"O reaſon not the need: our baſeſt beggarſ
"Are in the pooreſt thing ſuperfluous:
"Allow not nature more than nature needs,
"Man's life is cheap as beaſt's."

If the wants of one claſs were relieved by theſe deductions from the enjoyments of another, it might form a ſufficient conſolation; but the ſame cauſes which have baniſhed the ſplendor of wealth and the comfortſ of mediocrity, deprive the poor of bread and raiment, and enforced parſimony is not more generally conſpicuous than wretchedneſs.

The frugal tables of thoſe who were once rich, have been accompanied by relative and ſimilar changes among the lower claſſes; and the ſuppreſſion of gilt equipages is ſo far from diminiſhing the number of wooden ſhoes, that for one pair of ſabots which were ſeen formerly, there are now ten. The only Luculluſ's of the day are a ſwarm of adventurers who have eſcaped from priſons, or abandoned gaming-houſes, to raiſe fortunes by ſpeculating in the various modes of acquiring wealth which the revolution has engendered.—Theſe, together with the numberleſs agents of government enriched by more direct pillage, live in coarſe luxury, and diſſipate with careleſs profuſion thoſe riches which their original ſituations and habits have diſqualified them from converting to a better uſe.

Although the circumſtances of the times have neceſſitated a good deal of domeſtic oeconomy among people who live on their fortunes, they have lately aſſumed a gayer ſtyle of dreſs, and are leſs averſe from frequenting public amuſements. For three years paſt, (and very naturally,) the gentry have openly murmured at the revolution; and they now, either convinced of the impolicy of ſuch conduct, terrified by their paſt ſufferings, or, above all, deſirous of proclaiming their triumph over the Jacobins, are every where reviving the national taſte for modeſ and finery. The attempt to reconcile theſe gaieties with prudence, haſ introduced ſome contraſts in apparel whimſical enough, though our French belles adopt them with much gravity.

In conſequence of the diſorders in the South of France, and the interruption of commerce by ſea, ſoap is not only dear, but ſometimeſ difficult to purchaſe at any rate. We have ourſelves paid equal to five livres a pound in money. Hence we have white wigſ* and grey ſtockings, medallions and gold chains with coloured handkerchiefs and diſcoloured tuckers, and chemiſes de Sappho, which are often worn till they rather remind one of the pious Queen Iſabel, than the Greek poeteſs.

* Vilate, in his pamphlet on the ſecret cauſes of the revolution of the ninth Thermidor, relates the following anecdote of the origin of the peruques blondes. "The caprice of a revolutionary female who, on the fete in celebration of the Supreme Being, covered her own dark hair with a tete of a lighter colour, having excited the jealouſy of La Demahe, one of Barrere's miſtreſſes, ſhe took occaſion to complain to him of this coquettry, by which ſhe thought her own charms eclipſed. Barrere inſtantly ſent for Payen, the national agent, and informed him that a new counter-revolutionary ſect had ſtarted up, and that its partizans diſtinguiſhed themſelveſ by wearing wigs made of light hair cut from the heads of the guillotined ariſtocrats. He therefore enjoined Payen to make a ſpeech at the municipality, and to thunder againſt this new mode. The mandate was, of courſe, obeyed; and the women of rank, who had never before heard of theſe wigs, were both ſurprized and alarmed at an imputation ſo dangerous. Barrere is ſaid to have been highly amuſed at having thus ſolemnly ſtopped the progreſs of a faſhion, only becuaſe it diſpleaſed one of his female favourites.—I perfectly remember Payen's oration againſt this coeffure, and every woman in Paris who had light hair, was, I doubt not, intimidated." This pleaſantry of Barrere's proves with what inhuman levity the government ſported with the feelings of the people. At the fall of Robeſpierre, the peruque blonde, no longer ſubject to the empire of Barrere's favourites, became a reigning mode.

—Madame Tallien, who is ſuppoſed occaſionally to dictate decrees to the Convention, preſides with a more avowed and certain ſway over the realmſ of faſhion; and the Turkiſh draperies that may float very gracefully on a form like hers, are imitated by rotund ſeſquipedal Fatimas, who make one regret even the tight lacings and unnatural diminiſhings of our grandmothers.

I came to Beauvais a fortnight ago with the Marquiſe. Her long confinement has totally ruined her health, and I much fear ſhe will not recover. She has an aunt lives here, and we flattered ourſelves ſhe might benefit by change of air—but, on the contrary, ſhe ſeems worſe, and we propoſe to return in the courſe of a week to Amiens.

I had a good deal of altercation with the municipality about obtaining a paſſport; and when they at laſt conſented, they gave me to underſtand I was ſtill a priſoner in the eye of the law, and that I was indebted to them for all the freedom I enjoyed. This is but too true; for the decree conſtituting the Engliſh hoſtages for the Deputies at Toulon has never been repealed—

"Ah, what avails it that from ſlavery far,
"I drew the breath of life in Engliſh air?"
Johnſon.