ditionally. The young hero has not remained insensible to the attractions of fair Chriemhild; her royal deportment and gentle manners have won his heart, and her hand is to be the reward of his services, if their matrimonial voyage be crowned with success. This being most readily agreed to, Gunther, Sivrit, Hagen and his brother embark, go down the Rhine, and after twelve days sail see the morning sun glittering upon Isenstein, the castle of the insular Queen. On their arrival fair Brunhild welcomes them with stern courtesy; Sivrit immediately informs her of the object of their visit, but by no means meets with a gracious answer. Her heart is not to be conquered by tender wooings-she is a sort of northern Amazon, and will marry no man except he prove his superior strength in a solemn contest with her. Defeat is death, and many brave knights have already paid for their presumptuous love with their lives. The matrimonial trial consists in an athletic contest, in casting an immense spear against one another, in putting the stone and leaping after it. The vassals of the Queen assemble; she and Gunther enter the lists. The Burgundians, at the sight of the weighty lance and the huge shield she is to wield, begin to despair, but Sivrit has in the mean time put on his tarnhut or hiding cap, which not only has the power of making invisible, but also increases the strength of its wearer twelvefold. Thus he is enabled to assist Gunther throughout the contest, and virtually gains the victory for him. Brunhild conquered must follow them to the Rhine, where she is received with great pomp. The Burgundian King and the Netherland Prince celebrate their marriages on the same day, and Worms for many weeks is the gay scene of numberless festivities. Sivrit then returns with his fair consort to his native country, and on the death of his father Sigesmunt succeeds to the throne, but their conjugal happiness is not of long duration. After some time the royal couple are invited to Worms to splendid feasts and tournaments, and meet with a most affectionate reception from their princely relatives. But in an evil hour a dispute arises between the two Queens about their husbands, their power and virtues. Chriemhild in her passion inconsiderately betrays the secret of Gunther's conquest. This

wounds the pride of the violent Brunhild, and excites her implacable hatred against the man who, by deceiving her, had obtained her hand for another. Glowing with revenge she draws Hagen into her interest who always has borne a secret enmity to Sivrit, and both determine on his death. The Netherland King, however, ever since he had bathed himself in the blood of the dragon he slew, is covered with horn, and, similar to Achilles of old, only to be wounded in one spot; but on a hunting party the treacherous Hagen watches his opportunity and thrusts his spear into the shoulder, the only vulnerable part of the unsuspecting Sivrit.

Chriemhild's grief knows no bounds. She breathes bloody vengeance, and this feeling henceforth exclusively occupies her mind, especially as she is continually exposed to the insults of Brunhild, and of Hagen, who even robs her of the immense treasure of the Nibelungen. Thus she gladly consents to the marriage proposal of the mighty Attila, which enables her to satisfy her dreadful wrath. The Burgundian heroes are invited to the Hunnish court; they go, never to return. Chriemhild takes horrible revenge; all the knights of Worms are slain, the head of Hagen she strikes off herself with the munch, the famous sword which he had stolen from the assassinated Sivrit. Thus the murder of her husband is avenged by mixing the guilty and the innocent in one great slaughter. But the Chriemhild herself does not survive it; she falls by the hands of Hildebrand one of Attila's knights.

al

This is the lay of the Nibelungenliet which justly may be considered as the German Homer, to which it bears resemblance in more than one particular, and even in its history. The poet to whom it owes its present form, is not known, and of the many suppositions which have been advanced in this respect. none appears to us at all satisfactory. But whosoever he may have been, he certainly was the greatest genius Germany has produced during the middle ages. In the whole composition the master's hand is not to be mistaken. Each event by itself forms an entire and appears like the well executed picture of a pilgrim passing on his travels, who directs his steps to a final aim, where everything will be unfolded and resolved, Throughout we

BYRON.

In the summer of 1827, the regiment of foot was quartered at Thomar in Portugal. To men accustomed only to the moderate heats and genial winters of Britain the excessive warmth of a southern summer was very oppressive and injurious, in consequence of which the parades were generally held before the sun acquired sufficient strength to have an overpowering influence on the men, and so late in the evening that the cooling breezes tempered the burning heat of his setting beams. Orders were issued, prohibiting the men from rambling out of their quarters during the day, as several of them had been attacked by severe fever, and even some sudden deaths had taken place in the corps. Under these regulations the men had much idle time on their hands, which they contrived to get rid of in various ways -some lolled indolently half-sleeping, half-waking, dozing the day awaysome busily employed at burnishing and regulating their arms and accoutrements, cleaning black and white by turns-others, more lively, amused themselves and excited laughter by a “keen encounter" of the rude wit of the barrack room; while others whiled away their hours singing the songs of their native land and far off home, with their thoughts perhaps fondly engaged among the friends of their youth, and the scenes of their happy childhood.

The grenadier company of the above regiment was, at that time, composed of as fine a set of men as ever put on the British uniform; the greater number stout, athletic Irishmen; some blunt, brave, honest-hearted Englishmen, and but a few Scotchmen. They were not all young men-there was a sprinkling of steady, veteran-like warVOL. II.

riors among them, who often tempered by their experience, advice, and example, the wild, headlong rashness of their more youthful companions. Coming into the corridor of the convent where the company was sheltered, one morning after I had been relieved off the general's guard, I found the men in an unusual state of excitement. Some were talking aloud, with seeming earnestness, more were assembled in small groups, and in half whispers communicated their sentiments and opinions to one another. One man in particular, an Irishman too, for whom I entertained no good opinion, appeared to be the prime mover of all this agitation. He was a man of middle age, strongly built, and tall, and of a dark complexion. His features, taken singly, nay in the whole, and in quiet moments when the mind was at rest, were good, but when speaking or acting, there was a bitter gathering of the mouth into a sour sneering smile, that betrayed the workings of dark and evil passions. He was in reality a selfish, heartless, and ill-designing man; I could never like to meet his cold gaze; it seemed to dwell on you with such a designing expression, I wont say malignant, that you felt uneasy under it, without being able to assign to yourself any reason wherefore; you almost imagined you could feel that his eye was on you even while your back was turned to him. Yet this man possessed an influence among his comrades that was truly surprising; with the bold he was their equal in desperate and reckless daring, and their superior in art and cunning-he made them feel, when he wished, that his aid and judgment were wanting in the direction, management and perfection of their schemes and plans. The

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imbecile and quiet-minded he over-ruled in almost every thing, by assuming an air of authority and a tone that they could not, or even dared not dispute. This may seem strange under the strict and regular discipline constantly kept alive in a British regiment; but every one must be aware that there is an internal management carried on among the private soldiers themselves, that even the noncommissioned officers cannot interfere with, as it does not come under a breach of discipline, or of military regulations; and should any plan be adopted by the men in general, and one dissentient voice be raised against it, they know so well the art of making that individual's life a burden to him that he will very soon lose his anxiety to oppose, and feel proud to be admitted to their society again.

But to return, M'Namara, the man above-mentioned as the prime mover of the bustle in the barrack room, (if a part of a convent inhabited by soldiers can be called so,) had assembled some two dozen of his comrades round his birth, and harangued them in his own rude manner, with all the force of a practised orator, touching strongly and dwelling on the points of a nature the most exciting and likely to effect his purpose.

"Well, comrades, you's may think as you's please ov coorse, but by this blessed an' holy iron an' steel!" said he, at the same time emphatically striking the end of the ramrod which he had been brightning against the flags under him, "I think it's not fair to pass by such things; the company 'ill get a bad name in the ridgmint, an' we'll just be called the Grabbers,' or the Look-sharps,' the same as the ridgmint was called long ago at Geebralther. I tell you's I saw him wid my own two eyes stop behind me in the wine-house, an' he new I was comin' away, an' why did'nt he follow me? Besides, you see he come up from the town quite hearty an' bragging about what he could do, as iv the niggarly Portuguese 'id give him

as much as the smell ov a tot ov veeno* 'ithout the des reast, iv he was dyin' dead with the bare thirst, or one with his sort ov a coat on his back; no, they'd sooner give him the cutthof in his guts, an' sure I know that the sorra farthin' he had in his company but three double vints. Then he was late for rowl call at tattoo, and only the cop'lar stood his frind he'd be stuck in the guard-house all night, and in the dhryroom this mornin'. The Portuguese wont persecute him for fear we'd tatther his house; but what signifies the likes o' that, ought'nt we let the captain and the colonel see that we have the sperrit ov men an' sodgers among us not to let such a mean thing be done an' we in the middle of furriners. I'll tell you's what we'll do, the very minit he comes in we'll just put Jack Weldon at the head ov the table, an' pick out four of the ouldest sodgers in the room, an' hould a coort marshal ov our own on him, an' that 'ill be betther than reportin' him to the major or the colonel, an' gettin the whole ov us confined to barracks.

"I say," replied a fair, open, honestbrowed Englishman, about two-andtwenty years of age, "I was always as much against pilfering as any other man in this here company, or put the corps to it either, but dang my buttons, if I I can think Muldoon is such a feller as you say; I liked the chap always somehow or tother for his fair ways. Have you good sound proof of this here business, think you?"

"Proof!" said M'Namara, in a tone between conciliation and astonishment, "do you think I'd say the likes ov id if it was not thrue;-did'nt I see him gettin' sitten behind the capote¶ on the seat; an' when I came away, did'nt he stop behind; an didn't I tell you's all the shame an' the disgrace it id bring atop ov us, iv it came to the colonel's ears; or even to the general's? Why, be all the books that ever was shut or opened, we wouldn't see the outside ov the convent gate these three months to come, nor we wouldn't

"Where's your proof? iv he done it! why, blur an agers boys, do you's take me for the garrison liar, that you's imagine I have nothin' else to do but tell lies by wholesale?" said the wily McNamara, with well-feigned surprise, and knowing the materiel he had to work on, then adding with warmth and affected anger and indignation, “why, I say you's might as well say you lie' to me at once; but by the piper that played before Moses, I would'nt take that from the best man in the ridgmint."

Why, as for the matter of that," answered the before-mentioned young Englishman, "there's none cowards here no more than you Jem M'Namara, nor, as I suppose, but thinks as much about these sort of things as you do; if you can prove the affair, why let Muldoon be tried, and if he done that there as you say, why, I say, he deserves it, but if he didn't, why no one should say so."

"Isn't it for the credit ov the company I'm doin' it," replied the proposer, in a softened tone of voice, seeing that the slight disapprobation at first manifested to the thing was melting away, "but then iv you's don't agree, I'll just consither it my duty to tell the whole affair to the colonel; I'll be hanged," he added in a positive and determined accent and manner, "iv I bear share ov any man's crimes, or any man's punishment: nor I don't want any comrade to take share ov mine."

This was conclusive, and it was therefore conceded nemine contradicente that Muldoon should be tried by a court martial of his comrades. His crime was stated by M'Namara, and taken down by the secretary of the room. There is no barrack-room that has not a particular personage of this sort, of no little consequence among his comrades, and importance in his own eyes, from his utility in writing their letters, petitions, complaints, passes, &c., for

which he always has a set regimental form, and out of which it were loss of reputation to deviate even in a single letter; he is also the keeper of all the secrets-family, friends, births, and breeding, confided to him in right of his office, as writer in general to the men of his room, and often to a whole company. There was no accuser but M'Namara, and the proofs were wholly circumstantial.

Muldoon was a very young man ; you might say from his appearance about two and twenty years of age, tall and straight, with fair hair and blue eyes. He was about two years and a half in the regiment, and of a gay, careless, frank, and merry disposition. He was generally esteemed among his comrades, as an inoffensive, agreeable companion, and no derelict or flincher from his duty. His character had never been impeached before, and they could now scarcely believe that the straightforward, manly, Mily Muldoon could turn a petty thief.

The members and president of the court were selected from the oldest soldiers in the room. The beforenamed Jack Weldon, a gaunt, upright, iron-featured veteran, with

"His lyart haffets wearing thin and bare," took his seat at the head of the table, and the secretary took his, at the opposite end, the other members, four in number, sat two on each side. Thus they awaited the arrival of the accused who had previously heard something of the charge, but repelled it with indignation.

He entered the room, and when matters were explained, he darted a fierce glance at his accuser, who sat cool and collected, with that heartless sneer, which he always called up, darkening rather than brightening his features, and then looking on the solemn yet grotesque preparations for his trial, he burst into a loud laugh.

The president was in his shirt sleeves, the secretary with a halfpenny worth of paper, and his ink-horn before him, sat grimly waiting the signal to commence operations.

"You need not be after a laughing at us, Mily Muldoon," said the offended president," I have tried in my time better men than ever stood in your shoes, and for worser crimes than this here, and I tried them fairly too, for I