?_"

Whereupon Rossi assumed an air of conscious guilt most comical to see.

Some one then asked him at what age and in what character he had
made his debut. His reply was: "I was just fourteen, and I played the
soubrette characters in an amateur company--a line that I could hardly
assume with any degree of vraisemblance now." And he put his head on
one side, thrust his hands into a pair of imaginary apron-pockets and
looked around with a pert, chambermaid-like air so absurdly unsuited
to his noble features and intellectual brow--to say nothing of his
stalwart physique--that all present shrieked with laughter.

The evening was now drawing to a close, and the guests began to take
their departure. When Rossi came to say farewell his hostess asked him
if he would do her the favor of writing his autograph in her copy of
Shakespeare. He assented at once, and taking up the pen, he wrote in
Italian these lines: "O Master! would that I could comprehend thee
even as I love thee!" and then appended his name.

A peculiar brightness and geniality of temperament, a childlike
simplicity of manner, united to a keen and cultivated intellect and
to a thorough knowledge of social conventionalities,--such was the
impression left by Signor Rossi on the minds of those present. There
was a total absence of conceit or of self-assertion that was very
remarkable in a member of his profession, and one, too, of such
wide-spread celebrity. The general verdict of Europe is that he is as
great an actor as Salvini, while his repertoire is far more important
and varied: it remains to be seen whether the United States will
endorse the verdict of Italy and of Paris.

L.H.H.

"FOUNDER'S DAY" AT RAINE'S HOSPITAL.

MAY DAY in London would not seem at first sight to realize the
traditionary associations connected with its name, but in a certain
parish of the city a more solid interest attaches to this day, and
young girls look forward to the ceremony which marks it with more
anxiety than ever did village-lass to her expected royalty of a
day. Twice a year (the Fifth of November being the other occasion)
a wedding-portion of one hundred pounds is given by lot to one girl
among the many whose antecedents, as prescribed by the founder's will,
entitle them to become candidates. This endowment is connected
with what is known as Raine's Asylum in the parish of St.
George's-in-the-East, London. The parish is populous and
unfashionable, and proport