LIVING IN ETAGES. 59 



the agremens of life ; — no garden, no animals, no space for 

 children to play and get out of the way in. It is the very 

 essence of town life whore the street is the substitute for 

 the garden. But it is cheap. No need of a servant, for 

 you can have your femme de menage, who comes for an hour 

 in the morning and puts things to rights, and this for a trifle 

 compared with a servant in the house. Then if you wish to 

 go on a tour ; no expenses in your rear, servants eating holes 

 into everything, or heavily consuming you by board wages ; 

 none of these things ; you pack up your trunks as the Be- 

 douin strikes his tent ; get a man to carry them ; lock up 

 first your cupboards and then the outside door ; pocket the 

 key ; stick up a card with " not to return till the 10th," and 

 exit, with the independence of the snail with his all upon 

 his back. Convenient but selfish — the English life in 

 chambers without its ivarmth and jollity. When young 

 people marry they seldom set up a separate establish- 

 ment : they have a couple of cells contrived for them 

 in the paternal hive, where they learn domestic arts on 

 a small scale, and, having nothing to do at home, learn 

 to live and look for pleasure abroad. But the desire 

 for cheapness marks everything. Two meals a day 

 only ; no bonnets ; wooden shoes ; no refreshments to 

 chance friends ; miserably shabby subscriptions ; all are 

 questions of argent. It is true that in many points France 

 is a cheaper country than England, but not to the extent 

 commonly supposed ; and lOOl. in England will go nearly 

 as far as the same sum here. It is a great error to 

 imagine France a lightly taxed country. In reality the 

 taxation is quite as heavy as in England, and, considering 



