The Adventures Of Don Pasquale.

temps , " or to glide swiftly and easily down the daily current of the great river of life . g . ut yet , like the wounded birds of a " battue , " these poor , deserted , disappointed niembers of society , male and female victims , retire often from the gay circles of the world , depressed and despairing , to heal their wounds and forget their grievances in other scenes , on other lots . With how many does the cool , careless , erratic flirtation become the engrossing dream of a whole life .

Of course the stern moralist will come in and say , "I can have no pity for such weaknesses of humanity . A man or a woman must forget such trifles . It is nonsense talking to me of injured affection or a broken heart . People have no business to feel so much . "

This is all very fine , 0 friend and moralist , from the lofty pedestal on which you survey the world ; but men are still men , and women are still women . To denounce flirtation—innocent , harmless , passing flirtation—I do not for one pretend to do ; for to say the truth , I see no harm in it , and where men and women " most do congregate " it will always be found . But a person professing to feel affection for another , and then to desert that person on some idle pretence , or on no pretence at all , always has appeared to me the most

heartless and indefensible of conduct . It is , in my opinion , far better , like Paesiello to be fair dealing and straight running , not to affect interest which you do not feel , not to raise hopes which are only the product , as Dr . Johnson would have said , of the " vanity of idleness , " or , as I hold it , of want of principle . On the other hand , I feel bound to observe here , that our young people often make great mistakes in their likes and dislikes . They " take up " with the bold , the brazen , the noisy , the impudent , the adventurer , and the brainless , often ignoring the claims ol the modest , the well-informed , the intellectual , the right principled , and the wellconducted .

In Mdme . Allegri Don Balthazar found a woman to his own mind , as I before remarked . She had outlived the sentimental nonsense of younger clays , and refined ancl elegant , of good taste and charming manners , well dressed , and good tempered , she was , perhaps , as pleasant a person to meet withal as anyone can well picture or find . And more than this . Though she was " empresse " in her manners , she was honest and true , a

sinceie friend , a true ally , and Don Balthazar , who was no longer young himself , and had always laughed at incongruous marriages , thought that' in Mdme . Allegri he had at last found , happy mortal , the acm 6 of his imaginings and his wishes . And certainly he has , as Paesiello says in his diary , " done very well for himself , ancl shown his good sense ancl good taste . " For Mdme . Allegri was no giddy girl , half hoyden , half " ingenue , " who would have driven a sensible man mad in six hours , but

was both staid and sensible , demure and discreet . Good-looking as she still was in wonderful measure , she preferred home to society generall y , and , like Don Balthazar , sought in books and pictures , the conversation of tin ; intellectual , music , and refining associations , all that tends to gratify and elevate the mind of mortals . She , in fact , like a sensible woman , would rather stay at home with ner husband , than , by perpetual going out ,- live in a whirlwind of gaiety and excitemen ' , most injurious to the " morale" of all !

I often think how much depends on the happiness of the home , on congenial temperaments , and similar ages ! To suppose that May can really mate with January , or be happy under such circumstances , is to ignore and defy the whole analogy of nature and common sense . And thoug h there is no rule without an exception , as every one of us knows , I always do regard all such instances of male and female weakness as not only full of doubt and

danger for the present , but still more doubtful and still more dangerous for the future . And . here I leave our friends for a time , all happy , all contented , all basking in the 81 m ] es of gladdening sunshine , all contemplating a pleasant " outcome " from all there ' surroundings" with good hope and gentle sympathy . How they continue to fare in tfl iR sbtfi of the case wo shall see in the next chapter . ( To be Continued . )