Turning from fashion and infidelity, the young diplomatist in another letter describes the political aspect of affairs; remarking, _inter alia_, that the Government 'are now expending the revenues of the year 1771 [three years in advance!] at the same time that the people are labouring under the greatest necessity; garden stuff and bread, the chief nourishment of the lower class in this country, being raised in price one-third since last winter, and the greatest appearance also that there will not be a sufficient quantity of either to supply the winter.' But Court life and pageantry went on _quand même_. Seven years later, a Dr. Jean takes up the correspondence from Paris. Speaking of the Anglomania then prevalent, and which mingled with the Court gaieties, he writes that the 'young Queen' (Marie Antoinette) has made herself unpopular by 'a little misunderstanding in etiquette' between her and the princes of the blood, and also by her great predilection for everything that is English. And he describes a horse race, 'which is now become a very frequent and frequented amusement.' Most of the cavaliers in the concourse were 'badly imitating the English mode of riding;' also 'ladies of fashion, clad in boots and leather breeches, _astride_ on their horses!' The Queen, with all her court, were upon the stand at the starting post; and the race was 'managed by English grooms (_jackés_ as they call them) and English horses.' The same correspondent also gives a description of a _bal paré_ in 'the most decorated room perhaps in the world,' the Opera House at Versailles. He says that Lord Clive, who was present, 'declared that Asiatic display of riches appeared but as tinsel to the brilliancy of the French court on that occasion.' 'The room,' says Dr. Jean 'was filled by between three and four thousand people, dressed in the richest, and at the same time the most fancied, taste imaginable. The show which French ladies always make above those of other nations added much to the spectacle. The ornaments of their head-dress, and their robes, so disposed and varied, composed a most beautiful _tout ensemble_. In regard to their persons, to be sure, they seemed to be almost all of the same family, from the similarity of their _complexions_, and the unity of their dress. It appeared to me an assembly of houris.' He describes the Queen as 'very majestic, and at a distance very handsome,' also with a remarkably fine hand and arm; and he adds that she gives life to almost all public amusements, and 'is very familiar with those who are in favour,'--an amiable though perhaps not dignified _trait_ which brought her sad woe in the end, in consequence of the calumnies set on foot against her by her base and contemptible relative, the Duke of Orleans, _Philippe Egalité_.