the Rue de Matignon. It is
so desirable to get into a mansion where every thing is new and in good
taste, which is the case with the one in question, that I hope Lord
B---- will be satisfied with this.

Sat an hour with General d'O---- who has been unwell. Never was there
such a nurse as his wife, and so he said. Illness almost loses its
irksomeness when the sick chamber is cheered by one who is as kind as
she is clever. Madame d'O---- is glad we have not taken the Hotel
Monaco, for she resided in it a long time when it was occupied by her
mother, and she thinks the sleeping-rooms are confined and gloomy.

"After serious consideration and mature deliberation," we have finally
decided on taking the house in the Rue de Matignon. It will be
beautiful when completed, but nevertheless not to be compared to the
Hotel Ney. The _salons de reception_, are very good, and the
decorations are rich and handsome.

The large _salon_ is separated from the lesser by an immense plate of
unsilvered glass, which admits of the fireplaces in each room (they are
_vis-a-vis_) being seen, and has a very good effect. A door on each
side this large plate of glass opens into the smaller _salon_. The
portion of the house allotted to me will, when completed, be like fairy
land. A _salon_, destined to contain my buhl cabinets, _porcelaine de
Sevres_, and rare _bijouterie_, opens into a library by two
glass-doors, and in the pier which divides them is a large mirror
filling up the entire space.

In the library, that opens on a terrace, which is to be covered with a
_berceau_, and converted into a garden, are two mirrors, _vis-a-vis_ to
the two glass doors that communicate from the _salon_; so that on
entering this last, the effect produced is exceedingly pretty. Another
large mirror is placed at the end of the library, and reflects the
terrace.

When my books and various treasures are arranged in this suite I shall
be very comfortably lodged. My _chambre a coucher_, dressing-room, and
boudoir, are spacious, and beautifully decorated. All this sounds well
and looks well, too, yet we shall leave the Rue de Bourbon with regret,
and Lord B---- now laments that we did not secure it for a long term.

Drove in the Bois de Boulogne. A lovely day, which produced a very
exhilarating effect on my spirits. I know not whether others experience
the same pleasurable sensations that I do on a fine day in spring, when
all nature is bursting into life, and the