The said garden is the most tempting part of the affair; for, though the _salons_ and sleeping-rooms are good, the only entrance, except by a _passage derobe_ for servants, is through the _salle a manger_, which is a great objection.
Many of the houses I have seen here have this defect, which the Parisians do not seem to consider one, although the odour of dinner must enter the _salons_, and that in the evening visitors must find servants occupied in removing the dinner apparatus, should they, as generally happens, come for the _prima sera_.
French people, however, remain so short a time at table, and dine so much earlier than the English people do, that the employment of their _salle a manger_ as a passage does not annoy them.
Went to the opera last night, and saw the _Muette de Portici_.

It is admirably got up, and the costumes and scenery, as well as the _tarantulas_, transported me back to Naples--dear, joyous Naples--again.

Nourrit enacted "Massaniello," and his rich and flexible voice gave passion and feeling to the music.

Noblet was the "Fenella," and her pantomime and dancing were good; but Taglioni spoils one for any other dancing.
The six years that have flown over Noblet since I last saw her have left little trace of their flight, which is to be marvelled at, when one considers the violent and constant exercise that the profession of a _danseuse_ demands.
When I saw the sylph-like Taglioni floating through the dance, I could not refrain from sighing at the thought that grace and elegance like hers should be doomed to know the withering effect of Time; and that those agile limbs should one day become as stiff and helpless as those of others.

An _old danseuse_ is an anomaly.