the boy Widdlezig-can it be-tell me my dear young man, what can have brought you hither so far from Italy?"

Whereupon, having no duplicity in my nature, nor any reason for reserve, I related the whole of my history from the time of my capture by the robbers to the present day.

"Then," said the superintendent of the mines," you must know that I was the most intimate friend of your revered father and your charming mother. I am the Count Waggenheim of whom I dare say you have heard, while under the care of the exemplary Von Doddle. I travelled with your esteemed parents, and only four years ago, heard from your dear mother that you had ran away from that admirable man, and that in spite of all inquiries you had never been heard of."

This was indeed the Count Waggenheim, who nearly nineteen years before, shared the affections of my beautiful mother with her beautiful poodle, and who, after his return from that very tour, had been appointed to the office which he now held. A change of habit seemed to have suited him; for the duties of his vocation he had given up what is called the gay world, and associating with sportsmen and the miners themselves, had formed new connexions and entered into pursuits which, as he advanced in years, seemed to agree with him admirably.

He had not married-but as I have just said, he had a housekeeper called Caroline-a very handsome woman, who it seems had attracted his attention by her misfortunes, and eventually induced him to take her and her two orphans-their father having died somewhere abroad-into his establishment; which orphans, as I remarked the moment I saw them, were by one of those odd coincidences which will sometimes occur, as like the Baron Waggenheim himself as possible.

All these explanations between me and the Baron were made before a most excellent dinner was put down on the table-when that was done, Caroline seated herself at the board, as was her usual custom, so did her orphans; but when she saw that the Baron took the greatest notice of me, placed me at his right hand, and helped me first to all the nice bits, she grew as I thought rather sulky and silent, nor was her temper at all sweetened by a remark of mine host, that he really thought he perceived a likeness between me and her two boys.

In the course of the evening we had a most interesting conversation. I found that my mother, whom I of course did not remember, had been dead about eighteen months, having survived my father for more than ten years; that upon her death it appeared that my paternal estate was so deeply involved, that the relatives of both parties had relinquished all claim to it, and that I, being supposed dead, the whole of the property had been sold for the benefit of the creditors. So, there was an end of all my bright prospects-there, too, was an end of the hope I had always cherished of offering my hand to Bertha, who had my heart already in her keeping; and although delighted to have found an asylum, the happiness I should otherwise have felt was imbittered by the reflection that I dare venture to make my feelings known to the amiable daughter of the respectable Von Doddle.

Well, I must be brief. The Baron declared himself my personal friend-Caroline, the housekeeper, began to scowl and thwart me in every possible way-the boys avoided me, and when the Baron gave me an appointment under him, and put me into possession of numerous

books tending to enlighten me in the science of mineralogy, I could not but see that they were labouring under the most signal and serious envy and jealousy; nevertheless I studied hard and laboured much, and at the end of six months had attained a knowledge of my métier which delighted the Baron, gained me the respect of the miners, and even astonished myself.

I began to feel happy-but still my happiness had the one alloywhere was Bertha? when should I be rich enough to address her in the strain of a lover worthy of her hand? Over and over again, did I sit down to write to her father, and as often drop the pen;-why should I take advantage of any influence I might fancy I possessed over her, to draw her away from her happy, peaceful home, into the troubles of the world, rendered only comfortable to me by the benevolence of the Baron, who might be taken from it any day, and then what had I to trust to? I should now be, excepting for the trifling salary which I received from the Baron, a beggar! So I resolved to go on hoping in silence.

But I was not destined even to so much comfort as that. The malicious, malignant Caroline and her imps strengthened in their hatred and detestation of me exactly in proportion as the kindness of the Baron increased. Until at last, one day, I was recounting at dinner a conversation which I had had with two of the miners, who assured me that one of the goblins-of whom there are crowds on the Hartz Mountains-had been into the mine the night before, and destroyed all that they had been doing for the three previous days. I said that I had laughed at the notion, and that the men were quite shocked at my impiety.

To my utter astonishment, Caroline, whose influence over the Baron was very great, burst into tears and left the room, followed by her hopeful orphans; nor was I less surprised when the Baron himself, looking extremely grave, said that it was a serious thing to endeavour to combat the prejudices of the miners, and that a belief in the existence of those unearthly beings was so strongly impressed upon their minds, that to disregard them was looked upon as a proof of infidelity certain to be provocative of the most serious calamities.

I wondered-and should have remonstrated, but the woman returned, and announced that the miners were all assembled to declare that they could not venture into the mines while the unbelieving overseer remained; —nay, added she," already have the effects of this outrage been made manifest-your fleetest hunter is gone, although the stable-door was locked, and your favourite dog Carlo is dead."

Imagining myself perfectly able to account for these disasters without the intervention of magic, and not believing that my most excellent friend the Baron could possibly lend himself to such absurdities, I started up to defend my conduct and deny, of course, the existence of such supernatural beings.

"Widdlezig," said the Baron, with a gravity which, if it had not promised exceedingly disagreeable results would really have been too comical to endure, " you are in error. It would be ruinous to endeavour to meddle with the prejudices of the worthy men who work in these mountains. They believe that a goblin has had dominion here, for nearly a thousand years; nor can I," added he with a portentous shake of his head, "affect to disbelieve its existence. Hundreds of persons during that Jan.—VOL, LV. NO. CCXVII.

C

period have felt its influence. It is under the favour of these inexplicable beings our mines prosper; it is in the fear of these mysterious creatures our miners work."

"Why," said I, laughingly, "do you mean to say that they believe in ghosts?"

"Say!" said the housekeeper, "Baron, Baron, he is an atheist-" "Leave us," said the Baron to the housekeeper."-She went. "This," continued he, " is a very serious matter; between ourselves, I have no great faith in the matter, but all these men have. It is clear you have outraged their feelings-you must go-nothing but your dismissal will tranquillize them. I must announce your removal-stay here till I return."

This was a pretty affair!-Here was I, who had been confined for two years in a robber's cave for trying to catch a butterfly-horsewhipped by a black for a philosophical experiment on an ostrich-now to be turned adrift out of house and home because I had the obstinacy not to believe in ghosts. "Well," said I, "what a world this is!"

I staid as I was bidden. I listened; and after hearing a confused noise arising from the subdued murmuring of a number of persons, heard a single voice speaking somewhat authoritatively. When that had ceased, shouts rent the air, and the whole body marched off, singing one of their popular songs, which never sounded so inharmonious to me as upon that particular night.

The Baron returned, and, although visibly much affected, told me that he had been obliged to promise the miners that I should be forthwith dismissed, and never again appear amongst them. "But," said he, "I will give you a letter to a most liberal and excellent friend of mine, no less a person than Prince Felderstein, whose territories, it is true, are not large, but whose spirit is noble, and whose liberality is unbounded-as far as his means permit. He is fond of the arts, of science, and encourages all sorts of accomplishments. I am sure, with the qualities you possess, you will make yourself acceptable to him; and, considering the precarious state of your finances, you must contrive to gain his favour. I have suggested his giving you any suitable appointment in his household, and you must not be too proud to accept of it, let it be what it may. The total ruin of your family estate-small as it originally was-will fully justify your humility in the eyes of the world; but here you must not stay.'

After this speech, which he delivered with great feeling and energy, he presented me with the amount of my last half-year's pay in his service, and a letter to the Prince, advising me to be clear of the neighbourhood before the miners were about, or he would not answer for the consequences. Accordingly I took an affectionate leave (of him, and was quite astonished at his agitation when we parted.

In the morning I was off before breakfast, convinced, in my own mind, that the only goblin in the mines was the housekeeper-a conviction in which I was considerably strengthened, by seeing her, as I crossed the courtyard, grinning exultingly at one of the windows, with one of her brats on either side of her.

I need hardly say that I lost no time in proceeding to the court of Prince Felderstein. I hired a horse to carry me to the inn in the capital of his principality (which was but fifteen miles square), and

having been properly imbued with a sense of my own humble circumstances, carried all my wardrobe in a leathern portmanteau fastened on the front of my saddle. Wonderful to relate, nothing happened to me of any importance on my way, and I arrived at my destination late in the second evening of my journey.

At that period of my life I had never seen a prince, that I recollected, and I was proportionably nervous; but as it was late when I reached the sign of the Goldene Sonne, I resolved to have some supper, and sleep there, deferring my visit to the palace till the morning, but nevertheless letting it be understood by the people of the house that I was an accredited visiter to the court.

I was exceedingly well treated and well served, had a capital bed, and the most assiduous attendance, and heard the most unqualified praises of his Highness, who was pronounced to be the most admirable, generous, amiable, excellent prince in all Christendom; all of which greatly encouraged me in my proceedings.

Accordingly, about eleven o'clock, with my heart palpitating and my knees shaking, I repaired to the palace, which, compared with the bettermost houses in Naples, still strong in my memory, did not strike me as awfully grand. I advanced to the entrance, where I was stopped; and mentioning to an extremely civil soldier-like man that I had a letter for his Highness, he said something which I did not exactly understand, and bade me go through a doorway on the left, which led into a long passage, into which several other doors opened-at which I was to knock, or through which I was to go further, I knew not-so I stood still, looking very like a fool. Presently, a gaily-dressed officer passed along the passage, who, seeing my embarrassment, inquired what I wanted. To him I explained that I came from Baron Waggenheim, and had a letter to the Prince.

To my great delight, he showed me into one of the rooms in which, I presume, it was at first intended I should wait, and, taking my letter from me, told me he should be back in a few minutes. There, of course, I was planted. I had nothing to do, but to stop till he returnedand wait I did. I heard the palace-clock chime and strike, and strike and chime, half-hour after half-hour and hour after hour. During this suspense, one or two persons belonging to the establishment opened the door of the room, and looked in; and one came in, and unlocked a sort of cupboard, and took out a book and went away -all of which proceedings I was vain enough to imagine had some sort of reference to my recommendation to his Highness, but I was mistaken; for, after waiting nearly four hours, a servant, in a splendid livery, made his appearance. He began to lay a cloth for dinner, evidently for three persons-this looked well-I felt that the Baron's letter had had its effect, and I was about to become an inmate of the palace at once. Here I was again in error; for, after the servant had taken the initiative with regard to the cloth, and the forks, and the spoons, one of the persons, who, in the early part of my stay had looked into the room, re-entered, and asked me what it was I pleased to want. At the moment, knowing very little of the world, and not a great deal of the language, I thought he meant to ask what I should like for dinner; but, as his manner seemed to negative any such civil invi

tation, I told him that I had brought a letter from Baron Waggenheim to his Highness, and that an officer had taken it from me to the Prince. "His Highness has been out these two hours," said the man, "you can have no answer to-day; and this room is wanted, for the dinner of the equerries is waiting."

"Then," said I, feeling a little of my family blood mounting, "when can I see the Prince?"

"See his Highness!" said the man, smiling. "Upon my word, I don't know; but you had better come here to-morrow morning, or leave word where you are staying in town,"-town sounded well, there were in it but twenty-two houses besides the Goldene Sonne," and you will be sent for when your presence is required."

I certainly had never been in a palace before, but it is quite impossible to describe the " tail-between-leggishness" which I felt as I retraced my steps along the passages, and had to cross the hall, where were porters, and pages, and guards, all of whom, as I felt it, seemed to be saying, "who the deuce are you?"

When I got back to "mine inn," I resolved not to face the difficulty again; who the gentleman was with the embroidery, who had taken my letter, I knew not, or whether I should ever hear any more about it. I staid at home all day-dined as before, and was well treatedslept as before, and rested well; but I began to despair of success, when, on the third morning after breakfast, the very officer, who had taken my letter, appeared in the front of the "Goldene Sonne," on a snorting, pawing horse, followed by an orderly. He dismounted-I heard my name mentioned-I saw the melting devotion of my landlady to the embroidery, and was quite delighted when it was ushered into my little sitting-room.

The object of the visit was to invite me to an audience of his Highness before he went out for his accustomed ride. I had, of course, nothing to do but to obey the command, and accordingly proceeded to the palace at the appointed time; and, without any of the difficulties which had two days before impeded my progress, found myself in the presence.

I never was more delighted in my life than with the reception his Highness gave me; instead of all the pride and formality which I anticipated, I found the Prince at once graceful and gay, and infinitely less stiff in his manner than his menial who had ordered me out of the equerries' dining-room. He spoke to me of the Baron, seemed perfectly acquainted with my family, and the circumstances connected with it, and was graciously pleased to inform me that my mother's extravagance had completely ruined my father, and that she had excited the greatest disgust after his death, by an affectation of grief and respect for his memory, when it was notorious to every body, that she had hated and ridiculed him during his life, and had been the cause of all his misfortunes.

His Highness, indeed, was so communicative that I felt my cheeks tingle-but that he did not see-he, however, told me, that I had arrived at a favourable moment, for he had an office in his household vacant, which he thought might be acceptable to me-the rangership of his Highness's parks. I was startled at the importance of the post, and was but too happy to [accept it with gratitude. The Baron had, it appears, partly in earnest and partly, I presume, in jest, communi