
I know, Madam, that the twelve month
is not yet expired; but it
will be, nearly, before this will have the honor of being put into
your hands. You
are then engaged to tell me, truly and honestly,
whether you do not find the tranquil pleasures of America,
preferable
to the empty bustle of Paris. For to what does that bustle tend? At
eleven o'clock, it is day,
chez madame. The curtains are drawn.
Propped on bolsters and pillows, and her head scratched into a
little
order, the bulletins of the sick are read, and the billets of the
well. She writes to some of her
acquaintance, and receives the
visits of others. If the morning is not very thronged, she is able
to get
out and hobble round the cage of the Palais royal; but she
must hobble quickly, for the coeffeur's turn
is come; and a
tremendous turn it is! Happy, if he does not make her arrive when
dinner is half over!
The torpitude of digestion a little passed, she
flutters half an hour through the streets, by way of paying
visits,
and then to the spectacles. These finished, another half hour is
devoted to dodging in and out
of the doors of her very sincere
friends, and away to supper. After supper, cards; and after cards,
bed;
to rise at noon the next day, and to tread, like a mill horse,
the same trodden circle over again. Thus
the days of life are
consumed, one by one, without an object beyond the present moment;
ever flying
from the ennui of that, yet carrying it with us;
eternally in pursuit of happiness,
which keeps eternally before us.
If death or bankruptcy happen to trip us out of the circle, it is
matter
for the buz of the evening, and is completely forgotten by the
next morning. In America, on the other
hand, the society of your
husband, the fond cares for the children, the arrangements of the
house,
the improvements of the grounds, fill every moment with a
healthy and an useful activity. Every exertion
is encouraging,
because to present amusement, it joins the promise of some future
good. The intervals
of leisure are filled by the society of real
friends, whose affections are not thinned to cob-web, by being
spread
over a thousand objects. This is the picture, in the light it is
presented to my mind; now let me
have it in yours. If we do not
concur this year, we shall the next; or if not then, in a year or two
more.
You see I am determined not to suppose myself mistaken.
To let you see that Paris is not changed
in its pursuits, since
it was honored with your presence, I send you its monthly history.
But this relating only
to the embellishments of their persons, I must
add, that those of the city go on well also. A new bridge,
for
example, is begun at the Place Louis Quinze; the old ones are
clearing of the rubbish which encumbered
them in the form of houses;
new hospitals erecting; magnificent walls of inclosure, and Custom
houses at
their entrances, &c. &c. &c. I know of no interesting
change among those whom you honored with your
acquaintance, unless
Monsieur de Saint James was of that number. His bankruptcy, and
taking asylum
in the Bastile, have furnished matter of aston-ishment.
His garden, at the Pont de Neuilly, where, on
seventeen acres of
ground he had laid out fifty thousand louis, will probably sell for
somewhat less
money. The workmen of Paris are making rapid strides
towards English perfection. Would you believe,
that in the course of
the last two years, they have learned even to surpass their London
rivals in some
articles? Commission me to have you a phaeton made,
and if it is not as much handsomer than a London
one, as that is than
a Fiacre, send it back to me. Shall I fill the box with caps,
bonnets, &c.? Not of my
own choosing, but -- I was going to say, of
Mademoiselle Bertin's, forgetting for the moment, that she too
is
bankrupt. They shall be chosen then by whom you please; or, if you
are altogether nonplused by her
eclipse, we will call an Assemblee
des Notables, to help you out of the difficulty, as is now the
fashion.
In short, honor me with your commands of any kind, and they
shall be faithfully executed. The packets
now established from Havre
to New York, furnish good opportunities of sending whatever you wish.
I shall end where I began, like a Paris day, reminding you of
your engagement to write me a letter of
respectable length, an
engagement the more precious to me, as it has furnished me the
occasion, after
presenting my respects to Mr. Bingham, of assuring
you of the sincerity of those senti-ments of esteem
and respect, with
which I have the honor to be, Dear Madam, your most obedient and most
humble servant,