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My liege," answered the young man, "I think that in this lightbut no," moving his place, "this is a false light-in fact, sire, the great beauty of the work appears to me to consist in the delicate manner in which all colours seem blended into one."

"Just so!" was echoed round on all sides; "all colours seem blended into one."

"Mamma!" said the young Princess, whispering timidly in her mother's ear, "what are they all talking about? I see nothing there." Happily the attention of all present was at that moment attracted to the Lord Chancellor, who, speaking in a loud voice, thus addressed his Majesty,

"My lord and King, there is but one use to which this wondrous tissue can be applied with propriety. It must be made into a dress for the gracious Majesty of Spain."

"The Lord Chancellor is right," said the lords and ladies in chorus. "It was to this use," said Baptiste, modestly," that I hoped it would be applied. My assistants, working under my influence, are sufficiently skilful to form such a dress, without suffering a single jewel to be lost; but we must beseech his Majesty to lay aside his outer garments, in order that we may take his measure accurately. Stretch out the tissue on the ground," he added, turning to Arnaud and Gregoire, who, in compliance with his wishes, appeared to lay the magic fabric on the ground with the greatest nicety and care. They then all three proceeded to disrobe the King, on which the Queen and ladies retired, leaving his Majesty surrounded only by gentlemen.

"Must my entire dress be made of this fine tissue?" said the King, looking with some anxiety to the Chancellor. "Surely it is too superb -much too superb."

"Too superb it cannot be, O King!" said Baptiste, busily employed upon the floor. "But there are other reasons why I would not recommend that every garment should be made of this an under-dress of velvet might perhaps sit more easily."

-

"What mean you, fellow?" exclaimed the Lord Chancellor in an angry voice. "How dare you propose to mingle paltry velvet with such a material as this? No, my liege; go forth in this, and this alone, to bless the eyes of your faithful people."

"Be it so," said Baptiste, bowing to the Chancellor with reverence; "but take care, my lord," he added suddenly, "your lordship's heel may chance to leave a mark. I crave your pardon, but I marvel how your lordship could bear to set your foot on that beauteous lily. The pearls, I fear, will hardly bear your lordship's weight."

"Fie, fie, my lord!" exclaimed the King, "I pray you tread more carefully. That lily is indeed most exquisite."

"Forgive me, sire," replied the Chancellor, trembling; "but in truth my attention was altogether occupied by that rose."

"A rose !

What is it your lordship can possibly take for a rose ? said Baptiste, looking somewhat offended.

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Forgive me, Signor," said the learned lord, with great humility; "but my old eyes fail sadly."

Nothing, in truth, could be more respectful than the demeanour of the whole court on this interesting occasion; for not lord amongst them but kept himself cautiously aloof lest he might offend the projector by approaching his work too nearly. After the measure of his Majesty's person had been fully taken, the court retired to give the

VOL. VI.

2 M

strangers time to fabricate the promised dress. And their skill as tailors was equal to what they had displayed as weavers; for within an hour the suit was declared to be complete; and having been delivered to the proper officers, the Lord Chancellor urged its being immediately put on, as the populace, to whom the wondrous news had been communicated, were already assembling in great numbers to look upon the glorious exhibition. The good King made no opposition, but the nobles, whose office it was to dress him, seemed considerably embarrassed; and when Baptiste, carefully withdrawing his arms from the precious weight he had deposited upon several sofas, said, bowing to the gentlemen in waiting, "Behold the dress, perfect in all its parts,"although they all hastened to disrobe his Majesty of his ordinary vestments, not one seemed willing to stretch forth a hand to take hold of those which were to supply their place; till at length the King, who was rather subject to rheumatism, became impatient, and exclaimed,

"In God's name, gentlemen, leave me no longer thus, but dress me with all speed!"

"It strikes me, sire," said the cleverest amongst them, "that none but this gifted stranger himself ought, on this solemn occasion, to approach your Majesty's person. I, for one, profess that I dare not lay my hands on a fabric that seems to have more of heaven than earth in it."

"As you will, as you will, gentlemen," said the shivering King; "but let me wait no longer. Dress me, good fellow, without farther ceremony."

Upon this Baptiste approached the King, and sedulously moving from sofa to sofa, appeared careful that nothing might be forgotten, till at length he concluded the operation, and stepping back, gazed on the good Alphonso with an air of almost passionate admiration, saying in a voice of triumph,

"Now behold him!-nobles, now behold your King! Blessed be the memory of my mother, whose faith and honour have enabled me to see this glorious spectacle!"

This ardent expression of filial gratitude was repeated nearly verbatim by every one present, and then the Chancellor called upon the gentlemen ushers to make way. A passage was instantly formed, and the good King, shivering as he went, walked forth from the room, through long arcades and windy passages, till he reached the door at which his steed of state stood saddled, and after pausing for a moment to reflect whether he might not yet find some way of escaping from this terrible adventure, he yielded to the dreadful necessity, and sprung into the saddle. Some of those around, he could not but perceive, refrained from laughter with difficulty, and the fortunes of all such the acute monarch considered as already in his treasury: rightly concluding, that to their eyes he appeared as naked as, unhappily, he appeared to his own. He then slowly rode through the court of the palace, the gates were thrown wide open before him, and in another moment he was pacing through the crowd that thronged the ample square on which they opened.

Until this fatal hour the King of Spain had never rode forth among his people without being welcomed by an overwhelming shout of loyalty and love; but now all was as still as death. At first his own emotions of vexation, shame, and fear, were too powerful to permit his very accu

rately noticing the demeanour of those around him; but by degrees he perceived that some stared at him in dismay, some in mockery; that every female head was closely enveloped in its veil; and that no single voice amidst the throng pronounced the wonted blessing. Still he rode on; for, alas! poor gentleman, he knew not what else to do; and by degrees the wondrous tale spread round that the King was clothed in magic robes, which none could see whose mothers were not honourable dames. The effect of this intelligence upon the multitude was far unlike that which it had produced upon the nobles.

"God and the Virgin absolve the soul of my mother!" cried one; "but to my eyes his Majesty is as naked as a new-born babe!"

"And how much more d'ye think he has got upon him?” said another.

"Poor old gentleman!" exclaimed a third," is it not a piteous sight to see him thus ?-and be made such a fool of by that rogue of a Chancellor! Look you how the old villain grins, and lifts up his hands, and pretends to admire him! Isn't he a proper rascal?"

"If it be the last word I ever speak," cried a young man, who felt fully as confident as the last speaker that the good old King was fooled by his false courtiers, " if I am hanged for it the moment after, I will tell him the truth." And so saying, he sprung forth from the crowd, thrust aside some half dozen of the nobles who attended on foot as a guard of honour to the King, and fearlessly seizing the royal rein, exclaimed, in a voice that was heard by hundreds, "You are as naked as the hour you were born, O King. Believe your faithful subjects, and pass not so harsh a judgment on every mother in Madrid as to believe that not one among them has a son who is son to her husband also. Hark to that shout, great King, and mark the action of their living hands."

As he ceased speaking, a hundred honest citizens rushed forward, each one holding his cloak on high as an offering to the deluded Monarch, while a deafening cry of "Down with the traitors who tell the King that he is clothed!" rent the air on all sides.

The truth at once broke in upon the mind of King Alphonso.

"Seize the Lord Chancellor!" he cried. "It was he who forbade an under-dress of velvet. He has had his joke, and dearly shall he pay for it!"

Thankfully did the good King accept the offer of as many cloaks as he could conveniently wear, and bidding the young citizen who had so bravely addressed him follow to the palace, he turned his horse's head, determined to seize on the crafty Frenchmen before they should have made their escape. But they were already gone, no one knew how nor whither. All that could be discovered concerning the affair was, that the diamonds, pearls, and rubies were gone too. It was many years after this time before any more French rogues got a footing in Spain; and, on the whole, the adventure was a fortunate one, as it cured his excellent Majesty King Alphonso of his passion for projectors, banished a very abominable old Chancellor from the court, and made the fortune of one of the honestest men in the country.

4.96

THE PYRENEAN HUNTER;

OR,

WILD SPORTS OF THE SOUTH OF FRANCE.

BY THE HON. JAMES ERSKINE MURRAY.

WOLF-HUNTING IN THE LANDES.

It is very seldom that the wolf is met with in the Pyrenees. The bear and the izard (the chamois of these mountains) seem to hold undivided possession of their fastnesses, and are in truth (with the exception of the bouquetin, which is sometimes, but very rarely, found among the wooded hills of Spanish Navarre) the only animals of the chase which the chasseur of the Pyrenees pursues. When, however, the winter storms have driven the flocks from the higher pastures into the valleys, a solitary wolf may now and then be found skulking among the coteaux in their vicinity; but so scarce are they, that, though sometimes shot by the peasants, whom their depredations have informed of their "whereabouts," it is not among the Pyrenees, nor in their immediate neighbourhood, that wolf-hunting can be enjoyed.

In several of the French departments, however, wolves are both numerous and destructive, and there wolf-hunting is sufficiently exciting as to rank after bear and izard-hunting among the wild sports of the south of France.

Every one knows that the department of the Landes is that vast tract of country which extends along the Bay of Biscay from the mouth of the Garonne to the Adour, and from Bayonne almost to Bordeaux. That portion of this department to the south of Dax, Mont de Marsan, and Roquefort, presents a numberless succession of undulations covered with vines or copsewood, and surrounded by the little meadows which the industry of the inhabitants, almost all of them proprietors of a few arpens of land, has, by the assistance of a neighbouring brook, reclaimed from the otherwise barren heath. The remainder, and by far the largest portion of the Landes, is, however, of a very different character. Great tracts of heath or sandy downs, interspersed with forests of pine and beech, cover its surface. So inhospitable a region is but thinly peopled. The villages and hamlets within its bounds are situated upon the banks of the streams or lakes, and so far apart from each other, that it is no uncommon circumstance for the sportsman to have had a long day's walk, and a tolerably good day's shooting, while merely taking the nearest path from one village to another.

In these great plains, districts, twenty miles in extent, are scarcely ever disturbed except by the flocks which at particular seasons wander over them; and, although almost every Landais carries a gun, still so much of their time is occupied in knitting their own or their families' stockings, and in attending to their flocks, that this department may be considered one of the best in France for a sportsman. He must, however, be one of the right sort, one who sets little value on the luxuries of life, and can cheerfully submit to privation of every kind,

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