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VIX CARD)

discharge, and then at once forgetting the emotions of mercy, which had infpired his tongue with the moft perfuafive eloquence, he very compofedly refumed the functions of his cruel occupation, and configned to the fatal inftrument of revolutionary flaughter, other beings, whofe virtues were less renowned, or lefs fortunate in their sphere of operation. Monfeur S had reached his fixty-eighth year, but feemed to poffefs all the vivacity and health of youth, His lady was a very amiable, and enlightened woman. Their family confifted of a fon, and three daughters, all of them handfome, and very highly accomplished, The eldeft, Madame E, excelled in mufic; the fecond, Madame B, in poetry and the claffics;, and the youngest, Mademoiselle Delphine, in drawing. and finging. I fhall, perhaps, be pardoned for introducing a little impromtu compliment, which the pure, and unaffuming merits of the youngest of the family, drew from my pen, in confequence of the converfation one evening, turning upon the indecorum of the tunic drefs, amongst the elegantes of Paris.

TO MADEMOISELLE D. S.

Whilft art array'd in tunic robe
Tries over fashion's gaudy globe,
To hold refiftless force,

Therits fhall impede her courfe,
For face and nature gain in thee;
Achade, decifive victory.

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From the general wreck of poverty Monfieur has been fortunate enough to fave a confiderable portion of his former fortune. A fimilar favorable circumftance has, in general, rewarded the fortitude and conftancy of those who, in the political ftorm, refufed to feek a daftard fafety by flight. Influenced by the reputation of the integrity, talents and experience of Monfieur S, the firft conful has defervedly placed him at the head of the national accounts, which he manages with great advantage, and honor to the government. I was preffed to make this charming house my home. Upon a noble terrace, which communicated with the drawing room, and commanded a view of all the gaiety, and fashion of the Italien Boulevard, which moved below us, in the circle of fome of the moft charming people of Paris, we used to enjoy the refreshing coolness of the evening, the graceful" unpremeditated dance, or the founds of enchanting" mufic. In this happy fpot all parties affembled. Those who had been divided by the ferocity of politics, here met in amicable intercourfe. I have in the fame room obferved, the once purfuing republican conquerer, in focial converfe, with the captive Vendeean general, who had fubmitted to his prowefs, and to the government. The fword was not merely fheathed

it was concealed in flowers. To pleafe, and to be pleased; to charm, and to enlighten, by interchanges of pleasantry, and politeness, and talents, and acquirments feemed alone to occupy the generous minds of

this charming fociety. The remembrance of the hours which I paffed under this roof, will afford my mind delight, as long as the faculty of memory remains, or until high honor, and munificent hofpitality have loft their value, and genius and beauty, purity and elegance have no longer any attractions.,

CHAP. XV.

·Civility of a Sentinel.-The Hall of the Legiflative AffembyBritifb House of Commons.-Captain Bergeret. The Temple.-Sir Sidney Smith's Escape.Colonel Phelipeaux.

ONE morning, as I was entering the grand court of the hall of the Legiflative Affembly, I was ftopaped by a centry. I told him I was an Englishman.. He politely begged my pardon, and requested me to pafs, and called one of the housekeepers to fhow me the apartments.

This magnificent pile is in the Fauxbourg St. Germain, and was formerly the palace of the Bourbons. After paffing through a fuite of splendid apartments, I entered, through lofty folding doors, into the hall, where the legiflators affemble. It is a very spacious femicircular room, and much resembles, in its arrangements, the appearance of a fplendid theatre before the stage. The afcent of the feat of the prefident is by a flight of light marble fteps; the facing

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of his bureau is composed of the most costly marble, richly carved. On each fide of the president's chair are feats for the fecretaries; and immediately below them is the tribune, into which the orator afcends to addrefs the Houfe. On each fide of the feat of the president are antique ftatues of eminent patriots and orators, which are placed in niches in the wall. der the tribune, upon the centre of the floor, is the altar of the country, upon which, in marble, is reprefented the book of the laws, refting upon branches of olive. Behind it, upon femicircular feats, the legillators fit, at the back of whom are the boxes of the ambaffadors and officers of ftate, and immediately above them, within a colonnade of Corinthian pillars the public arc admitted. Round the upper part of the cornice a beautiful feftoon of lilac colored cloth, looped up with rich taffels, is fufpended, for the pùrpofe of correcting the vibration of the voice. The whole is very fuperb, and has cost the nation an immenfe fum of money. The principal housekeeper afked me "whether our speakers had fuch a place to

declaim in," I told him, "that we had very great "orators in England, but that they were content to

fpeak in very little places." He laughed, and obferved, "that Frenchmen never talked to fo much "advantage as when their eye was pleased." his

This man I found had been formerly one of the doorkeepers of the national affembly, and was present when, after having been impeached by Billaud, Panis, and their colleagues, Tallien discharged his pif

tol at Robespierre, whom he helped to fupport, until the monster was finally dispatched by the guillo tine, on the memorable 9th Thermidor.

*The French are amazingly fond of finery and stage: effect. The folicitude which always first manifested itself after any political change in the course of the revolution, was the external decoration of each new puppet, who, arrayed in the brief authority of the fleeting moment, was permitted to "play his fantaf "tic tricks before high Heaven.”

The poor battered ark of government was left overturned, under the protection of an efcort of affaffins, in the enfanguined mud, upon the reeking bodies, of its former, headlefs bearers, until its new fupporters had adjusted the rival pretenfions of filk and fatin, and had confulted the pattern book of the laceman in the choice of their embroidery. On one fide of the arch which leads into the antiroom of the legiflative affembly, are fufpended patterns and defigns for tickets of admiffion to the fitting, elegantly framed; and near the fame place, in a long gallery which leads to the dreffing-rooms of the legiflators, are boxes which contain the fenatorial robes of the members. The meetings of our houfe of commons would inspire more awe, and veneration, if more attention was paid to decorum, and external decoration. A dignified and manly magnificence would not be unfuitable to the proceedings of the fanctuary of British laws, and the feat of unrivalled eloquence. What would a per-fumed French legiflator fay, accustomed to rife in

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