metropolis,--a nucleus
for wit and an occasion for practical jokes. One of the late pieces,
called 'My Uncle,' turned upon the devices of a wild youth to obtain
money from his simple-hearted relative in the country. For months a
pretended love affair, a marriage, and the birth of an heir, elicited
remittances, which were expended upon banquets, at which a bevy of gay
students applauded the ingenuity of their entertainer. At last the uncle
comes to town, and it becomes quite a study to carry on the game, which
yields occasion for innumerable salient contrasts between rustic
simplicity and city acumen. A diagnosis of the provincial's ways in
Paris, like every form of life there, has been given by a shrewd
observer, who mentions among other signs that the novice may be
recognized by the fact that he keeps his toothpick after dinner and
carries it to the theatre.

I found that marvelous actress, Rachel, before her visit to America,
much attenuated; indeed, she resembled a bundle of nerves electrified
with vitality; her bleached skin, thin arms, large, scintillating eyes,
and that indescribable something which marks the Jewish physiognomy,
gave her a weird, sibyl-like appearance, as of one wasted by long
vigils. There was in her glance and action the spasmodic inspiration
observable in Malibran towards the close of her career. The play was
Racine's Andromache, and the depth and energy of Hermione's emotions
were illustrated by a sudden transition of tone, a working of the
features, that a painter might study forever, and a gesture, bearing,
look and utterance which were the consummation of histrionic art; yet so
exclusively was this the ease, that admiration never lost itself in
sympathy; it was the perfection of acting, not of nature; it won and
chained the scrutinizing mind, but failed to sway the heart; it lacked
the magnetic element; and while the critic was baffled in the attempt to
pick a flaw, and the elocutionist in raptures at the sublime
possibilities of his art, it was Rachel, not Hermione, the genius of the
performer, not the reality of the character, that won the earnest
attention, and woke the constant plaudits. [A] That over-consciousness
which belongs to the French nature, so evident in their 'Confessions,'
their oratory, their manners, their conversation, and their life, and
which is the great reason of their want of persistence and
self-dependence in political affairs, modifies their ideal
representations