dies of the
neighbouring city by the officers of a Polish regiment quartered there,
immediately before the breaking out of the Peninsular war. It is
related that Polish gallantry overstepped etiquette to such a
degree,--and _that_ by premeditation,--as to urge these cavaliers, by
force of bayonet, and sentries, to separate all the husbands, and other
male relatives, from the fairer portion of the guests. The consequences
of such a termination of the festivities may easily be imagined;
Bonaparte, a rigid judge with regard to all divorces except his own, on
receiving the complaint of the insulted town, condemned the officers _en
masse_ to be decimated, and the survivors degraded from their rank. He
relented, however, afterwards, on an understanding that they were to
regain their sullied laurels in the Peninsula; where, in fact, in
consequence of his orders, such opportunities were afforded them, that
scarcely a man in the regiment survived the earliest campaigns.

The inhabitants of Chatellerault are said to take great offence on being
asked their age, suspecting the inquirer of a malicious calculation.

The new quarter of Bordeaux is handsome, spacious, and airy. In the
promenade called "La Quinconce," on the bank of the river, a large
insulated edifice, the most monumental in view, is discovered by the
inscription on its front to be an establishment for warm baths. At one
extremity of the principal facade is seen, in sculptured letters, "Bains
des dames;" at the other, "Bains des hommes." At this latter entrance a
handsome staircase leads to the corridor of general communication, on
the unsullied white wall of which the code of discipline of the
establishment, traced in large sable characters, forces itself on the
notice of the visitor. It consists of the following single and rather
singular statute: "Il est expressement defendu aux garcons de permettre
a deux hommes de se servir de la meme baignoire." After some reflection
I concluded it to be a measure of precaution with regard to cleanliness,
carried, no doubt, to an extreme at Bordeaux. This town is well
deserving of a few days' halt, should the traveller's object be
amusement, or the pleasures of the table, for which it enjoys a
well-merited reputation. It is a large and handsome city, the second in
France in beauty, and vies with the capital in the elegance of its shops
and principal streets. The theatre is, externally, the finest in France;
and there is, besides