Allons!... Now tell me, St. George, what say you in defence of the English mode of suffering ladies--the ladies of Britain--the most lovely ladies in the world, n'est-ce pas?--to rise from table, and leave the room, and the gentlemen--alone--with downcast eyes and timid step--without a single preux chevalier to offer them his protection or to bear them company on their melancholy way--banished, turned out--exiled from the banquet-board!--I protest to you that I have suffered martyrdom when this has happened, and I, for my sins, been present to witness it. Croyez-moi, I would have joyfully submitted to make my exit à quatre pattes, so I might but have followed them. Ah! you know not what it is for a Frenchman to remain still, when forced to behold such a spectacle as this!... Alas! I felt as if I had disgraced myself for life; but I was more than spell-bound--I was promise-bound; the friend who accompanied me to the party where I witnessed this horror had previously told me what I should have to endure--I did endure it--but I have not yet forgiven myself for participating in so outrageous a barbarism." "The gentlemen only remain to drink the fair ladies' health," said our St. George very coolly; "and I doubt not all ladies would tell you, did they speak sincerely, that they were heartily glad to get rid of you for half an hour or so. You have no idea, my good fellow, what an agreeable interlude this makes for them: they drink coffee, sprinkle their fans with esprit de rose, refresh their wit, repair their smiles, and are ready to set off again upon a fresh campaign, certain of fresh conquests. But what can St. Denis say in defence of a Frenchman who makes love to three women at once--as I positively declare I saw you do last night at the Opera?" "You mistook the matter altogether, mon cher; I did not make love--I only offered adoration: we are bound to adore the whole sex, and all the petits soins offered in public are but the ceremonies of this our national worship.... We never make love in public, my dear friend--_ce n'est pas dans nos moeurs_. But will you explain to me un peu, why Englishmen indulge themselves in the very extraordinary habit of taking their wives to market with that vilaine corde au cou that it is so dreadful to mention, and there sell them for the mesquine somme de trois francs?... Ah! be very sure that were there a single Frenchman present at your terrible Smithfield when this happened, he would buy them all up, and give them their liberty at once."