The siege of Mentz, which had been so long talked of, and kept a secret from the enemy, at length approached; it was whispered, To-night the trenches will be opened. It was extremely dark as we rode up the well-known way to the Weissenaner ditches; we saw nothing, heard nothing, but all at once our horses stopped, and we perceived immediately before us an array that was barely distinguishable. Austrian soldiers clothed in gray, with gray fascines on their backs, marched forward in silence, only from time to time the clang of the spades and pick-axes faintly announced a near movement. An appearance more strange and spectre-like can hardly be conceived than this, half seen, and always repeated without becoming more distinct. We remained on the same spot till they had past, for from thence we could at least see the place where they were to work in darkness. As such enterprizes are always in danger of being betrayed to the enemy, it was to be expected that a fire would be levelled from the walls against this spot, even at a venture; we did not, however, remain long in this expectation; for precisely at the spot where the trenches were to be commenced, a fire of small arms was suddenly directed, that was to all incomprehensible. Was it possible the French had stolen out and ventured upon our out-posts? We could not understand it. The fire ceased, and all sunk into the deepest silence; but the next morning we learnt that our own outposts had fired on the advancing columns,

as if upon an enemy; the party in consequence hesitated, was confused, each threw away his fascines, and only the shovels and axes were saved. The French on the

walls, being roused, were on their guard, the Austrians came back without having accomplished any thing, and the whole besieging army was confounded.

A second attempt by water, to take possession of the islets and meadows, succeeded no better than this against the city.

So much was talked about it (the swimming battery), that at last it was forgotten. I had scarcely reached the trenches above Weissenau, in my usual afternoon walk, when I observed a great bustle on the river; French boats were rowing assiduously to the islands, and the Austrian battery, placed there to command the stream, fired ricochets unceasingly across the water, a sight altogether new to me. When the balls for the first time struck the fluid element, an immense wave arose, lifting itself up many feet into the air; this had not yet fallen when a second was driven up aloft, powerful as the former, but not of the same height; and thus followed a third and fourth, always more distantly decreasing, till at last they reached the boats, worked in more level masses, and became, as accident directed them, dangerous to the small craft.

I could not sufficiently gaze on this spectacle, for shot followed shot; every moment arose new and immense fountains, while the old had not yet entirely whirled away.

On the sudden, a strange machine was let loose above, on the right shore, amongst the trees and bushes. A huge square thing, formed of rafters, floated along, to my great astonishment, and at the same time to my great delight, that I was to be an eye-witness of this important expedition, of which so much had been spoken. My wishes, however, appeared to be without effect, and my hopes did not last long, for the mass soon began to whirl round upon itself; we could see that it did not obey the rudder; and, as it revolved, it was carried along by the stream. Upon the Rhine banks, above Cassel, and before it, all was in a bustle; hundreds of French ran upwards to the shore, and raised a loud shout of joy, when this Trojan sea-horse, far from its intended destination on the tongue of land, was seized by the flowing Mayn, and now floated quietly and unceasingly between Rhine and Mentz. At last the current carried this helpless machine towards Cassel, where it stranded, not far from the bridge of boats, upon a flat ground, that was still covered with the water. Here all the French soldiery

was collected, and I now, with my glass, saw the portcullis, which enclosed this space, fall down, and those who were thus blocked up taken out and led off to prison. It was a vexatious sight; the draw-bridge did not reach to the dry land, and the little garrison was forced to wade through the water before they could reach the circle of their adversaries; there were four-andsixty men, two officers, and two cannon; the prisoners were well received, then brought to Mentz, and finally to the Prussian camp to be exchanged.

But while the siege of Mentz was thus pregnant with evil to its inhabitants, it was a source of great amusement to the people of the surrounding districts, who, on Sundays and holidays, came in crowds to the trenches above Weissenau, that, independent of their military curiosities, commanded a noble prospect. Another great advantage was, that the visitors were tolerably safe there from the French shot, the requisite elevation of their guns making the aim very uncertain, and the balls, for the most part, passing over the redoubt, Whenever the centinel on the breast-work observed that a cannon was directed thither, he would cry out-" Duck!"- and all within the battery immediately flung themselves on their knees, at this magic word, with very singular devotion for this respectable though dangerous apparition. No sooner had the bullet past, than they rose to their former occupation, laughing, chattering, and staring about them, till the formidable" Duck"-again sent them on their knees. But these same balls were not altogether without effect, for in passing over the batteries they reached the Frankfort road, at the back of the heights, and caused a sad confusion amongst the carts and carriages, horsemen and pedestrians, that were flocking to swell the numbers of the curious. This is the bright side of the medal; it has its reverse, and one that offers a fair antidote to those who are in love with the glorious art of war, though Goethe does not bring forward half its miseries.

Every hour (says our author,) was preg nant with evil; every minute we were anxious for our revered prince, for our dearest friends, and forgot to think of our own safety. Attracted by the wild and maddening danger, as by the glance of a

rattle-snake, we rushed into the deathful space;-walked and rode through the trenches,-let the bombs hurtle and whistle above our heads, the ruins topple down beside us; to many a one that was heavily wounded we wished a speedy release from his horrible sufferings, and the dead-none wished to recal the dead to life.

Of the respective positions of the attacking and defensive parties, thus much may be generally noticed. The French had provided themselves by times against the threatened danger, and thrown up smaller trenches, according to art, before the head-works, to keep the besiegers at a certain distance, and increase the difficul ties of the siege. All these obstacles it was necessary to remove.-In the meantime we, in company with some friends, although without any call or order, betook ourselves to the most dangerous posts. Weissenau was in German hands, and the trenches, lying down the river, were already conquered; we visited the desolated spot, and held, in the bone-house, an after-gleaning of morbid bones, the best of which had probably got already into the hands of the surgeons. Not contented with this, we went on farther towards the nunnery, where, in truth, it looked wild enough, and where, for an adequate remuneration, wine was sold and drunk in the vaults below, while the bullets, rattling from time to time, forced their way through the roofs.

An end was at last put to these horrors by the surrender of the city; when Goethe more than hints that the most obnoxious of their enemies were suffered to escape by a purposed neglect. But the difficulties of the French were not yet over; the poor citizens of Mentz, who had been driven from their homes, now flocked in troops to return the evils they had suffered on the heads of their fallen persecutors. They had taken up a position on the cause-way; and, though they suffered the women to pass unhurt, they punished the solThe Mentz diers without mercy. girls, too, who had chosen lovers from amongst the French army, and now joined them in their retreat, came in for their full share of the popular execrations, their own friends assisting in the clamour; a circumstance which, according to our author, very believe him; it is the morality of little troubled the fair fugitives. We

Charlotte and Werther.

On taking possession of the city, the Germans found at every step the mournful vestiges of war. The works

"The island on which I was cast," said Allan Lorburne, recommencing his narrative," appeared a cluster of wild and steep hills, striped on the sides with verdant mosses, and hooded on the summits with perpetual snow. Along their bases winded innumerable valleys, showered all over with a rich and varied abundance of flowers and blossomed shrubs. Small currents of water gushed among the flowers and grass; while from the clefts and fissures of the rocks, the summer had summoned all her tribes of odoriferous herbs-some peeping out in modest and stinted beauty, others streaming down in blossoming strings and garlands, perfuming our feet at every step.

"Now," said Christina Swayne, 'we shall soon see our home, and happy are they whom the sea casts on our coast, for ours is a rocky but a pleasant land. We are a people, plain and frugal, prudent in speech, humane in deeds, and hospitable at our hearths. We go not down, like the

The Ballad of Snorro.

lords of other islands, to the great waters to work men woe, nor descend among the habitations of men with fire and with sword. We seek not the curse of silver, nor the plague of gold, nor the vanity of precious stones. We perfume not our chambers with spice, nor wear embroidered girdles, nor mantles edged with lace, and brought through the peril of plague, and fever, and tempest, from a far land. We are a plain and a simple people our weapons are the fishhook and the hunting spear, and we sleep on the skins of wild beasts in habitations of stone and turf. Behold our dwelling there, where it stands at the foot of that tall rockit has no floor of cedar, and walls of marble polished by a cunning hand. There is no roof of fretwork and fine imagery-but a clay floor, bedded with moss and leaves-walls lined with wolf and wild-cat skins, and a roof stained by the smoke of many a hospitable feast; so welcome to our home, young mariner. Whoso

marries a Swayne,' added Christina, with a side smile, and a tone between pleasantry and seriousness, weds one who can find her food in the sea when it rages at the loudest,-tame the wolf with her spear when he howls the fiercest, bring the heron from the cloud when he soars the highest, snare the eider-duck and the wood pigeon,-build a house, and hold it in order,-inspire a sweet song, and sing it as sweetly,-and win a kind heart, and keep it after it is won. And yet with all these attractive qualities, aided and abetted by two eyes indifferently bright, clustering looks curled by the kind munificence of nature, and cheeks good enough for the winter wind to blow upon without risking their roses, here am I, Christina, who, single and sackless, and with the maiden snood of singleness round my brow, must welcome thee into the home of Olave Swayne.' "Christina,' said Olave, as he laid aside his hunting spear, thou wert ever wilful and full of mirth, yet in thy jesting thou hast spoken much truth of thyself. Marriage, which lessens the mirth of men and the laughter of maidens, as our Icelandic bard, Therman Snorro, sings, will never abate thy pleasantry, which breaks out alike in sunshine and storm, in merry-making and misfortune. Now let me see thee be hospitable to this poor castaway mariner; and though ye slight Wilfred Thorold, see that ye slight not him. Those whom the storm and the ocean spare are beloved of God, and should be cherished of man.' My brother Olave,' said Christina, half addressing herself to me, yet wishing to be heard by others, though she dropt her voice to something scarcely more audible than a whisper; My brother Olave thinks, because Wilfred Thorold draws his net full when other men draw theirs empty-leaps in and hews down the wild bear when dogs and men stand aloof-pursues the whale with his harpoon, till he spouts blood instead of water, and wears his seal-skin bonnet with something of a grace when the dance begins-that I his ae sister should fall desperately in love with a youth whose whole talk is of reindeer, white bears and black, spermaceti whales, seals, and seahorses.'

"Ah, my ae sister,' said Olave,

it is not the pleasant of speech, nor the smooth and fair in person, who should be near a woman's heart.'

You say right, Olave,' said Christina; the man who should come nearest a woman's heart is he who can slay a bear, nor make a long history of the risks he ran from fangs and claws-who can harpoon a whale, nor fill all the land with the deed, and who can moisten his hunting boots with wild beasts' grease, nor tell us that the fittest season for slaying the white bear is when he is fattest, that his skin carries fur, and that his fat is good for our winter lamps. All these matters I have faith in, and even some small knowledge-but the man who hopes to win me must know more than how many foreteeth a sea-horse has, and how many bob-corks are on a haavenet.'

"All the while, Christina prepared a couch, heaped with mantles and furs, for the mariner's widow and her child; and, placing food on a little table-the simple food of that wild region, which the people of happier climes serve in a richer sauce, and in more costly plate-smoke-dried fish, swimming in melted butter, and fragrant with wild herbs-motioned me to be seated on a square block of wood, ornamented round the top with a kind of sunken frieze or border, curiously inlaid with shells and the teeth of bears and wolves. There,' said the maiden, rest and refresh thyself on the same seat, and at the same table, where my ancestors sat, who defeated the Scotch and the Danes-where they heard the harpings of the minstrels, and the battle songs of the Scalds, and hearkened too to the wisdom of those Christian teachers whose genius and learning made our little island bright, while the mainlands were in darkness. There,' said she, changing her tone till it bordered on irony, rest and feed, where Wilfred Thorold feeds on the wild beast he has slain, and tells me how many cubs are found in a blue bear's den-and then, while the fat of the feast is yet unwiped from his lips, he turns and caresses his three favourite hounds, Rover, Ringwood, and Comely.'

66 6 Come, my sister,' said Olave, 'you are not so sarcastic when young Edwin, the descendant of the ship