ot as bad as this."

"And yet, M. de ----, since we are conversing frankly, listen to what I
witnessed, but the other day, in France. You know the situation of
things at St. Ouen, and the rumours that are so rife. We had the _Fete
Dieu_, during my residence there. You, who are a Catholic, need not be
told that your sect believe in the doctrine of the 'real presence.'
There was a _reposoir_ erected in the garden of the chateau, and God, in
person, was carried, with religious pomp, to rest in the bowers of the
ex-favourite. It is true, the husband was not present: he was only in
the provinces!"

"The influence of a throne makes sad parasites and hypocrites," said M.
de ----, shrugging his shoulders.

"And the influence of the people, too, though in a different way. A
courtier is merely a well-dressed demagogue."

"It follows, then, that man is just a poor devil."

But I am gossiping away with you, when my Asmodean career is ended, and
it is time I went to bed. Good night!

LETTER XIX.

Garden of the Tuileries.--The French Parliament.--Parliamentary
Speakers.--The Tribune.--Royal Initiative.--The Charter.--Mongrel
Government.--Ministerial Responsibility.--Elections in
France.--Doctrinaires.--Differences of Opinion.--Controversy.

TO JACOB SUTHERLAND, ESQ. NEW YORK.

The Chambers have been opened with the customary ceremonies and parade.
It is usual for the king, attended by a brilliant _cortege_, to go, on
these occasions, from the Tuileries to the Palais Bourbon, through lines
of troops, under a salute of guns. The French love _spectacles_, and
their monarch, if he would be popular, is compelled to make himself one,
at every plausible opportunity.

The garden of the Tuileries is a parallelogram, of, I should think,
fifty acres, of which one end is bounded by the palace. It has a high
vaulted terrace on the side next the river, as well as at the opposite
end, and one a little lower, next the Rue de Rivoli. There is also a
very low broad terrace, immediately beneath the windows of the palace,
which separates the buildings from the parterres. You will understand
that the effect of this arrangement is to shut out the world from the
persons in the garden, by means of the terraces, and, indeed, to enable
them, by taking refuge in the woods that fill quite half the area, to
bury themselves almost in a forest. The public has free access to this
place, from an early hour in the morning to eight or nine at night