Paris is the capital of France, and it is the gayest city in the world; there are theatres, balls, processions, feast-days, fairs, and more amusements than I can remember.  But there are also numbers of very poor people, who almost live in the streets, and get food and clothing as they best can.  Some, who are called cheffoniers, go about with a fork and a basket, to pick up pieces of iron, rags, bones, or any stray valuables, if they can find them, from holes and corners in the streets, and from the dust heaps; others look for the ends of cigars, and sell them to be made into pieces of tobacco for the common people; and a number, I am very sorry to say, either beg or steal.

Among the peasantry there is a great deal of industry displayed.  As they are all desirous of having a cottage and some land of their own, lads of fifteen or sixteen years of age, hire themselves as labourers to the farmers, and receive wages, out of which, and their mode of living, they save enough money in a few years, to buy a piece of land.  If the land is fit for it, they plant it with vines; for the vineyards of France yield an abundant harvest, and well repay the labour bestowed on them.  The French wines are among the finest and most expensive in the world.

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The cottages of the peasantry are not remarkable for comfort, being very rude buildings, frequently having merely a hole in the roof for a chimney.  They are mostly, however, extremely picturesque, completely covered with vines.  The wines, called Bourdeaux, Burgundy, and Champagne come from France.  From the fruit of the olive-trees, which grow in vast quantities, a fine clear oil is obtained, and this forms a large part of the commerce of the country.  The rearing of poultry is carried on to a great extent; and most of the eggs sold in London, which are used by us at breakfast, for sauces, and for puddings, come from France.  Most of the cottagers keep one or two small hardy cows, which their boys or girls, or old people, are usually leading about by a halter, to eat the rank grass in paths or road-ways between the fields.  Their milk and butter form a good part of the people’s food.

In Tours and Lyons, there are numerous manufactories for the most superb silks and damasks; some years ago, there were fifteen hundred pairs of silk stockings finished each day at Lyons.

The plate-glass of Paris is now much better than that of Venice, which was formerly the finest in the world, the plates being of an immense size and extraordinary clearness.  Their tapestry is beautiful; the tapestry of the Gobelin in particular, for it is just like splendid painting.  Indeed, some of the designs, copied from pictures, surpass the originals, in point of beauty and brilliancy.  There are many specimens of this tapestry at the Exhibition, both in draperies, and fitted to pieces of furniture.

The porcelain made at Sevres is exquisitely beautiful, and is used for numerous ornamental purposes; vases, tea services, chimney ornaments, figures, and other articles.  The painted papers, which represent various ornaments in painting, sculpture, and architecture, serve to employ a great number of people.  Watches, cutlery, shoes, dresses, bonnets, and jewellery, are also a good source of employment among numerous families.  All these beautiful things we shall see at the Exhibition.