no pearly palace rose for her abode; no sweeping ocean sang its lullaby. In the burning fountain the Beautiful gradually turned to stone. Her heart yet beat, instinct with love, but her limbs were motionless; her form grew like a marble statue, pale and cold, though heavenly fair. She strove in vain to unclose her eyes or move her lips; the spirit was imprisoned hopelessly within the breast of stone.

Thus lay the heavenly one, buried beneath the earth, and none knew whither she had gone. A few in the world, initiated votaries, missed the glory of her presence, and sought her everywhere in vain. How long she slumbered in the fountain tradition does not declare. The Emperor Charles IV. first discovered the fountain; it was excavated, and soon after a convulsion of the earth not far from Carlsbad, with a fierce struggle of conflicting elements, lifted the petrified form to the surface of the ground.

The beautiful statue was borne to the castle of a wealthy prince, and placed in a gallery where there were innumerable other images of gods and goddesses. It was said to be a creation of ancient art.

It was sad for Minna to take her place among these cold dead figures. Though to all appearance as lifeless as the rest, the living, sentient heart yet throbbed in her bosom !

he had seen this heavenly image he knew not; but it haunted his dreams, and stood before him night and day.

After many wanderings, the count visited his ancestral castle. The old castellan had preserved the buildings and grounds in excellent order, and his home was pleasant to the heart of Oswald. Not many days after his return, while walking in the gardens, he perceived the little temple overgrown with rose-bushes, which had been the favorite sporting-place of his boyhood.— He entered. Before him, in snowy marble, stood the image he had so long worshipped.

From this time he passed the greater part of every day in the temple, gazing on the divine statue, and often, at night, might be seen, torch in hand, moving stealthily and in silence towards the consecrated spot. Happy for many months was he in the contemplation. By degrees a passionate longing crept into his soul; he desired to breathe life into the marble breast. He had heard the story of Pygmalion, and, as day after day he yielded to the enchanting vision, it seemed at length not impossible to him. Every wish every thoughtevery aspiration tended to this alone. His reason, under the consuming ardor of this longing, had nearly forsaken him.

Years passed, and the young Count Oswald grew into a noble youth. In his first battle he won the golden spurs, and a name among the brave and renowned heroes of his father-land.

He might have chosen a bride among the noblest and fairest ladies of the country; but none of those he saw, however eminent in birth and loveliness, equalled the fair ideal of beauty and grace enshrined in his heart. Where

And Minna! She had seen Count Oswald; she had listened to his vows of love; her heart had beat for him, though still imprisoned in the cold and motionless stone. Till now, she had only inspired, but never felt, the passion of love. Sorrow weighed on her spirit; she repented her former flight from earth; she struggled to burst from her thraldom and return to a visible life;for in her innocent delusion she deemed the noble figure of Oswald a piece of sculpture animated, and his soul of heavenly origin like her own.

A warrior in distant lands, Count Oswald won fame by his sword. His victories and the homage rendered him awakened in his breast the dormant spirit of ambition. The war was closed triumphantly; victory was celebrated

FOR a long period of time during and subsequent to the dark ages, the notion prevailed very extensively in the public mind, and dwelt in the dreams of statesmen, that a country was rich or poor according to the quantity of coined money it possessed. In times of violence and insecurity to property, this was in some sort true of individuals, because the possessor of the precious metals could, in exchange for them, always obtain that of which he stood in need; and those metals could be hoarded and secreted with safety, when almost all other descriptions of property were exposed to the inroads of lawless barons or the exactions of oppressive governments. This practice of burying gold and silver, universal in ancient, has been done away with in modern times, only in proportion as confidence in the security of property grew under regular governments. It still exists to a considerable extent in Ireland, Germany, Italy and Russia, and under the oppressive governments of the East, is universal. The vast quantities of the precious metals that have annually been exported to the countries of Asia since the discovery of the mines of America, do not seem to have increased their quantities in those regions. The earth swallows up annually the earnings of those who suffer extreme tortures from their rulers rather than betray their concealed treasures. The practice was general in Great Britain up to the revolution of 1683, since when it has ceased with the necessity that gave rise to it. It followed, that where great quantities were concealed, much must have been occasionally found. Hence, Treasure Trove," during the middle ages, formed an important branch of the revenues of most European governments. The real wealth of all nations consists in the products of labor only; but when no security exists for the produce of industry, the owners of property come to

regard only that portion which they are able to conceal from ruthless oppressors, as their real wealth; hence the precious metals only were considered as actual riches. What was thus true of individuals, was also supposed to be true of nations; and in those dark ages it was measurably the case; as when nations were constantly engaged in war, and the industry of the inhabitants had no opportunity to develope itself, that nation would be the strongest, the government of which could command the greatest supply of gold and silver to furnish forth its armies and pay its mercenaries. Such a state of affairs would not, however, enhance the wealth of the individuals; and it is only of late years, as correct ideas of political economy have been disseminated, that money has come to be regarded in its true light, viz., as a means of facilitating the exchange of wealth rather than as wealth itself. Real wealth consists in those commodities which of themselves contribute to the necessities, comforts and luxuries of the possessor, and in proportion as they promote these ends, are they valuable. The value of money can be realized only by parting with it. It is of no use whatever in localities where it is not surrounded with natural wealth; and in proportion as the abundance of those articles which constitute wealth increases, is the value of money enhanced, because it represents a larger quantity of each exchangeable commodity. When the industry of man had caused an accumulation of exchangeable and desirable articles, the possessor of a surplus of one sought to exchange it for some product of the industry of another. The owner of 100 bushels of wheat which he could not eat, found an advantage in exchanging it for a quantity of wool for clothing or other articles of use. The interchange conferred mutual benefits, and made wealth available. This plan of barter was soon

found to be incompatible with any extended operations, and the producers of all descriptions of wealth were impressed with the necessity of referring the transactions to some common equivalent. The quantities and qualities of one article that should be given for a certain quality and quantity of another, were very difficult to determine. The precious metals were early in demand, as matters of ornament, and the qualities they possessed, of being easily transported, not subject to depreciation, capable of great sub-division and of uniform value, doubtless soon caused them to be received in exchange for articles to be disposed of. They also were the result of labor, and perhaps more uniformly than any other article, indicated the amount of labor expended in their production. A given quantity of labor by a regular process, would always produce a certain weight of gold or silver. This circumstance fitted them, therefore, to measure more nearly the value of any article as estimated by the labor expended in its production. As thus, if it required five days' labor to produce 232 grains of pure gold, or 1760 grains of silver, then the latter quantity of silver was equal to the former quantity of gold; and if the same quantity of labor expended on wheat produced five bushels, then these three articles were equivalents for each other. This exchange of commodities for the precious metals by weight is of very early origin. The book of Genesis tells us that Abraham bought of the sons of Heth a piece of land, and weighed out 400 shekels of silver in payment, which it is stated

was

"current money with the merchant." Probably at first to ascertain the quality which would make it "current with the merchant," was matter of some considerable difficulty. The weight and color of the metals were probably the chief means of arriving at this information. The idea, however, soon presented itself, of stamping a piece of metal with an authoritative mark, indicating its weight and quality. This measure must have simplified transactions to an almost inconceivable extent. The quantity required in payment had but to be determined on, and the pieces were counted out to a number sufficient to make up the required weight, without the necessity of

weighing or assaying. From these circumstances it arose that the original coins of all countries had the same denomination of the weights in general use. Thus, the talent was a weight used by the Greeks from the earliest dates: the as or pondo by the Romans ; the livre by the French, and the pound by the English and Scotch. The coins originally used in all these countries were pieces of metals of these weights. That is to say, the metals were, for uniformity, formed into coins, or pieces of the ordinary weights of the country, to inform the public at a glance, how much gold or silver the piece contained. The Grecian talent, as the English pound, meant literally and truly a talent or pound, avoirdupois weight, of silver of a certain degree of purity. It was also usual to enact that coins of the legal weight and standard should be a legal tender; that is, that no proceedings should be instituted against him who had offered payment in the recognized coin. It soon came, however, to be true, that governments entrusted with this power and duty of stamping the metals with their weight and purity, used the power for corrupt purposes. The talent, and subsequently the pound, soon contained less of silver, both in quantity and quality, than its name indicated. The name of the coin, therefore, gradually lost its signification of the quantity of metal it contained, and the public became impressed with the idea that it was the stamp only that conferred value on the money. Fraudulent governments, by adding to the alloy in a coin, and reducing the weight, materially lessened its actual value, while the denomination remained the same. Under such a process, the prices of articles, as expressed in the coin, would gradually advance, while creditors would suffer a great wrong in being paid in the number of pieces specified in their contracts, but which pieces had been materially reduced in value. This was the system usually practised by arbitrary governments before the paper system enlarged the field and refined the science of public robbery. In 1103, the livre of weight in France was also a livre of money. That is, the piece of silver was stamped as weighing a livre. Gradually, however, this livre of silver was diminished in weight, until, in 1789, a livre weight