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[533]

April 7. Still suffering from My cold; kept in the house nearly all day. Dined at the Club Des Chemins de Fer, on invitation of Comte Treilhard;1 about eleven at table.

April 8. Went to Poissy, about fifteen miles from Paris, to see the cattle show.2 I have seen larger in Kentucky. The ceremonies on the distribution of the prizes were interesting. Too tired for the theatre or society; went to bed before ten o'clock.

April 9. M. Vattemare3 called and took me with Mr. E. Brooks to the Palais de l'industrie. Afterwards I went with him to the Museum of the French Colonies; then to the Bibliotheque du Louvre, which is the private library of the sovereign. Among the specialties here is a unique collection on Petrarch, made by an Italian, Professor Masson, whose life and soul were absorbed by this idea. Here also are the ornamented books which have belonged to the recent sovereigns. In the evening went to Mr. Brooks's, where I met M. and Madame Mohl,4 and also the professor.

April 10. Called on M. Vattemare, who showed me his American collection. Took him to drive through the old quarter of Paris as far as the Barriere du Trone, and then paid a pilgrimage to the quiet tomb of Lafayette, in a little cemetery where there is no common dust; all there were of the ancient nobility on earth. Went to St. Roch, also to the Madeleine. The theatres, which to-day are closed, give place to the church. Good Friday; in the evening called on Mr.Leroy and Mrs. Leroy of New York.

April 11. Received a pleasant visit from Mr. Senior of England, who told me something of friends there; in the evening dined with the Comte de Treilhard at the Ancien Cercle; afterwards went to Madame Mohl's, where I had been invited to dine, to meet among others the great Italian actress, Madame Ristori;5 she was still there when I arrived. In her organization and magnetic force she reminded me of Fanny Kemble and Jenny Lind; I should place her in the same category of physical natures. Her manner was amiable and intelligent. In a short conversation which I had with her, she mentioned the voyage as an insurmountable objection to visiting America. She spoke warmly of “Maria Stuardo;” and when I objected that it was a translation, and said that when I listened to Italian I wish to have one of the classics of the langue, she differed entirely, and still contended for her favorite, even against Alfieri.

April 12. Visited Mr. Senior and talked of English friends, and of our American affairs; then to the Hotel de Cluny and Palais des Thermes, which I found very interesting. Such a storehouse of curiosities in America would be most attractive. Visited the Pantheon and other churches; revived my recollections of the Law School and the Sorbonne; dined with Appleton; afterwards for a, little while to the Opera Comique, which I left before it was over to get home to bed.

1 Adolphe Treilhard (1815-1880), a judge and councillor of state.

2 Kergorlay was to have been his companion, but was prevented by illness.

3 Alexander Vattemare (1796-1864), who made international exchanges of duplicate books and works of art his specialty.

4 Julius Mohl (1800-1876). Madame Mohl, nee Mary Clarke, was born in 1793, and died in 1882.

5 (182–.) M. Villemain was another guest.

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