. During extremely hot weather, or to an
author reading his production, you may offer a glass of sirup, or _eau
sucree_, or if a lady becomes faint, some _fleur d'orange_ and water;
but it is provincial to propose anything else; and, indeed, the French
never eat between meals, or in any rank above the very lowest will one
be seen to partake of anything in the street, fruit or cake, or even
give them to their children, it being considered quite mob-manners to
do so.

It need hardly be said, in conclusion, that the French exercise
considerable tact in the matter of introducing one person to another.
They know who should be introduced to each other, and who should not.
In our own country, people sometimes think they are performing an act
of politeness in introducing one person to another, whereas they are
probably giving offence to one of the parties. And with this hint on
an important subject, we close our observations on the laws of
politeness.

OUR WILD-FRUITS.

The next native fruits which demand our notice are the strawberry,
raspberry, and the varieties of the bramble tribe, all of which are to
be classed under the third section of the natural order _Rosaceae_, and
form the ninth genus of that order. The general characteristics of
these are--the calyx flattish at the bottom, and five-cleft; five
petals; many stamens inserted into the calyx with the petals; many
fleshy carpels arranged on a somewhat elevated receptacle, with
lateral style, near the points of the carpels.

We will begin with the strawberry (_Fragaria_.) The last fruits of
which we spoke--the plum and cherry--though the produce of much larger
plants, nay, one of them of a tree which ranks among the timber-trees
of our land, are not of superior, if of equal value to those which are
about to engage our attention. An old writer quaintly remarks: 'It is
certain that there _might_ have been a better berry than the
strawberry, but it is equally certain that there is not one;' and I
suppose there are few in the present day who will be disposed to
dispute this opinion, for there are few fruits, if any, which are in
more general repute, or more highly prized, than the strawberry and
raspberry; and though the cultivated species have now nearly, if not
quite superseded the wild, yet we must not forget that there was a
time when none but the latter were to be obtained in England, and that
the native sorts of which we are now to speak are the parents of