treme vigilance of our police, felons do very often escape,
and murders remain undiscovered, as those of Mr. Westwood, Eliza
Greenwood, and many others. But those who are invested with authority in
France sustain it with a more courteous demeanour than is the case in
England, consequently it is less offensive. If your passport be asked
for, it is in a polite manner, whereas with the English, give the
butcher or the blacksmith the staff of office as constable, and he
exercises his brief authority very frequently in a manner which is not
the most engaging. Although a _politesse_ and refinement of expression
united with a smutted face, tucked-up sleeves, an apron and rough coarse
hands, has something in it of the ludicrous, yet it softens the
brutality to which uncultivated human nature is ever prone, but
instances of such inconsistencies sometimes occur which cannot otherwise
than excite a smile; a few days since a working man dropped a knife, a
dirty looking boy of about 12 years of age picked it up, and presented
it to the owner, with some degree of grace, saying, "Render unto Caesar
that which is Caesar's." Passing through the Rue des Arcis, which is a
mean narrow street, at one of the lowest descriptions of wine-houses
where dancing was going forward, perhaps amongst fishwomen and
scavengers, I noticed a large lantern hanging out over the door, upon
which was inscribed, "Bal seduisant, le Paradis des Dames," which may be
translated, "Seductive Ball, the Paradise of Ladies." The traveller may
remark on the road from Boulogne to Paris and within a few leagues of
the latter, in a small village at a house little better than a hut,
where the insignia of a barber is displayed, a board on which is
written; "Ici on embellit la nature," or "Here we embellish nature."

Even in the lowest classes the French must have a little bit of
sentiment, and amongst them marriages occur principally from affection,
but almost always with the consent of the parents; it is lamentable to
think how many young couples destroy each other because they cannot
obtain the sanction of the father or mother to one of the parties, and
these mistaken lovers really think it less crime to commit suicide than
to marry against the consent of their parents, which they are by law
empowered to do, provided that they have three times made what is called
_les sommations respectueuses_, that is, having three times respectfully
asked their permission, without having