de his committing it by
enabling him to judge of the result. I frequently hear people say, "So
and so are very clever," or "very cunning, and are well calculated to
make their way in the world." This opinion seems to me to be a severe
satire on the world, for as cunning can only appertain to a mean
intellect, to which it serves as a poor substitute for sense, it argues
ill for the world to suppose it can be taken in by it.

I never knew a sensible, or a good person, who was cunning; and I have
known so many weak and wicked ones who possessed this despicable
quality, that I hold it in abhorrence, except in very young children,
to whom Providence gives it before they arrive at good sense.

Went a round of the curiosity shops on the Quai d'Orsay, and bought an
amber vase of rare beauty, said to have once belonged to the Empress
Josephine. When I see the beautiful objects collected together in these
shops, I often think of their probable histories, and of those to whom
they once belonged. Each seems to identify itself with the former
owner, and conjures up in my mind a little romance.

A vase of rock crystal, set in precious stones, seen today, could never
have belonged to aught but some beauty, for whom it was selected by an
adoring lover or husband, ere yet the honeymoon had passed. A chased
gold _etui_, enriched with oriental agates and brilliants, must have
appertained to some _grande dame_, on whose table it rested in a
richly-decorated _salon_; and could it speak, what piquant disclosures
might it not make!

The fine old watch, around the dial of which sparkle diamonds, and on
the back the motto, executed in the same precious stones, "_Vous me
faites oublier les heures_," once adorned the slender waist of some
dainty dame,--a nuptial gift. The silvery sound of its bell often
reminded her of the flight of Time, and her _caro sposo_ of the effects
of it on his inconstant heart, long before her mirror told her of the
ravages of the tyrant. The _flacon_ so tastefully ornamented, has been
held to delicate nostrils when the megrim--that malady peculiar to
refined organisations and susceptible nerves--has assailed its fair
owner; and the heart-shaped pincushion of crimson velvet, inclosed in
its golden case and stuck with pins, has been likened by the giver to
his own heart, pierced by the darts of Love--a simile that probably
displeased not the fair creature to whom it was addressed.

Here are the expensive and tastefu