t the
Frontier.--Change in the National Character.--Mons.--Brussels.--A
Fete.--The Picture Gallery.--Probable Partition of Belgium.

Dear ----,

We had been preparing for our summer excursion some time, but were
unable to get away from Paris before the 18th of July. Our destination
was undetermined, health and pleasure being the objects, though, a
portion of our party having never seen Belgium, it was settled to visit
that country in the commencement of the journey, let it end where it
might The old caleche was repaired for the purpose, fitted with a new
rumble to contain Francois and Jetty (the Saxon _femme de chambre_,
hired in Germany), the _vache_ was crammed, sacks stowed, passport
signed, and orders were sent for horses. We are a little apt to boast of
the facilities for travelling in America, and, certainly, so long as one
can keep in the steam-boats or on the rail-roads, and be satisfied with
mere velocity, no part of the world can probably compete with us, the
distances considered; but we absolutely want the highest order of
motion, which, I think, beyond all question, is the mode of travelling
post. By this method, your privacy is sacred, you are master of your
own hours, going where you please, and stopping when you please; and, as
for speed, you can commonly get along at the rate of ten miles in the
hour, by paying a trifle in addition, or you can go at half that rate
should it better suit your humour. A good servant and a good carriage
are indispensable, and both are to be had at very reasonable rates, in
this part of the world.

I never felt the advantage of this mode of travelling, and I believe we
have now tried nearly all the others, or the advantages of the Parisian
plan of living, so strongly as on the present occasion. Up to the last
moment, I was undecided by what route to travel. The furniture of the
apartment was my own, and it was our intention to return to Paris, to
pass the winter. The luggage had been stowed early in the morning, the
carriage was in the court ready to hook on, and at ten we sat down
quietly to breakfast, as usual, with scarcely a sign of movement about
us. Like old campaigners, the baggage had been knowingly reduced to the
very minimum admissible, no part of the furniture was deranged, but
everything was in order, and you may form some idea of the facilities,
when you remember that this was the condition of a family of strangers,
that in half an hour was to start on a jou