been half the day busily occupied, for to-morrow we depart. Half the persons to whom I have bidden adieu, have told me that I am sure to be disappointed in my expectations of the south of France and Italy; and the other half have predicted that I shall be delighted. I hope the latter may be the true prediction, though I go forth with no Smelfungus* predisposition to be dissatisfied, nor yet with any very enthusiastic anticipations of being charmed. In short, I am prepared not to dislike things because they are not English, or to like them solely because they are foreign; a mistake into which too many of my compatriots are prone to fall.

The travelling carriages, and fourgon, piled with imperials, and "all appliances to boot," make a very formidable array in the court-yard; and the courier, who has donned his habit de voyage, begins to re-assume his air of importance, as he bustles from one carriage to another, examining the springs, &c. &c. He had sunk into insignificance

* "The learned Smelfungus travelled from Boulogne to Paris-from Paris to Rome and so on; but he set out with the spleen and jaundice, and every object he pass'd was discoloured or distorted. He wrote an account of them, but 'twas nothing but the account of his miserable feelings."-Sterne's Sentimental Journey.

ever since our arrival at Paris, "his occupation gone;" but now he looks as though he considered himself an illustrious personage. The ladies' maids are packing, and "Oh! la-ing" at the wondrous capabilities of the imperials, chaise seats, &c., to contain the luggage added to the stock by the purchases made at Paris; and the valets and footmen are grumbling, in a most English-like fashion, at the weight of the trunks they have to stow away.

"How strange those English are!" observed a Frenchman to his companion, beneath my window, as they paused to examine our preparations. They had previously questioned our courier if all belonged to the same proprietor; and he, with "decent dignity," had replied in the affirmative. would suppose, that instead of a single family, a regiment at least, were about to move," continued the Frenchman; "how many things those people require, to satisfy them!"

"One

There was some philosophy, as well as truth, in the reflection; and it forced me to think how many chains luxury forges for its votaries, in the innumerable comforts which it teaches us to regard as necessities; and the enjoyment of which is even more

troublesome than the want of them could ever prove, if we were once to inure ourselves to their absence. Use, while it addicts us to superfluities, blunts the gratification their possession might have first occasioned; at the same time, rendering us more dependent on others, and less sufficient to self. If those blessed with competence, enjoy not all the pleasures granted to the rich, they, at least, escape many of the annoyances; for endless is the train of petty evils, that attend the wealthy and luxurious, the imaginary ones, often inflicting as much pain as the real. How easy it is to philosophise, but how difficult to reduce our philosophy to practice! I am afraid, that with all my tendency to ruminate and to analyse, I could not cheerfully resign a dormeuse à doubleressort, with its library, soft cushions, and eider-down pillows, its nécessaire à dejeuner et à diner, safely stowed in a well, and its innumerable other little comforts, without a sigh of regret.

FONTAINEBLEAU, 12th.-En route-I have passed some hours looking over the palace and grounds. Saw the gallery, where Christine of Sweden had the wretched Monaldeschi murdered, and the chamber where Napoleon signed his abdication. Two

spots rendered historical, by the enactment on them, of two tragical scenes in the drama of life, for it is impossible to believe that Napoleon laid down his crown without almost as bitter emotions, as Monaldeschi resigned his life. A cruel woman is an anomaly in nature, and there is a ferocity in this act of Christine, that destroyed for ever, all sympathy for her, in the hearts of her own sex.

Here it was, that Napoleon, the spoiled child of fortune, received the first severe lesson, from the fickle goddess, who had so long favoured him. Here, impatiently waiting for a resignation, which they knew it must fill his heart with unutterable pangs to make, his ungrateful courtiers counted the moments until they could fly from him; fearing that, like the fall of some mighty oak in the forest, which crushes all the less trees within its reach, his fall should destroy them. They repressed not the symptoms of their cruel haste, from him, before whom for years, they had bowed down and worshipped: and his eagle eye, accustomed hitherto to meet only looks of homage and adoration, now fell on recreant countenances, whence ingratitude had chased even habitual hypocrisy.

Caulaincourt, the flower of French chivalry,

forsook not him, whom fortune had crushed; and in the fearful solitude of a palace, that echoed back but the footsteps of departing courtiers, or the sighs of their deserted, and ruined chief, he staid to console, when he could no longer serve him. The fall of Napoleon, furnishes a fine subject for a tragedy; but the event is too recent to admit of its being done justice to. What must have been the mental sufferings of this hero of a hundred fights, during his séjour in this palace! The past, the glorious, and brilliant past, must have appeared to him but as a dream; and the present, a reality too fearful in its consequences, and disgusting in its details, to be contemplated without dismay. The treatment he experienced in his reverses, must reflect eternal dishonor on those whom he elevated to a height, of which, their base ingratitude towards him subsequently, proved they never were worthy. Englishmen, would have been ashamed of this open, and impudent display of baseness, even could they have been guilty of it, which I am willing to believe impossible.

The finest willow trees I ever saw, are at Fontainebleau; they were frequently admired by Napoleon,