thankful that I don't give a description of scenery here): there is, I say, a castle at Godesberg. Explorons le shatto, says I; which elegant French Hirsch translated; and this sug gestion was adopted by the whole five to the fairest of whom I offered my arm. The lovely Minna took it, and away we went; Wilder, who was standing at the gate, giving me a nod, to say all was right. I saw him presently strolling up the hill after me, with a Prussian officer, with whom he was talking. Old Löwe was with his daughter, and as the old banker was infirm, the pair walked but slowly. Monsieur Hirsch had given his arm to Madam Löwe junior. She was a fat woman; the consequence was, that Minna and I were soon considerably a-head of the rest of the party, and were ascending the hill alone. I said several things to her, such as only lovers say. Com il fay bo issy, says I, in the most insinuating way. No answer. «Es ist etwas kalt, » even I continued, admirably varying my phrase. She did not speak; she was agitated by the events of the evening, and no wonder. That fair round arm resting on mine,-that lovely creature walking by my side in the calm moonlight,-the silver Rhine flashing before us, with Drachenfels and the Seven Mountains rising clear in the distance,—the music of the dance coming up to us from the plain below,-the path winding every now and then into the darkest foliage, and at the next moment giving us such views of the moonlit river and plain below. Could any man but feel the influence of a scene so exquisitely lovely? «Minna, says I, as she wouldn't speak,- Minna, I love you! you have known it long, long ago, I know you have. Nay, do not withdraw your hand; your heart has spoken for me. Be mine then! and taking her hand, I kissed it rapturously, and should have proceeded to her cheek, no doubt, when she gave me a swinging box on the ear, started back, and incontinently fell a screaming as loudly as any woman ever did. » Minna, Minna! I heard the voice of that cursed Hirsch shouting. Minna. meine Gattin! and he rushed up the hill; VOL. IV. 53 and Minna flung herself in his arms, crying, Lorenzo, my husband, save me!» The Löwe family, Wilder, and his friend, came skurrying up the hill at the same time; and we formed what in the theatres they call a tableau. . You coward!" says Minna, her eyes flashing fire, who could see a woman insulted, and never defend her? » You coward!» roared Hirsch; coward as well as profligate! You communicated to me your love for this angel,-to me, her affianced husband; and you had the audacity to send her letters, not one of which, so help me Heaven, has been received. Yes, you will laugh at us--will you, you brutal Englishman? You will insult us-will you, you stupid islander? Psha! I spit upon you! snapped his fingers in my face, time round the waist, who thus buckler. and here Monsieur Hirsch holding Minna at the same became the little monster's They presently walked away, and left me in a pleasant condition. I was actually going to fight a duel on the morrow for the sake of this fury, and it appeared she had flung me off for cowardice. I had allowed myself to be swindled by her father, and insulted by her filthy little bridegroom, and for what? All the consolation I got from Wilder was,I told you tho, my boy, but you wouldn't lithn, you gweat thoopid, blundewing ignowamuth; and now I shall have to thee you shot and buwied to-mowow; and I dare thay you won't even remember me in your will. Captain Schläger, » continued he, presenting me to his companion, Mr. FitzBoodle; the captain acts for Heerpauk in the morning, and we were just talking matters over, when Webecca yonder quied out, and we found her in the amrth of Bwian de Bois Guilbert hare, ». ༥ Captain Schläger was a little, social, good-humoured man, with a moustachio of a straw and silver mixed, and a brilliant purple sabre-cut across a rose-coloured nose. He had the iron cross at his button-hole, and looked, as he was, a fierce little fighter. But he was too kind-hearted to allow of two boys needlessly cutting each other's throats; and much to the disappointment of Wilder, doubtless, who had been my second in the Martingale affair, and enjoyed no better sport, he said, in English, laughing, «Vell, make your mint easy, my goot young man, I tink you af got into enough sgrabes about dis tam girl; and dat you and Heerpauk haf no need to blow each other's brains off." Ath for Fitth apologithing, burst out Wilder, that'th out of the quethtion. He gave the challenge, you know; and how the dooth ith he to apologithe now? » He gave the challenge, and you took it, and you are de greatest fool of de two. I say the two young men shall not fight; and then the honest captain entered into a history of the worthy family which would have saved me at least fifty pounds had I known it sooner. It did not differ in substance from what Rohr and Wilder had both told me in the morning. The venerable Löwe was a great thief and extortioner; the daughters were employed as decoy-ducks, in the first place, for the university and the garrison, and afterwards for young strangers, such as my wise self, who visited the place. There was some very sad story about the elder Miss Löwe and a tutor from St. John's College, Cambridge, who came to Bonn on a reading tour; but I am not at liberty to set down here the particulars. And with regard to Minna, there was a still more dismal history. A fine, handsome young student, the pride of the university, had first ruined himself through the offices of the father, and then shot himself for love of the daughter; from which time the whole town had put the family into Coventry; nor had they appeared for two years in public, until upon the present occasion with me. As for Monsieur Hirsch, he did not care. He was of a rich Frankfort family serving his apprenticeship with Löwe, a cousin, and the destined husband of the younger daughter. He traded as much as he could on his own account, and would run upon any errand, and buy or sell any thing for a consideration, And so, instead of fighting Captain Heerpauk, I agreed willingly enough to go back to the hotel at Godesberg, and shake hands with that officer. The reconciliation, or, rather, the acquaintance between us, was effected over a bottle of wine, at Mr. Blinzner's hotel; and we rode comfortably back in a calash together to Bonn, where the friendship was still more closely cemented by a supper. At the close of the repast, Heerpauk made a speech on England, fatherland, and German truth and love, and kindly saluted me with a kiss, which is at any lady's service who peruses this little narrative. As for Mr. Hirsch, it must be confessed, to my shame, that the next morning a gentleman having the air of an old clothesman off duty presented me with an envelope, containing six letters of my composition addressed to Miss Minna Löwe (among them was a little poem in English, which has since called tears from the eyes of more than one lovely girl); and, furthermore, a letter from himself, in which he, BaronHirsch, of Hirschenwald (the scoundrel, like my friend Wilder, purchased his title in the Awthtwian Thervith »)-in which he, I say, Baron Hirschenwald, challenges me for insulting Miss Minna Löwe, or demanded an apology. This, I said, Mr. Hirsch might have whenever he chose to come and fetch it, pointing to a horsewhip which lay in a corner; but that he must come early, as I proposed to quit Bonn the next morning. The baron's friend, hearing this, asked whether I would like some remarkably fine cigars for my excursion, which he could give me a great bargain? He was then shown to the door by my body-servant; nor did Hirsch von Hirschenwald come for the apology. Twice every year, however, I get a letter from him, dated Frankfort, and proposing to make me a present of a splendid palace in Austria or Bohemia, or 200,000 florins, should I prefer money. I saw his lady at Frankfort only last year, in a front box at the theatre, loaded with diamonds, and at least sixteen stone in weight. Ah! Minna, Minna! thou mayest grow to be as ugly as sin, and as fat as Daniel Lambert, but I have the amber mouthpiece still, and swear that the prettiest lips in the universe have kissed it! The MS. here concludes with a rude design of a young lady smoking a pipe. CHINA. Narrative of the Expedition to China, from the Commencement of the CHINA," says a Prophecy of the Nation, is to be conquered by a woman!-and our author, like a loyal and valiant servant militant of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, by an auxiliary prophecy of his own, anticipates this conquest for his Royal Mistress. In that event, our triumphant relation to the representative of the dynasty will, not improbably, give us some influence with his illustrious connexions, the Sun and Moon, and by this means we may chance to recover from the latter, as spoil supplementary, some other of those many visionary projects which, since their disappearance from the earth, the eye of Poetry has discovered in that distant planet. The probabilities of such a result to the arms of our gracious Queen, and such an introduction to the Celestials, we are not called on to discuss. We offer the hint, but for the sake of the hope which we feel it will bring to many pining hearts; for we have, ourselves, a stray or two in that quarter, that we will freely travel all the distance to get back, when Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, shall be proclaimed at Pekin. |