of the every-day _convenances_ of the world, you still more
rarely meet with one unexceptionably well-bred. The _table d'hote_,
like the mess in our army, has the effect of introducing a certain
amount of decorum that is felt through every relation of life; and,
although the count abroad is immeasurably beneath the gentleman at
home, here, I must confess, that the foreign cobbler is a more
civilized person than his type in England. This is easily understood:
foreign breeding is not the outward exhibition of an inward
principle--it is not the manifestation of a sense of mingled kindness,
good taste, and self-respect--it is merely the rigid observance of a
certain code of behaviour that has no reference whatever to any thing
felt within; it is the mere popery of politeness, with its
saint-worship, its penances, and its privations. An Englishman makes
way for you to accommodate your passage; a foreigner--a Frenchman I
should say--does so for an opportunity to flourish his hat or to
exhibit an attitude. The same spirit pervades every act of both; duty
in one case, display in the other, are the ruling principles of life;
and, where persons are so diametrically different, there is little
likelihood of much mutual understanding or mutual esteem. To come
back, however, the great evil of this universal passion for travelling
lies in the opportunity afforded to foreigners, of sneering at our
country, and ridiculing our habits. It is in vain that our
institutions are models of imitation for the world--in vain that our
national character stands pre-eminent for good-faith and fidelity--in
vain the boast that the sun never sets upon a territory that girths
the very globe itself, so long as we send annually our tens of
thousands out upon the Continent, with no other failing than mere
unfitness for foreign travel, to bring down upon us the sneer, and the
ridicule, of every ignorant and unlettered Frenchman, or Belgian, they
meet with.

[Illustration]

A NUT FOR DOMESTIC HAPPINESS.

Our law code would, were its injunctions only carried out in private
life, effect most extraordinary reformations in our customs and
habits. The most singular innovations in our tastes and opinions would
spring out of the statutes. It was only a few days ago where a man
sought reparation for the greatest injury one could inflict on
another, the great argument of the defendant's counsel was based on
the circumstance that the plaintiff and his wif