THE EUROPEAN JOURNALS 311 



were at St. Cloud ten hours, — they told us fifty thou- 

 sand ( ?) were there, and I saw only three women of no- 

 ticeable beauty ; yet these short brunettes are animated 

 and apparently thoughtless, and sing and dance as if no 

 shadow could ever come over them. At four o'clock all 

 was in full vigor; the sounds of horns and bugles drew us 

 towards a place where we saw on a platform a party of 

 musicians, three of whom were Flemish women, and so 

 handsome that they were surrounded by crowds. We 

 passed through a sort of turnstile, and in a few minutes an 

 equestrian performance began, in which the riders showed 

 great skill, jugglers followed with other shows, and then 

 we left ; the same show in London would have cost three 

 shillings ; here, a franc. We saw people shooting at a tar- 

 get with a crossbow. When the marksman was successful 

 in hitting the centre, a spring was touched, and an inflated 

 silken goldfish, as large as a barrel, rose fifty yards in the 

 air, — a pretty sight, I assure thee ; the fins of gauze moved 

 with the breeze, he plunged and rose and turned about, 

 almost as a real fish would do in his element. Shows of 

 everything were there ; such a medley — such crowds — 

 such seeming pleasure in all around us, I never remarked 

 anywhere but in France. No word of contention did I 

 hear ; all was peace and joy, and when we left not a dis- 

 turbance had taken place. We had an excellent dinner, 

 with a bottle of Chablis, for three francs each, and return- 

 ing to the place we had left, found all the fountains were 

 playing, and dancing was universal ; the musicians were 

 good and numerous, but I was surprised to remark very 

 few fine dancers. The woods, which were illuminated, 

 looked extremely beautiful ; the people constantly crossing 

 and re-crossing them made the lights appear and disap- 

 pear, reminding me of fireflies in our own woods in a sum- 

 mer night. As we passed out of the gates, we perceived 

 as many persons coming as going, and were told the mer- 

 riment would last till day. With difficulty we secured two 



