Sir ——­ did me the favour, on that occasion, to introduce me to a mild gentleman-like old man, who greatly resembled one of the quiet old school of our own, which is so fast disappearing before the bustling, fussy, money-getting race of the day.  It was Lord Robert Fitzgerald, a brother of the unfortunate Lord Edward, and the brother of whom he so pleasantly speaks in his natural and amiable letters, as “Plenipo Bob.”  This gentleman is since dead, having, as I hear, fallen a victim to the cholera.

I went to one other dinner, during this scene of destruction, given by Madame de B——­, a woman who has so much vogue, as to assemble, in her house, people of the most conflicting opinions and opposite characters.  On this occasion, I was surprised to hear from Marshal ——­, one of the guests, that many believe the cholera to be contagious.  That such an opinion should prevail among the mass, was natural enough, but I was not prepared to hear it from so high a quarter.

A gentleman mentioned, at this dinner, that the destruction among the porters had been fearful.  A friend of his was the proprietor of five hotels, and the porters of all are dead!

LETTER III.

Insecurity of the Government.—­Louis-Philippe and the Pear.—­Caricatures.—­Ugliness of the Public Men of France.—­The Duke de Valmy.—­Care-worn aspect of Society under the New Regime.—­Controversy in France respecting the Cost of Government in America.—­Conduct of American Agents in Europe.

Dear ——­,

The government is becoming every day less secure, and while it holds language directly to the contrary, it very well knows it cannot depend on the attachment of the nation.  It has kept faith with no one, and the mass looks coldly on, at the political agitation that is excited, in all quarters, by the Carlists and the republicans.  The bold movement of the Duchess of Berri, although it has been unwise and unreflecting, has occasioned a good deal of alarm, and causes great uneasiness in this cabinet.[5]

[Footnote 5:  Louis-Philippe has been more singularly favoured by purely fortuitous events than, probably, ever fell to the fortune of one in his situation.  The death of the Duke of Reichstadt, the arrest and peculiar position of the Duchess of Berri, the failure of the different attempts to assassinate and seize him, and the sudden death of the young Napoleon Bonaparte, in Italy (the son of Louis), are among the number.]

In a country where the cholera could not escape being caricatured, you will readily imagine that the King has fared no better.  The lower part of the face of Louis-Philippe is massive, while his forehead, without being mean, narrows in a way to give the outline a shape not unlike that of a pear.  An editor of one of the publications of caricatures being on trial for a libel, in his defence, produced a large pear, in order to illustrate his argument, which ran as