" WITH FLYING FINGERS TOUCHED THE LYRE." 333 



into tlie ear of beauty, with all the elegance, refine- 

 ment, and seclactiveness of manner and language 

 necessary to ensure the entree within the circle of 

 elegance and aristocracy. Yet such men are not of 

 that class of effeminate beings devoting their time to 

 merely writing " sonnets to their mistress' eyebrow," 

 or in holding the silken skein from which the fair one 

 weaves the gage d^amour destined to the favoured and 

 happy object of her smiles ; nor would they, like such 

 ephemera, devote the propitious hunting morning to 

 a piano, where the only feeling they create is one of 

 comparison between the ungainly object and that of 

 the fair form who, once seen there, has been the 

 bright vision of our nightly dreams, where we again 

 in fancy hear her dulcet notes, again feel the fascina- 

 tion of her conscious smile of triumph, and again 

 behold her sylph-like form gracefully bending as her 

 fairy fingers fly over the j)arti-coloured keys of the 

 instrument. Lovely, thrice lovely woman ! this is thy 

 bright prerogative : this thy empire : this the scene 

 of all thy many conquests — thy self-created Elysium, 

 where none but the manly should be privileged to 

 enter. The timid, affected coxcomb, who fears to 

 show his dear loved person where aught of risk or 

 danger threatens, can never truly estimate thy num- 

 berless perfections ; though he dares to challenge thy 

 smile as an offering to his self-estimated pretensions, 

 instead of wooing it as the best and brightest reward 

 of an honest and devoted heart. Little do such 

 beings wot that manly bearing and a dauntless spirit 

 are the surest stepping-stones to Avoman's estima- 

 tion. 



La Chasse — strange that twenty-one miles of water 

 should make so wide a difference in the ideas of 



