The deaths in the higher classes, at first, were comparatively few, but of late several of the most distinguished men of France have been seized.  Among them are M. Perier, the prime minister, and the General Lamarque.  Prince Castelcicala, too, the Neapolitan Ambassador, is dead, in our neighbourhood; as, indeed, are very many others.  There is one short street quite near us, out of which, it is said, between seventy and eighty dead have been carried.  The situation of all this faubourg is low, and that of the street particularly so.

Dr. S——­, of North Carolina, who, with several other young physicians, has done credit to himself by his self-devotion and application, brought in the report of the appearance of things, once or twice a week, judging of the state of the disease more from the aspect of the hospitals, than from the published returns, which are necessarily and, perhaps, designedly, imperfect.  He thinks of the first hundred that were admitted at the Hotel Dieu, all but one died, and that one he does not think was a case of Asiatic cholera at all.

All this time, the more frequented streets of Paris presented, in the height of the usual season too, the most deserted aspect.  I have frequently walked on the terrace of the Tuileries when there were not a dozen others in the whole garden, and driven from my own hotel in the Rue St. Dominique to the Place Vendome without meeting half a dozen vehicles, including fiacres and cabriolets de place.

I was returning one day from the Rue de la Paix, on foot, during the height of the disease, at the time when this gay and magnificent part of the town looked peculiarly deserted.  There was scarcely a soul in the street but the laquais de place, the garcons, and the chambermaids of the public hotels, that abound in this quarter.  These were at the gateways, with folded arms, a picture in themselves of the altered condition of the town.  Two travelling carriages drove in from the Rue de Rivoli, and there was at once a stir among those who are so completely dependent on travellers for their bread. “On part” was, at first, the common and mournful call from one group to another, until the mud on the carriage-wheels caught the attention of some one, who cried out “On arrive!” The appearance of the strangers under such circumstances, seemed to act like a charm.  I felt no little surprise at seeing them, and more, when a hand beckoned to me from a carriage window.  It was Mr. H——­, of New York, an old schoolfellow, and a friend of whom we had seen a good deal during our travels in Europe.  He had just come from England, with his family, and appeared astonished to find Paris so deserted.  He told me that Mr. Van Buren was in the other carriage.  He had chosen an unfortunate moment for his visit.  I went to see the H——­s next morning, and it was arranged that they should come and pass the succeeding day in the Rue St. Dominique; but they disappointed us.  The day following I got a letter from H——­, dated Amiens, written on his way to England!  They had been imprudent in coming, and wise in hurrying away from the frightful scene.  I believe that Mr. Van Buren remained but a day or two.