ental superiority or fine
qualities, happens to be ill-dressed, or troubled with _mauvaise
honte_.

A woman, if ever so handsome, who is not dressed _a la mode_, will be
pronounced plain in a Parisian _salon_; while a really plain woman
wearing a robe made by Victorine and a cap by Herbault, will be
considered _tres-bien, ou au moins bien gentille_. The person who can
converse fluently on all the ordinary topics, though never uttering a
single sentiment or opinion worth remembering, will be more highly
thought of than the one who, with a mind abounding with knowledge, only
speaks to elicit or convey information. Talent, to be appreciated in
France, must be--like the wares in its shops--fully displayed; the
French give no credit for what is kept in reserve.

I have been reading _Devereux_, and like it infinitely,--even more than
_Pelham_, which I estimated very highly. There is more thought and
reflection in it, and the sentiments bear the stamp of a profound and
elevated mind. The novels of this writer produce a totally different
effect on me to that exercised by the works of other authors; they
amuse less than they make me think. Other novels banish thought, and
interest me only in the fate of the actors; but these awaken a train of
reflection that often withdraws me from the story, leaving me deeply
impressed with the truth, beauty, and originality of the thoughts with
which every page is pregnant.

All in Paris are talking of the _esclandre_ of the late trial in
London; and the comments made on it by the French prove how different
are the views of morality taken by them and us.

Conversing with some ladies on this subject last night, they asserted
that the infrequency of elopements in France proved the superiority of
morals of the French, and that few examples ever occurred of a woman
being so lost to virtue as to desert her children and abandon her home.
"But if she should have rendered herself unworthy of any longer being
the companion of her children, the partner of her home," asked one of
the circle, "would it be more moral to remain under the roof she had
dishonoured, and with the husband she had betrayed, than to fly, and so
incur the penalty she had drawn on her head?" They were of opinion that
the elopement was the most criminal part of the affair, and that Lady
---- was less culpable than many other ladies, because she had not
fled; and, consequently, that elopements proved a greater
demoralisation than