children call " playing at a wheelbarrow,"
only he himself, poor wretch, had to wheel
the barrow. He walked demurely round and
round the stage, carrying his two unlucky
hind-legs up in the air; then he walked on
three legs, and then, the most difficult task of
all for a dog, as we were assured, upon two
legs on the same side. Another beautiful
white spaniel came walking in most grandly
on her hind legs, as Madame de Pompadour,
in a long-trained dress which was borne by a
tiny monkey in livery, bearing a little lanthorn
in his hand.

The finale was the besieging of a fortress;
and to see some twenty milk-white spaniels
rushing up and down the stairs of the burning
fortress, illumined by brilliant rose-coloured,
green, and blue lights, was very curious indeed.
If I could have forgotten the terrible training
through which these poor creatures must have
gone, I should have enjoyed it much more.
But I did not wonder, after seeing all their
feats, that our little friend had been so
enchanted. He sat behind us in the half-
price seats, but for all that we continued to
exchange many smiling glances during the
performance. I only wished I could have seen
a whole row of little fellows all equally
delighted and surprised by their good fortune.

A PUBLIC BALL.

I WENT last night to one of the grand
public balls; but not to dance, only into the
gallery, to look on and enjoy the spectacle
without the fatigue—or the pleasure. This
ball was in the Odéon, one of the principal
public buildings here, and where the
Conservatorium is. The room where the ball was
held was the same that I described to you
once before, when a concert was given by the
pupils of the Conservatorium. Myra F. and I
mounted some dozen steep nights of stairs,
and at length emerged into the gallery. We
left a throng of carriages setting down ball-
attired ladies and gentlemen at the principal
entrance, and a throng of spectators admiring
them.

Quite out of breath, from our long ascent,
we found ourselves in the gallery which runs
round the large hall, at an immense height
from the floor. The gallery was crowded with
people, all eagerly leaning, in a double row,
over the railing; so that, from the ball-room
below, the ceiling must have seemed adorned
with a cornice of living faces. The gallery-
crowd appeared to consist of friends of the
ball-room company, who were anxiously
watching or waiting the advent of their
friends below; and of good citizens, and other
people, who, not being themselves of the haute
volée, had come to criticise and copy their
betters—in rank.

It was with considerable difficulty that
Myra and I found standing-room where we
could see; yet it was only half past six.
When we did, we looked down upon numberless
chandeliers, which, with their circles of
starry lamps, illumined a very gay-looking
company indeed. At the further end of the
hall was a low platform, approached by a
fight of steps covered with carpeting; and
here stood a very fine grove of fir-trees, orange-
trees, and greenhouse shrubs, behind which
were concealed the musicians. The whole
platform was in fact an elegant saloon; where
stood couches, chairs, and tables, the crimson
and richly-coloured coverings of which looked
excessively pretty among the green trees and
shrubs. Tapers burned in tall, branching candle-
sticks upon the tables, and groups of young-
ladies, in clouds of white muslin, or in pink gauze,
looking like rose-buds among all the green
leaves, stood or moved about; whilst gentlemen
in gay uniforms, or in the less attractive
civil costume, as it is called—black coat, white
waistcoat, and hat in hand — crowded round
them. There was no lack of more sober
colouring in the dresses of the chaperones, in
their velvets, silks, and satins. And all these
gay people were thickly scattered, not only
over the aristocratic platform, but the whole
hall, a group of gentlemen clustering together
in the very centre of the beautiful, inlaid
floor, like a swarm of bees.

Many of the grandees of Munich were
either already present, or were expected.
King Max himself was looked for: Prince
Adelbert had already arrived, and only to be
distinguished from the company by wearing
a brown instead of a black coat, such being his
privilege as a prince of the blood.

And now, from the concealed orchestra,
sounded the first note of the Polonnaise;
the gentlemen hastened towards their partners,
and all solemnly paraded, in stately
procession, the ball-room; and now burst forth
a waltz, and away flew the dancers. — Oh! it
really was very tantalising to hear that
beautiful music, and to see those dancers; and to
be up in that hot and close gallery, in a
merino dress and overshoes! There was a
painful contrast. For the first few moments
I declared to Myra, that, spite of all my
philosophy, which had made me decline an
invitation to this very ball, I now wished I had
been there, and that I must and would go to
the next, if it were only for the sake of old
times! But soon after came a Française, or,
as we call it, a quadrille; and then another
waltz, and then a polka, and then a Française
again; and, by that time, I began to feel that
if to look on at a ball was at first tantalising,
it became, after a while, very wearisome—
"the greatest bore under the sun! " as I
remember to have heard certain unhappy
victims, who did not dance, declare — but
which assertion I, at the time, did not
appreciate.

But soon a pleasant excitement arrived for
us. Madame P., Myra's mother, and her
sister Anna, entered the ball-room. They
came aristocratically late. How handsome
they looked; Madame F. in black, with scarlet
flowers in her hair; and Anna looking a