"This d'Aubignac, my dear. Is he
The Monsieur d'Aubignac that writes ?
Why, he has written poetry!

I've seen a thing of his-Stay, let me see-
Affrights, Invites, Delights-Yes, yes, Delights;
Beginning with Delights-Yes, that was it.
Why, he must be a wit."

"Undoubtedly, my dear," replies the dame :
"One of the wits, and has a monstrous fame."
Then turning to another lady, "Madam, I
Have seen his letters, seal'd by the Academy.
I have a list of all the members, Madam;

And he goes first; which shews that he must lead 'em."

Assuming then a still more serious air,
Dropping her sidelong head, and putting on

The perfect précieuse tone,

"Is it not much to be deplored, my dear,
That all these members of the Academy,
All these fine gentlemen, the beaux esprits,
In love affairs, should have prodigious fancies ?
I'm told, in Paris, that 'tis not uncommon,
To be quite shocking to the oldest women,
Provided she sups late, and reads romances.

Such a furious desire of laughter seized us at this sally, that we were obliged to quit the place abruptly, in order to go and burst at We made for our hotel through the crowd; who cut a very singular figure. It was impossible not to see

our ease.

In the old women and their faces
Strange attempts at airs and graces,
Though devoting to the rack

This irreverend d'Aubignac.

Some confessed, that, after all, the old lady was not so very old.

Others averred, that she was too old by four or five years.

Had it

been under that mark, it would not have been so bad. Others said, that ten or a dozen years since, the young women would have torn a man to pieces for behaving so; but that the world was much altered, and that for their parts they did not see much difference now-a-days between young and old. In short,

Had this chevalier d'Aubignac

By his pursuers been brought back,

'Twas plain there would have been no rack

For the irreverend d'Aubignac.

We had not been a quarter of an hour in our hotel when a fresh

clamour made us look out of window. The pursuers of the fugitives had returned. A gentleman was haranging the crowd at the door of the house we had left; and all the younger part of his audience sent up shouts of laughter. In a word, it turned out that the father of the young lady, being a capricious old fool, had picked a quarrel with a good match of his own approving between d'Aubignac and his daughter, much to the chagrin of the old lady as well as the young: upon which what does the good old gentlewoman, but go to bed with a sick voice, and pretend to be the daughter; while Mademoiselle, as lively as the aunt, puts on the latter's clothes, and rides off with the chevalier on the same horse! They were observed, not without astonishment; but the adventure of the struggle was thrown in, with many others, for nothing. A letter was left for the supposed young lady, who took to her bed accordingly. In the course of a dozen minutes all the girls in Montpellier were mad with laughter. The old women did not know quite so well how to behave; but the vivacity of the aunt was, upon the whole, very much admired, and it was easy to see that the chevalier would have no trouble in securing his prize. We longed to be able to tell him of the disposition in his favour; but he was now at a good distance; so we contented ourselves with wishing him joy in a bottle of Avignon.

Somehow the confusion at Montpellier had made us restless. We stopped only a few hours; and then set off for Massilargues, talking all the way

Of the gallant d'Aubignac,
Now upon an easy track

With his fair one at his back.

She, old hooded, and young faced,

Went with arm about his waist;

And in lanes he sometimes kiss'd her,

And in highways call'd her sister.

Such were our thoughts, thought being free; and ours were disposed to give up none of their privileges. But about half a league beyond Montpellier, we met a gentleman who had seen the fugitives. Their object was to get into the Papal territory; for which

at our adventure. He took care, with his good cheer and his good beds, to settle our fatigue, and make us fresh for next morning; when being at such a little distance from Nismes, we could not refuse ourselves the pleasure of going out of the road to see the aqueduct and amphitheatres, two glorious remains of antiquity, and in wonderful preservation.

Having finished to our heart's content with Languedoc, we pushed on for Provence by the great meadow of Beaucaire, whey they keep the fair we have all heard of: and at an early hour the same day we beheld the celebrated city of Arles, which conducted us over its bridge of boats from Languedoc to Provence. It makes a glorious entrance. Its fine situation has drawn together almost all the nobility of the district; and the women are all trim, pretty, and piquant! They patch however to an excess, and are too vain of it. We saw them all in the place we put in, behaving themselves mighty prettily with the gentlemen of the town, who are very well shaped. The ladies, though we had not the pleasure of their acquaintance, gave us an opportunity of accosting them; and we may say without vanity, that in the course of a couple of hours we got on considerably, not perhaps without creating a little jealousy. In the evening we were invited to a party, where our progress was still greater. For all that, we did not stop over next morning. Our road was very troublesome, lying across the great plain actually covered with stones all the way as far as Salon, a little town which has nothing to shew but the tomb of Nostradamus. We slept there, or rather lay awake all night, an actress in the next room chusing to lie-in of two little performers.

(TO BE CONCLUDED.)

LONDON:

Publihesd by HUNT and CLARKE, York street, Covent garden: and sold by all Booksellers and Newsvenders in town and country.-Price 4d.

PRINTED BY C. H. REYNELL, BROAD STREET, GOLDEN SQUARE.

THE COMPANION.

No. XVI. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 1828.

"Something alone yet not alone, to be wished, and only to be found, in a friend."-SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE.

NEW SPLENDOURS AT WINDSOR.

An evening paper has given us some beatific glimpses into a new quadrangle, which is being added to Windsor Castle. How it obtained them, is not very clear; seeing that measures have been taken "for the most rigid exclusion of prying curiosity!" The architect, it is said, has been ordered by the King, "under pain of his royal displeasure," not to allow any person whatever to see. the interior of the new structure; and in consequence of this strong prohibition, my Lord Gambier," and even Bishops," have tried in vain to get admittance. We suppose the accounts have been brought away by some ecstatic upholsterer's man, or peeping glazier. We must fancy him in a fit of rapture, throwing out bits, of description, and sentences too happy to go on:-" splendour and magnificence !"-" blue and gold!"-" Oh, the fillagree staircase!" And then they hold him down.

The following are the chief marvels that have transpired :—

"The silk hangings are wrought in pannels made on purpose." "The flowers and borders consist of a species of embroidery, never before seen in this country."-[" Different individuals were employed in the manufacture thereof; so that no one out of doors could see the toutensemble."]

"In his Majesty's bed-room there is a bath, the vapours of which, when heated, must prove rather an inconvenience." The bed is to be placed" in a recess opposite the fire-place."

VOL. I.

16

"The windows are all of superb plate-glass, most of them five or six feet high, and about three feet wide. There are four huge panes to each window, made to lift up, each pane being framed by itself, slipping in a groove, and lifting up separately, so as to form a distinct window. They are of the most costly materials. One room on the private staircase has a glass dome or lantern, with ornamented stone-work of the finest texture, resembling fillagree."

"Plate glasses are in every door throughout the building, except in the bed-rooms."

"Some of the doors and double doors have five hinges, of the most expensive kind and exquisite workmanship.”

"Two rooms are completely hung, one with dark blue paper, and broad crimson border covered with gold; the other is of a delicate salmon colour."

And "there are three hundred rooms, requiring five hundred servants in constant attendance."

"The finishing will cost at least half a million."

This ungrateful plumber adds, that, in spite of its extensive and costly improvements, his Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, Heir Presumptive of the Throne, is said to be "by no means partial to Windsor;" and he is of opinion, that "if the late Minister had avoided sending an expedition to Portugal, and expended its cost upon this building, the King might have had a palace worthy of the empire; the nation something to show for its money; and the affairs of Portugal would be only in the same situation they are now in."

That is to say, if Mr Canning had not taken the liberal side of politics with regard to Portugal, as a quarter which he could not omit without detriment to the cause all over the world, princes and paper-hangers might have been now doing what they pleased; and Don Miguel," that unlicked cub," (as a Plymouth friend describes him) might have been rifling the honey of his industrious subjects, without bringing a hive about his ears.

We only hope, for our parts, that the erection of this new edifice will amuse the King, and give him some pleasant hours. We have our opinions respecting the desirableness of such things; but they involve reflections upon a great many other things for which kings are not responsible, and which cannot hinder us from wishing that their latter days may be comforted. Comfort, unluckily, it is not very easy to identify with buildings of this sort. To say nothing of the "bed in a recess," and of panes that open like windows to let in a zephyr at a time, which are matters of private taste, what