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"Vinovat barin! vinovat! I am to blame, sir! I am to blame! I must have dozed the least in the world."

"Wait till we get to Rézan, I'll wake you," I replied.

It seems that Vanya had gone to sleep, the horses had walked to the river to drink, and the banks being about two or three feet high, they had slipped in, dragging the kibitka after them; fortunately it did not fall sideways, or we should have been upset. We were obliged to go on in the water until we found a place where we could get out, and then, to complete my vexation, Vanya had lost his way, and had no idea in what direction to go. For nearly an hour we wandered about before we found any one of whom to inquire, but at length a peasant put us into the track, and about nine o'clock the spires of Rézan were visible. I was in a mighty ill-humour, and to all Vanya's amiabilities only replied,

"Wait till we get to Rézan, and you shall have the stick."

At last we entered the gates, and while my passport was being examined, a carriage-and-four drove up, the postilion shouting, "Padée, beregissa!" (be off! get out of the way !) in the peculiarly authoritative tone those young varlets assume. I was about to reply in the same style, when looking up, I saw in the carriage my good Colonel K———, whom I had come to visit. The recognition was mutual, and in a moment we were on the ground embracing each other. My wrath against Vanya was forgotten; one of the colonel's servants was despatched with him to the house, with orders to give him and his horses their skinsful of the best. I placed myself by the side of my friend, the black steeds thundered through the streets of the city to his gate, where a bevy of kind faces appeared to welcome me, and my ride from Moscow to Rézan was ended.

DMITRI ANDREEF.

HAYDER'S EMERALD CUP:

A TALE OF MODERN ENCHANTMENT.

INTRODUCTION.

Ar a meeting of the Royal Medico-Botanical Society in February last (Earl Stanhope in the chair), great interest was excited by an ingenious and amusing paper communicated by W. Ley, Esq. M.R.S. on the virtues and properties of canabis Indica, or Indian hemp; which is frequently spoken of in Mr. Lane's translation of the Arabian Nights Entertainments, under the name of BENJ, and is known also in the east by the more romantic title of

HAYDER'S EMERALD CUP.

The extraordinary effects produced by this drug, appear little short of

magical; far exceeding in splendour and intensity the visions of the opium-eater, or the soothing dreams of mesmeric sleep. Some strange and well-authenticated anecdotes scattered through the paper, forcibly recalled to my mind a circumstance which happened to me some years ago. The more I pondered on that strange event, the more was I convinced that at the time alluded to I must have been under the influence of the anodyne, the effects of which I had just heard so vividly described. My reasons for entertaining this belief I shall give at the conclusion of the following narration.

CHAP. I.

THE STRANGER.

In the summer of 18- I was ordered by my physician to try the air of Cornwall, and by his direction fixed on the neighbourhood of Penzance for my sojourn. All who have visited this part of the Cornish coast, are aware that St. Michael's Mount, the seat of the St. Aubyns, is the lion of the neighbourhood; and the pencil of Stanfield has rendered this romantic feature in the landscape familiar to the minds of many who have not ventured very far west of Temple-bar. Like its namesake in Normandy its mount is covered with embattled walls; and a lofty square tower, whose roof supports the hard stone seat of its patron saint, marks the site of the private chapel attached to the mansion.

To see the mount at any time is never to forget it; but to see it as it first met my gaze on a clear calm night in summer, the red light from its many windows reflected in long unbroken lines in the smooth water beneath; the moon throwing her mellow beams about it, silence hallowing all around it, is to see it indeed in the perfection of poetic beauty. I was spell-bound; for the scene came suddenly upon me. The guard's horn, as we entered Marazion, woke me from a doze into which I had sunk on leaving Helston. My mind was made up in a moment to proceed no further that night. Alighting, therefore, at the little inn at which the coach halted, I bespoke a bed, and strolled out to take a nearer view of the giant rock and fortress. The tide was up, and the little narrow way which connects the mount with the mainland was covered with water.

"Do you wish to cross, sir?" said an old boatmen, observing me pause on the water's edge.

"No, my friend," said I; "but you may row me round the mount if you will."

I jumped on board his skiff, and we pushed from shore. As we neared the eastern side of the rock, I bade him pause, and it was then enchantment crowned her work, for scarcely had he taken in his oars, when (as if by a preconcerted signal) the deep tones of the chapel organ broke the silence of the night. The spell was indeed complete. Music on the water has ever been a theme for poets; but music on an eve like this, with such a scene in view, and from the instrument that Milton loved-language cannot describe my feelings at the moment. The voluntary soon concluded, and my gondolier, thinking it a fit time to start, pulled his boat ashore before I had well recovered from the reverie into which music and moonlight had cast me.

The bright beams of a summer sun woke me early on the morrow; but the remembrance of the past evening haunted me like a dream thrice dreamt. My first ramble was to the mount; I followed a steep winding path to the portal, where a tidy old housekeeper answered my summons, under whose guidance I proceeded to view the interior of the mansion. I hurried her rapidly through dining and drawing-rooms, till we came to the chapel, here stood the organ. I inquired who was playing on the instrument on the evening on which I heard it.

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"A foreign gentleman," said the housekeeper; a strange man, nobody knows any thing about him. The organ was open, and I sat down to it myself, but before I had played a dozen bars, the gate-bell announced another visiter.

"It is the foreign gentleman," said my guide, "he always comes to play a bit about this time."

She hurried from the chapel as she spoke, and soon returned followed by the stranger she had spoken of. His dress and bearing were those of an Englishman of rank, but his countenance plainly told that he was of foreign descent.

He

"Do not let me disturb you," said he, with a pronunciation so purely English, that I began to fancy he must be my fellow-countryman in spite of his face; and thus invited, I performed a short prelude, and requested in return that he would take his seat at the instrument. complied, and I was astonished at his skill. His pedal playing was nothing short of wonderful. A foreigner he evidently was: but for the country that classed him among the number of her sons, I was strangely puzzled. His theme finished, he made a few remarks on organ-playing, wished me a good morning, and left the chapel. I was in no humour again to lay my hands on the keys; conceit was fairly taken out of me. I strolled through the rooms again, out at the portal, and descended, musing on many things, the steep pathway to the water.

"This

The sun was shining full in my face, and I proceeded, with half-closed eyes, for a step or two. "Take care," said a voice from behind me: is a dangerous road for blind men to walk, a few more steps may take you farther than you intend going." I turned about to discover and thank my kind monitor, and beheld, seated on a high projecting crag, pencil in hand and palette on thumb; my new acquaintance the stranger organist. He closed his sketch-book as I was advancing towards him, and descending to meet me, proposed a walk.

We sauntered through the narrow streets of Marazion in the direction of Helston, and I could perceive by the manner in which the idlers in the road, and the loungers at cottage-doors, eyed my companion, that he was regarded with no common degree of interest by them; for, on passing the village forge, where a noisy knot of them were settling the affairs of the nation in a most satisfactory manner; our appearance so disturbed the debate, that even up to this time no good has come of it that I know of. A donkey browsing by the roadside, and a little ragged urchin with a hoop were, in good truth, the only creatures that regarded our appearance with indifference.

On coming to the hill where I was awakened by the coach-horn, I stopped: "This," said I to my companion, "is the point from which I first beheld the mount, and such a glorious night from my childhood to the present hour I never remember to have seen, as that on which I first

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descended this hill. On that night too, I first heard the chapel organ from the water. You were playing." "True, I remember, it was a fine night," said the stranger; "made doubly striking to you, looking for the first time on the scene before us through the more romantic medium of mist and moonlight, I had the like idea-when a poor youth in search of wisdom, I stood alone at midnight, gazing for the first time on the splendid ruins of Palmyra. The moon was high in heaven, and stars in countless numbers thronged around her-not a breath of air was stirring. Could an aspentree have sprung up in the waste, its trembling leaves had rested on a night of such deep quiet. I almost feared to breathe while, from beneath the shadow of a palm, I looked as on a dream on all around me. Long lines of ruined columns met my view, and here and there a solitary tree cast its broad shadow o'er a spot strewn with fallen shafts and broken capitals. I was like one enchanted. Morn broke in the east and found me still gazing on these memorials of past greatness, and then it was that I met with Here he broke off abruptly. "You have travelled much," said I.

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"I have been a wanderer from my youth," he replied.

"Your description of the city of the desert will go far to make me vow a voyage to the East,"

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I must return thither myself, shortly," answered the stranger, "and shall be delighted to guide your steps, o'er ground which I am compelled to wander on again."

As he concluded his invitation, we entered the little town again. Since our departure a crowd had collected in the market-place, but not to turn their curious eyes on us. No! our envied importance was eclipsed by something extraordinary; for the urchin had left his hoop, and poised on the shoulders of " Robin Ostler" was shouting and waving his ragged cap, like a voter at an election dinner. We crossed to the market-place, and beheld, through a momentary opening in the crowd, the unprecedented attraction. A common street-juggler in his shirt-sleeves and a spangle vest was going through the usual new tricks with cups, balls, knives, and a few dirty cards, while his accomplished fellow-partner in dusty highlows, flesh-coloured tights, and a soldier's jacket was gracefully enlarging his friend's sphere of action, by entreating the ladies and gentlemen to stand (as he expressed it) a little backer.

"I wonder said the stranger," (as contented with our discovery we continued our walk), "I wonder what these good simple souls would say, could they see some of our modern magi of the east? It would be dangerous work, I fear, for conjurer as well as spectator. Drowning or burning would surely be the end of him, who should show such delusions in Cornwall as I have witnessed in the east. Are you curious on such subjects; would you like to see an Egyptian ocular deception?" "If a pleasant one, yes," said I. "If not, no."

"I promise you it shall be more than pleasant," he replied. "Shall you be at home this evening? If so, I will do myself the pleasure of calling on you."

I assured him that his visit would be expected with pleasure, and we parted.

CHAP. II.

THE VISIT.

I WAS sitting at my seraphine, trying to remember the subject of the stranger's voluntary on the organ, and watching the sun as he made his way to the west, when my landlady announced a visiter. The stranger entered at the same moment, followed by a page bearing a box, about the size of a modern writing-desk, but beautifully ornamented with crimson and gold.

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"Have you determined on going a tour in the east?" began my guest, as the page left the room; permit me," he continued, "to close the lower shutters of that large window; we must not have too much light in these matters.” And then, without waiting for a reply, he adjusted them as he desired. He then produced from the box a glass spirit-lamp, four small silver urns, a green silk handkerchief, with a small embroidered silver star in the centre, a few faded flowers, and a small transparent jar filled with brown sand.

He spread the handkerchief on the table, having placed a vase at each corner; he lit the lamp, burnt the flowers, and scattered their ashes on the silk, and having dropped a small globule of water on the star, scattered the sand thickly over all. The crushed leaves and seeds of some dried plant being then placed in each of the urns, these little vessels were heated, and soon a thin gray stream of vapour rose from each of them, filling the apartment with a perfume somewhat resembling incense. Presently I observed the sand growing darker in colour-it slowly took the semblance of mould surrounded by a grass border-little green points appeared upon it, and shooting upwards, enlarged, became sprouts, buds, blossoms,-in short, a miniature parterre, thick with the fragrant garniture of summer was before me; I saw the dewdrops on their petals, the splendour of the morning sun upon their freshened leaves, the "sweet south wind" seemed to wave them gently forward, and fill the chamber with their fragrance.

The silver star on which the water had been dropped, spread forth its form, and shaped itself into the basin of a mimic fountain, sending its little stream high o'er the flowers that clustered round its brink.

Lost in wonder and delight, I deemed delusion had worked its masterpiece; but in this I was deceived, for scarcely had the thought crossed my mind, when I distinctly heard the hum of bees about the borders, and forth from a gaudy tulipcup flew a little liliputian specimen of the tribe of industry. His flight was followed by a butterfly of corresponding size, I watched them flutter round the circle, but ere each could light upon the leaf it loved, the colours of the garden grew more faint, the flowers seemed drooping, their bloom fell from them, and their stems (as if the wind of the desert had been there), sapless and withered, shrunk in the magic mould from which they sprung. I looked for the fountain to revive them, but the stream had ceased, its waters were dried up.-The stranger unclosed the lower shutters. What did I look on? Nothing but sand and ashes, the handkerchief, and little urns which now were cold and empty.

"This is something more," said my mysterious visiter, "than you see every day; but I have witnessed stranger delusions, and more skilfully

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