l enough in his way, but surely he is none the worse for
a few notes and illustrations, that would do credit to a Doctor of Padova.
I entreat you to continue, learned Peter, that we strangers may lose none
of the niceties of the exhibition."

"Thou seest, baron," returned the well-warmed bailiff, with a look of
triumph, "a little explanation can never injure a good thing, though it
were even the law itself. Ah! yon is Ceres and her company, and a goodly
train they appear! These are the harvest-men and harvest-women, who
represent the abundance of our country of Vaud, Signor Grimaldi, which,
truth to say, is a fat land, and worthy of the allegory. These knaves,
with the stools strapped to their nether parts, and carrying tubs, are
cowherds, and all the others are more or less concerned with the dairy.
Ceres was a personage of importance among the ancients, beyond dispute,
as may be seen by the manner in which, she is backed by the landed
interest. There is no solid respectability, Herr von Willading, that is
not fairly bottomed on broad lands. Ye perceive that the goddess sits on a
throne whose ornaments are all taken from the earth; a sheaf of wheat tops
the canopy; rich ears of generous grain are her jewels, and her sceptre is
the sickle. These are but allegories, Signor Grimaldi, but they are
allusions that give birth to wholesome thoughts in the prudent. There is
no science that may not catch a hint from our games; politics, religion,
or law--'tis all the same for the well-disposed and cunning."

"An ingenious scholar might even find an argument for the buergerschaft in
an allegory that is less clear;" returned the amused Genoese. "But you
have overlooked, Signor Bailiff, the instrument that Ceres carries in the
other hand, and which is full to overflowing with the fruits of the
earth;--that which so much resembles a bullock's horn, I mean."

"That is, out of question, some of the utensils of the ancients; perhaps a
milking vessel in use among the gods and goddesses, for your deities of
old were no bad housewives, and made a merit of their economy; and Ceres
here, as is seen, is not ashamed of a useful occupation. By my faith, but
this affair has been gotten up with a very creditable attention to the
moral! But our dairy-people are about to give us some of their airs."

Peterchen now put a stop to his classic lore, while the followers of Ceres
arranged themselves in order, and began to sing. The contagious and wild