while the
lightest raillery, thrown out apparently at random, may perhaps be most
sadly serious. Bitter and intense thought follows closely upon the
steps of the most tempestuous gayety; nothing indeed remains absolutely
superficial, though nothing is presented without an artificial
polish. In the discussions constantly occurring in this country, where
conversation is an art cultivated to the highest degree, and occupying
much time, there are always those present, who, whether the topic
discussed be grave or gay, can pass in a moment from smiles to tears,
from joy to sorrow, leaving the keenest observer in doubt which is most
real, so difficult is it to discern the fictitious from the true.

In such varying modes of thought, where ideas shift like quick sands
upon the shores of the sea, they are rarely to be found again at the
exact point where they were left. This fact is in itself sufficient to
give interest to interviews otherwise insignificant. We have been taught
this in Paris by some natives of Poland, who astonished the Parisians by
their skill in "fencing in paradox;" an art in which every Pole is more
or less skillful, as he has felt more or less interest or amusement in
its cultivation. But the inimitable skill with which they are constantly
able to alternate the garb of truth or fiction (like touchstones, more
certain when least suspected, the one always concealed under the garb of
the other), the force which expends an immense amount of intellect upon
the most trivial occasions, as Gil Bias made use of as much intelligence
to find the means of subsistence for a single day, as was required by
the Spanish king to govern the whole of his domain; make at last an
impression as painful upon us as the games in which the jugglers of
India exhibit such wonderful skill, where sharp and deadly arms fly
glittering through the air, which the least error, the least want of
perfect mastery, would make the bright, swift messengers of certain
death! Such skill is full of concealed anxiety, terror, and anguish!
From the complication of circumstances, danger may lurk in the slightest
inadvertence, in the least imprudence, in possible accidents, while
powerful assistance may suddenly spring from some obscure and forgotten
individual. A dramatic interest may instantaneously arise from
interviews apparently the most trivial, giving an unforeseen phase to
every relation. A misty uncertainty hovers round every meeting, through
who