at Naples as brief as might be, and to see no more of
my "dear friend of former years" than was absolutely indispensable.

Were I to dwell upon those portions of my history which afforded me the
highest amount of enjoyment, while passing I might linger upon the weeks
I spent in Naples as perhaps the very pleasantest of my life. The world
of fashion was new to me. All those fascinations to which habit renders
men either apathetic or indifferent, came fresh upon _me_. The outward
show of splendor in dress and jewels, gorgeous saloons, rare flowers,
exquisite pictures and statues, soon cease to astonish and amaze; but
it takes a long while ere the charm of intercourse with really brilliant
society begins to wear off, and ere a man recognizes a degree of
sameness in the pleasures and amusements of his fashionable friends.

I am not sure that the society which I frequented had not more power of
captivation than a more rigidly scrupulous circle, since, while exacting
all the observances of polished life, it yet admitted a degree of
liberty, almost of familiarity, among its members, that I have since
remarked is not common in the wider intercourse of the world.

Pretty women were not ashamed to look their best, and dress the most
becomingly; witty men were not chary of their smartness; courtiers were
confidential; statesmen were candid; men of the world unbent, as if in
a circle where their freedom would not be misinterpreted, and said
a hundred things that in other societies would have been, to say the
least, indiscreet. It is true that individuals were more discussed than
events, and that characters, not facts, formed the staple of the talk;
but how amusing was it, what stores of anecdote were opened, what
strange histories and curious illustrations of life unfolded! Pretension
was ridiculed, vulgarity exposed, stupidity laughed at, awkwardness
criticized, and want of tact condemned, with most unsparing ridicule;
but I am bound to own that there were few commendations reserved for
virtuous conduct or honorable action. The debtor side of the account was
full, but the credit had not an item on it!

No rank, however exalted, could escape the judgments of a "set" who,
with all the exclusiveness of fashion, affected a most democratic spirit
of equality. It was, however, a "communism" that assumed to start on the
basis of every one haviug at least ten thousand a year,--not so bad a
theory, were it only practicable.

I must no