olding this vivid representation of the
triumph achieved by their order over the _noblesse_.

It is not wise to exhibit to a people, and above all to so inflammable
a people as the French, what _they_ can effect; and I confess I felt
uneasy when I witnessed the deep interest and satisfaction evinced by
many in the _parterre_ during the representation.

The _Apres_, the third epoch, is even more calculated to encourage
revolutionary principles, for in it was displayed the elevation to the
highest grades in the army and in the state of those who in the _ancien
regime_ would have remained as the Revolution found them, in the most
obscure stations, but who by that event had brilliant opportunities
afforded for distinguishing themselves.

Heroic courage, boundless generosity, and devoted patriotism, are
liberally bestowed on the actors who figure in this last portion of the
drama; and, as these qualities are known to have appertained to many of
those who really filled the _roles_ enacted at the period now
represented, the scene had, as might be expected, a powerful effect on
a people so impressible as the French, and so liable to be hurried into
enthusiasm by aught that appeals to their imaginations.

The applause was deafening; and I venture to say, that those from whom
it proceeded left the theatre with a conviction that a revolution was a
certain means of achieving glory and fortune to those who, with all the
self-imagined qualities to merit both, had not been born to either.

Every Frenchman in the middle or lower class believes himself capable
of arriving at the highest honours. This belief sometimes half
accomplishes the destiny it imagines; but even when it fails to effect
this, it ever operates in rendering Frenchmen peculiarly liable to rush
into any change or measure likely to lead to even a chance of
distinction.

As during the performance of _Avant, Pendant et Apres_, my eye glanced
on the faces of some of the emigrant _noblesse_, restored to France by
the entry of the Bourbons, I marked the changes produced on their
countenances by it. Anxiety, mingled with dismay, was visible; for the
scenes of the past were vividly recalled, while a vague dread of the
future was instilled. Yes, the representation of this piece is a
dangerous experiment, and so I fear it will turn out.

I am sometimes amused, but more frequently irritated, by observing the
_moeurs Parisiennes_, particularly in the shop-keepers. The airs