The Adventures Of Don Pasquale.

Being still in the prime of life , well preserved and well dressed , he bethought himself of his old friend Mdme . Allegri , and took it into his head that a visit to the " Morgon-land" woidd set him up , and do him a great deal of good in the loneliness which seemed to press upon him , as he roamed through long galleries and looked into chilly rooms . Even a Avife ' s voice , though you may hear it too often , at such moments goes for something .

But his descent upon Borne did not please every one , the more so as it was quite clear that he was still as ever a fervent admirer of Mdme . Allegri . He Avas rich , educated , and personable , and was looking out for a pleasant companion , Avhom , as a Puchner-Priessler , he might present comfortably to some very difficult Puchner-Priesslers , male and female , Avithout fear and Avithout hesitation .

Poor Mdme . Allegri Avas rather , as Ave should say , " in a fix . " He had come a little too late ; he ought to have ajipeared on the scone sooner ; for the amiable woman , though she mig ht not have objected to the castle and family mansion and broad acres of Puchnor-Prossler , had they only been opportune , or as the Irishman said , "just in sayson , " had gone so far with our old friend Don Balthazar , ( a by no means despicable parti himself , ) that she did not knoAV , as Paesiello a little cynically said , " Avhich way

to turn herself , " and so , clever Avoman as . she Avas , she sought to temporize ! She would not , not she , refuse to see her ancient friend the Baron , nor Avould she decline the attentions of her newer admirer . And , therefore , for some time everyone had " hardish lines " of it in Borne , and this unhappy " crise " and this false position affected the happiness and even the tempers of all , And thenas if to prove that misfortunes never come singlean energetic

English-, , man of the name of Compton happened to meet Anna at an artistic gallery , and straightway fancying himself violently in love with the fair enchantress , bored everyone Avith the sublimity and intensity , the pathos ancl the bathos of his " grande passion . " As lie became a great friend of Paesiello's later , and Avill appear again , I will only now remark that he Avas rich and good-looking , and educated and pleasant , a bit of a philosopher , aud no end of a SAvell .

Thus our readers Avill note at once that the situation is a little clouded over , and if they are very sentimental "will be hoping to hear of broken hearts and blighted beings , I fear that I have nothing of the sort to tell them . We live in a very prosaic age indeed , when love ancl matrimony are very matter-of-fact things . There is very little sentiment afloat just IIOAV in society , ancl broken hearts are out of fashion , like some articles of feminine attire which I for one used to admire in days of old ! Young men propose to yoimg ladies because it suits them to do so ; ancl young ladies

refuse some young men , ancl take up with other young men , because it suits them to do so . 1 Avish it Avere otherwise . I should feel much more composed , I admit , if our " golden youth " would he a little less confiding as to what they do do , and as to what they don't do ; if they Avould not shoAV too often how little interest or heart they have m anything ; hoAv , in fact , life is to them a sort of brilliant masquerade , and their motto is , all through

it" Take each fair mask for Avhat it seems to be , But look not thou beneath it . " I am always , therefore , noAV quite easy in my mind Avhen I hear that Miss So-and-So has rejected Mr . So-and-So , as I knoAv if Ave coidd find the hero he Avould be smoking a cigarette , reading a French novel , ancl sipping B . and S ., or Phiz , Curagoa , or Absinthe Broken-hearted 1 Not in the least !

I am not going , then , to indulge in any high-flown sentimentality in these veritable pages . As Clothilde says in the " Cheven Blanc , " " soulement je constate . " I state the Wet , and leave its explanation and its consequences to others . Paesiello , Avho was very observant , noted doAvn the incidents of the little by-play of those whom he liked to call in his diary " human Fantoccini , " and as he had taken a "igo fancy for Compton , he was much amused at the bold Briton ' s palpable attentions to the always sunny Anna , Bechner , who Avas very much in love with Anna as Ave