276 ANOTHER CHAPTER ON THE " RIGHTS OF WOMAN. " 



the risk of her displeasure, I must kneel before my sovereign, and implore 

 her to break the iron bondage of her faithful knight/ 



" ' Resume your wings, my gay butterfly,' said the princess, kissing his 

 forehead. 



""' By the Virgin !' said the page, rising, ' it is more than six months 

 since your highness conferred a similar honour, on your poor dwarf. We 

 are saved we are entering on a new existence we throw off our chrysa- 

 lis and take wings, Alleluia !' 



" ' Let us burn this vile pen/ said Ginetta. 



" f Not so,' said the page, seizing it. ' Let us place it in the cap of the 

 secretary here, and throw the whole into the Cilina, the pedant and his 

 ink dulness and its registers." ' 



Pleasure now reigns supreme. Balls and fetes, and court ceremo- 

 nials are all the order of the day. A grand masquerade took place 

 at the palace. After a whimsical but felicitous invention of the 

 princess, the whole court represented an immense collection of in- 

 sects and butterflies. She it was that presided at the choice and dis- 

 tribution of all the costumes. She consulted some twenty savans, 

 and turned over all the treatises on entomology in her library to ar- 

 rive at such a pitch of perfection as should be capable of throwing 

 the gravest professors of natural history into ecstasies of joy. She 

 assorted each disguise to the character and physiognomy of each per- 

 son. There were around her beautiful Venetians disguised as wasps, 

 fire-flies, and pierides ; gallant officers converted into flying stags, ca- 

 pricorns, and sphinx ; young abbes transformed into ants, and the 

 major-domo into a spider. The sphinx atropos met with most com- 

 plete success. The preaching -mandril was much admired, and the 

 ladies uttered exclamations of terror at the sight of the great sacred 

 iphis of the Egyptians. Quintilia chose for herself the white 

 phalenus of the night, and was distinguished by the richness and 

 simplicity of her costume. Her robe and wings of silver gauze fell 

 negligently along her figure. Two white marabout feathers, droop- 

 ing from her brow upon each shoulder, represented very agreeably 

 two downy antennae. But amid the cares and bustle of preparation, 

 the poor secretary seemed to have been forgotten. He awoke from 

 his six months' dream of happiness and found himself duped and 

 ruined in his affections. " What a fool I was," thought he, " to 

 imagine for a moment, that this woman's heart was set upon any 

 thing beyond the vanity of her sex and the pride of her station. And 

 what pleasure could she take in duping me and herself on pretended 

 philanthropic projects, upon the lofty aspirations of a generous soul, 

 when her most ardent wish and her crowning joy is a ruinous fete, 

 and the paltry homage of servile courtiers ?" Stung by these re- 

 flections, a prey to jealousy and despair^he followed Quintilia through 

 the rich assemblage. At length in his passion he hazards a declara- 

 tion, when the following scene takes place : 



" St. Julien seated himself in silence. Quintilia standing before a mirror 

 with her back turned towards him, replaced her disordered wings and 

 head-dress with the utmost self-composure. When she had finished, she 

 thought of him, and observed his reflection in the glass. He was on the 

 point of fainting. 



" She went directly towards him, and taking his hand with a self-pos- 



