confluence of nobility and gentry from the adjacent country—­to
    partake of the amusements, which, (as with the English,) form the
    invariable appendages of the scene.  Langevin mentions the minor fairs
    of Ste. Croix, St. Michel, and St. Gervais, which help to bring
    wealth into the pockets of the inhabitants. Recherches Historiques
    sur Falaise; p. 199, &c.

[173] [Since the publication of this Tour, the amiable Mons. Langevin has
    published “additions” to his historical account of Falaise; and in
    those additions, he has been pleased to notice the account which is
    HERE given of his labours and character.  It would be bad—­at least
    hardly justifiable—­taste, to quote that notice:  yet I cannot
    dissemble the satisfaction to find that there is more than ONE
    sympathising heart in Normandy, which appreciates this record of its
    excellence.  I subjoin, therefore, with the greatest satisfaction, a
    fac-simile of the autograph of this amiable and learned man, as it
    appears written (at my request) in the title-page of a copy of his
    “Researches.”

    [Illustration:  Langevin ptre.]

LETTER XXI.

JOURNEY TO PARIS.  DREUX.  HOUDAN.  VERSAILLES.  ENTRANCE INTO PARIS.

Paris, Rue Faubourg Poissoniere, May 30, 1819.

“Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.”  They must be protacted miseries indeed which do not, at some period or other, have something like a termination.  I am here, then my good friend—­safe and sound at last; comfortably situated in a boarding house, of which the mistress is an agreeable Englishwoman and the master an intelligent Swiss.  I have sauntered, gazed, and wondered—­and exchanged a thousand gracious civilities!  I have delivered my epistolary credentials:  have shaken hands with Monsieur Van Praet; have paced the suite of rooms in which the renowned BIBLIOTHEQUE DU ROI is deposited:  have traversed the Thuileries and the Louvre; repeatedly reconnoitred the Boulevards; viewed the gilt dome of the Hotel des Invalides, and the white flag upon the bronze-pillar in the Place Vendome; seen crowds of our countrymen at Meurice’s and in the hotels about the Rue de la Paix; partaken of the rival ices of Tortoni and the Caffe des Mille Colonnes; bought old French poetry at a Bouquiniste’s:  and drank Chambertin and Champagne at the richly garnished table of our ——.  These are what may be called good foreground objects in the composition of a Parisian picture.  Now for the filling up of the canvas with appropriate and harmonizing detail.