Cleveland into his dressing-room, for the express purpose of looking at himself in the glass,—and I retired to my own room.

The moon was shedding a long bright path of silver light upon the calm expanse of the lake, and as I stood at the window to enjoy the beauty of the scene, I observed a boat in the shade below the house, floating idly on the lake, with some men in it, waiting, as I supposed, for the Count. While gazing out, I heard my room door open, but supposing it to be Plait, I did not turn round till I suddenly felt myself scized and closely held in a man's embrace, who covered my face and neck with kisses. I soon released myself from his arms, and the culprit instantly attempted to fly. I saw the back of the Count; but before my amazement and indignation could find words, a smothered laugh, which broke forth as the ravisher was trying to open the door, betrayed the truth ;-and flying after him, and seizing him by the coat skirts, I brought him back to the lights on the table, and discovered as I expected-Mrs. Cleveland. was so transported at seeing it was really her, that I kissed her again and again, and embraced her with all my heart, laughing and talking all the time with the utmost gaiety.

I

At this moment a startling exclamation from the water, silenced us. We flew to the window, and beheld rapidly rowing away in the bright moonlight, the boat I had before seen lying below the house, and in which we now distinctly saw the tall figure of a gentleman, wrapped in a long dark military cloak. It was not the Count-for a hue and cry were now raised after his coat and hat, which Mrs. Cleveland had stolen from the chair on which they were lying, while he was in the Sultana's

robes, and had dressed herself up in them, and in Colonel Cleveland's clothes, in order to have a frolic, and frighten me by passing herself off as the Count. Whoever the stranger was, he must have had a perfect view of us; for the lights in the room, and the window down to the ground, must have made us perfectly conspicuous from the lake below. The Count's boat was safely moored, and his boatmen carousing in the inn kitchen. No one could give us any account of the boat with the stranger, excepting that it had been seen lying there for nearly an hour, and the people of the inn concluded it was waiting for some one who had gone ashore. We could only suppose that in rowing past the open window, curiosity had induced some passenger to stop and look in at our strange proceedings; possibly at the frolic of dressing up the little Count in the Sultana's robes, or the amusing spectacle he presented when attired in them. But it struck me as extraordinary, that when the Count went to Colonel Cleveland's dressing-room,--when Mrs. Cleveland was in her room, both of which look the other way, and when nothing was going on 'to amuse him, and nobody was left in the front of the house excepting myself, at my bed-room windowthis spy should still remain below. He must have distinctly seen the whole of the kissing scene, and he could not know that the male figure who kissed and embraced me-and whom I pursued and brought back, and kissed and embraced in return

-was a woman. However I think it is quite impossible he should recognise my person, disguised as it was in the Swiss costume; and Mrs. Cleveland has been consoling me with the reflection that if, by any chance, this spy of to-night should be at the fête of to-morrow, as she is to wear the dress

which I had on to-night she will be the suspected person, not myself; which gives me, I own, no small satisfaction.

'LES lendemains des plus jours tristes,' said one, who round of pleasure, and could poet, all is vanity.'

Wednesday Morning.

belles fêtes sont touhad tried the giddy say with the sacred

Assured that those

But a truce to moralizing. sapient reflections spring from disappointment, not

wisdom-and tend rather to make mankind discontented and unhappy, than wiser and better,-and quite aware that I myself, even while making them, would willingly agree to go to another similar brilliant fête to-morrow,--let me detail the real follies of the past day, rather than the fancied wisdom of the present.

We were rather late; and when we arrived at the Villa Montini, the gardens were already thronged with gay groups of masks, of all whimsical characters and descriptions-Arlecchini and Policinelli (Harlequins and Punch)-Pagliataccio, a simpleton, with other fools in abundance; -Gelsomini, or ridiculous Italian dandies (admirably dressed)-Clowns, Spaniards, Turks, Jews, Quack doctors, Armenians, and Chinese, without end. There was one Emperor, two English jockies, represented by the Counts Coravalle and Corsini-(the two Milanese noblemen whom you must remember in London); a French courtier of the old Regime, a group of banditti, divers gods and goddesses, peasants, mariners, boatmen, fishermen, shepherds and shepherdesses, flowergirls, one Sultana, one improvisatore, one madman, one demon,- besides the devil himself,-one wandering minstrel, several itinerant musicians, and some female opera dancers-(men of course) -besides crowds of fantastic figures, and fine fancy dresses, without any attempt at character,—of which indeed the great majority of the company were composed. As the dresses were, in general, extremely rich and splendid, and it had been signified that no dominos would be admitted-(although a few had crept in)-the coup d'œil of the brilliant and busy changing crowd, peopling these extensive gardens, gay with shrubs and flowers,

and winding walks and velvet lawns, which lay along the blue margin of the beautiful lake, had a most striking effect. It resembled a fairy scene; and the figures looked exactly as if conjured up by enchantment, like so many people bewitched-so that one could scarcely believe them real natural men and women.

The first figure we saw on landing, was Diogenes, walking about with his tub upon his head, and his lighted lanthorn in his hand, looking for an honest man. He addressed us with most cynical asperity, levelling the most pointed sarcasms at poor Mrs. Cleveland, as if he chose her as the representative of her whole sex-reproaching her with levity, frailty, falsehood, and artifice; and pouring forth against her a flood of quotations from the Greek and Latin classics in abuse of women-which luckily for her she did not understand, though the tone in which they were uttered made their general tenour sufficiently intelligible.

I should have told you that, wishing to enjoy a little amusement incognita, and especially desirous to secure myself from the persecutions of the little Count, who I feared might recognise me in my Sultana's dress in the trimming and trying on of which he had taken so important a part,-I had thrown over it the long dark flowing robes of a sorcerer, with a huge cap--put together in the morning-which went easily over my Sultana's ⚫ turban; and in this masculine equipment, with a wand in my hand, I looked so tall and terrible, that even you would not have known me.

While Diogenes was thundering forth his classical philippics against women, I discovered, from his pronunciation of Latin, that he was an Englishman. He speedily changed his battery, however,