fastening like that of the box in the talisman
of Oromanes.

The night wears on; at three o'clock the
instrumental music ceases, but the music of the
mischievous and merry tattlers still continues
to be ringing in all ears, and making them to
tingle. Every man is destined to go home
abundantly informed and criticised upon the
subject of his foibles. Until six o'clock,
supping, and taking tea and coffee, will continue,
and the relish for amusement will be as keen
as ever. Nobody is dancing—nobody has
danced; that is no part of the business. At
length, the multitude has dwindled down to a
few stragglers; the remainder of the cloaks,
and coats, and wrappers, are brought out and
scattered, as so many hints to their possessors,
in the middle of the great room. We
immediately dive and scramble for them. In another
hour, the lights are put out; all is over, and I
travel home over the snow.

ADVERTISEMENTS.

NOTHING in the world equals the quiet
earnest, unconscious manner in which a
German commits an absurdity. An Englishman,
when he makes himself ridiculous, has
generally some uneasy perception of the fact; a
German never has. Solemn unsuspecting
simplicity is the mark of his race. Even his
vanity is grave; and a German curls his
moustache, or twists himself into the shape
of a Z to see how his coat sits behind, with a
sober unsmiling look, hard to imagine. He
makes love and reads tragedy both with the
same face.

I saw re-produced, in Household Words, a
little while ago, some of the strange advertisements
which our stoical friends send by
the handful to their newspapers. Let me
send a few more, translated faithfully from
papers that have passed through my hands
here in Vienna. Advertisements for wives
and husbands are very numerous and varied.
Their nature is, however, tolerably well known.
I shall content myself with dropping one or
two, as we pass on to the more interesting
details of the processes of courtship through
the advertising columns. Here is one which,
doubtless, was well calculated to touch the
heart of gazelles not indisposed to wed a
market-gardener, who cultivated tobacco, for
which he wanted a market:

"A THIRTY-FIVE-YEAR-OLD young man, of
studious disposition, and a ministerial employé,
wishes to meet with a person of ripe years,
who has several thousand florins at her own
disposal. She will live a life free from care in
any other respect than keeping a Tobacconist's
shop."

F. N. N., prompt to calm any apprehensions
on the score of bigamy, advertises that he,
"A SINGLE MAN, and an Imperial-Royal
Hungarian Officer of State, wishes to marry a
beautiful and accomplished lady with eight
thousand florins."

Fearing, apparently, a heavy pull on his
exchequer, he requests the beautiful heiresses,
applying for his hand, to pay the postage of
their letters.

"INVITATION TO WEDLOCK. A widower of
sixty years old, of a firm yet pleasant
disposition, healthy and strong in body, who has
served in the Imperial army and received a
good-service pension of four guineas yearly,"
(I translate also the money,) "possessing,
moreover, a small trade, and being the father
of a little eleven-year-old daughter, wishes,
without farther hesitation, to marry. Here-
upon well-reflecting persons are to address
* * *" et cetera.

Reflection might suggest the imprudence of
marrying an old man, even with four guineas
a year of independent property; but the
advertiser, evidently looking for a rush of ladies
after so desirable a husband, answers their
impatience before-hand by appending to the
offer of himself "N.B.—A Railway all the
way."

I will pass over the angry advertisements
fired at each other by gentlemen who quarrel,
and about all manner of other things with
which we in England are not at all familiar
in advertising columns. Here is an odd one:—

"THAT THICK OLD GENTLEMAN, with the
bald head and spectacles, who on Monday, the
27th inst., made such a noise in the Court
Theatre, by laughing loudly during the
performance, and subsequently groaning and
crying, to the great disturbance of other
people, is begged to express his feelings more
quietly for the future:"

Little matters of this kind, too, let us pass
over, and proceed to some specimens of court-
ship by advertisement. Young ladies, here-
abouts, must really be newspaper readers, if
they would not miss knowing when an offer
may be made, or a love letter addressed to them.
In order to ensure a limit to the number of
my specimens, I will judiciously change the
initials, and give you neither more nor less
than an abecedaire of manifest affection.

A. "TO EMILIE. Sad the heart! Worn out.
A thousand thanks for relief. Much anxiety
about Julia * * *! Loves she me?"

"MADEMOISELLE LEOPOLDINE CŒUR D'ANGE
is most humbly prayed to send a letter for her
slave B. to the post office."

Here would have been an oversight, if
Miss D. had not read her paper.

"TO MARRY, OR NOT TO MARRY? That
is the momentous question from C. to D."

D., however—Deborah, doubtless—sees the
question popped, and puts an advertisement
into the next morning's paper.

"WHEN OR WHERE? From D. to C."

By a later advertisement we are told, that
the answer to "When or where?" has been
left for D., at the post office. D., doubtless, is
changed to C. by this time.