onforming to it.'

'You speak riddles,' said Proserpine.

'To be plain, then,' replied Saturn, 'I think you may as well at once
give up your throne, as conform to this spirit.'

'And why so?' inquired Proserpine very ingenuously.'

'Because,' replied Saturn, shrugging up his shoulders, 'I look upon the
spirit of the age as a spirit hostile to Kings and gods.'

The next morning Saturn himself attended his beautiful guest over his
residence, which Proserpine greatly admired.

''Tis the work of the Titans,' replied the ex-King. 'There never was a
party so fond of building palaces.'

'To speak the truth,' said Proserpine, 'I am a little disappointed that
I have not had an opportunity, during my visit, of becoming acquainted
with some of the chiefs of that celebrated party; for, although a
Liberal, I am a female one, and I like to know every sort of person who
is distinguished.'

'The fact is,' replied her host, 'that the party has never recovered
from the thunderbolt of that scheming knave Jupiter, and do not bear
their defeat so philosophically as years, perhaps, permit me to do. If
we have been vanquished by the spirit of the age,' continued Saturn,
'you must confess that, in our case, the conqueror did not assume a
material form very remarkable for its dignity. Had Creation resolved
itself into its original elements, had Chaos come again, or even old
Coelus, the indignity might have been endured; but to be baffled by
an Olympian _juste milieu_, and to find, after all the clamour, that
nothing has been changed save the places, is, you will own, somewhat
mortifying.'

'But how do you reconcile,' inquired the ingenuous Proserpine, 'the
success of Jupiter with the character which you ascribed last night to
the spirit of the age?'

'Why, in truth,' said Saturn, 'had I not entirely freed myself from all
party feeling, I might adduce the success of my perfidious and worthless
relative as very good demonstration that the spirit of the age
is nothing better than an _ignis fatuus_. Nevertheless, we must
discriminate. Even the success of Jupiter, although he now conducts
himself in direct opposition to the emancipating principles he at
first professed, is no less good evidence of their force; for by his
professions he rose. And, for my part, I consider it a great homage to
public opinion to find every scoundrel now-a-days professing himself a
Liberal.'

'You are candid;' said Proserpine. 'I should like very much to se