persons, or for those who are "servile to skyey influences." The resident English population usually averages, in peaceful times, between three and four thousand, many being induced to select it for an abode on account of its neighbourhood to England, its comparative cheapness, and the facilities for education. There are also several officers on half pay, and some whose means of existence are more problematical. Boulogne is also often referred to as a place of resort for those who are under the necessity of a temporary or prolonged absence from England; the society has consequently acquired the reputation of not being the most select. The superior class of the Boulognese are generally courteous in their demeanour; the lower orders are for the most part sober, good-tempered, though at times emportés, fond of gaiety and dancing, and civil to strangers; the women are strong, and work hard. Boulogne possesses a tolerable museum and reading-room, where the English papers are daily received. The most usual lounge is on the port and jetty to watch the arrival and departure of the packets.

Nothing is lost, as regards scenery, in journeying by railroad to Paris, the country being, for the most part, a continued succession of hill and dale, and though generally productive in corn, is but scantily wooded, and offers but little to interest the traveller. The few chateaux seen on the roadside are most of them formal looking

ABBEVILLE-

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and cheerless, and the absence of detached cottages are characteristic of the more gregarious habits of the people. The pleasures of rural life, and the country house society, so universal in England, are but little known or appreciated; field sports being comparatively little followed in France, landed proprietors, consequently, seldom reside on their estates for more than a few weeks in the year, the great majority preferring the attractions of the capital, the larger provincial towns, or the watering-places. The French peasantry are generally robust, and more sober than the English, living principally upon bread, vegetables, milk, and bad wine, and eating meat only once or twice in the week; the villages and hamlets in which they congregate, though improved in appearance of late years, look anything but attractive.

The dull town of Abbeville contains nothing of interest but its fine cathedral. The same may be said of Amiens, which, however, is a more tolerable place of residence. Beauvais, which is at some distance from the line, lies in a more agreeable part of the country and has a more cheerful aspect. Its cathedral and the tapestry manufactory are worth visiting. At St. Denis the fine old cathedral, and the tombs of the kings of France in its vaults, will be viewed with interest, and will well repay the time occupied in an excursion from the metropolis.

Few cities stood in greater need of improve

ment than did Paris some years ago, and there is perhaps none in which so much has been effected in so short a space of time. New quarters have arisen in various directions; numerous streets have been widened, and foot-pavements added; and the greater cleanliness both in and out of doors, as well as the improved accommodation generally, render the meaning of the word comfort (which the French language has adopted) now better understood. The speedy completion of several new edifices and public works is in great measure owing to the ex-King, who, it is said, contributed largely to the embellishment of the capital.

Standing near the obelisk, in the Place de la Concorde, the stranger may enjoy a coup d'œil unique in its kind. The splendid appearance of the Place, and of its two fountains, the view of the bridge and Chamber of Deputies, of the beautiful newly-erected facade of La Madeleine, of the gardens and palace of the Tuileries, and of the magnificent arch of Neuilly, seen through the vista of the Champs Elysees, will leave an indelible impression upon the memory. Another view, scarcely to be equalled in Europe, may be obtained from either of the bridges opposite the Tuileries. The extent of this palace and the Louvre (near half a mile), the spacious quays teeming with life, the light cheerful aspect of the houses, the two branches of the river passing between the Pont Neuf, and having enclosed the

Ile de la Cité, uniting into one broad stream, with the venerable towers of Notre Dame, rising high above the surrounding buildings, form an ensemble which could hardly fail to attract the attention of the most indifferent spectator. The visitor will also be highly gratified by the panorama of the city displayed from the summit of Notre Dame, or of the arch of Neuilly, the clearness of the atmosphere on a fine day enabling him to see the whole at a glance.

If the city have undergone great changes within the last twenty years, still greater had taken place in the demeanour and character of its inhabitants. Paris, and indeed France in general, could not, even before the recent change from a monarchy to a republic, have been termed with propriety the

"Gay, sprightly land of mirth and social ease,

Pleased with itself, whom all the world can please;"

for instead of the polite, light-hearted people of former days, one more frequently met with serious, anxious, business-like countenances; vivacity had given place to a sedate demeanour, and to comparative taciturnity, and brusquerie was not unfrequently witnessed in public places.* The

"My first impression of the French character," says Mr. Matthews, "is, that it must be greatly changed from that gay and lively frivolity of which we used to hear so much. My fellow-passengers are serious and reserved; each man seems to suspect his neighbour, and at the tables d'hôte, where I have dined and supped during my route, the company could not have been more silent and sombre if the scene had been laid in England in the month of November."-Diary of an Invalid.

love of self appeared in a more prominent light, the acquisition of money being the object of the great majority of all classes, and there are few strangers but have had to complain of the greater disposition to take advantage on the part of the tradespeople, and others with whom they were brought into contact. The women were not free from this reproach, being often more exigeantes than the men. Titles of nobility being no longer hereditary, were but little estimated, wealth being the idol to which most bowed. Among the upper classes the talent of conversation is possessed in a high degree, and egotism is at least more veiled by the exterior forms of politeness; the essence, however, which consists not merely in a courteous demeanour, but in doing civil and kind acts without interested motives, even though it may be at some personal inconvenience, is much more rare at the present day. The following observation of Mr. Matthews, as regards the difference of manners between the French and certain individuals among the English, is still pretty correct:-"There is in France a universal quickness of intellect and apprehension, and a perfect freedom from that awkward embarrassment of manner which is in England, I believe, denominated clownishness. As far, therefore, as the mere outward air of good breeding goes, almost every Frenchman is well bred, and you may enter into conversation with a French servant or cobler upon any of the topics that are common to the