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THE COURT OF PRAGUE. 



Petit poisson deviendra grand 

 Pourvu que Dieu lui prete vie. 



" Vous me demandez done des renseignemens sur noire petite cour de 

 Prague," said the lively Baron de M. to me, as we sauntered through 

 the dark and gloomy streets of the ancient capital of Bohemia. " One 

 word will be sufficient to put you au fait, viz. entrique au Cabole ; 

 but if you are not satisfied, read the history of your own Stuarts at 

 St. Germain, and I shall be spared the trouble of playing the his- 

 torian." We had by this time reached the suburb, when my atten- 

 tion was suddenly arrested by a lady, who, alighting from an elegant 

 Russian drowski, entered a large and magnificent mansion. Elle 

 netoit plus dans la premiere jeunesse ; but there still remained the 

 traces of surpassing loveliness ; while her coal-black eyes, raven 

 locks, and Grecian-like regularity of features, proclaimed her a 

 daughter of the genial south. " Tenez !" exclaimed my com- 

 panion, " fertile as Prague is just now in the victims of the caprice 

 of fortune, there is one of those striking examples of her bizarrerie 

 that is rarely encountered in real life. If you have no objection,, 

 I will give you a sketch of her singular history, which will while 

 away our time till we reach the hotel." The Baron, after a prepara- 

 tory hem ! began. 



At the bottom of the Adriatic gulph, immediately opposite the 

 Islands of La Brazza, Lesina and Curzola, remarkable for their pic- 

 turesque beauty, is situated the small port of Almissa, which contains 

 between thirty and forty houses, and some hundred inhabitants, who 

 derive their sole subsistence from fishing and the cultivation of the 

 vine and olive. 



At the period at which our story commences, Dalmatia was occu- 

 pied by the French troops ; and one of the regiments of the army of 

 occupation, which was distributed along all the vulnerable points of 

 the coast, furnished a detachment to Almissa. This remote post, this 

 place of exile for it was decidedly the most wild and savage spot in 

 Dalmatia (where, by.the-bye, wild and savage spots abound) offering 

 no resources whatever, the detachment was relieved regularly once a 

 month. Their duty was rather wearisome than severe, for when off 

 guard, the officers and soldiers that composed it, knew not actually 

 to what saint to devote themselves, and literally consumed their time 

 in conjugating the verb " s'ennuyer" in all its moods and tenses. In 

 fact, what were they to do ? At fifty paces from their quarters, com- 

 menced the rocks again, whom could they speak to ? The inhabi- 

 tants did not even understand the Venetian dialect, which every 

 where else along the coast is spoken in common with the Illyrian 

 language. And then there is no being who walks this earth less 

 communicative than your real Dalmatian ; besides, it is well known 

 that confidence is with difficulty established between a foreign army 

 of occupation, and the inhabitants of a country whom they come to 

 protect. 



Once a week, however, some Morlakian men, women, and chil- 



