ernal side. What a good
arrangement this would be for the Parisians--how many _peches a mortels_
would they get rid of--such as adultery, fornication, etcetera,--by
passing one simple law of the land. By-the-by, what an admirable idea
for reforming a nation--they say that laws, now-a-days, are made to
prevent crime: but if laws were enacted by which crime should no longer
be considered as crime, what a deal of trouble might be saved.

The theatre is closed owing to the want of funds; the want of funds is
owing to the want of honesty on the part of the manager having run away
with the strong box, which was decidedly the very best box in the
theatre.

April 26.

I went to see a species of Franconi, or Astley's: there is little
variety in these performances, as there are only a certain quantity of
feats, which can be performed either by the horses or the riders,
nevertheless we had some novelty. We had the very best feminine rider I
ever saw; she was a perfect female Centaur, looking part and parcel of
the animal upon which she stood; and then we had a regularly Dutch-built
lady, who amused us with a tumble off her horse, coming down on the
loose saw-dust, in a sitting posture, and making a hole in it as large
as if a covey of partridges had been husking in it for the whole day.
An American black (there always is a black fellow in these companies,
for, as Cooper says, they learn to ride well in America by stealing
their masters' horses) rode furiously well and sprained his ankle--the
attempt of a man in extreme pain to smile is very horrible--yet he did
grin as he bowed and limped away. After that we had a performer, who
had little chance of spraining her ankle: it was a Miss Betsey, a female
of good proportions, who was, however, not a little sulky that evening,
and very often refused to perform her task, and as for forcing the
combined will of a female and an elephant to boot, there was no man rash
enough to attempt it, so she did as little as she pleased, and it
pleased her to do very little; one feat, however, was novel, she took a
musket in her mouth, and fired it off with her trunk.

When I was in India I was very partial to these animals; there was a
most splendid elephant, which had been captured by the expedition sent
to Martaban; he stood four or five feet higher than elephants usually
do, and was a great favourite of his master, the rajah. When this
animal was captured there was great difficulty in gett