of eatables, thanks to the precaution which the authorities took of distributing to none except those who presented tickets.  The front of the Hotel de Ville was brilliant with colored lamps; but what seemed to me the finest part of the whole display was a vessel pierced for eighty cannon, whose decks, masts, sails, and cordage were distinctly outlined in colored lights.  The crowning piece of all, which the Emperor himself set off, represented the Saint-Bernard as a volcano in eruption, in the midst of glaciers covered with snow.  In it appeared the Emperor, glorious in the light, seated on his horse at the head of his army, climbing the steep summit of the mountain.  More than seven hundred persons attended the ball, and yet there was no confusion.  Their Majesties withdrew early.  The Empress, on entering the apartment prepared for her at the Hotel de Ville, had found there a most magnificent toilets-service, all in gold.  After it was brought to the Tuileries it was for many days her Majesty’s chief source of entertainment and subject of conversation.  She wished every one to see and admire it; and, in truth, no one who saw it could fail to do so.  Their Majesties gave permission that this, with a service which the city had presented to the Emperor, should be placed on exhibition for several days, for the gratification of the public.

After the fireworks a superb balloon was sent up, the whole circumference of which, with the basket, and the ropes which attached it to the balloon, were decorated with countless festoons of colored lights.  This enormous body of colored fire rising slowly and majestically into the air was a magnificent spectacle.  It remained suspended for a while exactly over the city of Paris, as if to wait till public curiosity was fully satisfied, then, having reached a height at which it encountered a more rapid current of air, it suddenly disappeared, driven by the wind towards the south.  After its disappearance it was thought of no more, but fifteen days later a very singular incident recalled it to public attention.

While I was dressing the Emperor the first day of the year, or the day before, one of his ministers was introduced; and the Emperor having inquired the news in Paris, as he always did of those whom he saw early in the morning, the minister replied, “I saw Cardinal Caprara late yesterday evening, and I learned from him a very singular circumstance.”  —­“What was it? about what?” and his Majesty, imagining doubtless that it was some political incident, was preparing to carry off his minister into his cabinet, before having completed his toilet, when his Excellency hastened to add, “Oh, it is nothing very serious, Sire!  Your Majesty doubtless remembers that they have been discussing lately in the circle of her Majesty the Empress the chagrin of poor Garnerin, who has not succeeded up to this time in finding the balloon which he sent up on the day of the fete given to your Majesty by the