網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版
[blocks in formation]

Amelia, wilt thou not

Go with me to some distant clime, where I
May only live for thee?-Why dost thou smile?

A. 'Tis a sad smile, my Edward-I shall go

To seek an unknown land-Whose voice is that?

(Enter Laura.)

E. Just heaven, 'tis Laura!

L.

Where is she whom I

Have basely injured? Oh! let me thus kneel Before thee, let me thus entreat thy pardon! A. My child, thou hast not sinned.

L.

Oh! I may not
Hope for forgiveness—I have stolen the heart,
The wedded heart of him whom-

A.
Dost thou love him?
L. Nay, ask me not, but teach me to forget him.
A. Dear Laura! I am dying-thou must live

L.

And love him fondly-he deserves the love
Of youthful purity. I have but seen

A few more years than thou hast, yet they were
Heavy and painful burdens. For the sake
Of thine own peace, I charge thee never show
The depth of thy affection.

He shall never
Again behold me-I will go to die!
A. Not so, my beautiful child, when I am dead

Thou must be his.

L.

When I have broken thy heart?

A. Thou hast not broken it-'tis my own fond

And foolish dreams of unattainable bliss.

Come hither, dearest one! Give me thy hand,
While yet I can return its gentle pressure.

E. Amelia-this poor child

A.

E.

A.

Must be thy wife
When I am dead. Oh! let her lie upon
Thy bosom like a cherished flower-she is
Too delicate to bear the world's rude storm.
Then think of her who-nay, not that-and yet
Thou-but no matter-thou wilt sometimes seek
My lonely grave, and plant some humble flowers,
The violet and the rosemary-and strew
Spring-buds untimely blighted-

Thou but jestest

My love, thy eye and cheek are bright.

It is
The last faint ray of life-give me your hands--
Laura-and Edward-let my God forgive me
As I forgive thee, love!-Now lay me down,
Not on thy bosom, Edward-'tis no more
My pillow-one last kiss-I die most happy-

[blocks in formation]

The moment of time at which the Fates had decreed our grave suitor the first sight of his intended mistress, was particularly unfortunate for both parties. The Baron Ehrenfriedersdorf had just dined, and as he finished his third bottle, was telling one of his favorite High Dutch stories, at which, as they were in duty bound, the whole household, including his fair daughter, were in a roar of laughter. Nothing, it is well known, is so repulsive and insupportable to a delicate and sentimental mind, in a delicate and sentimental situation, as the riotous sounds of mirth and merriment. What then were the feelings of our sensitive youth, when the door opened and discovered to his wondering view the convulsed features of the Baron and his family. "Loud laughed they all," but loudest and most heartily the jovial master of the house, as the teller of the story which he had told and laughed at an hundred times before; and every time with increased glee and animation. At the right of the Baron sat an antique figure of a man, with lantern jaws, and a long proboscis of a nose, tipped with a pair of green goggles; whose asthmatic "hugh, hugh, hugh," seemed divided between approbation of his master's joke and a spasmodic indignation of his muscles of deglutition at a cup of Canary, which, to use a vulgar expression, had gone down the wrong way. Next to this dubious figure of fun sate an ancient maiden of sixty or thereabouts, whose stiff, starched deportment and sour visage belied the compulsory he! he! he! which issued from her inward person. By the side of this fair maiden sate a reverend, round-faced, jolly-looking personage, from whose rosy gills and oral cavity issued an obstreperous ho! ho! ho! which seemed to have been fabricated in the inmost recesses of his præcordia. On the opposite side of the table appeared a smirking, smooth-faced, foolish-looking young man, whose visage seemed well accustomed to the peculiar expression of satisfaction it now exhibited. Indeed, so habituated did his features appear, to the risible character, that any other combination would have seemed as foreign and outré as that of a broad grin would have been to the solemn phiz of Tristan. Beside these, there were some nameless, or rather, from their German patronymics, unnameable guests, whose physiognomies and voices expressed the same feeling, and in the same variety of intonation that modern and more

.

refined guests are wont to exhibit at the table of their enter

tainer.

But if these expressions of mirth were as vapid and unmeaning as the idle crackling of thorns beneath the pot, those of the Baron's daughter, who sate at his left hand, in "flower of youth and beauty's pride," were of a far different character. Fair, plump, and just turned of eighteen, the lovely heiress of Ehrenfriedersdorf might have served as a model for Hebe. A forehead smooth and white as Parian marble; arching brows, from beneath which glanced the fires of two of the brightest eyes that ever sparkled at a merry tale; cheeks tinted with the rose's deepest dye, and graced by a pair of dimples which seemed the impress of Love's own fingers; and two ruby lips, whose innocent smile disclosed a row of ivory, fairer and purer than the pearls which gemmed her bosom, formed a combination of beauty and expression that would well have become the laughter-loving goddess Euphrosyne in her happi

est moments.

A clap of thunder would not have produced a more sedative effect upon this jovial circle, than did the sudden appearance of the melancholy, wo-begone physiognomy of Tristan. The merry notes of the guests died 66 into a away quaver of consternation ;" and the under jaw of the Baron fell convulsively as he gazed upon our hero in speechless amazement.

For a moment the fair Cunegunda herself was startled. But the droll expression of the countenances about her, which seemed to have been so suddenly frozen in their career of glee, that their muscles had not had time to subside into the state of original quiescence; and the queer, melancholy, awkward appearance of Tristan, who, in a solemn manner, peculiar to himself, advanced and delivered his credentials to the Baron, struck so forcibly her perceptions of the ludicrous, that she burst forth into an uncontrollable fit of laughter, of so contagious a nature that all present joined with heart and soul in a peal of tremendous cachinnation.

Having perused the epistle with great gravity, the Baron, who prided himself upon his politeness and good breeding, and took every opportunity of evincing them, particularly when he was a little tipsy, advanced with open arms, and gave our hero a grip of the hand which made him think himself within the paws of a bear, and a hug which had well nigh squeezed the breath from his body. Then casting a stern look upon his daughter, and bestowing a hearty box on the ear upon the old governante at his right, who was maintaining an hysterical sort of a giggle, and admonishing the venerable person by her

side that he was laughing at the wrong place-with many flourishes he introduced Tristan to his family. Tristan made a profound obeisance to the lady, being under no small apprehensions of receiving some of the Baron's tokens of regard. But when he endeavored to put a smirk upon his face, which the sage Marascallerus had tried to teach him, and which he had been practising upon the road, the severe looks of her father could not restrain the young lady, and she burst forth into another exorbitant peal of laughter. The rest of the party were only prevented from following her example by the grievous punishment the Baron had just inflicted on the previous offenders.

In a little time, however, order was at length restored. Tristan was placed by the side of the fair Cunegunda; and as he was a comely, proper looking youth, and possessed of a sufficiency of the savoir faire, by practising those little nameless attentions which please without appearing conspicuous, he soon removed the unpleasant feelings which had been produced by his ill-timed entrance. Though he could not laugh at them, he listened to the Baron's long-winded stories with a profound attention, which, as it was a novelty to the old gentleman, tickled the very cockles of his heart. He also conversed with the ladies about music, poetry, and the last new novel; made divers very apposite remarks upon the dishes and wines; gave a recipe for a new method of stuffing sausages; and quoted several High Dutch proverbs, and apothegms, in such a sweet gentle tone and manner as quite won the hearts of all present. The fair Cunegunda began to feel a rising partiality for him, and thought within herself "if he would only laugh a little, what a charming youth he would be!" But the old Dame Eickenschnaucker, whose ears still tingled with the Baron's rebuke, and the venerable Grubenhausen cherished a secret grudge against poor Tristan, as the innocent cause of their mortifications.

At a decent hour the family retired to rest; and Tristan was shown to the spare bed-room which had been prepared for his reception. He undressed and got into bed, but it was long ere the poppies of Morpheus descended upon his eyelids. Many and strange fantasies floated before him. The astounded face of the Baron on their first meeting, the comical phiz of the governante, and the malignant features of old Grubenhausen, seemed to present themselves to his eyes whichever way he turned. But predominant was the beautiful countenance of the heiress of Ehrenfriedersdorf. As each feature of that lovely face presented itself to his mind's eye, and each

tone of that sweet voice reverberated upon his mind's ear, he experienced a strange sensation about his heart; and as he tossed uneasily in his bed, he heaved a profound sigh, and exclaimed to himself, "what a happy mortal I should be if fair Cunegunda did'nt laugh so much!" Sleep, at last, visited him, but strange dreams continued to haunt his repose. He thought he was leading to the altar the fair object who had made such a deep impression upon his heart. Her looks were composed to a serious, solemn cast, and not the slightest vestige of a smile could be traced upon them. Four and twenty groomsmen and bridesmaids, in sad colored garments, and countenances of a most ravishing melancholy, stood around with white handkerchiefs held to their eyes. The Baron with a pleasing composure, was just giving his daughter to Tristan, and our hero with a transport of serious joy, was receiving the precious gift, when on a sudden the features of the bride changed to those of the old Governante Eickenschnaucker, who grinned and gibbered and sniggered in his face. He recoiled in horror from the apparition, and the Baron, with a look of wrath, aimed a demolishing blow at the face of the intruder. The beldame, with a grin of delight, and with the quickness of lightning, dodged the Baron's fist, which descended full upon the visage of the luckless Tristan. The four and twenty ladies and gentlemen with white handkerchiefs set up a peal of laughter; and with the pain of the blow, and his horror of the sound, our hero awoke from his terrifying dream. Shivering with cold and apprehension, he found that, in a fit of somnambulism, he had thumped his head against that of a carved Gorgon, meant, by the sculptor, for an angel, which ornamented an old cupboard, containing an assortment of old vials, pewter mugs, and some pieces of old family china, the jingling of which, as they rattled from shelf to shelf, had conveyed to his mind the detested impression of a peal of laughter. Tristan having rubbed his eyes, scratched his head, and collected his scattered ideas, found that it was broad day. The beams of the rising sun were streaming gloriously through the casement. He leaned out of the window, which looked down upon the Baron's garden. It was a lovely morning in the month of June. The twittering of the swallows on the eaves of the roof, the hum of thousands of busy insects, the gentle murmur of the morning breeze, as it played among the leaves of the old elms, and the confused sounds, which, softened by distance, came upon his ear from the awakening city, produced a soothing effect upon Tristan. Two rosy-cheeked rugged urchins were sporting up and down one Vol. II. No. IX.

31

« 上一頁繼續 »