and the bewilderment of the lodgers underneath, or occasionally, in the joyousness of his heart, threw his wig at Ledbury, covering him with a cloud of powder. And Mr. Ledbury himself, not yet exactly understanding where he was in his new attire, but withal immensely pleased with it, was only wishing that some of the young ladies he had met at parties in London could see him now: wouldn't they be glad to dance with him-that was all!-and how all the other young men at Islington would sink into insignificance by his side.

Precisely at midnight they started for the ball. They had but a few yards to go from their door, and it was a fine night, so they walked in their dresses very quietly down the street to the theatre,-a proceeding which did not create any curiosity in the Quartier Latin. There was a great crowd of visitors at the doors; but, as only the ladies wore masks, they recognized several of their friends, including Jules and Henri, who came out uncommonly gay as two hussars. And although the salle is small, yet, when Mr. Ledbury was fairly in the theatre, the lights, the music, the dresses, and, above all, the lively and happy crowd around him, formed in their ensemble such a very enchanting scene, that he began to think the accounts of the festivities in the Arabian Nights were not the enormous lies he had always considered them to be.

Gar' les jambes!' cried a man, running along the room, holding a tin can of water with a hole in it, with which he appeared to be flourishing hieroglyphics on the floor.

'What's he doing, Jack?' asked Ledbury.

'Aux places! messieurs et dames, s'il vous plait!' exclaimed the master of the ceremonies, causing a sensation which precluded an answer to the inquiry.

Un vis-à-vis!' shouted twenty voices at once.

'Go and ask that little girl in the lancer's dress to dance,' said Johnson to Ledbury.

'But she don't know me, Jack,' was the reply. Shouldn't I be introduced?'

'Fiddlesticks' returned Johnson; 'go and ask her, I tell you, and then come and stand opposite to me.'

Mr. Ledbury mustered up courage, and contrived to make himself understood. He returned with the grisette, and placed himself opposite to Johnson; the band played a few bars of the opening quádrille, and the various sets fell into their places.

The dance proceeded, enlivened in the orchestral department by the glorious cornet-à piston; and after the last figure such a galoppe took place, that Ledbury soon saw the use of the man with the waterpot in laying the dust. He was not very successful at the galoppe; but his partner was, so that it was of no great consequence. She bounded off with him the instant the air began; and, what with running very fast, leaping, sliding, and taking terrific strides, he was enabled to keep up with her. To be sure, he tumbled down now and then, and got run over by twenty couple or so; but this was of no importance, for everybody was too much absorbed in their own whirl to look after anybody else; especially Jack Johnson and Aimée, who appeared to have taken an entire leave of their senses. And what a stirring chase it was! Down the declivity of the stage as hard as they could tear, to the boarded pit, and then flying wildly round

underneath the boxes, and up again to the back of the theatre. It was indeed a galoppe d'enfer, as Aimée called it, especially to the inspiring Postillon,' with the accompaniment of the crack of the whip, and jangling of the diligence bells. Then came the Danois galoppe, and the Fille du Danube, and the galoppe from Alma, and a dozen others equally spirited; and waltzes by Labitsky, Lanner, and Strauss without end; until the very hours took it into their heads to galoppe too, and the night passed away long before Ledbury, Johnson, or Aimée perceived or wished it.

At the close of one of the dances, Mr. Ledbury was sitting down by his partner, endeavouring to wash down some of the dust with which they were choked, with limonade gazeuse, when Johnson came up to him, apparently rather excited, and said,

I have just heard something worth knowing. The gendarme you see keeping order at the corner of the stage was at the river the night Derval was murdered. He has recognized you and me.'

Well, what then?' asked Ledbury in great fear, imagining that they were both to be immediately guillotined, in consequence, on the spot.

· He says that the assassin is to be executed this morning. It is not generally known yet; but if we like, as we were concerned in the affair, he can take us into the prison. Will you go?'

'I do not think I should like to see it, Jack,' replied Ledbury. 'Nonsense, man! you need not see the execution. Come along: we must get these things off, and meet the gendarme outside the theatre in twenty minutes. It is now nearly six.'

Half entreated, half persuaded into going, our friends left the house, and, hurriedly changing their things, returned to the theatre, where the officer was waiting for them. There were several cabs and coaches for hire at the doors; getting into a citadine, therefore, they drove immediately to the prison-a sudden and impressive contrast to the scene of revelry which they had just quitted!

On arriving at the prison, they remained at the door a short time, whilst the gendarme entered to obtain permission to bring them in. He returned almost directly; and, motioning them to follow him, at the same time that he ordered the vehicle to wait, led the way through many passages, gloomy in the dull light of morning, to the prison parlour. Several people were here assembled, and in the centre of them stood the criminal. Johnson directly recognized him and pointed him out to Ledbury, who, perfectly overcome with terror, scarcely dared to breathe. A venerable abbé was at his side offering him the last consolation of religion, which the condemned man appeared to receive with respect and even gratitude. He took off a heavy gold ring, such as the gipsies wear, and gave it to the priest, requesting it might be forwarded to some female whose name he mentioned.

'She will know shortly,' he said, that she need not call to see me to-morrow.'

Ledbury thought it strange that there should be a female who could care for this blood-stained, fearful man.

The persons whose duty it is to attend the culprit now came into the room, and having removed some of his upper garments, and laid bare his neck, proceeded to cut off his hair. As the coarse, dark

locks fell on the ground, he picked up one and gave it to the abbe, requesting that it might be forwarded with the ring. His demean our was altogether calm and unmoved. Once only he shuddered; and that was when, upon looking down, he saw the collar of his shirt upon the ground, which had been cut off by the executioner. He moved it with his foot out of sight, and became as tranquil as before.

A short time was spent in the necessary arrangements; and then the gendarme, approaching Johnson, told him if he wished to witness. the execution, he had better start immediately for the spot in some vehicle, as the cortège was about to leave the prison, and they would go at a rapid pace. A strange impulse now drew Ledbury on to see the end of the tragedy, in spite of its revolting nature; and, hastening out of the prison, they re-entered the citadine, and drove to the

barrier.

It was now about twenty minutes to eight; and the inhabitants of Paris, being an early people, were quite alive and busy at that hour: but, as the time and place of the fatal operation of the guillotine are always kept secret, Johnson and Ledbury did not see the tide of spectators pressing towards the spot that they would have observed in England, until they arrived at the Val-de-Grace. Here several were evidently bending their steps in the direction; for in the im mediate neighbourhood the elevation of the scaffold is a sufficient signal of what is to follow. When they came to the Place St. Jacques, at the Barrière d'Arcueil, in the centre of which the guillotine was erected, a great crowd of spectators had assembled, forming a large semi-circle, commencing from the barrier on either side. They were chiefly of the lower orders, but several respectable-looking females were amongst them; and two or three decent carriages were drawn up outside the ring and under the trees of the inner boulevards, filled with people. Of course, all the windows commanding a glimpse of the area were fully occupied; and Ledbury was astonished to see two or three young girls, some of them evidently belonging to a superior sphere of life, anxiously gazing at the fearful preparations for bloodshed. The mob was certainly amusing itself in a most hilarious manner. Itinerant venders of cakes, and marchands de coco, were perambulating amongst them; and a stranger would have thought, from their demeanour, that they were waiting during the entr' acte of an exhibition of mountebanks.

The guillotine was erected on a platform about seven feet from the ground, resting upon an open framework of timber, all of which was painted red By the side of the plank on which the criminal was to be confined was a long basket filled with saw-dust; and the box for the reception of the head was strapped to the uprights between which the knife was to fall. On one side of the scaffold was a common market-cart, in which two men were calmly sitting, and smoking their pipes-this was to convey the body away; and on the other was a light waggon to carry off the scaffold itself when taken to pieces after the execution. The circle of spectators was preserved by municipal guards and mounted troops of the line stationed in pairs at short distances; and the gendarmes were conversing in small groups in the centre.

A little before eight a cloud of dust at the extremity of the Boulevard d'Enfer proclaimed the approach of the cavalcade-a circum

stance which seemed to be hailed with much glee by the mob. A large detachment of horse-soldiers came first, at a sharp trot; then some of the city functionaries, in a small, four-wheeled fly with one horse; and, lastly, the criminal van, in which were the prisoner, the abbé, and the executioner. The van opened behind, and was consequently backed against the steps of the guillotine.

The priest first alighted, after him the condemned, and then the executioner. The culprit still preserved his firmness, his complexion denoted no internal emotion; and yet the solemn silence reigning around him, which was now but faintly disturbed by the shuddering of the multitude-a minute before so heedless-appeared nevertheless to produce upon him, at that awful moment, a lively impression. Looking steadily at the knife, which, heavily weighted, and fixed at the top of the uprights, was now throwing back the beams of the morning sun, he ascended the steps, listening to the last exhortations of the abbé. On reaching the platform he shook his head, as if he wished to address the crowd; but, merely exclaiming 'Oh! Dieu!" between his teeth, he took his place upon the plank, which was immediately lifted up, and pushed horizontally under the knife. A piece of wood, having a notch to correspond to the neck of the culprit, was then pushed down, to prevent his drawing back his head; and, as he was lying upon his face, he was actually looking into the box wherein his head was to fall.

All was now still as death; and, the catch being loosened, the knife fell swiftly down the groove; but the momentary check, as it cut through the vertebræ of the neck, could distinctly be perceived. Two immense jets of blood immediately spouted out from the divided arteries; but in an instant the body was pushed over into the basket, as well as the box containing the head. The scaffold was then washed down with pailsful of water, and the crimson stream poured down in torrents upon the pavement of the road; next to this, the basket containing the body and head were placed in the cart, which drove quickly off; and then the crowd gradually dispersed, apparently much gratified with the spectacle they had witnessed.

In the evening Johnson and Ledbury visited the barrier again. All the apparatus was removed, and the ever-gay population of Paris were passing outside the gates to enjoy themselves at the guinguettes. But the stain of blood was still upon the road, and the hearts of our friends sickened at the recollection of the morning's tragedy.

I have seen a great deal,' said Ledbury, since I left home, and shall not readily forget all I have witnessed; but I do not care to stay in Paris any longer. The winter is coming on, and I shall not be sorry to be once more at home again in England."

THE MASK OF MISCHIEF.

SIN and FOLLY, sisters twain,
Came into the world as twins;
Yet, though coupled thus, 'twas plain
They were not alike-for Sin's
Features were uncouth, unsightly;
Folly's looks were fair and sprightly.

Both resolved to push their way,

Though diverse their temper's mould: Grave was Sin and Folly gay;

Sly was Sin but Folly bold.

Both, with all their odds, had one quest-
Both were fired with love of conquest.

Folly foremost took her course,

Laughing, giggling as she went;
Some were charm'd, while some, perforce,
Shrank from such mad merriment-

Till the jade, albeit so heady,

Got a mask, to look more steady,

Sin, intent to clutch her prey,
Slowly stalked into the light:
Many scampered swift away;

Others yielded from pure fright:
So the reptile tail'd with rattles,
Uses fear to fight its battles.

Pleas'd, yet vex'd withal, was Sin ;
Grinning hideous like an ape;
Pleas'd some converts thus to win,
Vex'd that any should escape;
For to say the truth, the vampire
Burned for universal empire.

Quick to covet, prompt to ask

What might to her sway add stores, 'Oh!' cries Sin, 'I want a mask; Lend me, sister Folly, yours.

Of your own face you may dare crow
But you know I'm such a scare-crow

Folly, caught by this appeal,

(Compliment and candor mix'd,) Did her ugly sister's will;

Take,' said she, 'the thing thou seek'st.'

'Ha!' cried Sin in wicked raptures,

'What shall limit now my captures?'

Hugely throve the borrowing trick

Since which time, this precious pair Through the world their victims seek, Through the world their triumphs share; In their common plans to screen 'em, Having but one mask between 'em.

Mortal man in every place,

Shun, oh! shun that mask of shame;
Lest, when caught in Sin's embrace,
Thou should'st all too late exclaim,
In thy plight so melancholy,
'Alas! I thought 'twas only Folly.'

G. D.