d, you rendered the
banquet indeed "the feast of reason and the flow of soul!"

Mr. H---- B---- dined here yesterday, and he talked over the pleasant
days we had passed in Italy. He is an excellent specimen of the young
men of the present day. Well-informed, and with a mind highly
cultivated, he has travelled much in other countries, without losing
any of the good qualities and habits peculiar to his own.

Went to the Theatre Italien, last night, and heard Madame Malibran sing
for the first time. Her personation of "Desdemona" is exquisite, and
the thrilling tones of her voice were in perfect harmony with the deep
sensibility she evinced in every look and movement.

I have heard no singer to please me comparable to Malibran: there is
something positively electrical in the effect she produces on my
feelings. Her acting is as original as it is effective; Passion and
Nature are her guides, and she abandons herself to them _con amore_.

The only defect I can discover in her singing is an excess of
_fiorituri_, that sometimes destroys the _vraisemblance_ of the _role_
she is enacting, and makes one think more of the wonderful singer than
of "Desdemona." This defect, however, is atoned for by the bursts of
passion into which her powerful voice breaks when some deep emotion is
to be expressed, and the accomplished singer is forgotten in the
impassioned "Desdemona."

Spent last evening at Madame C----'s, and met there la Duchcsse de la
Force, la Marquise de Brehan, and the usual _habitues de la maison_. La
Duchesse is one of _l'ancien regime_, though less ceremonious than they
are in general said to be, and appears to be as good-natured as she is
good-humoured.

The Marquise de B---- told me some amusing anecdotes of the Imperial
Court, and of the gaiety and love of dress of the beautiful Princesse
Pauline Borghese, to whom she was much attached.

The whole of the Buonaparte family seem to have possessed, in an
eminent degree, the happy art of conciliating good-will in those around
them--an art necessary in all persons filling elevated positions, but
doubly so in those who have achieved their own elevation. The family of
the Emperor Napoleon were remarkable for the kindness and consideration
they invariably evinced for those who in any way depended on them, yet
a natural dignity of manner precluded the possibility of familiarity.

The Marquise de B---- having mentioned the Duchesse d'Abrantes, Madame
C---- inquired kin