The Adventures Of Don Pasquale.

—a radical reform in his peaceable and conservative principality . He summoned the officers of his Court together , ( the Board of Pink Cloth , ) he determined to hold and did hold , in the ancient language of the legal documents , ( borrowedapparently , like a neAV fashion

, from Paris , ) " a bed of justice , " and propounded his intention of dressing all his Courtiers in nankeen small-clothes . He had seen nankeen for the first time in London , and took a wonderful fancy to it . This was henceforth to be the dress " de

rigueur " for the Court . The old nobility and the " gens de la Cour , " loudl y objected . Some of them were old , some of them were thin ; some of them were fat , some of them Avere knock-kneed ; some disliked change , many suspected foreign interests ; while not

a few even went so far as to say that the Jesuits had a " finger in the pie . " And thus began that famous feud which convulsed the little Court and principality for many months . Parties Avere formed , and chiefs elected . There were three parties mainly . The young and ardent , ( if not verdant , ) who went gallantly for the " small clothes ; " the timid and the old

who suggested " en pantalon ; " while the " great middle class , " of the independent and the educated , asked both for liberty of conscience and fulness of trousers . It was then that "Gaetano Paesiello , " our hero ' s father , threw his great weight into the scale of the " via media" and

, declared for the unfettered rights of the country and people—in the full , free , comfortable , easy-going , neatly-fitting , nankeen trousers . And such a moderate and sensible view of course prevailed , and for a long time such was the normal

regulation of that Court and Principality . Probabl y , in the changes of Italy , that little free spot has been swept away and absorbed , ( that is the correct word , ) and those old customs with it ; but , at any rate , numerous tracts are extant—in the

British Museum , and the Library of the Vatican—to demonstrate the vivacity and bitterness of the contest , the eloquence of opposing patriots , the unanswerable arguments of the pamphleteers , and the greatness of the question , and of the victory ! Benedito was happy in having an educated woman for his mother , who encouraged him in his studies , ancl lauded

his acquirements . For Benedito was always a lover of books , and : under that sunny clime , and amid scented Orange groves , surrounded by the songs of birds aud the perfume of flowers , he mastered the great principles of a serene and

practical philosophy , Avhich he never lost , Avhich he never forgot , amid the trials of later years , in the " tourbillon" of earthly society . He often used to say to himself and to his intimate friends in later times" I never can forget Avhat I OAve to

, an interest Avhich never ceased , to an intellect Avhich was ever active , to a wit which was ever pleasant , and to a sympathy which Avas ever abounding ! " We hardly often here realize , it appears to meAvhat Ave OAve to the mother ' s

in-, fluence , to Avoman's directing will , or intellect , or cleverness—her ceaseless kindness , sympathy , and love ! For woman , strange in her psychology , and differing vastly from man , is , no doubt , in the good Providence of God , mindful when man is

oblivious ; careful Avhen man is reckless ; pitying when man is contemptuous ; just when man is hasty ; loving when man is indifferent ; and conscientious when man is lax .

Some of our greatest heroes , many of the human " idols " of admiring generations , owe the very " contour , " so to say , of their characters , the great " primum mobile " in them of all that is good , true , admirable , heroic , to the tender nurture , the true heartthe wise aphorisms of the

, mother , or the female ! Yes , the female , often doubted , not unfrequently condemned , but still , as God ordained , is man ' s helpmeet ever here , a truth Ave sometimes lose sig ht of , and around her innate tendernesstruthfaithand love

, , , , circle , if I may so say , all the virtues of life , all the visions of the good , the beautiful , and the true ! Poor Benedito lost his father through an attack of malaria , and his mother , after a feAV years peaceful Avidowhood passed

aAvay , too , amid the tears and regrets of her son , leaving him just twenty-one , friendless , to Avage life ' s Avar comparatively all alone , for his relatives Avere sparse , and his acquaintances Avere feAV . Thus often ends the dream of life , when all seems fairest and brightest now . The blue sky becomes overclouded in a moment , the sea rises ,