with ribbons of lively colours, richly striped, and beautifully variegated.

yet to be preferred before pelisses in outdoor costume: they are of light colours, and very often striped, with a tint two or The most prevailing dresses for demithree shades darker. At the commence- parure are of plain silks, when in gros de ment of May the weather was uncertain, Naples, and striped sarcenets: these and Cachemire shawls were, as is usual stripes are often of satin, particularly at this season, much worn. In carriages, when the material is of a dark colour. however, when the temperature was mild, The plain silks are very much admired these envelopes were thrown aside, and when of a corn-flower blue, or of feuillediscovered the high dress very elegantly morte; and are trimmed at the border made, with a collar en paladin, over with broad bias folds, vandyked at the which depended another collar of the upper part, and edged with silk passemenMaltese kind, of fine lace; and one of the || terie. The striped sarcenets being lighter, new elegant cravat-scarfs encircled the and sitting more close round the form, throat. These appendages to out-door have a fuller sort of trimming, such as covering are extremely beautiful; they flounces cut in bias, edged with narrow are of a rich, but very soft silk, and are rouleaux of satin, and headed by one very striped, crosswise, in the most lively and full rouleau of the same material; the charming colours. A high dress of co- corsage and back finished by fichu robings. loured poplin, with one of these cravat- We saw a very beautiful dress at the scarfs tied round the throat, forms a very|| Opera, of black crêpe-Aérophane, richly favourite attire for the promenade. Pe- adorned with bugles in foliage; a row lerines the same as the dress are very of which went down each side of the general. It is, however, expected that robe in front, and the border was supelisses will soon take place of these perbly finished in the same sort of work, dresses. but more than double the breadth of those ornaments which were down the sides. The body was à la Vierge, and the dress was worn over a white satin slip. We do not believe the lady who wore this splendid dress was in mourning, as, among the very fine pearls which adorned her hair, were mingled a few rose-buds, and the gallery of the comb that fastened up her tresses, was of beautifully wrought gold. A favourite dress for evening parties is of white tulle over white satin, with the border trimmed with a double row of deep Vandykes, in satin. Dresses, trimmed in a similar manner, of these materials, are much in request for the ball-room. At a dinner party we saw a young lady in a dress of ethereal blue gauze, with a broad triple stripe of satin of the same colour: the body was à la Vierge, and ornamented round the tucker part, with Vandykes of blue satin, which ornaments headed the upper flounce of two, that surrounded the border of the skirt. The sleeves were short, and moderately full. of striped barege, and beautifully figured chintzes, ornamented with coloured ribbons, or passementerie, are much worn in morning dress, or in retired home costume: and, with young persons, white

We find it difficult yet to reconcile ourselves entirely to the shape, or the extended magnitude of the bonnets: they are, nevertheless, trimmed with much taste, and, to some faces, which it may be difficult to disguise, they may, perhaps, be pronounced becoming. We have just inspected one which was made for a lady of fashion, a tolerably pretty woman; but the bonnet certainly looked better at the Magasin de Modes, than on her head it was of a beautiful ethereal blue gros de Naples, and was very tastefully trimmed with blue and steam-yellow ribbons: two strings confined it slightly under the chin, one blue, the other yellow. An Esterhazy coloured bonnet, lined and trimmed with pink, of the same shape as the above, is also very fashionable; and the two bonnets were made by a milliner very famous for her taste and invention, and the high patronage she enjoys, at the court end of the town. The Leghorn and straw bonnets are yet but tardy in their appearance, and it is thought that silk bonnets will be much more prevalent this summer than any other kind. There is novelty, however, in the shape of the present Leghorn bonnets, which are simply trimmed

Dresses

muslin dresses are in high favour for family dinner parties, and social friendly meetings. These muslin dresses are very beautifully embroidered on the flounces,

the head, than those three-wired puffs, which were ridiculously perched on the summit, in front, two or three months ago. There are ladies, however, who

bodies, and sleeves; and fichu bracers || yet retain this absurd fashion, and, we and sashes are added, of broad coloured satin ribbon.

are sorry to say, they are not regarded as being any wise singular or outré in their coiffeure. A very few single flowers, detached from each other, sometimes are seen decorating the ringlets of very young

Turbans are very much worn at evening parties. We do not greatly approve the party-coloured rage so predominant, at present, in the ladies' head-dresses; || ladies: they are of the spring kind, and but we could not refrain from admiring the lover may be pleased to see that one we saw completed for a lady of dis- heart's-ease is not forgotten. Married tinction, and of acknowledged taste in ladies, who are accustomed, when full dress. It was of Macassa brown, and || dressed, to wear their hair without amber satin; the shape was beautifully || turbans or dress hats, ornament their becoming, and over the turban was tastefully scattered half open damask roses. Caps, entirely of blond, of the most expensive and rare description, are in high favour for receiving dinner parties at home.

The flowers, which ornament these head-dresses, are of the most beautiful kind; and nothing can be imagined more exquisite than the manner in which they are grouped together; for they are, at once, richly clustered, and yet devoid of every thing the least heavy in their appearance. A profusion of them adorns the head-piece and crown of the cap, which is in the cornette style, and fastens under the chin with a ribbon, the prevailing colour in the flowers, by a bow on the left side. Other caps for home dress are not quite so tasteful: they are of tulle and blond; and every colour that the sun ever shone upon is mingled together in ornaments of narrow rouleaux of satin, bows of ribbon, tulips, and every other gaudy flower. These accessories, lastmentioned, it is true, are but thinly scattered, and the cap, when well put on, looks better than might be imagined. Bows of ribbon, and puffs of gauze ribbon, intermingled with blond, are much worn at those little parties whence ceremony is in a great degree banished. The hair is very charmingly arranged for the dress party, and moderate in its elevation; the curls of a more becoming size next the face, and the hair in front arranged à la Fantasia, much fuller on one side than the other. The Apollo knot, formed of three or four puffs of hair, which, though seen in front, recline more, as they should do, towards the back of

heads much with diamonds or pearls; feathers are worn, but we do not find them in very general request; in the dress hats, and berets, for evening parties, they are chiefly conspicuous.

The favourite colours are amber, pink, Macassa brown, corn-flower, and ethereal-blue, steam-yellow, violet, and Ester|| hazy.

Cabinet of Taste,

OR MONTHLY COMPENDIUM OF FOREIGN
COSTUME.

By a Parisian Correspondent.

COSTUME OF PARIS.

THE salon of painting, in drawing together a crowd of fashionables of both sexes, may now be deemed a proper criterion for the style of demi-parure; and the preparations making for two or three distinguished marriages, among my own acquaintance, will enable me to give you a very correct detail of all that is elegant and modish in "our good city of Paris."

The high dresses now worn for the promenade, have generally the addition of a Cachemire sautoir tied round the throat; when the weather is cold, this is always of a bright red, and is judiciously crossed over the chest; preventing those colds, which, when caught at the commencement of spring, are too often known to be fatal. Many ladies have appeared in very elegant pelisses of beautiful spring colours: they are of gros de Naples, and are ornamented with colours strikingly different from those of the pelisse; the

collar stands up, and two narrow pelerine capes fall over the shoulders. Déshabille pelisses, for the morning walk, have very wide sleeves; and the pelerine capes are cleft on each shoulder, so that they may not conceal or repress the immense fullness of the sleeves at the top. The most fashionable riding habits are of Navarin-smoke colour. The corsage turns back with broad lapels, and discovers a shirt, laid in small plaits, and fastened by buttons of gold enamel; the collar is brought so high that it lies on each cheek; the cravat is of black silk. Pantaloons of dimity, and half-boots of Turkish satin.

rose-colour, wound three times round the figure, and tied on one side. At select evening parties, dresses of white flockgauze are much worn: they are figured in broad flock stripes on a clear ground; a very broad hem, or a bias fold, constitutes the chief trimming on these gowns. When pelerine collars are worn with dresses, the upper part is trimmed with embroidered tulle, and a very broad hem. At concerts, and at the theatres, the most elegantly dressed females are generally habited in gowns of coloured poplin : some of them are figured, in stripes. The corsages of these dresses are hollowed out in front and at the back, forming a The brims of the new Leghorn hats V. By means of these incisions, the fine are so large, that a merveilleuse is obliged || narrow lace tucker of the chemise is disto put it on one side before she can enter || covered. The skirt of the dress is trimher carriage. These hats are generally ornamented with one long green feather of the weeping willow kind, or three ostrich feathers, grouped together in the form of a fleur-de-lis. Some hats of white chip have a broad band placed round the top of the crown, the ends of which join together at the base of the crown, behind: there they are fastened by a bow of painted ribbon. A wreath of white thorn, not full blown, completes the trimming. In the morning it is customary to Turbans of gaze-lisse, half white, half wear figured sarcenet bonnets, in large rose-colour, tied under the chin on one chequers of canary-yellow, on a white side, by a white ribbon, terminated by ground; a broad white blond, forming a pearl tassels, constitute an elegant headdemi-veil, is placed at the edge of the dress for concerts, or the Théâtre Italien. brim. Notwithstanding the above intel- The dress hats are often of coloured crape, ligence, it must be confessed that the of light and lively tints, and on these are fashions for the summer hats and bonnets placed about a dozen white feathers. The remain yet undecided: the bonnets are, blossom of the flax, or hemp, a very small at present of a fancy kind, yet they are blue flower, is to be found at every artias graceful as they are elegant. I have ficial florist's, of all the colours in the particularly admired one of this sort made || rainbow. These blossoms are favourite for one of my young friends, just become ornaments when the hair is well arranged, a bride, to pay her first morning visits in; to be mingled among the curls and bows. it is a white bonnet, ornamented with gauze They are also placed on small blond caps ribbons, richly spotted with white satin. and dress hats.

I saw a very pretty young married lady at the Théâtre Italien, in a dress of white gauze, trimmed with two festooned flounces of rose-coloured silk. The corsage was in Greek drapery, and all the plaits on the shoulders were gathered up,|| and clasped by a pearl brooch, an ornament that also upheld the little draperies which formed the short sleeves. The waist was encircled by a friar's belt of

med with two bias folds; that at the part next the shoe, is set on in the manner of a flounce. The sleeves are white. The favourite materials for dresses, and which appear en foule at the salon, are poplins, trimmed with very deep flounces, dresses of gros de Naples, embroidered in various shades, Cachemires and chintzes. White dresses of gros de Naples frequently have painted on them flowers and figures in the Persian style.

Among our favourite colours, a new green has made its appearance, called peau de serpent: it is very much like Nile water-green. The other colours most in request, are pink, Swedish blue, yellow, Navarin-smoke, and chestnut brown.

The most fashionable neck-chains are formed of separate lozenge-diamonds, of beautiful enamel, linked together by delicate gold chain-work, or beads of gold.

Monthly View

OF

NEW PUBLICATIONS, MUSIC, THE ENGLISH AND FOREIGN DRAMA, THE FINE ARTS, LITERARY AND

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE, &c.

of Sir Aldobrand. The catastrophe is at
once novel and deeply affecting :-

Short space sufficed to speed him from the spot,
Love lent him wings to bear him to his cot;
And his gay heart beat lively in his breast-
Selina's pardon sealed and both are blessed!
How like a deer he topped the wall of stone,
That fenced the little garden, now his own!
Like one that's saved from shipwreck, once on
shore,

Reflects on perils he has passed, no more;
But turns to thoughts of happiness—to roam
No more, but fix his ev'ry thought on home.

Before the door he paused, but all was still, And through the grove he heard the babbling rill;

So still, he heard the ticking of the clock,
And plash of waters dripping from the rock.
"Selina still may sleep," and on he creeps,
He gently lifts the latch" Indeed she sleeps.
How beautiful she looks!"-her silver skin
Shewed every circlet of the blood within.
Loose and disturbed her unbound hair appears,
And on her cheek the trace of recent tears.

A moment now he smiles a moment weeps,
And now "Be still," he says, "be still, she
sleeps !"

And then he list'ning stands, and seems to wait
With patient hope the signal of his fate.

But never comes a change, for his the doom
Of dark oblivion's everlasting gloom.
Alike to him the beams of orient day,
Or when at eve its glories fade away.
The summer's heat he feels not, nor the cold,
And in unconscious misery grows old;
Fix'd is the sum, the measure of the woe,
That suff'ring nature ere can undergo
When horror deepens, and the shuddering soul
Would snatch the poignard, drain the poisoned
bowl,

Indulgent heaven-for pains we must endure,
Fruits of our follies, wounds beyond a cure,
In mercy draws the darkest veil between
Our sense of feeling and the cureless scene!
Ears hear no plaints, and eyes with tears grow
blind,

And madness casts his pall upon the mind.

The best subject, treated in the best manner, presents itself in an exquisite

Soft o'er her form the lingering zephyr plays; volume, entitled "Records of Woman, and

"Sleep on, sweet love!"-he sat him down to
gaze

Upon her closed lids, whose light divine,
Shall bless him when she wakes, and brighter

shine.

He moved not once, lest, startled, she should hear

other Poems, by Felicia Hemans." Of
these gems, the greater part have, we
believe, already appeared in one of the
leading periodicals of the day; therefore,
without venturing upon extract, we shall
content ourselves with announcing the
appearance of the work, and recommend-

That he and happiness were both so near;
And now more near her cheek he drew, to siping it warmly to public favour.
Heaven's choicest boon-the honey on her lip;
But still he tasted not her balmy breath-
A rival had been there—that rival-Death!

He starts convulsive from her cold embrace,
And his eye glares upon her ashy face.
"Awake, Selina !-wake, my love! my life!
"Tis Percy calls upon his love-his wife!
And now his cries, his wailings, rend the air,
And his soul speaks the language of despair.
A moment hopes he willing to deceive
His sickening soul-still struggles to believe
She sleeps.-Oh! no, no, no!—she is not dead;

"Comes death to deck her on her bridal bed?
Hear me, Selina! hear!—I have no wife-
No love no friend-no hope-why have I life?"
The conflict's o'er, his veins to bursting swell,
And on the dead a lifeless load he fell.
Now thronging to his aid the rustics fly;
The gentle priest and skilful leech apply
Their tend'rest care, and long entranced he lay,
Till first a groan, and then a tear found way.
And when at length they raised him from that
bed,

The light of reason had for ever fled.

"Ada, and other Poems, by Mary Anne Browne, author of Mont Blanc, &c.," from their gracefulness of versification, purity of sentiment, and beauty of imagery, in addition to the youth and truly feminine modesty of their author, claim our favourable notice. Ada, the principal poem of the volume, is a romantic tale of much interest, in two cantos. We should speak more correctly, perhaps, were we indistinct and shadowy, and, to use the to term it a sketch, the characters being words of the author, in the dedication to her father-it is deficient in "the colouring

An abler hand might o'er it fling."

For general critiques on, and extracts from, the former works of Mrs. Hemans-a bright and a shining light in the paths of modern English literature-Vide Contemporary Poets and Writers of Fiction, in LA BELLE ASSEMBLEE, vol. iii, page 237, and vol. iv. page 5.