and external decoration. A dignified and
manly magnificence would not be unsuitable to the proceedings of the
sanctuary of british laws, and the seat of unrivalled eloquence. What
would a perfumed french legislator say, accustomed to rise in the
rustling of embroidered silks, and gracefully holding in his hand, a cap
of soft and showy plumes, to address himself to alabaster statues,
glittering lustres, grecian chairs, festoons of drapery, and an audience
of beings tricked out as fine as himself, were he to be suddenly
transported into a poor and paltry room, meanly lighted, badly
ventilated, and inconveniently arranged, and to be told that, in that
spot, the representatives of the first nation in the world, legislated
for her subjects? What would he say, were he to see and hear in the mean
attire of jockeys and mechanics, such orators as Greece and Rome never
saw or heard in the days of their most exalted glory; unfolding with the
penetration of a subordinate Providence, the machinations of a dark and
deep conspiracy, erecting elaborate laws to shelter the good, against
the enemies of repose, or hurling the thunder of their eloquence against
the common foes of their country. The astonished frenchman would very
likely say, "I always thought that the english were a strange set of
beings, but they now exceed the powers of my comprehension, they can
elicit wit in the midst of gloom, and can say such things in a plain
unbrushed coat of _blue_ cloth, as all the robes, plumes, and finery of
the republic, in her gaudy halls of deliberation, cannot inspire."

From the legislative assembly I went to pay my respects to the gallant
captain Bergeret, to whom I had letters of introduction. It will be
immediately remembered, that this distinguished hero, in the Virginie,
displayed the most undaunted courage, when she was engaged by sir Edward
Pellew, in the Indefatigable, to whose superior prowess and naval
knowledge, he was obliged to strike the tricolour flag. His bravery and
integrity have justly entitled him to the admiration and lasting
friendship of his noble conqueror, and to the esteem of the british
nation. When sir Sidney Smith was confined in the Temple, and captain
Bergeret a prisoner in England, the latter was sent to France upon his
parole, to endeavour to effect the exchange of sir Sidney. The french
government, which was then under the direction of some of the basest and
meanest of her tyrants, refused to listen to the