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DIE SCHACHSPIELER.-THE CHESS

PLAYERS.

BY MORITZ RETZSCH.

Is not this type well cut, in every part;

Full of rich cunning, filled with Zeuxian art?-QUARLES. WE return with pleasure to notice the works of this gifted artist; and now present to our readers a copy of one of them, which appears to us astonishing in its conception and execution, and will, if we mistake not, become the best known of all that he has executed.

Retzsch's several published outlines are familiar to us; and, although there is not a single instance of cross-shading, no colour of any kind, the interest they excite impels us to return to them again and again; and every time we look at them, we see some new beauty. So completely, indeed, do they take possession of our minds, that we forget the total absence of those incidental aids which the higher

branches of the art call in to their assistance.

What, then, is the secret of Moritz Retzsch ?-" the witchcraft he has used?"-We should answer,-A deep moral feeling, which appeals directly to the heart, a perfect comprehension of his subject, and correct drawing. In this latter quality, indeed, he is almost without a rival in modern days. He has been compared to Flaxman, who finished some most expressive outlines, but whose classical severity of style must always fall short in popularity, of Retzsch, with his kindly household feelings, "common Nature's daily food," mingled, occasionally, with all that is awful and sublime.

We are fond of emblems and allegories. The old wood-cut emblems of Alciatus* contain a mine of good and useful advice; those of George Wither, engraved by Crispin Pass, and quickened with metrical illustrations, both moral and divine," may be examined with advantage by the candid reader; and even Quarles, though full of strange fancies, quaintly expressed, speaks a language sufficiently intelligible for the improvement of the heart and mind; and this, we maintain, ought to be the chief aim of art, as well as of literature.

There are, perhaps, not a few persons who, however unwilling to listen to instruction in the common course of teaching, may, by the "ocular language" of a well-imagined emblem, have been informed of their fault and danger, or reminded of certain duties, and risen up from the contemplation of the subject, wiser and better than they sat down. This remark may, in some happy instances, be found true with reference to our present engraving, the subject of which is, SATAN PLAYING AT CHESS WITH MAN, FOR HIS SOUL.

The peculiar powers of the artist have here a fine field for their exertion. The finely-formed, but wicked and terrific, countenance of Satan is directed towards his victim, whom he is watching with a wariness and stern purpose, that make us tremble for the beautiful and youthful antagonist. The fallen angel, who " was a murderer from the beginning," is robed in a mantle, with broad folds; one hand is supporting his chin, as if he were intent on the effect of some deeply-plotted move, and the other grasps a figure of Peace, which he is taking from the board. The young man rests his head upon his hand, as if he were fearful of impending ruin, and desirous of averting it. Between these two figures, and behind the board, stands the Good Genius of Man, anxious and distressed, as if fearful for the youth.

An Italian who wrote, in Latin, early in the sixteenth century. and whose volume of emblems went through many editions, and obtained universal credit.

The attitude of this angel is beautiful; the countenance is of a pensive cast, the hands are clasped, the wings half-spread; the head is gently turned towards the important charge, and we feel afraid, that at the next move those wings will bear the guardian spirit away.

With regard to the Chessmen on the side of the demon, the King represents himself; his Queen is PleaIndolence, like a great swine; Pride, strutting about sure, pressing forward in front of all; his officers are, with a peacock's tail; Falsehood, with one hand on his heart, and the other holding a dagger behind him; Unbelief, trampling on the Cross; Anger, &c.; the Pawns are Doubts; and, alas for devoted man! the only pieces which he has taken are Anger, like a turkey-cock, and one Doubt; while Satan has secured

several cherub forms, which are the Pawns of Man, There is no little

and are symbolical of Prayer. beauty in the thought of introducing prayers under and effectual, they may recover the vantage-ground the emblem of pawns; inasmuch, as, if persevering which had been lost. Humility, Affection, and Innocence, are also taken; but Religion, Truth, and Hope are still left. All the pieces are well set forth; and it is evident that Satan's are coming down in full force against those of his antagonist.

This design requires a long study, and affords much matter for reflection; every part will bear the most minute scrutiny; and it is scarcely possible for any one to quit it, without a deep sense of the moral which is conveyed by the allegory.

We cannot conclude this paper, without alluding to a fine passage in The Pilgrim's Progress, and expressing a wish, that the issue of the contest, so spiritedly depicted by Retzsch, might prove as happy to the party in jeopardy, and as favourable to the interests of religion, as that of Christian's fight with Apollyon.

This sore combat lasted for above half a day, even till that Christian, by reason of his wounds, must needs grow Christian was almost quite spent. For you must know, weaker and weaker. Then Apollyon, espying his opportunity, began to gather up close to Christian, and, wrestling with him, gave him a dreadful fall; and with that Christian's sword flew out of his hand, Then said Apollyon, I am sure of thee now! And with that he had almost pressed him to death, so that Christian began to despair of his life. But as God would have it, while Apollyon was fetching his last blow, thereby to make a full end of this good man, Christian nimbly reached out his hand for his sword, saying, Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall I shall arise (Mic. vii. 8); and with that gave him a deadly thrust, which made him give back, as one that had received his mortal wound. Christian pereiving that, made at him again, saying,-Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through Him that loved us (Rom. viii. 37); and with that Apollyon spread forth his dragon's wings, and sped him away, that Christian saw him no more.

The reference to Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress reminds us, in the first place, that it has never been adequately illustrated, and, in the next, that Retzsch's pencil and graver might, in all probability, be well and profitably employed in embellishing the First Part of that extraordinary work. Would not his master-hand find ample scope in delineating such scenes as the following?

1. Christian leaves the City of Destruction, and meets Evangelist.

2. Christian comes to the Cross, and is eased of his burden. 3. Christian ascends the Hill Difficulty. 4. Mistrust and Timorous leave Christian. 5. Christian fights Apollyon,

6. The Valley of the Shadow of Death. 7. Vanity Fair.

8. The Trial of Christian and Faithful.

9. Christian and Hopeful escape from Doubting Castle.

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DIGESTION.

DIGESTION is the commencement of assimilation, or of that process by which, in animals, their food is by successive mutations converted into a liquid, that is to circulate as a living and vitalizing agent through their frame.

In human beings, assimilation comprises the following steps. The solid food is bruised in the mouth, and mixed with the saliva; it is then swallowed, and conveyed along the oesophagus into the stomach, where it is altered into an uniform pulpy mass, termed | chyme; from the stomach it passes into the small intestines, where it is mixed with the bile and other fluids, which cause the chyle or recrementitious part to separate from it: the chyle is absorbed by the lacteals, and transmitted by them to the veins; mingling with the veins, the chyle is then passed through the vessels of the lungs, and aërated. The process of assimilation is then complete, and the blood so formed from the food is fit to sustain life.

Of these changes, there is one which exclusively merits attention. This is the alteration which the food undergoes in the stomach:-its conversion into chyme. Mr. Abernethy emphatically called this Digestion; that is to say, he restricted the term digestion to this function. What precedes this change is mechanical, and a mechanical substitute may be found for it. The steps in assimilation which follow this change, if it has been perfectly executed, and the meal converted into proper chyme, are unfelt by us, executed independently of volition, and certain, if the system is in health, to be accomplished properly.

The stomach is the seat of hunger; we take food to allay its cravings, which are found to be equally appeased, whether the food is swallowed in the ordinary manner, or directly introduced into the organ.

Consistently with these curious facts, it is well known that the natural disposition of a very hungry person is to chew hastily and imperfectly, and to bolt his food. He is not satisfied till the food reaches his stomach. Food, however, when insufficiently masticated, and swallowed in large and hard masses, is liable to injure the œsophagus in going down, and when it reaches the stomach, is difficult of digestion. One purpose of the senses of taste and flavour which we enjoy, is to induce us to continue comminuting the food in the mouth, and bruising it as long as its taste and flavour last; while we are gratifying these senses, the food acquires the requisite consistence for easy swallowing and easy digestion. The time gained by this process prevents the stomach being too rapidly filled, and allows the appetite to be satiated before the stomach is overloaded.

The substances introduced into the stomach are in reference to their consistence either innutritious liquids, or liquids with food mixed, or solids. The first are quickly absorbed and carried out of the stomach; the second undergo a separation of the liquid; after which the solider part, like ordinary solid food, is digested.

The process of digestion is strictly chemical. It is the result of the action of a solvent fluid upon the aliment, and takes place almost equally well without as within the body, if the proper temperature is

maintained.

The solvent fluid is poured out by the lining membrane of the stomach, as the perspiration pours off the surface of the body. It is called the gastric juice. It consists of water holding in solution free muriatic and acetic acids, phosphates and muriates with bases of potassa and soda, magnesia and lime, and an animal matter soluble in cold water, but in

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soluble in hot. It is clear and transparent, inodourous, a little saltish, and very perceptibly acid. It does not exist constantly, or accumulate in the stomach: but it is only secreted when wanted, or when the stomach is excited by the introduction of new matter into it.

The solvent power of the gastric juice out of the body was ascertained by Spallanzani, and Mr. Hunter discovered the remarkable phenomenon, that it would even digest, after death, the stomach which formed it. Dr. Beaumont, by many experiments, has confirmed the conclusions of Spallanzani. In some of the most valuable which he narrates, the same kind of meal was observed simultaneously undergoing digestion in the stomach, and in a phial of gastric juice obtained at the same time from the same stomach, and placed in a saucepan of water kept at the temperature of 100°.

"The effect of the gastric juice on the piece of meat introduced into the stomach, was exactly similar to that in the phial, only more rapid after the first half-hour, and sooner completed. Digestion commenced on, and was confined to the surface in both situations. Agitation accelerated the solution in the phial, by removing the coat that was digested on the surface, enveloping the remainder of the meat in the gastric juice, and giving the fluid access to the undigested portion."

The dissolved food, or the chyme, has the appearance of a thick homogeneous liquid, the colour of which partakes slightly of the colour of the food eaten. It is always of a lightish or grayish colour, varying in its shade and appearance from that of cream, to a grayish or dark-coloured gruel. Chyme from butter, fat meats, oil, resembles rich cream. All . chyme is acid.

If

The perfectness of digestion (the food being digestible, and the stomach in health,) is dependent on the quantity of the gastric juice: if the quantity of the latter is proportionate to the meal which has been taken, the whole is changed into chyme. the quantity of gastric juice is insufficient, a residue of undigested food remains in the stomach, and becomes a source of irritation and derangement of function. It is not necessary that the stomach should be emptied of one meal before another is introduced into it. The presence of a second meal, crude and fresh, does not necessarily disturb the digestion of the first. If the stomach is in full vigour, and can furnish the absolute quantity of gastric juice required for both, both meals will undergo together harmonious digestion.

[Abridged from MAYO's Philosophy of Living.]

Is it not strange, that some should be so delicate as not to bear a disagreeable picture in the house, and yet force every face they see about them to wear a gloom of uneasiness and discontent ?---Persian Letters.

DEATH.-If thou expect death as a friend, prepare to entertain it; if thou expect death as an enemy, prepare to overcome it: death has no advantage but when it comes a stranger. QUARLES.

A BUTTERFLY.

CHILD of the sun! pursue thy rapturous flight,
Mingling with her thou lovest in fields of light;
And, where the flowers of paradise unfold,
Quaff fragrant nectar from their cups of gold,
.There shall thy wings, rich as an evening sky,
Expand and shut in silent ecstasy.

Yet wert thou once a worm, a thing that crept
On the bare earth, then wrought a tomb, and slept:
And such is man; soon from his cell of clay,
It burst a seraph in the blaze of day. ROGERS.

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This delusion, for it certainly deserves no better name, was not cherished by those only whose ignorance might be supposed to offer some excuse for their credulity. All classes of society were more or less powerfully affected by it. Kings and nobles, statesmen and philosophers, of all nations, thought it not beneath their dignity to engage in a pursuit, whose avowed object was to obtain the means of realizing immense riches by the labour of a day, or even of a single moment. Many there were who spent their whole lives, wasting their own fortunes and the fortunes of others, in a fruitless search after this imaginary secret. Among these, there were some who have left behind them in their writings, such proofs of intelligence and soberness of thought in reference to other subjects, that if the fact were not attested by daily experience and observation, we should probably be disposed to doubt if extremes so opposite could meet in the same individual.

Nor was it the means of acquiring wealth that alone occupied the attention, and called forth the energies of mankind, at the periods to which we are now alluding. The philosophers' stone, it was generally asserted, and by thousands implicitly believed, possessed the power of ensuring health and long life. Thus, whilst some were engaged in making numberless experiments, in the hope of at length enriching themselves to the utmost extent of their wishes; others, with no less diligence, were seeking an universal medicine, which was to cure all diseases, and to confer on its fortunate possessor so large a share of youthful vigour, that life would thereby be prolonged to a very distant, if not an indefinite, period.

A connected account of the origin and progress of alchymy, the name by which the pretended art of changing the baser metals into gold and silver is known, our readers must not expect. It would occupy a much larger space than we can afford. A few hints must suffice.

source the term chemistry is probably derived, which first occurs in a Greek lexicon (or dictionary), whose author lived about 800 years since. At that time, chemistry, or as it was sometimes then called, alchymy, was understood to mean the art of preparing gold and silver; but there is reason to believe that the expectation of making these precious metals was not the sole object of all who practised chemistry. The writings of this period are, however, so full of mystical allusions, and of allegorical expressions, that it is utterly impossible to understand their import. We are, therefore, as likely to do their authors injustice, by imputing to them a greater share of ignorance than they deserve, as we are to give them credit for the knowledge they possessed.

The information which has been handed down to us respecting the chemical arts as known to the ancients, is as scanty as it is unsatisfactory. Everything connected with trades and manufactures was viewed by those of them who made any pretensions to learning, as beneath their notice. Their historians were incapable of transmitting to posterity an intelligible account of the processes practised in their days, because they had never given themselves the trouble to inquire into, or examine them. From a few scattered and incidental notices, it may be fairly inferred, that at a very remote period many useful processes were known, and as accident, rather than systematic research, favoured the discovery of others, their number from time to time gradually increased. But there was such a manifest deficiency of skill in performing experiments, and of accuracy in observing results, that what had been once done could not with certainty be repeated, unless accident may be presumed to have had its share in the operation. Hence, a science essentially founded on experiment and observation, and destined to confer on the world benefits of the most important character, consisted, originally, of little else than the vague speculations and visionary conceits of men who possessed neither patience to examine, nor judgment to appreciate, the phenomena which were constantly forcing themselves upon their notice.

With these brief remarks, we must leave the chemists of antiquity. Let some of their successors now engage our attention; especially those to whom we have already alluded under the name of alchymists.

But

It is difficult to determine the exact period when alchymy, in the sense we are now going to employ the term, first began to be viewed as a separate branch of chemistry. About 1200 years ago, the Arabians seem to have practised chemistry, and by them its scattered facts were most probably collected, and arranged into something like regular order. although chemistry, or, as it was perhaps more frequently called, alchymy, was at that time generally understood to denote the art of preparing gold and silver, there is no evidence that such an expectation was seriously entertained, even by the most expert practitioners. Among these, Geber, who is supposed to have been a physician, is the most conspicuous. If the writings which bear his name are genuine, they show that he had the most implicit belief in the ex

Viewed in the most favourable aspect, and with every disposition to make allowance for the character of the times in which the alchymists lived, their proceedings furnish materials for a dark page in the records of the human intellect. Enslaved by avarice, and given up to the most degrading superstitions, we often behold them taking shelter beneath a veil of religious sanctity, that they may the more effectually perpetrate the grossest deceptions. Here and there, it is true, we meet with an instance in which a laudable desire for knowledge seems to have preserved its possessor from some of those acts of folly and extreme credulity, with which the history of alchymyistence of the philosophers' stone, for the making of abounds. But even in these cases, we find apparent good sense and integrity of purpose associated with pretensions so absurd, and with vanity so excessive, that we are at a loss to know what we should do,whether to admire, to pity, or to condemn.

The term alchymy, is supposed to be formed of two Arabic words, (al, the, and kimia, secret or hidden,) and signifies the occult or secret art. From the same

which he professes to give minute instructions. He makes no allusion, however, to the possibility of procuring gold by such means, nor indeed by any other. His attention, was almost exclusively directed to the conversion of metals into medicines, of whose virtues he entertained very exalted notions. The success which, in many instances, attended the use of these preparations, and the unexpected results which often

arose out of the processes to which the various metals were subjected in order to obtain them, must have had an extraordinary effect upon minds disposed on all occasions to yield a willing assent to whatever partook of the marvellous. It is no wonder, therefore, that persons who peopled the air, the earth, and all the other elements, with good or evil spirits, as it suited their fancies or their inclinations, should also invest with mysterious impossibilities the simplest operations in nature.

Passing over 500 or 600 years, which with great propriety come under the denomination of the "dark ages,' we arrive at a period when alchymy was esteemed as one of the noblest pursuits which could engage the attention of mankind. The credit it had thus attained was chiefly due to the influence of the priests, who not only encouraged others in following this wild dream, but were deeply concerned in it themselves. As a curious illustration of this historical fact, we may mention that five small crucibles of graduated sizes were lately found plastered up in a small niche in a room over the large entrance-porch of the church of St. Thomas at Salisbury. gentleman (Rev. Edward Duke, M.A.) to whose learned work we are indebted for this information, is of opinion that these carefully-concealed crucibles were evidently intended for alchymical purposes. He conceives, however, that they were employed not for the purpose of making gold, but for the higher and more difficult branch of the art, namely, the making the "Elixir of Life," which was believed to consist of the "quintessence of gold."

The

Before we go further, it will be proper to explain, in as few words as possible, the opinions entertained by the alchymists. As far as we can understand them, they were as follows, namely: that all the metals were compounds, and, as some supposed, consisting of sulphur and mercury. The baser metals, it was asserted, contained the same constituents as gold, but were contaminated by admixture with impurities of various kinds, and in different proportions. These impurities, it was supposed, could be separated, or their effects neutralized; when the particular metal operated upon would be capable of assuming the properties and character of gold. As already stated, the substance whose agency it was imagined would effect these wonderful changes, they distinguished generally by the name of "philosophers' stone," which is described as a red powder, possessing, a peculiar odour. The change itself was called transmutation.

We shall soon return to this subject again.

AN EVENING WALK IN BENGAL. OUR task is done! o'er Gunga's breast The sun is sinking down to rest; And, moored beneath the tamarind bough, Our bark has found its harbour now. With furled sail, and painted side, Behold the tiny frigate ride. Upon her deck, 'mid charcoal gleams, The Moslem's savoury supper steams; While, all apart, beneath the wood, The Hindoo cooks his simpler food.

Come, walk with me the jungle through ;If yonder hunter tell us true,

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R. R.

Child of the sun! he loves to lie
'Mid nature's embers, parched and dry,
Where o'er some tower, in ruin laid,
The peepul spreads its haunted shade,
Or round a tomb his scales to wreath,
Fit warder in the gate of death!
Come on! yet pause! behold us now
Beneath the bamboo's arched bough;
Where, gemming oft that sacred gloom,
Glows the geranium's scarlet bloom;
And winds our path through many a bower
Of fragrant tree and giant flower:-
The ceiba's crimson pomp displayed
O'er the broad plaintain's humbler shade,
And dusk anana's prickly blade;
While, o'er the brake so wild and fair,
The betel waves his crest in air.
With pendant train, and rushing wings,
Aloft the gorgeous peacock springs;
And he, the bird of hundred dyes,
Whose plumes the dames of Ava prize.―
So rich a shade,-so green a sod,—
Our English fairies never trod;

Yet who in Indian bower has stood,

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But thought on England's "good green wood;"
And bless'd, beneath the palmy shade,
Her hazel.and her hawthorn glade;
And breathed a prayer (how oft in vain!)
To gaze upon her oaks again.

A truce to thought! the jackal's cry
Resounds like sylvan revelry;
And, through the trees, yon failing ray
Will scantly serve to guide our way.
Yet, mark! as fade the upper skies,
Each thicket opes ten thousand eyes:-
Before, beside us, and above,

The fire-fly lights his lamp of love,
Retreating, chasing, sinking, soaring,
The darkness of the copse exploring;
While, to this cooler air confest,
The broad dhatura bares her breast,
Of fragrant scent, and virgin white,
A pearl around the locks of night!
Still as we pass, in softened hum,
Along the breezy alley's come

The village song,-the horn,-the drum.—
Still as we pass, from bush and brier,
The shrill cigala strikes his lyre;
And, what is she whose liquid strain
Thrills through yon copse of sugar-cane?
I know the soul-entrancing swell!
It is it must be-Philomel!

Enough! enough! the rustling trees
Announce a shower upon the breeze.-
The flashes of the Summer sky
Assume a deeper, ruddier dye;
Yon lamp that trembles on the stream
From forth our cabin sheds its beam;
And we must early sleep, to find,
Betimes, the morning's healthy wind.
But oh! with thankful hearts confess
E'en here there may be happiness;
And He, the bounteous Sire,-has given
His peace on earth-his hope of heaven!
BISHOP HEBER.

THE most lasting families have only their seasons, more or less, of a certain constitutional strength. They have their Spring and Summer sunshine glare, their wane, decline, and death; they flourish and shine, perhaps, for ages; at last they sicken: their light grows pale, and, at a crisis when the offsets are withered, and the old stock is blasted, the whole tribe disappears. There are limits ordained to everything under the sun. Man will not abide in honour. Of all human vanities, family-pride is one of the weakest. Reader, go thy way; secure thy name in the book of life, where the page fades not, nor the title alters nor expiresleave the rest to heralds and the parish register.— BORLASE.

MEN should consider, that the more they enjoy, they are accountable for so much the more; and as they are capable of doing the more good, so by neglecting these opportunities, they expose themselves to the greater punishments.-BISHOP CONYBEARE.

POPULAR LEGENDS AND FICTIONS.

VII.

TUTELARY SPIRITS.

THE household gods of the ancients were the Lares and Penates, and Genii. The first, according to the notions which prevailed in those days of paganism, presided over the highways, the conservation of public safety, and also over private houses, in most of which the Romans had a particular place called Lararium, wherein were deposited the images of their domestic gods, and the statues of their ancestors. Of the Penates, the deities who also presided over new-born infants, there were three classes or ranks; those who presided over empires and states; those who had the protection of cities; and those who took the care or guardianship of private families. The latter, who were called the lesser Penates, and were placed in the utmost recess of the house, (thence called Penetrale,) were reckoned so sacred, that the expression of driving a man from his Penates was used to signify his being proscribed, or expelled his country.

Some writers do not make any distinction between the Genii and the Penates, or Lares; but they were very different. The ancients assigned to everything its guardian or peculiar genius; cities, groves, fountains, hills, were all provided with keepers of this kind, and to each man they allotted no less than two,-one good the other bad,-who attended him from the cradle to the grave. The Greeks called

them demons. They were represented under various figures, such as those of boys, girls, old men, and even serpents. The sacrifices offered to these divinities were wine and flowers, to which they sometimes joined incense, parched wheat, and flour; occasionally the victim was a swine, though animal

offerings to them were not usual. The images were crowned with wreaths from the plane-tree, a tree consecrated to the genii.

The

The Scandinavians, like other ancient nations, cherished a belief in the existence of tutelary spirits. The Icelanders indeed professed to be peculiarly grateful to them for defeating the enterprise. of Harold Gorman, king of Norway, who, as we are told in his Saga, was desirous of learning the internal state of the island, upon which he longed to wreak his vengeance, and to that intent bade a skilful troldman, or magician, to proceed thither, in such a shape as might best conceal him. The magician changed himself into a whale, and swam to the island; but the rocks and mountains were covered with opposing landvætten, or guardian spirits, who prepared to defend their trust. magician, nothing daunted, swam to Vaporaford, and attempted to land; but a huge and hideous dragon unwreathed his folds down the sides of the rock, and was followed by innumerable serpents, spitting venom against the intruder. The whale could not oppose them, and swam westward to Oreford; but there came down a bird whose wings extended athwart the bay, followed by countless flocks of spirits in the same shape; and when he attempted to enter Budaford, on the southern coast, a mighty bull rushed down and waded into the sea, roaring tremendously, and the guardian spirits of Budaford accompanied their leader. The unwearied whale now swam to Vrekanskinda; there he beheld a giant coming to meet him, whose head ranged over the very summit of the snow-clad mountains. He was armed with an iron club, and a crowd of gigantic spirits followed him to the shore.

This fable is worthy of notice, because it proves

that the Scandinavians believed in elemental intelligences. Earth sent her spirits in the form of giants; the sylphs of the air appeared as birds; by the bull, water is evidently typified; and the dragon proceeded from the spheres of fire.

FIRE SPIRITS.

HECLA, a burning mountain in Iceland, is in some degree connected with the Scandic mythology. This baleful mountain could not fail to be deemed the resort of the spirits of fire, known by tradition in Scandinavia. Their great opponent was Luridan. It was written in the "Book of Vanagastus the Norwegian," that Luridan the spirit of the air "travels at the behest of the magician to Lapland, and Finmark, and Skriefinia, even unto the Frozen Ocean. It is his nature to be always at enmity with fire,"-and he wages continual wars with the fiery spirits of the mountain Hecla.

In the contest they do often extirpate and destroy one another, killing and crushing when they meet in mighty and violent troops, in the air and upon the sea. At such time many of the fiery spirits are destroyed when the enemy hath brought them off the mountain to fight upon the water: on the contrary, when the battle is on the mountain itself, mournings and doleful noises are heard in Iceland, and the spirits of the air are often worsted; and then great Russia, and Norway, for many days after.

Jack-with-the-Lantern, whom Milton calls the Friar, Amongst the known spirits of the sphere of fire, and Will-with-the-Wisp, must not be forgotten. According to a monkish Chronicle of the Abbey of Corvey, brother Sebastian was seduced by one of these pretended sprites, on the mystic eve of St. John, in ing, from a neighbouring village; and on the following the year 1034, as he was returning home in the evenday brother Sebastian died.

Among some of the German peasants, it is still believed, with reasonable consistency, that Willwith-the-Wisp is of a very fiery temper, and easily offended. They have a "spatt-reim," or mocking verse, which, they say, sorely vexes him when he happens to be near it :

Heerwisch! ho! ho! ho! Brenst wie haberstroh About thirty years ago, says one of their legends, a Schag mich blitzeblo ! girl of the village of Lorsch wantonly sang out this rhyme whilst Will was dancing over the marshy meadows: instantly he followed the maiden; she ran homewards as fast as her legs could carry her, vainly striving to escape the spiteful goblin; but just flew in after her, and struck every person in the room as she was crossing the threshold of the door, Will with his fiery wings so violently, that they were stunned by the shock.

fire-demons, who, it has been pretended, point out With this electric demon may also be classed the concealed treasures by playing in livid flames on the surface of the ground, or over the sepulchral mound; the trolds who light the graw-fire, and the warden spirits who wrap the dungeon-tower of the castle

of Kufstein in lambent fire.

THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. WHEN the Aurora Borealis, or Great Northern Lights, beamed through the sky, the Scandinavians hailed the "holy light," as it is still called in Norway; for they believed that it announced the approach of the Valkyrs, the maids of Slaughter, proceeding from Valhalla, to summon the warriors to the feast of Odin. Their old chroniclers pretended to see in these beautiful appearances fiery armies, flaming spears, and blazing swords, and to be appalled by the por

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