w which was raised, looking into the street. Indeed, so close
sat we to it that the fashionable promenaders could each, if he liked,
have peeped into our dishes. But Parisians never trouble strangers with
their inquisitiveness. We sat down before a table of exquisite marble,
and a waiter dressed as neatly, and indeed gracefully, as a gentleman,
handed us a bill of fare. It was long enough in itself to make a man a
dinner, if the material were only palatable. Including dessert and
wines, there were one hundred specifications! There were ten kinds of
meat, and fourteen varieties of poultry. Of course there were many
varieties of game, and there were eight kinds of pastry. Of fish there
were fourteen kinds, there were ten side dishes, a dozen sweet dishes,
and a dozen kinds of wine.

The elegance of the apartment can scarcely be imagined, and the savory
smell which arose from neighboring tables occupied by fashionable men
and women, invited us to a repast. We called, however, but for a dish or
two, and after we had eaten them, we had coffee, and over our cups
gazed out upon the gay scene before us. It was novel, indeed, to the
American eye, and we sat long and discussed it. In this _restaurant_
there were private rooms, called _Cabinets de Societe_, and into them go
men and women at all hours, by day and night. It is also a common sight
to see the public apartments of the _restaurants_ filled with people of
both sexes. Ladies sit down even in the street with gentlemen, to sup
chocolate or lemonade. There is not much eaves-dropping in Paris, and
you can do as you please, nor fear curious eyes nor scandal-loving
tongues. This is very different from London. There, if you do any thing
out of the common way, you will be stared at and talked about. _There_,
if you take a lady into a public eating-house, _her_ position, at least,
will not be a very pleasant one.

There are many places in the Palais Royal, the basement floor of which,
fronting upon the court of the palace, is given up to shops, where for
two or three francs a dinner can be purchased which will consist of
soup, two dishes from a large list at choice, a dessert, and bread and
wine. There are places, indeed, where for twenty-five sous a dinner
sufficient to satisfy one's hunger can be purchased, but I must confess
that while in Paris I could never yet make up my mind to patronize a
cheap _restaurant_. I knew too well, by the tales of more experienced
Parisians, the