the
imitation of their humours and graces; so that dignity in manners, is
a rare thing here before the age of sixty. Does not king David say
somewhere, that _Man walketh in a vain shew?_ I think he does; and
I am sure this is peculiarly true of the Frenchman--but he walks
merrily, and seems to enjoy the vision; and may he not therefore be
esteemed more happy than many of our solid thinkers, whose brows are
furrowed by deep reflection, and whose wisdom is so often clothed
with a misty mantle of spleen and vapours?

WHAT delights me most here, is a view of the magnificence, often
accompanied with taste, that reigns in the king's palaces and
gardens; for tho' I don't admire much the architecture, in which
there is great irregularity and want of proportion, yet the statues,
paintings, and other decorations, afford me high entertainment. One
of the pieces of antiquity that struck me most in the gardens of
Versailles, was the famous Colossean statue of Jupiter, the
workmanship of Myron, which Mark Anthony carried away from Samos, and
Augustus ordered to be placed in the capitol. It is of Parian
marble; and though it has suffered in the ruin of time, it still
preserves striking lines of majesty. But surely, if marble could
feel, the god would frown with a generous indignation, to see himself
transported from the capitol into a French garden; and, after having
received the homage of the Roman emperors, who laid their laurels at
his feet when they returned from their conquests, to behold now
nothing but frizzled beaus passing by him with indifference.

I PROPOSE setting out soon from this place, so that you are to
expect no more letters from this side of the water; besides, I am
hurried to death, and my head swims with that vast variety of objects
which I am obliged to view with such rapidity, the shortness of my
time not allowing me to examine them at my leisure. There is here an
excessive prodigality of ornaments and decorations, that is just the
opposite extreme to what appears in our royal gardens; this
prodigality is owing to the levity and inconstancy of the French
taste, which always pants after something new, and thus heaps
ornament upon ornament, without end or measure. It is time, however,
that I should put an end to my letter; so I wish you good night,
And am, &c.

LET. LVIII.

TO THE COUNT ----.

_Translated from the French._

I AM charmed, S