vues, la même ardeur, les mêmes ruses vigéreuses, la même fecondité
d'expedients, la même tableau phllosophique que ne la comprend ni la
vengeance ni les haines, qui se contente de negocier avec les inimities,
d'apaiser les rancunes et de conquerir toutes les influences, toutes les
amitiés qui peuvent devenir utiles.']

Although thus destitute of great central principles, nowhere is human
life more enriched by minor philosophy; it may be a fate, a routine, a
drudgery, and an accident in other parts of the world, but in Paris it
is or can easily be made an art. The science of substitution, the law of
compensation, nowhere more obviously triumphs; taste cheaply gratified
atones for limited destinies; manners yield a charm, which, for the
time, renders us oblivious of age; tact proves as good a resource as
learning, wit as beauty, cheerfulness as fortune. The _boudoir_, by
means of chintz, gauze, and human vivacity, is as prolific of fine talk
and good company as the drawing-room. A bunch of violets or a box of
mignonnette suggests to sensitive imaginations the whole cornucopia of
Flora. Perhaps the eclectic provision for enjoyment in the French
capital was never more apparent than during the sojourn of the allied
armies there after the battle of Waterloo. It was as good as a play
illustrative of national manners and taste, to note how Russian, German,
Cossack, and English, hussar, diplomat, and general, found the dish, the
pastime, and the observance each most coveted, when that vast city was
like a bivouac of the soldiers of Europe.

The communicative habit and social tendency of life, under every aspect,
in Paris, often promotes success by making individuals famous,--a
process far easier of achievement there than in any other metropolis. A
poor fellow who opened a _café_, and had so little patronage as at the
end of his first quarter to be on the verge of bankruptcy, resorted, one