riding him--he was groaning.

"Let us commit suicide," said the knight, in gloomy tones.

Jacques started.

"Suicide!"

"The night is favorable, and my hopes are dead, like yours," said Sir
Asinus, gloomily.

"That is enough to kill at one time," said the melancholy Jacques;
"mine are not--animation is only suspended. On the whole, my dear
friend, I am opposed to your proposition. Good night!"

And Jacques, with a melancholy smile, departed.

Sir Asinus, with a gesture of despair, rushed forth into the night.
Whether that gentleman had been reading romances or not, we cannot
say; but as he disappeared, he bore a strong resemblance to a
desperate lover bent on mischief.

Within, the reel had now begun--that noble divertisement, before which
all other dances disappear, vanquished, overwhelmed, driven from the
field, and weeping their departed glories. For the reel is a high
mystery--it is superior to all--it cannot be danced beyond the borders
of Virginia--as the Seville orange of commerce loses its flavor, and
is nothing. The reel ends all the festivities of the old Virginian
gatherings, and crowns with its supreme merriment the pyramid of
mirth. When it is danced properly,--to proper music, by the proper
persons, and with proper ardor,--all the elements break loose. Mirth
and music and bright eyes respectively shower, thunder and lighten. In
the old days, it snowed too--for the powder fell in alabaster dust and
foamy clouds, and crammed the air with fragrance.

As for the reel which they danced at the Raleigh tavern, in the Apollo
room, upon the occasion we allude to, who shall speak of it with
adequate justice? Jacques lost it--tulip-like, the king of
grace--Belle-bouche was with him; and a thousand eyes were on the
maze,--the maze which flashed, and buzzed, and rustled, ever
merrier--and glittered with its diamonds and far brighter eyes--and
ever grew more tangled and more simple, one and many, complicate and
single, while the music roared above in flashing cadences and grand
ambrosial grace.

And merrier feet were never seen. The little maidens seemed to pour
their hearts out in the enchanting divertisement, and the whole
apartment, with its dazzling lights and flowers, was full of laughter,
mirth, and holiday from end to end. When the final roar of the violins
dropped into silence, and so crumbled into nothing, all was ended.
Cavaliers offered their arms--ladies put on their hoods--chariots
drove up an