Page:Blanchard on L. E. L.pdf/94

94 this particular creation. A man would have philosophized Guido and Francesca into friendship; and those who read would have immediately discovered that, between two so constituted, the thing would have been impossible, notwithstanding the philosophy; but Miss Landon, by a simple and natural arrangement, sets all doubts at rest, by pre-occupying both hearts. Here, at once, is the prevention of love, and the motive for friendship perceived, without any explanation."— New Monthly, Jan. 1835.

In the summer of 1834, an opportunity had occurred, through Sir A. Farquhar and his daughter, of accomplishing a visit to Paris. L. E. L. had a friend, Miss Turin, staying in the gay city at that time, and this was felt to be an additional convenience. Moreover, she had then determined upon laying the scene of a new novel amidst the French revolution, and to do this it was desirable to know something of the locale. In Paris, then, we find her, in the month of June, seeking and enjoying a sensation of which the following is her hasty, rambling, but characteristic record. It is a letter addressed to the author of the "Sketches of Irish Character."

"I do not know at how many feet from the ground this letter is written—truly, I was never so exalted in my life before; and yet we are less exalted than the generality. Oh, the measureless staircases, longer than life itself!—but you know them. I am delighted with Paris, enchanted with the people, and, horrible as I thought the journey, I must confess I thought the pleasure well worth the pain. Yet I have chosen the worst possible season for my visit. Nobody is in Paris, and nothing is going on. A second visit would be more favourable than a first, as sight-seeing would then form no part of my duty; and, certainly, I am the worst sight-seer in the world. I really do not, in my heart, care for all the articles in marble,