'February 23, 1848.
'When at 7 o'clock to-day I went out, I met a large band going
round the streets, calling on the inhabitants to illuminate their
houses, and bearing torches. This was all very good fun, and
everybody was delighted; but as they stopped rather long and were
rather turbulent in the Place de la Madeleine, near where we live'
[in the Rue Caumartin] 'a squadron of dragoons came up, formed, and
charged at a hand-gallop. This was a very pretty sight; the crowd
was not too thick, so they easily got away; and the dragoons only
gave blows with the back of the sword, which hurt but did not
wound. I was as close to them as I am now to the other side of the
table; it was rather impressive, however. At the second charge
they rode on the pavement and knocked the torches out of the
fellows' hands; rather a shame, too - wouldn't be stood in England.
. . .
[At] 'ten minutes to ten . . . I went a long way along the
Boulevards, passing by the office of Foreign Affairs, where Guizot
lives, and where to-night there were about a thousand troops
protecting him from the fury of the populace.
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