the worse for it,' enjoys not unfrequently a
great deal of negative felicity. We envied the condition of such an one
the other day, while sitting with a friend at the 'Globe,' over such
potables and edibles as that matchless establishment can alone set before
its guests. At a table in near proximity, sat two Englishmen, whose
comments upon 'matters and things' in America were embodied in such
'voluble speech' that we could scarcely hear ourselves speak. 'They may
_talk_ about their hinstitutions as much as they please,' said one of the
speakers, 'but honly _look_ at 'em--see their heffect, from the 'ead of
the government, down. Yesterday I perused in the 'Courier' newspaper an
account of a negro's skin, hentire, that was found with the 'ead attached,
in the Mississippi river!' ''Orid, isn't it! Think o' such a thing as that
picked up in the Tems! And last week. I read in the 'Erald of a man near
the Canada lines, who was found dead by the side of a fallen tree, half
eaten up by wild hogs or panthers. He 'ad a flask of whiskey by his side,
which he had taken 'neat,' till it had killed him; and in his pocket was a
dirty pack o' cards, wrapped up in a copy of the Declaration of
Hindependence! That's your _liberty_ for ye!' [Symbol: Hand pointing
right] See if these very absurdities be not found embodied within a
twelve-month in some new work by a travelling Englishman, upon that
'miserable experiment at self-government, the United States of America!'
. . . HERE are some scraps of '_Parisian Gossip_' which will not be
altogether uninteresting to American readers. One of our Paris letters
states that at a splendid party given by Lady COWLEY, there occurred a
rather curious incident. 'Among the guests was a Mr. L----, (one of the
_snobiculi_, most likely,) who, believing that none but a friend whom he
addressed was within hearing, said, 'And they call this a party? Why, I
never saw any thing so dull in all my life. It is not worth the trouble of
dressing for such an affair; and then the rooms are so intolerably hot.'
Unfortunately, the noble hostess was standing near, and overheard him, and
immediately said: 'Mr. L----, there (pointing to the ante-room,) is a
cooler room, and beyond it is the hall, still cooler.' This prompt and
significant hint was felt, understood, and taken.' 'Every body in Paris
knows or has heard of HALEVY the composer, and his brother, the author. A
_bon mot_ of a pretty and sarcastic lady, at the expense