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the light, Frank saw in the mirror opposite him, that the barber had made him like a Chinese pagod. He was vexed at losing his beautiful brown curls, but he breathed freely, being aware that he should escape otherwise unhurt, and that the spectre had no longer any power over him.

"The man in the red cloak walked in silence as he had come towards the door, without saying a single word, and seemed quite the reverse of his gossiping brethren; scarcely had he retired three steps, however, when he stood still, looked round with a mournful mien at his well-served customer, and touched his own black beard with his hand. He repeated this ceremony three times, and the third time when he had his hand on the door. Frank began to think that the ghost wished him to do something for him, and perhaps expected from him the same service which he had rendered him.

"The barber spectre, in spite of his mournful looks, seemed more disposed to jest than earnest, and as he had played Frank a trick rather than tormented him, the latter had lost all his fear. He therefore beckoned the spectre to take the place in the chair, which he had just left. The ghost obeyed with great alacrity, threw down his cloak, laid the bag on the table, and sat down in the position of a person who is to be shaved. Frank was careful to imitate the manner in which the ghost had proceeded, cut off the beard and hair with the scissars, and soaped his whole head, while his strange companion sat as still as a statue. The awkward youth had never before had a razor in his hand, knew not how to handle it, and shaved the patient ghost so much against the grain, that the sufferer displayed the oddest grimaces. The ignorant bungler began to be afraid; he remembered the wise precept, Do not meddle with another man's business,' but still he proceeded, as well as he could, and shaved the spectre as clean and as bald as he was himself.

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"Suddenly the ghost found its tongue; Kindly I thank thee for the great services thou hast rendered me; by thy means I have been released from long captivity, which, for three

hundred years, bound me within these walls, where my departed spirit was condemned to dwell, till a mortal man should retaliate on me, and treat me as I did others when I was alive.

"Know that, in times of yore, there dwelt a shameless infidel within this castle, who mocked both at priests and laymen. Count Hartman was nobody's friend: he acknowledged neither divine nor human laws, and violated the sacred rules of hospitality. The stranger who sought refuge under his roof, the beggar who asked alms of him, was always seized and tormented. I was his barber, flattered his passions, and lived as I chose. Many a pious pilgrim, passing the gates, was invited into the castle; a bath was prepared for him, and, when he meant to enjoy himself, I took hold of him, according to orders, shaved him quite bald, and then turned him out of the castle, with scorn and mockery. In such cases, Count Hartman used to look out at the window, and to enjoy the sport, particularly if a number of malicious boys collected round the insulted pilgrim, and laughed and mocked at him, calling out after him, Bald head, bald head!' as the virulent boys of old called after the prophet.

"Once a holy pilgrim came from abroad; like a penitent he carried a heavy cross on his shoulders, and had the mark of two nails through his hands, two in his feet, and one in his side; his hair was platted like a crown of thorns. He entered, and asked for water to wash his feet, and a crust of bread. According to my custom I took him into the bath, and, without respecting his sanctified appearance, I shaved him also quite clean. But the pious pilgrim pronounced a heavy curse on me: 'After death, reprobate! heaven and hell, and the iron gates of purgatory, shall be equally inaccessible to thy soul. It shall dwell, as a spectre, within these walls, till a wanderer unasked, shall retaliate on thee thy own evil deeds!'

"I grew sick at hearing the curse; the marrow of my bones dried up, and I decayed away gradually, till I became like a shadow; my soul at length separated from its mortal dwelling, but re

mained within this place, as the holy man had ordered. In vain I expected deliverance from the dreadful chains that bound me to the earth. The repose which the soul languishes for, when it is separated from the body, was denied to me, and made every year which 1 was obliged to pass here an age of woe. I was obliged also, as a further punishment, to continue the business which I had carried on during my lifetime. But, alas! my appearance soon made this house be deserted: it was very rarely that a pilgrim came to pass the night here, and, though I shaved every one who came, as I did you, no one would understand me, and perform for me that service which was to deliver my soul from captivity. Henceforth I shall not haunt this castle. I now go to my long desired repose. Once more I give thee my thanks, young stranger. If I had any hidden treasure at my command, they should all be thine, but I never possessed wealth. In this castle there is no treasure hidden; but listen to my advice: Tarry here till your chin and head are again covered with hair, then return to your native city, and wait on the bridge over the Weser, at the time of the autumnal equinox, for a friend, who will there meet and tell you what you must do to thrive on earth. When you enjoy affluence, remember me, and order three masses to be said for the repose of my soul on every anniversary of this day. Farewell; I now depart hence; never to return.'

"With these words the spectre vanished, having sufficiently justified, by his talkativeness, his assumption of the character of barber of the castle of Rummelsburg, and left his deliverer full of astonishment at this strange adventure. For a long while he stood motionless, doubting whether the event had really happened, or whether he had been dreaming, but his bald head soon convinced him of the fact. After wasting some time in reflection, he returned to bed and slept till mid-day.

"The waggish landlord had watched from the earliest dawn for the appearance of his guest; he was ready, anticipating the bald head, to receive him 8 ATHENEUM VOL. 14.

with apparent astonishment, but secret laughter, at his nightly adventure. But, when mid-day came, and Frank did not appear, he began to be uneasy and afraid that the ghost might have treated his new guest somewhat roughly, might perhaps have throttled him, or frightened him to death, and it by no means had been his intention to carry his revenge thus far. He went, therefore, accompanied by his servants, in the greatest anxiety to the castle, and hastening to the door of the room in which he had seen light on the preceding evening, he found a strange key in the door, but it was bolted inside, a precaution Frank had taken after the disappearance of the ghost. He knocked with great violence, and Frauk was at last roused by the noise. At first, he thought the ghost intended to pay him a second visit. But, when he heard the voice of the landlord, begging him to give some signs of life, he rose and opened the door.

"By G- and all the saints!' said the landlord, lifting up his hands with apparent horror, old Red Cloak has been here, and the tradition is no invention! How did he look? What did he do, or say?'

"Frank, who understood the cunning of the host, answered. The ghost looked like a man in a red cloak ; what he did I cannot conceal from you, and I shall always remember his words:

"Stranger,' said he, never trust the landlord-the man opposite knew very well what awaited you here. But for this, I will punish him. I shall now leave this castle; and henceforth, I will plague, torment, pinch, and harass him to the end of his life, at least, if he does not receive you in his house, and supply all your wants, till your head be again covered with hair.'

"The landlord trembled from head to foot at hearing this threat, crossed himself, and vowed by the Holy Virgin, to keep Frank in his house as long as he chose to stop, immediately conducted him home, and waited on him himself.

"Frank acquired a reputation as an exorcist, by the spectre being no longer seen in the castle. He repeatedly slept

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there, and a young man of the town, who had the courage to keep him company, did not get his head shorn. When the owner of the castle learnt that the terrible spectre no longer haunted his property, he was highly pleased and sent orders to take great care of the stranger who had freed his castle from so unwelcome a guest."

The result may be foreseen, yet it is cleverly related. The waiting on the bridge, the mode of getting information, the recovery of buried treasures belonging to his father, and his happy union with Mela, are all painted in a way as amusing as the quotations we have made

"The bridegroom went to procure the banns to be published, for in those days the wealthy and high-born were not ashamed to tell the whole world

they meant to contract the solemn engagement of marriage; and, before the expiration of a month, he led his long-loved Mela to the altar, with so much pomp and solemnity, as very far to outshine even the splendid wedding of the rich brewer.

"Mother Brigitta had the satisfaction to see her daughter united to a wealthy and deserving young man ; and to enjoy, in the evening of her life, that opulence she had so long wished for; and Mother Brigitta deserved her good fortune, for she turned out the least troublesome mother-in-law that ever existed."

With this conclusion we consign these volumes to the popularity which they merit, and which we are pretty certain awaits them.

(Lit. Gaz.)

GO DIG YE A TOMB!

Go dig ye a tomb! For the joys of the earth are
More frail than the vanity fore-doomed of yore;
Youth has nought but wild passion, and middle-age care,
And the ripeness of years is a fate to deplore :-
Hot, hot and evanishing all our first pleasures,

Which yield to the struggle of life and its gloom,
And then, to complete what the earth counts its treasures,
Come the pains of decline-oh! Go dig ye a tomb!

Go dig ye a tomb! Though the magic of loving

Gives to earth its sole gleam of a transient bliss,
Though a moment may pass, perfect happiness proving-
'Tis the moment the kiss lasts-it dies with the kiss.
What though all heaven swells in the bosom you cherish;
Though no Persian rose like that sigh's fond perfume;
That bosom so beauteous is formed but to perish,
And that sigh to a groan changes-Dig ye a tomb!

Go dig ye a tomb! But be honoured in story,
Let the trumpet and laurel illustrate your fame;
On the blood streams of battle establish your glory,
And bid dying gasps your high triumphs proclaim,—
With the hurras of victory mingling proudly-

Oh how the soul beats in its poor mortal room!
But the hour is at hand: let it rise e'er so loudly,

The applause is unheard; and ye sleep in the tomb!

Go dig ye a tomb! Yet for wealth are ye panting?
Have ye bound the dull power in your chains as a slave,

Till luxury pants to invent what is wanting

Death strikes,-can ye carry your gold to the grave?
No! youth, age, love, glory and wealth, are the dreaming
Of idiot dreams that our short span consume;

Existence is only a flash hardly gleaming
On the dark edge, eternity!-Dig ye a tomb!

SKETCHES OF SOCIETY.

(Lond. Mag.)

POPULAR PREJUDICES AND SUPERSTITIOUS IDEAS PECULIAR TO THE
ESTHONIANS, A RUSSIAN PROVINCE.

THE

THE Esthonians participate in most of the prejudices entertained by the Lettonians, but they have also long retained recollections and customs connected with paganism. They have a great veneration for particular places, especially certain fountains or springs, which they regard as sacred.

A brook, called in the Esthonian language Wöhhanda, which has its source in a grove near a high hill, was, even in the last century, the object of a worship truly idolatrous. Its pure and limpid source was surrounded by a sacred grove, it was exactly like a lucus of the Romans. The veneration of the people for this spring, and the sacred wood which surrounded it was extreme. The axe was never permitted to approach it, and no sacrilegious hand was to trouble the water of the fountain. This spring, successively increased by the junction of others in the neighbourhood, formed a considerable stream, the cool and pure water of which abounding in fish, crossed numerous districts, and was called Poha jogge, or the Sacred Stream. The country was threatened with sterility and all the inclemency of the seasons, if the water of the sacred stream was profaned, or if it was checked or disturbed in its course. On the contrary, if its source was cleaned, and its bed cleared from all obstacles and impurities, they could depend on a fine season and abundant harvests. The proprietor of an estate through which the Poha jogge flowed, having attempted to make use of the water by throwing a dam across, and building a mill, the peasants of the country rose in a body, and with dreadful cries demolished this sacrilegious building. The government was obliged to use force to prevent more serious excesses. A woman having bathed in it, her body swelled in a dreadful manner, and she did not recover her health until she had appeased the irritated nymph by offering sacrifices.

If the people wished to be informed respecting the abundance of the harvest, they placed three fishermen's baskets in the stream. If they found in the middle basket fish without scales, it was an unlucky sign; if the fish had scales, the omen was good. When it was unfavourable, they endeavoured to appease the divinity by sacrifices. They sacrificed an ox; and when fresh trials led them to imagine that the divinity was still hostile, forgetting the strongest sentiments of nature, they even sacrificed a child!

The Esthonians have long retained, and still have a great veneration for thunder. They considered it as the protector of their houses, and consecrated to it offerings and victims. These striking remains of paganism were very observable so late as the last century.

Most of these purely pagan customs. have disappeared, some of them have assumed the forms of Christianity; but the superstition remains, having only changed its emblems. In order to escape the vigilance of the police, the peasants conceal these unlawful practices under the cover of the night.

Midsummer-day is particularly honoured by the Esthonian peasants, but Midsummer-eve more so. The chapels consecrated to Saint John the Baptist are held in particular veneration. Less than a century ago, a clergyman in a certain district of Esthonia discovered one of these pagan practices in the garb of Christianity. The peasants of this district resorted to a place where there were large stones placed upright and others lying down. The tradition ran that it was a whole nuptial procession which had been thus petrified; that the bride and bridegroom and their relations were changed into large stones, but the company into small ones. They danced and made invocations round the large stones for rain, and round the little ones for dry weather.

There was another chapel dedica

ted to St. John, round which barren women were to run three times, perfectly naked, uttering certain words in order to become fruitful. To cure the peasants of this ridiculous superstition, the lord of the district had this chapel destroyed by his own people, one of whom happening to fall ill suddenly, and dying a few days after the transaction, the peasantry, from that time to the present, have preserved a sacred regard for the spot on which the chapel stood.

Some Esthonians still believe in the existence of malevolent beings, with human countenances and fishes' teeth, whom they call in German, Neck. These beings pursue particularly young children whom they find on the banks of the rivers, and devour them. Many Esthonians hold, that before the deluge beasts could talk; that the devil created wolves, and in general every thing that is hurtful.

The Esthonians have even now a great variety of superstitious notions and practices relative to Marriage: for instance-Most of them settle and conclude marriages at the time of the new moon, because they believe that then all sorts of blessings will come upon the young couple; among others, that their beauty and health will be preserved the longer. A young peasant going to ride to the house of her whom he intends to marry, takes care not to mount a mare: the consequence of this would be, that all his children would be daughters. --- As soon as a young woman is affianced, a red thread is tied round her body. When the marriage is completed, she must swell herself so as to break this thread. This is a sure preventive against evil in cases of maternity. For the same reason, as soon as the bridegroom is seep coming on

horseback, they are eager to loosen the
girth of his horse.--- In some places
the young couple, immediately after the
ceremony, on leaving the church, begin
to run as fast as they can. This is to
signify the rapid progress of their do-
mestic labours. --- When the bride is
led to church, if she happens to fall, it
is a sign that her first three or four
children will die young. - - - They care-
fully avoid letting the bride go through
a door by which a coffin has lately pas-
sed. --- Immediately after the marriage,
the strongest of the relations present at
the ceremony, lifts up the young couple
as high as he can. This is a means to
increase the happiness that awaits
them. ---At the moment that they are
to take possession of the house destin-
ed for them, somebody must carefully
watch near the hearth, that no mali-
cious person may come, and with the
fire from the hearth practise some sor-
cery, or call down some malediction on
the young couple. --- The bride, as
soon as she enters the house, is led
through all the rooms and closets, the
stables, the baths, the kitchen, the gar-
den; and she must every where throw
some piece of money or ribands, even
into the fire and the wells. --- The
first time she sits down, a male infant
is placed on her knee, that she may
have many boys. --- They watch with
the greatest attention to see which of
the two first falls asleep on the wedding
night, in order to know which will die
first. If it rains on the wedding
day, it is a sign that the bride will shed
many tears during the course of her
union. --- When the bride arrives at
the house of her husband, part of the
surrounding wall is quickly thrown
down, that she may enter without diffi-
culty. It is a happy omen for her fu-
ture lyings in.

--

ON AN IVY LEAF,
Brought from the Tomb of Virgil.

And was thy home, pale wither'd thing, Beneath the rich blue southern sky? Wert thou a nurseling of the Spring, The winds and suns of glorious Italy?

Those suns in golden light, e'en now,
Look o'er the Poet's lovely grave;

Those winds are breathing soft, but Thou Answering their whisper, there no more shalt wave!

The flowers o'er Posilippo's brow

May cluster in their purple bloom,
But on the mantling ivy bough
Thy breezy place is void, by Virgil's tomb.

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