what models for our painters! The passions still
existed among these good people; their mobile faces were animated by
love, hatred, and anger; to-day we are all so virtuous and prudent
that we all wear the same dress, the same hat, and the same
expression. Civilization is the triumph of morality and the ruin of
art.

After the description of the funeral ceremonies, which, according to
etiquette, filled six columns, the court gazette laid down rules for
the full and the second mourning, blue and pink, which are the
mourning colors in the kingdom of Wild Oats. The court was required to
be in deep affliction for three weeks, and to be comforted by degrees
during the three weeks following; but carnival occurring during the
period of the second mourning, and respect being had for trade, it was
determined to give a masked ball at the palace. Tailors and
dressmakers immediately set to work, invitations were solicited by
great and small, and men began to intrigue as if the fate of the
monarchy had been in question.

It was in this solemn manner that they mourned for poor Pazza.

VI

THE MASKED BALL

The great day so impatiently expected at length arrived. For six weeks
the good people of Wild Oats had been in a fever of excitement.
Nothing more was heard of ministers, senators, generals, magistrates,
princesses, duchesses, and citizens; for twenty leagues round, clowns,
harlequins, punchinellos, gipsies, Columbines, and Follies alone were
to be seen. Politics were silenced, or, rather, the nation was divided
into two great parties--the conservatives that went to the ball, and
the opposition that stayed at home.

If the official gazette is to be believed, the festival outshone in
splendor all others past and to come. The ball was held in the midst
of the gardens, in a rotunda magnificently decorated. A winding walk,
shaded by elms and dimly lighted by alabaster lamps, led to a hall
resplendent with gold, verdure, flowers, and light. An orchestra, half
concealed in the foliage, breathed forth music, by turns plaintive and
gay. Add to this the richness of the costumes, the brilliancy of the
diamonds, the piquancy of the masks, and the charm of intrigue, and
you will see that it would have needed the soul of an ancient Stoic to
resist the intoxication of pleasure.

Yet Prince Charming was not amused. Concealed under a blue domino,
with his face entirely masked, he had addressed himself to the most
elegant and sprightly