The lobbies of the Chamber of Deputies are a happy hunting round for the observer on the morrow of " gene tion. The French do not close th ive palace." as they are fond of interval between the birth ment and the death of its predecessor; and, soon as the "1: tional consultation "another favourite stereotyped phrase—is over. it forms a convenient meeting-place for the Jeyislators and their friends. To it M. lo Dépnté rsa soon as possible after the proud which has made him the elect of the nation. The new member is in an especial hurry. Forty-eight hours at the most after his election suffices to bring him to the Chamber. His first care is to secure a seat and ask anxiously after the little gilt medal which will pass him over all the [railways free of charge. He is most polite to the attendants, moves about the lobbies gud committee-rooms as if he were in jsomeoue else's house, amd were not quite how long he might be permitted to stop, and generally behaves like a fish out of water. "Not so the re-elected deputy. He is in his element and does not caro hho knows it. You ex always tell him the easy condescension with which he greets the ushers and the decided fall of his footsteps on the way to the refreshment-room. Still another specimen of the genus deputy to be seen at this time is he who is a deputy no longer. The fickle populace has rejected him and ne has become an pave, or wreck. No more for him the tricoloured scarf to wear at public ceremonies, the free railway rides, the nine thousand franes a year, the ~pecial twopenny cigars retailed at the buffet of the Chamber. Of all these nothing is left to him save the right to a seat in the gallery and the entree to the lobby. But he does not stay away and allow mortification to prey on his damask check in secret. Not at all; he wants a Government appointment, and knows that this, vulgarly speaking, is the shop for it. Wherefore he hurries to Paris to impr: his claims on M. lo Ministre before his great services to his country are forgotten. Sometimes his personal merit-, no longer backed up by a vote counting two on a division, prove insufficient, and you can sce him in a state of coll bench, like some uneasy ghost yo and powerless on the scene of former triumphs Tdo not propose to sketch M, lo Dépu as an orator. Without endorsing Heine's cruel remark that all Frenchmen are actors und that the best are not on the stage, 1 think one can vet a better idea of the French MP. in tie lobby than the fierce light that beats on the (tribune. In the Hall of Lost Steps, as the prin al anteckauiber of the Palais Bourbon is poetically te the typical deputy familiar and He chats with the journalists tum, slaps them on the Pa holes them quite freely ence he has, the more ready he his flews; in which peculiarity eve, reatly differ from his confrere at St. Stephen's. He is democratic in his manners and not at all guished in appearance. Trucfitt's young men would look with upon him and Poole turn awa: He is generally hairy and does not know what it is to be well groomed. He affects frock-coats of a ready-made cut and is indifferent to trow knees. His linen is inconspi shoe-leather dull. Until you kno} you are inclined to take him for a poet wonder what he is doing in this galley. You would not be at all surprised to sce him-haul a sheaf of verses out of the leather portfolio he carries under his arm, Mentally, he is a curious compound of unbelief and credulity. He is intensely suspicious of his adversary sinister_motives for everything He <colf< at disinterestedness believes ministerial explanations unless he to be exe of the minister's particular clique. Yet he will sw thing. however improbable, th: with his prejudices. He has a great idea of his dignity eof Uni versal sul of every influent 1 elector i his division.
tional amour-propre is very keen and he loves to be told that France is making her voice heard in the councils of Europe; but he never goes abroad and has the vaguest possible notions of world-polities. "At the samp time, he can be really patriotic in his way and has been known to suppress a speech rather than embarrass the Government when the national honour is at stake. He is quick to take in new ideas and is prone to nct on them before he hus fully digested them. Hoe is as liable to bolt as a nervous, higl-spirited horse. Excitement is the breath of his nostrils. In times of crisis it is good to sce him holding forth in the refreshment-room. The air is thick with tobacco-smoke and full ai hoarse, excited shouts and ejaculations. Observe the long-haired gentleman in the corner. His hat is tilted to the hack of his head; he is talking and gesticulating vehement Ly at another honourable member, as agitated as himself. Are they the worse for being so near the bar? Not at all; they are drinking: gooseberry syrup and by the " exuberance Away from the chamber, M. Jo Député shows himself in quite another light. He is sober in everything hut words, frugal, industrious andi a good citizen. He represents his country's virtues, which are bet" ter than its politics, have often met a ember of the Into Chamber, Dr. Mie il. returning from the market near St. Germain des Pros with a string bag containing the material for his dinner.
pected friends. he used to buy some Gcrevisses as a special treat other days he eschewed delicacies. I like to think M. lo Député rather as Dr. Mi-chand than as the noisy demagogue of the Bourbon.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.