of the gold tone of the Venetian school. And this the palettes
of our moderns call no longer produce. Yet I own it seemed to me as if
the copyist had introduced here and there some bold touches of his
own."

"The copyist!" said he of the sofa, throwing away his cigar. "This
shews you know little of Erminus. He has only been taking us in, in
order to contrast a highly coloured picture with our faded hues. Who
will bet that this chronicle of San Niccolo is not a much later
production than the far-famed Ossian of Macpherson!"

Erminus seemed to turn a deaf ear to these remarks. "And how do you
estimate the morality of the story?" asked he, addressing himself to
Frau Eugenie.

The lady in question reflected for a moment, then said, "I do not know
that one could discuss so singular a case in the light of precedent or
example. Have not different times indeed different manners, and
different modes of feeling? I confess that a passionate self-surrender
which does not reckon upon eternal constancy, must always clash with my
own sense of right; and that it is only the tragic end that reconciles
me to the startling commencement. And yet, had the Fair Giovanna been
my sister, I should not have scrupled to walk with her hand in hand in
the funeral procession that followed Attilio's bier."

"A better testimony to the morality of the tale I could not desire,"
replied the narrator. "Allow me to kiss your hand in return."

END OF THE EMBROIDERESS OF TREVISO.

LOTTKA.

LOTTKA.

I was not quite seventeen years old, an over-grown pale-faced young
fellow, at that awkward and embarrassing age which, conscious, of
having out-grown boyish ways, is yet very unsteady and insecure when
seeking to tread in the footsteps of men. With an audacious fancy and a
timid heart; oscillating between defiant self-confidence and girlish
sensitiveness; snatching inquisitively at every veil that hides from
mortal eyes the mysteries of human life; to-day knowing the last word
of the last question, to-morrow confessing the alphabet has still to be
learnt, and getting comfort after so restless and contradictory a
fashion that one would have been intolerable to one's very self if not
surrounded by fellows in misfortune---that is in years--who were faring
no better, and yet continued to endure their personality.

It was at this time that I became inti