e cloak! "I should be
surprised," says Mrs. Trollope, "if I heard it said that a Frenchman of
good education had ever spoken rudely to his wife!"

To one of the worst enemies of the old-fashioned courtesy she makes a
passing allusion, while hoping cordially that the ladies will easily
conquer it--we mean _Positivism_. If the women of France, she says,
remain true to their vocation, they will eventually combat with success
the ever-increasing partiality of their compatriots for the _positive_,
and will prevent each _salon_ from becoming, like the boulevard of the
Cafe Tortoni, a _petite Bourse_. Under the second Empire, however, women
were scarcely less guilty than the men, and the mania of speculation
raged in almost every boudoir. It is too early to decide dogmatically
whether in this all-important branch of morals the Republic has effected
an improvement; but assuredly the improvement, if it has begun, has not
extended very far or very deep.

In 1835 the Parisians sometimes fell to blows in support of a
philosophical principle, and would incur almost any hazard to hear a
favourite orator or to "assist" at the representation of a drama by one
of their own pet authors. Half a century later and they hurry to horse
races, and fight one another for a caprice. In 1835 they committed
suicide through love or sentiment; now they blow out their brains when
their speculations have suddenly collapsed, some bubble burst.

Of the numerous suicides which half a century ago were recorded in the
newspapers, Mrs. Trollope furnishes an example. Two young people,
scarcely out of their childhood, went into a restaurant and ordered a
dinner of extraordinary delicacy and not less extraordinary cost,
returning at the appointed time to partake of it. They finished it with
a good appetite, and with the enjoyment natural to their age. They
called for champagne, and emptied the bottle, holding each other's hand.
Not the slightest shadow of sadness obscured their gaiety, which was
prolonged, almost noisy, and apparently genuine. After dinner came
coffee, a mouthful of brandy, and the bill. One of them with his finger
pointed out the total to the other, and both at the same time broke out
into a fit of laughter. After they had drank the coffee they told the
waiter that they wished to speak to the proprietor, who came
immediately, supposing that they wished to complain of some article as
overcharged.

But instead, the elder of the two began by