men and Englishmen, of the same station in life. The
latter treat women with a politeness that seems the result of habitual
amenity; the former with a homage that appears to be inspired by the
peculiar claims of the sex, particularised in the individual woman, and
is consequently more flattering.

An Englishman seldom lays himself out to act the agreeable to women; a
Frenchman never omits an opportunity of so doing: hence, the attentions
of the latter are less gratifying than those of the former, because a
woman, however free from vanity, may suppose that when an Englishman
takes the trouble--and it is evidently a trouble, more or less, to all
our islanders to enact the agreeable--she had really inspired him with
the desire to please.

In France, a woman may forget that she is neither young nor handsome;
for the absence of these claims to attention does not expose her to be
neglected by the male sex. In England, the elderly and the ugly "could
a tale unfold" of the _naivete_ with which men evince their sense of
the importance of youth and beauty, and their oblivion of the presence
of those who have neither.

France is the paradise for old women, particularly if they are
_spirituelle_; but England is the purgatory.

The Comtesses de Bellegarde called on me to-day, and two more
warm-hearted or enthusiastic persons I never saw. Though no longer
young, they possess all the gaiety of youth, without any of its
thoughtlessness, and have an earnestness in their kindness that is very
pleasant.

Dined yesterday at Madame Craufurd's--a very pleasant party. Met there
the Duc de Gramont, Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, Colonel and lady
Barbara Craufurd, and Count Valeski.

The Duc de Gramont is a fine old man who has seen much of the world,
without having been soured by its trials. Faithful to his sovereign
during adversity, he is affectionately cherished by the whole of the
present royal family, who respect and love him; and his old age is
cheered by the unceasing devotion of his children, the Duc and Duchesse
de Guiche, who are fondly attached to him.

He gives up much of his time to the culture of flowers, and is more
interested in the success of his dahlias than in those scenes of
courtly circles in which he is called to fill so distinguished a part.
It pleased me to hear him telling his beautiful daughter-in-law of the
perfection of a flower she had procured him with some trouble; and then
adding: "_A propos_ of flowers, h