a card with my address at Bellevue written upon it, and desired her to leave it with the concierge in case he should ever call again; for I had a haunting desire to see and know this man. "And so he never came again, Pierrette?" I said as I gave it to her. "O no, madame, no." "Can you not describe his appearance, his complexion, his height ?" middle life, and you are in the bloom of -outh. Can you love me?" I was silent, but the tears slowly filled my eyes and dropped upon my cheeks. "I never left you, Alice," he said in the same low tone, “since that night when you departed in sorrow from your German home. On the roof of the same coach I travelled with and protected you. "Me, madame! Ah ciel! not I do not ob- In Paris, I have watched over you; and when death serve gentlemen.” threatened to remove you from my care, I was ready also to die!" So it was of no avail; and as we left the card and rolled away in the fiacre, I sighed to think that I might never know him. I was still weak, and the noise of the carriage, the sight of the crowded streets, the glittering shops, the thronging vehicles, distressed and fluttered me. I leaned back in the corner, and closed my eyes. When I again opened them, we were out of the gay city, and passing along a country road bordered by barren fields and leafless trees. The air was fresh and clear, and there was a look of awakening spring in everything around. I felt a great peace and resignation steal upon me, and, though I was very silent, I felt happier. We passed many pretty country-houses; a thick wood green with wintry firs; then down a lane arched overhead by trees-a perfect bower in the summer season. The coach stopped suddenly before a garden-gate, in the front of an exquisite little countryhouse, all overgrown with dark glossy ivy, and fenced in by trees. Here we alighted. Pierrette gave me her arm, and led me through the houseall was new, charming, and complete. "Is madame content?" asked Pierrette smiling. Content! It was but too good-and the rent I feared But Pierrette laughed, and shook her head. "Would not madame now wish to walk through the garden?" So we went out from the windows of the salon, and down a flight of stone steps upon the grassy lawn. Eren at this season the place looked beautiful. The tiny crocuses and snow drops were just blossoming forth above the mould; the laurel, the fir, the laurustina with its pink clustering blossoms, and the thick ivy, lent a green like spring-time. There was a summer-house at the end, with a tiny fountain in front. "Madame must rest in the summer-house for a few moments," said Pierrette, as she made me take a seat. What was there in so simple a thing as a bouquet of camellias to make me start, and blush and tremble as I did, to see it lying there upon the little rustic table? I rose, half terrified, as if to go—there was a footstep on the gravel-walk-Pierrette clapped her hands, and ran away. "Pierrette! Pierrette!" I cried, and was about to follow, when a dark form interposed, a gentle hand took mine, and led me back into the arbour. I did not look upon his face but my heart told me who it was, even before he spoke to me. Blind as I had been before, I knew all now! "Alice! Alice!" said Herr Stolberg as he placed me in the seat and stood before me-" I love you!" I made no reply, and he went on. "Alice! I have loved you for the last ten years -even since you were a little child. When you were a child, I was a man; I have now reached I looked up into his dark eyes, and standing there in his noble truth and generous love, to me he seemed beautiful--it was the beautiful of the soul. "I have prepared this summer-home for you. Be my wife, Alice, and let us share it together! When the autumn comes, we will return to Germany, and to our art." And I smiled sadly through my tears. "But I have no voice," I said softly. "I know it; still you have voice enough to say "I love you'”—and that is all the melody my heart asks from thine." And so, reader, I said it. The words were spoken fifteen years ago, and I have not repented of them yet. VENUS OF THE NEEDLE. MARYANNE, you pretty girl, Of sempstresses the pink and pearl, Those eyes, for ever drooping, give The long brown lashes rarely; But violets in the shadows liveFor once unveil them fairly. Hast thou not lent that flounce enough Ye graceful fingers, deftly sped! How slender, and how nimble ! O might I wind their skeins of thread. Or but pick up their thimble! How blest the youth whom love shall bring, To change the dome into a ring, Who'll steal some morning to her side Who'll watch her sew her wedding-gown, With those so ruddy scissors. Who'll taste those ripenings of the South, I almost wish it were my trust To teach how shocking that is; I wish I had not, as I must, To quit this tempting lattice. Sure aim takes Cupid, fluttering foe, A thread of silk to string his bow, "Joseph Durer, Goldsmith of this city, acquaints his fellow citizens that he will this afternoon at his shop on the Place de l'Horloge, sell by auction all the works of Art in gold and silver that he possesses, and which are too numerous to be detailed-the salo will commence at four o'clock precisely." "What!" exclaimed one of the bystanders, who had just arrived, and who from the style and magnificence of his attire, was apparently a person of some distinction; "what! the rich goldsmith Durer have reduced him to such an extremity?" selling off all his celebrated works of Art! what can "You are evidently a stranger, sir," replied a citizen to whom the question had been addressed, or you would have known that Joseph Durer has made the greatest sacrifices to sustain his son-inlaw, who was a short time since considered one of the principal merchants of Lubeck, but who has lately fled, leaving behind him debts to a considerable amount. It is to meet this disaster to save the honor of his grandchildren, and to preserve their names pure and unblemished, that this worthy man is now about to part with those beautiful works that were the pride and delight of his old age, of those masterpieces the possession of which has, so to say, identified itself with his very existence-such noble and disinterested conduct has called forth a general feeling of respect and sympathy from his fellow citizens, and has done much to remove a prejudice which existed against him, in consequence of an event which occurred some years since." "May I, without being deemed indiscreet, ask to what you allude?" said the stranger. "You must know, Seigneur, that Joseph Durer had three sons and a daughter; the daughter he gave in marriage, with a large fortune, to the Lubeck merchant of whom I just spoke; his two elder sons he, by the sacrifice of enormous sums of money, succeeded in procuring appointments for at the Courts of Bavaria and Weimar, where their progress was so rapid that they soon learnt to despise their plebeian father, and contrived to exchange his humble name for titles of nobility." "And the youngest son-what became of him?" "Albert, poor fellow!" replied the citizen; "Albert wished to become a painter, his father, however, refused to gratify this desire, wishing that the lad should follow his own calling of Goldsmith, and threatened that if he did not he should be turned into the streets-in fact, behaved so unkindly to the poor boy, that one day he fled from home and has never again been heard of many years have since passed, but so general a favorite was poor Albert, that even now his loss is remembered, and reproaches are still uttered against his father for the ill-treatment that caused the departure and perhaps the death of his youngest boy. Poor Albert !" At this moment the clock struck four, the Gold smith's ware rooms were thrown open, and the crowd rushed in to examine and to admire the costly articles that were submitted to their curious inspection. "Write," said the young stranger in faltering dining-room, that was just at the head of a flight of very accents, "write Albert Durer." At this name the old man sprang up with all the energy of boyhood, and in an instant was locked in the embrace of his son. The sale began-—massive dishes, ewers, and flagons of silver and gold were first offered-then "Albert!" he exclaimed; "my poor Albert! is came the more precious wares, the master-pieces it indeed you that I see you that I hold to my of the craft-chalices exquisitely carved, Gothic heart! My poor boy! and you have not then temples enriched with tracery of marvellous deli- forgotten your old father—and you have forgiven cacy and fineness, jewelled shrines with scriptural him?" ibjects in relievo of wondrous beauty, figures from the antique of admirable perfection. So long as the more common-place though costly things only were offered for sale, the Goldsmith sat quietly and calmly at the back of his shop, but when he heard the master-pieces of his skill named, and their worth and excellence extolled in the hackneyed terms of praise usual on such occasions, he could no longer maintain his attitude of resignation, but hastily rising, as if under the influence of some invisible power, he hovered round the various articles that were offered, with all the anxiety of a parent round the cradle of her offspring. The crier now announced for sale six statuettes in gold and silver, from the antique. "A thousand ducats," said a voice. "A thousand and fifty," said another. "Eleven hundred," exclaimed the first, there was no higher bidding and the statuettes were sold. The old Goldsmith breathed heavily, his features were white as his venerable locks, and a convulsive movement agitated every limb. He nevertheless persisted in remaining near the official whose duty it was to register the purchases made. When all was sold the poor old man looked around him with a feeling of terror-the fatal moment approached when the purchasers were to bear away all those -rich productions of his art which had so long surrounded him, those household gods which were to him part and parcel of his own life. "Forgiven you, my dear father," replied the youth, kneeling, "it is I who have to solicit forgiveness for my disobedience to your wishes and commands." "All is forgotten, all is pardoned, my dear Albert at such a moment, can I think of aught else than your return, and of the happiness restored to me?" dirty stairs, and went by the euphonious and highly expressive name of “The Bread Basket." Could a curious observer have taken his stand at the door of the long and low dining room, where he could see these burly fellows crowding up the narrow stairs, and then filing off in good order around the table, his better sentiments would have been incalculably regaled with the picture. Cod, haddock, white-fish, eels, and halibut were already smoking over the board, emitting appetizing fumes so plentifully, that they and the steams soon pervaded the entire apartment. In exactly the middle of the table, and equi-distant from either end of it, was set a huge, leviathan dish, in which great white chunks of fat eel, with plump floats of bread, and savory mincings of potatoes were swimming about, a flood of hot gravy swelling and swirling everywhere around them. Into this dish was thrust a long Brittania ladle, all ready at hand for a prompt bailing out of the vessel. “And that happiness will be increased, sir," said a stranger, who now approached, and whose dress bespoke him to be a man of high rank, "when you learn that your son and my dear friend Albert is As the men first entered, they quietly ranged now one of the most renowned artists of Germany themselves round on benches that were placed that he is not only a painter of the highest order, against the walls, and began a low conversation. but one of the most skilful engravers, an architect What with this continuous buzzing, and the bustle and engineer of the greatest eminence-that he is of Mr. Hipharpy and his two assistants, mine host at this moment chief painter to the Emperor Maxi- of "The Bread Basket" seemed to have quite all the milian-that the Republic of Venice is anxious to confusion he could have wished to onjoy. Yet it engage his services, and that the King of France, was all very pleasant. The breeze drew faintly into Louis XII., has entreated him to proceed to Paris, the room through the open windows, coming to undertake the embellishment of that capital-straight from the water; and it really smelt rewhat say you to this, worthy sir?” freshing, though the savors of the dinner-table rather obstructed its course at times. "Say," exclaimed the old Goldsmith, again embracing his son, "say! that great talents are rarely unaccompanied by a noble heart, and that my Aibert is a proof that the man of genius and the man of worth may, and ever should be, one and the same." He was Mr. Hipharpy wore no jacket, and over his stomach was spread a little white apron, about as large as those usually worn by Masons. very much taken up with getting the things on the table, and scarcely took time to observe whether that day had brought him any new customers or not. His crown was bald and smooth, and his forehead “Let the purchasers of the last twenty-three lots PICTURES WITHOUT FRAMES. full and round, and shone like glass. Yet the exer come forward," called out the official register. "They were all bought by one person," exclaimed voice in reply. "Let him come forward then and state his name." At these words, a young cavalier of some six or seven and twenty years of age, and whose handsome features bore the stamp of intellectuality and mildness, stepped forward. He was richly dressed, and beneath an embroidered mantle, which was artistically and gracefully thrown over him, might be seen a massive chain of gold, that hung round his neck, and from which was suspended a miniature portrait, set in diamonds, of the Emperor Maximilian. His hat was looped up in front, and his flowing curls, redolent with perfume, fell upon a colar of rich lace. "Here is the amount of my purchases," said in a tremulous voice the young stranger, “be pleased to verify its correctness." The sum was found exact, and the officer then requested the name of the buyer in order that it might be inscribed in the register. Meanwhile the old Goldsmith, mute and downcast, awaited with the anxiety of despair the removal of the treasures no longer his. No. IX. BY THE AUTHOR OF 46 CAP SHEAF." CHOWDER AND CHARITY. tions of the occasion might have been all that induced it. Many an eye, that had steadily looked terrific dangers in the face before, was fixed on the motions of the landlord then. Many a mouth watered, waitwas just twelve o'clock,-noon. All the clocks ing for the expectant signal. One talked with had successively clanged the hour, and now, in a another of his choice in the matter of fish, fowl, and lofty belfry, a single bell was singing and tumbling and flesh; and discovered preferences in the line of throwing summersets, to tell the people of the town vegetables, as well as in the various modes of cookthat the hour of their nooning had come. The ringing all; yet all the time closely following Mr. Hip ing of this bell was one of the few relics of ancient and time-honored customs. Down in the neighborhood of the wharves, in a narrow and dingy by-street, through which no vehicles but carts and trucks and drays ever threaded their way, rough-looking and bronze-faced men were pushing steadily along, clbowing their way to dinner. harpy with their eyes. The word was at last given. Has the reader ever seen a herd of buffalo, rushing So pushed madly upon their own destruction? forward, then, these hungry sons of Neptune to their dinner! There was no such thing as arranging them in particular seats. Had all the waiters at our hotel caravanserais been mustered there in full force, their proffered services would have been blown aside like thistle-down in a wind-gust. Nobody seated them, they seated themselves. Nobody was there to help them; they helped themselves. And they did it just as hard as they could. Every man of them axed his eye cn exactly what he wanted, and his hand followed close after. How the gravy flew from the tureen! And how the great cod flapped their sides-in piecemeal, to be sure-on every plate! And now were arms crossed and recrossed in the direction of dishes that contained the halibut, the flounders, the lobsters, and the cels! No one asked to be helped by another. If reaching were at all difficult in the seat, he rose to his feet and leaned down over the table. It would have amused any one to observe how suddenly the noise had stopped. Conversation now was at an end. Eating took the precedence. There was no noise but a clatter of the knives and forks, like the ringing of musket-barrels and bayonets in time of battle. No one seemed to mind his neighbor at all. Each took care only of himself. Mr. Hipharpy occasionally rushed back into the room from his place of secretion, to assure himself that nothing went wrong, and immediately plunged into his retirement again. During the dinner-hour his face was always redder and more anxious than at any other time. His two assistants kept sailing leisurely around the table, though their services were of little value, so trifling was their demand. The table, in its length and breadth, formed a conglomerated picture. To enumerate the kinds and varieties of fish upon it, or their several modes of preparation, would require the talents of the chief of the cusine himself. To tell how many preferred clams to chowder, and how many again chowder to lobster, and how many halibut to flounders, and so on through the whole string of fish, would be a labor little less than hopeless. One man pushed back. "Aint you goin' to have any pie, Jack?" inquired the friend at his elbow. "I didn't see it." "Nor puddin', neither?" “Ha ha!" laughed he. "I'm better off than I thought for! Of course I eats pies; and puddin's as well. Hand 'em over this way, will ye?" A murmur of voices arose all around the table. "I don't ask but for a little," he added, "and I don't expect anybody here's got very much to give. But jest let the heart down here"-and he put his hand over his breast-"have fair play for once, and Heaven 'll make it all right in the end, I know, in poor Jack's account. Here's my hat, and here's two silver dollars! Pass her round!" As the pieces clinked in the hat, he handed it to his neighhor, who dropped in his offering, and passed it along. It made the circuit of the table, It would have done a very cynic's heart good, to see the pleasure those sunburnt, hardy men seemed to take in heaping up a little store for the sick widow. The hat came back to its starting-point again. With tears swimming in his eyes, he thanked them all in his homely words, promising to report to them at no very distant time. And what this generous sailor was to the dying widow-well, that might all be told at another time. 66 OUR CATERER'S YARN. WELL, him. BY A BLUE JACKET At this juncture, the courses of fish having been pretty generally gone through with, a man who sat "Ay; and what's more," he continued, "I'm unnear the end of the table rose in his place, and common curious in my palate, for, as young Skilton, rapped two or three times briskly with the end of his the clerk, knows, I once cooked old Nipcheese's knife-handle. Instantly all eyes were upon him. brace of gold fish over a crock of burning rum, and "I didn't git up to try to speechify at all, ship-broiled his two canaries in the same way, just to mates," said he, "but I've lately seen a bit o' misery that ought ter be attended to. When the harrycane 's on us, you know, we take in sail. I've seen the harrycane on a person lately, and the sail all took in, too. There's a casc o' distress in hand, and it needs relievin' bad. I only want to ask you to day, shipmates, to lend me a helpin' hand." One asked the other, in a low tone, all around the table-"Who is it? Who is it?" gratify my spite and my appetite at the same time; but I'm blow'd if ever I heard of a fellow stuffing himself out with stewed cockatoos and monkey broth before." Silence, gentlemen, if you please," said Herrick ; "the Caterer's right. Now, I'm convinced he has spoken the truth; they are a foot long." "A foot long! a shrimp a foot long!" screamed the whole mess in one voice. "A foot long," repeated the senior middy. "I vouch for it. Talk about shrimps-there's nothing like 'em anywhere; and they do measure a foot from the end of the tail to the tip of the nose." "P'raps they are lobsters?" "No, real shrimps, without claws; and I can tell ye, if you ever go to Borneo, and fall in with any of them, you'll think the little bits of husky things you get in England no better than boiled earwigs." "Capital!-hah! hah! hah!" laughed the merry young dogs. "But come," said Herrick, "now I'm convinced you have been sticking to truth; go on with your yarn." "What-about the cockatoo and monkey soup?" "No, no; we admit that. No; tell us about that odd dish you once had in Germany." "Oh, ah,” replied the Caterer, throwing his head and his thoughts back at the same time, and taking ELL, I don't know," said little Herrick, a severe suck at his " Woodville," he went on. the senior midshipman of our mess, "I"You all remember, that just after we made that have eaten every mortal thing that crawls, flies, or splendid run home from the Guinea coast, that I swims, from a turtle to a lizard, and from a hippopo- went to visit some of my cousins-german on the tamus to a perriwinkle." Rhine. Well, one day, I'd taken an uncommon "P'raps you have," said our Caterer, interrupting long stroll, and lost my way; and as I was located in quite a wilderness of a place, covered with sand and furze bushes, where a town was a rarity, and the little bits o' rugged villages are stow'd eway in ravines and gorges, like as if they were playing at hide and seek, you may suppose that getting a dinner under such circumstances wasn't done in a minute. At last I happened to spy the top of a village steeple sticking out of a ravine, and I was soon alongside of the congregation of mud-andtimber huts, that in Germany pass for houses. You may be sure that, as I sweltered down the village, all but withered by the oppressive power of the sun, I looked out for a butcher's shop; but not a carcase was to be seen, and it appeared to me, from the sleepy look of the place, that there was nothing to be had to cat but hot stones and dust. However, at last I saw a door of a hovel open, in which the commerce of the village was carried on, and I found that I could be supplied with all sorts of coffee, nails, sausages, tape, chocolate, and, of course, with tobacco; sour wine, oils, and other rancid commodities adapted to German appetites, However, the people directed me but nothing else. to the only 'hotel' in the place; and in a few minutes after I was seated in Zum Brannen Hirsch." "What's that?" said the Mentor, or, as he was called, the tor-mentor, of the mess. 'P'raps you didn't," doggedly replied our Caterer; "but I tell ye we liv'd upon 'em for more than a month for all that." "Where?" "Where?" echoed the Caterer; "why, on the coast of Borneo, to be sure, when I was in the Dolphin, surveying." "The case is a poor widder, that I've come across," continued he. "She's sewed her life away for a man, and aint able to sew any longer. The man "Oh, ah! likely joke! Come, come, you're not himself's too onnat'ral to help her. He's got no going to cram us like that, I can tell ye; so mind soul; and so 'll be able to escape what he'd be now, for I've been on that coast as well as you. So proty like to git otherwise. But that's neither here just tell us what's your private 'pinion about the nor there. The poor woman wants help, and wants shrimps there, eh? That will soon tell me whether it now, if ever. Are ye willin' to bear a hand with you're spinning a yarn, or working to wind'ard of me, shipmates?" truth," rejoined young Herrick, triumphantly; "for Every hand was thrust into his pocket immedi- there's something uncommon odd about the Borneo ately. shrimps, as you must know if you've been there." "I've been and seen the case myself," said he, "My private 'pinion about the shrimps on that " and I can certify it's a genooine. There's no clap-coast," replied the Caterer, coolly sucking his trap about it. The poor woman 's on a bed that 'Il Woodville, "is that they are the finest in the "Oh! it's the name of a gasthaus, or small tavern, and means the Brown Stag." "And did you get anything to eat eh?" "Wait a bit," said the Caterer," and I'll introduce you to a dainty dish, I promise ye. “Guten morgen,' said I, brisking up at the sight of his plump, ruddy face, which was overflowing with the milk and honey of a thousand pleasing associations. 'I'm as hungry as a wolf.' "So,' exclaimed the burgomaster. "What was my horror," continued our Caterer, "when I began leisurely to turn over the bones, to find a lower jaw studded with canine fangs that "Guten morgen,' said the burgomaster, who was looked marvellously like a cat's. Then there was an landlord of the 'hotel.' odd-shaped fore-leg, a most singular back-bone, and grotesque hind quarters. It would have puzzled Cuvier himself to tell to what animal they belonged. All this time the poor burgomaster was watching me, and I could see from his embarrassed manner that he felt that the honor of Zum Braunen Hirsch was at stake; so I praised his Der Igel, and finding that if I attempted to reach my quarters, I should have a journey of about three hours to perform, over roads which in England are so very properly termed 'cross,' I prudently, therefore, ordered another schoppen of wine and a cigar until it was time to go to bed, and so start home in the morning. But I don't know how it was, I couldn't help fancying that the dinner I had eaten was not fit for my English stomach. "I did not like his so,'" continued our Caterer. "it had a shuffling evasive sound, and prognosticated an empty larder. Got any beef-eh?' I demanded. 44 6 'Any mutton?' 66 No; he had no mutton. “Any veal?' said I, testily, on finding my hopes of a dinner vanish. 666 'How large,' said I to the burgomaster, in order to clear up my doubts, 'is this animal you call Der Igel?' "No,' replied the landlord, with provoking gravity, my last bit of veal was eaten to-day. But I have a dish worth all the beef, veal, or mutton in the universe.' And the burgomaster went through a regular pantomime of delight, smacking his lips, and looking as happy as possible. "How large?' replied mine host; 'why, about “What, in the name of Mrs. Glass, can it be as big as a fairish-sized cat.' made of?" "Der Igei,' said mine host in a low, confidential whisper, looking quite oily as he knowingly winked his cyc. 466 Der Igel? I muttered, pondering. "And the burgomaster solemnly muttered 'Der Igel' in reply. While I was considering whether his delicacy was fish, flesh, fowl, or red herring, he guessed that I was an Englishman, and he attempted to describe the animal; but," said the Caterer, "I could make neither head nor tail of it." "Well, my lads," he continued, "you know I can digest a tenpenny nail upon a pinch; but I confess to having a prejudice against cats, and I always have my misgivings on the Continent when a dish is introduced that is made from neither beef, mutton, nor veal. But in this case it was impossible to help myself, for my inward lamentations had by this time settled into an awful and continuous rumbling, like the mutterings of distant thunder, so I ordered up Der Igel, and a schoppen of wine to wash him down. "I obeyed him instantly," said our Caterer, "and dipping my spoon into the tureen, conveyed a brown rich liquid, freighted with fragments of meat and bones, to my plate. It was a mouthful of glory." Our Caterer here recorded, for the benefit of the mess, his opinions of German cookery in general, which he described as a " villainous compound" of vinegar and grease, which, when mixed with the sour wine of the country, causes a sort of bubbleand-squeak contest in the stomach; and consequently, it was with feelings of gratitude that he, after satisfying his appetite, proceeded to inspect the bones of the mysterious animal that was in a situation to bring such an amount of delicious nutriment into our kitchens. "Psha!-a hare! Does a hare bark? Der Igel barks, though very faintly.' 664 Der Igel barks, does he? Well, that shows how much you know about the matter. He whines if you like.' "This last remark called forth a host of pshas! chuts! chiktzs! and other interjections, every one of which was sent hissing out of their mouths with force enough to blow their front teeth out. "Come, come,' said I interrupting them; 'never mind about his voice-what are his habits? Does he keep late hours?' "He prowls only at night,' said one. "I've seen him in the day time,' sail another. "Some described him as preferring the land, some the woods, and some the water. One rash young cornet, heedless of the consequences, suggested that 'Der Igel might possibly be amphibious.' Poor fellow! his meddling observation brought down upon him such a shower of hersh, grating epithets, bristling with jagged German consonants, that would have split the drum of any ear except a German's into infinitesimal splinters. "Matters had arrived at this pass, when an officer Isaid that he had just remembered a characteristic of "The deuce!' said I. 'Of course it has four Der Igel that had escaped us all. 666 "What is it?' "Der Igel burrows.' Perhaps it's a fox,' muttered I to myself, coming to close quarters now. 'One question more, and my dinner's safe. Long cars?' "Ears? Let me see,' replied the host with inconceivable stupidity, as it seemed to me. • Ears?' "At this last observation a sickening sensation He did not think Der Igel had any ears; he had crept over me," said our Caterer. "I began to susnever seen any. pect that the oily-looking burgomaster, for the sake "Good heavens !' said I, on what have I dined? of the miserable florin my dinner came to, had alHas it got a long, a very long tail?' lowed me to cram myself with a polecat, an otter, or "No, no, one-decidedly not. Der Igel has a gigantic stoat or weazle. My head began to swim, neither cars nor tail.' my dinner rose and fell in my stomach, like the piston of a steam-engine: for what with my anxiety to discover what I had eaten, together with the noise, the sour wine, and the smoke, I was begin"How long I should have remained chewing,'| ning to suffer all the miseries of a fit of indigesnot the 'cud of sweet and bitter fancy,' but the amber mouth-piece of my cigar-tube, I can't pretend · Luckily at this moment Captain Herr Fon Knob to say," continued our Caterer; but I was roused lesdorf (he deserves to be immortalized for settling out of my reverie by a group of Prussian officers; the matter) said I might easily guess on what I had and as they came up stairs, their long cavalry dined, when he said that every hair on Der Igel's swords dangling at their heels, made as much noise back was stiff enough to make a toothpick. Puzas if somebody had flung down a dozen sets of fire-zling as this remark was, it nevertheless proved to be "How odd,' said I, completely baffled; and I flung myself back in my chair, and felt myself as sick as a dog. irons. “‘Now,' said I, ‘we shall settle the identity of this troublesome Der Igel,' for I knew that most German officers are well educated men: but, alas! not one of them knew the English name of this vexing animal. I soon found that matters had progressed from bad to worse, for I had inoculated the officers with my desire to know on what I had dined, and their frenzied efforts to enlighten me brought on such a clamorous jargon in German gutturals, mixed up with jagged, spluttering consonants, that soon began to have a baneful influence upon that undigested portion of Der Igel I so recently had swallowed. One said he squeaked; another delared he grunted; a punchy little huzzar thought it might be a hare. a step in the right direction, for the muddle-headed burgomaster now recollected, for the first time while we were discussing the nature of Der Igel's coat, that he had preserved his skin; and he abused himself almost as much as I did for not thinking of it before. "Bravo!' 'Capital!' Up with it!' 'Now you'll see who's right!' and similar phrases, flew about in all directions, for by this time the officers, as well as myself, were gasping with excitement, when in the midst of the hubbub, the burgomaster entered the room, produced the skin, and lo! it was—” "What?" exclaimed the "mess," as one man. "Guess," said our Caterer. LIVES OF THE BY J. F. SMITH, ESQ,, QUEENS OF ENGLAND. from her knees, and kissing her on both cheeks; "then our unworthy prayers, and the endeavors of the learned divines whom my lord bishop sent, have not been fruitless! Now all praise to our Lady," "Sayest thou so!" exclaimed Mary, raising her so positively given. Elizabeth and the wily prelate were the only persons present, except the members of the council, who understood the purport of Queen Mary's words, and the heart of the royal maiden rejoiced that the sacrifice she had made to expediency, was likely to avail her against the secret machinations of her enemies. Author of "Stanfield Hall," "Minnie Grey," etc. ELIZABETH, QUEENREGNANT OF she added, piously crossing herself, "to whose special intercession I attribute this joyous conversion!" ENGLAND.. (Continued from the June number.) CAPTER XVI. Yielding when weak, but to arise more strong GREAT preparations have been made in the Chapel Royal, on the eighth of September, to celebrate the festival of the Blessed Virgin. The attendance of the peers and great personages of the court was to be considered as the test of their adherence, heartily and sincerely, to the government of Queen Mary, as their absence was certain to be construed into a contrary sense. Her majesty had directed that immediately after the mass, the gramme of her coronation should be made public, in which no notice was taken of her sister Elizabeth, or place assigned her in the ceremonial. The only lady of royal rank to whom precedence had been given, was the divorced Anne of Cleves, who still resided in England. pro The Catholic party were in high spirits; terms could scarcely be found sufficiently strong by them to express their admiration of the firmness of the queen in excluding the princess from all share in the forthcoming pageant; the Protestants were equally discouraged-it was a death-blow to their hopes. At an early hour the queen left her closet, and, preceded by her chamberlain and ministers, had reached the guard-room on her way to the chapel, when Elizabeth made her appearance at the opposite end of the apartment. Mary frowned-for the first impression produced upon her mind was, that her sister, hearing of the intended promulgation of the order of the coronation, had sought the interview to brave her. Turning to Sir Henry Bedingfield, one of her oldest and most assured friends, she whispered a few words in the car of the brave old knight, who instantly left the guard-room. Gardiner, who, arrayed in his episcopal robes, was preceding the queen, was far from indulging in the hope that the princess had made her appearance at court so suddenly with the intention of braving or remonstrating with her sister: young as she was, he judged her to be too politic for that. As Mary advanced, Elizabeth bent the knee: how "On to the chapel !" said her majesty; "we have delayed the service of heaven too long: what else remains can be discussed in the council !" Renaud, the Spanish minister, and Gardiner looked as if they thought the Blessed Virgin had had very little hand in the affair. At this moment, Gardiner ventured one of those "This is indeed most sudden-most unexpected!" bold strokes, which, with a character less firm than observed the latter. Mary Tudor's, might have compromised her in her future conduct towards Elizabeth. But not the less welcome, Master Gardiner!" replid Elizabeth, who perfectly understood how completely his plans were frustrated by her pretended conversion to the old faith. Assuredly—most assuredly not, your grace!" he continued. "Alack, that my poor wit should not comprehend it! It was only last night that I saw the worthy fathers who have been honored with her highness's commands, to explain the errors of the creed in which your infancy was reared." "Well!" said the queen, impatiently. "And they informed me, to their great grief, no less than my own, that their attempts had been fruitless; that the princess appeared more firmly than ever devoted to the errors of her miscalled church." Mary fixed a scrutinizing glance upon her sister, who bore it, however, without betraying the least sign of embarrassment or hesitation. He demanded where the place of the princess was to be during the sacrifice of the holy mass. Elizabeth colored to the temples: the question implied a doubt which, in her mind, it was little less than treason to entertain. "Her place," said Mary, taking her by the hand, "now and henceforth, is by the side of her sister and her sovereign, as heiress to the crown, and the first subject in my realm!" Many present heard the declaration with intense satisfaction-for, from the weak and sickly constitution of the queen, it was casily foreseen that her reign would not be a long one even those who regretted the apparent apostacy of Elizabeth, admired its prudence. Singular enough, it did her little or no harm with the Protestant party, by whom she still continued to be looked up to; for it was generally understood that her conversion was merely a politic concession to the danger of her position and the spirit of the times. "True, my lord bishop!" she made answer; " and my explanation of my seeming hardness is as true. I wished my gracious sovereign and sister, who had Cecil and his friends did her good service, in rendeigned to take such interest in the matter to be the first informed of my conversion. Had it been in-dering this impression as general as possible. trusted to other lips than my own, my motives During the mass, Elizabeth had the precaution might have been misrepresented-for I have ene- to let her responses be heard amongst the loudest mies who seek no better," she added, "than to blow of the persons present. She struck her breast at the coal of discord between my sovereign and my- the Mea Culpa, and bent the knee at the elevation of the Host. For the first time, Mary began to regard her with some degree of complacency: it was a triumph alike to her bigotry and pride, to see the daughter of Anno Boleyn assisting beside her at the mass. self!" “It is enough, my lord," she said, addressing Gardiner, in that particularly sharp tone which indi cated that she was displeased; "we are satisfied with the sincerity of our sister's change from the her proud heart must have rebelled at the humiliat errors of her faith, and rejoice to think that our prayers for her happy conversion have not been ing scene she was condemned to act! The queen regarded her haughtily, and, instead of extending her hand for her to kiss, or to raise her, harshly demanded the purport of her visit to St. James's. "To prove my loyalty and devotion, madam," answered the royal maiden, “as well as gratitude, for the interest you have condescended to take in my spiritual welfare. As your majesty predicted, the scales have fallen from my mental sight: I now perceive the errors of the faith in which, unhappily, I have been reared; and I come humbly to solicit your gracious permission to give public testimony to the true church on this, one of its most solemn festivals!" without effect!" The spiritual vanity of Mary-perhaps the only species of vanity which she can be reproached with --was flattered at the idea of having contributed to redeem Elizabeth from what she deemed her mistaken views in religion. "Let the council be summoned," she added, "immediately after the holy sacrifice of the mass; and remember, my lord, nothing must be made known, or promulgated, touching our late decision, till we have further advised.” Gardiner bowed to hide his confusion and mortification, but he dared not tamper with a command On quitting the chapel, she bestowed upon tho royal maiden a yet more distinguishing mark of her favor. After the officiating prelate had given her majesty the holy water, she passed it to her sister, by touching the tips of her fingers—as we still see practised in Catholic countries. No sooner had the ceremony terminated, than the ante-chapel and guard-room were filled with priests and courtiers, speculating on the result of the conversion of the heiress presumptive to the crown. "It is all over with the Church of Luther!" observed one. "Sad news for the reformed prelates!" added another. "And Elizabeth the goddaughter of Cranmer, too!" The last consideration seemed to weigh very little with the speakers, either in their censure or approbation of the step the young princess had so readily taken. All felt that, in the events which followed the death of Edward VI., the Protestant primate had shown very little affection or regard for the |