_June 18th._--We went to the Palais Royal (on our way we bought a
souvenir). I wanted some little remembrance of France: we went into
several shops in the Palais Royal, and the cheapest thing I could get
there was a little gilt cart and horse, for which the woman asked ten
francs. We, however, got it for eight, which was far too much, as we
got as pretty a one in the Rue de la Paix for half the price; we also
got some silk winders of mother-of-pearl. The shops in the Palais Royal
are very dear and disagreeable: the people seem to make quite a favour
of selling you anything.[26] Near this we got some strawberries and
cream in a café (Véfours). After that we drove to the Luxembourg. We
walked in the gardens, which are _very_ formal, but pretty in their
way; there are a great many flowers and roses growing out of the banks
of grass. There are a few basins of water, and a great number of
statues. We did not see the inside of the palace. As we were returning
we saw the King in his coach a good way before us; he had a great many
attendants with him. In the afternoon we dined at Major Cape's. Most of
the party liked France very much. Just before we went there we saw a
crowd in the street, and after looking a little while we observed a man
dressed up in scarlet _à la_ Henri Quatre, with a feather in his hat,
on horseback. He rode up and down, and seemed to be making a speech.
The people then made a large circle round him, and three little boys
and a girl who were with him, dressed up like merry-andrews, got on
stilts, and marched and danced before him. The man then got off his
horse, and got on stilts; the man and the children were on stilts so as
to make them the same height, so that the least, who did not look above
five or six years old, must have been more than a yard from the ground.
They all took hold of hands, waltzed, _sauteused_, ran under each
other's arms, and danced a fine figure-dance. The man did the worst.
They danced to the beating of a drum; the little one curtsied on his
stilts, and after they had done, the man put him on the horse, and sent
him round to collect money. We stayed very late at Major Cape's; and I
was glad to go to bed when we came in.