badge of servitude, when all his
countrymen were fighting for their liberty. I had again to clamber over
the barricade, assisted by my servant, and, before I could cross the
Rue St.-Honore, encountered various groups of men rushing along, all of
whom uttered such invectives against my footman that I determined not
again to go out attended by this symbol of aristocracy.

On reaching my home, the porter observed, with a self-complacency his
prudence could not conceal, that he "knew Madame la Comtesse had
nothing to dread from the people, they were brave and _bons enfans_,
and would not injure a lady;"--a commendation that clearly indicated
the state of his feelings.

CHAPTER XXIV.

I have observed a striking change in the manners of the servants during
the last three days. They are more familiar, without, however, evincing
the least insolence; their spirits seem unusually exhilarated, and they
betray an interest in the struggle in which the people are engaged that
leaves no doubt as to the side that excites their sympathy. Every
rumour of the success of the insurgents is repeated by them with
ill-suppressed animation and pleasure, and the power of the people is
exaggerated far beyond the bounds of truth. I confess this folly on
their part annoys me, and the more especially as the class to which
they belong, are totally incapacitated by ignorance from being able to
comprehend even the causes alleged for this popular outbreak.

Misguided men! can they hope that servitude will be lightened by their
being employed by some _parvenus_, elevated from the dregs of the
people by a revolution which sets floating to the top the worst
ingredients of the reeking caldron from which it is formed, instead of
owning the more gentle and infinitely less degrading sway of those born
to, and accustomed to rule?

Comte ---- and ---- have just come in, and report that the last story
current is, that fifty thousand men from Rouen are marching to Paris to
espouse the cause of the _people_. They say there is no end to the
desertions among the troops.

The people--the people! I hear of nothing but the people; but those who
speak of them as all and every thing, seem to me to mistake the
populace for the people, yet surely the words are not synonymous. The
people, according to my acceptation of the word, are the sober and
respectable portion of the community of all countries, including the
husbandmen who till the earth, and the artisa