a crime. This attention is net evinced by any flattery, except the most
delicate--a profound silence when these belles of other days recount
anecdotes of their own times, or comment on the occurrences of ours, or
by an alacrity to perform the little services of picking up a fallen
_mouchoir de poche, bouquet_, or fan, placing a shawl, or handing to a
carriage.

If flirtations exist at Paris, they certainly are not exhibited in
public; and those between whom they are supposed to be established
observe a ceremonious decorum towards each other, well calculated to
throw discredit on the supposition. This appearance of reserve may be
termed hypocrisy; nevertheless, even the semblance of propriety is
advantageous to the interests of society; and the entire freedom from
those marked attentions, engrossing conversations, and from that
familiarity of manner often permitted in England, without even a
thought of evil on the part of the women who permit these
indiscretions, leaves to Parisian circles an air of greater dignity and
decorum, although I am not disposed to admit that the persons who
compose them really possess more dignity or decorum than my
compatriots.

Count Charles de Mornay was presented to me to-day. Having heard of him
only as--

"The glass of fashion and the mould of form,
The observed of all observers,"

I was agreeably surprised to find him one of the most witty,
well-informed, and agreeable young men I have ever seen. Gay without
levity, well-read without pedantry, and good-looking without vanity. Of