find in our days in the very debts which burden | Empire marched in arms against them, and two their countries. If proud England's national thousand high-born ladies of the duchies appealed debt was one of her main stays, had not Den- to England's fair queen for assistance. Proposimark, like little Rhodes of old, her famous Sound-tions also were made for a fair arrangement of duties those strange, vexatious duties she levied all the difficulties: Denmark proposed to give up of every vessel, under whatever flag it sailed, Holstein and to retain her own province Schlesthat passed the great Belt, the Schleswig-Hol-wig only as an independent duchy, connected stein canal, or the river Elbe in her duchy of with Denmark by a 'personal union" and a Lauenburg? And were not these very duties common army, navy and foreign office. Pruspledged as security for a national debt of thirty-sia's liberal king spoke of the erection of a new seven millions, thus affording her in the interest North-Albingian duchy(!) with the duke of Olof her creditors a stronger support than all the denburg, whose adoption by the Danish monarch arguments of international law? he proposed, on its throne and a transfer of Ol ferred from master to master. The Parliament at last proposed a division of Schleswig-Holstein according to the national character of the inhabitants, leaving the Danish part to Denmark, the German part to Germany. But Germany also, busy as she was and sorely denburg, as it now is, to the disappointed Autroubled with her own affairs, was not idle. A gustenburg. Doubts, however, were entertained cordon of troops was drawn all along the boun- of the willingness of the people thus to be transdary line of Jutland; the lands of Schleswig, with the powerful fortress of Rendsburg in the centre, were strongly garrisoned and fresh troops held in readiness to march the very day the truce should expire. But more energy still was shown in the creation of a German navy. The favor- The truce has expired and the campaign has ite idea of all Germany for years, this scheme opened with terrible events. Who will conquer? had met with unbounded enthusiasm and warm | The small, isolated kingdom which, strong only sympathy at home and abroad, wherever the in its right and the justice of its cause, stakes German tongue was spoken. The rich provin- its very existence and makes its last desperate ces vied with each other in magnificent donations, effort, preferring an honorable death on the batand few days passed in the Assembly of Frank- tle-field to a disgraceful peace, or the immense, furth that the walls of St. Paul did not echo the powerful Empire with its formidable armies and loud shouts with which contributions from dis- forty-four millions of inhabitants, its high-soartant lands were invariably received. In Kiel a ing ambition and far-seeing plans of aggrandizenaval school was established and the German's ment? Let Denmark fall and history will revere heart beat high as he saw the first young mari- the brave warrior who lost all but his honor: but ner of his own blood proudly step the deck of a let Germany also remember that Justice, although German vessel; Bremen armed the finest of her often slow, still comes at last, and that a righteown ships, Lubeck prepared gun-boats of formi-ous God knows but one law for the one and the dable strength, Hamburg had her flotilla of armed many-for the individual and the nation! steamers, Stettin boasted of her well drilled battalion of marines, and there was not a harbor, a bay, or the smallest inlet along the low shores of the Baltic, where a gun-boat or a schooner might not be seen gradually rising on the stocks. Negotiations were opened to purchase steamers of foreign powers and English companies, and to enlist navy officers of the maritime nations of Europe and even distant America. All these measures were accompanied by other less striking, but perhaps all the more impressive demonstrations. Pamphlets and books innumerable were published, abounding with German erudition and passionate pleading on the part of the Danes; the history of the duchies was studied with untiring zeal but to complicate the question, and human ingenuity taxed to its uttermost to invent new arguments but to see them quickly refuted by the equally ingenious adversary. The States-General of Schleswig told the Vicar of Germany that Holstein could not be separated from Schleswig unless the whole BY AN ENIGMA. A LADY OF VIRGINIA. In the middle of day, I always appear, [Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1849, by John R. Thompson, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.] THE CHEVALIER MERLIN. CHAPTER FIRST. opened his wallet, and taking provisions from it began to eat with an excellent appetite. From his post by the fountain he could see much of the surrounding country, and after surveying it with a sweep of his wide eyes, he confined so much of his attention as he could bestow from his repast, to a single point in the extensive view. On a hill, a mile away, stood the dwelling-house of a Swedish gentleman-a rambling sort of building with a Peel House for the centre, and wider and lower erections of gray stone clustering around it. Merlin Brand looked to this edifice, half fortalice and half grange, and found leisure to say to the beech trees for want of better companions: "That is the house of the Senator Sture: but how am I to get into it?" The beech trees, with the assistance of a breath of wind from Lake Vettern, whispered "I'll tell you a story if you please to attend." G. Knight. Merlin Brand, a Norwegian, entered the service of Charles the twelfth of Sweden a short time before the battle of Pultowa, and remained with his royal master quite to the end of the mad comedy of Bender. He saw the czar Peter, he came in contact with the rival kings of Poland, he traversed the parched plains between the Boristhenes and Otzacow with Mazeppa the Hetman, he witnessed the state of three viziers, and the muster of Turkish armies on the beautiful an answer, but Merlin Brand could make nothing levels of Adrianople, he was brought into daily of their language. After his meal, he stooped intercourse with brave and distinguished gentle- to drink of the fountain; he had not taken his men of many countries, he was much about the draught when he heard the hoof-strokes of a person of the king his master and read the na- gallopping horse. The sounds came from the ture of that most remarkable of the monarchs of north. Presently, along a narrow path, rode the time closely: some chapters of his life, there-into view a singular looking horseman. His fore, cannot fail to interest the reader, if they are equipment was that of a Caucasian Tartar; his written with even a small degree of skill. Apart figure was slight; he ruled his horse with easy adfrom these adjuncts of a higher and more widely dress. He drew rein suddenly, as Merlin Brand interesting character, his private adventures were stood up to receive him. not wanting in romantic incident. With so much of prologue, I begin my narrative of some passages in the life of the Chevalier Merlin. "I salute you, stranger," said the Norwegian with a hearty utterance. The horseman, a very young man with dark sad eyes, and a visage altogether melancholy, was slow to answer the greeting, and when he did so spoke in a tongue compounded of bad assured of the peaceful humor of the Norwegian, and coming to the fountain, permitted his horse to bury his muzzle in it. The animal bore marks of severe usage, but not of distress; his instinct seemed to make him put a restraint upon his thirst for a little time, and he plashed the water to his knees with his nostrils. The country north of Lake Vettern, in the Swedish province of Gothland, has long been a region of parks and barley fields, with frequent residences of the wealthier classes of Swedish French, and worse Swedish. He seemed to be society. The highway between Carlstadt, where you see the blue range of the Norwegian mountains, and Nykoping where you hear the tumult of the Baltic, traverses this region. In the year 1708, on a pleasant day of early summer, a man travelling on foot with the staff and wallet of a barley reaper, but wearing a military dress, and armed with an immense sword, and the petronel or short carbine of a cavalier, the last of which weapons he bore slung at his back, turned aside from this highway and followed the course of a little stream that ran noisily from a clump of beeches to leap into the Vettern. This traveller was Merlin Brand, a young giant, with a broad handsome Norse face, blue eyes set far apart, So saying, he knelt and drank at an untroubled edge of the fountain. The horseman dismounted at the same moment, loosed his girdle, and bathed his hands and lips with water. "Your horse," said Merlin Brand, "is a sensible beast; he will not injure his constitution for love of his beverage. I wish, sir, that I possessed a cup of strong waters, that I might damage my own, as well as do courtesy to you. In the mean time I must drink of this pure and innocent liquor." and auburn hair and beard, both growing short "Ah! this is a sweet fountain of the hills," he sighed in his compounded tongue. Merlin Brand, observing his unknown com “You came very fast, and looking behind you of foreign countries. Your French is bad, your as if the avenger of blood followed in your track." Swedish is execrable, but I take pleasure in your “We drink at this fountain, and part to meet conversation." each other no more," the stranger replied. The stranger, arrested in the act of departing, turned and said: "Release my garment from your hand, man of the north." "I understand you," said the Norwegian; "you rebuke my curiosity. I can tell you a part of the truth however; you are a stranger to these Swedish hills; you come from a very distant "Nay, man of the east," Merlin Brand recountry, where the sun lies molten on the plains, plied, we part over suddenly for fair fellowand where horses discharge fire from their nos-ship." trils. By night it is said by some poetic authors With a quick movement, the horseman threw to be a sublime spectacle to see a few squad- himself in the rear of the gigantic Norwegian, rons of the magnificent animals approaching; who continued seated, and drew from his bosom they surround their heads with a sort of luminous haze, brighter than the northern streamers which one sees from the hills of Drontheim." "It is a vision of the poets," said the stranger. "The steeds of the grassy plains, as well as of the sands, possess the true fire of the spirit, but do not breathe the actual flame which consumes." a slim and pliable dagger. He pressed the weapon under the Norwegian's shoulder, and then, with a bound, attempted to free himself from the clutch on his skirts. Merlin Brand did not release his hold, but got rapidly to his feet; the stranger, finding escape impossible, endeavored to strike again with his weapon. Merlin caught him by the girdle, and lifting him from his feet threw him to a distance of full ten paces upon the sod; he fell lightly, recovered his footing speedily, and, gaining the side of his horse, leaped into the saddle, and rode roundly away. "The poets are grand men," said Merlin Brand," and fill the visible world, which to one of cold nature is but rocks, earth, water, and herbage, with a finer life of beauty. Also they teach us divine morals, which we sometimes say The Norwegian, left alone, endeavored to exare sublimated, and over-fine for practice: and amine the wound which he had received. He so they may be, as nectar is too excellent a drink could scarcely do so with any precision; but satfor man. Tartar, Turk, or mere juggler, what-isfied himself that the knife had followed, instead ever you be, the poets whom you revile are the of penetrating the ribs, and that the hurt was elected cup-bearers who proffer to our too coarse slight although it bled freely. spirits draughts from a celestial wine-vat." "I do not revile the sweet singers, man of the north," his companion answered. "The verses of Saidi, and of Hafiz, have passed the mountains, and the borders of the inland sea, and clustered like bees on the lips of the maidens of my country. I myself have cheered my heart with strong morsels of their stimulating wisdom as I reigned my steed on the plains-and later," he added with a sigh, "when it beat heavily in captivity." "From what land do you come?" the Norwegian asked, with a sullen lapse from the restraint which he had put upon his curiosity. "Carry the secret of your own bosom," replied the stranger-"pry not into mine." As he spoke he looked northward with eyes full of alarm, then, bending his head, listened. “There is one thing good in this," he presently said. "A bleeding wound will give me a show of excuse for demanding the hospitalities of the Senator Sture." Then, as he prepared to renew his travel, he hummed some verses of an old song. "A wounded man came feebly To the gate of his lady's bower, Saying 'sweet are these wounds, my dearest, I have bled at the heart, my dearest, But these real drops are the ruddy keys As he hummed this stanza, he looked toward the house, to which he seemed to consider his wound a fortunate plea of entrance. A grove of "They come on my path," he said, and draw-stately trees covered a portion of the slope, a ing his girdle, turned quickly to his horse. Mer- little to the left of his line of vision, and some lin Brand laid a hand upon the stranger's skirts, moving objects on the edge of this grove drew and would have detained him. his attention. He presently became singularly interested. 66 "I think," he said, "that Rubesahl, or some of that fantastic race must have made this basin of bubbling water a centre of attracting spells. First comes, drawn by its music and its promise "You speak of my prying into your secrets," he said. This language offends me; but you are probably a benighted person from a land of barbarians, and would not understand me if I desired a punctilious satisfaction of the wrong. I forgive it: tarry, stranger, and let us discourse of cool purity, a Norse giant. Then we have whirled in like a blade of grass to a vortex, that discoursed volubly, he gave a greater effect to wild fellow with the melancholy eyes. Now we his gesticulation. The two drew slowly to the are about to have new arrivals. The bright lady fountain. The Norwegian, coming suddenly of my adoration is positively approaching. Who from the shade of the beeches, saluted the lady. is it comes with her? Strangle him, Rubesahl; Her companion, with his rapier poised, arrested and dispose this beautiful lady, Mariana Sture, in his discourse, stared at the gigantic apparition. to be prodigiously affected by the blood which I He presently muttered, have permitted to flow over my garments." The Norwegian placed himself in a posture expressive of bodily weakness, and began to rehearse the part of a man drooping from severe wounds. But he seemed little pleased with his success, and presently said with a natural and honest tone: "This is an Anak!" The lady recovered her self-possession, which had been for a moment lost, and said in French, which had become the polite language of Stockholm in spite of the Swedish king's contempt for it, and refusal to speak it: "Kinsman, I introduce to you Monsieur Brand, whom I have known in Christiana, a gentleman of worth and highly held by our uncle, the "But imposture is not befitting so pure a presence, or that noble ardor which this flower of Swedish beauty has quickened in my nature." Bishop of Aggerhuus. Monsieur Brand I inWith this desertion of the part which he had troduce to you my cousin, Captain Gustavus determined to assume, he became serious and Piper.” prepared himself with honest resolution for an encounter extremely interesting to him, but still somewhat nerve-shaking. Captain Piper and Merlin Brand fulfilled the ceremonies of salutation. The blood upon the buff coat of the latter was at once observed by The persons who approached the fountain the lady. Questions were asked and answered. were, as his speech has shown, a man and wo- And now it was that the debility which the Norman. The latter came with the slow step, and wegian had determined to feign proved real. In inclined head of one listening; the palm of her the expectancy of his recent situation he had right hand held the left elbow, whilst her left been unconscious of the extreme flow of blood hand seemed to sustain the left cheek. Her fig- from a wound which he was persuaded was quite ure was tall, rounded, and slender; her well trivial. His face, when the flush, occasioned by borne head was adorned with a superb flow of the meeting had passed off, became very pale; glittering hair, of that light hue which we gen- his immense frame swayed like a heavy strucerally see in the locks of the purely descended ture with an insecure foundation. The anxiety women of the north, in whom race has retain- of the lady was excited, although she by no ed its ancient characteristics. A light hat with means manifested it in a melodramatic manner. drooping plumes crowned this most admirable of Captain Piper, cutting unceremoniously through natural ornaments. Her face was wonderfully the wounded man's apparel, saw the hurt, and beautiful: long blue eyes with a rare width of staunched it; he then suggested that Monsieur the upper lid, a small nose slightly aquiline, a Brand should lean upon him, and endeavor to sweet mouth, a well-rounded chin, a complexion reach the house of the Senator Sture. As this of that exquisite clearness which bespeaks at proposition was accepted, the captain poked at once health and delicate nurture, these were the wallet with his rapier, and lodged it among made the more captivating by an expression sin- the rocks. gularly gallant and daring to have its home in a female face. The most striking portion of the dress of this beautiful woman was a short surtout of pure azure, open except where a jewelled girdle bound the waist. On the arch of each instep, ornamenting the slender high-heeled shoes, was an immense rose of ribands. Her companion was apparently both a courtier and a soldier. His face was marked by a long blue scar, and there was a military stiffness in his gait. He wore a great black wig, a laced hat, an embroi-mous bulk of yours is to the lady." dered coat, and fringed gloves. To reduce his pace to the slow gliding step of the lady, he seemed to tread the air, making, like a high-stepping coach horse, a considerable exertion with- "It seems to me, sir," said that gentleman as out a proportionate degree of speed. He carried they proceeded, "that we are bearing an unnein his hand a sheathed rapier, with which, as he cessary addition, in respect that this thundering "We must advance," he said, "without our munitions, in a case of emergency like the present." Supported by Captain Piper, and, after a few steps, by the lady, Mistress Mariana Sture, Merlin Brand moved slowly in the direction of the distant house. "This is something of an adventure,” said his male supporter. "My friend, rest a little more firmly upon my shoulder; to my imperfect observation it seems that the inclination of this enor "Yea, sir; you speak the truth," Merlin Brand answered, and then bore heavily upon the martial shoulder of Captain Piper. sword of yours, which just now came near overthrowing the whole of us by getting between my legs, might be left behind, and brought to you by several servants and a wheeled carriage. The weapon appears to have been made in a rough imitation of those which are described in the Sagas. I conjecture it to weigh at the least a ton." There was a tone of banter in Captain Piper's speech which displeased the Norwegian. "My weapon is that of a poor soldier, and rude enough, but of good temper. I wield its great weight readily, for God has made me larger than my fellows. If the kind office which you have assumed is too burthensome, cease to support me by the way." "I am a jester, my fine fellow," said Captain Piper, "and spoke as befitting my nature. But, to be serious, I will bring you to the house of my kinsman, if I am compelled to separate you into parts, and bestow you piece-meal. I am not of the shifting nature to fail in an engagement." "I am obliged to you for so much friendly ardor," the Norwegian replied. "I think that I grow stronger" he added, addressing himself to the lady-"I will only retain so much of the support which your gentleness has yielded to me, as this beautiful hand, held in my own, will afford." These words seemed to make an impression on Captain Piper. He seemed indeed to become somewhat gloomy with jealousy. Captain Piper stroked his beard, and muttered some words to himself. "We can discuss the details of the foreign news at our leisure," the old gentleman continued. "By the way, the captive prince Artzilou, the Georgian, whom his majesty sent to us after Narva, has escaped from Orebro. I heard that he had been traced in this direction. Merlin Brand gained in this remark a clew to the mysterious encounter at the fountain; he had indeed met, and been wounded by, that unhappy prince who, retaken by his keepers, soon after died in a Swedish castle; but the Norwegian was presently diverted from all thought upon the subject by the ceremonies of that Gothland welcome which had been promised by the daughter of his host. The great swinging doors of the edifice opened and closed behind the entering party, and Merlin Brand found himself in the haven to which he had looked, from a distance, with an eye of doubt and desire. ་་ CHAPTER SECOND. 'But Ingeborg, the child of kings, Or weaves a woof wherein there be "You have rather an elegant mode of expressing yourself, Anak," he said; "but be more re- It was on the day following that Merlin Brand, served in your address, where a Swedish lady of with as becoming an addition to his plain milirank, and—what is of a more personal applica-tary dress as his restored wallet enabled him to tion in the present case-my kinswoman, is con- make, entered an apartment in which the daughcerned." ter of his host sat to receive him. The walls of this room were hung with plain gray tapestry; it was only in some articles of a readily portable character that a costly elegance had been at"That is the calash of my father. He is just tempted. A small carved cabinet-a musical now returning from Orebro. Be assured, Mon-clock from Hamburg-some vases of the Rhesieur Brand, that he will give you that hospita- nish Protogine, now filled with fresh flowers ble welcome which is a Gothland custom." Merlin was about to make a good-humoured reply, when Mariana Sture pointed to the north, and said: from which the dew had not escaped, were the The three pedestrians, and the senator Sture, principal ornaments of the room. Amongst bowling on in his bright-yellow calash, reached several evidences of the graceful occupations of the house at nearly the same moment. The sena- the lady was a piece of unfinished embroidery tor, a massive old man, with a face as firm in its which still remained fastened upon its heavy lines as though it had been cut out of the Swe-frame. The needle had told enough of the story, dish granite, came with a book spread before which it was the object of the silken pantomime him-like the treasurer of Candace, queen of to illustrate, to enable one to catch its meaning. the Ethiopians, whom holy Philip saw reading A jarl of the islands quaffed his last cup of hyEsaias in his chariot. dromel in a great hall, one casement of which "What news, sir?" shouted Captain Piper, as opened to the sea. A circle of his sons and folthe old man alighted. lowers, with glittering armour and bright mantles, “We have an arrival from Courland," re-watched the draining of the cup. The pale blue plied the senator. "His majesty is making a face of Hela, the Scandinavian Death, peered in muster at Grodno, to pass the Boristhenes." at the casement, and a lean hand, with hooked VOL. XV-42 |