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THE CABINET.
Men have rarely the courage to be wholly good or wholly bad.
MACHIAVELLI.
Let us leave our young traveller sleeping; he will soon pursue a long and beautiful route.

Since we are at liberty to turn to all points of the map, we will fix our eyes upon the city of Narbonne.
Behold the Mediterranean, not far distant, washing with its blue waters the sandy shores.

Penetrate into that city resembling Athens; and to find him who reigns there, follow that dark and irregular street, mount the steps of the old archiepiscopal palace, and enter the first and largest of its apartments.
This was a very long salon, lighted by a series of high lancet windows, of which the upper part only retained the blue, yellow, and red panes that shed a mysterious light through the apartment.

A large round table occupied its entire breadth, near the great fireplace; around this table, covered with a colored cloth and scattered with papers and portfolios, were seated, bending over their pens, eight secretaries copying letters which were handed to them from a smaller table.