PHILLIDA AND CORIDON. 113 
could hardly keep from laughing at his absurd 
appearance. . It did not occur to me till after- 
wards that he had perhaps heard of Othello’s 
method, and was at that moment acting out a 
story 
‘‘of most disastrous chances, 
Of moving accidents by flood and field, 
Of hair-breadth scapes i’ the imminent deadly breach, 
Of being taken by the insolent foe 
And sold to slavery.” 
How much depends upon the point of view! 
Here was I, ready to laugh ; while poor Desde- 
mona only thought, “’T was pitiful, ’t was won- 
drous pitiful.”” Dear sympathetic soul! Let 
us hope that she was never called to play out 
the tragedy. 
Two things are very noticeable during the 
pairing season, —the scarcity of females and 
their indifference. : Every one of them seems 
to have at least two admirers dangling after 
her,! while she is almost sure to carry herself 
as if a wedding were the last thing she would 
ever consent to think of; and that not because 
of bashfulness, but from downright aversion. 
The observer begins to suspect that the fair 
creatures have really entered into some sort of 
no-marriage league, and that there are not to 
1 So near do birds come to Mr. Ruskin’s idea that ‘‘ a girl worth 
anything ought to have always half a dozen or so of suitors under 
vow for her.”’ 
8 
