d C---- were not a man of
fashion he would become something vastly better, for he has much of the
chivalrous spirit of his father and the tact of his uncle. Fashion is
the gulf in whose vortex so many fine natures are wrecked in England;
what a pity it is that they cannot be rescued from its dangers!

Mr. Cutlar Fergusson is a clever and amiable man, mild, well-informed,
and agreeable.

The Baron and Baroness de Ruysch spent yesterday with us. They are an
estimable couple, and very pleasant withal. His philosophy, which has
nothing of the ascetic in it, harmonises very well with her vivacity,
and her sprightliness never degenerates into levity. It is the gaiety
of a mind at ease, pleased with others, and content with self. How
unlike the exuberant spirits of ----, which always depress mine more
than a day's _tete-a-tete_ with the moodiest hypochondriac could do!

Nothing can be more dreary and cheerless than the weather; and a second
winter's residence at Paris has convinced me that London is infinitely
preferable at this season, except to those who consider gaiety an
equivalent for comfort. The negligence and bad management of the
persons whose duty it is to remove the snow or mud from the streets,
render them not only nearly impassable for pedestrians but exceedingly
disagreeable to those who have carriages.

Previously to the heavy fall of snow that occurred a week ago, and
which still encumbers the streets, a succession of wet days occasioned
an accumulation of mud that gave forth most unsavoury odours, and lent
a damp chilliness to the atmosphere which sent home to their sick
chambers, assailed by sore throats and all the other miseries peculiar
to colds, many of those who were so imprudent as to venture abroad. The
snow, instead of being swept away, is piled up on each side of the
streets, forming a wall that increases the gloom and chilliness that
reigns around. The fogs, too, rise from the Seine, and hover over the
Champs-Elysees and streets adjacent to it, rendering a passage through
them a service of danger.

Lord Castlereagh and Madame Grassini dined here last evening. He was
much amused with the raciness and originality of her remarks; and she
was greatly gratified by the polite attention with which he listened to
them. At one moment, she pronounced him to be "_la vraie image de ce
cher et bon Lord Castlereagh_," whom she had so much liked; and the
next she declared him to be exactly like "_ce preux che