have neither repined nor complained.

Business has, of course, been at a standstill since last September. At
the Bourse the transactions have been of the most trifling description,
much to the disgust of the many thousands who live here by peddling
gains and doubtful speculations in this temple of filthy lucre. By a
series of decrees payment of rent and of bills of exchange has been
deferred from month to month. Most of the wholesale exporting houses
have been absolutely closed. In the retail shops nothing has been sold
except by the grocers, who must have made large profits. Whether the
city has a recuperative power strong enough to enable it to recover
from this period of stagnation, and to pay its taxation, which
henceforward will be enormous, has yet to be seen. The world is the
market for _articles de Paris_, but then to preserve this market, the
prices of these articles must be low. Foreigners, too, will not come
here if the cost of living is too exorbitant, and yet I do not see how
it is to be otherwise. The talk of the people now is, that they mean to
become serious--no longer to pander to the extravagances of strangers,
and no longer to encourage their presence amongst them. If they carry
out these intentions, I am afraid that, however their morals may be
improved, their material interests will suffer. Gambling tables may not
be an advantage to Europe, but without them Homburg and Baden would go
to the wall. Paris is a city of pleasure--a cosmopolitan city; it has
made its profit out of the follies and the vices of the world. Its
prices are too high, its houses are too large, its promenades and its
public places have cost too much for it to be able to pay its way as the
sober, decent capital of a moderate-sized country, where there are few
great fortunes. If the Parisians decide to become poor and respectable,
they are to be congratulated upon the resolve, but the present notion
seems to be that they are to become rich and respectable--a thing more
difficult. Paris--the Paris of the Empire and of Haussmann--is a house
of cards. Its prosperity was a forced and artificial one. The war and
the siege have knocked down the cards, and it is doubtful whether they
will ever serve to build a new house.

As regards public opinion, I cannot see that it has changed one iota for
the better since the fall of the Empire, or that common sense has made
any headway. There are of course sensible men in Paris, but either they
ho