of the ground, and in the chinks of the paths little pools gathering as from unseen springs. At the same time a rushing and splashing noise in one corner indicated that the water had found its way through the walls of the neighbouring houses. Though the enemy was close at hand, no one took the precaution of securing a passage for us over the court-yard, which indeed would afterwards have proved quite useless, as the common mode of setting up tressels was soon defied by the rapid rising of the water. At this moment it occurred to me to procure from the wash-house a large tub, by means of which I might, in case of necessity, row myself to the opposite side of the yard. The ground now became more and more like a sieve, through which the water rushed up incessantly. In the mean time the flood had entered one of the houses by the street-door, and passing through, became a rivulet, which poured in a cascade down the stone steps into the yard, thus hastening the conversion of the latter into a reflecting sheet of water. This change was accomplished in less than an hour; streams, also, running from every corner and crevice of the opposite houses. The water having now risen half an elle, I tried my first expedition in the washing-tub, and succeeded, amidst the cheers of the spectators, in reaching the opposite house. There I found a man to whom the opening, and shutting, and cleaning the house belonged, busily engaged in removing various articles. I applied to him for assistance in removing my furniture, especially my piano, from the ground floor, to an upper story. But he said, How can we manage, both of us, to cross the yard in your washing-tub? and when there, how shall I return? Besides," he added, "you have nothing to fear; the water will not rise so high as to enter your house." This hope I no longer could or would cherish. Therefore, as soon as I had returned from my expedition, my wife and I set to work in earnest in removing as many articles as we possibly could in so short a time. It was all very well while we had to deal with the smaller articles of furniture; but when we came to the heavier ones, we found ourselves little competent to the task. | However, the near approach of danger gave us increasing energy, and we managed to secure many of the more cumbrous pieces also. To our dismay, we found ourselves wholly unable to remove the piano, and the most our failing strength would permit us to do, was to place it upon a strong and heavy table. After the toil of four hours, we were ready to bid farewell to the half emptied rooms; and high time it was to do so. An hour ago, the flood had made a furious rush down into the cellar, and filled it. Pressing upwards from thence, it now began to ooze through the boards of the floor, and soon formed little pools here and there. This was the state of things when, with a sigh, we left our comfortable sitting-room; and very soon afterwards, the rooms were several inches deep in water. Evening now closed in, followed by a night, to us, the most desolate we had ever passed, while, to others, it was one of real danger, threatening death and destruction. Many eyes were open, and many hands folded in prayer. We also slept very little; the sense of being utterly cut off from others, whatever might happen, was too painful to permit of repose. But, if this was our condition, what must have been the apprehensions of those who lived nearer the river! The scene from the bridge that evening was described by an eye-witness as being very awful. The roaring of the torrent, caused by the waves breaking against the piers, was frightfully high, and the spray fell everywhere like hail; while the distorted reflections of the lights on the bridge made the whole only more wild and distorted. A general fear began to prevail, that the pressure of the still increasing waters would act on every street, so as to choke and burst the sewers, and thus bring on Dresden a similar destruction to that by which the city of Pesth had been visited the year before. From this terrible fate we were happily spared. At length, Monday morning came; but the sun rose amidst mist and drizzling rain. The first look out from our prison was a dreary and distressing one. In our courtyard, as well as in the yards belonging to the adjacent houses, the water had risen to an imposing height, the shrubs having vanished, and only a few trees standing out. The surface of this lake was strewed with floating materials of every description, and a cold damp atmosphere rested upon it, giving an unwholesome chilliness to our encampment. I ran down stairs, to see what advance the water had made in our habitation, launching my boat, namely, my washing-tub, that I might the better examine the state of the piano, and other furniture. I was grieved to find that, without some strenuous effort on our part to remove them, our most valuable articles would soon be irreparably injured. Determined to seek once more for aid, we called across the yard to the occupants of the other parts of the building; but they declared they had no means of getting over to us; and, perhaps, they felt no great wish to do so, having, doubtless, abundant cares of their own. I then attempted to cross the yard in my tub, but without success. The poles I used to urge my vessel forward stuck fast in the mud, and nearly capsized me, so that I was obliged to return, and try a second appeal from the windows. Two women answered me that their husbands were out, seeking for bread; and, even if they were at home, it was scarcely possible they could reach us. Several vain and impracticable schemes occupied another weary hour, but lo! when hope began to fail us, unexpectedly help appeared. A young and courageous friend, who had just heard of our situation, had contrived to make his way to the house opposite ours, where, seeing our insulated position, and hearing our lamentations, he set to work at once making a raft. With a long pole he caught a number of planks as they floated by on the water, drew them to the steps of a staircase on which he stood, nailed them together, and completed his work by placing a large door upon this frame-work. In a few minutes afterwards our hero was seen bravely skimming the ocean, and was greeted by the general applause of the people who had watched his operations. Having tested the safety of his raft, he took on it another friend of ours, and both came to our assistance. Being now three, we were able to remove all the rest of the furniture, including the piano, though, in order to do this, we had to wade in the water up to our knees. Our minds were now more at rest, and a means of communication being opened to us by the raft, we were speedily provided with fresh water, food, &c., and also received the visits of a number of friends. During the hour in which we had been occupied with the removal of our goods, we fancied there was no farther rise in the water; and soon, to our great delight, we found this actually to be the case; not that we dared trust our eyes, but soon the glad tidings were running through the whole town. And truly it was in a time of extremity, that the Almighty thus checked the progress of the waves, for great things had been going on while we were occupied by our petty cares. This we learned of the friend who came to our rescue, and who had been abroad the whole morning. In front of the royal castle, and round the theatre, the waters had gained ground hour by hour. The Roman Catholic church, nearly in the centre of this spacious place, was now quite surrounded, and its vaults, where the coffins of the royal family are deposited, were completely filled. Street after street became extensively flooded. and much damage was done in the shops of grocers, bakers, and others, who, thinking themselves secure, had neglected to remove their stores. Notwithstanding the precautions of the magistracy, the want of bread and provisions began to be felt. His majesty the king, who had already visited the most endangered districts, set the example of relieving the poor, by ordering the sum of five hundred dollars to be paid to the police for distribution, in the form of bread. Of the eyes. | filled up, pavements to be repaired and relaid, and sewers to be examined. Furniture, beds, and thousands of different household utensils which had not been saved, were now brought from their watery graves and exposed to the influence of the sun. At the close of this day the ark in my garden happily became useless, and once more I stood on solid ground. The rooms were also free of water, and in a condition to undergo the neces sary cleanings and dryings. By order of the magistracy, no persons were allowed to re-occupy their flooded rooms, until inspection had been made by proper authority. It certainly was not by accident that, for nearly a fortnight following the inundation, the finest sunshine prevailed, and powerfully assisted in obliterating the traces of the calamity, while it also dispersed the foul and damp exhalations necessarily arising from the state of the town. On the night of the first of April a strong frost set in, which covered still water with a coat of ice, while it contributed to send the river back to its proper channel. The next morning the water had sunk six ellen, and the higher objects along the shores reappeared. Reports were now received from the villages adjoining the river, of the imminent danger thousands of persons had been in, and the damage which had been sustained in the fields and meadows. In a village near Dresden the more valuable horses and cattle on a gentleman's estate were actually dragged up to the first story of his house, and accommodated in a suite of apartments appropriated to the summer use of the owner. A little farther up the river a wooden cottage, which had been carried away from the valley where it was built, was washed ashore, very little injured, and firmly settled in a garden belonging to the royal demesnes, where it is left standing, a monument of the ever-memorable event. bridge, only the top and railing of the middle now stood above the water. Most of the arches on the Neustadt side were stopped up; and, even at the Aldstadt side, where the arches were highest, the water could only with difficulty force its way through. The inundation was now higher than it had been for the last four centuries. The very formidable rising of 1784 was twenty inches lower. At the middle and highest pier of the bridge stood a crucifix, mounted on a pedestal of rock. This pier projected farther into the water than any of the others, and it was here that a crack began to extend itself. No sooner had the sad discovery run through the crowd of spectators, and drawn their eyes to the endangered spot, than the pier, as far as it stood out into the flood, was seen to give way. For one moment the golden image of the Saviour was observed to rock to and fro, the next it sank backwards and vanished beneath the flood, which rushed and foamed as it closed over its booty. For a minute the hum of the thousands of spectators was completely silenced. They remained staring on the empty spot, as if unable to trust their But then a general cry of grief burst from their lips; women and children began to weep bitterly, and even the men turned pale. Precisely on this fatal pier, up to this moment, a sentinel had faithfully kept his post; and it was not a little remarkable that, although the sentry-box had sunk down at his side, he escaped. The passage over the bridge was now prohibited and every one expected that the complete destruction of the bridge would follow; but, strange to say, with the sinking of the crucifix the angry demon of the waves seemed to be appeased; for, from that moment, the water did not rise another inch. The sinking of that particular pier was doubtless occasioned by its projection beyond the others, which caused it to be exposed to a terrible body of back-water, and also by a cavity or Through the wide extent where the flatness of the vault which existed in its upper part, just underneath shores had permitted the river to spread, fields, meadows, the pedestal of the crucifix. It must also be remarked, gardens, and roads, were greatly injured, both by the that the bridge was not wholly of stone, but had its deposit of pebbles and sand left by the receding floods, internal cavities filled up with sand. This led one of and by large fissures which were rent in the earth. The the oldest citizens of Dresden (the bookseller, Arnold) shores, far and near, were strewed with timber and to foretell, only a few months before, the fate which had various fragments, but happily no human bodies were now befallen the bridge. In spite of this very natural seen among them. The most ghastly scene was, howexplanation of the circumstance, superstition, and ever, presented by one of the churchyards lying in the rising party-strife between Roman and German Catholics, direct line of the most formidable torrent branching caused numbers to avail themselves of the falling of the from the main river. Not only were the coffins in crucifix, and make the best of it for their particular the vaults heaved up, and floated about within the views. The Roman Catholics declared that the crucifix walls of the churchyard, but even dead bodies, parwas overthrown because Christ would no longer suffer ticularly from new-made graves, washed out and laid his holy image to remain in the midst of an unbelieving bare. The sight is described as having been really population; the German Catholics affirmed that the image horrid, and far more frightful than that of a battle-field. was destroyed in order to show the Divine displeasure One man told me, with faltering voice, that, when he against idolatry. This latter opinion became very pre- ventured to climb up and peep over the wall into the valent, even in the minds of persons who had nothing to cemetery, the first object that arrested his eyes and do with party-strife; and it now appears unlikely that struck him with horror, was the grim visage of an old the emblem will ever be set up again in that situation. coachman whom he had known very well, and who was The gradual decrease of the waters could now be only buried a few days before. Repenting his curiosity, plainly discerned, and all faces brightened with hope and he at once jumped down from the wall, and made off; thankfulness. There was no longer an Elbmesser to con- but he could not so easily forget the horrible spectacle, sult, for it had been swept away with the falling pier; but which haunted him wherever he went. By the activity the happy fact was sufficiently evident without it. At of the authorities, all these sad traces of the calamity four o'clock in the afternoon the passage over the bridge were speedily removed; and, in a comparatively short was again opened, under proper precautions, for pedes- space of time, the progress of vegetation restored to the trians only. The next morning, being that of the first of fields and gardens also much of their wonted appearApril, the sun rose serenely over the sinking floods; and ance. The heavy losses sustained by numbers were that day, otherwise a day of deceptions, became at this partly made up to them by the assistance of govern time one of fulfilled hopes. Nevertheless, the very bright-ment, and partly by private benevolence; for people ness revealed more clearly the extent of the devastation which had taken place. The sinking of the flood had been three ellen, and the water had, in consequence, receded from the royal castle, the theatre, and many other public places. Wherever the water drew back from houses, streets, and squares, persons were busily engaged removing the mud, sand, and rubbish, which was by no means an easy task, as it frequently lay an elle deep, and extended over the space of many acres. There were also deep holes rent by the torrent to be seemed to vie with each other on this occasion in acts of kindness. Thus the tribulation in this, as in many other cases, was the means of bringing forth and ripening the wholesome and heavenly fruit of Christian love. One of the most striking monuments of the flood was, for a long period, the bridge of Dresden. Two of the other piers sunk, after a few days had passed, and then all communication by it was forbidden. A bridge of boats, during the whole summer, supplied its place until its restoration could be effected. FRANK FAIRLEGH;1 OR, OLD COMPANIONS IN NEW SCENES. CHAP. II. MR. FRAMPTON'S INTRODUCTION TO A ROYAL TIGER. "I HOPE you feel no ill effects from your adventure, Sir: you resisted the fellow's attack most spiritedly, and would have beaten him off, I believe, if you had possessed a more serviceable weapon than an umbrella," observed I to Mr. Frampton, as we drew our chairs to the fire after dinner. "Umph! all right, Sir, all right: a little stiff or so across the back, but not so bad as the tiger at Bundleapoor. I'm not so young as I used to be, and there's a difference between young men and old ones. Young men are all whalebone and whipcord, and it's nothing but hopping, skipping, and jumping with them all day long; when you're turned of sixty-five, Sir, the whalebone gets stiff, the whipcord wears out, the skip and jump take their departure, and the hop becomes an involuntary accompaniment to the rheumatism,-confound it! Umph!" "You have been in India, I presume: I think I heard you refer to some adventure with a tiger," returned I. "I've been everywhere, Sir-north, south, east, and west. I ran away from school at twelve years old, because the master chose to believe one of the ushers rather than me, and flogged me for lying when I had spoken the truth. I ran away, Sir, and got aboard a ship that was bound for the East Indies, and for five and forty years I never saw the white cliffs of old England; and, when I did return, I might as well have left it alone, for all who knew and cared for me were dead and gone-all dead and gone, dead and gone!" he repeated, in a tone of sorrowful earnestness. Then came an aside: "Umph! wonder what I told him that for; something for him to go and make fun of with the other young scapegraces, instead of minding their books-just like me!" "You must have seen many strange things, and met with various adventures worthy of note, in the course of your wanderings," remarked I. "I must have been a fool, if I hadn't," was the "Prhaps you think Pwas-umph! Young folks always think old ones fools, they say." answer. "Finish the adage, Sir, that old folks know young ones to be so, and then agree with me that it is a saying founded on prejudice, and at variance with truth." 66 Umph strong words, young Gentleman, strong words. I will agree with you so far, that there are old fools as well as young ones-old fools, who, in their worldly wisdom, stigmatise the generous impulses and disinterested affections of youth as folly, who may yet live to regret the warm feelings they have crushed, and the affections they have alienated, and find out that the things which they deemed folly, may prove in the end the truest wisdom." Then came the soliloquy: "There I go again-just like me! something else for him to laugh at don't think he will, though-seems a good lad-wish t'other boy may be like him-umph!" He paused for a minute, and then observed abruptly, Umph! about the tiger at Bundleapoor. You call to-night's an adventure, Sir: wonder what you'd have said if you'd been there!" 66 "As I was not, would it be asking too great a favour, if I request you to relate the anecdote?" (1) Continued from p. 106. Aye, boy, boy, I see you know how o come round an old traveller: set him gossiping about all the fine things he has seen and done in his younger days, and you win his heart at once. Well, fill your glass, Sir, and we'll see about it," was the reply. I obeyed, Mr. Frampton followed my example, and clear his throat, began the following recital :— after sipping his wine, and grunting several times to "Umph! ha! let me recollect. When I was a young shaver, having lived in the world some twenty years or so, I was engaged as a sort of supernumerary clerk in the house of Wilson and Brown at Calcutta; and, having no one else who could be so easily spared, they determined to despatch me on a business negotiation to the country. I travelled with a party of the one of the native princes, about eight hundred miles up dragoons, commanded by a Captain Slingsby, a man about five years older than myself, and as good a fellow as ever lived. Well, somehow or other, he took a great fancy to me, and nothing would do but that I should accompany him in all his sporting expeditions,-for I I believe, entertained some strange notion that he should tell you that he was a thorough sportsman, and, should be able to make one of me. One unfortunate morning, he came into my tent, and woke me out of a sound sleep which I had fallen into, after being kept awake half the night by the most diabolical howls and screams that ever were heard out of Bedlam, expecting every minute to see some of the performers step in to sup, not with, but upon me. 666 Come, Frampton, wake up, man,' cried Slingsby, here's glorious news.' "What is it?' said I,-'have they found another hamper of ale among the baggage?' “ ́Ale! nonsense,' was the reply. A shikkaree (native hunter) has just come into camp to say, that a half eaten in the jungle about a mile from this place; young bullock was carried off yesterday, and is lying so at last, my boy, I shall have the pleasure of introducing you to a real live tiger.' "Thank ye,' said I, 'you're very kind; but if it's at all inconvenient to you this morning, you can put it off: another day will do quite as well for me-I'm not in the least hurry.' "It was of no use, however; all I got for my pains was a poke in the ribs, and an injunction to lose no time in getting ready. "Before we had done breakfast, the great man of the neighbourhood, Rajah somebody or other, made his appearance on his elephant, attended by a train of tawnies, who were to undertake the agreeable duty of myself-a melancholy fact of which I was only too beating. Not being considered fit to take care of occupy the same howdah. Accordingly, at the time conscious-it was decreed that Slingsby and I should appointed, we mounted our elephant; and having a formidable array of guns handed up to us, we started. concerned in the matter, evidently considered it com"As my companion, and indeed every one else pletely as a party of pleasure, and seemed prepared to enjoy themselves to the utmost, I endeavoured to persuade myself that I did so too; and, consoled by the reflection that if the tiger had positively eaten half a bullock yesterday afternoon, it never could be worth his while to scale our elephant, and run the risk of being shot, for the sake of devouring me, I felt rather bold than otherwise. After proceeding for some distance through the jungle, and rousing, as it seemed to me, every beast that had come out of Noah's Ark, except a tiger, our elephant, who had hitherto conducted himself raised his trunk, and trumpeted several times,—a sure in a very quiet and gentlemanly manner, suddenly sign, as the mahout informed us, that a tiger was some where close at hand. "Now then, Frampton,' cried my companion, cocking his double-barrel, look out!' "For squalls,' returned I, finishing the sentence for him. Pray is there any particular part they like to be shot in? whereabouts shall I aim? "Wherever you can,' replied Slingsby, be ready; there he is, by Jupiter!' and, as he spoke, the long grass about a hundred yards in front of us was gently agitated, and I caught a glimpse of what appeared a yellow and black streak, moving swiftly away in an opposite direction- Tally ho!' shouted Slingsby, saluting the tiger with both barrels. An angry roar proved that the shots had taken effect, and in another moment, a large tiger, lashing his sides with his tail, and his eyes glaring with rage, came bounding towards us. 668 Now, what's to be done?' exclaimed I,-'if you had but left him alone, he was going away as quietly as possible.' Slingsby's only reply was a smile, and, seizing another gun, he fired again. On receiving this shot, the tiger stopped for a moment, and then, with a tremendous bound, sprang towards us, alighting at the foot of a small tree, not a yard from the elephant's head. ४ "That last shot crippled him,' said my companion, or we should have had the pleasure of his nearer acquaintance-now for the coup de grace, fire away!' and as he spoke he leaned forward to take a deliberate aim, when suddenly the front of the howdah gave way, and to my horror, Slingsby was precipitated over the elephant's head, into, as it seemed to me, the very jaws of the tiger. A fierce growl, and a suppressed cry of agony, proved that the monster had seized his prey, and I had completely given my friend up for lost, when the elephant, although greatly alarmed, being urged on by the mahout, took a step forward, and twisting his trunk round the top of the young tree, bent it down across the loins of the tiger, thus forcing the tortured animal to quit its hold, and affording Slingsby an opportunity of crawling beyond the reach of its teeth and claws. Forgetting my own fears in the imminence of my friend's danger, I only waited till I could get a shot at the tiger, without running the risk of hurting Slingsby, and then fired both barrels at its head, and was lucky enough to wound it mortally. The other sportsmen coming up at the moment, the brute received his quietus, but poor Slingsby's arm was broken where the tiger had seized it with his teeth, and his shoulders and chest were severely lacerated by its claws, nor did he entirely recover the shock for many months. And this was my first introduction to a royal tiger, Sir. I saw many of 'em afterwards, during the time I spent in India, but I can't say I ever had much liking for their societyumph!" This anecdote brought others in its train-minutes flew by apace, the wine grew low in the decanters, and it became apparent to me that if I would not lose the whole evening, and go home with my brains muddled beyond all possibility of reading, I must take my departure. Accordingly, pulling out my watch, I reminded Mr. Frampton of my previous stipulation to be allowed to run away as soon as dinner was concluded, adding that I had already stayed longer than was altogether prudent. The reply to this announcement was, "Umph! sit still, Sir, sit still; I'm going ring for another bottle of port.' Finding, however, that I was determined, he gave up the point, adding,—“ Umph! well, if you must go, you must, I suppose--though you might refuse a worse offer; -but, if you really are anxious about your studies, and wish to distinguish yourself, I won't be the man to hinder you-it's few enough of 'em are like you here, I expect;" then, sotto voce, "wish t'other young monkey might be." "You hinted before dinner at some information I might be able to give you?" said I, interrogatively. "Umph! did I?-aye, so I did-you see, Mr. Lee, there's a young fellow at Trinity, about your age, should fancy, whom I used to know as a boy,-and-he was a very good boy-and-and-his mother's a widow; poor thing-a very nice boy, I may say, he was—and as I feel a sort of interest about him, I thought that you might, perhaps, give one an idea of how he's going on just a notion-you understand-umph!" Exactly, Sir," returned I, "and what may be the name of your friend?" "Frank Fairlegh," was the answer. "You could not have applied to a better person," replied I. "Frank Fairlegh!-why, he was one of my most intimate friends." "Was---umph!" Why, yes, it's more was than is, certainly-for since I've been reading hard, it's a positive fact that I've scarcely seen his face." "That looks as if he wasn't over fond of reading, then, himself-umph?" "You may put that interpretation upon it, certainly," replied I, "but mind, I don't say it's the true one. I consider it would not be right in me to tell tales out of school;-besides there's nothing to tell everybody knows Frank Fairlegh's a good fellow-ask Lawless-ask Curtis." "Umph! Lawless? what? that wild young scamp who goes tearing about the country in a tandem, as if a gig with one horse wasn't dangerous enough, without put- | ting on a second to make the thing positively terrific! | he must be badly of for something to do, if he can find no better amusement than trying how nearly he en break a fool's neck, without doing it quite ;—umph! Curtis-why, that's the name of the young gentlemanvery gentle-who, the landlord tells me, has just been rusticated for insulting Dr. Doublechin, and fastening a muzzle and chain on one of the men they call bull dogs,' saying, forsooth, that it wasn't safe to let such ferocious animals go about loose-nice acquaintance Mr. Frank Fairlegh seems to choose, and you know the quotation, Noscitur a sociis.'" "Oh," replied I, "but he has others; I have seen him in company with Mr. Wilford." "Wilford the noted duellist, that scoundrel who has lately shot the son of Sir John Oaklands, as fine a young man as ever I set eyes upon ?--for I have often seen him when I was down at Helmstone; if I thought, Sir, that Fairlegh was a friend of that man-I'd-l'd-well, Sir," he exclaimed, seeing my eyes fixed upon him with degree of interest I could not conceal, "it's nothing to you, I suppose, what I may intend to do by Mr. Frank Fairlegh I may be his grandfather for any thing you can tell to the contrary; and I may choose to cut him off with a shilling, I imagine, without its affecting you in any way-umph?" "Scarcely so, Mr. Frampton," replied I, turning away to hide an irrepressible smile, "if it is in consequence of what I have told you, that you are angry with poor Frank." "Angry, Sir, angry,"-was the answer,-"I'm never angry-there's nothing worth being angry about in this world. Do you take snuff, Sir? I've some that came from-Umph! eh!" he continued, fumbling in all his pockets-"hope I haven't lost my box-given me by the Begum of Cuddleakee-splendid woman-only complexion too strong of the tawny-Umph! left it in the other room I suppose-back in a moment, SirUmph! Umph!" and suiting the action to the word, he went out, slamming the door behind him. As the reader may suppose, I was equally surprised and pleased to find, that my old friend not only remem bered our former intimacy, but felt so warm an interest in my welfare, as to have put himself quite in a rage on hearing of my supposed delinquencies. Although it had been the means of eliciting such strong indications The main facts of the foregoing anecdote are taken from Capt. deception I had practised upon him-the only thing of his continued regard for me, I felt half sorry for the Mundy's very interesting "Pen and Pencil Sketches." 1 ין that could be done now, however, was to make myself "Umph! Eh! Dr. Mildman?" was the reply-"why it can't be and yet it is-the boy Frank Fairlegh himself! Oh! you young villain!" and completely overcome by the sudden and unexpected nature of the surprise, he sank back into a chair, looking the picture of astonishment. Springing to his side, and pressing his hand warmly between my own, I exclaimed, "Forgive me for the trick I have played you. I knew you the moment I heard your voice, when I was helping you up to-night, and, finding you did not recognise me, I could not resist the temptation of preserving my incognito a little longer, and introducing myself to you as a stranger." "Oh! you young scapegrace," was the rejoinder, "if ever I forgive you, I'll-Umph!-that I will"-then changing his tone to one of much feeling, he continued. "So you hadn't forgotten the old man then, Frank? good boy, good boy." I had seated myself on a stool at his feet, and, as he spoke, he patted my head with his hand, as if I had been a favourite dog. "And all the things you said against yourself were so many lies, I suppose? Umph! you are no friend to the homicide Wilford !" I. "True to the ear, but false to the sense, Sir," replied "Harry Oaklands is the dearest friend I have on earth; we love cach other as brothers,-between the man whose hand was so lately raised to shed that brother's blood and myself, there can be little friendship-if I do not positively hate him, it is only because I would not willingly hate any one. Lawless was an old fellow-pupil of mine, and, though he has many follies about him, is at bottom more kind-hearted and well-disposed than people give him credit for; we still continue friends, therefore, but our habits and pursuits being essentially different, I see very little of him-with Curtis I never exchanged half a dozen words in my life." Umph! I understand, I understand; and how is Harry Oaklands? better again, eh?" The reply to this query led to my being obliged to give Mr. Frampton a succinct account of the duel, and it was not till I explained my intention of trying for honours, and made him comprehend the necessity of my being fully prepared for the ensuing examination, that he would hear of my departure; and, when at last he did allow me to go, he insisted on accompanying me to the gate of Trinity, and made me promise to let him see me as often as I was able during his stay in Cambridge, where he informed me he proposed remaining till after the degrees were conferred. | SKETCH OF THE TRADITIONS OF GERMANY.1 sticks. In many countries of Germany, there exist monuments which tradition attributes to the devil. Near Altenburgh is a rock, which the united efforts of five hundred men could not move, the devil put it on his head for a hat, and carried it in triumph through the fields. In the church of Gorlar, there is a hole in the centre of the wall, which can never be filled up. The Abbot of Isulda and the Bishop of Hildisheim were disputing about precedence, and so great was their pride, that they came to blows in the church. The devil entered by this hole in order to prevent any reconciliation, and keep alive the rage of the combatants. Many similar traditions current in other countries, at once present themselves; Ireland has its Devil's Bit, its Devil's Punch-bowl, &c. But these legends of the devil seem to offer to view a singular feature of the human mind ;—the way in which it can caricature an object of fear, render it absurd and grotesque, without at the same time trembling one degree the less before its own ludicrous creation. The devil of the middle ages is a being tricked, played upon, bargaining for a soul as a farmer for an acre of land, and, strangely enough, always keeping faith, always strictly adhering to his part of the compact, while monk and peasant make it their boast to overreach and outwit him. The malice attributed to him is in little keeping with the simplicity which makes him lose in almost every transaction his gold and his pains. Like some mighty crag, around which the clouds group and shape into many a grotesque form; the fearful adversary of man, seen through the legends of the middle ages, appears no longer, as in the awful colouring of Scripture, a being whose mysterious power is only surpassed by his soul destroying malignity. Who would imagine that the term Old Nick, applied in derision to Satan, had in its first origin a far different meaning, borrowed as it is from the title of an evil genius amongst the ancient Danes? Keysler mentions a demon worshipped by the ancient Germans and Danes under the name of Nocca or Necken, styled in the Edda, Nikur, which he derives from the German nugen, answering to the Latin necare, to slay, kill, or hurt. Countless are the legends in which Satan is repre (1) Continued from p. 104. |