How oft did she stand on the desolate shore, more ! Never more! never more!-she reclines by the wave,― Calm and reckless, she sleeps in her cold narrow grave! Fallen! fallen !—as the leaf, that falls blighted and sear, When the gale shakes the grove, at the close of the year! To love and be loved,-but to cherish in vain, "I sought not thy precincts, Enchanter! to know That my youth has been sullied with passion and woe! Call forth the slow-coming events, from the night Where, pregnant, they slumber,-and drag them to light!— Tear away yon dark veil,—and, inflexibly true, "More yet wouldst thou learn?—haughty stranger, forbear! Nor rend from my bosom a tale of despair! -When the meed of thy daring ambition seems nigh, And the wreath that has lured thee most bright to thine eye, And the voice of the tempter most sweet to thine ear, Then, the bolt that shall quell thee, for ever, is near ! Then the fire and the vigour of youth shall depart, The cold langour of death shall creep over thy heart, And the son of a long and illustrious line Shall be borne to the vault where his fathers re cline ; While the vassal-and child of the vassal-shall go To gaze on their lord, like a holiday show!" "Be my doom then fulfilled!-come it early or late, I yield not to mortal,-I bend not to fate! -And ye who, afar, in your glory recline, Shine forth!-ye bright rulers of destiny, shine! Who have shadowed my spring-tide with sorrow, and still, Shall darken my manhood,-work out your dread will! Pour your sinister beams on my closing career! The doom ye decree—though untimely and near— I quail not to learn-and shall meet without fear!" REICHTER AND HIS STAGHOUNDS A TALE. "There was, an' please your honour, a certain king of Bohemia-Leave out the date, entirely, Trim, quoth my uncle Toby." -a very ERNEST, or Albert, I forget which,- -a king of Bohemia, was a prodigious lover of hunting,Nimrod, in his way. From Prague, the seat of his Court, he used to make great excursions into all parts of the kingdom; diving into those thick, dark woods that lie scattered over the face of the country, like the grim and exaggerated cobwebs patching the ceiling of a disused apartment, in an antiquated mansion. One day, when he had returned from the chace, and had sat down to dinner with his nobles, in even a better eating cue than usual,--and he had a royal appetite in ordinary, and had commenced the attack upon a boar which he had killed with his own hand, and which had been, that day, roasted,-whole, of course, -his chief huntsman, suddenly, entered the dining hall "May it please your majesty, a man craves admission to your majesty, who—” "Were he an angel, he must wait the completion of our meal. I thought thou hadst known that, Hans Weller." The huntsman was a favourite, and, after a low inclination of the head, ventured a reply; "He refuses, please your majesty, to wait an instant longer than whilst I can report your answer." "Ranch und blitz!" exclaimed the monarch, deserting the boar, and springing on his feet, in amazement,-"refuses to wait!-what mould of man may he be that sends us such a message?" "A little man, your majesty,-scarce as high as his dogs." "Dogs!-what dogs ?" "I was about to tell your majesty: he has two dogs, staghounds. Gütiger Gott! such hounds!" "How !-equal to my Molch ?" "Molch is a two months' pup to them! Germany cannot furnish two such other!" “Away with thee! bring the schelm hither, with his dogs!" And the huntsman went. Presently he returned, bringing with him a man, scarce four feet high, and whose proportions corresponded with his height. The man was perfectly black, so black, that his eyes had no whites, and his teeth were like polished jet. His clothing was a 、 close dress of dark red, buttoned at the neck, and extending midway down his legs. Round his shoulders was slung a loose cloak of blue. His head was uncovered, save by the thick hair which twenty torturing irons appeared to have united in crisping and burning. In his hand he held a leash, that confined two mighty staghounds, whose fierce eager eyes, broad chests, and muscular haunches, bespoke their spirit and their power. The owner of these animals entered the chamber as unconcernedly as if entering an assembly of Westphalian swineherds. Making an indifferent sort of inclination to the king, he stood still, surveying the nobles with a contemptuous curiosity, that bespoke marvellous self-possession. Some frowned, and some muttered. The prime minister, who had been deservedly raised to his station for being seven feet high, and an excellent hand at spearing a boar, -the prime minister frowned at the black man!— One would think the frown of so big a man ought to have extinguished a creature of four feet.—The prime minister might as well have frowned on a stone. "So!" said the king; “is it thou that canst not wait our leisure ?" "Yea!" said the Black.-His voice was like the roar of a furnace. "Who, and what art thou ?” "Who am I? I have no name, though I am called by many names. Thou mayst call me Reichter |