While the northern portion of the lists was in the process of transformation into a sectional amphitheatre for the exhibition of an ant and tarantula fight,—which unfortunately our position overlooked,—Count Marceroni led his queen with her maids of honor into a pavilion erected for her reception at the extreme southern portion of the arena, which in construction had received his special supervision. When this, after occupation, was exposed to view, the splendor of its appointments in tinsel adornment received the prayerful adoration of the assemblage. Seated in front of the pavilion on its extended platform, just without the shadow of its dais, were two celebrated improvisorial troubadours of Provence, a small kingdom in the south of France. These were to contend in verse and song for prizes to be awarded by the queen of beauty, love, and harmony, to the adjudged successful superiority of the competitors in their varied styles of adventurous composition. A laurel wreath, or chaplet, had been prepared for the queen’s crowning disposal, with the title of laureate; the recipient holding with the emblematic token the conferred privilege of supremacy in his vocation through all the Animalculan courts of Christendom, until a greater star should appear in the musical firmament, for his eclipse, under the like sanction of infallible approval. When the congregation were fully separated for the suitable enjoyment of their tastes in the contrasted extremities of the lists,—the northern having the relative preponderance of eight to one of the southern audience,—a screen was drawn to intercept the boisterous freedom of the borealian sphere.