MISS LAMONT'S IMPRESSIONS OF FRANCE AND SWITZERLAND. ; „ ,

" . t Tliis young lady, who has, apparently, a French origin or con- nexions, visited Paris to rub off English prejtiaices, and improve herself in what our ancestors called the tongues. Her - first domicile' was a French boarding-school; but it was, situate in an inconvenient part of the town : she then, with her mother's permission, removed to another ; passing the vacation at a boarding- house', and in a trip with a family to Havre. An unlucky lawsuit ruined her second landlord, and broke up the establishment ; which drove her to a third ,rschool. She then, in company with soma friends, made a tour to Brussels ; thefit:e up the Rhine, and through Switzerland ; finally reaching Southampton by Paris and Havre.

The form of Miss LAMONT'S book is. that of letters to her mother, with wham she communicated constantly. Its topics are various enough. When en route, a narrative of her tour, with the usual descriptions and reflections of a tourist, and, as she holds a fluent pen, something more than the usual reflections. In Paris, she describes the economy of the house, and the persons of the household, the company who come, the visits she pays, the sights she sees and the general routine of daily life, as well as the books she reads ; which last she delineates with effect, and criticises with judgment. Marshal MACDONALD, after whom she appears to have been named, and who, whether a connexicin or not, showed her much attention, is the only public character introduced in private ; and of him there are some descriptions and anecdotes, showing the veteran in a very respectable and gravely amiable point of view.

The merit of this book is in the freshness of its facts and the naturalness of its manner. We do not call to mind any publica- tion that gives so good an idea of French domestic life among the middle classes, or conveys such an impression of their toleration, bonhommie, and a frame of mind which has all the happy effects of contentment. The little adventures the writer meets with in her pilgrimages through Paris, or in the visits she pays, also exhibit the French character better than any accounts by common travellers ; whose rapid progress and incessant sight-hunting forbid them noticing slight traits, which nevertheless mark character better than more important things. Her sex and the circumstances under which she wrote are also favourable to these results. As a female, she saw many things which a man could not have seen, or would not have noticed ; and, originally writing to convey to her mother an account of her situation, she introduced many little particulars that a person might have omitted had the public been directly in their mind. In addition to these characteristics of the matter, there is much of grace as well as fluency in her style, with a frank and offhand manner, yet not deviating from feminine delicacy.

The intellectual fault of MARTHA MACDONALD LAMONT is a ten- dency to over-description and to prolix reflection ; and in these ori- ginate the failing of the book, which is its length. During her resi- dence in France, passages are sometimes met with where the lead- ing idea is diffused in a sea of words. In her Rhenish and Swiss tour, this defect is the staple quality of the whole. Even her mother, reading with the interest of a parent in a daughter, and reading the letters one by one, felt this as a drawback. We gather from a reply that she observed her .MARTHA "had omitted the life of the scenes described " : and when this was obviated in some degree, she seems still to have objected that "the life was not that which should belong to them ; the, passing, not the stationary life ; the traveller, not the inhabitant." An observation as true as the former one, but not so just ; for an author can only depict what is seen, and a passing traveller cannot see the life of the inhabitants. There is no doubt, however, that the book would have been more attractive had it been shortened by the entire omission of the tour ; though in so doing some clever sketches of the English abroad would have been omitted.

The following specimens are from the earlier and better portions.

HOLYDAY EVENINGS IN A FRENCH SCHOOL.

I must tell you that I like the B.'s very well so far; but what I do not think I shall ever like in French society, is the great and noisy vivacity of the con- versation: it euits not my temperament, or at least suits not my long habitudes of a book, or an occasional word with 3 ou iu our quiet evenings at home. On the Wednesday and Sunday evenings, the young ones of the school. room come into the saloon, and pass the time merrily in chatting, and singing, and dancing to the music of the piano. Madame B.'s daughters join in the dance with all the jo3fulnets of the youngest child present. On our last Wednesday evening, we had three gentlemen visiters, one a very agreeable and intelligent young gentleman (but not in the political abaft) like him of whom I last told you); another, an officer, whose latest feats of arms NM performed at the siege of Antwerp; and the third is one who comes every Sunday and Wednesday evening. And now I am going to give an instance of that good feeling which the French so often show, and in which I am afraid we are sometimes deficient. This gentleman is a little insane : his only happiness is to be among little girls, to see them enjoy themselves, and to play with them like a child. He lives in this faubourg, in which there are a great many schools; and he is admitted in the evening at almost all. How much your kind heart would enjoy the gayety and simplicity of our evenings, when the children are with us! The saloon, with its polished uncarpeted floor, reflecting the bright wood fire laid on the hearth, and with its pictures, its mirrors, its curtains of muslin, is very agree- able.

FRENCH GALLANTRY.

I discovered that the omnibus passed through the very street in which I wished to be put down : therefore, at No. 3, at which! thought Mrs. W. apartment was, I was put down. Up stairs and down stairs I went, through a great large house, knocking at this door and ringing at that, questioning por- tresses, interrogating maid-servants, and hearing them say, as I went away, "Seigneur Dieu! come here to look for English—there are no English here! " Well, I returned to the street ; and, as I looked about dolefully, thinking that after all I should not find Mrs. W., I noticed that I was observed by a very gentlemanly-looking young man in a handsome cabriolet. In a minute or two he stepped out, gave the reins to his servant, and came up to me, and, with a bow, said, " You are a stranger, I perceive, looking for some house : will you allow me to assist you ?" , "You are exceedingly kind," I replied, and told him all rcould tell. He went from shop to shop, from house to house, making all,kbuls of inquiries which could lead to any information as to the arrival of an English lady and her son in that neighbourhood. At length, an old woman exclaimed, "Oh, yes, Madame W. did come here about a month ago : she lives at No. 29." No. 29 was at some distance ; and, as we went along, my beau politely offered me his arm : I begged to decline it : he begged to be allowed the honour of calling on me : I told him that I lived in a boarding-school at a great distance from that : it mattered not—his visit would not compromise me in the least; he said,.and he should be most happy to show me the museums, anti all that was worth seeing in Paris, as I was a stranger. Still, I obstinately deelitned his favours, and at 29 bade him bon jour—a bon four which he returned ratherAlkily, and with his colour mounting in his cheek. However, he was

really gentlemanly, in his dress, address, and appearance; and I do think he only meant to be civil in doing the honours of Paris to a stranger.

FRENCH SUBMISSION TO FORTUNE.

Here comes my kind femme.de-chambre. "Sit down, Madame T., I shall have done in a moment "; and now I shall tell you about her : I like her so much, and she is one of the meat interesting and conversable persons in the house. Her husband was a surgeon : he died, leaving her with two children, and in so destitute a condition, that she is obliged to take the situation of femme-de.chambre, while her husband's relations take care of the children. She is not a Parisian, but came to the capital in the hope of procuring a better ertiployment than what she could in the country; or than that which she bolds, but failed in the object.. She thinks, if she .knew a little English, she might more easily procure the situation of teacher; • and as she dresses and undresses

me, her teach her words, and afterwards hear er read, having given her an Eng- lish book and dictionary. All this attaches her very much to me ; and I find her full of information, as she has read a great deal in her own language, and had,. besides, learned much from her husband's conversation. You will be glad that I have such a person to be kind to, and from whom to receive kindness.

A FIRST-RATE FRENCH SCHOOL.

The house is indeed two houses—" two single gentlemen rolled into one "— so that it is very large and commodious. There is a jardin Anglais, prettily laid out in shrubbery and lawn, adorned with ill-made statues of nymphs, quite sufficiently dressed ; and there is a fm-din Mager, which supplies abundance of vegetables and fruit for( breakfasts and dinners of the boarders during the aim& seolaire. There is a lsi.. ield, where climbing-poles, and ropes, and swings are fixed ; this is the gymnaee. There is a playground besides, and a large field where a cow is grazed, so that we are to have excellent cream ; and there is a large straw berry and fruit garden : for the enjoyment of these latter things I must wait some time. For all this concern Madame A. pays 14,000 francs per annum ; and to enable her to keep it up, she has sixty boarders and eighteen parlour-boarders at present. She seems a very worthy and conscientious person. She has been celebrated as a pianoforte-player, and the piano is the great basis of her establishment : there is no school in Paris equal to it in this line, she having the most eminent pianoforte composers and players to give lessons to her young ladies. 'When I tell you that from eight to fourteen hours a day is the regular rate of practice among the pupils, you may form some idea of the importance of music here : but I fear you will not form a favourable idea of the good sense of the directress of the establishment. No I do not think she is so much to blame as parents. It is true that I have never seen any thing of the manufacturing of young ladies which equalled the pianoforteing here ; and as there are a great many English girls in the house, they will surely re- turn home Frenched and musicked in perfection. Yet Madame A. is a plain, sincere, pious person : but she must, to succeed, do what the world most ap- proves; and accordingly she has succeeded, for she tells me it is just ten years since she began her school with one pupil. To me her life, as she described it, appears a sad one : but it is an excellent lesson for me, for she does not go through her part sadly. I said to her, "I cannot conceive how you can exist thus, without a moment of repose, a mo- ment Of reflection, a moment for reading, during the whole day, and every day the same." "Ah ! mon Dieu!" she replied, "there is always something of happiness in fulfilling one's duties : if I were to permit myself to think per- petually bow much happier I should be in a quiet little house, in which I might dispose of my time as 1 liked, I should be very wretched. I do not allow myself to think so : and yet I have always been savage—always disliked society, loved solitude."

SCOTT, MACDONALD, AND NAPOLEON.

On another occasion, when I was at his house, the conversation turned on Walter Scott's Life of Napoleon. As was to be anticipated, many of the gentlemen present, who had served under the Emperor, condemned it alto- gether: Marshal Macdonald, however, defended it, in so far that it had done justice to the valour of the French army. He then related to me, that when Sir Walter was in Paris, collecting materials for his book, he had visited him, he having had no introduction from some Scotch friend of bis. He told him many anecdotes of Napoleon from his own personal knowledge, and desired him to make a note of them; but Sir Walter replied that he could trust to his memory. "None of those traits which I related to him did I find in his work," • he added. Scott was very far from possessing fluency in French conversation, and seemed only to understand what was distinctly spoken and addressed to himself: this deprived him of the power of making use of much that would have given life to the character of his hero, amidst the long historical details. Marshal Macdonald invited to meet him at dinner all the distinguished persons who bad known Napoleon most intimately : every one was eager and happy to tell Sir Walter something of their great master; but he, overwhelmed and con- founded amidst their French vivacity, and driven to despair by the volubility of their foreign tongues, told the Marshal afterwards, that he had actually not understood a single word that was said about the Emperor during the whole evening. And thus the good-natured attempts to get him the best informa- tion a vise voix ended in a hearty laugh on the parts of both host and guest ; both, with all their great talents, equally endowed with a happy disposition for enjoying the amusing and the ludicrous.