from the risk of offending him, I ate my meal in silence.

"I am ready now, sir," said I, standing up in front of him.

He wheeled me round by the arm to look at me in my new dress. He adjusted my belt, and arranged my swordknot more becomingly, muttering to himself a few words of approval at my appearance, and then said, aloud

"Salute all whom you see in this uniform, boy, and bear yourself haughtily as you pass the 'canaille.' Remember that between you and them must be the struggle at last, and show that you do not blink it.”

He patted me good-naturedly on the shoulder, as he said this, and, with the word "Go," half-pushed me from the

room.

I soon found myself in the open air, and having inquired my way to the Rue Lepelletier, walked rapidly along, endeavouring, as best I might, to disguise the astonishment I felt at so many new and wonderful objects. As I emerged from the meaner quarter of the Battignolles, the streets grew finer and more spacious, and the dress of the people and their appearance generally improved also. Still there was none of that splendour of equipage of which I had heard so much. The carriages were few, and neither rich nor well appointed. The horses were poorlooking, and seemed all over-worked and exhausted. The same tired and worn-out air pervaded the people too. They all looked as though fatigue and excitement had finally conquered them, and that they were no longer capable of endurance. At the bakers' shops that I passed, great crowds were assembled, waiting for the distribution of bread which the Government each morning doled out to the population. I watched these, and saw, to my amazement, that the ration was a small piece of black and coarse bread, weighing two ounces, and for this many were content to wait patiently the entire day. In my curiosity to see this, I had approached an old man, of a strong, athletic appearance, who, leaning on his staff, made no effort to pierce the crowd, but waited calmly till his name was called aloud, and even then received his pittance, as it was passed to him from hand to hand. There was something of dignity in the way he subdued every trace of that anxious impatience so perceptible around him,

VOL. XLII.NO. CCXLVII.

and I drew nigh to speak to him, with a sense of respect.

"Is that meant for a day's subsistence?" asked I.

He stared at me calmly for a few seconds, but made no reply.

"I asked the question," began I, with an attempt to apologise, when he interrupted me thus:

"Are you one of the Troupe Dorée, and ask this? Is it from you, who live in fine houses, and eat sumptuously, that comes the inquiry, how men like me exist ?"

"I am newly come to Paris; I am only a few hours here."

Starvation marches too slowly for the wishes of these aristocrats !"

"Down with the aristos,' down with the Troupe!" broke in one wild yell from the multitude, who turned at once towards me with looks of menace. Ay," continued the old man, waving his hand to maintain silence, "he dared to taunt me with the pittance we receive, and to scoff at our mendicancy!"

"Down with him! down with him!" cried the crowd; but interposing his staff like a barrier against the mob, the old fellow said

"Spare him, comrades; he is, as you see, only a boy; let him live to be wiser and better. Come, lad, break that sword upon your knee; tear off that green cockade, and go back to your village again!"

I stepped back, and drawing my sword, motioned to those in front to give way.

"I'll cut down the first that opposes me!" cried I, with a waive of the steel round my head, and at the same instant I dashed forward.

The mass fell back and left me a free passage, while a chorus of the wildest yells and screams burst around and about me. Mad with the excitement of the moment, I shook my sword at them as I went, in defiance, and even laughed my scorn of their cowardice. My triumph was brief; a stunning blow on the back of the head sent me reeling forwards, and at the same instant the ranks of the mob closed in, and hurling me to the ground, trampled and jumped upon me. Stunned,

F

but not unconscious, I could perceive that a battle was waged over me, in which my own fate was forgotten, for the multitude passed and repassed my body without inflicting other injury than their foot-treads. Even this was brief, too, and I was speedily raised from the earth, and saw myself in the arms of two young men in uniform like my own. One of them was bleeding from a wound in the temple, but seemed only to think of me and my injuries. We were soon joined by several others of the troop, who having returned from a pursuit of the mob, now pressed around me with kindest questions and inquiries. My name, whence I came, and how long I had been in Paris, were all asked of me in a breath; while others, more considerate still, sought to ascertain if I had been wounded in the late scuffle. Except in some bruizes, and even those not severe, I had suffered nothing, and when my clothes were brushed, and my shako re-adjusted, and a new cockade affixed to it, I was as well as ever. From the kind attentions we met with in the shops, and the sympathy which the better-dressed people displayed towards us, I soon gathered that the conflict was indeed one between two classes of the population, and that the Troupe were the champions of property.

"Show him the Rue Lepelletier, Guillaume," said an officer to one of the youths, and a boy somewhat older than myself now undertook to be my guide.

I had some difficulty in answering his questions, as to the names and the number of my family who were guil lotined, and when and where the execution had occurred; but I was spared any excessive strain on my imagination by the palpable indifference my companion exhibited to a theme now monstrously tiresome. He, however, was communicative enough on the subject of the Troupe and their duties, which he told me were daily becoming more onerous. The Government, harassed by the opposition of the National Guards and the Jeunesse Dorée together, had resorted to the terrible expedient of releasing above a thousand prisoners from the galleys, and these, he assured me, were now on their way to Paris, to be armed and formed into a regiment. Though he told this with a natural horror, he still spoke of his own party with every confidence. They comprised, he said, the courage,

the property, and the loyalty of France. The whole nation looked to them as the last stay and succour, and felt that the hope of the country was in their keeping.

I asked him what was the number now enrolled in the Troupe? and, to my astonishment, he could not tell me. In fact, he owned that many had of late assumed the uniform as spies, and General Danitan had resolved that each volunteer should present himself to him for acceptance before receiving any charge, or being appointed to any guard.

I had not time for further questioning when we arrived at the hotel of the general, when my companion having given me full directions for my guidance, shook my hand cordially, and departed.

As I ascended the stairs I overtook an elderly gentleman in a grey military frock, who was slowly making his way upwards by the aid of the ballustrade.

"Give me your arm, lad," said he, "for this stair seems to grow steeper every day. Thanks; now I shall get on better. What has torn your coatsleeve ?"

I told him in a few words what had just occurred in the streets, and he listened to me with a degree of interest that somewhat surprised me.

"Come along, my lad. Let General Danitan hear this from your own lips;" and with an agility that I could not have believed him capable of, he hurried up the stairs, and crossing a kind of gallery, crowded with officers of different grades, he entered a chamber where two persons in military undress were writing.

"Can I see the general, Francois?" said he, abruptly.

The officer thus addressed coolly replied, that he believed not, and went on with his writing as before.

"But I have something important to say to him-my business is of consequence," said he.

"As it always is," muttered the other, in a tone of sarcasm, that fortunately was only overheard by myself.

"You will announce me, then, Francois?" continued he.

"My orders are not to admit any one, captain."

"They were never meant to include me, sir of that I'm positive," said the old man; "and if you will not announce me, I will enter without it;"

and, half dragging me by the arm, he moved forward, opened the door, and passed into an inner room.

General Danitan, a small, darkeyed, severe-looking man, was standing with his back to the fire, and in the act of dictating to a secretary, as we entered. An expression of angry impatience at our unauthorised appearance was the only return he vouchsafed to our salute; and he continued as before, his dictation.

"Don't interrupt me, sir," said he, hastily, as the old captain made an effort to address him. "Don't interrupt me, sir. Which difficulties," continued he, as he took up the thread of his dictation-" which difficulties are considerably increased by the obtrusive habit of tendering advice by persons in whose judgment I place no reliance, and whose conduct, when they leave me, is open to the suspicion of being prejudicial to the public service. Amongst such offenders, the chief is a retired captain of the 8th regiment of Chasseurs, called Hugues Le Bart.”

"Why, general, it is of me-- me myself you are speaking!" broke in the captain.

"An officer," continued the other, perfectly heedless of the interruption, "into whose past services I would strenuously recommend some inquiry; since, neither from the information which has reached me with regard to his habits, nor, from the characters of his intimates, am I disposed to regard him as well affected to the Government, or in other respects, trustworthy. How do you do, captain? who is our young friend here?" continued he, with a smile and a bow towards us.

"In what way am I to understand this, general? Is it meant for a piece of coarse pleasantry

"

"For nothing of the kind, sir," interrupted the other, sternly. "That you have been a witness to the words of a confidential communication is entirely attributable to yourself; and I have only to hope you will respect the confidence of which an accident has made you a participator. Meanwhile, I desire to be alone."

The manner in which these words were uttered was too decisive for hesitation, and the old man bowed submissively and withdrew. As I was about to follow him the general called out

He turned hastily about at the moment and said something to his secretary, in a low voice, of which I just could catch the concluding words, which were far from flattering to the corps in whose livery I was dressed.

"Well, boy, go back and take off those clothes," said he, sternly; "resume your trade or occupation, whatever it be, and leave politics and state affairs to those who can under stand them. Tell your father—” "I have none, sir."

"Your mother, then, or your friends, I care not what they be. What letter is that you are crumpling in your fingers?" broke he in, suddenly.

"To General Danitan, sir."

"Give it me," said he, half-snatching it from me.

He tore it hastily open and read it, occasionally looking from the paper to myself, as he went on. He then leaned over the table, where the secretary sat, and showed him the letter. They conversed eagerly for some seconds together, and then the general said

"Your friends have recommended you for a post in the chancellerie militaire;' is that your liking, lad?"

"I should be proud to think myself capable of doing anything for my own support," was my answer.

"D'Artans, see to him; let him be enrolled as a supernumerary, and lodged with the others. This gentleman will instruct you in your duty," added he to me; while, with a slight nod towards the door, he motioned me to withdraw.

I retired at once to the antechamber, where I sat down to think over my future prospects, and canvass in my mind my strange situation.

Troops of officers in full and halfdress, orderlies with despatches, aidsde-camp in hot haste, came and went through that room for hours; and yet there I sat unnoticed and unrecognised by any, till I began to feel in my isolation a sense of desertion and loneliness I had never known before.

It was already evening when D'Artans joined me, and taking my arm familiarly within his own, said

"Come along, Jasper, and let us dine together."

The sound of my own name so overcame me, that I could scarcely restrain my tears as I heard it. It was a memory of home and the past, too touching to be resisted!

THERE could not have been a readier process of disenchantment to me, as to all my boyish ambitions and hopes, than the routine of my daily life at this pe riod. I was lodged, with some fourteen others, in an old Pension in the Rue des Augustins, adjoining the bureau in which we were employed. We repaired each morning at an early hour to our office, and never left it till late in the evening-sometimes, indeed, to a late hour of the night. Neither the manners nor the habits of my companions inspired me with a desire to cultivate their intimacy. They were evidently of a low class by birth; and with tastes even inferior to their position. They construed my estrangement to the true cause, and did not scruple to show that I was not a favourite amongst them. In ridicule of my seeming pretensions, they called me the "Count," and never passed me without an obsequious mock salutation, which I returned as punctiliously, and not appearing to detect its sarcasm. With experience of life and mankind, isolation is probably a condition not devoid of certain pleasures-it may minister to a kind of proud self-reliance and independence of spirit; but to a boy it is one of unalloyed misery. There is no heavier infliction than the want of that free expansion of the heart that comes of early friendship. Youth is essentially the season of confidence; and to restrain its warm impulses, and dam up the flow of its affections, is to destroy its best and highest charm. I will not venture to assert that I was not myself much to blame for the seclusion in which I lived. I probably resented too forcibly what I need scarcely have noticed, and felt too acutely what, at worst, were but trifling annoyances. Some of this may be attributed to me constitutionally, but even more to the nature of my bringing up. All my boyish impulses were stimulated by affection; whatever I attempted, was in a wish to gain praise; all my am

bitions were, to be loved the more. In my loneliness I sought out M. de Gabriac, but in vain. His lodging on the Place was now occupied by another, who could give no tidings of him whatever. I wrote to my mother and to Raper, but without receiving a reply. I then tried M. Jost, and received a few lines to say, that my friends had taken their departure some months before from Reichenau, but in what direction he knew not. This letter put the finishing stroke to my sense of utter desolation. It was indeed not possible to conceive a more forlorn and friendless being than I now was. By my superior in the office I was held in little favour or esteem. I was indeed, in many respects, less capable than many of my colleagues, and it is not impossible that my apparent pride may have contrasted with my real deficiency. All these causes pressed upon me together, and made up a series of annoyances which came very little short of downright unhappiness.

My circumstances, too, were not calculated to dispel these gloomy tendencies. Beyond our maintenance, which was of the very humblest kind, our whole pay was five hundred francs yearly, and as this was paid in paper money, it reduced the actual amount more than one-fourth. By the very strictest economy, and by many an act of self-denial, I was enabled to keep myself out of debt, but it was an existence of continued watchfulness and care, and in which, not even the very cheapest pleasure found a place. colleagues, indeed, talked of cafés, restaurants, excursions, and theatres, as of matters of daily habit, but in what way they compassed such enjoyments I knew not. The very freedom of their language on these themes cast an air of contemptuous mockery over my humbler existence that assuredly did not diminish its bitterness.

My

My inexpertness frequently com

pelled me to remain in the office long after the rest. The task allotted to me was often of greater length, and many times have I passed a considerable part of the night at my desk. On these occasions, when I had finished, my head was too much excited for sleep, and I then sat up and read-usually one of the volumes Raper had given me-till morning. These were my happiest hours; but even they were alloyed by the weariness of an exhausted and tired intellect. So thoroughly apart from the world did I live so completely did I hug my solitary existence at this period, that of the events happening around I positively knew nothing. With cafes and their company, or with newspapers, I had no intercourse; and although at moments some street encounter, some collision between the mob and the National Guard, would excite my curiosity, I never felt interest enough to inquire the cause, or care for the consequences.

At the

Such incidents grew day by day more common firing; was frequently heard at night in different parts of the capital, and it was no rare occurrence to see carts with wounded men conveyed to hospital through the streets, at early morning. That the inhabitants were fully alive to the vicinity of some peril was plain to see. slightest sign of tumult, at the least warning, shops were closed and shutters fastened, doors strongly barricaded, and armed figures seen cautiously peering from casements and parapets. At one time a single horseman at full gallop would give the signal for these precautions; at others, they seemed the result of some instinctive apprehension of danger, so rapidly and so silently were they effected. Amid all these portents, the daily life of Paris went on as before. It was just as we hear tell of in the countries where earth. quakes are frequent, and where in almost every century, some terrible convulsion has laid a whole city in ruins, the inhabitants acquire a strange indifference to peril till the very instant of its presence, and learn to forget calamities when once they have passed.

As for myself, so accustomed had I become to these shocks of peril, that I no longer went to the window when the uproar beneath betokened a conflict, nor even cared to see which side were conquerors in the affray. It was in a mood of this acquired indifference

that I sat reading one evening in my office long after the others had taken their departure; twice or thrice had loud and prolonged shouts from the street disturbed me, but without exciting in me sufficient of curiosity to see what was going forward, when, at last, hearing the rumbling sound of artillery trains as they moved past, I arose and went to the window. To my surprise, the streets were densely crowded, an enormous concourse filling them, and only leaving a narrow lane through which the wagons could pass. That it was no mere procession was clear enough, for the gunners carried their matches lighted, and there was that in the stern air of the soldiery that bespoke service. They wheeled past the church of St. Roch, and entered a small street off the Rue St. Honore, called La Dauphine, where, no sooner had they passed in, than the sappers commenced tearing up the pavement in front of the guns, and speedily formed a trench of about five feet in depth before them. While this was doing, some mounted dragoons gave orders to the people to disperse, and directed them to move away by the side streets; an order so promptly obeyed, that in a few minutes the long line of the Rue St. Honore was totally deserted. From the position at La Dauphine to the Tuilleries I could perceive that a line of communication was kept open, and orderlies passed at a gallop frequently from one side to the other. Another circumstance, too, struck me the windows, instead of being crowded by numbers of eager spectators, were strongly shuttered and barred, and when that was impossible, the glass frames were withdrawn, and bed matresses and tables placed in the spaces. Along the parapets, also, vast crowds of armed men were to be seen, and the tower and battlements of St. Roch were studded over with soldiers of the National Guard, all armed and in readiness. From the glances of the artillerymen beneath to the groups above, it required no great prescience to detect that they stood opposed to each other

as enemies.

It was a calm mellow evening of the late autumn. The air was perfectly still, and now the silence was unbroken on all sides, save when, from a distance, the quick tramp of cavalry might be momentarily heard, as if in the act of