rose, so envied by the brunettes of Italy, abounded
at the balls and in the public places. The king
kept very gay court, the royal entertainments
accessible to all strangers properly introduced,
and the ambassadors and bankers, nobles and wealthy
strangers, seemed to want twice as many nights and
mornings in the week, so conflicting were the balls
and breakfasts, driving-parties and dinners.

As, of course, an unobserved looker-on in scenes of
such brilliant rivalry and display, I had more
attention to spare than most whom I met; and I
soon found myself--eyes, mind, fancy, and
interest, absorbed in one study--a new revelation
of a type of woman. We are accustomed to see the
sex in classes--hundreds of a kind--and find them
sufficiently absorbing as nouns of multitude. It is
probably one of Heaven's principles of human
safety, that women are made in "lots" so like, that
a transfer of a slighted heart, from an unwilling
beauty to some willing likeness of her, safely
vents the volcano. Proportionately dangerous,
however, are those rare women--of whom a man sees,
perhaps, one or two in his life--who are the only
ones of their type and kind; for, out of love for
them, their is no exit but through their hearts.

You are going too fast if you fancy I am about to
record a fruitless passion of my own. Though of
"easy wax," I am not stamped, except by will of the
imprintress; and my only cobweb thread of personal
remembrance is a horseback excursion to Camaldoli,
in which I played the propriety-third to the best
of my discretion. It is necessary to define thus
much, to redeem my estimate of the lady from the
imputation of mere fancy. Had I known her
intimately, or not known her at all, my judgment of
her would be less reliable. In just the position
for untroubled and most favorable observation, I
studied her in silence through that brilliant
season, and laid away her image (as one does
without more than one or two choked-down
aspirations) to people castles in the air, and fill
niches in the temple of dreams.

The foregoing prepares you for a portr