THE MAGIC - BALL. '
Tau Siecie of Paris relates a strange incident, but obviously mistakes the gist of the matter. During the Carnival, the Due De Nemours gave a series of balls and concerts, for each of, which there was a distinct list of invitations. Persons of mature were to be invited to the concerts, and only young persons to ,the balls. We now quote the words of the Meek- " On the reension of the last ball, to the astonishment of the Prince, .ell the company were elderly. There were gentry, Peers of France, aged .spinsters, dow- ager Dutchesses, and hobbling Members of the Chamber of Depubes. When the orchestra struck up a- quadrille, the company were as astounded as the Priam. but as etiquette seehaed to require that they should lance, aquadrille was formed, sad the-good old folks went through it to the great amusement of the spectatavt; who could not, however, venture to indulge in a laugh, lest they in their tun might be laughed at. A mistake had been made in the list of invitations;, but the mischief being done, nothing could. be said abontit, and the Peers and Peer- esses, grave lawyers and antiquated Deputies, shuffled through the evening,- to their no small mortification."
Their mortification eredat Judtens. The Duke is a " deep one," and he. understands human nature. He proved it when he struck out the plan of dining all the world to make the way to his dotation but this last is a stroke even beyond the dinner. Of all passions m the human breast, the desire to resist the encroach- ment of time is the strongest. The very mirror is disbelieved; the wrinkles of the face are unseen in the accommodating simper with which the glass is approached, and the reflector of truth is wheedled into telling falsehood. The hair turns gray in vain— it is anxiety. Children grow to manhood and womanhood---hut they are still called children. The ear learns the trick of accept- ing truth with a difference. But there is one fatal sign that can- not be misconceived : balls are given, and for the first time the aging dancer is net invited! Appalling negation I Who can re- sist that conviction? One's dancing-days are then really over- Tithonus is not immortal ! There is no attempt to resist that in- evitable decree—the victim yields to fate in silent despair. But Nemours has struck that deadened chord, and wakened it to rat: tire. The uninvited have been invited ! It was accident—epnte accident—nobody meant a frolic; all was meant to be decorous; but it did so happen. The antiquated Peers, the dowager Dutch. eases, the aged spinsters, again threaded the mazy dance. The limbs perchance were stiff—the pas de zephyr was not very aerial—the knees may have tottered—the thrill of pleasure was less tumultuous ; but a generation was struck from the rolls of time, and once more before the tomb, the faithful swain (faithful or not) pursued with measured ardour the goddess of his devoirs, as- if it were decreed- " For ever shalt thou play, earl she be fair."
And the Duke has given them this bonne bouche of existences He has secured the votes of the, old. ones.
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