the ruffle in my hand which she laid upon the chair, as if I had a mind to fit, fhe sat down herself in her low chair, and I inftantly fat myself down befide her.

He will be ready, Monfieur, faid fhe, in a moment――And in that moment, replied I, most willingly would I say something very civil to you for all these courtefies. Any one may do a cafual act of good nature, but a continuation of them fhews it is a part of the temperature; and certainly, added I, if it is the fame blood which comes from the heart, which defcends to the extremes (touching her wrift), I am fure you must have one of the best pulses of any woman in the world-Feel it, faid fhe, holding out her arm. So laying down my hat, I took hold of her fingers in one hand, and applied the two fore-fingers of my other to the artery

-Would to heaven! my dear Eugenius, thou hadft paffed by, and beheld me fitting in my black coat, and in my lack-aday-fical manner, counting the throbs of it, one by one, with as much true devotion as if I had been watching the critical ebb or flow of her fever- How wouldst thou have langh'd and moralized upon my new profession

and

and thou shouldst have laugh'd and moralized onTruft me, my dear Eugenius, I fhould have faid, "there are worse occupations in this world than "feeling a woman's pulfe."- -But a Griffet's! thou wouldst have faid- -and in an open shop!

Yorick

-So much the better: for when my views are direct, Eugenius, I care not if all the world faw me feel it.

I had counted twenty pulfations, and was going on faft towards the fortieth, when her husband coming unexpected from a back parlour into the fhop, put me a little out of my reckoning.-'Twas nobody but her husband, fhe faid,-fo I began a frefh fcoreMonfieur is fo good, quoth fhe, as hë pafs'd by us, as to give himself the trouble of feeling my pulfe-The hufband took off his hat, and making a bow, faid I did him too much honourand having faid that, he put on his hat and walked

out.

Good God! faid I to myself, as he went outand can this man be the hufband of this woman?

Let it not torment the few who know what must

have been the grounds of this exclamation, if I ex-. plain it to those who do not.

In London a fhop-keeper and a fhop-keeper's wife feem to be one bone and one flesh: in the feveral endowments of mind and body, fometimes the one, fometimes the other has it, fo as in general to

be

upon a par, and to tally with each other as nearly as man and wife need to do.

In Paris, there are fcarce two orders of beings more different: for the legislative and executive powers of the shop not resting in the hufband, he feldom comes there-in fome dark and dismal room behind, he fits commerceless in his thrum night-cap, the fame rough fon of Nature that Nature left him.

The genius of a people where nothing but the monarchy is salique, having ceded this department, with fundry others, totally to the women-by' a continual higgling with customers of all ranks and fizes from morning to night, like fo many rough pebbles fhook long together in a bag, by amicable collifions they have worn down their asperities and fharp angles, and not only become round and

fmooth

fmooth, but will receive, fome of them, a polish like a brilliant-Monfieur Le Marli is little better than the ftone under your foot

-Surely-furely, man! it is not good for thee to fit alone thou waft made for focial intercourse and gentle greetings, and this improvement of our natures from it, I appeal to, as my evidence.

-And how does it beat, Monfieur? faid fhe.With all the benignity, faid I, looking quietly in her eyes, that I expected-She was going to fay fomething civil in return-but the lad came into the fhop with the gloves-A propos, faid I, I want a couple of pair myself.

The beautiful Griffet rofe up when I faid this, and going behind the counter, reached down a parcel and untied it: I advanced to the fide over against her: they were all too large. The beautiful Griffet meafured them one by one across my hand-It would not alter the dimenfions-She begged I would try a fingle pair, which feemed to be the leaft-She held it open-my hand flipped into it at once- -It will not do, faid I, fhaking my head a little-No, faid fhe, doing the fame thing.

There are certain combined looks of fimple fubtlety where whim, and fenfe, and ferioufnefs, and nonfenfe, are fo blended, that all the languages of Babel fet loofe together could not exprefs them-they are communicated and caught so instantaneously, that you can scarce fay which party is the infector. I leave it to your men of words to fwell pages about it-it is enough in the prefent to fay again, the gloves would not do; so folding our hands within our arms, we both loll'd upon the counter-it was narrow, and there was juft room for the parcel to lay between us

The beautiful Griffet looked fometimes at the gloves, then fide-ways to the window, then at the gloves-and then at me. I was not difpofed to break filence-I followed her example: fo I looked at the gloves, then to the window, then at the gloves, and then at her-and so on alternately.

I found I loft confiderably in every attack-fhe had a quick black eye, and fhot through two fuch long and filken eye-lashes with fuch penetration, that he looked into my very heart and reinsIt may feem ftrange, but I could actually feel fhe did