The Adventures Of Don Pasquale.

and himself , who was " nobilis" in every sense of tho word , a gay son , a bloooming daughter , and a plump sister in law . Under these bright auspices Paesiello saw Verona thoroughly , anel grew sensible and sentimental alternately . Indeedhe often said in after years he

, enjoyed his visit to Verona very much indeed . It is clear from his manuscript that he had much to affect and amuse him , if something also to " bless and to bore " him , a fact which seems to belong to the whole of our mundane existence , go where

we will , he what we may . I must now confide a little secret to my readers . Paesiello and Mdlle . Manfred ! would , 1 think , have clone very well together , ( despite a certain Don Pomposio , ) had not the maiden aunt , a stout good-looking

" old gal , "> ( Paesiello so termed her in after years , ) of forty-five—to use a classical expression—determined " to put her oar in . " No doubt she was wise in her generation , and can hardly be much blamed . At leastthe words of my pen will be as

, light as words can be . When women get to that age , ( such is my experience of the matter , ) they naturally think that they have no more time to lose , and therefore opine that " all is fish that comes to their net . "

It is this constraining motive which makes them often seem inconsiderate and unfeeling to the young , with whose proceedings they interfere , or amid whose little game they intrude themselves . They are like a Winchester Eleven playing a losing game at Lords , as in

better days ; or like the angler making another cast for that most obdurate salmon ; or like the man who is quite certain that Turkish Bonds will turn up trumps to morrow , and who ruins everybody with the greatest calmness in the world ; or , in fact , like any other appropriate illustration my readers like to coin or make use of .

Maiden aunts at forty-five , says young Pottleton , " are like rats in a barn , desperate , reckless , " and " will have a nibble at the odorous cheese ! " And so Donna Elisinda—for that was , as the German ' s say , the " Jungfer ' s" namethought when she saw Paesiello that "hor clock had struck , " and that he was just the very hero her ardent imagination had

always painted ! What mattered it to her that her fair niece and the young man appeared to be getting together ? How did it concern her that they were both at that happy time , when it seemed so natural to look on from a sunny present to a

roseate future , when all looms so bright and pleasant and promising , and life ' s dull cares , and life ' s sadder heart-aches , are alike ignored and unknown 1 Surely she had , she thought , prior claims on the attention of that foolish and

inexperienced young man—hers were attributes and excellencies far beyond those of a giddy girl ! Paesiello soon found , as his " sejour" at Verona lasted longer , perhaps , than he at first intendedthat do what he willgo

, , where he might , be it picnic , he it an evening party , with the graceful maiden came—the buoyant and inevitable unmarried aunt—who had for him the deepest sympathy , and had the greatest concern alike in his plans and prospects , his

proceedings anel his pursuits . It was in vain that Mdlle . Manfredi and he tried to enjoy each other ' s society , the maiden aunt—who was a great stickler for

propriety—thought that her neice required a chaperone , and poor Paesiello found that she monopolized all the conversation , took all his compliments to herself , and made it evident to all around that she

considered he was paying his attention to her and not to her niece . On one memorable afternoon , when they had all started to a Roman amphitheatre , something occurred which so alarmed our hero , ( though what it was he does not clearltell usand the allusion to it

y , has been carefully crossed out , ) that he left Verona the next morning I am somewhat myself inclined to think , from a passage nearly obliterated , as far as I can make out the words , that on this occasion Donna Elisindawho had indulged in

, Badminton and champagne cup—for these are ancient drinks—proposed herself to Paesiello . Something must have happened of the sort , for this one thing is clear , that Paesiello was excessivelnervous the rest

y of the party , left them when he returned to Verona , and bade farewell to them all , in a most touching letter , next morning ) without seeing them again , over which