The Adventures Of Don Pasquale.

and , above all , in the negotiations of the heart , men will not more fully trust than they often do in the entire unselfishness aud fidelity of the woman 1 To hear some men talk loudly to-day , especially the dissipated and the discreditable , you would be inclined to suppose that woman was the most naturally vicious , interested , and faithless of beings ; whereas the truth is that it is often alone to the unbought and unshattered love of the woman that man owes here all that he can hope for of happiness , all that he can find of safety , all that he can experience of peace . L . E . L . very beautifully says—and we

believe that her words are true , and well describe the real state of the case as regards the woman , always loving , evermore confiding , often cruelly forsaken , or basely betrayed" I lov'd him , too , as woman loves , Reckless of sorrow , sin , or scorn ; Lij ^ had no evil destiny That -with him I could not have borne—Earth had not a spot so drear That I should not have thought a homo In Paradise had he been near . "

I am not of those who " go in , " as they say , very strongly for so-called " women ' s rights or wrongs , " but I always have felt , and I feel as I write to-day , that man ' s treatment of woman is mostly very selfish , unmanly , and unfair . Had Stanelli and Bechner been commonplace mortals , —those " dull dogs " who fill our gatherings and bore us with their platitudes , —they would have either become jealous or sulky , disagreeable or depressed . Indeed , it is often most amusing to note how " exigeant" and monopolising

some distinguished hero becomes who has singled out his " bird , " who has thrown his handkerchief majestically at Mary or Julia , or Jane or Emily Ann . She , poor fluttering little pigeon 1 though she resents deeply such unflattering and unsought-for preference , hardly knows how to treat that "most dreadful young man . ' But he , happily unconscious of her real feelings , wishes to announce to all that he has deigned to make Ms choice at last , frowns on every real or imaginary rival , makes himself especially

disagreeable to his own adored Jemima , and becomes a nuisance to his friends and a laughingstock to society . There is nothing for him left but to fill the ranks of the rejected , to join the angry host of the disappointed . And so Bechner and Stanelli , wise iu their generation , took things easily , and treated the matter " en philosophe . " Indeed they became constant companions and steady mates ( " pals " is the modern word ) of the gay Paesiello and the sententious Balthazar

; for , as Stanelli used to say to Bechner , " caro amico , " there is no use in our letting those fan- friends of ours know how much we fear our . companions . If they are worth their salt , they will not give us up ; and if they are not , why then need you and I care anything about them 1 " And Beclmer used to reply , with that pleasant " insouciance " for which he was celebrated , " Sapperment , I epiite agree with you . I don ' t think that a woman is worth seeking who is captivated by the first gaudy butterfly she sees . "

But I am not gomg to blame Anna and Eva . They were two very nice-featured young women , very jileasant , very well educated , very high-principled , and , as Mr . Samuel Weller judiciously observes , there can be no possible harm " in a young man taking notice of a young ' ooman as is undeniable good-looking and well-conducted . " And acting on this soundest of axioms , they made themselves very agreeable to our hero and his friend . Not that they forgot or ever deserted Stanelli and Bechner , but we all must

admit that , clever as women are , they sometimes have difficult cards to play , when they have to keep different admirers all in good humour at the same time . I have often admired deejily the skill with which some fair fisherwoman has managed her bait , has fitted her fly , to catch some fine fish bounding along the turbid river of Life . But in the meantime another little chapter of this short romance was opened . Madame Allegria stateldamestUl had her " jiretensions" and before long it was

, y , , It'ite jilain that she liked Don Balthazar , and that Don Balthazar liked her . When 'his reality became ajiparent to the actors , one and all , of course the whole ajipearance ot things was changed ; for as Paesiello could not pay attention at the same time to bva and Anna , it was inevitable that Bechner , finding the coast clear , redoubled his