THE EUROPEAN JOURNALS 



339 



tions of most of the royal family, because none of them 

 liked to be outdone or surpassed by any of the others.* 

 Good God ! what a spirit is this ; what a world we live in ! 

 I also received a M. Pitois, who came to look at my book, 

 with a view to becoming my agent here; Baron Cuvier 

 recommended him strongly, and I have concluded a bar- 

 gain with him. He thinks he can procure a good number 

 of names. His manners are plain, and I hope he will 

 prove an honest man. He had hardly gone, when I re- 

 ceived a letter from M. Simeon, telling me the Minister 

 of the Interior would take six copies for various French 

 towns and universities, and he regretted it was not 

 twelve. So did I, but I am well contented. I have 

 now thirteen subscribers in Paris ; I have been here two 

 months, and have expended forty pounds. My adieux 

 will now be made, and I shall be en route for London 

 before long. 



London, November Ij.. I travelled from Paris to Bou- 

 logne with two nuns, that might as well be struck off the 

 calendar of animated beings. They stirred not, they 

 spoke not, they saw not; they replied neither by word 

 nor gesture to the few remarks I made. In the woods of 

 America I have never been in such silence; for in the 

 most retired places I have had the gentle murmuring 

 streamlet, or the sound of the Woodpecker tapping, or the 

 sweet melodious strains of that lovely recluse, my great- 

 est favorite, the Wood Thrush. The great poverty of 

 the country struck me everywhere ; the peasantry are beg- 

 garly and ignorant, few know the name of the D^partement 

 in which they live ; their hovels are dirty and uncomfort- 

 able, and appear wretched indeed after Paris. In Paris 

 alone can the refinements of society, education, and the 

 fine arts be found. To Paris, or to the large cities, the 

 country gentleman must go, or have nothing; how unlike 

 the beautiful country homes of the English. I doubt not 

 ^ The words of the secretary were fully verified within a few months. 



!■:• 



V 



; 1 ;4 jJ 



