The Adventures Of Don Pasquale.

their fathers and mothers wish it;—because some young men can t get their debts paid without ; because some young women have been ' out' so many seasons . Don't talk to me about love . Love is all very well in poetry , or on the stage , or in a French novel , but it don't exist in practical life , ancl I ' m not certain that it pays . The utmost you can look for now-a-days is a certain amount of agreement in tastes and opinions ; and g iven a comfortable house , a good dinner , agreeable society , especially if you don't

gee too much of each other , the husband and wife can manage to ' rub their noses ' pretty well together . But don't talk to me about Love . " Have my readers , properly impressed hy such valuable opinions , come to any conclusion on the subject ? If not , I am afraid that I cannot help them much in the matter ; for , agreeing in part as I do with all the quoted opinions of my friends in turn , I consider Love to be too abstrusetoo mysterioustoo delicate a subject to be properly

, , handled in these light pages ! Nothing less than a lecture by Professor Tyndal could do full justice to so recondite a question . But still Love is . Yes , Love exercises despotic sway in this world of ours , rules the timid , agitates the bold , masters the sentimental , ancl pulls up even our

young men . I want no other proof of its extraordinary power . So , as a philosopher ancl man of sense , without going into its " raison d'etre , " I will treat it as a very remarkable and important " factor , " whether in the tragedy , or comedy , or screeching farce , if you like , of our vulgar , domestic , and normal life to-day . I should not , however , be an honest chronicler if I did not transcribe here a very eloquent passage from Paesiello ' s diary . Listen , 0 sentimental maidens and ecstatic youth !—

" I do not agree with those writers who seek to depreciate love . Love is often the dominant power of this nether world , and makes us happy or renders us miserable . It is that emotion of the breast which meets in sympathetic union with a beloved object , ' mutatis mutandis , ' through all the trials and all the troubles of life . " Yes , Love serves to shed a ray of roseate hue on the aspirations of youth , the associations of maturity , ancl even in the declining hours of old age ! AVhat would the world be without Love %

How could men and women get on without Love ?" Do my readers want any more ? Is it not better for me to end the extract here ? Accordingly , when we return to our heroes and heroines at Eome , we find that Love as usual is playing the game of " Blind-Man ' s-Buff" with the whole of that pleasant " entourage . " Stanelli ancl Bechner were clearly the submissive victims of the little god , and sworn liegemen to our lady Venus . Don Balthazar , who had met with but little

sympathy , as he thought , from Anna , had turned for consolation to the very agreeable presence ancl experienced views of Mdme . Allegri . It is very curious often to note the by-play which goes . on in the ' Comediettas " of fir sublunary existence . You join an agreeable party . You "take stock , " you try to realize the " carte du pays , " and if you are a person of discrimination , of philosophical temperament , ancl of accurate " coup-d ' ceil , " you very soon discover where " the land lies , " who are , in fact , the real "dramatis personce" in these " amateur theatricals " which are 2 : layed before your very eyes . We always , however , must remember that we llla y be deceived by first appearances , and that Moliere ' s words are still true :

" convent d ' un faux espoir un amant est notirri , ' Le mieux regu tonjours , n ' est pas le plus ehMEt tout ce que d ' ardeur font paraitre les femmes , Parfois n ' est qu ' un beau voile a couvrir d ' autres famines . " Women have often a difficultnot to to do notfor

, say a dangerous game play . I , e > endorse Horsey Johnson ' s remarks , that "all women are hypocrites . " Nor do I trVn ' WlQl in yy ° o friencl Pottleton , who declares that "Girls are very wary ancl full t tirds' " ^ y somel ™ P ut me in mind , " he adds , and he speaks with i + v Avled ge of llis snl i > " of old rats > t ] le J are s 0 leei' 7 and llard to tra P- " 1 think that such opinions are altogether unjust , and I feel strongly that women are