or Jesuitical schools, or
by foreign Ministers. Those who are now supposed to be the great people
of the Faubourg St. Germain are nothing more than actors, who put on a
motley dress and appear before the public with the view of attracting
that attention to which they are not entitled; it is, therefore, an
error to suppose that the modern faubourg is anything like what it was
during the days of the Bourbons. At the present moment the only
practical aid the inhabitants of this locality can accord to the
legitimist cause in Europe, is by getting up subscriptions for the
Papacy, and such exiled Sovereigns as Francis II.; and, in order to do
so, they generally address themselves to married women and widows: in
fact, it is from the purses of susceptible females, many of whom are
English, that donations are obtained for legitimacy and Popery in
distress.

It is to be regretted that the most renowned and ancient families of
France have, in society and politics, yielded their places to another
class. That refinement of perception, sensitiveness, and gentle
bearing, which take three or four generations to produce, are no longer
the characteristics of Parisian society. The gilded saloons of the
Tuileries, and those magnificent hotels whose architects have not been
geniuses of art, but the children of Mammon, are occupied by the Jew
speculator, the political parasite, the clever schemer, and those
who--whilst following the fortune of the great man who rules
France--are nothing better than harpies. Most of these pretended
devotees of imperialism have, speaking figuratively, their portmanteaus
perpetually packed, ready for flight. The Emperor's good nature, as
regards his entourage, has never allowed him to get rid of men who,
perhaps, ought not to be seen so near the Imperial throne of France.
The weakest feature of Napoleon III.'s Government is the conspicuous
presence of a few persons in high places, whose cupidity is so
extravagant that, in order to gratify their lust of wealth, they would
not hesitate, indirectly at least, to risk a slur on the reputation of
their master and benefactor, in order to gain their own ends.

THE SALON DES ETRANGERS IN PARIS

When the allies entered Paris, after the Battle of Waterloo, the
English gentlemen sought, instinctively, something like a club. Paris,
however, possessed nothing of the sort; but there was a much more
dangerous establishment than the London clubs, namely, a rend