unaccountable to you, who have always felt that such things must be kept
for the very innermost circle of home privacy. But the Frenchman or
Italian has from a child been brought up to pass his family life in
places of public resort, in constant contact and intercommunion with
other families; and the social and conversational instinct has thus been
daily strengthened. Hence the reunions of these people have been
characterized by a sprightliness and vigor and spirit that the
Anglo-Saxon has in vain attempted to seize and reproduce. English and
American _conversazioni_ have very generally proved a failure, from the
rooted, frozen habit of reticence and reserve which grows with our
growth and strengthens with our strength. The fact is, that the
Anglo-Saxon race as a race does not enjoy talking, and, except in rare
instances, does not talk well. A daily convocation of people, without
refreshments or any extraneous object but the simple pleasure of seeing
and talking with each other, is a thing that can scarcely be understood
in English or American society. Social entertainment presupposes in the
Anglo-Saxon mind _something to eat_, and not only something, but a great
deal. Enormous dinners or great suppers constitute the entertainment.
Nobody seems to have formed the idea that the talking--the simple
exchange of the social feelings--_is_, of itself, the entertainment, and
that _being together_ is the pleasure.

"Madame Recamier for years had a circle of friends who met every
afternoon in her _salon_, from four to six o'clock, for the simple and
sole pleasure of talking with each other. The very first wits and men of
letters and statesmen and _savans_ were enrolled in it, and each brought
to the entertainment some choice _morceau_ which he had laid aside from
his own particular field to add to the feast. The daily intimacy gave
each one such perfect insight into all the others' habits of thought,
tastes, and preferences, that the conversation was like the celebrated
music of the _Conservatoire_ in Paris, a concert of perfectly chorded
instruments taught by long habit of harmonious intercourse to keep exact
time and tune together.

"_Real_ conversation presupposes intimate acquaintance. People must see
each other often enough to wear off the rough bark and outside rind of
common-places and conventionalities in which their real ideas are
enwrapped, and give forth without reserve their innermost and best
feelings. Now what i