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L. E. L.
193


was not one of the public days, but all foreigners are admitted on showing their passports. Who do you think I met on the Boulevards to-day? Mr. Gore. He recognised me at once; was so polite, offered his services in any possible manner; and I dare say I should have found them an agreeable acquaintance; but unfortunately Mrs. Gore is just confined; they are quite the rage here. He asked so politely after you. Miss Gibbon I find such a pleasant companion; and ladies can walk in any part of Paris without the least molestation. I really know not what I should have done without her. We walked together till nearly ten o'clock in the Tuileries last night; such a gay-looking crowd. She and another young lady are gone to-night to the Champs Elysées. I, however, have staid at home to write to you. See what the fright of a few francs can effect. Gloves, stockings, shoes, &c, are exceedingly cheap here. Whether it is, perhaps, that one is more on the look out for them; but never were so many things assembled together. The French ladies, I must say, well deserve their reputation for tournure and grace. There is certainly an air, or something, which it is quite impossible to describe. They are not thought pretty generally. As yet I have really had nothing to put in a journal; my only approach to an adventure has been as follows:—I was advised, as the best remedy against the excessive fatigue under which I was suffering, to take a bath, which I did early one morning. I found it quite delicious, and was reading 'La Dernière Journée,' when I fell asleep, and was in consequence nearly drowned. I suppose the noise of the book falling aroused me, and I shall never forget the really dreadful feeling of suffocation, the ringing in my ears like a great bell with which I awakened. I think some very interesting papers might