questions now thronged upon my mind; yet I could not, for the world, have asked Godfrey to answer them. Day and night the cross occupied my thoughts. Much that the old man had said and done, which was before incomprehensible, now became perfectly clear to me.

I had once said to him, "Godfrey, why are you always so untidily dressed ?"

"My business is the cause of that," answered he;" but," he added with a sigh," who should I dress myself for?"

Another day, when he was alone in the smithy, I inquired, "Have you no children, Godfrey ?"

"Oh! you foolish boy," said he, with his melancholy smile, "I have never been married."

"Why not?" asked I.

He was silent awhile, and sighed deeply; then he observed, "Some kind soul will come and close old Godfrey's eyes; and even if no one else is near, my good George will perform that office for me. Do you see? He is my child."

But after that I never asked him such silly questions again; for I noticed that they made him very sad, and that he did not speak another word the whole day. Now everything appeared to me to have some connection with the cross under the elder-tree, and yet I was obliged to wait patiently. One day I entered the smithy, grammar in hand, to learn my lesson; and sitting down on the old bench, I read the rule through while the smiths were flattening a piece of iron for the hoop of cart-wheel. As soon as the iron was again in the furnace, George said, "What is the reason, uncle, that Jeremiah Wagner dislikes you so much?"

After a few moments' thoughtful silence, Godfrey replied, "That is an old and long story, my boy; and in it lies the cause of my miserable, solitary life. I will relate it to you, however, otherwise you might probably hear it misrepresented by others: for there are plenty of people who know the story of my younger days, but who may not remember all the circumstances correctly."

I listened eagerly: assuredly, thought I, all my problems will now be solved. After a deeply-drawn sigh, he commenced :

"I was seventeen years of age when my father said to me one day, Godfrey, go to Bingen, to the old tanner, Pennerich, who is a friend of mine, and ask him to be so kind as to sell you a very good large brown hide, to make you an apron; for, in the first place,

you are now very tall, and in the second, you will be out of your time on St. John's day, and will therefore be a journeyman.' I can assure you, George, the finest music could not have sounded more delightful to me than these words. I danced and skipped the whole way to Bingen, although it was a good three hours' journey. You do not know what it means to change from an apprentice into a journeyman, for these Frenchmen have overturned all rule and order with their patents. Every apprentice can now obtain a patent, and set up for a master. Where do you find them travelling now-a-days? They just wander round about the neighbourhood, and that is all. Formerly you could only become a master when you had produced a masterpiece; and then only in the appointed manner, and at a suitable age."

"Uncle, the iron is hot!" said George. And again the hammer went, bang, bang! and the sparks flew in every direction.

When the iron was again in the furnace, George said, "Uncle, you have described those customs to me many a time, and I know all about them. Now tell me of your journey to Bingen, and the rest. I know nothing of that."

"As you like, George, as you like. But I think one cannot be too well acquainted with the customs of those good times. However, now for my story:-It was just the cherry season when I went to Bingen. I proceeded, as I had been directed, to Pennerich's, bought the hide, rolled it up under my left arm, and then sauntered into the market, as it was Wednesday. There sat the cherry-sellers, the girls from the village of Gau-pretty damsels too, George, I warrant you. I was a fine young fellow then, and a favourite with the girls; for I was always merry and good-tempered. The cherry-sellers tittered when I looked at them; but my attention was soon fixed on one who was more beautiful than any one I ever saw; a perfect angel, George, and not at all bold, like the others, who looked into your eyes as if they wished to see through them into your very heart. She was about sixteen years of age. When I looked at her, she cast down her large blue eyes. I thought to myself, I will buy a pound of cherries from her, and then go and enjoy them by the side of the Rhine.' So I went to her and said, Give me a pound of cherries, pretty one.' By my faith, George, her face quickly turned redder than her cherries! She weighed me the pound, however, and I paid the three kreutzers, saying, at the same time, 'These cherries will taste twice as well as any others.'

"She looked slyly at me, and laughing merrily, inquired,' Why so?'

6

"Because they are sold by the prettiest girl I have ever seen,' returned I, and whom I shall never forget.'

"You should have seen how she blushed as she said, half angrily, 'Go away, you mocking fellow; go and make fun of the girls in your own village.'

"May the cherries poison me if I am making fun of you!' exclaimed I.

"She looked more favourably on me, but added instantly, 'Pray, go away; the people are looking at us.'

"However, she was not angry. I went up the Salz-street, bought a piece of bread, and then sat down in the shade, and ate my lunch; but the pretty face of the fruitseller was constantly before my eyes, and every cherry I took reminded me of her rosy cheeks. At length I rose and walked back, hoping to obtain another look from her; but when I came to the spot, she had disappeared. I ran up and down the market,—she was not there; I looked into every shop in the town,-she was not there; and I knew not her name, knew not who she was, nor where she came from; and when, on returning a second time to the market, I inquired of the people who were then there, they laughed at me so pitilessly that I was glad to hold my tongue and go away as quickly as possible. They are very sarcastic people, those villagers of Gau!

"That summer, I went many a time to Bingen, on purpose to see her; for the pretty fruiteress had charmed me so completely that I could not forget her. At length, my father said one day, Listen, Godfrey, what do you mean by running off to Bingen constantly in this manner? Have the people in the town turned your head? or do you intend to play the fool yourself in future? Well, once for all, I tell you to put a stop to this nonsense. There!'

"My father was a desperately strict man; one who well knew how to cool the iron when it was red hot. Few would have dared to offer any opposition when he had once expressed his opinion. I at least had no inclination to resist him, and remained as still as a mouse. Had I confessed the real cause of my journeys, he would have tormented me so unmercifully that I should have sunk to the ground from pure vexation. So I was forced to bury my secret in my heart, which I often thought would break, for I could not forget the pretty village girl. I avoided the company of the young people; and in my solitary walks, my thoughts always turned to her

whom I loved so fondly. The young ones laughed at me, and said, ' He is going to be a friar in the convent at Bacharach; there's plenty of room for him there.' No one, however, provoked me more than Jeremiah Wagner (we called him Mijes), who bore me a grudge because Gretchen Grassmann liked me, and because all his attentions in that quarter were of no avail. His face was fearfully marked by smallpox, and the girls could not endure him, although he was the richest young fellow in the village. . . . George-the iron!" Again the hammer was in operation, and George wielded it like a giant.

After a pause Godfrey continued: "Opposite to us lived old Lips, a wretched miser. He had neither wife nor child; his bags of money were all he cared for, and he watched over them as jealously as a hen over her eggs. He loved nobody, and nobody loved him. He was a miserable creature; and when he died, not a tear was shed for him, not even by his cat, whom he liked better than any other living thing, because she cost him nothing. He owned the best and most beautiful vines in the valley, and the finest fields and meadows; and had, moreover, a very merry heir-his brother, who lived in Freiweinheim, and bore a good name. As I told you, he died. Just at that time I received my indentures, and took up my freedom. Old Lips' brother arrived at the village with his family the day before the miser was to be buried. Early on the morning of the funeral I was standing at the window, when the door of Lips' house was opened, and-behold!-out steps my pretty cherry-seller, lovely and blooming like a rose, and holding in her hand a water-bucket. My heart beat violently. She saw me, and blushed, as she had done before, but smiled kindly-and that gave me courage. She looked round for a well, for, being a stranger, she could not possibly know that the nearest well was in our yard. I flew down stairs like lightning, took the bucket out of her hand and filled it for her.

"Then you are a niece of old Lips?' said I to my fair companion.

"She nodded with a smile, and yet with an air of embarrassment, and whispered 'Yes.' "What is your name?' "Lizzie,' replied she.

"Mine is Godfrey,' said I; and added in a whisper, many a hundred times have I thought of you since first you stole my heart, you little fairy.'

"She laughed, and ran away so quickly that she spilt half the water out of the bucket.

66 6 'That's fault!' exclaimed she, turnyour ing back; but there was no sign of anger in the pretty face, only a mischievous, roguish look.

"The funeral took place at one o'clock. As old Lips had died a bachelor, we young fellows carried the corpse, and Lizzie distributed the rosemary branches. She gave me the largest and most beautiful. I perceived how angry this made Mijes, who was standing close by; for he had never liked me, and this favour increased his aversion.

"In those times, George, things were dif ferent from what they are at present. When a person died, there was a handsome funeral repast given; there were cakes and wine in abundance; or if they were poor people, they had beer instead of wine. The relatives and neighbours were all invited to the feast. Lips' brother found many a good bottle of wine in the cellar, and he said that what the old man had not drunk himself, he would now drink to his memory. He was no miser like his late brother. At such parties people remained until seven or eight o'clock in the evening; and talked first of this, and then of that— of the dead and the living, of peace and of war; and there was no signs of mourning except round the hat, the party being often merry enough. Nobody felt much sorrow for old Lips, for he had always lived at enmity with his brother and with the whole neighbourhood; so the guests stayed until long after sunset: Lizzie waited upon them. Unfortunately I sat with my back to the door, and could not venture to look round. Now and then I saw her; and whenever she came near me, she pushed the cakes towards me as if by accident. You may readily imagine nobody thought of shedding tears. A man might safely have offered a dollar for every tear he saw. As for Lizzie, it would have been a pity for her to injure her beautiful eyes by weeping for the old miser.

"My thoughts were all the time occupied with endeavouring to devise an opportunity of speaking to her. When it was dark I sauntered into the garden behind the house. On my way thither I went into the kitchen to light my pipe. She saw me, and followed me into the garden almost before I had sat down.

"You eat nothing, Godfrey," said she. 'Suppose now you had some cherries?'

"Ah! yes, Lizzie; cherries given me by yourself.'

"Come with me to Weinheim, and you shall have some.'

"Yes, if I could. Oh! how often I have looked for you at Bingen on Wednesdays!'

66 6

Nonsense,' said she, 'you are making fun of me.'

"Upon my word, I am not,' returned I. "I believe it,' said she, half aloud; but do not scream so, or that man who is marked with the smallpox (she meant Mijes) will hear you. He came out here also.'

"Oh, how frightened I was,' continued I, 'when I saw you to-day so unexpectedly!' "Am I so ugly then,' interrupted she,' that I frighten people?'

"Oh! no, Lizzie-no, no,' answered I, 'it was a joyous fright. How could I have expected to see you here? You are a hundred times prettier than you were when you sold me the cherries. But where were you all the summer and autumn? You were never at the market again.'

"I was with my aunt at Flohnheim,' was her reply.

"Perhaps you never thought of me again?' "Oh! who thinks about boys?' returned she, laughing mischievously. 'What makes you dream of such a thing?'

“But yet I always thought of you; and was so sorry when I could not find you in Bingen again, that I did not care for anything else in the world.'

"How could anybody be so silly?'

"Ah, you thoughtless girl!' exclaimed I, sadly; you do not know what it is to love truly.'

"Who told you that?' whispered she, laughing.

"Do you love me then, Lizzie?' asked I, impetuously.

"She was silent, but allowed me to take her hand.

"Oh! tell me, Lizzie!' I implored.

"People do not tell those things,' said she, slyly; and attempted to run away. I detained her.

"Lizzie,' said I, 'is there a smith in Weinheim ?'

"To be sure.'

"Does he want a journeyman?' "I don't know. Why do you ask?' "I will go there, that I may see you every day, even if I work for nothing.'

"You may save yourself the trouble, for my father is coming to live here, and then we shall be neighbours, and see each other a hundred times a day.'

"Is it possible!' exclaimed I; 'then no power on carth shall send me from this place. Shall you be glad to come and live here, Lizzie ?'

softest of whispers; and in a moment she had vanished like a dart, and was in the house again.

"Now I knew that she loved me; and joy such as I had never before experienced, filled my heart. I did not go up stairs again; I remained in the garden until the guests took their leave, and then went away also. At the door she whispered to me

"Good night, Godfrey; I am going home with my mother to-morrow morning at three o'clock. Do you hear?'

"Most certainly I did hear. I could not close my eyes the whole night. I had business in Bacharach, and I told my father I should go there very early, in order to be home again in good time. He assented, and before day dawned I was up, dressed, and standing at my window, to observe when Lizzie issued forth.

"At length, as the first ray of light appeared in the heavens, and the cock began to crow, the door opened, and out came Lizzie with her mother, and the red morning beams fell full upon her cheeks as she looked up to my window. I nodded to her, but she pretended not to see me, and went forward with her mother. They were not far from the village, however, before I overtook them. I wished them good morning; they returned the grecting; we were soon chatting socially together. The mother talked first of one thing, then of another; and I paid great attention to her, for I thought of the old saying:

"Wer sich gut bei der Mutter steht,
Dem die Tochter nicht entgeht.'
"He who gains the mother's favour,

Shall not fail to win the daughter.'

And, in truth, I saw very well that I rose higher and higher in the old lady's estimation at every step. I could say but very little to Lizzie, but she was glad to hear me talking so much to her mother. I did not neglect to speak of my good business and of my own abilities; nor to inform her that my father would soon give up the smithy entirely to me; that I should be the owner of some fine vineyards; and that, at some future time, I should be well able to support a wife. Lizzie smiled at this, but kept her own counsel. At length we reached the Rhine, and our roads parted, mine led to the right, their's to the left. The old lady took leave of me kindly, and said she hoped we should be good friends. Lizzie gave me her hand with a sweet smile, and they went away. I stood rooted to the spot. It seemed as though a portion of my heart went with them. I remained standing in the

same place as long as I could see them. The darling girl turned round several times to look at me, until a projecting hill prevented our seeing each other, and then I went away on my own road, sadly and silently. But, George, we are forgetting the iron: it is quite white. We must attend to it."

There was a long interruption, for the piece of iron was to be formed into a hoop. When it was again in the forge, Godfrey continued:

"You may imagine, George, I was now merry enough. I joined the young folks again, and sang with them as before, and the girls decided that Godfrey must have given up the idea of turning monk.' Mijes was quite at a loss to account for all this. He often looked at me inquisitively, but could discover nothing. In order to deceive him completely, I often laughed and chatted with Gretchen Grassmann, who is now Peter Jacob's wife. Besides that, since I had become a journeyman, he had not dared to banter me as he did before; and, when he attempted it once afterwards, I showed him a pair of fists which he felt no inclination to feel the weight of, and his speech remained unuttered.

You

"Things remained in this state until Lizzie's parents came to the village, and took up their abode in old Lips' house. They and their affairs became the subject of conversation in all the spinning-rooms. Everybody knew exactly what they owned, how much corn, how much spelt, and how much ready-money, and what was the value of their house. know, George, how people are drawn through the flax-comb in those spinning-rooms, so that they barely escape with a single good thread. Well, it was said, that I had assisted at the unpacking most diligently, and thereby obtained the good opinion of the parents, and that Lizzie looked upon me with a very favourable eye; that whenever Lizzie went to draw water from the well in our yard, I always left my hammer and forge, no matter at what time, and ran out to take the bucket from her; there would be a wedding before long, that was certain. They were not altogether wrong, for I certainly did whatever I could for our new neighbours, and never allowed Lizzie to draw the water when I could prevent her. As Lizzie's mother and mine were on friendly terms, they used one of our rooms as their spinning-room, into which, however, no one was admitted except the two families. You may be sure that from that time I was never away from home. I always sat by Lizzie's side, and while the old folks were talking to one another, we whispered together, and re

joiced in the prospect of the approaching church-ale, when she was to be my partner at the dance. I soon found that I was not the only person who had discovered how beautiful Lizzie was. Many of my old companions became particularly attentive to her, none more so than the rich Mijes. 'Ha!' said he once, when I was not present, that simple fellow thinks that he will win the beautiful Lizzie; but he will have to give up that notion. She is for me; for I am the only one in the village as rich as she is, and she certainly will not have a dirty, beggarly smith.' This an

noyed me beyond description, George. I was a hot-headed fellow in my youth, and could not endure an insult of that kind. I longed to charge him boldly with it; he had said it, there was no doubt about it, for I had been told so by Gretchen Grassman, who, since I had been so much in Lizzie's company, had often looked at me so mournfully, that I felt quite sorry for her. I could not betray her. Whenever I attempted to meet Mijes, he turned away. 'Ha!' thought I, 'run away now if you choose, we shall meet at the church-ale.'' (To be continued.)

AND a glorious and noble race they are! What higher spectacle for the moralist and historian than that of an entire people animated by the same spirit; preferring death to the abnegation of their principles; with a handful of men repelling the tyranny of the most powerful monarchy of Europe; conquering their liberty by half a century of battles; covering the sea with their shipping; subduing lands a hundred times larger than their mother-country; becoming the centre of universal commerce; and cultivating, at the same time, art, science, literature, in all their branches, with a success unexampled? Wherever we meet them they are great. Their high-admirals-Van Heemskirk, Van Galen, Wassenaar, Van Tromp, and, above all, De Ruyter, the true model of a great man and citizen-were the terror of the seas, respected even by England. Their generals-William the Taciturn, the Princes of Orange, Maurice and Frederick Henry, and our William the Third-were admired by all Europe. Their statesmen-Barneveldt, Grotius, Cats, De Witts, Bevering, Pau-despite the smallness of their territory, against all laws of society and of nature, by pure intellectual powers and the preponderance of their genius, were enabled to maintain the balance of power,

and dictate peace, in favour of the weak against the strong, to the proudest monarchs of Europe. Their magistracy, patriotic and pure; their merchants, honest and frugal; their population, industrious and free. Never was there exhibited a more striking evidence of what energetic will, seconded by high aims and true social as well as domestic morality, can effect against every seeming disadvantage, than what Holland presented during the whole of the seventeenth century. Towns sprung up from morasses, and villages grew into towns. Amsterdam quadrupled in population in the period of a century. The cause was evident-truth and industry. Her princes were citizens, and the word of her merchants went farther than the oaths of princes. But her commercial glory was not confined to accumulation; it spread out in blessings of every kind; in no instance, perhaps, more strikingly than in the marvellous progress of her arts and lite

rature.

With the history of the first who is not acquainted? They speak a language intelligible to every people. Not so with the second. Unfortunately, it is to most a sealed fountain-a walled-up garden. The contempt which even Germans have thrown on a lan