d expectant waiter. The sharp eye of that Ganymede of the
Gilt House had at once detected our Britannic origin, conspicuous in our
sober garb and shaven chins; and doubtless he anticipated one of those
uncouth bills of fare, infamous by their gastronomical solecisms, which
Englishmen are apt to perpetrate, for he smiles with an air of agreeable
disappointment as he glances at our judicious _menu_. No cause for
wonder, most dapper of _garcons_! 'Tis not the first time, by many, that
we have tabled our Napoleons on your damask napery. Schooled by
indigestion, like Dido by misfortune, we have learned to order our
dinner, even at Paris; and are no more to be led astray in the labyrinth
of your interminable _carte_, than you, versed in the currency of
Albion, are to be deluded by a Brummagem sovereign, or a note of the
Bank of Elegance. So, _presto_, to work! our blessing and a double
_pourboire_ your promised reward. And, verily, he earns them well. The
_potage a la bisque_ is irreproachable; the truffles, those black
diamonds of the epicure, are the pick of Perigueux; the chambertin is of
the old green seal, the sparkling _ai frappe_ to a turn, and, whilst we
tranquilly degustate and deliberately imbibe, the influence of that
greatest achievement of human genius, a good dinner, percolates through
our system, telling upon our moral as upon our physical man. We feel
ineffably benevolent: doubtless we look so; for yonder old gentleman
with the white hair, red ribbon, and ditto face, dining, _tete-a-tete_
with himself, and who is now at his eleventh dish--a tempting but
inexplicable compound, which Ortila himself would be puzzled to
analyse--contemplates us, in the intervals of his forkings-in, with a
benign and admiring look. Our trusty friend and _vis-a-vis_ turns his
head, and we behold ourselves reflected in the opposite mirror. 'Tis as
we thought: our physiognomy is philanthropical in the extreme. Quite the
"mild, angelic air," that Byron talks of, when describing a gentleman in
very different circumstances.

But we have no time to dwell upon our personal fascinations, or to
speculate upon the cause of their increase within the last half hour; no
eyes have we save for that Lucullian _salmi_ steaming before us; and,
like ourselves, all around us are absorbed in absorbing. Though every
table is full, there is little noise in the crowded apartment. Men go to
the _Maison Doree_ to eat, not to chatter. Without, too, there is a