nsibility; and the distaff and the shears are at your
Majesty's service the moment your Majesty may find convenient successors
to the present holders. As a last favour, in addition to the many we are
proud to remember we have received from your Majesty, we entreat that we
may be relieved from their burthen as quickly as possible.' (Loud cheers
from the Eumenides.)

'We had better recall Cerberus,' said Pluto, alarmed, 'and send this
mortal about his business.'

'Not without Eurydice. Oh! not without Eurydice,' said the Queen.

'Silence, Proserpine!' said Pluto.

'May it please your Majesty,' said Lachesis, 'I am doubtful whether we
have the power of expelling anyone from Hades. It is not less the law
that a mortal cannot remain here; and it is too notorious for me to
mention the fact that none here have the power of inflicting death.'

'Of what use are all your laws,' exclaimed Proserpine, 'if they are only
to perplex us? As there are no statutes to guide us, it is obvious that
the King's will is supreme. Let Orpheus depart, then, with his bride.'

'The latter suggestion is clearly illegal,' said Lachesis.

'Lachesis, and ye, her sisters,' said Proserpine, 'forget, I beseech
you, any warm words that may have passed between us, and, as a personal
favour to one who would willingly be your friend, release Eurydice.
What! you shake your heads! Nay; of what importance can be a single
miserable shade, and one, too, summoned so cruelly before her time, in
these thickly-peopled regions?'

''Tis the principle,' said Lachesis; ''tis the principle. Concession is
ever fatal, however slight. Grant this demand; others, and greater, will
quickly follow. Mercy becomes a precedent, and the realm is ruined.'

'Ruined!' echoed the Furies.

'And I say _preserved!_' exclaimed Proserpine with energy. 'The State is
in confusion, and you yourselves confess that you know not how to remedy
it. Unable to suggest a course, follow mine. I am the advocate of
mercy; I am the advocate of concession; and, as you despise all higher
impulses, I meet you on your own grounds. I am their advocate for the
sake of policy, of expediency.'

'Never!' said the Fates.

'Never!' shrieked the Furies.

'What, then, will you do with Orpheus?'

The Parcae shook their heads; even the Eumenides were silent.

'Then you are unable to carry on the King's government; for Orpheus must
be disposed of; all agree to that. Pluto, reject these counsellors, at
onc