acred to heads of bureaus and divisions;
and so are closets, wardrobes, mahogany tables, sofas and armchairs
covered with red or green morocco, silk curtains, and other articles of
administrative luxury. The clerk's office contents itself with a stove,
the pipe of which goes into the chimney, if there be a chimney. The wall
paper is plain and all of one color, usually green or brown. The tables
are of black wood. The private characteristics of the several clerks
often crop out in their method of settling themselves at their
desks,--the chilly one has a wooden footstool under his feet; the man
with a bilious temperament has a metal mat; the lymphatic being who
dreads draughts constructs a fortification of boxes on a screen. The
door of the under-head-clerk's office always stands open so that he may
keep an eye to some extent on his subordinates.

Perhaps an exact description of Monsieur de la Billardiere's division
will suffice to give foreigners and provincials an idea of the internal
manners and customs of a government office; the chief features of
which are probably much the same in the civil service of all European
governments.

In the first place, picture to yourself the man who is thus described in
the Yearly Register:--

"Chief of Division.--Monsieur la baron Flamet de la Billardiere
(Athanase-Jean-Francois-Michel) formerly provost-marshal of
the department of the Correze, gentleman in ordinary of the
bed-chamber, president of the college of the department of the
Dordogne, officer of the Legion of honor, knight of Saint Louis
and of the foreign orders of Christ, Isabella, Saint Wladimir,
etc., member of the Academy of Gers, and other learned bodies,
vice-president of the Society of Belles-lettres, member of the
Association of Saint-Joseph and of the Society of Prisons, one of
the mayors of Paris, etc."

The person who requires so much typographic space was at this time
occupying an area five feet six in length by thirty-six inches in
width in a bed, his head adorned with a cotton night-cap tied on by
flame-colored ribbons; attended by Despleins, the King's surgeon, and
young doctor Bianchon, flanked by two old female relatives, surrounded
by phials of all kinds, bandages, appliances, and various mortuary
instruments, and watched over by the curate of Saint-Roch, who was
advising him to think of his salvation.

La Billardiere's division occupied the upper floor of a magnificent
mansion, i