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have found thee. I touch thee!-thou livest the blood flows in thy form!thou art as woman, but more lovely! Take me to thy blue caverns and be my bride!"

As a dream from the sleeper, as a vapour from the valley, Lurline glided from the arms of the stranger, and sunk into the waters; the wave closed over her, but, beneath its surface, he saw her form gliding along to the more shadowy depths; he saw, and plunged into the waves!

The morning came, and the boat still tossed by the Lurlei Berg-without a hand to steer it. The Rhine rolled bright to the dewy sun, but the stranger had returned not to its shores.

The cavern of the Water Spirit stretches in many chambers beneath the courses of the river, and in its inmost recess, several days after the stranger's disappearance, Lurline sat during the summer noon; but not alone. Love lighted up those everlasting spars, and even beneath the waters and beneath the earth held his temple and his throne. "And tell me, my stranger bridegroom," said Lurline, as the stranger lay at her feet, listening to the dash of the waters against the cavern, "tell me of what country and parentage art thou? Art thou one of the many chiefs whose castles frown from the opposite cliffs? -or a wanderer from some distant land? What is thy mortal name? “Men call me Rupert the Fearnought," answered the stranger. "A penniless chief am I, and a cheerless castle do I hold; my sword is my heritage; and as for gold, the gold which my sire bequeathed me, alas on the land, beautiful Lurline, there are many more ways of getting rid of such dross than in thy peaceful dominions beneath the river. Yet, Lurline," and the countenance of Rupert became more anxious and more earnest —" is it not true that the Spirits of thy race hoard vast treasures of gems and buried gold within their caves? Do ye not gather all the wind and tempest have sunk beneath the waves in your rocky coffers? And have ye not the power to endow a mortal with the forgotten wealth of ages?"

"Ah yes!" answered the enamoured Water Spirit. "These chambers contain enough of such idle treasures, dull and useless, my beloved, to those who love."

"Eh, em!" quoth the mortal, "what thou sayest has certainly a great deal of truth in it; but, but just to pass away the next hour or two; suppose thou

showest me, dearest Lurline, some of these curiosities of thine. Certes I am childishly fond of looking at coins and jewels."

"As thou wilt, my stranger," answered Lurline, and, rising, she led the way through the basalt arches that swept in long defiles through her palace, singing with the light heart of contented love to the waves that dashed around. The stranger followed wondering, but not fearing, with his hand every now and then, as they made some abrupt turning, mechanically wandering to his sword, and his long plume waving lightly to the rushing air, that at times with a hollow roar swept through their mighty prison. At length the Water Spirit came to a door, before which lay an enormous shell, and, as the stranger looked admiringly upon its gigantic size, a monstrous face gradually rose from the aperture of the shell, and with glaring eyes and glistening teeth gloated out upon the mortal.

Three steps backward did Rupert the Fearnought make, and three times did he cross himself with unwonted devotion, and very irreverently, and not in exact keeping with the ceremony, blurted he forth a northern seafarer's oath. Then outflashed his sword; and he asked Lurline if he were to prepare against a foe. The Water Spirit smiled, and murmuring some words in a language unknown to Rupert, the monster slowly wound itself from the cavities of the shell; and carrying the shell itself upon its back, crept with a long hiss and a trailing slime from the door, circuitously approaching Rupert the Fearnought by the rear. "Christe beate!" ejaculated the lover, veering round with extreme celerity, and presenting the point of the sword to the monster. "What singular shell fish there are at the bottom of the Rhine!" Then gazing more attentively on the monster, he perceived that it was in the shape of a dragon, substituting only the shell for wings.

"The dragon race," said the Water Spirit," are the guardians of all treasure whether in the water or in the land. And deep in the very centre of the earth, the hugest of the tribe lies coiled around the loadstone of the world."

The door now opened. They entered a vast vault. Heavens! how wondrous was the treasure that greeted the Fearnought's eyes! All the various wrecks that from the earliest ages of the world had enriched the Rhine or its tributary streams, contributed their burthen to

this mighty treasury; there was the first rude coin ever known in the North, cumbrous and massive, teaching betimes the moral that money is inseparable from the embarrassment of taking care of it. There were Roman vases and jewels in abundance; rings, and chains, and great necklaces of pearl: there, too, were immense fragments of silver that from time to time had been washed into the river, and hurried down into this universal recipient. And looking up the Fearnought saw that the only roof above was the waters, which rolled black and sullenly overhead, but were prevented either by a magic charm, or the wonderful resistance of the pent air, from penetrating farther. But wild, and loud, and hoarse was the roar above, and the Water Spirit told him, that they were then below the Gewirre or Whirlpool which howls along the bank opposite to the Lurlei Berg.

"I see," quoth the bold stranger, as he grasped at a heap of jewels, "that wherever there is treasure below the surface, there is peril above!"

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"Rather say," answered the Water Spirit that the whirlpool betokens the vexation and strife which are the guardians and parents of riches."

'The Fearnought made no answer; but he filled his garments with the most costly gems he could find, in order, doubtless, to examine them more attentively at his leisure.

And that evening as his head lay upon the lap of the Water Spirit, and she played with his wreathy hair, Rupert said, "Ah Lurline! ah, that thou wouldst accompany ine to the land. Thou knowest not in these caves (certainly pretty in their way, but, thou must confess, placed in a prodigiously dull neighbourhood); thou knowest not, dear Lurline, how charming a life it is to live in a beautiful castle on the land." And with that Rupert began to paint in the most eloquent terms the mode of existence then most approvedly in fashion. He dwelt with a singular flow of words on the pleasures of the chace; he dressed the water-nymph in green-mounted her on a snow-white Courser -supposed her the admiration of all who flocked through the green wood to behold her. Then he painted the gorgeous banquet, the lords and dames that, glittering in jewels and cloth of gold, would fill the halls over which Lurline should preside-all confessing her beauty, and obedient to her sway; harps were for ever to sound her praises; minstrels to sing and knights

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to contest for it; and, above all he,
Rupert himself, was to be eternally at
her feet-" Not, dearest Love," (added
he, gently rubbing his knees,)
these rocky stones, but upon the softest
velvets or, at least, upon the greenest
mosses.

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The Water Spirit was moved, for the love of change and the dream of ambition can pierce even below the deepest beds of the stream; and the voice of flattery is more persuasive than were the melodies of the syren herself.

By degrees she allowed herself to participate in Rupert's desire for land; and, as she most tenderly loved him, his evident and growing ennui, his long silences, and his frequent yawns, made her anxious to meet his wishes, and fearful lest otherwise he should grow utterly wearied of her society. It was settled then that they should go to the land.

"But, oh, my beloved," said Rupert the Fearnought, "I am but a poor and mortgaged knight, and in my hall the winds whistle through dismantled casements, and over a wineless board. Shall I not go first to the shore, and with some of the baubles thou keepest all uselessly below, refit my castle among yonder vine-clad mountains, so that it shall be a worthy tenement for the daughter of the Rhine? then I shall hasten back for thee, and we will be wedded with all the pomp that befits thy station."

The poor Water Spirit, having lived at the bottom of the Rhine all her life, was not so well read in the world as might have been expected from a singer of her celebrity. She yielded to the proposition of Rupert; and that very night the moon beheld the beautiful Lurline assisting Rupert to fill his boat (that lay still by the feet of the Lurlei Berg) with all the largest jewels in her treasury. Rupert filled and filled, till he began to fear the boat would hold no more without sinking; and then, reluctantly ceasing, he seized the oars, and every now and then kissing his hand at Lurline with a melancholy expression of fondness, he rowed away to the town of St. Goar.

As soon as he had moored his boat in a little creek, overshadowed at that tire by thick brambles, he sprang lightly on land; and seizing a huntinghorn that he wore round his neck, sounded a long blast. Five times was that blast echoed from the rock of the Lurlei Berg by the sympathising dwarf who dwelt there, and who, wiser

than Lurline, knew that her mortal lover had parted from her for ever. Rupert started in dismay, but soon recovered his native daring. "Come fiend, sprite, or dragon," said he, "I will not give back the treasure I have won!" He looked defyingly to the stream, but no shape rose from its depths -the moonlight slept on the water -all was still, and without sign of life, as the echo died mournfully away. He looked wistfully to the land, and now crashing through the boughs came the armed tread of men-plumes waved corslets glittered, and Rupert the Fearnought was surrounded by his marauding comrades. He stood with one foot on his boat, and pointed exultingly to the treasure. 66 Behold," he cried, to the old robber who had suggested the emprize, I have redeemed my pledge, and plundered the coffer of the Spirits of the Deep!"

Then loud broke the robbers' voices over the still stream, and mailed hands grasped the heavy gens, and fierce eyes gloated on their splendour.

"And how didst thou win the treasure? with thy good sword, we'll warrant," cried the robbers.

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Nay," answered Rupert," there is a weapon more dangerous to female, whether spirit or flesh, than the sworda soft tongue and flattering words!Away; take each what he can carry, -and away, I say, to our castle!" 1

Days and weeks rolled on, but the Mortal returned not to the Maiden of the Waters; and night after night Lurline sat alone on the moonlight rock, and mourned for her love in such wild and melancholy strains, as now at times the fisherman starts to hear. The Dwarf of the Lurlei Berg sometimes put forth his shaggy head, from the little door in his rock, and sought to solace her with wise aphorisms on human inconstancy but the soft Lurline was not the more consoled by his wisdom, and still not the less she clung to the vain hope that Rupert the Flatterer would

return.

And Rupert said to his comrades, as they quaffed the wine, and carved the meat at his castle board

"I hear there is a maiden in the castle of Lorchausen, amidst the valleys, on the other side of the Rhine, fair to see, and rich to wed. She shall be the Bride of the Fearnought."

The robbers shouted at the proposal, and the next day, in their sheenest armour, they accompanied their beautiful chief in his wooing to the Lady of

Lorchausen. But Rupert took care not to cross by the Lurlei Berg; for Fearnought as he was, he thought a defrauded dragon and a betrayed spirit were hard odds for a mortal chief. They arrived at the castle, and Rupert wooed with the same flattery and the same success as before. But as one female generally avenges the wrongs of another, so Rupert was caught by the arts he practised, and loved no less ardently than he was loved. The Chief of Lorchausen consented to the wedding, and the next week he promised to bring the bride and her dowry to the Fearnought's castle.

"But, ah! dearest Unna," said Rupert to his betrothed, "take heed as you pass the river that your bark steer not by the Lurlei Berg, for there lurks a dragon ever athirst for beauty and for gold; and he lashes with his tail the waters when such voyagers as thou pass, and whirls the vessel down iuto his cave below."

The beautiful Unna was terrified, and promised assent to so reasonable a request.

Rupert and his comrades returned home, and set the old castle in order for the coming of the bride.

To be concluded in our next.

THF HONOURABLE THIEF.

M. de Limoges was a banker, and was to leave Paris for Bordeaux the next day upon business. In the evening he went to the play, with a tortoise-shell snuff box set in gold, upon the cover of which was a beautiful miniature of his wife holding her son in her arms, painted by Augustin. The child was then about two years old, and remarkable for its beauty. Madame de Limoges was also a beautiful woman, and the execution of the picture was admirable. On leaving the theatre with a lady of his acquaintance, he felt some one press against him, and having turned suddenly round, a handsome young man, of seemingly elegant manners, apologized for having pushed him. He ought, perhaps, to have apologized for something else; for scarcely had M. de Limoges entered his house than be discovered that he had been robbed his snuff-box was gone. This loss was doubly felt, because, independently of the subject, the painting was one of great value. He lodged a complaint at the police office; and in an advertisement, which he had inserted in all the papers, he promised ten louis to any person who would bring him back the miniature only. On his

return from Bordeaux, two months after, he found a packet addressed to him, which, to his great delight, enclosed, not the snuff-box, but the miniature. It was accompanied by the following letter, of which I have seen the original: "Sir, I can easily imagine your regret at losing the miniature, which I have the honour to return to you. So charming a child, and so beautiful a wife, must necessarily be the pride and delight of him who has a right to have them painted. But permit me, sir, to offer a word of advice. A man who has such a wife and child, painted by Augustin, and carries them on the lid of a snuff-box, should have the latter of gold, and should surround the miniature with brilliants of the first water. Had you done so, it would have been more honourable for you, and more profitable

to me.

"I have the honour, &c.

THE THIEF.

"P.S. You have promised ten louis to any one who should return the miniature into your hands. This is something like the promise of a gascon, for you could not suppose that I am such a simpleton as to put you to the test. however, you really meant to keep your word, put the ten louis into your pocket, and come to the Favart theatre the day, after to-morrow-I will then pay myself with my own hands."

sence.

If

This singular epistle was left at the house of M. de Limoges during his abOn the night after his return, he put the ten louis into his pocket and went to the theatre, but he met not the thief. The latter perhaps had been more unfortunate with another than with him, and might have been in the hands of justice. Be that as it may, M. de Limoges never heard any more of him.

MOORFIELDS:

Athenæum.

ITS CHARACTER AND CHARACTERS-ITS

DECAY, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.
BY AN OCTOGENARY.
For the Olio.

MOORFIELDS must have been, at one time, the centre of attraction for the coxcombs and demireps that flaunted abroad in the sunshine of pleasure, and set the flashions, as well as set them off, for the imitation of their brethren and sisterhood less ostentatious, and mingling less in the promenades of Brokerrow, and the pace of the Old Bethlem. For the low situation, it was a fine open

space for breathing-time to those who sought a little recreation and edification at the same opportunity, and afforded an excuse for the young and the old to "see and be seen." I remember the trees forming a shadow in each of the square green patches, yielding much delight to the visitors; and the upper end, as it was called, lay open to Finsbury, and gave the eye a full stretch as far as the Shepherd and Shepherdess, with no deficience of umbrageous accommodation by seats and nooks. Each "taverne" on the right, over against Bunnhylle, displayed its "solars" for view and tankard, smoking and creaming, bun-eating and syllabub whipping. On the Sunday evening, parties of tens and twenties (for it was then customary to go forth in parties) both for show and protection, and for health's sake. The dread of infection on the one hand, and of cut-purses on the other, rendered the precaution really and obviously netoned bell sounded shrilly in the air by cessary. While an occasional silverits rapid tolling in the heart of the city, drawing an invalid on liis crutches, and a staid matron, with their Charles the Martyr illustrated prayer-books, with all the saints in effigy, and strong clasps, to keep their contents from injury. While the few were attending the service in the hallowed cloisters of the dead, and walking meekly in the into Moorfields-with now and then a narrow path, the many were pouring pilgrim hastening into the MeetingHouse on the Pavement; and, on the other side, the precise Dissenters, going side sanctuary, snugly concealed by as it were by stealth into Broad-street, trees in a corner.

Each corner of the Moor, as it was termed, possessed its characteristic attraction. Beside the Moorgate, Dr. Bossey made his appearance on a horseblock or upping-stock, and by his eccentric conduct kept a large auditory in key-some, making their debut, and giving place for others, who occupied their standing room. On the Broadstreet side, his opponent, the celebrated Bille Tomkyne raised his form and exerted the bellows of his lungs on a porter-bench, and out-heroded Bossey, for hyperbole and nostrum, to the vast amusement of his patronimics. In the corner, towards Long Alley, Whitfield raised his sanctum sanctorum, dealing d-n round the land,' and, like a second Jupiter on his celestial throne, hurling the bolts of thunder and lightning on those who walked away and

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Such a concourse of persons-of such a motley description-so many really devotional-so many really impiousso many real impostors and sharpers and simpletons of every grade. Fruits, pies, ballads, divine chaunts, squibs, lampoons, and pedlary were handed and bandied about-cried and set forth by Jews, Romans, and Gentiles, in all the gewgaw of a popular wake. Alas! alas! how little attention was paid to the keeping of the Sunday evening properly! The devout appeared then as the devout appear now. But, in every gap, the sneer and the poor man's lot were visible. The proud man's contumely was signalised by his driving, or riding, up to the gate, listening a few minutes, and then giving his horses the lash, or his steed the spurs, and off he went in his own regality. Yet, after all, who can find fault? In a free country like this, it is man's prerogative to do what he will with his own: and nothing is, intrinsically, his own, like his opinion! Is it, then, remarkable, that the heroes in Moorfields, like others in other times, played their parts? The scene, however, as it was in Moor-fields will never be reacted. The sword may return to its scabbard, the scimetar to the sickle the plough-share and the pruning-hook rest in the land and the vineyard; but who can prophesy the time when this populated spot will become barren, its edifices be laid waste, its space be re-simplified by the agrarian model of Roman cultivation -and a new ruralry hereafter congregate in a new and vernal aspect of a new series of Moorfields!

One reflection, however, remains, without proceeding by speculative theories, and this is a practical and experimental fact that, out of the four pillars of the state, the two conjuring mountebanks-Bossey and Tomkyne are gone, and have not left a trace of their stamp behind them; while Whitfield and Westley have left a name and a sect each, of a very numerous class of professing Christians, differing now, as they were begun, only in faith and practice; but softened down by the experience of the age in which we live to a cordial sociality and praiseworthy

comparative union-though, not like certain electioneering candidates, forming a coalition for a future seat in the ranks of the "just made perfect," but striving might and main which shall have the ascendancy-parodying a popular phrase, 'may the best men win!'

LUDICROUS SCENE ON THE HEIGHTS OF BOULOGNE.

Madame B-r, the mother of Madame Laplanche-Mortier, had never before been so near the Emperor; and nothing could prevent her from leaving the barrack, that she might get a better sight of him. As she was the mother-in-law of an officer of the palace, the Emperor could not be angry if he met her on his road. Being, however, in an ill-humour, he might, perhaps, give her a specimen of it; but Madame B-r feared nothing, and boldly ventured forth.

It required more courage than people would imagine, to go out at this moment. One of the gales of the autumnal equinox was blowing in full fury, and the whirls of the flags above the throne indicated to Madame B-r that a similar effect would be produced upon her petticoats. On my making the observation to her, she replied that she would hold them down with her hands; and, in fact, we saw her for some time manœuvre so as to preserve things in decent order. The Emperor, occupied with what was passing eighty or a hundred feet below him, continued to walk rapidly up and down the terrace, without, however, passing a certain limit on either side. Madame

B-r, who could not see him from the place where she stood, determined to go boldly round to the other side of the barrack, facing the throne. In this undertaking she exposed herself to the fury of the wind, which had increased in violence, and threatened this day of pageantry with a termination not very agreeable to the legionnaires who were to dine under an awning. The Empe ror, much vexed, spoke very loud, and in a manner sufficiently energetic to excite in the highest degree the curiosity of a woman capable of appreciating Napoleon; and who must have been desirous of seeing him at a time when he evinced that he was not exempt from the weaknesses of human nature. She forgot the storm, and, as I have already stated, turned the corner of the barrack. At this instant she was struck by a sudden gust, which got into her large bonnet, and loosened the ribbors with

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