Went to the Théâtre des Nouveautés last night, where I saw _La Maison du Rempart_. The Parisians seem to have decided taste for bringing scenes of riot and disorder on the stage; and the tendency of such exhibitions is any thing but salutary with so inflammable a people, and in times like the present. One of the scenes of _La Maison du Rempart_ represents an armed mob demolishing the house of a citizen--an act of violence that seemed to afford great satisfaction to the majority of the audience; and, though the period represented is that of the _Fronde_, the acts of the rabble strongly assimilated with those of the same class in later times, when the revolution let loose on hapless France the worst of all tyrants--a reckless and sanguinary mob. I cannot help feeling alarmed at the consequences likely to result from such performances. Sparks of fire flung among gunpowder are not more dangerous. Shewing a populace what they can effect by brutal force is a dangerous experiment; it is like letting a tame lion see how easily he could overpower his keepers. Mr. Cuthbert and M. Charles Laffitte dined here yesterday. Both are excellent specimens of their countries; the former being well-informed and agreeable, and the latter possessing all the good sense we believe to be peculiar to an Englishman, with the high breeding that appertains to a thoroughly well-educated Frenchman. The advance of civilization was evident in both these gentlemen--the Englishman speaking French with purity and fluency, and the Frenchman speaking English like a born Briton. Twenty years ago, this would have been considered a very rare occurrence, while now it excites little remark. But it is not alone the languages of the different countries that Mr. Cuthbert and M. Charles Laffitte have acquired, for both are well acquainted with the literature of each, which renders their society very agreeable. Spent last evening in the Rue d'Anjou, where I met Lady Combermere, the Dowager Lady Hawarden, and Mrs. Masters. Lady Combermere is lively and agreeable, _un peu romanesque_, which gives great originality to her conversation, and sings Mrs. Arkwright's beautiful ballads with great feeling. Mr. Charles Grant[4] dined here yesterday. He is a very sensible man, possessing a vast fund of general information, with gentle and highly-polished manners. What a charm there is in agreeable manners, and how soon one feels at ease with those who possess them! Spent, or mis-spent, a great portion of the day in visiting the curiosity shops on the _Quai Voltaire_, and came away from them with a lighter purse than I entered. There is no resisting, at least I find it so, the exquisite _porcelaine de Sèvres_, off which the dainty dames of the reign of Louis the Fourteenth feasted, or which held their _bouquets_, or _pot pourri_. An _étui of_ gold set with oriental agates and brilliants, and a _flacon_ of rock crystal, both of which once appertained to Madame de Sévigné, vanquished my prudence.