the confederation of the Rhine, projected by a citizen of Mainz, and followed up by the free cities on that noble river, for the purpose of extirpating those lawless robbers who dwelt in those hitherto impregnable fortresses on its shores, although one of its objects was, virtually, to reduce the nobility from the rank which they held in the scale of society, and elevate the burghers, and those below them, to an equality with their condition; and by his example, as well as by his influence,—the fear of his power, the dread of his resentment, and the desire to imitate his actions,--he induced many other independent princes in his neighbourhood to join it likewise.

To relate the various instances of his excessive severity, would be but a revolting task; and to multiply them in a work like this, would not be very profitable to the reader. But of all the acts which acquired for him the surname he bore, the execution of his wife for alleged infidelity was certainly the most appalling.

THE PALATINE PRINCESS'S EXECUTION.

Maria, palatine princess, in right of her marriage with the pfalzgraf, Ludwig the Severe, was the daughter of the Duke of Brabant, and heiress to his territory. She was fair and gentle, mild, beautiful, and beloved. Ludwig doated on her; he loved her with a love only known to natures severe as his; and he honoured her besides for the strict performance of all her matrimonial duties. She honoured and reverenced him, and she feared him too; but truth must be told-she loved him not at all. That her tender heart languished for another for some fond bosom into which she could pour the full tide of her affectionate spirit-the melancholy sequel of her history most abundantly evidences.

The great extent of Ludwig's territory, and the distance at which its extremes were situated from each other, together with the frequent necessity which existed for repelling invasion, or repressing internal discontent in one part of it or another, caused him to be long and oftentimes absent from his wife. This was, perhaps, the chief cause why she loved him so little. The severity, too, with which he forbade her all communion with

his courtiers and dependants in the court more than might inevitably exist between mistress and servant under the most rigid system of domestic management, had, it is presumed, no trifling effect upon her feelings. Indeed it contributed greatly to estrange them from him; and as human nature, especially female human nature, is inclined to the opposite of compulsion in most cases, it may be not unfairly supposed that the Princess Maria, though exemplary to the last degree in her conduct, involuntarily acted on this natural impulse, and, like the generality of her sex, did the thing she should not. However that may be, and whatever the causes which led to it, that she did so is certain the catastrophe which ensued to her in consequence is, happily, not often paralleled in modern European history.

It was during one of those periods of protracted absence on the part of Ludwig, that the lovely Maria, who, according to tradition, abode by command of her husband in Alzey, became acquainted with the Raugraf Henry, who, as hereditary truchsess of the palatinate and high steward of the district, attended on the court as a matter of duty. Henry was young and handsome; he was bold and daring too: youth is ever so; and beauty has little tendency to suppress a rash bearing either in man or woman. To see Maria was to admire her; to live under the same roof-to breathe the same atmosphere with her —was more than the most stoical philosopher of his age might do with impunity. The result was that he did love her; fondly, deeply, madly loved her; and she-alas! for poor human nature!-shall it be told? The hitherto virtuous wife -the paragon of perfection and purity-permitted unholy passion to possess her breast, - she returned his love. that love at least, so say her eulogists--was only platonic. Be it so it is not for me to make out a case against her. Platonic, however, or sensual, it little pleased Ludwig, to whose ears it was carried by one of the thousand tale-bearers who infest the purlieus of a court, and poison the passages of all great houses. Ludwig was too proud to manifest his feelings, or too just to condemn his wife without sufficient evidence, which at that time he could not command. But he did what most prudent husbands would do in such a case--he established

But

a cordon of observation around her; and he attached her lover to his own particular suite. Availing himself, shortly after, of an occasion for his presence in Bavaria, he directed the princess to make the strong castle of Marksburg her residence; and he departed on his distant expedition, taking the Raugraf Henry along with him. Maria he left under the care of his sister, Elizabeth, queen of the Sicilies, with private instructions to watch her closely her lover he specially directed to accompany himself, placing a spy upon his every action, and causing each word which dropped from his lips to be recorded against him. Thus stood matters at the commencement of that inauspicious journey.

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder," according to the adage; and even so it was with the hapless princess. Despite the durance in which she lived-despite the system of espionage to which she was subjected--despite the keen, close observation of her keeper, the Queen of the Sicilies--a woman herself—a woman, too, who had lived so long in the sunny south, and who, therefore, necessarily knew so intimately all the forms, if not the substance, of intrigue--she managed to keep up a correspondence with the Raugraf. The way in which she managed it was at once most ingenious and most daring. By some means, at present unexplained, the periodical packet of letters despatched to her husband always contained one or more missives of a tender nature for her lover. This daring deceit was carried on for a considerable while; but it was at last discovered in a way equally novel and unexpected. In her haste to avoid observation, she one day superscribed the letter addressed to her husband with her lover's name, and that addressed to the Raugraf with the name of his lord, her husband. The fatal missive reached Ludwig's hands in due time: he read it; the fate of the unfortunate princess was sealed.

The equanimity of the injured husband wholly forsook him, when this proof of his beloved wife's infidelity burst upon his soul. He slew the bearer of the billet on the spot; and he would have performed the office of executioner with his own hands on the Raugraf Henry, if that youth had not, fortunately for himself, been absent at the time on a hunting expedition. Within an hour Ludwig was on his road to the Rhine; and

from that moment until he reached Marksburg, he never relaxed in his speed, or tarried an unnecessary instant on his rapid journey.

He entered the ante-chamber of his wife's apartments; and his first act was to hurl her confidant, Helike, from the open window upon the dreadful precipice below. He next slew her attendants, and all those who were about her person. This was the work of only a few moments. Their bodies he commanded to be cast from the towers of the castle into the rocky chasms at its rear, which was done accordingly. He then sought out his wife, who, quite ignorant of the awful tragedy which had been enacted so close at hand, sate buried in thoughts of her unholy love, in her most private chamber. He stood before her; the room was filled with grim and gory men-at-arms. She rose to meet him;-she advanced towards where he stood ;-she made to embrace him. But he waved her back with his hand; and, at the same moment, two executioners, stripped to the waist, one bearing a bright, heavy axe, the other a coil of rope, interposed between them.

'My husband!-God of Heaven!-What's this?" she stammered-her fair cheek flushing now with the most lovely red, and anon rivalling that of a corpse in deathly paleness."What is this? What may it mean? say, my lord, say!"

"Know ye this, false woman?" replied the pfalzgraf, holding forth to view her letter to the Raugraf. "Know ye this?" "God have mercy upon me," exclaimed the princess; “I'm lost!"

She said no other word: the pfalzgraf continued :—

"Know ye this, falsest of women? Know ye this?" His voice sounded in her ears like the last trump as he went on. "Is this the faith and truth you swore to me at the altar of that God you now so vainly invoke? While I was absent for the weal of my people, you were defiling my bed: while I was extirpating robbers in my dominions, you were encouraging a thief worse than the worst of them and while I was protecting the public, you were encouraging a villain to plunder me of all I most valued -perhaps, also, to deprive me of my life. Your Ægistus has already regicide blood in his veins :* you would be his Clytem

*The Raugraf was lineally descended from Otto von Wittlesbach, who assassinated the Emperor Philip of Suabia, for refusing him his daughter in

nestra; and, haply, you would help him to mount my throne over my corpse. But the justice of Heaven hath overtaken you; and now you are caught in your own net. This letter is your condemnation. In right of my sovereign power, and of the honour of my house, I therefore adjudge you to suffer death. Prepare, then, for your instant doom. And you, headsman! do your duty."

The princess bowed her head: at one stroke it rolled along the ensanguined floor. Great was the grief and deep the dismay of all present at the sight.

"Bury the body," spake the pfalzgraf. "Give her remains all the honours due to royalty."

He then left the chamber, and was never seen to smile more. The remainder of his reign was one series of troubles consequent upon this rash act. Henry, the Raugraf, who had escaped the fate of his unfortunate mistress, went about from court to court exciting a feeling of horror and a spirit of hatred against him whom he had injured; all Germany was in commotion on account of such unheard-of severity; and the neighbouring princes of Europe hesitated not to express their abhorrence of the cruel haste with which the Pfalzgraf had proceeded in this matter. His own subjects, too, revolted at the idea of being governed by such a master; and serious discontents took rise in various parts of his territory. These were originated or fomented by the relatives of the deceased Maria, or by the friends and connexions of the Raugraf Henry, her lover; and they naturally gave Ludwig the greatest uneasiness and anxiety. To make head against them the more effectually, however, he determined on marrying again; and, will it be believed?—but who can doubt it that has read the history of Henry the Eighth of England?—he actually found a woman willing to unite herself with him. Accordingly, he espoused Matilda, daughter of Rudolph von Hapsburg, emperor of Germany; and from thenceforward, the power of that famous house prevented his foes from troubling him ever more.

It is said that he repented his precipitancy in regard to his

marriage. She had been promised to him previous to Philip's accession to the imperial throne. The assassination took place at Altenburg, near Bamberg, A. D. 1208.