which, under the empire, poured into Paris from all quarters of Europe, may likewise have disturbed the operations of the industrious: and latterly, the abrupt suspension of unprofitable building speculations in Paris, may have produced a similar result. Mendicity, however, is not a troublesome vice in the streets, nor does the spectacle of sunken countenances and ragged labourers occur, as in England, to excite at once compassion and alarm.*

Over a country so widely extended as France, and of which the circumstances differ so extremely from province to province, it is difficult

* Comparisons thus unfavourable to our own country are painful to report; but a frequent recurrence to them may not be without its use, while it is necessary to the purposes of truth. If there be any who would take offence at such confessions, as being anti-national, I reply, that the evil is not in the statements, but in their veracity; and patriotism will be better shown in attempts to reinove the causes of misfortune, and to re-establish the British empire in its former prosperous career, than in an ill-placed indignation at what may be falsely thought a scandalous

exposure.

to speak in generals. For the most part the northern provinces are more flourishing than those of the south, and the condition of the peasantry consequently superior. Education, likewise, is more widely diffused, and the habits of industry more active throughout the north. It may, however, safely be said of the whole country, that its resources are extending, and that the people everywhere are rising in comfort and in importance; insomuch that were they not disturbed in their consciences by the priests, or alarmed for the permanence of their institutions, and for the tenure of their properties, by the pretensions of the ultra-royal party, they would be contented with the government, imperfect as it is, and would not lend themselves to any schemes of abstract and theoretical amendment. The revolution, in relieving France from the burthen of tithes, and from the necessity of supporting the younger children of an overgrown aristocracy, has given a spring to the national industry in all its departments; and it requires only time for the formation of capital, to render France the first com

VOL. II.

K K

mercial nation of the continent. It has already ceased to be a purely agricultural country; and, therefore, to be condemned to diffusive poverty and an overbearing landed proprietary. Manufacturing and commercial fortunes are daily arising, and taking their place beside the aristocracies of birth and of office. Their influence is felt in society, in the elections, and in public opinion: and hitherto, with a decided advantage to the interests of the nation. If the governments of Europe act wisely, and that of France more particularly pursues a liberal and enlightened policy, in the relations it establishes with foreign nations, this increasing prosperity of twenty-eight millions of consumers will be a common benefit to all Europe. But if the old system of jealousy, exclusion, and rivalry be continued, it will only tend to alter the balance of trade, to carry industry and capital to new scenes of operation, and to provoke new wars, in which the interests of the people of all countries will be alike sacrificed.

499

FÊTE DIEU IN 1829.

FOR the last week, the streets have exhibited frequent religious processions, preparatory to the Fête Dieu. These consist of young females, dressed in white from their shoes to the flowing veils, thrown back from their heads, (or, as one of them told me, in their toilette de sacrement ;) and the boys, with white ribbons tied in bunches round their arms, as if for a dancing-master's ball. The female processions are by much the more numerous. Every parish has its own young flock, composed indiscriminately of girls of all ranks. They walk, two by two, along the rough

paved streets, and under a broiling sun or sudden shower, as the case may be, led by a young priest, who conducts them to the church, turning back occasionally, to see that all is right. Many of the young persons thus exposed to the garish eye of the street public, were, I was told, to walk in the great procession of the Fête Dieu-a most arduous undertaking. I saw among them Mademoiselle de B- who is educated in all the domestic privacy of an English girl of fashion, and whose mother is among the most precise "grandes dames de par le monde" who frequent the Château.

I observed the circumstance, with amazement, to Madame de T. She replied, with the usual "Que voulez vous? (What would you have?) She must go to the Duchesse de Berri's balls."

I stared. "But what have the balls in the Pavillon Marsan to do with religious processions?"

Madame de T answered, "I was remonstrating to a friend of mine, the other