animation. "We have turned the position, and taken a thousand
prisoners and some guns. Our men are in high spirits; and, if I were in
command of a corps to-morrow, my only countersign would be--'Paris.'"

"Varnhorst," said the duke, "you have only anticipated my intention with
regard to yourself. You shall have a command; the three brigades of
Prussian grenadiers shall be given into your charge, and you shall operate
on the flank. It is my wish to make our principal movement in that
direction, and I _know_ you well."

Varnhorst's gratitude almost denied him words; but his countenance spoke
better than his tongue.

One of those papers contained a detail of several projects by the leading
members of the Assembly for the government of France. Guiscard, after
bending his wise head over them, pronounced them all equally futile, and
equally tending to democracy. The duke was of the opposite opinion, and
after a glance at the papers, observed--"that he thought some of those
schemes ingenious; but that they so closely resembled the ideas thrown out
in Germany, under the patronage of the Emperor Joseph, as to deprive them
of any strong claim to originality." "No," said he gaily, "I shall never
believe that Frenchmen are changed, until I hear that there is no ballet
in Paris; you might as well tell me, that the Swiss will abjure the money
which makes a part of his distinction, as the Frenchman give up the laced
coat, the powdered queue, and the order of St Louis at his buttonhole.
Those things are the man, they are his mind, his senses, himself. He is a
creation of monarchy--a clever, amusing, ingenious, and brave one; but
rely upon my knowledge of human nature--if French nature be any thing of
the kind--that Paris, a capital without balls, and a government without
embroidery, will disgust him beyond all forgiveness. It is my opinion,
that if democracy were formed to-morrow, it would be danced away in a week;
or if every pedigree in France were burned in this evening's fire, you
would have the Boulevards crowded with marquises and marchionesses before
the month was over. Is my friend _un peu philosophe_?" He laughed at his
own picture of a revolution, and his pleasantry of manner would have made
his sentiments popular on any subject. Still, our long-headed friend,
Guiscard, was not to be convinced.

"I may have every contempt," said he, in a hurried tone, "for the
shallowness of idlers and talkers attempting to mould men by the