of a foot would have been sufficient. At the end of four years you will declare that the sacrifice of the great toe would have been too much. At the end of five, you will assert the same of the little toe. When six years shall have passed, you will confess to me that the paring of the nails would have been quite enough.

"All this I say without trying to detract from the merits of your charming wife. Ladies can keep their beauty and their virtues more changeless than men their judgments. In my youth I would at any time have given my life for my beloved; in my life I should never have given a leg. The former sacrifice I would never have regretted, the latter always. For had I made it, I would have said to myself to this very day. Thévenet, you were a fool!' With which remark, I have the honor to be, sir, your humble servant, "G. THÉVENET."

In the year 1793, during the Reign of Terror, having been brought into suspicion of aristocratic leanings by a younger colleague, Thévenet fled to London, in order to save his life from the leveling guillotine.

Either because time hung heavily on his hands, or because he wished to seek acquaintances, he went to see Sir Charles Temple.

He was directed to that gentleman's mansion. He was announced and received. In an armchair, over a pot of foaming porter, near the chimney, and surrounded by twenty newspapers, sat a stout gentleman, so unwieldy that he could scarcely rise.

66

Ah, welcome, Mr. Thévenet!" cried the stout gentleman, who was no other than Sir Charles himself. "Don't take it ill that I remain seated, but the infernal wooden leg hin

ders me in everything. My friend, I suppose you have come to see whether the truth has ripened?”

"I come as a refugee, seeking protection of you."

"You must be my guest, for, on my life, you are a wise man. You must console me. In truth, Thévenet, I might have been an admiral to-day, if this miserable wooden leg had not rendered me unfit for the service of my country. As it is, I read the papers, and curse myself blue in the face on account of my forced inactivity. Come, console me!"

Your wife will be better able to console you than I." "Not at all. Her wooden leg prevents her from dancing, and so she has taken to cards and gossip. There is no getting along with her. In other things she is an excellent woman.” "And so I seem to have been in the right?"

66

Oh, entirely, my dear Thévenet; but let us be silent on that subject. I acted like an ass. Could I get my leg back, I would not give the paring of a toe-nail! Between you and me, I was a fool! But keep this information to yourself."

Wilhelm Müller

The Drunkard's Fancy

STRAIGHT from the tavern door

I am come here;

Old road, how odd to me
Thou dost appear!

Right and left changing sides,

Rising and sunk; Oh, I can plainly see,

Road, thou art drunk!

Oh, what a twisted face
Thou hast, oh, moon!
One eye shut, t'other eye

Wide as a spoon.

Who could have dreamed of this?

Shame on thee, shame!

Thou hast been fuddling,

Jolly old dame!

Look at the lamps again;

See how they reel! Nodding and flickering

Round as they wheel. Not one among them all

Steady can go;

Look at the drunken lamps,

All in a row.

All in an uproar seem Great things and small; I am the only one

Sober at all.

But there's no safety here

For sober men;

So I'll turn back to
The tavern again.

Friedrich Schulze-" Friedrich Laun"

The Incognito

THE town council was sitting, and that in gloomy silence. Alternately they looked at each other, and at the official order, that morning received, which reduced their perquisites and salaries by one-half. At length the mayor arose, turned the mace-bearer out of the room, and bolted the door. That worthy man, however, or, as he was more frequently styled, that worthy mace, was not so to be baffled; old experience in acoustics had taught him where to apply his ear with most advantage in cases of the present emergency; and as the debate soon rose from a humming of gentle dissent to the stormy pitch of downright quarreling, he found no difficulty in assuaging the pangs of his curiosity. The council, he soon learned, were divided as to the course to be pursued on their common calamity; whether formally to remonstrate, or not, at the risk of losing their places. Indeed, they were divided on every point except one; and that was, contempt for the political talents of the new prince, who could begin his administration upon a principle so monstrous as that of retrenchment.

At length, in one of the momentary pauses of the hurricane, the council distinguished the sound of two vigorous fists playing with the utmost energy upon the panels of the door outside. "What presumption is this?" exclaimed the chairman, immediately leaping up. However, on opening the door, it appeared that the fury of the summons was dictated by no failure in respect, but by absolute necessity. Ne