Gossip from Paris. By Anthony B. North Peat. Selected and
Arranged by A. R. Waller. (liegan Paul and Co. 7s. 6d. net.)— Mr. Peat was an attache in the Cabinet du Ministre de VInterieur for some years before the Franco-Prussian War. He was per- mitted, very strangely, it seems to us, to send letters to English newspapers, in which he availed himself, for the entertainment of his readers, of the opportunities of his position. Mr. Peat died from the effects of an accident in the early days of the siege of Paris ; his letters do not go as far as the eve of the war, the latest bearing the date of April 18th, 1869. Historically the value of the collection is in the occasional pictures of the luxury of the Second Empire. We did not want proof of that; but this is an additional testimony. Let any one read, as an example, the account of the fancy dress ball at the Tuileries given on pp. 153-57. There is a good deal about the Prince Imperial, his tutors and governors. Mr. Peat had a high idea of the lad's intelligence, and gives a curious anecdote which we may take as a proof either of cleverness or priggish- ness. The legend of Cadmus was read to him, and he "at once said, • Cadmus is civilisation. The dragon is bar- barism, impeding all access to the fountain—that is en- lightenment. The triumph of Cadmus is that of civilisation. The army of soldiers destroying each other in civil war is the agitation of factious spirits whom no government can banish from a country." There are some good stories, but not as many as one would have expected. One of the best is that of the village Maire who was warned to make preparations for a visitation of the cholera. He replied that all that was possible had been done, and that he and his neighbour awaited the future au pied ferme. The preparations had been the digging of graves sufficient to accommodate the whole of the population. Those who are interested in " faith-healing " should read the remarkable narrative on pp. 256-57 of the achievements of the Zouave Jacob.
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