until they had made restitution for the value of all they had possessed themselves of."

The moral state of the French people may be judged of by several trifling causes. Look at their locks-those "masterpieces of smithery," as they are called, and justly called, in England. As a protection to property, they are not worth a shilling a dozen. But on the subject of locks, or rather of no locks, I have a word to say in reference to another country in which Punch and Judy are to be seen performing on a Sunday morning, and where business is transacted as on a week-day. When at Dobleran races in Germany, in 1828, I was walking with Count Rassenitz, when his groom asked him for some money. "Come to my lodgings," said he, when opening a drawer, which had no lock! he gave him, in my presence, the sum he required, out of about a hundred louis-d'ors. Observe, reader, this was during the race week, when the town was overflowing with strangers. On my noticing this circumstance to the father confessor (an Irishman) of the Duchess of Lucca, however, he made this reply: "There is nothing extraordinary in that," said he; "if you will call on me when the duchess is out in her carriage, I will show you ten thousand pounds' worth of diamonds lying on her toilette-table." In reference to my own country, here is another startling fact.

CRIME IN FRANCE.

It is asserted, and perhaps in truth, that although the commission of crime in France is not near so frequent as in many other countries, England included; still, when a Frenchman is resolved on carrying his point, he will go to the extreme of atrocity to do so. I am, however, enabled to state, that during the last eight years, only one case of murder, and two of housebreaking, have come to my knowledge in this part of France; and one of the latter (a burglary in a bank in the town of Calais) was so adroitly accomplished, as to be laid to the charge of my countrymen. The third was a burglary in a private-house, committed by a near neighbour to me, who was sent to the galleys for five years, and returned a few months back; and, on his return, a scene occurred somewhat demonstrative of the natural levity of the French character. "You have had a child in my absence," said the husband to his wife, which cannot be mine."

"True," replied the wife," and what of that? You indulged in one propensity, and I have indulged in another; we are only even on that score."

And the mention of this circumstance leads me to remark on a great preventive of one species of crime in France, and that of the deepest die. I allude to infanticide, which very rarely occurs, by reason of the provision made in the public hospitals, for the reception of illegitimate children of parents ill able to support them.

DRINKING.

The French are little addicted to the vice of drinking to excess, although almost every fourth house in many streets furnishes them with

their favourite liquor; but my observation has led me to be of opinion, that within the last two years, this vice has been on the increase.

MEDICAL MEN.

France is celebrated for clever surgeons; but in their treatment of diseases, I consider them half a century in the rear of us. They wait for directing symptoms; and in the mean time the patient slips through their fingers. They fix periods to diseases; consult the state of the moon, and trust to simples notoriously slow in their operation, instead of having recourse to compounds which would at once reach the cause.

FUNERALS.

The French bury their dead with much decency and decorum, and, where the means of the surviving friends are equal to the expenses, with no little pomp. But I am inclined to think they oftentimes bury them too soon-the interment generally taking place on the second day after the decease. A curious piece of ceremony was observed in the case of an eminent surgeon, who died in Calais about two years back. Aware of his approaching dissolution, he had a smart surtout, frogged and tasselled à la militaire, made for the occasion, and in this was his corpse clad, for the purpose of sitting in state. It was actually placed in a chair, and exposed to the view of all who rushed to see it, for the space of two days. No doubt but the doctor found his precedent for this in the history of the ancient Romans, whose bodies, after death, were wrapped in the gowns they had worn when alive, and, if public men, in the particular garment of their office. For example: If the deceased by his valour had acquired a coronet, it was put on his head when the corpse was dressed for the funeral.

PRIESTS.

It is scarcely necessary to observe, that my intercourse with the clergy of this part of France, enables me to say but little of them-it merely amounting to an annual visit from the vicar of the parish in which I reside, to solicit my subscription to the poor. From all I see of them, however, they appear to be a most respectable and unassuming class, and judging from the fact of their being so frequently on the move amongst their parishioners, their duties must be rigidly observed by them. I have heard two of the best of their preachers in these parts, and although, from not sufficiently understanding their language, I was unable to form an opinion of their doctrine, their manner of delivery was certainly excellent. One of our popular English writers thus speaks of the country French priest: You cannot mistake the country priest in France," says he, " for any thing other than he is. His devout manner, and the sacred habiliments that he always appears in, makes you acquainted with his profession at once." The income of the generality of them is very small-often not exceeding fifty pounds a year, which must prevent their assisting the poor of their parishes, how much soever they may be inclined to do so.

THE POOR IN FRANCE.

From my almost daily habit of riding or walking through the retired parts of this country, I am, to a certain extent, able to speak of the situation of the labouring poor. It is in one respect superior to that of my own countrymen, inasmuch as, should the cow be wanting, the large garden-plot and the pig are pretty general amongst them. Their wages, it is true, are lower than that of English labourers, but then their wants are fewer, and thus the account is balanced. They make their articles of food go much further than the English labourer does his; and what they do gain by their bodily labour, is never wasted in intemperance, but spent on their families, on the real necessaries of life. I am told that some of their employers give them cider to drink in harvest; but I confess I have never seen them supplied with it. A French labourer, however, by having made his repast of either soup or coffee, is not tormented with thirst, as those of our country are after eating solid and more exciting food. That occasionally the extremities of indigence are to be found in a French labourer's cottage, is too true; and there is much suffering from severe weather-so much so, I am informed, that it is not unusual to see several entire families huddled together in one house, to avail themselves of animal heat, emanating from their own bodies. The children of the labouring poor appear to me to be better dressed— certainly less ragged in their clothing than those of my own country.

Whether this class of people in France are the better or the worse for the several revolutions of the state that have taken place within the last half-century, it is not in my power to say. According to the celebrated fable of Phædrus, of the ass and the old shepherd, they would be but little benefited, inasmuch as in his case, unless the panniers of the donkey were to be lightened, it matters not to him who became his master.

COUNTRY GENTLEMEN IN FRANCE.

The comparative paucity of French gentlemen residing on their estates in France, is very hurtful to the poor. A frequent intercourse with the common people, opens our eyes to their wants, and few persons can see misery without a correspondent feeling of compassion, which, if excited for the moment, is either blunted or destroyed amidst the cold-hearted splendour of a town life. Here England stands alone; there is no country under the sun in which the poor are so benefited by the relish of its aristocracy for a country life; and which relish it is to be hoped they will never lose. I can produce a singular instance of this boon. When Sir Peter Pole broke up his establishment in Hampshire, I made it a point to see the overseer of the poor, for the purpose of ascertaining what effect the absence of the family at "the great house" had on the poor's-rate of the parish. I found it to be just fifty per cent. !

PRIMOGENITURE.

I am sorry to hear there exists a party in England favourable to the abolition of the law of primogeniture, the evils of it being so apparent in France, in the neglected condition of the chateaus, and the defective state

of agriculture. It is asserted, that a state is much the more powerful, as it includes a greater number of proprietors, that is, a greater division of property; but I do not admit the truth of the assertion. It is true that the physical force of a state is in proportion to its population; population is in proportion to plenty; plenty in proportion to tillage; and tillage to personal interest, that is, to the spirit of property. But with what spirit can a tenant-I may add, proprietor-cultivate and improve by draining or chalking his farm, the possession of which he might lose in six months, should his landlord die? Mr. James Cob bett, in his ride through France, thus speaks of this scattering law as he calls it: "The contrast between Normandy and the rest of France—not only as regards the appearance of the people, but as regards that of their houses, the face of their country, the cultivation of their farms, and all that, in short, which strikes the eye of a traveller as he goes along the road-is so very remarkable, that one cannot help inquiring the reason why it should be so. By some persons (and these apparently not the least intelligent) this striking difference is mainly ascribed to the wide difference between the ancient laws and usages of Normandy, and those of the rest of France, and especially as relating to the laws affecting the disposal and distribution of real property. Before the revolution, the law of primogeniture and entail appears to have existed in a very extensive degree in Normandy, while it did not so exist in the other provinces of the kingdom, except with regard to a comparatively small part of the community. . . . All is now laid level. The law does, in fact, make a man's will for him; and it divides and subdivides his property, till, in some cases, a farm of a hundred acres is, at the death of the owner, cut up into allotments of six or seven acres! It has been said, that the law of primogeniture has but one child, and that it devotes all the rest to beggary. On the other hand, it is said, that even if that be admitted, the law of primogeniture has an advantage over the law of scattering, as it may be called; for that the law of primogeniture had one child, while the other had no child at all; that the law of primogeniture devotes (allowing it to do this) to beggary all but one, while the law of scattering saves not one, but disperses the whole, and makes them all beggars. For if a man possess an estate, each child is brought up as the child of the owner of the estate; but what is each but a beggar (compared with his father), when each possesses a dozen or two acres of land?"

All the foregoing observations were corroborated to me by a French gentleman in the neighbourhood of Dunkirk, whom I visited for the • purpose of seeing his system of agriculture, which I was given to understand, was upon improved principles, the result of his having spent a fortnight at Holkham. "The abolition of the law of primogeniture," said he," has dispersed thousands of families who had been on the same spot for centuries; has greatly injured the cultivation of land, and caused a scarcity of timber; and I can show you men labouring on the Quay in Dunkirk, for their daily bread, whose grandfathers were possessed of very pretty properties."

LOYALTY.

Loyalty, that is, attachment to the person of their princes, has ever been a striking part of the French national character; and, notwithstanding what has passed within the last half-dozen years, will ever continue to be such. It was conspicuous during the reign of one of the most worthless of their monarchs, as it was also in our own country, in the conduct of the people towards the perfidious, and therefore justly unpopular, James II. They forgot his misconduct when contemplating his misfortunes; but it is doubtful whether they might have done this had he not been a king.

The politics of this country do not concern me, therefore I enter not into them; but I have reason to believe, that a more amiable and united family than the present royal family of France, is not to be found in all social life. The king I have never seen not having been at my own court, I could not present myself at his; but I have seen a good deal of the heir apparent, and have received, at his hands, much real kindness and attention. I am enabled then to say, that as far as I am capable of estimating the character of his Royal Highness the Duke of Orleans, he appears to be admirably calculated to be at the head of a gallant and highly chivalrous people. And what a gallant fellow-pardon the expression, a mere lapsus penna, when speaking of a prince-is the next in succession, the brave Duke de Nemours! I heard all about him and his exploits in the Constantine affair, from the gallant Prince of Moskowa, who formed part of his staff. A more gallant soldier never drew a sword; and in private life, he presents a highly-finished portrait of the prince and the gentleman.

SPORTING

The mention of Chantilly races reminds me that, as yet, I have said nothing of France in reference to its sporting character, in the formation of which it is making rapid strides. Independently of the love of hunting, which is greatly on the increase, there are now twenty-two places in France at which race meetings take place, and the racing calendar gives the names of upwards of two hundred proprietors of race-horses. And, although as yet there are no regular betting men, as with us, coming under the denomination of "Legs," heavy sums are laid out amongst the amateurs. At the first Chantilly meeting which I attended, for example, as much as 12,000l. was staked on one race; and at that of last year, so much money was betted on what is called the French Derby (the Jockey Club stakes), and two or three other races, that I was requested by the stewards to make a point of attending the meeting, it being their wish that some perfectly disinterested person should officiate as judge of the races. It was an excellent meeting as regarded sport, although the gaiety of it was eclipsed by an émeute which broke out in Paris a few days previously. There are at this time foxhounds established at Boulogne, and St. Omer, as well as in other parts of France, but from the nature of the country, I am by no means sanguine as to the success of fox-hunting in France. Staghunting, as practised in England, should be the object of Frenchmen, as far as hounds are concerned.

(To be continued.)