There is now a French theatre here, which is attained only by the best company, and nevertheless is like a dark little private theatre. Perlet and Laporte are its great supports, and play admirably. The latter also, with true French assurance, acts on the English stage, and thinks, when the audience laughs at his accent and French manners, that it is merely a tribute to his 'vis comica.' I went to the theatre with Mrs. ----, wife of the well-known minister and member of parliament, and accompanied her after the play to the first genuine rout I have attended this time of my being in England,--what is more, too, in a house in which I was entirely a stranger. It is the custom here to take your friends to parties of this sort, and to present them, then and there, to the mistress of the house, who never thinks you can bring enough to fill her small rooms to suffocation: the more the better; and for the full satisfaction of her vanity, a 'bagarre' must arise among the carriages below; some must be broken to pieces, and a few men and horses killed or hurt, so that the 'Morning Post' of the following day may parade a long article on the extremely 'fashionable soirée' given by 'Lady Vain,' or 'Lady Foolish.' In the course of the evening I made a more interesting acquaintance than I expected on the staircase, (I could get no further,) in Lady C---- B----, who has some reputation as an authoress. She is the sister of a Duke, and was a celebrated beauty. The next morning I called on her, and found everything in her house brown, in every possible shade;--furniture, curtains, carpets, her own and her children's dresses, presented no other colour. The room was without looking-glasses or pictures; and its only ornaments were casts from the antique. * * * * * After I had been there some time, the celebrated bookseller C---- entered. This man has made a fortune by Walter Scott's novels, though, as I was told, he refused his first and best, Waverly, and at last gave but a small sum for it. I hope the charming Lady C---- B---- had better cause to be satisfied with him. I thought it discreet to leave her with her man of business, and made my bow. _December 10th._