MYTHOLOGICS*.-No. 1.

THE PIC-NIC AT TEMPE.

It was the most sultry of the dog-days; Jupiter sat lolling in his arm-chair, vainly endeavouring to get a quiet nap, and a little way off was Minerva, lulling him to sleep as she thought, and keeping him awake as he thought, by the whirring noise of her spinning-wheel. At length Venus entered the saloon in which they were sitting, and the noise that she made effectually roused the Thunderer.

"Venus, my darling, where's your mother-in-law?" said Jupiter, raising himself on his elbow.

"In her dressing-room," replied Venus, "trying some of my new cosmetics."

"Ah! smiled Jupiter, "you women are never easy but when you're beautifying yourselves. Well, go and tell her I think we may as well take a trip down to Tempe by way of employment this hot day, and send Iris to tell all the other Gods to meet us there."

Away tripped Venus to execute her commission, and the Thunderer turned again to renew his interrupted attempts at sleep; but suddenly a thought struck him.

"Here, Pallas, go and borrow Mars's curricle for Juno and myself to ride in, for it's much too hot to think of walking such a day as this; and tell him to put some bottles of nectar in the driving-box: d'ye hear?"

In a short time the curricle made its appearance, and Jove and Juno mounted; but the former, not being accustomed to handle the ribbons, felt rather out of his

* We must premise that the rough draft of one of these papers has already appeared in print.—ED.

Dinner passed off without any more accidents; and when the ladies retired, Vulcan and Mars sat down to play at ecarté, at which the former proved the winner. Apollo drily remarked, having but just left his coachbox to join the party, that Vulcan had netted Mars's cash as well as himself. Mars rose in a towering passion, when Jupiter recommended him not to be nettled, which only made him ten times more so than before. A quarrel was the consequence; and Jupiter, thinking it best to return before words came to blows, requested Apollo to put to his team again, which he readily consented to do.

A most memorable night that was to the inhabitants of the lower hemisphere, and innumerable were the learned heads which were bothered in the attempt to account for its unusual brilliancy: but though many explanations were given, the real cause has remained undiscovered to this day, in which I have the pleasure of laying it before my readers.

K.

MYTHOLOGICS.-No. 2.

THE MUSES' MASQUERADE.

"HUSH! don't you hear some music?" said Juno to Jupiter one fine summer's evening as he lay dozing upon a cloud.

"None but your voice, my love," replied the complimentary Thunderer, who happened to be in one of his mildest moods at the time.

"Now don't talk such nonsense," returned his spouse, evidently very much pleased: "but seriously, can't you distinguish anything?"

"Well, now you mention it," replied Jupiter, "I think

I do catch a kind of a scraping at a distance, that I suppose is meant for music. Hillo! Mercury, my boy, what's the meaning of all that row yonder?"

"Oh!" said the individual addressed, in a contemptuous tone, it's the Muses giving a flare-up masquerade on the top of Parnassus; but I dare say it is not worth going to, just to see a parcel of old maids making fools of themselves." [N.B. Mercury had not been invited.] "I should think not, indeed," chimed in Juno, with a toss of the head; "why there will be all sorts of nobodies there! What presentable person would condescend to be seen among them, I should like to know?"

"Should you?" said Jove; "well, then, I for one: so just run and tell Minerva to overhaul her handiworks, will you? It's hard if we can't find something among them all to disguise ourselves with. And Mercury, d'ye hear, tell all the other Gods that I am going; perhaps some of them would like to go too." And away ran Mercury to obey orders.

Now a masquerade was a sort of lark that the immortals did not often enjoy (at least we find no mention of it in Homer, and the old boy has taken pretty good care too to tell us of most of their naughty doings); so they came running together in less than no time, and Minerva's stores seemed to stand a good chance of being reduced to shreds from the eagerness with which every one endeavoured to seize upon whatever among them happened to strike his fancy. Of course Jupiter, like the lion in the fable, had his pick and choose before any of the rest ventured to touch a rag.

Monstrous queer figures they all cut! Mars, whom Vulcan had lately caught tripping, (at least so he

said,) feeling somewhat awkward under the accusation, doffed his armour for robes of ermine, and looked considerably more like a lamb than a lion.

Jupiter went as a Dandy, though it must be confessed he looked rather superannuated for such a character; Venus as a Vestal; Pallas as a Blue Stocking, with an anti-population pamphlet in her pocket; Mercury with an empty bread-basket, as a Lacedæmonian Pauper under the new Poor Law Bill introduced by Lycurgus, a legislator with a wry nose; Hercules as himself; and Bacchus sober.

Wonderful was the sensation they created as they mingled in the motley group assembled on the top of Parnassus: the nine hostesses looked petrified, and were evidently considering the devastation they would cause in their nicely-calculated supper; the three Graces uttered most ungraceful exclamations of surprise; the Satyrs quizzed them; and one ill-mannered Faun actually had the impertinence to roar out in Jupiter's ear, at the full strength of his voice, "Who are you?"

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By the by," said Jupiter to Mercury, who played Jackall to his superior's Lion, "where can Juno have got to? I have not seen her these two hours."

"Oh! I forgot," replied Mercury, "she told me to tell you she had got a bad headache, and was going to bed, and she begged you would not stay out late, or make any noise when you come home."

"Hookey!" said Jupiter to himself.

"Egad! that's a fine woman, isn't it?" resumed Jupiter after a pause. Mercury turned to look, but when he turned again to reply, Jupiter had disappeared among the crowd.

"Well!" said the highly respectable deity half

aloud, "that beats cockfighting! I guess he is not over sorry she has got a headache;" so he turned away to seek his own private diversion among the company.

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Plaguy hot! isn't it?" said Hercules, as he ran against Bacchus, who wore a face which seemed to denote he was searching for something he was not able to find; or, to use a favourite and expressive phrase, looked as if he couldn't help it.

"Precious hot indeed," replied Bacchus, "though I can't say I feel it much myself, for I was lucky enough just now to stumble upon Æolus with the south wind in his waistcoat pocket, which I found a great convenience. By the way, have you any idea whether these respectable maiden ladies sport any kind of drink on the occasion?"

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'Suppose we go and see," said the King of Clubs; so they marched off arm-in-arm towards an immense pitcher which stood on a side table: the attendant nymph instantly filled a couple of golden goblets with the contents (a service for which she was liberally chucked under the chin by Bacchus), and both deities simultaneously raised them to their lips.

"The devil!" said Hercules, with a face as long as his arm, setting down the cup and looking hard at his companion.

"Pure Helicon, by all that's holy!" said Bacchus, as he did the same, with every tooth in his head ready to drop out. "I wish you a very good night, Hercules, I make it a rule never to patronize such arrant humbugs as these Temperance Societies.”

"I dare say Si

"I'm with. you," said Hercules. lenus's beer-shop is not shut up yet; come along, old boy!" and the two friends were off like a shot.