the complexion. Those cold names and unsubstantial shadows
which Madame de Ventadour had been accustomed to yawn over in skeleton
histories, took from the eloquence of Maltravers the breath of
life--they glowed and moved--they feasted and made love--were wise
and foolish, merry and sad, like living things. On the other hand,
Maltravers learned a thousand new secrets of the existing and actual
world from the lips of the accomplished and observant Valerie. What a
new step in the philosophy of life does a young man of genius make, when
he first compares his theories and experience with the intellect of a
clever woman of the world! Perhaps it does not elevate him, but how it
enlightens and refines!--what numberless minute yet important mysteries
in human character and practical wisdom does he drink unconsciously from
the sparkling _persiflage_ of such a companion! Our education is hardly
ever complete without it.

"And so you think these stately Romans were not, after all, so
dissimilar to ourselves?" said Valerie, one day, as they looked over the
same earth and ocean along which had roved the eyes of the voluptuous
but august Lucullus.

"In the last days of their Republic, a _coup-d'oeil_ of their social
date might convey to us a general notion of our own. Their system, like
ours--a vast aristocracy heaved and agitated, but kept ambitious and
intellectual, by the great democratic ocean which roared below and
around it. An immense distinction between rich and poor--a nobility
sumptuous, wealthy, cultivated, yet scarcely elegant or refined; a
people with mighty aspirations for more perfect liberty, but always
liable, in a crisis, to be influenced and subdued by a deep-rooted
veneration for the very aristocracy against which they struggled;--a
ready opening through all the walls of custom and privilege, for every
description of talent and ambition; but so strong and universal a
respect for wealth, that the finest spirit grew avaricious, griping, and
corrupt, almost unconsciously; and the man who rose from the people did
not scruple to enrich himself out of the abuses he affected to lament;
and the man who would have died for his country could not help thrusting
his hands into her pockets. Cassius, the stubborn and thoughtful
patriot, with his heart of iron, had, you remember, an itching palm.
Yet, what a blow to all the hopes and dreams of a world was the
overthrow of the free party after the death of Caesar! What generation