themselves of consequence and to attract the
attention of the gentlemen. In 1803, under the First Consul's
reign, when all freedom of discussion on public affairs was
dangerous, and when all parties were glad to forget the horrors of
the revolutionary days, conversation was limited to literary or
scientific subjects, and was therefore much more agreeable to
foreigners; now in 1820 the verb _politiquer_, to talk politics,
had been invented.

As a foreigner Miss Edgeworth was enabled to visit at the houses of all
factions, and she found much entertainment in hearing their opinions and
diametrically opposite views. The Emigrants spoke of the Liberals with
the bitterest detestation as revolutionary monsters; the Liberals spoke
of the Ultras as bigoted idiots. One of these said of a lady celebrated
in 1803 as a brilliant talker: "_Autrefois elle avait de l'esprit, mais
elle est devenue Ultra, devote et bete._" While not sympathizing with
the insolence of either party, Miss Edgeworth extracted some diversion
and yet more moral reflection from all she saw. Writing to Dr. Holland
after she had been an observer for some time, she says:--

Upon the whole, after comparing the society in Paris and London, I
far prefer the London society, and feel a much stronger desire to
return to London than ever to revisit Paris. There is scarcely any
new literature or any taste for old literature in Paris. In London
the production of a single article in the _Edinboro'_ or _Quarterly
Review_, the lustre, however evanescent, it casts on the reviewer
or the author, is a proof of the importance of literature in
fashionable society. No such thing in Paris. Even the Parisian men
of science, many of them equal, some superior to ours, are obliged
or think themselves obliged to turn statesmen, and sorry statesmen
they make. Everything in Parisian society is, as it were, tainted
by politics, and the politicians themselves seem to be mere actors.
I could forgive all their violence and the noise they make,
screaming always all at a time, if they were really actuated by
patriotism, but it seemed all for effect. A few exceptions, of
course, to prove the rule.

The more she saw of Parisian life, the more convinced she felt that the
French required, if not a despot, at least an absolute monarch to reign
over them. A brilliant and ready talker, M