hifinancial faculty was always quickened, and his moral sense a little blunted, whenever he drove a bargain of any sort, he could not help adding that he should deduct the amount of her wages from the debt due by the father. "Oh! Sir, I shall be so happy to accept your offer!" cried Fanny, clasping her hands together in the delighted anticipation of quitting a home which her father's increasing sottishness rendered every day more disagreeable. 'Well, then, that affair's all settled. Come to us to-morrow or next day-'twill save the trouble of sending down the posset, you know; and as you may want a trifle, perhaps, to furbish up your wardrobe, here it is—and that binds the bargain: so, there-you are regularly enlisted in my service." With these words he placed a five-pound note in her hand, and then, seating himself upon the chest, with the altered air of a man whose gracious mood was at an end, and who meant thenceforth to be rigorous and stern in his purpose, he continued, "And now tell me where is this precious father of yours? I must see him immediately." Overwhelmed with confnsion, poor Fanny stooped down twice to pick ap nothing, looked anxiously around as if in search of some missing article, felt in both her pickets, and then, resuming her seat, began to ry the empty churn with prodigious rapidity. You took a mug of warm milk, Squire, last ne you was here," cried the mother, anxious turn his attention and to extricate her daughter, Vom she thought likely to boggle at a direct Isehood: "would you like to have another , Sir? Here, Sally, Sally! fetch the Squire a mug of warm milk directly." Sally hastened tobey this order, in spite of Brown's surlily exclaiming, "I don't want milk, and I do want an answer to my question. Where's your husband, Mad "What, John ? what, Chubbs? do you mean John Chubbs, Sir ?" faltered the wife." "Of course I do: got no other husbands, have you ?" "Dear heart, Squire! the Lord forbid ! Only I was just going to remark-" “Hallo!", interposed Brown, "who is it I hear sneezing? It sounded from the chest." "So it did, I do declare! Why, you see, Sir, our cat have kittened, and so we allow her to lie in the old chest, and she have picked up a cold somehow." "And I should like to pick up an answer to ny question-where is your husband?" "Very true, very true: I recollect now you was a talking of my John. Why, you see, he hought Wellington were a little bit tender in the forefoot yesterday, and so he have taken him down to the farrier's, and he be always a long time a dawdling when once he do get there." The lock of the linen-chest having been wrenched off by the younger children and never replaced, there was an aperture in front, through which, at this moment, Chubbs unconsciously thrust the heated bowl of his pipe in such a way that it encountered the calf of Brown's leg. promised to call upon me, and never come. The fact is, he is afraid to look me in the face, and, though he's an old soldier and a Waterloo-man, I'm sorry to say he's neither more nor less than a coward." "That's a lie!" shouted Chubbs, throwing open the lid of the chest so suddenly that it dashed the mug out of Sally's hand as she was passing, and scattered the new milk all over Brown. "Come on, ye ly-ly-lying rascal," hiccoughed the drunken farmer, raising himself on his knees, and throwing his hands, one of which still held the pipe, into an abortive attempt at a pugilistic attitude. "I'll fi-fi-fight ye for gallon in skit-skittle-ground, Green Man." "John, my dear John!" cried the terrified wife, putting her hand over his mouth, "for Heaven's sake hold your tongue: it's the Squire!" "Damn the Squire !" sputtered the pot-valiant farmer through the finger-bars, at the same time throwing the pipe at his astonished landlord with a most defying air. "Oh dear! oh dear!" sobbed little Sally, "what will become of us all? Father has broke the mug, spilled the milk, and said a naughty word to the Squire !" "Oh! Sir, pray, pray forgive him," cried the wife, with an appealing look: "you see, poor John don't know what he be about nor what he be a saying no more nor a babby." "Fanny," said Brown, nodding to the daughter, who stood weeping on the other side of her father, "don't be afraid-don't cry-I shall hold to my bargain with you; come up to the ManorHouse to-morrow or next day. Mrs. Chubbs, I am sorry for you-you seem to deserve a better husband. As for you, John Chubbs, I shall let you know my mind pretty freely some other time. At present you are not yourself—you are not in your proper character-you are only a locum tenens, as it were." "You're another," shouted the farmer, indignantly; "and if you co-come to calling names, I'll give you as good as you bring, any day in the year. Stand aside, dame, and see how I'll kno-kno-knock the fellow down." So saying, he raised his hand, and in the effort of throwing it out, fell helplessly back in the chest, of which his wife again closed the lid, to prevent farther mischief, and was about to renew her intercessions in his favour, when Brown waved his hand pettishly to silence her, and, striking his cane angrily upon the floor, hurried out of the room. CHAPTER XXII. HAVE we not mentioned a lane, slightly diverging from the green of Woodcote, and offering a nearer conveyance to the Manor-House? In winter-time its deep ruts rendered it hardly passable except for carts and wagons, while its pools and quagmires unfitted it for the passage of gentle feet; but in spring and summer the Shaw Lane-for thus was it called, from the little thickets that skirted it at intervals-offer "Zounds and the devil!" shouted the sufferer, jumping down and rubbing the part aggrieved a pleasant and shady walk to those who ed, "does your cat bite in that way? Drown ber-drown her with all her litter. I hate cats. Harkee, Madam! tell your sot of a husband that, if I am not paid my rent at the end of this quarter, I shall put an execution in the house and distrain. More than a dozen times has he wished to avoid the dust of the high road. Partly sunk between high, tufted banks, pierced with occasional openings to the fields on either side, partly overshadowed by copses that completely shut out the view, it presented sufficient variety of scenery to interest the pedestrian, though its features were not more attractive than such as | lightful and vivifying influence upon us as upon are commonly encountered in our rural dis tricts. But what is there that is not beautiful in the season of early spring? Even in the shadiest parts of the lane the tufts of May waving backward and forward in the wind made a light and a perfume of their own, as if they had been so many vases of incense wafted by invisible hands; the banks and ditches were tesselated with cowslips, violets, wild hyacinths, blue germanders, foxgloves, lilies of the valley, and marsh marigolds, sometimes flaring in the ray with all the gorgeous brightness of a painted abbey-window, and in other places imparting a rich hue to the dim, sunless nooks out of which they peered like so many varicoloured and rooted eyes: butterflies spread their painted sails in the air-ocean; the wild flowers shook on their stalks, as the bee, ceasing his murmured grace, settled upon them and commenced his honey-banquet; the hedge-birds twittered and quivered lovingly together, or chased one another with a trembling eagerness, while the soaring lark poured down a gush of ecstasy from on high; the cattle were lowing with tranquil enjoyment amid the butter-cupped and daisied herbage; the trees pushed forth their fingered leaves, and unfolded their buds, as if eager to feel and to kiss the balmy vernal air; all nature, both animate and inanimate, seemed to be thrilling with enjoyment of the season. Men there are-we speak not of clowns and clodhoppers, but of educated and intelligent beings-who could plod upon their way along the Shaw Lane in the spring season with little more consciousness of its beauties, because they were of an ordinary character, than the cattle which were driven along it to the farm homestead. But to him who possessed the additional and happy sense of a quick eye and apprehensive sense for the observance of natural beauties, however commonplace, the scattered copses that overhung and skirted the Shaw Lane converted it into a gallery of pictures, all executed by the same master-hand, yet ever varying in beauty and character, according to the change of position, or the play of light and shade. Nature is an artist in whose works we can rarely detect a want of harmony, either in colour, tone, or form. Intermingled together in wild yet accordant confusion, the copses presented every variety of tint, from the wan gray of the willow, the silver whiteness of the ash, and the bright green of the sycamore, to the graver hues of the beech, the elm, and the oak; while the forms varied from the spreading to the compact, from the round to the aspiring, the clumps being occasionally surmounted by a poplar, waving gracefully to and fro, like a tall feather in the eafy headdress of nature. Nor was the symphony of sound less marked and pleasing than the concord of forms and colours-the lowing of the cows, the beating of the sheep, and the song of the birds, blending into one choral anthem with the rustling wind; while ever and anon there broke from some mysterious distance the two fluty notes of the cuckoo, whose magic voice is always heard with a new delight, since it seldom fails to conjure up before us the pleasant recollection of our childhood. "I have always maintained," said Walter Latimer, as he accompanied Ellen Molloy along the Shaw Lane on their way to the ManorFuse "that the spring exercises the same de the products of the earth, making the blood in our veins dance and effervesce in merry sympathy with the sap in the trees. At all events, I can answer for my own fellow-feeling with nature, for methinks I am never so happy as in the exhilarating month of May. Not only do my intellects seem brighter, but my affections appear warmer, and those whom I always love I love still more fondly and dearly at this delicious season." As he spoke thus he gently pressed the arm of his companion, gazing upon her at the same time with all a lover's tenderness. Ellen only replied by a sigh, and hef eyes, instead of reciprocating his fond regards, were bent pensively upon the ground. "How is this?" pursued Walter; "you used, dear Ellen, to feel the cheering influence of a beautiful spring not less sensibly than myself, but for these few days past I have noticed a dejection in your manner that seems to defy all the gladdening powers of May and sunshine." "I was in hopes you would not observe it, dear Walter, as I have striven hard to conceal it from you, above all others; but I must confess that I have latterly been exposed to an annoyance which has distressed me more than, perhaps, it ought to have done, and which I only refrained from mentioning to you because I was in daily hopes that—" "Nay, dear Ellen, this was hardly kind: surely the great charm of our betrothal is the perfect confidence and intercommunion of soul that it sanctions, thus enabling us to halve our sorrows and double our pleasures by sharing them with each other? And now you would withhold a vexation which I have a right to divide with you. Come, come, dearest! you must not have any reserves from me." 'Perhaps I was wrong; but, as I told you, or, rather, as I was about to tell you, I lived in daily hope that there would be no longer any cause for my low spirits. The fact is, dear Walter, that I have latterly been pestered with the offensive attentions and fulsome compliments of that odious Mr. Cavendish." "What! has the insolent coxcomb again presumed to ogle you in the vulgar manner you once described, and of which, had I been with you at the time, I should certainly have expressed my opinion to him in no very measured terms?" "Sorry am I to say that he has changed his mode of annoyance into a still more distressing one. After having so long kept aloof from my father, he has now sought his acquaintance, currying favour by sending him presents of game, or occasionally lending him a horse, and frequently calling at our cottage, when he singles me out, in a very marked manner, for his hated courtesies and unwelcome adulation." "The saucy jackanapes! But surely, surely, Ellen, you may put a quick end to this; you may repel and frown down his rude advances." Easily enough, if they were rude; but they have now become so obsequious and deferential that it is difficult to quarrel with him, ach is the very reason why I think his fawning much more hateful than his free-and-easy mood. That he is utterly odious to me I take no trouble to conceal; but how can you repel a man who is studiously polite, and who will not suffer himself to be repulsed, even when you let him plainly see that his person and his pretensions, whatever they may be are equally revolting to you?" Why don't you complain to your father, and request his interference?" Ah, dear Walter!" exclaimed Ellen, and her voice became tremulous with emotion, "would to Heaven I could do so with any prospect of success; but it is from that quarter alone that I have any misgivings, any apprehensions. Mr. Cavendish I could shake off as easily as any other noxious and crawling reptile; but my father, I grieve to say it, encourages his attentions, and positively-nay, angrily and menacingly prohibits me from giving him his dismissal." "Good Heavens! Ellen, you alarm me. What can the Captain mean, knowing, as he does, our solemn engagement? He would not, surely, withdraw the conditional sanction that he gave to it ?" Alas! he now sees in it nothing but insurmountable difficulties and interminable delays. Mr. Brown, he contends, is a moody, capricious, splenetic old man, who, being unable to make up his mind as to the choice of an heir, may probably, when he dies, leave all his money to à hospital. At all events, he feels confident that he loves his money too well to part with any of it in his lifetime; whereas Algernon Cavendish, he urges-" "What, then! does he consider that emptyLeaded fop a declared suiter for your hand?" "Not a declared, but an expected one-a man who must be courted to continue his pointed attentions, until, to use my father's own words (you know his rauling way of talking), he has gone too far to recede, and must be driven, if be won't be led, into the matrimonial noose. In vain do I declare, as I have done over and over, that I loathe and despise Mr. Cavendish-that I have bestowed my affections upon another-that I consider you as my affianced husband. 'Tush, Nell! he exclaims; 'Jove laughs, you know, at lovers' vows: a mere verbal engagement of this nature only stands good until a better one offers; mea jili women, and women jilt men, every day in the year; and as to your not liking young Cavendish, what girl cares a button about the man when she can secure a brilliant settlement ?'" "I will candidly confess, dear Ellen, that I am less surprised at his thus counselling you to break your faith than at his betraying such an atter indifference to your happiness." "But in his estimation riches and splendour are happiness. By the powers! Nell,' has he repeatedly exclaimed to me, 'you forget what an immense catch this young fellow will prove, heir as he is to the title and large fortune of Sir Gregory, to the mansion and estate in the country, and to one of the best houses in London.' Matilda, whose lively imagination already revis in all the gayeties of the metropolis, is forever harping upon the same discordant string; so that you cannot wonder, although I turn a deaf ear, as well as I can, to all their solicitations and worryings, that I have been unable to prevent their depressing my spirits. But why do you sigh, dear Walter, and preserve such a pensive silence? Methinks I might retort your charge of dejection, and accuse you of harbouring some bosom grief which you ought to have communicated to me." ble villager, and comparatively a pauper-ta counterbalance the brilliant prospects which you are thus surrendering for my sake." "Nay, dear Walter, who is unkind now? This remark was not like yourself, and it sounds, therefore, ungraciously in my ears. How very little you have to offer me! Do you not tender to me that which I prize above all earthly blessings-your own good, and gentle, and affectionate heart? And what have I—so far as worldly gifts are concerned-what have I to tender to your acceptance but―" "The best, most charming, and most fascinating girl in the whole wide world," interposed Walter, tenderly embracing his companion. "Well, then, if I am all-sufficient to you, de me the justice to believe that I view you in the same light, and never again venture to insinuate that, when I refuse the addresses of a rich man whom I despise, and hold fast in my affiance with a poor one whom I love, I can either feel myself, or wish to be considered by others, as making a sacrifice." "Never again, my ever kind-hearted and generous-minded Ellen, will I revert to this subject, since it gives you pain. But still, if your constancy and truth have banished apprehension on my own account, it is most distressing to think that you are subject to this persecution." "That I cannot deny, for it is painful to maintain an every-day struggle with one's own family, especially when they reproach you, not only with an indifference to your own interest, but tc theirs." "Will you then, my beloved Ellen, will you promise me, if this contest becomes more urgent and annoying-if it interferes in any way with your peace of mind and the comfort of your home to put an end to it at once by consenting to our immediate marriage?" "We shall not, I trust, be driven to any such alternative, for I hear that the Cavendish family will be shortly returning to London, and it is probable that the young coxcomb may have been only bestowing his tediousness upon me for want of a better occupation; but should any attempts be made to force him upon my acceptance, I have no hesitation in answering that I would at once accede to your proposition." "And this you promise me-faithfully, solemnly?" Faithfully, solemnly, my dear Walter; and there is my hand to bind the bargain." "Ten thousand thousand thanks!" ejaculated the lover, covering her hand with kisses. "You have rolled away a stone from my heart, dearest Ellen, and have made me love you still more tenderly than before, which only half an hour ago I should have held to be impossible. As it is, I may leave Mr. Cavendish to pursue his unwelcome visits until fashion calls him away to resume his dissipated career in the metropolis. It is no scandal, I believe, to say that he is a profligate as well as a puppy. My dear mother, ever preferring her children to herself, suggests that by laying down our little carriage I should be the better enabled to support a wife; but I would never consent, nor would you, as I weli know, to deprive her of a comfort so essential to a cripple." "Certainly not; and so I told her most expli"To the feeling, dearest, I will plead guilty, citly when she made a similar proposition to at not to the wish of concealing it. I was think-myself." ag-and I confess the thought was a painful one "As to my prospects in other respects, they how very little I have to offer you-I, a hum- are not unlike the view now before us in the Shaw Laue, which is intersected here and there | the window-I was in a complete state of epouby bright openings succeeded by obscurity and gloom. Do you observe that at the present moment the upper portion of our bodies catches the sloping ray of the sun, while our feet are in deep shade? Even so my head and heart have been sometimes bright with hope, as I pursued some new scheme, while the event has proved my footsteps to have been hurrying forward in the dark." "This shows that you must not allow your hopes to travel too fast. It will be time enough to discuss our farther plan of proceeding when you have obtained the situation for which you have applied." 'But, in the mean while, you will not forget your pledge as to the Cavendish persecution." "Surely you do not doubt me already. I have given you my promise once, and I repeat it." "But you gave me your hand before, to bind the bargain." "Foolish Walter! there it is again, since you require an additional security, though I am half angry with you for your implied mistrust." Ellen's beaming and affectionate looks did not support the averment, even of her half anger: Walter again covered the pledged hand with kisses, and thus the lovers pursued their way, in the calm but deep felicity of mutual confidence and attachment, until they emerged from the Shaw Lane and reached the Manor-House. vantable, with a batmong de coor in every one of my limbs; but we got her to bed, and, as she was in a high fever, we applied a catechism te her chest, and gave her a soaperivorous draught and although she had already lost a good deal of blood, Dr. Dawson had recourse to farther insurrection, and applied the lancet. She passed a very restless night, which the Doctor attributed to the fleabottomy, upon which I flared up, and told him face to face-dos a do, as the French say-that we had nothing of the sort in the house, and never had. The Cheltenha Doctor says it is only an extempore arrange ment of her faculties, and not a case of confirm ed inanity; but, in the mean time, her wits are quite hore de combat, so that it's all one and the same thing, or two le maim, as the French say. "Who and what she is nobody has yet found out-tong pea! No doubt she has escaped from some lunar Elysium, but we can't discover it, although master has inserted advertisements every day of the week in the Gloucester Week ly Despatch.' In her first dreadful state of nonchalance I was almost afraid to go near her, but by struggling to become spontaneous, I have at last succeeded. People say strange things about her (au naturel, of course), insinuating that she must have committed a pas seul with some one; but I do hope that she is neither an equivoke, not a mauvaise honte, nor anything of the sort, but a proper come il fo, for she has all the appearance of a lady. She wears a wedding-ring, which looks well; but that may be only a double entendre, after all. She is quite a jolly garson-small -in fact, almost a petty maitre; but as we can't get her to parlay voo, we have been unable to learn anything as to her family. An audible curiosity led me to examine her clothes for marks, or the officials of her name, but I could not find anything of the sort. If we learn anything more implicit, I will write to you again. In the mean time, pray don't form any injurious conclusions about the poor lady, as if she were not a dame donneur. Honey swore key Molly paunch is my motto, as I tell everybody that insinuates a doubt upon the subject; and I'm quite sure that you have the same tout ensemble as myself. Letter from Mrs. Glossop to Mrs. Jellicoe. "Ma share Mrs. Jellicoe, "Never was there a more complete case of trompay voo than when I imagined the country to be all a sort of laissay moi tranqueel kind of existence, where all the paysongs had that simplicity of character which the French so strangely term knavetay. Toot o contraire! I can assure you that a fate shampaytre is full of the most inscrewtable denoumongs, and I can safely assert that the village of Woodcote, since my last letter, is more like a coo de theatre than a quiet village in the a la campagne. First and foremost, young Allan Latimer, who was always running in master's head, so much so that it was said he had made him his hair, and who was always preambling the grounds with him, and playing at billiards till he was quite au naturel in the "A curious come say drole occurred here last house-well, this Mr. Allan, after making bose week. In clearing away the ground at the foot yew, and sending billy doos, and having a regular of the old pigeon-house, the workmen discoveraffair de coor with Miss Molloy of this place, un-ed a large stone, sculptured with figures in the til she was dying of amour propre for him, ran very best mauvay goo. A woman with a sword, away from Woodcote, leaving the poor girl au and a youth with either a torch or a two le maim comble despoir! Was there ever such a case of in his hand, are seen kneeling at the feet of an cruel and deliberate bonhommie? If ever master old man with a rosier on his head, holding a did make him his hair, I am sure he has cut him mitre. Some say the figures are paregorical; off now, for he won't hear his name mentioned. but it is evident, a moi, that they have no savoir For my part, I always thought he was an im- vivre of the subject. To be sure I am very apt peccable volauvong of a fellow, and this shows to jumble historical names, and make a comthat I was right. Poor Miss Molloy must cure plete chevoo de freeze of my chrownology; but I the wound in her heart as well as she can, but I do know, of course, that Joan of Arc and Guy dare say it will be an eyesore as long as she lives. Fawkes were the children of Cardinal Wolsey, ⚫ "The affair of the monk who jumped into by Mary Queen of Scots, and, selon moi, they Chubbs's cart continues in the same state of je ne are here represented kneeling at his coo de piay say quoi: and oh, ma share! we have had anoth- for his blessing, the sword showing Joan of Arc, er espieglierie still more obviously mysterious. and the torch Guy. It must be Cardinal WolOn his return at night from a distant visit, what sey at all events, for during our sejour à Paris should master meet with in an old unfurnished we lived next door to a cemetery where they house but a poor, crazy mad woman, whom he educated boys for the priesthood, so that I know brought home in the carriage, and here she has the dress of the Catholic parsons and young remained ever since, just as if she were shay voo! clerks, for I used to see hundreds of them every When we took her out all covered with blood-day. Vous savez, ma share, that they are all doomfor she had thrust her arms through the pains of ed to sellybasy, and I'm sure ii quite gave me a could not avoid noticing the altered appearance presented by everything around him. Seeing nothing of the house, for the drop-scene was down, light, order, and arrangement were everywhere substituted for the gloom and confusion he had remarked on his previous visit. On the stage he beheld the sacred forest of the Druids, with its consecrated oaks in the centre, and wooded hills in the distance; while here and there emerged priests in their solemn robes, of soldiers of the Gallic army arrayed in all the pride of their barbaric panoply. But if his vision was agreeably surprised in one direction, it was painfully revolted in an opposite quarter of the stage, where was collected a little knot of dancers-the effeminate men, rouged and whitewashed, wearing tuckered vests, and a species of short petticoat; while the females, in their nondescript costume, seemed to have consulted anything rather than the decencies of the sex. peared, than to amuse a little circle of opera frequenters, both old and young, who stood leering and smirking around them. Quitting this knot of indelicate tumblers-for such they seemed to his unpractised eyes-he made his way to Isola's box, which was immediately above the stage, although at some little elevation. So deep had been the disappointment of Allan Latimer at the morning rehearsal of "Norma," so keen his apprehensions that Isola would fail in her first assumption of the character, that he not only adhered to his resoBut if he were shocked by their appearance lution of absenting himself during all the subse- alone, he was both startled and disgusted when quent rehearsals, but felt an increasing nervous- they began to attitudenize, to spin round, to ness as the important night approached which throw out and distort their limbs in the most was to put to so severe a test the operatic pow-violent postures, for no other purpose, as it apers of his fair friend. A general and intense interest had been excited by the announcement of her first appearance in this character, many good musical judges having expressed their opinion that, with all her talents and vocal capabinties, she could hardly expect to rival, much less to eclipse, the great and gifted predecessor who had obtained such high distinction and won Amazed as he had been at the metamorphosis such universal favour by her performance of behind the drop-scene, the revolution in front of the part. Sinister whispers were afloat of her the house struck him with tenfold wonder. The having completely broken down during the re- huge dim vault, with the mysterious echoes from hearsals; many, recurring to the invariable ar- its undiscernible boundaries, was now transguments of the English, made bets that the man- formed into a radiant and crowded theatre, ager would not renew his engagement with her sparkling with innumerable ustres, and gay after the expiration of the first limited term; dresses, and bright-eyed beauties, while its jealous competitors, aggravating and repeating painted dome echoed back the hum of eager these rumours until they believed them, revelled voices and the preludings of the full orchestra. in the anticipation of her downfall; and if Al- Even at this early hour, so great and general lan, goose admiration of Isola increased with had been the excitement that the boxes were every fresh interview, became daily more alarm- mostly occupied, while the pit and gallery had ed and distressed by these ominous forebodings, for some time been crowded, the prevalent subher own conduct was little calculated to reas-ject of conversation being the chances of Isola's sure him. Although she fully admitted the great importance of the crisis, since it must accelerate or retard her return to Italy, the paramount object of all her efforts and all her wishes, her language and demeanour did not evince any correspondent anxiety to ensure success. With a wonchalance which, under such circumstances, might almost be termed a reckless levity, she only smiled and shrugged her shoulders when these evil auguries reached her ear, playfully Pxpressing a hope that she might still be engaged as a chorus-singer, even should she be rejected as a prima donna; and anticipating with a mock solemnity the rapid falling away of her admirers and followers when she herseif, no longer a fashionable operatic leader, should be lost in the subordinate train of some more successful Norma. From one circumstance alone did Allan gather any confidence. In the midst of all this seeming indifference and sportive bantering, he observed that for several hours of every morning she rigorously shut herself up, excluding all visitants, during which time, as se gathered from old Antonio, she was occupied n the incessant practice and study of her part. Being obliged, on the anxious night of the perbrmance, to cross the stage on his way to the ox in which she had offered him a seat, Allan M failure or success, which were canvassed with equal confidence by the partisans of both sides. At length the leader of the band gave the admonitory tap with his bow, and the overture commenced, exciting perhaps less attention and admiration than on any previous night, on account of the impatience of the audience for the commencement of the opera, and the appearance of the great attraction of the night. The dropscene rose; the Gaulish army marched upon the stage to the solemn sound of religious music, followed by a procession of Druids and priests; and Allan, hardly able to credit the evidence of his senses, so perfect and absolute was the illusion of the spectacle, felt, from the thrill of admiring wonderment that crept through his whole frame, an instant conviction that, in the mingled and exquisite delight which it pours so lavishly upon the eye and ear, no fascination can be so absorbing, so irresistible, as that of the Opera. In his instance the impression combined everything that could add to its intensity, for he was a passionate admirer of music, and this was the first time that he had ever entered a metropolitan theatre. Shakspeare has remarked the indifference and languor that pervade an audience "after some well-graced actor leaves the stage"-an obser |