_August 7th._--A very honest man with a _voiture_ was to come for
us from Abbeville, and then we were to go home. We expected him on
Thursday, but to our great joy he came to-day, two days sooner than
was expected. The whole house was in confusion; I was so delighted
that I hardly knew what to do. We set off directly to see the china
manufactory at Sèvre. The day was very fine, and we had a most pleasant
ride. The rooms in which the china was were up a long pair of stairs.
In the first room there was nothing but plain white china: the plates
are a franc apiece. There were beautiful large painted vases, some
with landscapes on them, some purple, and others brown. Very pretty
white baskets of flowers; three little children under lace veils made
of white biscuit china. Curious-shaped salt-cellars; an inkstand the
shape of a boat, etc.; several pictures, one of the King, the Duchesse
d'Angoulême, Sappho, etc.; beautiful cups with humming-birds painted
on them; a set of plates with flowers, jonquils, polyanthuses, etc.,
on them; another set with roses, and another with vegetables, with
their names marked in gold; Bacchus and Ceres in a car drawn by bulls
ornamented with wreaths of gold flowers--the figures are white; a
set of plates with Eastern pictures on them, and another with birds
beautifully painted. There are several very large vases: one with a
purple ground that cost 27,000 francs. There is a large china table on
which Minerva is represented presenting the Louvre and other galleries
to France. Another table, on which there are different palaces, cost
35,000 francs. There were also some very pretty white ornaments, with
cones on the top and baskets of grapes about them. On one plate there
is a view of Windsor, and on another General ---- drowning in a river
in Egypt.
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