to play the next evening, possibly in the hope that we
should stay for it and he should get another seat. That was out of the
question, however, sorry as we were to disappoint him. He had to tuck
us into the carriage the following day, and let us drive away and
leave him bereft of his charges. "You shall have a good ride," were
his parting words, kind and fatherly as he was to the last; and so we
had. But we found no one again to care for us so tenderly as our
old friend, nor did any one take us to the theatre throughout the
remainder of the journey. G.H.

VENETIAN CAFFES.

It is years since so lovely an autumn as that of 1874 has been seen
in Europe: people say not since the last great comet year, and they
credit the erratic visitor of last summer with the exceptional beauty
of the weather. As in the case of other marked comet years, the
vintages of which still bring extraordinary prices, Italy has had
exceptionally fine harvests of all kinds this year. The grain has been
abundant, the vintage has been superb, the olives have escaped the
danger of unseasonable frosts, and the still more important crop of
foreigners seems to be pretty well assured. The charming weather in
October and November made the interesting blossoms sprout plentifully;
and boat-loads and train-loads came in with an abundance promising an
unusually fine winter for _la bella Italia_. Venice, indeed, may be
said to have pretty well housed her crop in this kind already. It has
been a magnificent one, and the Queen of the Adriatic admits that due
homage has been done to her. The _forestieri_ season sets in earlier
in her case than in her sister cities. The real "Carnival de Venice"
is in August, September and October now-a-days, let the calendar say
what it may. Some flaunting of gaudy-colored calico, some dancing on
the Piazza of St. Mark, there may be on the eve of Lent in obedience
to old usages, but the dancing that really glads the Italian heart is
the dancing for which the _forestiere_ pays the piper, and the true
Lenten time is that when his beneficent presence is wanting.

Venice, then, has already brought her Carnival to a conclusion; and
it has been a splendid one. English, Americans, Germans, all came in
shoals--all thronged the galleries, the churches and the palaces in
the morning, sauntered or bathed on the outer shore of the Lido in the
afternoon, and met at Florian's in the evening. "What is Florian's?"
will be asked by thos