Transcription

& sometimes Concerts, but the natives never come forth, we have only been to one French party the most formidable thing you can imagine, figure to yourself a very little room, excessively hot, the company ranged in rows, the gentlemen separated from the ladies, wretched music, the visitors condemned to constant silence, & to complete the whole the Duc de Berri in the middle of the circle, trying to look tremendous. The Duke of Wellington told us, that this extraordinary arrangement was part of Bonaparte's political plan, & that in order to prevent any remarks on his government in Society, he divided the company in order to put an end to all conversation, & ranged them on forms like a public concert in England that not a single word might be spoke that could not be overheard by a dozen persons at least. Was there ever a completer system of tyranny? We have been once to Talleyrand, whose house is open every evening. He is a very ugly man with a countenance not as expressive of intellect as I had expected. He looks rather cunning than clever. His wife is in England, His two nieces, wives of his nephews, keep his house. One is very pretty, she is going to be separated from her husband, a scandal says, she prefers the husband to the nephew. Paris is filled with English. The Sidney Smiths are here & the fair Emily, still lonely, still unmarried. Lord March was flirting with her but has gone to England, & all hopes of him are over. Mrs. Arbuthnot has produced a great sensation here & all nations & degrees unite in admiration of her. I never saw any one have so