ledge which I have thus acquired? Oh, ignoble sloth! oh, blind forgetfulness of merit! when I ought at least to be a metropolitan dignitary, or, more worthy of my powers, the bishop of a rich and abundant diocese." But notwithstanding these aspirations after church preferment, von Fuddlemann was upon the whole a kind-hearted and friendly creature; and his principal objection to Harzburg arose more from the remembrance of his supernatural parishioners, than any real dislike to his cure. But even this was of great importance to the morals of the villagers; for where Satan and evil spirits are thought to be at hand, there is sure to be ten times more piety than in the vicinity of more desirable neighbours; which arises from the mind of man being so perverted, that fear and misery only call. forth his better feelings, whilst in joy and comfort they are too often forgotten. As von Fuddlemann had so great a dislike to the spiritual inhabitants of Harzburg, he on all occasions reprobated the singing of the legendary, or amatory songs which before his time were common in the country; as he conceived that the first species might give them offence, and the second were likely to give them power by the ideas with which they were associated in the minds of the young female villagers. On this account he composed for them a series of dull and wearisome moral songs, laden with as much divinity as they could well carry; and very greatly resembling the old verses attached to the Tooden Danz, or Dance of Death, at Basle, in Switzerland.

One evening, in the latter end of April, 16-, two young women, named Laurette Engelhertze and Michelle Flüchterfelt, were sitting at the door of one of the cottages already described, enjoying the rich crimson tint of sunset that streamed up the valley below, while their occupation of spinning was lightened by chanting one of von Fuddlemann's poetical moralities, which ran in strains like these:

Young maidens, who in youth and beauty think your days to pass, Your hope is vain, as I shall show t' ye,-every one who has

Fair red and white upon their face shall find them soon decay,-
The white shall give to yellow place,-the red shall fade away.

"Out upon it," cried Michelle, the younger of the two females; "I cannot bear to sing that odious Curate von Fuddlemann's moral songs, as he calls them; I'm sure I'd rather a thousand times sing "the Revenge of Reibezhahl," or "the Lovers of Blockberg," or "Cupid's Morning Star," or any thing either about love, or ghosts, than his dull and tiresome rubbish."

"Dear Michelle! how can you talk so?" cried Laurette, "and we living too on the Harz mountain. What did the curate say last Sunday?-that Satan was the composer of all the songs except those he taught us; and that when we sung any others, he had power over us, and might do us any kind of mischief that he liked."

cr

"Oh, an old fop!" answered Michelle; because he's afraid of Reibezhahl himself, he thinks every body else must be. But now tell me, Laurette, don't you like that sweet Heinrich Reimar's songs better than the curate's? he's so tender, so soft. For my part, if I must sing morality about death, I'd rather have him come as a lover, as Heinrich makes him." The volatile girl then broke off by singing the following verses, which in 16- were considered as not of the very worst class of poetry.

AN INVITATION TO DEATH'S BRIDAL.

By Heinrich Reimar.

Oh! come to mine arms, for my pillow is soft,
And calm are the slumbers it offers to you;

My couch and embrace may be cold,-but how oft
Have the hearts ye have loved in this life proved so too!

I'll lull thee to rest with a song of mine own;

A voice more than mortal shall pour forth the lay; Mine arms shall entwine and embrace thee alone,

Till even thy dust shall be moulder'd away.

Unlike to the worldly, who love but the charms
That beauty, or riches, or youth can impart,
I spread for the foulest and fairest my arms,
The highest and lowest I press to my heart.

One kiss from my lips,-thou art mine and for ever,
All hope from my bosom to tear thee is vain;
The last priestly blessing no power can sever,
Save that which to dust shall turn nature again.

Then come,-though deserted, oppress'd, and forsaken,
Oh, trust mine embraces, all doubtings give o'er;
Thy sleep shall be dreamless,-and when thou shalt waken,
The sorrows that grieved thee, shall grieve thee no more.

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"That's something like a lover," continued Michelle, as she finished, quite different from the curate's musty morality: why do you know, Laurette, that when our sweethearts, Carl Brandtenbelt and Steine Standardtmann were going to join the elector's hussars, he gave them a long doleful poem, beginning,

Young soldier,-young soldier, whose arms proudly rattle,
Who fearless art marching away to seek glory,
There's a stronger than thou to be found in the battle,
And death may exult like a conqueror o'er thee.

Oh, I've no notion of such rhyming sermons."

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'Well, but my dear Michelle," returned Laurette, as soon as her voluble companion would let her speak, surely the curate was right to tell them of their danger, and exhort them to act like christian soldiers and good men, though his verses might be a little heavy."

"As if they didn't know all that a great deal better than he," answered Michelle, impatiently: "however, I deceived the old parson for once, for I got Heinrich to write me another battle song for my Carl, and so I exchanged von Fuddlemann's for it. He'll not find any thing there about the calamities of the wars,' and the dangers of soldiers,' but a charge to go forward like a man."

Oh, Michelle, how could you do so?" cried Laurette; " only think if he should be too venturous,

and meet his death through your folly, what could you say then?"

Say," replied the laughing Michelle, "why what I always have said, that I would love a brave dead lover better than a cowardly living one. But I've more to tell you, my pretty demure Laurette: old Sterndenter, the almanack-maker at Altenau, has advised me to go to-morrow night, which will be the first of May, on to the centre of the Harz. You know it will be the Walpurgis night, and he tells me that I may learn from the spirits which will meet there how Carl Brandenbelt is then, and see him as plain as if he were come back."

Why, Michelle, you surely would not be so wicked?what, go to consult Sathanas, as the curate says, when you may perhaps hear in a few days more."

now,

"Or a few weeks, or a few months;-it's all very well for you, Laurette, to preach and practise patience, but I'll know before I'm two days older. But come be reasonable, and go with me, dear Laurette, and you 'll see Standardtmann at the same time. Stern.. denter says, that there's no danger when we go to inquire, about love; and he's taught me how to cross the mountains, and what night spells I must say, and the charm to be used when I get to the place."

"Michelle, my dear Michelle! you cannot think how you grieve me,' answered Laurette, almost in tears. "Oh, leave the Walpurgis night, and the spells, and the charms, to those evil spirits which the curate says are always on the watch for our sins, that they may work our destruction."

"But how can they, when I've got the drake-stone, which Sterndenter himself brought all the way from Gandersheim, and that's a good seven miles from Harzburg, to keep off witchcraft?-See, here it is, twisted and curled like a ram's horn. I warrant you it will carry me safe through all the dragons to-morrow night, for I'm determined to go. Besides, Laurette, you know we have never heard of the Imperial army since it marched, and I could not sleep another night with

VOL. II.

D

out knowing if Marshal Turenne has met them, not for the world."

Here the conversation finished, and Laurette withdrew into the house, fully resolved in her own mind what part to take on the ensuing Walpurgis night; which was, that since it seemed impossible to persuade Michelle to give up her idea of going, she concluded upon following, although at a distance, that she might be enabled either to render her some assistance, or share the fate of her friend. Laurette was a girl of more sensible piety, and less superstition, than was commonly found in a remote German village in the seventeenth century, and on this account she put more trust in her own religious habits and golden rosary than in all the charms and spells with which Astragal Sterndenter, the astrologer of Altenau, could have furnished her; nevertheless, as certain directions concerning her expedition were to be learned only from him, at an early hour on the following morning she set out on her road to his dwelling. Although the distance between Harzburg and Altenau is only one mile, yet that is a German one, which may be estimated as equal to about five English; but Laurette was so occupied with her own feelings, that she was surprised when she found herself entering the town. "My poor Michelle," thought she, " is an orphan, like myself, for her father and my own were killed together by that fatal fire-damp in the devil's mine at Rammelsburg, when the fiend blew it up out of revenge: and now that she is going to place herself in the power of Reibezhahl, and all his cruel fiends, I feel called upon by heaven not to forsake her, and trusting in it for preservation, through all dangers I must follow her. Perhaps the spirits may frighten her too much for her to speak to them, and then we shall get back to our own cottage safely, and bless God that he has delivered us from evil."

These reflections brought Laurette to the house of Astragal Sterndenter, which was situated in a dark narrow street of Altenau; at the corner of which stood a Gothic