The Adventures Of Don Pasquale.

strikes ; but when once the Rubicon is passed , when we " bum our boats " and our " bridges" at the same time , then there come over the "lone spirit , " as Mrs . Balasso so touchingly * says , " a sense of isolation and the reality of separation . "

Some of us , as Time has winged its flight of lazy or stirring years , have known well what It is to bid farewell to loved faces and p leasant homes , to the " Lares and Penates " of long and eventful years ; to that dear old friend we never more shall

ureet ; to that cherished abode Ave never more shall inhabit ; and with choiring sensations in the "larynx , " and with watery eyes have nerved ourselves to the severance , or have stalked gloomily and grandly away ! Paesiello was too " insouciant " to feel

as much as I have sketched but hastily , and his depression was , as with youth generally , short-lived , and accordingly he proceeded with mingled " sang-froid " and gaiety to talk over the events of his sojourn at Venice , the virtues of Donna Isabellaand the charm of the recalcitrant

, Petronella . Don Balthazar gravely assented to his remarks , and re-echoed his ejaculations , but continued to smoke peacefully all the while , evidently being a firm believer in the soothing properties of Ealeigh's " soft narcotic" and the virtue

, of a sedative cigarette . I have known in life many other persons with whom a cigar , or even a pipe , had the most tranquilizing effect , yes , under circumstances of no ordinary turmoil or excitement , grief

or grumbling . My young friend Poppleton—a very knowing and energetic youth—has often confided to me his experience of the matter . He says , and I don't venture to contradict his outspoken opinion , that a pipe or ci is an antidote for a " fellah "

gar to nearl y all the evils and most of the troubles of life . At least , he declares , it mfuses " into you a calm , sagacious , benevolent spirit ; it is the best armour , he assures me , against the voice of a talkative sister the laints of injured wife

, comp an , and the remarks of an excited fianceh , the objurgations of an indignant motherin-law . He assured me also he found it the best reci pe for tranquillity and a contented tbspositicm amid duns and debts , rows ty day , " tracasseries " by night , and that

as far as his experience goes , ( which I may observe is not very far , ) it is the most useful , the most silent , and the most friendly of friends . I am not a smoker myself , and cannot possibly , therefore , enter into the spirit or vapour of Pottleton ' s glowing eulogy ; and

to , say the truth , the only use that I have myself ever seen for tobacco was in malaria-haunted countries , where the smokers certainly had the " pull" over the nonsmokers ! I leave , however , the settlement of the " cloudy warfare" to those

who , like young Pottleton , admire so hugely the use and taste and smell of tobacco . I may observe , " en passant , " that as opinions always do differ in this world ,

Miss Pottleton , my young friend ' s charming sister—a blushing "ingenue" of sweet sixteen—holds a very decided and different opinion on the subject . For she tells me in her confiding outspokenness , that in her opinion , most of the young men who smoke so much to-day have positively

in consequence " evaporated into thin air all the brains in their heads , and all the feelings in their hearts . " When such sagacious doctors differ , who can hope to decide 1 Paesiello and his party reached Verona

early next morning , and proceeded to instal themselves in the " Capulet and Montague Arms . " Paesiello was full of Juliet and her nurse , Romeo and the friar , and so made up his mind to loiter on a spot so full of interest to aU those who like

arclneology and antiquity , fortifications and sentiment . As Verona is rather a dull town in itself , Paesiello , who had brought with him some letters of introduction to a distinguished Veronese family , ( a descendant of a Capuletby the way , ) foundas others

, , have found , that with pleasant society we are quite independent of the " Genius Loci , " the charms of scenery , the gossip of the " cicerone , " or the associations of the past . In the agreeable famil y of Don Manfredi he found all that was most

pleasant to the lover of ancient romances , and' juvenile sympathies , the past and the present , venerable souvenirs , and modern " agremens . " Don Manfredi's family consisted of his wife , a distinguished and stately Veronese ,