第38章 ON SOME FRENCH FASHIONABLE NOVELS(3)

"MY DEAR VICTOR--It is six in the morning: I have just come from the English Ambassador's ball, and as my plans, for the day do not admit of my sleeping, I write you a line; for, at this moment, saturated as I am with the enchantments of a fairy night, all other pleasures would be too wearisome to keep me awake, except that of conversing with you.Indeed, were I not to write to you now, when should I find the possibility of doing so? Time flies here with such a frightful rapidity, my pleasures and my affairs whirl onwards together in such a torrentuous galopade, that I am compelled to seize occasion by the forelock; for each moment has its imperious employ.Do not then accuse me of negligence: if my correspondence has not always that regularity which I would fain give it, attribute the fault solely to the whirlwind in which Ilive, and which carries me hither and thither at its will.

"However, you are not the only person with whom I am behindhand: Iassure you, on the contrary, that you are one of a very numerous and fashionable company, to whom, towards the discharge of my debts, I propose to consecrate four hours to-day.I give you the preference to all the world, even to the lovely Duchess of San Severino, a delicious Italian, whom, for my special happiness, Imet last summer at the Waters of Aix.I have also a most important negotiation to conclude with one of our Princes of Finance: but n'importe, I commence with thee: friendship before love or money--friendship before everything.My despatches concluded, I am engaged to ride with the Marquis de Grigneure, the Comte de Castijars, and Lord Cobham, in order that we may recover, for a breakfast at the Rocher de Cancale that Grigneure has lost, the appetite which we all of us so cruelly abused last night at the Ambassador's gala.On my honor, my dear fellow, everybody was of a caprice prestigieux and a comfortable mirobolant.Fancy, for a banquet-hall, a royal orangery hung with white damask; the boxes of the shrubs transformed into so many sideboards; lights gleaming through the foliage; and, for guests, the loveliest women and most brilliant cavaliers of Paris.Orleans and Nemours were there, dancing and eating like simple mortals.In a word, Albion did the thing very handsomely, and I accord it my esteem.

"Here I pause, to call for my valet-de-chambre, and call for tea;for my head is heavy, and I've no time for a headache.In serving me, this rascal of a Frederic has broken a cup, true Japan, upon my honor--the rogue does nothing else.Yesterday, for instance, did he not thump me prodigiously, by letting fall a goblet, after Cellini, of which the carving alone cost me three hundred francs?

I must positively put the wretch out of doors, to ensure the safety of my furniture; and in consequence of this, Eneas, an audacious young negro, in whom wisdom hath not waited for years--Eneas, my groom, I say, will probably be elevated to the post of valet-de-chambre.But where was I? I think I was speaking to you of an oyster breakfast, to which, on our return from the Park (du Bois), a company of pleasant rakes are invited.After quitting Borel's, we propose to adjourn to the Barriere du Combat, where Lord Cobham proposes to try some bull-dogs, which he has brought over from England--one of these, O'Connell (Lord Cobham is a Tory,) has a face in which I place much confidence; I have a bet of ten louis with Castijars on the strength of it.After the fight, we shall make our accustomed appearance at the 'Cafe de Paris,' (the only place, by the way, where a man who respects himself may be seen,)-- and then away with frocks and spurs, and on with our dress-coats for the rest of the evening.In the first place, I shall go doze for a couple of hours at the Opera, where my presence is indispensable; for Coralie, a charming creature, passes this evening from the rank of the RATSto that of the TIGERS, in a pas-de-trois, and our box patronizes her.After the Opera, I must show my face to two or three salons in the Faubourg St.Honore; and having thus performed my duties to the world of fashion, I return to the exercise of my rights as a member of the Carnival.At two o'clock all the world meets at the Theatre Ventadour: lions and tigers--the whole of our menagerie will be present.Evoe! off we go! roaring and bounding Bacchanal and Saturnal; 'tis agreed that we shall be everything that is low.To conclude, we sup with Castijars, the most 'furiously dishevelled'

orgy that ever was known."

The rest of the letter is on matters of finance, equally curious and instructive.But pause we for the present, to consider the fashionable part: and caricature as it is, we have an accurate picture of the actual French dandy.Bets, breakfasts, riding, dinners at the "Cafe de Paris," and delirious Carnival balls: the animal goes through all such frantic pleasures at the season that precedes Lent.He has a wondrous respect for English "gentlemen-sportsmen;" he imitates their clubs--their love of horse-flesh: he calls his palefrenier a groom, wears blue birds's-eye neck-cloths, sports his pink out hunting, rides steeple-chases, and has his Jockey Club.The "tigers and lions" alluded to in the report have been borrowed from our own country, and a great compliment is it to Monsieur de Bernard, the writer of the above amusing sketch, that he has such a knowledge of English names and things, as to give a Tory lord the decent title of Lord Cobham, and to call his dog O'Connell.Paul de Kock calls an English nobleman, in one of his last novels, Lord Boulingrog, and appears vastly delighted at the verisimilitude of the title.