OF AN INSECT HUNTER. 31 



in England. Judging from appearances, I should say, the 

 French women never attempt to diminish the natural size of 

 the waist ; and this freedom allows the elegance and elasticity 

 of the frame to display itself advantageously. Nature is seldom 

 improved by alteration ; deformity may be concealed, I grant, 

 but the alteration of a symmetrical form induces deformity : 

 an unnaturally slender waist is, in my opinion, as great a 

 deformity as a hump back. 



Dear reader, I know very well this has little to do with 

 entomology, but you must not suppose that I can write on and 

 on always on the same subject. Nobody ever got any thing 

 by playing on one string except Paganini. I shall be very 

 entomological by and by ; but I must have my talk out on any 

 subject that comes uppermost. Well ! the netted gates of 

 Paris opened to receive the " cuckoo " that brought back the 

 Insect-Hunter from St. Cloud. He alighted, and strolling 

 through the Place Louis XV. entered the garden of the 

 Tuileries by moonlight. The mass of palaces rose before me 

 against a cloudless sky ; old, and in my opinion ugly, is the 

 whole mass, but interesting and noble, and by moonlight 

 somewhat imposing. We say that in London the monarch has 

 no residence worthy of a king ; for my own part, I think Paris 

 little better off in this respect. If a Frenchman should whisper, 

 " Versailles," I reply " Windsor : " one is as much in London 

 as the other in Paris. 



From Calais you start at a certain time of tide, let the hour 

 be what it may, or the wind blow as it pleases. It was mid- 

 night, and the wind having blown hard several days there was 

 a heavily rolling sea. The steamer started, and as the wheels 

 dashed aside the waves, they seemed to kindle into light ; it 

 became a sea of fire. I leaned over the vessel's side, and thus 

 I pondered : — " Now for a lecture of the luminosity of the 

 ocean." Gentle reader, no such thing. The " luminosity of 

 the ocean " and the " humming in the air " are favourite 

 themes, I know, and therefore I should perhaps be pardoned 

 if I were to scribble a few " conjectures " on these subjects ; 

 but they have neither at present happened to disturb my peace 

 of mind ; I have never looked on them as riddles. While the 

 countless tribes of summer are a-wing, why should we imagine 

 it mysterious that there is a humming in the air ? While 

 multitudes of luminous atoms inhabit the ocean, why should it 



