A TALE OF THE SECOND EMPIRE. BY TROIS ETOILES. "A force de marcher l'homme erre, l'esprit doute, Tous laissent quelquechose aux buissons de la route, Les troupeaux leur toison et l'homme sa vertu."-VICTOR HUGO. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. III. LONDON: SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 15, WATERLOO PLACE. THE MEMBER FOR CHAPTER I. PRINCE COPHETUA'S WOOING. THE Prince of Arcola's mansion was remarkable for other things besides the architectural perfections which made it one of the finest in a capital where, Revolution and Equality aiding, the only fine palaces extant are those belonging to Government, the rest of mankind lodging themselves in edifices showy enough when looked at by the hundred, but separately, cramped and partaking of the doll-house. The Hôtel d'Arcole had an essentially English aspect, which it owed to the Anglophilist tastes of its proprietor, and to the valuable counsels of the eminent Mr. Drydust, who had laid |