could have befallen me than to secure, in so short a time, the
sympathetic interest of the most famous composer of French opera!
Meyerbeer took me to see Moscheles, who was then in Boulogne, and
also Fraulein Blahedka, a celebrated virtuoso whose name I had
known for many years. I spent a few informal musical evenings at
both houses, and thus came into close touch with musical
celebrities, an experience quite new to me.

I had written to my future brother-in-law, Avernarius, in Paris,
to ask him to find us suitable accommodations, and we started on
our journey thither on 16th September in the diligence, my
efforts to hoist Robber on to the top being attended by the usual
difficulties.

My first impression of Paris proved disappointing in view of the
great expectations I had cherished of that city; after London it
seemed to me narrow and confined. I had imagined the famous
boulevards to be much vaster, for instance, and was really
annoyed, when the huge coach put us down in the Rue de la
Juissienne, to think that I should first set foot on Parisian
soil in such a wretched little alley. Neither did the Rue
Richelieu, where my brother-in-law had his book-shop, seem
imposing after the streets in the west end of London. As for the
chambre garnie, which had been engaged for me in the Rue de la
Tonnellerie, one of the narrow side-streets which link the Rue
St. Honore with the Marche des Innocents, I felt positively
degraded at having to take up my abode there. I needed all the
consolation that could be derived from an inscription, placed
under a bust of Moliere, which read: maison ou naquit Moliere, to
raise my courage after the mean impression the house had first