A Frenchman in London, without any knowledge of our language will cut
but a sorry figure, and be more liable to ridicule than an Englishman in
a similar condition in Paris: to wit, the waggish joke told of the
Parisian inquiring for _Old Bailey_, or _Mr. Bailey, Sen._ It is,
therefore, quite as requisite that a Frenchman should be provided with a
good French and English phrase-book, as that an Englishman should have
an English and French Manual. Of the former description is Mr. Leigh's
"_Recueil de Phrases utiles aux étrangers voyageant en Angleterre_," a
new and improved edition of which is before us. It contains every
description of information, from the embarkation at Calais to all the
Lions of London--how to punish a roguish hackney-coachman--to criticise
Miss Kemble at Covent Garden--to write an English letter, or to make out
a washing-bill--which miscellaneous matters are very useful to know in a
metropolis like ours, where, as the new Lord Mayor told a countryman the
other day, we should consider every stranger a rogue. Glancing at the
_fêtes_ or holidays, there is a woeful falling off from the Parisian
list--in ours only eleven are given--but "they manage these things
better in France."
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