sion in a character of superior
dignity and station. His affability was general but his chief attention
limited to those gentlemen already mentioned, who chanced to sit nearest
him at table; and he no sooner gave them to understand that he was an
utter stranger in Paris, than they unanimously begged to have the honour
of making him acquainted with the different curiosities peculiar to that
metropolis.

He accepted of their hospitality, accompanied them to a coffee-house in
the afternoon, from whence they repaired to the opera, and afterwards
adjourned to a noted hotel, in order to spend the remaining part of the
evening. It was here that our hero secured himself effectually in the
footing he had gained in their good graces. He in a moment saw through
all the characters of the party, and adapted himself to the humour of
each individual, without descending from that elevation of behaviour
which he perceived would operate among them in his behalf. With the
Italian he discoursed on music, in the style of a connoisseur; and indeed
had a better claim to that title than the generality of those upon whom
it is usually conferred; for he understood the art in theory as well as
in practice, and would have made no contemptible figure among the best
performers of the age.

He harangued upon taste and genius to the abbe, who was a wit and critic,
ex officio, or rather ex vestitu for a young pert Frenchman, the very
moment he puts on the petit collet, or little band, looks upon himself as
an inspired son of Apollo; and every one of the fraternity thinks it
incumbent upon him to assert the divinity of his mission. In a word, the
abbes are a set of people that bear a strong analogy to the templars in
London. Fools of each fabric, sharpers of all sorts, and dunces of every
degree, profess themselves of both orders. The templar is, generally
speaking, a prig, so is the abbe: both are distinguished by an air of
petulance and self-conceit, which holds a middle rank betwixt the
insolence of a first-rate buck and the learned pride of a supercilious
pedant. The abbe is supposed to be a younger brother in quest of
preferment in the church--the Temple is considered as a receptacle or
seminary for younger sons intended for the bar; but a great number of
each profession turn aside into other paths of life, long before they
reach these proposed goals. An abbe is often metamorphosed into a foot
soldier; a templar sometimes sinks into an at