The velocity of the movement, the gaiety of the sound of the bells, and the cold bracing air, have a very exhilarating effect on the spirits.
Met the Prince Polignac at the Duchesse de G----'s today.

His countenance is remarkably good, his air and manner _tres-distingue_, and his conversation precisely what might be expected from an English gentleman--mild, reasonable, and unaffected.

If I had not previously known him to be one or the most amiable men in the world, I should have soon formed this judgment of him, for every expression of his countenance, and every word he utters, give this impression.
The Prince Polignac has lived much in England, and seems to me to be formed to live there, for his tastes are decidedly English.

Twice married, both his wives were English; so that it is no wonder that he has adopted much of our modes of thinking.

Highly as I am disposed to estimate him, I do not think that he is precisely the person calculated to cope with the difficulties that must beset a minister, and, above all, a minister in France, in times like the present.
The very qualities that render him so beloved in private life, and which make his domestic circle one of the happiest in the world, are perhaps those which unfit him for so trying a post as the one he is now called on to hold--a post requiring abilities so various, and qualifications so manifold, that few, if any, could be found to possess the rare union.
A spirit is rife in France that renders the position of _premier_ in it almost untenable; and he must unite the firmness of a stoic, the knowledge of a Machiavelli, and the boldness of a Napoleon, who could hope to stem the tide that menaces to set in and sweep away the present institutions.