I fear, that in general the air of an opera reminds the belle of the Theatre where she heard itand, by a natural transition, of the beau who attended her, and the dress of herself and her neighbours.

When I first came into this country, it reminded me of an island I had read of in the Arabian Tales, where the ladies were not deemed in their bloom till they verged towards seventy; and I conceived the project of inviting all the belles, who had been half a century out of fashion in England, to cross the Channel, and begin a new career of admiration!

I caught a Chinese belle coming down the Queen's Road in Hong-Kong one day, and I ran up an alley.

Vive le Roi!" and St. Luc, who stood always with Montcalm, hummed softly and under his breath: "Hier, sur le pont d'Avignon, j'ai oui chanter la belle.

That one phrase characterizes at once the ex-belle of the Empire, the contemporary of the sentimental Hortense de Beauharnais, and of the more than légère Pauline Borghése.

This Persian belle; (confound the belle) Excuse me, please; I won't be rude; She's in my way, so I can't tell My tale, so much does she intrude; I wish I knew her age, and whether she Was single, married, or engaged to be.

Pendant la nuit ils les couvrent de feutre ou d'autres étoffes, et j'ai vu de ces couvertures qui étoient très-belles; ils en ont même pour leurs lévriers, [Footnote: Le mot lévrier n'avoit pas alors l'acception exclusive qu'il a aujourd'hui; il se prenoit pour le chien de chase ordinaire.

There is a curious little song, dating back to 1601, entitled "O mother, a Hoop," in which the value of hoop-skirts is set forth by a fair damsel in terms that would delight a modern belle.

Compare: "L'auteur des dialogues a dit que les belles sont de tous pays, et moi je dis que les sottises sont de tous les siècles " (Fontenelle, Jugement de Pluton).

At one of those balls I observed a very pretty girl surrounded by gay young Frenchmen, with whom she was flirting in a style that would not have disgraced a belle from the Faubourg St. Denis, and turning to my neighbour, I asked him who she was; he replied, "Elle s'appelle Louise Constant, monsieur,c'est la rose de village."

" Our eyes and ears distinctly perceive the jolly Monk, as he canters along: "And, whan he rood, men might his brydel here Ginglen in a whistling wind as clere, And eek as loude as dooth the chapel-belle.

Time has so strengthened the impression I then received, that I should have felt inconsolable had I thought it impossible ever to again behold the charms which had brightened the occasion of our meeting and eclipsed by their brilliancy the leading belles of the capital.

Les gens de distinction, pour n'y point manquer, portent toujours en voyage des bouteilles de cuir pleines d'eau: on les attache sous le ventre des chameaux et des chevaux, et ordinairement elles sont très-belles.

However, it might have been long enough before the recluse young Blounts would have encountered the gay little belle, had it not been that they were of necessity obliged to pass through the toll-gate, and sometimes forced to stop there.

So, too, as a consequence, it came to pass that great ladies employed her; and often the narrow spiral staircase of Corbet's Land was brushed on either side by the huge masses of quilted and emblazoned silk that, enveloping the belles of the day, were with difficulty forced up to and down from the small room of the industrious Mysie.

Bernier is enthusiastic: "Les femmes surtout y sont très-belles," and hints at their popularity among the Moguls.

Let us imagine a belle who is thrown from a horse and has become insane from the shock.

It is not knowing their belles lettres merely which is meant.

And laid the belle a-rolling in the gutter.

For instance, he had left out the frontier belle who sat up all night playing cards with gentlemen; could beat any man at a game of poker, and laugh loud enough to be heard above the roaring of a river.

Bless mehere's a modern antique, masquerading in the country!why a village belle of queen Bess' days, looking as new and as fresh as the young 'squire's lodge, fresh out of the hands of his fancy architect.

c'est de l'amour qu'il a; ce n'est pas d'aujourd'hui que les belles personnes en donnent, et, tel que vous le voyez, il n'en a pas pris pour toutes celles qui auroient bien voulu lui en donner.

He entered calmly, and made his bow as if nothing had happened, but the King strode up to him, and said angrily: "Mais, comment, donc, Monsieur Craggs, est ce que c'est l'usage de ce pays de porter des belles dames comme un sac de froment?"

Ne flattez & n'amadoüez personne par belles paroles, car celui qui pretend d'en gagner un autre par les discours emmiellez, fait voir qu'il n'en a pas grande estime, & qu'il le tient pour peu sensé & adroit, dés qu'il le prend pour vn hõme que l'on peut ioüer en cette maniere: n'usez point de gausseries auprés d'vne personne qui s'en offense.

Steele, in the "Spectator," (1711,) describes the snuff-box as a rival to the fan among ladies; and Goldsmith pictures the belles at Bath as entering the water in full bathing costume, each provided with a small floating basket, to hold a snuff-box, a kerchief, and a nosegay.