Counts Charles de Mornay and Valeski formed the party, and Count Maussion and some others came in the evening.
I observe that few English shine in conversation with the French.

There is a lightness and brilliancy, a sort of touch and go, if I may say so, in the latter, seldom, if ever, to be acquired by strangers.

Never dwelling long on any subject, and rarely entering profoundly into it, they sparkle on the surface with great dexterity, bringing wit, gaiety, and tact, into play.
Like summer lightning, French wit flashes frequently, brightly and innocuously, leaving nothing disagreeable to remind one of its having appeared.

Conversation is, with the French, the aim and object of society.

All enter it prepared to take a part, and he best enacts it who displays just enough knowledge to show that much remains behind.
Such is the tact of the Parisians, that even the ignorant conceal the poverty of their minds, and might, to casual observers, pass as being in no way deficient, owing to the address with which they glide in an _a propos oui, ou non_, and an appropriate shake of the head, nod of assent, or dissent.
The constitutional vivacity of the French depending much on their mercurial temperaments, greatly aids them in conversation.