done so, it proved disagreeable to them. In the first case, their abuse is sheer ignorance; and, in the latter, it is absurd, because they speak only from single feeling; and even if, individually, they entertain an aversion to smoke, that cannot be an argument, against the object of their dislike, the matter being one of taste.

But I did not sit down to argue. I had enough of diatribes with the logical old gentleman before alluded to. Oh, how I blessed the day when he was obliged to go abroad! He is now in Spain, How gloriously he will be smoked! He will come back with a visage | like a side of bacon, shrivelled with smoke, and long and yellow with chagrin. Such be the fate of all who endeavour to ruffle the calm of true smokers with their impertinent harangues!

Poor fellow! He was prudent, however, and I complied with his wish.

Many men that I know, though not actully practising smokers, have in them all the requisite qualifications-castle-builders particularly. Oh! if some of these knew the high enchantment which this grand adjunct to meditation is capable of imparting to the hazy dreams of an imaginative mind-the vraisemblance to brain-created phantasma-how eagerly would they embrace it! What currie and cayenne are to the epicure, smoke is to the man of genius, the philosopher, the poet, and the thinker. But a man, however well qualified, cannot at once enter into all the mysteries of tobacco, nor be directly capable of enjoying, in the fulness of their fruition, all those exquisite delights which the herb is capable of at last imparting. No; Nicotiana is coy, and requires a probation previous to admission into her sanctum sanctorum. Nemo repente fuit smokeissimus! I therefore recommend the neophyte to be chary in the use of the fragrant herb, and woo her favors by modest and respectful advances; not, emulative of equality with a practised smoker, endeavour My notions of the qualifications necessary to con- to accomplish the consumption of a greater proporstitute a man a smoker of the first order, are cer- tion than may be physically grateful or desirable. tainly exclusive and aristocratic: the more expanded Gradually the beauties and advantages of smoke will his intellect, the better; if he be a calm and even-be unfolded; and, provided he be at first temperate, tempered man, smoke will increase his stock of imperturbability; and, if he be ardent, enthusiastic, and passionate, it will quietize the ebullitions of temper, while it refines and spiritualizes thought. In short, the test of a true smoker is how far the operation helps or enlivens his peculiar operation or favorite pursuit. Smoke will inspire a poem in a man of genius, or assist a mathematician in the solution of a problem. I was once almost of opinion, that a finished education was an essential to the formation of a true smoker; but no:-I subsequently met with a poor uncultivated fellow, who had in him the right sort of stuff. He was a porter whom I employed to carry my portmanteau from a coach-office to the hotel where I was then staying. He was smoking from a short pipe the whole way, and I discerned such tokens of quiet complacency on ha hard but good-natured physiognomy, over which every now and then a half-formed smile would steal, that I concluded he was either a smoker of the right stamp, or nourished some happy conceit at the time in his noddle.

"You seem to enjoy your pipe, my friend," said I, for the purpose of drawing him out.

he will, with each gentle suspiration, become more and more sensible of its balmy luxury.

Of the times, modes of smoking, &c., I shall say little. For myself, I generally consider quiet essential to the due enjoyment and appreciation of the operation. I therefore eschew all crowded and fashionable promenades. But I have another reason for that. It is vulgar to smoke in the streets or parks, (unless in a very secluded part of the latter,) and for the tine, degrades a smoker to the level of a puffer. The linen-drapers' shopmen, et id genus omne, delight in strutting with segars, in the thronged streets; and what gentleman smoker wishes to be identified with such? Bah! After all, smokers can scarcely marvel at the abuse heaped upon them, when they consider how their luxury has been vulgarized and desecrated by animals usurping their name.

I have no regulated periods for indulging in the fumous joy; but smoke when the "vein" is on me. I, however, especially revel in a segar before breakfast. I think I see many noses turned up by the antismokeites; but I can't help it. Generally I prefer a segar or cheroot in the open air, and a pipe within doors. Oh! the ecstatic luxury of rusticating with a rich, full-flavoured roll of leaf, on an elevated and velvet greensward-a wide expanse of landscape before you the perfume of your exotic mingling with the refreshing and balmy sweets of native vegetation, and the clear blue exhalations, floating in fantastic I was delighted. The man was a smoker, an wreaths between your vision and the azure atmoshumble member of the real fraternity; and, in the phere of distance! At such a moment, all ruder plentitude of my sympathy, I determined to adminis-passions are hushed, while the sublimer and more ter to his gratification by a present of tobacco. I took him into a shop and offered him a choice-"Will you have k'naster?" said I.

"Ay, Sir; I likes my pipe, as yer Honour says. I likes to smoke when I've a load on my head; for a pipe o' 'bacco sets a man thinking, and the weight don't seem so heavy.

"Why, thanky, Sir," replied the man; "since your Honour's so good, I'd rather have shag or returns; for, if I was to get used to any of them fine 'baccas, I shouldn't relish the old stuff so well arter'ards, when I was obligated to go back to it; for I'm a poor man, your Honour, and can't afford dear things."

etherialized portions of the soul seem separated from the grosser dross of humanity, and to live for the time in their own undebased beauty.

Then, "a neat, snug study, on a winter's night," your favourite author, and a meerschaum or chibouque to heighten the zest with which you devour his pages! Is it not delightful? With what complacancy can you listen to the roaring of winds without, or the pitiless pelting of rain against your window, as you emit

the graceful clouds of light vapour, and occasionally | I love them all. But, by the bye, I have not much sip a temperate glass of mulled claret, or a cup of sympathy with a hookah; its monotonous gurgling mocha ! disturbs my equanimity, and breaks upon that intense

But these, you will say, are solitary pleasures. calm which, with me, is the soul of smoking, if I Perhaps the purest mental enjoyments are so. Never-smoke solus. Not that I would undervalue the theless, our complaisant herb is equally capable of hookah. It is merely an individual preference. being rendered subservient to the delights of social intercourse-particularly, if I may so express myself, the sociality of dualism. A segar or pipe with a friend who is a smoker, may be reckoned amongst the brightest of those gleams of sunny happiness which illumine life, and expand the heart with kindliness and good feeling; which attach us to the world, and put us in good humour with our species; causing us to forget awhile the duller and darker parts of life, and exploding our distrusts and misanthropy. After all, this quietism of the mind is its happiest mood; freed from the turmoils and cares of life, the whispers of ambition, the absorbing thoughts of self-interest, from suspicion, from forebodings, it breaths a purer and a holier atmosphere; and the concentrated but placid happiness of such a moment, proves to us there are Elysian spots, even in this world of care and

The enemies of Nicotiana may abuse it as hard as they like; but they may be assured, had any man communicated the knowledge of that glorious herb to the old Greeks and Romans, he would inevitably have been deified. What capital smokers some of the ancients would have made! The peripatetic lectures of Aristotle would have been tenfold more brilliant, had they been delivered under the influence of a pipe; and the thunders of Demosthenes grown into something more than mortal, with the adjuncts of fire and smoke. Horace and Juvenal would have imparted a sting to their satires, which, like that of the tarantula, would have set everybody mad, had they been assisted by the potent weed. How philosophical would have been the measured suspirations of Plato! Anacreon would have been more jolly and bacchanalian, and Epicurus more refined. As to the Iliad! I dare not imagine the superhuman height of magnificence I do not intend to discuss the comparative merits to which that poem might have arisen, had old Homer of various tobaccos, nor the modes by which the occasionally assisted his inspiration with a segar. pleasures of smoking may be enhanced. These are But, alas! there is no convincing the obstinacy of matters of taste. One man prefers his meerschaum dogmatism. The anti-tobacconists will not believe or chibouque, or even his pipe of common clay; a word, whilst my brethren of the pipe will feel that whilst another argues for the superiority of a segar. I discourse most veraciously.

sorrow.

THE LAST BALL AT THE TUILERIES.

ABOUT seven o'clock, on the fourteenth of last | and oranges on the table, and also to the last volmonth, my friend, the fidgetty old Countess de Pop- ume of "Monte Christo," which I had left upon the incourt, all ready flounced and beturbaned, bejew- sofa. elled, pearl-powdered, and rouged, entered my drawing-room at the hotel where I was staying, and where I was quietly finishing my solitary dinner, and helping out digestion with Dumas's last novel, never dreaming that my fidgetty friend was serious in the threat which she had uttered in the morning, of coming to fetch me to accompany her to the monster ball at the Tuileries.

"Now, this is too bad," she exclaimed, in a sort of comical rage, at perceiving my surprise at her appearance at this early hour; "who, but a cold, phlegmatic, greedy Englishwoman, could be thinking of eating and drinking at a moment like this? Upquick-get ready, for Heaven's sake! we shall be late as it is."

"It cannot surely yet be time?" I said, in guilty alarm.

"Look, unbeliever," said the countess, as she drew aside the curtain of the window looking into the Rue de Rivoli, and disclosed to view the endless line of dazzling lamps, appended to carriages waiting a la file, almost as far as the Champs Elysées! I was dumb-foundered; but there was no time to waste in excuses, and I hastened to finish my toilet, (begun, by the way, at two o'clock in the day, for the coiffeur had no other hour disengaged, which alone ought to have excited my suspicions,) while the dear fidgetty old countess betook herself quietly to the walnuts

I absolutely hated her as I withdrew, shivering, to my room, to undergo the miseries of dressing, which consisted in replacing my warm peignoir by a low, thin dress, with short sleeves, which made my teeth chatter as I gazed upon it. However, "needs must when," and the sharp voice of my fidgetty friend was certainly more shrill than ever, as she called out every now and then, "Allons, depêchons-nous!" Allons, ne nous arrivons pas "" In less time than it would have taken me in England to put on my bonnet and shawl, did I find myself fully equipped, and in a few minutes seated side-by-side with the countess, waiting patiently at the tail of a long line of fellow-sufferers, which now seemed to have lengthened, in a straight direction, as far as the Barrière de St. Etoile, while from every cross-street flowed a tributary stream of carriages, swelling the tide, which crept onwards with tedious slowness towards the gate of the palace. The latter point once gained, however, the rest became an easy task, and we were soon set down in the grand vestibule to the left of the clock tower, from whence, disencumbered of our wraps, we entered a kind of salle d'attente, to which a line of business-looking desks, with spruce clerks behind, gave the air of a cabinet d'affaires. We presented our invitations to one of these gentlemen, who, having verified the names therein with those upon his books, allowed us to pass, and we as

cended the grand staircase. The gallery, lighted by | little ambassador had come; but there he stood, for a thousand tapers, (aided by five hundred lamps fed some time, without the pale of (his) society, far from with oil, by the way,) is, I think, one of the finest the company of his peers, in warlike attitude, leansights which can be presented by any palace in Eu-ing against the door-way, unable to advance or rerope, and I would willingly have lingered long to cede a single step! As soon as the royal party admire the grandeur of the scene, but the fidgetty were seated, the music struck up, and the first quadtormentor hurried me forward. She had no eye for rille was formed. The eight youthful members of the picturesque, and leaving all the splendours of the the royal family composed one side of the quadgallery to the contemplation of the crowd by which rille. it was already filled, she passed, with nervous agitation, into the salle des maréchaux, where, uttering a low cry, she scudded along the polished oaken floor, swiftly and noiselessly, as though she had been borne on air, and sank upon the raised bench nearest the door of the throne-room, exclaiming,

"Heavens be praised! this seat has been in my mind's eye the whole day long: during my nap after dinner, I dreamt of it, and we have got it at last! Little did I think, when I found you at seven o'clock quietly eating, that we should be so fortunate as to secure it after all!"

It was a pleasant sight to behold the kind-hearted ease and gaiety with which the king seemed to participate in the inspiration of, the scene, nodding his head in time to the music, and watching the 'move ments of the dancers with evident delight. Every now and then he would stoop down and whisper some remark in the ear of Madame Adelaide, which she in her turn would communicate to her neighbour, and the smiles and nods would run along the whole bench in assent to the king's observation. The king may well be proud of his family-the finest royal house in Europe. Healthy and vigorous, both in mind and body, they are, moreover, “handsome enough to be the children of some poor lieutenant." Even the Bonapartiste enragée at my elbow was forced to confess this. To me there was immense interest in watching the progress of this royal quadrille, and I was led to follow the theory of that GerIt was nearly half-past eight before the lighting-up man philosopher, who defers his judgment of a man of the rooms was completed; and yet, by that time, until he has seen him DANCE! Here there was amhad the company increased to such a dense mass, ple food for speculation, and the future government that it was impossible for those unable to procure of France might be studied in the diversity of capers seats to remain standing in one spot, they were com- and jeté-batues of the future regency. The Duke pelled, like the damned souls in the Hall of Eblis," de Nemours gliding with timid and embarrassed to wander up and down, jostled hither and thither in step--hesitating-retreating through the mazes of the restless misery, or driven forward by the pressure of others, miserable as themselves.

I was not long in perceiving the justness of her fears, for scarcely had we taken our seats when the room began to fill, and I could descry many an envious glance directed towards us by the initiated, as they passed, vexed and disappointed, to seek some "less favoured position.

It was curious to observe the contrast afforded by the different groups as they passed before us in this Sabbath-round. Costumes of all countries, uniforms of all ranks, were there-the glittering jacket and embroidered fez of the Egyptian jostled the sober green of the academician; the Hungarian tunic and braided dolman threaded their way among whole 'knots of the glaring scarlet coats and gold epaulettes of English officers.

unattainable pastoral, smiling good-humouredly at his own awkwardness, yet shrinking from the smiles of others, gave me the idea of a man of clever and satirical humour, yet of such strangely timid nature, that he would never dare incur criticism, even that of those whom he might despise. Rely upon it, the Press will be shackled during his "regency;" the Tuileries closed against the inspection of strangersyes, the en avant deux so badly executed makes me fear that there will be more retrograde than advancement during his government-mind, I am speaking entirely according to the theory of the German philosopher.

The Duc d'Aumale shuffles somewhat in his short unequal steps; he hurries in the figures, and has to wait until the measure is completed. The war in Algiers will continue, but Abd el Kader will not be taken; there will be boldness in the mighty plans, but too great precipitation, and no discretion, ("the better part of valour,") in the execution.

At nine o'clock, there was a bustle to be observed about the throne-room, and presently an officer, by great effort and literally à force de bras, made a passage wide enough to admit two persons abreast, (provided they were thin.). Many were the fearful consequences of this imprudent measure; some of the standing gentry literally rolled upon the knees of the fair occupants of the benches, and the fat son of Ibrahim Pacha quietly sat himself down upon the lap of the countess, until the termination of the struggle, The Duc de Montpensier, walks leisurely and with then rose, and, without any apology, walked away. something like indifference through the intricate maIt was in the midst of this bazarre, this pushing, zes of the dance, nevertheless his eyes wander right hauling, screaming, laughing scene, (for the French and left, seeing who is gazing at his movements, and never lose their good-humour,) that the royal family the deep sigh when all is over, expresses plainly that entered, looking as noble and benevolent as every he was greatly worried at this public display, and royal family ought to look, and bowing and smiling that he is inwardly thankful to the gods that it was graciously, right and left, as, by dint of great address no worse. He will be ever studious of appearances, and patience, they managed to thread their way to keeping aloof from observation; caution and pruthe benches allotted to them. Immediately at their dence will be the characteristics of his counsels. How heels poured in the whole squadron of the ambassa-angry was I that Joinville was not there! I should dors-ma foi! they were left to fight for it, and so have loved to know by my theory whether poor Engthey did most valiantly, until they all got seated ex-land would run great risk in case of his projected atcept one; nobody could tell me from what court this tack, and whether the Gomer would ever come up

the Thames. I could have told it at once had I seen languor and mincing gait of others. It must have him sisol and balancé. been a severe trial to those engaged, for none seemed The princesses are all, without exception, charm- at their ease. There was but one individual upon ing. The Princess Clementine, by her fair comely whom neither the presence of royalty, nor the titterfigure and fine open countenance, presented a striking of the crowd, nor the heat, nor the pressure, ing contrast to the fairy-like form of the Duchess seemed to have the least effect, M. D, the d'Aumale, who glided about a very sylph, scarcely terror of all the youthful candidates for waltz or quadseeming to touch the ground. There is a strong rille, he who is known by the sobriquet of the “marlikeness to Louis Philippe in the Princess Clemen- quis." tine, every thing about her-hair, eyes, complexion, all partake of the same rich nature. There is gaiety and good-humour in every look, and yet, when she began to dance, I could tell in a moment that her petticoats had no mean share in the household Gov-his bold entrechats. His attire is that worn by the

ernment.

With him, dancing has long ceased to be a pastime-it has become a passion, a fureur. Sometimes he grows pale with the frantic efforts which he is compelled to make in order to give full effect to

courtiers of Marie Antoinette. Upon this occasion, it consisted of a violet-coloured velvet coat, richly embroidered in gold, a brocaded waistcoat covered with gold flowers, a lace cravat with floating ends and broad lace ruffles, white silk knee-breeches and stockings, with large pase buckles to his high-heeled shoes. It was with the greatest difficulty that the ladies could keep their serious looks, and I observed them, every now and then, retreat behind their fans to conceal the mirth to which his extraordinary antics gave rise. I pitied, with all my heart, the poor girl whose ill-fate and ignorance had led her to accept him for a partner. She seemed ready to sink into the earth with shame and vexation, and the tears were starting to her eyes while the marquis" was making her pirouette and jump until she was quite exhausted.

Now come we to the pearl, the flower of princesses, the enfant gâtée of the family-the fair Princess de Joinville-who realises all our childhood's dreams of the king's daughters in the fairy tales! She is, indeed, lovely, and it was no wonder to see the queen and her royal spouse bend forward to catch a glimpse of her graceful form as the dance led her now and then far from where they were seated. There is an impassioned melancholy expressed in her beautiful countenance which interests the beholder, and makes him sad in spite of himself. There was a touching remembrance of her clime and country in the wreath of cactus which bound her forehead, and in the bunch of the same rich and scentless flower which adorned her bosom; there was memory of the tropics, too, in the dark braids of hair brought low upon the brow, and in the undulating carriage, the The whole scene appeared greatly to divert the elastic tread, which can never be either lost by the king, who, once or twice, rose from his seat to gaze daughters of her country, or acquired by Europeans. at the extraordinary feats of agility performed by Her dancing was all in harmony with her style of" the marquis," laughing heartily as he spoke to the beauty; and I could tell all the scorn and fire of her character by the very manner in which she gave her hand to her partner-it was a gesture worthy of Queen Cleopatra. My companion, whose acquaintance with the royal family enables her to judge with accuracy, told me that my "theory" was correct in this instance.

queen, evidently giving her a description of the wonderful performance; and all this time "the marquis," enchanted to be the object of so much attention, frisked and capered yet the more. This singular individual is one of the lions of the ball-rooms of Paris, and I have seen him dance the cachouca with unwearied perseverance, doing honour to seven encores

"The princess is quite an originale," said she:in one evening, in obedience to the well-feigned ad"hers was a mariage d'inclination, and when the prince left her to go on his famous expedition, she was inconsolable, remaining for several hours each day seated under a certain tree in the park of St. Cloud, with her head and face covered according to the fashion of the widows of her country-without speech, without motion, resisting every effort made by her kind-hearted sisters to comfort her. The king laughed at the childish sorrow, and said it would soon pass away; but the queen sighed. Her exclamation I shall never forget, Hélas, la pauvre enfant! She has yet to learn that life is not one long bright holiday! It was her husband's command alone which had power to rouse her from this apathy of grief. She sought occupation and diversion according to his wishes, but she would not appear in public until his return."

miration of some of the merciless wags of the company. Last season he danced almost every evening a dance of his own composition, in the costume of Solomon the Great, accompanying himself on the tambour de basque. His contortions in this pas seul were absolutely frightful, and I was glad to learn that he is henceforward to abandon this chef-d'œuvre par ordonnance de médecin. His passion for the art of dancing has lately even stood in the way of his advancement. Rich and independent, and wishing for political distinction, he stood forth as a candidate at the last election. His position in the department, his wealth, his opinions, his family, all were approved of by the electors, and he was on the point of being chosen, when, in an unlucky hour, overcome by the emotion caused by the event, he breathed forth his whole soul to the deputation of farmers and maîtres Originale! I should think she was, indeed, in de forge, sent to address him, and swore to them France! The other side of the quadrille presented a upon his honour that his only motive for getting into strange mixture; those who by dint of pushing and the Chamber was to relieve the abject state in which elbowing a passage through the crowd, had succeed- he found them, with regard to the holy science of ed in obtaining a place, were now in their turn con- dancing. He vowed that schools should be estabdemned to undergo the inspection of those left to re-lished, prizes should be danced for, professors instipose, and it was a curious study to observe how this tuted, and that this noble art should be retrieved from scrutiny was borne-the precipitation of some, the the neglect into which it had fallen! Judge of the

surprise of the farmers and maitres de forge: they walked away without uttering a word, and in the evening a charivari of miners announced, with uncouth capers, that his rival was elected.

When the quadrille was over, the company retreated, seeking an issue into the throne-room, where refreshments were in readiness; and that motion of the crowd, so unpleasant to the lookers-on, began before us.

Perhaps even more so."

vour."

"At this moment, for it was here on this very spot -tenez, you would almost be in love with that old The glare of light, the drowsy hum, the over- fright, if you were but to learn his history." stretched attention in a ball-room, always combine to "Oh, tell it then by all means," exclaimed I, laughgive me a feeling of melancholy which I cannot de-ing; "the age of miracles may be renewed in my fascribe, and, upon this occasion, it was rendered more invincible still by the associations which the very place conjured up. In spite of myself, I was led back to the memory of the terrific scenes which had passed in that very spot, where now all seemed so bright and gay; and, as the tears rushed to my eyes, I could not help expressing to my little friend my astonishment that people could dance and make merry in the very place where such dramas had been enacted, even in their own remembrance.

“You may laugh," resumed the countess, speaking this time seriously, "but so it is, and the peace of mind of that old fright, as you are pleased to call him, might create the greatest envy in many who now seem so much more gay and happy than himseif. He is the Baron de Caudys, and you must believe me, in preference to the evidence of your own eye-sight, when I tell you that he was one of the handsomest cavaliers at a court where all were re

"Bah! we are not a retrospective people," re-markable for personal beauty. He was, moreover, turned she, rapping the lid of her snuff-box; "we neither learn nor forget; to us experience is of little value."

She paused, while her sparkling eyes wandered over the company, and suddenly seizing my wrist, she exclaimed,

puissamment riche, so that you can imagine that his appearance in the household of Marie Antoinette was hailed with raptures by all who had daughter, sister, niece, aunt, or even mother-for that sometimes happened-to marry. He was a great favourite with the queen, who, above all things, loved an elegant "Besides, there are dramas as terrible and deadly and graceful tournure, (do not sneer, you will repent now performing beneath our eyes, if we did but it,) a distinction for which the Baron de Caudys was choose to study them. Now, look around. I would remarkable.. With these advantages, you may readlay you a wager that, out of the five thousand indi-ily imagine that the poor baron was beset on all viduals assembled here, there is not one whose history would not furnish forth the subject of a romance, if the truth, the whole truth, were known by somewould give us goodly materials for a tragedy, may be, and a deadly one, too."

Her eye glanced towards the fair lady and the elderly gentleman, who were passing through into the gallery, and I was just going to ask their names, when she was accosted by a horrid old fright in shabby and antique costume, an ugly pock-marked, beetle-browed cuistre, who, with a low bow and lamentable voice, asked news of her “chère santé,” and then hobbled off-too late, however, for the objects of my attention were already lost to sight.

Indeed! but I dislike him nevertheless; he has, I am sure, prevented my hearing one of the interesting tales you were just going to tell me."

"Bah! how do you know that?" exclaimed she, looking me in the face so sharply that my eyelids winked again.

"Why, you talked of deadly tragedies, of fearful dramas, and you looked twice towards a fair lady and an elderly gentleman."

"Ah, true, true, M. and Madame de Versac, who passed us just now."

"What! they are not lovers, then?"

sides with offers and propositions of marriage, and scarcely a day passed by without some new parti being found by officious friends more suitable, more séduisant than any which had been hitherto suggested. But the baron resisted all temptation of filthy lucre, and said, in answer to every offer thus held out, that his time was not yet come.' However, like many great heroes, it became, one day, evident that he had resisted so long but to fall at last. The fact was visible to all. The lovely widow, Madame de Linar, who just arrived from Burgundy with a poor dependent cousin-widow, like herself— to prosecute a suit against her husband's relatives, had won his heart, and caused him to spend his days in attendance upon her slightest whims and caprices and the fair lady had many, I assure you. Look through yonder doorway: you can descry the very place where the queen was seated when the disclosure of the love of the Baron de Caudys took plące— a disclosure which electrified us all. There had been, as on this night, a grand gala at court-a reception of some new ambassador in great state and ceremony. The official company had retired, and left the queen to the society of her intimates, and to the enjoyment of that ease and liberty, always doubly prized by her majesty after any of these state receptions, so irksome and tedious to persons of her gay and thoughtless temper. We had been playing at all the wild games which Marie Antoinette loved so much the diable boiteux, the guerre paúrpau, la mer agitée-which had been left as a legacy to the court by Madame du Barri. The queen held the forfeits, and when the games had ceased, she loved

"Psha, they have been wedded these twenty to call them over, and in bandinage always managed years!"

to give some sly coup de patte to the courtiers in the