they said not a word of the rebellion; in fact they were more than usually dull, not containing even a lie of much interest. All this, however, the commissioner ascribed to the prudential policy which their own safety dictated to the editors in times of rebellion; and the longer the silence lasted, so much the more critical, it was inferred, must be the state of affairs, and so much the more prodigious that accumulating arrear of great events which any decisive blow would open upon them. At length, when the general patience began to give way, a newspaper arrived, which, under the head of domestic intelligence, communicated the following disclosures:

"A curious hoax has been played off on a certain loyal and ancient borough town not a hundred miles from the little river P. On the accession of our present gracious sovereign, and before his person was generally known to his subjects, a wager of large amount was laid by a certain Mr. von Holster, who had been a gentleman of the bedchamber to his late Highness, that he would succeed in passing himself off upon the whole town and corporation in question for the new prince. Having paved the way for his own success by a previous communication through a clerk in the house of W & Co., he departed on his errand, attended by an agent for the parties who had betted largely against him. This agent bore the name of von Hoax; and, by his report, the wager has been adjudged to von Holster as brilliantly Thus far all was well; what follows, however, is still better. Some time ago a young lady of large fortune, and still larger expectations, on a visit to the capital had met with Mr. von H, and had clandestinely formed an acquaintance which had ripened into a strong attachment. The gentleman, however, had no fortune, or none which corresponded

won.

to the expectations of the lady's family. Under these circumstances, the lady, despairing in any other way of obtaining her father's consent, agreed that, in connection with his scheme for winning the wager, Fitz-Hum should attempt another, more interesting to them both, in pursuance of which arrangement he contrived to fix himself under his princely incognito at the very house of Mr. Commissioner P, the father of his lady-love; and the result is that he has actually married her, with the entire approbation of her friends. Whether the sequel of the affair will correspond with its success hitherto, remains, however, to be seen. Certain it is that for the present, until the prince's pleasure can be taken, Mr. von Holster has been committed to prison under the new law for abolishing bets of a certain description, and also for having presumed to personate the sovereign."

Thus far the newspaper. However, in a few days all clouds hanging over the prospects of the young couple cleared away. Mr. von Holster, in a dutiful petition to the prince, declared that he had not personated his Serene Highness. On the contrary, he had given himself out both before and after his entry into the town of P for no more than the Count Fitz-Hum; and it was they, the good people of that town, who had insisted on mistaking him for a prince. If they would kiss his hand, was it for a humble individual of no pretensions whatever arrogantly to refuse? If they would make addresses to him, was it for an inconsiderable person like himself rudely to refuse their homage, when the greatest kings, as was notorious, always listened and replied in the most gracious terms? On further inquiry, the whole circumstances were detailed to the prince, and amused him greatly; but when the narrator came to the final article of the "rebellion" (under which sounding title a friend of

von Holster's had communicated to him a general combination among his creditors for arresting his person), the goodnatured prince laughed immoderately, and it became easy to see that no very severe punishment would follow. In fact, by his services to the late prince, von H— had established some claims upon the gratitude of this, an acknowledgment which the prince generously made at this seasonable crisis. Such an acknowledgment from such a quarter, together with some other marks of favor to von H, could not fail to pacify the "rebels " against that gentleman, and to reconcile Mr. Commissioner Pig to a marriage which he had already once approved. His scruples had originally been vanquished in the wine-cellar; and there also it was, that, upon learning the total suppression of the insurrection, he drowned all his scruples for a second and a final time.

The town of M—— has, however, still occasion to remember the blue landau, and the superb whiskers, from the jokes which must now and then be parried upon that subject. Dr. B- in particular, the physician of that town, having originally offered five hundred dollars to the man who should notify him of his appointment to the place of court physician, has been obliged solemnly to advertise in the gazette, for the information of the wits in the capital, "That he will not consider himself bound by his promise, seeing that every week he receives so many private notifications of that appointment, that it would beggar him to pay for them at any such rate." With respect to the various petitioners, the bakers, the glaziers, the hair-dressers, etc., they all maintain that, though Fitz-Hum may have been a spurious prince, yet undoubtedly the man had so much sense and political discernment that he well deserved to have been a true one.

Wilhelm Hauff

Doctor Schnatterer Lectures upon the Devil

I LEFT the philosophers and went in search of the theologians. In order to become better acquainted with them I determined to visit one or two of them after Sunday morning service. I dressed in black, so as to look like a divinity student, and set out. I had been warned against coming to a too hasty conclusion in regard to the piety and purity of these worthy men, since, following the spirit of the Old Testament, they were given to a disregard of externals, and thus had a tendency to uncouthness.

Fortifying my heart with patience, I entered the study of the first theologian, Dr. Schnatterer. From out of a great cloud of blue smoke arose an elderly, stoutish man holding a great meerschaum pipe. He nodded curtly, and then looked at me, half inquiringly, half irritated. I explained to him how philosophy had failed to satisfy my deeper needs, and that hence I desired to hear lectures on theology. He murmured a few inaudible but, as it seemed, learned remarks, smiled in a pleased way, and walked up and down the room.

I assumed an invitation to accompany him on his promenade, and therefore walked beside him with a gait equally grave, listening for any utterance from his learned lips. In vain! He grinned a little now and then, but said nothing. At least, I heard nothing except indistinctly the words, "Have a pipe?" I inferred that he was offering me a smoke, but I could not avail myself of his offer. The brand of tobacco he smoked was too monstrously vile.

It is long since I have ceased to let anything embarrass

me, else had the professor's protracted silence made me lose my self-control completely. As it was, I calmly continued to walk up and down beside him, turned when he turned, and repeatedly counted the length of the room by paces. After I had sufficiently admired the old-fashioned furniture, the various odds and ends of clothes and linen on the chairs, and the extraordinary chaos of his desk, I fixed my attention on the professor himself. His appearance was most strange. A fringe of long hair surrounded his bald crown; his knitted nightcap he carried under his arm. His dressing-gown was torn at the elbow, and had numerous holes, which had evidently been burned into it. One of his lower members was clothed in a black silk stocking and a buckled shoe, the other protruded half bare from a yellowish sock and an old slipper. But before I was able to take full advantage of his mysterious silence for my observations, the door was torn open. A tall, scraggy woman, her cheeks red with rage, burst in.

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Now, this is a shame, Blasius!" she cried. "The sexton is here, and is hunting for you to come and administer Holy Communion. The deacon is already at the altar, and you are here in your dressing-gown!"

'I assure you, my dear," answered the doctor quite coolly, "it was sheer forgetfulness! But behold, one leg had I already equipped for the service of the Lord, when a thought occurred to me that will reduce the arguments of Dr. P—— to nothing."

Regardless of the fact that he was shedding almost everything that covered his body, he was about to throw off his dressing-gown in order to deck out the rest of his cadaver for the Lord's service. But with a quick turn his wife threw herself in front of him, and, spreading out her skirts, hid his nakedness.