my horse upon his legs, without
once coming to the ground, when the Tatar, the Surdjee, and my
travelling companion were alternately prostrated from the falling of
their horses, which I attribute to their not being able to check them in
time when they tripped, to prevent their totally sprawling; it is true
that some parts of the road could only be compared to a street having
been unpaved and all the stones left loose upon the ground over which we
had to ride, consequently I took the greatest care, never for an instant
neglecting any precaution to keep my hack from stumbling. But where a
horse is liable to come upon his knees, certainly the system of rising
in the saddle is most unsafe, and I never met with any one who could
better teach his pupils to sit close and firm even with the roughest
trot than M. de Fitte, who, not content with precept, himself furnishes
the example. Amongst his pupils, are many of the fair sex as the French
ladies are now beginning to imitate the gentlemen in their passion for
equestrian exercises, and frequently in the Champs-Elysees and Bois de
Boulogne display the progress they have made in the art.

Although their pursuits are not so numerous nor so various as those of
the men, yet their opportunities of killing time are greater; as
shopping alone employs often some hours of the day, the importance
attached to a bonnet, a cap, a turban and above all to a dress, causes
many and long dissertations. Exhibitions and morning concerts frequently
occupy also much of the ladies' leisure, a little walking in the
Tuileries gardens at a certain hour and in a certain part whilst their
carriage waits for them, an airing in it, or a turn on horseback, fill
up the rest of the day, and after dinner, if not at the theatre, they
either receive or pay visits, as it is the fashion to do so of an
evening in Paris.

I must not quit this sketch of the Parisians and their occupations
without giving my readers some idea of what is called _La Jeune France_,
which consists of a number of young men, who wear comical shaped hats,
their hair very long hanging below their ears, and let the greater part
of their beards grow; they also have their throats bare and their shirt
collars turned down; they have rather a wild look, and their political
theories are somewhat wilder than their looks; they are republican in
principle, and in manner, adopting a sort of rough abrupt style, as far
from courteous as can well be imagine