cause a respect for official authority has been found among us, when there was the expectation, and possibly the wish, to find anarchy.

At the high mass of Limburg there was more ceremony observed in ushering the meanest village dignitary to his place in the church, than would be observed in conducting the head of this great republic to the high station he occupies; and care was had, by an agent of the convent, to see that no one should approach the altar of the Lord of the Universe, without his receiving the deference he might claim in virtue of his temporal rank! Here, where all appear in the temple as they must appear in their graves. equals in dependence on divine support as they are equals in frailty, it will not be easy to understand the hardihood of sophistry which thus teaches humility and penitence with the tongue, and invites to pride and presumption in the practice; and which, when driven to a reason for its conduct, defends itself against the accusation of inconsistency, by recriminating the charge of envy!

There had been a suitable display of ceremony when several functionaries of Deurckheim appeared but the strongest manifestation of respect was reserved for a burgher, who did not enter the gates, until the people were assembled in the body of the church. This personage, a man whose hair was just beginning to be gray, and whose solid, vigorous frame denotea full health and an easy life, came in the saddle; for at the period of which we write, there was a bridle path to the portal of Limburg. He was accompanied by a female, seemingly his spouse, who rode an ambling nag, bearing on the crupper a crone that clung to her well-formed waist, with easy, domestic familiarity, but like one unused to her seat. A fair-haired, rosy girl sat the pillion of the father, and a serving-man, in a species of official livery, closed the cavalcade.

Sundry of the more substantial citizens c. Deurckheim hastened to the reception of this little party, for it was Heinrich Frey, with Meta, her mother, and Ilse, that came unexpectedly to the mass of Limburg. The affluent and flourishing citizen was ushered to the part of the church or chapel, where especial chairs were reserved for such casual visits of the neighboring functionaries, or for any noble that devotion, or accident, might lead to worship at the abbey's aitars.

Heinrich Frey was a stout, hale, obstinate, sturdy burgher, in whom prosperity had a little cooled benevolence, but who, had he escaped the allurements of office and the recollection of his own success, might have passed through life, as one that was wanting in neither modesty nor humanity. He was, in short, on a diminished scale, one of those examples of desertion from the ranks of mankind to the corps d'élite of the lucky, that we constantly witness among the worldly and fortunate. While a youth, he had been sufficiently considerate for the burthens and difficulties of the unhappy; but a marriage with a small heiress, and subsequent successes, had gradually brought him to a view of things, that was more in unison with his own particular interests, than it was either philosophical or christian-like. He was a firm believer in that dictum which says none but the wealthy have sufficient interest in society to be intrusted with it control, though his own instinct might have detected the sophistry, since he was daily vacillating between opposing principles, just as they happened to affect his own particular concerns. Heinrich Frey gave freely to the mendicant, and to the industrious; but when it came to be a question of any serious melioration of the lot of either, he shook his head, in a manner to imply a mysterious political economy, and uttered shrewd remarks on the bases of society, and of things as N

they were established. In short, he lived in an age when Germany, and indeed all Christendom, was much agitated by a question that was likely to unsettle not only the religion of the day, but divers other vested interests; and he might have been termed the chief of the conservative party, in his own particular circle. These qualities, united to his known wealth; a reputation for high probity, which was founded on the belief that he was fully able to repair any pecuniary wrong he might happen to commit a sturdy maintenance of his own opinions, that passed with the multitude for the consistency of rectitude; and a perfect fearlessness in deciding against all those who had not the means of disputing his decrees, had procured for him the honor of being the first Burgomaster of Deurckheim.

Were the countenance a certain index of the qualities of the mind, a physiognomist might have been at a loss to discover the motives which had induced Ulricka Hailtzinger, not only the fairest but the wealthiest maiden of the town, to unite herself in marriage with the man we have just delineated. A mild, melancholy, blue eye, that retained its lustre in despite of forty years, a better outline of features than is common to the region in which she dwelt, and a symmetry of arm and bust that, on the other hand, are rather peculiar to the natives of Germany, still furnished sufficient evidence of the beauty for which she must have been distinguished in early life. In addition to these obvious and more vulgar attractions, the matronly partner of Heinrich had an expression of feminine delicacy and intelligence, of elevated views, and even of mysterious aspirations, which rendered her a woman that a nice observer of nature might have loved to study-anc have studied to love.

In personal appearance, Meta was a copy of her mother, engrafted on the more ruddy health and less

abstracted nabits of the father Her character will be sufficiently developed as we proceed in the tale. We commit Ilse to the reader's imagination, which will readily conceive the sort of attendant that has been introduced.

The Herr Heinrich did not take possession of his customary post before the high altar, without causing the stir and excitement among the simple peasants of the Jaegerthal, and the truant Deurckheimers who were present, that became his condition in life. But even city importance cannot predominate for ever in the house of God, and the bustle gradually subsiding, expectation began to take precedency of civic rank.

The Abbey of Limburg stood high among the religious communities of the Rhine, for its internal decorations, its wealth, and its hospitality. The chapel was justly deemed a rare specimen of monastic taste, nor was it wanting in most of those ornaments and decorations, that render the superior buildings, devoted to the service of the Church of Rome, so imposing to the senses, and so pleasing to the admirers of solemn effect. The building was vast, and, as prevailed throughout that region and in the century of which we write, sombre. It had numerous altars, rich in marbles and pictures, each celebrated in the Palatinate for the kind mediation of the particular saint to whom it was dedicated, and cach loaded with the votive offerings of the suppliant, or of the grateful. The walls and the nave were painted al fresco, not indeed with the pencil of Raphael, or Buonorotti, but creditably, and in a manner to heighten the beauty of the place. The choir was carved in high relief, after a fashion much esteemed, and that was admirably executed in the middle states of Europe, no less than in Italy, and whole flocks of cherubs were seen poising on .he wing around the organ, the altar, and the tombs.

The latter were numerous, and indicated, by their magnificence, that the bodies of those who had en joyed the world's advantages, slept within the hal lowed precincts.

At length a door, communicating with the cloisters, opened, and the monks appeared, walking in procession. At their head came the Abbot, wearing his mitre, and adorned with the gorgeous robes of his ecclesiastical office. Two priests, decorated for the duties of the altar, followed, and then succeeded the professed and the assistants, in pairs. The whole procession swept through the aisles, in stately silence; and, after making the tour of most of the church, paying homage and offering prayers at several of the most honored altars, it passed into the choir. Father Bonifacius was seated on his episcopal throne, and the rest of the brotherhood occupied the glossy stalls reserved for such occasions. During the march of the monks, the organ breathed a low accompaniment, and, as they became stationary, its last strain died in the vaulted roof. At this moment the clattering of horses' hoofs was audible without, causing the startled and uneasy priests to suspend the mass. The rattling of steel came next, and then the heavy tread of armed heels was heard on the pavement of the church itself.

Emich of Hartenburg came up the principal aisle, with the steady front of one confident of his power, and claiming deference. He was accompanied by his guests, the Knight of Rhodes and Monsieur Latouche, while young Berchthold Hintermayer kept at his elbow, like one accustomed to be in close attendance. A small train of unarmed dependants brought up the rear. There was a seat of honor, in the choir itself, and near the master altar, to which it was usual to admit princes and nobles of high consideration. Passing through the crowd,