Place the eagle with the dove, Forward! Down with pride and empty gaud, On to triumph-on to pow'r, On where fame her gifts will show'r, The students had scarcely completed their encampment, formed their outposts, and made the necessary arrangements for holding their position, before intelligence was brought that a whole regiment of mounted chasseurs were proceeding from the town, sent by the authorities to force the malecontents to obedience. In an instant all was bustle; but there was not the slightest vestige of confusion. Orders were given by Count Pomeranze, conveyed by his aid-decamps to the officers of the different divisions of his academical army, and obeyed with the strict discipline of a veteran corps. Resistance, if attacked, was resolved upon, and all prepared themselves with the greatest alacrity to act up to that resolution. Flints were looked to, arms were loaded, swords were drawn, and evolutions performed with true military precision. The villagers concealed themselves in alarm, while the expected regiment came galloping into the village, and halted in the street. The commander, who was no other than the aga who had been so ill used a short time before, seeing a crowd of young men a little distance from him, unconcernedly smoking their meerschaums, thought his business would be easy; so, in a tone of command, mingled with much abuse, he ordered them to return immediately to the university, and to give up their leaders. At this moment not an armed student was to be seen anywhere; and the aga, fancying he had been misinformed as to the means of defence possessed by his opponents, was not so cautious in his proceedings as he ought to have been. Two or three students went sauntering up as if to parley with the chief of the jägers; and having come close to him, they commenced explaining the reasons which had induced them to take the extraordinary step they had done: these were followed by others, who approached, by a few at a time, the rest of the officers; and while attracting their attention, some hundreds of the students came up in straggling parties, as if to hear what was going on, mingled with the men, and entered into conversation with them. The aga, however, soon got into a passion; would not listen to any explanation; demanded the authors of the tumult; called them all the opprobrious names he could mention; and seizing upon Count Pomeranze, directed his men to make prisoners of every student they could lay hold of. He had scarcely given the command, when himself, and nearly one half the troop, were unhorsed. The windows and walls of the neighbouring houses were, at the same moment, thronged with young men with guns presented at their opponents; and a troop of mounted students, with drawn schlägers, were observed coming full gallop down the very road by which the soldiers had arrived. The jägers, who were employed by the university more for show than use, seeing their retreat cut off, and themselves hemmed in a narrow street, exposed to the fire of the surrounding houses, were seized with a panic. They put spurs to their horses, and galloped for their lives, amid a tremendous shower of missiles, a discharge of fire-arms of every description, and the shouts of the victors; and pursued for some distance by the small troop of mounted students, they never pulled rein, or looked behind them, till they found themselves safe in their barracks; leaving most of their officers, and above a hundred of their comrades, prisoners of war. I had not been an unconcerned spectator of these proceedings. Indeed, the frequency with which I had shared in such disturbances had procured for me fine and imprisonment more than once; and had, consequently, increased my popularity with my companions. I had been an active leader in the last riot, and my services on that night gained me the command of our small body of cavalry on the pres ent occasion. The pro-rector and his associates began to be seriously alarmed at the dreadful accounts which were in circulation as to the strength and spirit of the revolted scholars. They knew that if these young men left the university, Göttingen would be ruined, the professors starved, and the inhabitants beggared; for without students there could be no subsistence for any one; so, feeling convinced that the bürscher were determined, and had the means of enforcing their determination, the senate very wisely came to a resolution of endeavouring to bring them back at any sacrifice. For that purpose the sentence of expulsion against the Poles was annulled; they were then set at liberty, and sent to the camp of their comrades, bearing the consent of the senate to all their demands. The ambassadors of the senate found their fellowstudents much elated by their success. Considerable difference of opinion prevailed in the camp as to what ought next to be done. Some were so excited by their triumph as to be desirous of proclaiming a revolution, and marching upon Hanover: others were for entering the university, and punishing the senate. But as soon as their liberated companions had explained their mission, all those in authority agreed to accept the terms proposed, and the verschiss was abrogated. The revolters returned to their allegiance, and many a commerz was held that night in honour of the grand triumph they had achieved. I, however, did not join their festivity that evening. Full well I remember that eventful night. Never will the extraordinary circumstances with which it was distinguished be erased from my memory; no! not if my existence was prolonged a thousand years. I sat in my study. The thoughts to which I had so long been a victim haunted me. They hemmed me in on every side. I had some time since made myself acquainted with all oral and written knowledge concerning necromancy and astrology: but it gave me no insight into the secrets I thirsted to possess. A lingering credulity in the super natural existed within me which I could not conquer. A belief in the agency of the spiritual world returned upon me like a dream; and while I remained under its influence, I thought of every species of magic practised when the black art possessed its most celebrated professors. The mind got tossed in a sea of chimeras. Conceits, the very fungi of the intellect, sprung up in a most luxuriant crop. Im agination wandered into the unknown world like a missionary in a savage land, feeding upon high hopes and lofty wishes, yet meeting with nothing but darkness and ignorance. I thought how proud a thing it would be could I make the elemental spirits obedient to my will. What vast power should I gain, could I bind them by those fearful mysteries vaguely hinted at by the old necromancers. But what powerful abjuration would call them from the caves of darkness? What potent spell secure their subjection? I had recourse to the learning I had acquired. There all was confusion-chaos, lumber. I could arrive at nothing. No tangible idea presented itself. The mind seemed a whirlpool of thoughts, hurrying round and round, and drawing all stray opinions into its own black, devouring, unfathomable vortex. The pursuit of a feverish curiosity appeared to be turning my blood into fire. I was losing all relationship with humanity, and acquiring an imaginary familiarity with the powers of darkness. I fancied myself above the world, able to conquer my own nature, and sufficiently powerful to cope with the unseen agents that prevented my progress to the arcana of universal knowledge. I felt that the struggle within me was drawing to a crisis. An influence was upon me, directing me, supporting me. It was the presence of some powerful spirit of intelligence. Nature appeared opening her arms to receive me. The world was sinking beneath my feet. I wrestled with a tumult of conflicting emotions. I endured torture. To calm the restlessness of my senses, I took up a volume that happened to lie before me it was that wonderful production of the illustrious Goëthe-"Faust." I attempted to read. I had opened the book where the presence of the spirit is first manifested to the philosophic student. I read a few lines, and then could read no more. "Oh!" I exclaimed, franticly, rising from my seat, and clasping my hands wildly together, "if there be any power which can minister to the devouring thirst for hidden knowledge that is now wasting my existence, appear! I claim thy assistance-I command thy presence!" As I spoke, I observed a cloud rising before me, and it continued increasing in blackness and size till it filled the room, and surrounded me with utter darkness. A deep unearthly voice arose from the centre of the vapour, saying— |