with infinite and eternal interests-and which is accustomed to look on them as all-important, and magnify them to an extent which obliterates every other consideration, really rise to the contemplation of the Divine wisdom. Again, the good must be accompanied by the beautiful. Nature-God's masonry, is so far more beautiful than man's mightiest efforts, that the latter are literally ugly to the real lover of Nature, and every lover of God must be a lover of his fair handiwork.

When the world disappoints and rejects us, how eagerly do we seek the consolation of Heaven! When man refuses us his love, how much more precious does that of the only true Friend become to us! When we are disgusted at a sordid humanity, how easily do we recognise, how passionately pant for the mercy of a fond and everforgiving Father-the Father of us all.

I wandered in the fields around Munich in undisturbed solitude, and took a joy in realising the real presence of the Eternal One around me, and in striving to please Him and show my gratitude for his mercies by a constant purification of my heart. There nestled Hope and Faith, and thence I endeavoured diligently to thrust out every thought or feeling not akin to charity. Thus I gained strength, till when called on to mingle with my fellow-men, I felt how much better I had become. It was now so difficult to be selfish or uncharitable when one had no real interest in the things of the world. It was so easy to love one's fellow-men when one saw how much the common Father loved them all in the mercies he dispensed, but which they blindly claimed as their rights. It was such a happy feeling, that we were all, high and low, good and bad, rich and pauper, the helpless children of the same kind, watchful Parent.

Now I looked from afar upon the corrupt and faithless world, and while I loved could not but pity and blame mankind. I saw that we have sinned, because our whole lives are without God; because even our religious observances are as far from real communion with, or real honour to, our Creator and Preserver as the long prayers of the Pharisees.

I was not only a better, but a happier and a more sensible man. The highest view of all matters is always the wisest, and if we are duped from a

resolute honesty and frankness, we are at least spared the degradation of stooping to the crooked policy of deceit and meanness. I saw that the world might be made better, if man could be induced to think more of God and less of earth; to remember infinity, and contrast our tiny planet with it; to love Nature, and to see God's hand in everything.

In the nineteenth century men's ideas are directed by two things-intercourse and literature. But the latter has a great influence over the former. How few there are who do not read some newspaper or other every day, and have often no other literature to refer to. The influence of journalism becomes enormous, and yet who can deny that that influence is diametrically opposed to Christianity? To say nothing of the animosity of party-spirit in politics or creed, by which the heart is taught to hate, where it was before indifferent, there is often an undue and untrue importance attached to the most trivial events: interest and not principle is admitted as the legitimate motive to all action; respect of persons is carried to excess; and sin and crime are talked of with the same utilitariar. indifference as the state of the funds. It is by this constant association with wrong ideas that men are gradually tutored to look on right as a romantic impossibility, and the commands of Heaven are regarded as Oriental indignities, which civilization and common-sense have the right to modify. Our Saviour says, "Consider the lilies, and trust, like them, in Providence." Commonsense, in the nineteenth century, puts in the amendment, "Consider the prices in the market, and trust to nothing but your own power of driving the hardest possible bargain, and filling your own pockets with anything that your neighbour is fool enough to let you get out of him." The old law was, "Bless them that spitefully entreat you." The new one says, "Go to law even with your own father, if he robs you of a sixpence." The Bible says, "A man shall leave father and mother and cleave unto his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh." Society says, "It is wrong to marry without your parents' consent and plenty of money; and if your tempers disagree separate from your wife." Ah! but there I strike home.

As the last days of autumn began to close in, I found that nature was no longer the enjoyable companion she had been. The cold increasing, forced me into a pace which was the death of contemplation; and physical exercise was a poor substitute for the eagle flights which my mind had hitherto indulged in. I could not flap my wings in upper æther when I was confined to four papered walls and a solitary hearth. I began to feel the necessity for the sympathy of my fellow creatures, now that the birds and flowers had fled, and the leaves rudely fluttered, brown and dreary, round my ears. I bethought me of my letters of introduction, and, at length, having examined and reformed my toilette, made my way, one cold afternoon, to the British Legation. I found the minister sufficiently affable; but how strange did his stiff politeness, how unnatural did the reserve of his conversation appear to me. I had been so long living in a boundless world of thought, that I was quite at a loss to conceive the deep interest he expressed in the narrow topics of the day. When we spoke of the state of Europe, his judgment on the different acts of different governments, struck me as utterly devoid of real principle. He seemed almost afraid to sound any one of them to the bottom; the motives were canvassed with a partiality, and a party spirit, that were to me incomprehensible. He deprecated the indignant wrath of an oppressed race, while he praised the unflinching severity of some military governor. Again, all seemed, to his mind, to be justly subservient to the interests of commerce; and when I hinted that the only men who suffered by a law of tolerance were the millionaires of trade, who could afford to suffer, he opened his eyes in amazement, and said, "the measure would ruin the country." The topics for which I could expend but three words, would occupy him an hour, and I felt that our modes of thought were utterly at variance.

Yet, for all this, I warmed both towards himself and his wife, and when his hospitality had drawn us closely together, we got on admirably. I discovered that there were scarcely any English in Munich, and that he was therefore more pleased at our increas

ing intimacy. Thus I gradually lapsed back into the old world, and found my wornout interests revive. His introductions, and my other letters, opened the doors of the Munich salons to me; and when the new year came with the season, I was as different from my summer self, as the bare brown branches were from their "green felicity."

Yet it was long before my interest in society returned in full force. I found that of Munich in a terrible condition. The court-circle followed the flagrant example of the Electress Dowager and her sons. The nobility in general emulated the court, and the bourgeoisie could not be behind. Even art, which had already begun to circle round its royal patron, was far from pure from this taint, and intrigue only vied with luxury, in patronising vice in Bavaria's capital.

I was at first thoroughly disgusted with all that was told me of this state of things, but curiosity led me to judge for myself. The more I mingled with these gay epicureans, the more I found my long-loved solitude wearisome. It I were alone for an hour, my thoughts ran on the vices which surrounded me; and while I grew disgusted with the rottenness of mankind, I found it now difficult to throw off the remembrance of them, and rise to better things. I was sinking gradually in the slough of worldliness, and had no power to raise myself out of it.

I heard much that grieved me about Von Ritter. All spoke of him as a man of wonderful abilities, and a master-mind; but all remembered the life he had led among themselves. His superior nature, his powers of conversation, his wit, his sarcasm, his very contempt for the vices he indulged in, had made him dreaded, admired, and yet popular with all alike. He had, at one time, had great influence with royalty, and many confessed that he had used it conscientiously. Again, the men had known him as the brightest ornament of their club, their most reckless gambler, (he had ruined himself at their tables), and their most brilliant wit. Among the women, he had been the constant centre of attraction, and the difficulty of subduing him, only made him a more continual object for their fascinations. His choice, too, had always been most eccentric. At one time his favours

had been lavished on some insignificant nonentity, while refused to a duchess of unsurpassed beauty. At another, he revived the fashion of some passée favourite, whose star had long begun to set. The supposition that profound political interest were hidden beneath the guise of simple intrigue, only added zest to the interest, and none were astonished when his liaison with a certain Dowager Highness, whose conduct was the amusement of the whole country, was publicly avowed. All this, however, had taken place some fifteen or twenty years back, and a new generation filled the lists where the Philosopher had once been the champion.

The

Among the few who had renounced this mode of life, was the Countess Von Dornheim. I found her fair and forty, but neither fat nor a widow; on the contrary, she still looked very young, still very interesting. rose was not quite withered, and I could see at once how lovely it had been in its freshness. But what age had spared, grief had rudely attacked. There was a settled melancholy, a gentle sadness, that made her more attaching and far more interesting than her gayer acquaintance. Her husband was a stout puffy Bavarian, who got up in the morning round as a beerbarrel, and retired at night a barrel of beer.

I

After half an hour's conversation, in which I was able to discover a lurking genius not wholly to be despised, I ventured to speak of Konrad. saw her colour go and come suddenly, and yet she replied in a tone of indifference, "I think it must be my nephew you have met. have you known him ?"

How long

I told her the time and place, and she continued a string of interrogatories, which proved that she was more interested in her kin than the generality of married aunts. But when I came to our arrival at Niederlahnstein, and mentioned the name of Von Ritter, she stopped me short, and eagerly enquired what our host was like. When I had fully described him, she said, "Thank you, thank you!" with much warmth. "He is a very old friend of mine, of whom I have not

heard for years. Come, you must

tell me all about him."

She drew her chair nearer to mine, and we seemed to be on intimate

"What, to the mask? I don't know.

suppose I must do so; but, as I have nothing important to discover, I shall go en bourgeois, and leave the domino to more zealous intriguers. What are you going to wear?"

"A mask, of course, and a domino." "Of what colour? if I may dare to ask, Comtesse."

66

What, wretch! have you not been bribing my maid for the last fortnight to tell you of what colour my domino was to be? No? Well, I forgive you. You had more interesting thoughts to occupy you-adieu !"

A masked ball at Munich, the very head-quarters of intrigue, political and erotic, possessed a more important character than it would do elsewhere. Held in the theatre, on the last day of the Carnaval-Shrove Tuesday-it was sought by everybody of every rank and every disposition. The gay were there, to take one deep draught of reckless pleasure, ere they settled down to the austere regime of Lent's forty days; the grave were there, either to spy on the gay, or to take advantage of the mask to sound some long hidden secret. Every species of liberty, short of actual license, was there allowed. Ambitious statesmen, foolish princes, disappointed Phillides, jealous husbands, and desperate lovers, took refuge beneath a domino and a falsetto voice, to satisfy and clear up mysteries, or entrap and torment a victim.

As I did not come under any of

these categories, I went in simple evening dress.

I had not been long in the crowded theatre, talking to an old friend, when my adventures began.

"Is the Court here to-night ?" I was asking of him.

"I think not, though some of the princes may be indulging in a little freedom. The Electress, for one, you may be sure, is playing some strange tricks to-night."

At this moment I received a light rap on the head from a wand, and a voice by my side said—

"Never mind the Electress, but follow me." Good God! it was the voice of Beatrix. I turned to see a stout figure in a pink-silk domino rushing away through the dense crowd.

There was no clue to her identity. The figure seemed to be a little shorter than Beatrix, and was certainly much stouter. Yet there could be no mistake as to the voice. Sharp as had been the manner, it was still so exactly like Beatrix's, that the few words thrilled through me like an electric shock.

I did not stop to reflect, but bounded after the stranger, in the hopeless endeavour to catch her. But she seemed to glide like a cat, between the thickly-packed masses, and when I had made my way with great difficulty to where I had last seen her, her wand would appear in a distant part of the theatre.

Yet I was determined to catch her and discover who and what she was. It was impossible Beatrix should be at Munich, yet it was very strange her voice should be so exactly imitated. Just as I was giving up the attempt, the same voice behind me whispered "Sherwood, Beatrix von Ritter is waiting for you; she has forgiven your desertion of her at Niederlahnstein." Before I could turn the pink domino was already gone.

It was now in vain that I pushed after my tormentress. Like a wild will-o'-the-wisp, she waved her wand from time to time to lure me on, only to find her gone-darted, perhaps, to the other end of the enormous salle. Once I thought I should succeed at last. I saw her talking to a remarkably tall personage in a thick black domino, closely drawn round.

She

was evidently deeply interested in what he was saying, as he bent down

and seemed to whisper to her. There were but a few paces between me and my long hunted quarry, but the space was thickly crowded. I managed gradually to glide between the stout figures of the maskers, and was within an arm's length of my object, when I was suddenly lifted off my legs, and carried along some way by the retreating crowd. At the same moment the orchestra, one of the finest in Germany, struck up a most lovely mazurka, one of those airs of Poland's happy days, which seem to have been composed for fairies to dance to on some broad moonlit lawn. I discovered that the masters of the ceremonies were opening as large a space as possible for this graceful dance, and that already a number of couples were entering the ring.

A Polish mazurka danced in domino is a strange and lively scene. It is then that the long black cloaks, carelessly fastened, fly back in the whirl of the spirited measure, and disclose the light ball dresses of the la dies and the slim proportions of their partners, not, alas, always so slim as might be desired.

I was looking on at the commencement of this exciting dance, when I felt a small hand placed in my own and that same magical voice close to my ear: Let us take a turn in this mazurka; this music is irresistible."

66

"In the name of Heaven!" I replied, "tell me first who you are; are you really Beatrix ?”

"Hold your tongue 'till the dance is over," was the sharp answer, in a tone of authority which I had never heard from the lips of Beatrix.

She drew me into the circle, and away we went hand in hand, gliding first to this side, and then to that, stamping our feet to keep time to the measure. Away we went, the pace quickening every moment and the dance growing more and more exciting, while at every corner, I flung my arm round my partner's waist and whirled her round. Then at last came a respite, while the leader of the dance led out the couples in turn to perform a figure in the centre.

"I would give a thousand pounds," I said, taking advantage of the moment, "I would give some of the sweetest memories of my life, to know who it is that is thus befooling me."

"And what," returned my partner,

"if I were Beatrix Von Ritter? Would it matter the least to you?you, who could leave her suddenly and without a better cause than a father's wish."

"Beatrix," I said passionately, "if you be really here in this guise, this is a vile reproach that you make against me. You cannot know the depth of all the reasons which induced me to leave Niederlahnstein; you cannot tell how far I was right in breaking an intimacy which might have been misery to both."

"Yet you pretend to love Beatrix,— you still seem to have some interest in her; you fancy, nay, you may be sure, that she is not utterly indifferent to you."

"May I be sure of that ?" I cried. "Tell me, you, whoever you are, Beatrix or a sorceress, could I be certain that she-she cared for me?"

"How do I know? Still a girl alone in a remote village, you a handsome-yes, a tolerably handsomestranger, wandering about with her alone; her father's best friend; is that not enough presumptive evidence ?"

"But I was not her only companion," I replied.

"Ah! yes, the other; but then I know the other, and take the word of -of a sorceress, if you will, that it is impossible Beatrix should love Von Dornheim."

"How so?" I asked eagerly.

"No matter, there is an insurmountable barrier. But to return. You appear to love this girl. Is that love sincere ? Is it unaltered by absence ?"

The more I heard the unknown one speak, the more I was convinced that it could not really be Beatrix. The voice, indeed, was her own, though less sweet and round perhaps, but the manner was quite alien to her gentleness. Still, when I remembered the license granted to her disguise and the peculiarity of the position, I could not reply to this question without the warmest asseveration.

"The absence of a hundred years would not alter what I feel."

"And that is love?"

66 Love, the purest, the highest, the noblest !"

"Which could surmount all prejudice, all shame ?" she asked.

"Which would almost follow her to Hell, if it were possible she could go there," I replied,

"Friend," said the unknown one, "there is a ban upon this poor girla ban of the harsh world's judgment: could you love her in spite of the world?"

"I could."

"Could you marry her in spite of the world?"

Oh! that voice, how it worked me to frenzy as I answered

"I could, in spite of all!" "Then hear her sentence-" Before she could finish, one of the couples making the round, tripped over my unwary foot and fell heavily on the ground before me, the lady seizing my coat for support, and dragging me down with her. I was not long in extricating myself, but as I was stooping over the fallen pair, the well-known voice whispered in my ear, "Beatrix is a bastard-a child of sin!"

I broke fiercely away and turned hotly upon my partner, but she was already gone-disappeared amid the dense crowd of spectators. I looked wildly round, but could see nothing of the pink wand, and recklessly dashed through the crowd in the direction I supposed her to have taken.

For a full half-hour I sought her in every direction, excited by all that had passed, and more than all by the last incomprehensible words, and determined to sound the mystery to the bottom.

to me.

Wearied at last by the vain search, I sat down to think over it all. That the pink domino was not Beatrix seemed almost positive. It was impossible she should have spoken in that manner of herself and especially Who, then, could it be? The only person in Munich who knew any thing of my feelings towards Von Ritter's daughter was Madame Von Dornheim. It was possible for her to have imitated a voice which she knew well enough; it was possible for her to make herself appear stouter and taller; and it was very probable that she should play me the trick just after our conversation in the afternoon. I arrived at this conclusion just as a pretty little blue domino tripped up

to me.

"Come state, Signor," said an illdisguised voice, which did not puzzle me long to discover.

"A merveille, and you Comtesse? "Couci-couci," was the reply. "I was a little shaken by my fall, for