along the water. Poor Amelia, and poor Julia—it required all the collected powers of the Hon. Weldon himself to calm them. They would have fainted had they had time; but without an interval of delay another report, and another bullet scampering over the waves, arrested their attention and defeated their intention. Again another, and a fourth, and a fifth, and a sixth. The imperturbable Crypps fairly broke them in to stand fire, and he was allowed to expend as much powder as he chose for the rest of the day unmolested. The only casualty that took place occurred just as we touched land. Crypps, eager to celebrate our approach, had put in an extra charge. As it went off, the muzzle came too close upon my cheek, singed a portion of my left whisker, and so stunned my sense of hearing that I was deaf for that day, and for three weeks after.

As soon as we were fairly debarked, that is, as soon as the provisions, and cloaks, and coats, and wrappers, and over-shoes, and other things necessary for our expedition were piled in due order upon the shoulders of our guides and the diminutive droll that accompanied us, we commenced the ascent. But surely the little village-if such a cluster of pine-wood cottages, brown with age, which we entered on landing deserves the name-where we moored our boat demands some notice. How charmingly it looked, embosomed in its secluded hollow! The rocks, or rather mountains, that here hang almost perpendicularly over the lake seem to have been cleft open to let a gentle stream escape from the forest highlands, instead of falling, like so many others, headlong over some jutting ledge without being of service to man or animal. The débris, or, geologically speaking, detritus, which this rivulet brought down with it when swollen with the early melting snows, had developed into a plain of some few acres on the shore, and this, in addition to the sides of the gorge, moderately sloping at its feet, formed a delightful nook. Nature, taking advantage of the beauty of the locality, had enriched it with a fine greensward and an abundance of fruit trees; and man, following her example, seized the domain, and constructed snug châlets beneath the shade of their foliage.

Whilst I have been describing this lovely little village at which-had I the disposition of my future, I would spend many a tranquil hour-the reader must suppose our party to have advanced up the hills as far as Sigrisville, and be prepared to turn off with us from the comparatively cultivated and habited parts of this high region into the rugged, wild, path less tracts we had now to traverse.

Slowly and slowly we toiled up steep after steep. So well had we managed the hour of our departure that the dew was still heavy and chill as we proceeded. Yet the air was bracing, the sun glorious, and the view at every point animating us on. Amelia and Julia, would we could have procured a horse, a mule, or any aid of the kind for you! But we were out of the track of such beasts or such conveyance. The Alpine sheep and the chamois alone kept us company. When we had mounted the first range of rocks it was comparatively easy work, for we had to pass along on the level heights of the ridge. How grandly picturesque are the mountains from this spot! No one can conceive their beauty and grandeur who has not seen them. The principal feature is that of gigantic battlemented walls, a thousand feet perpendicular, running along for miles on either side, broken at intervals by lofty turrets; whilst the forests of fir which clothe their precipitous flanks, and overhang their summits, give them an expression at once soft and savage. Further up, we alighted upon a spot so fearfully and fantastically wild that it seemed to have been the workshop of Nature, and the mighty monoliths of broken rocks that strewed the ground, the surplus fragments of material she had used in the construction of the world. Huge boulders, some sixty or a hundred feet in girth, cast anywhere and everywhere,lofty pillars, some leaning against others, some standing alone, and so inclined that you expected to see them fail every instant,-trees stripped of their bark and rotting into touchwood, or reduced to charcoal by lightning,— deep pits and promontories jutting out over deep chasms,-such are the elements of the wondrous and weird picture which presented itself to us as we drew near the bold Rothorn. Everything wore the aspect of desolation except the little blue-eyed flowers which sprang up in every crevice, or under any shelter they could find, and smiled with exquisite beauty where all else frowned around you.

A serious matter, however, now began to agitate us. We had been labouring and toiling for many hours over rough pathways, and in vain we questioned the guides as to our proximity to the Schafloch, or ice cavern, the point of our destination. When first asked they told us it was about half an hour's march farther on. Patiently we suffered an hour to elapse before we ventured to put them through a second examination. A quarter of an hour, we were assured, would bring us to the goal. Another hour passed. In the meantime there were whisperings amongst our

conductors. One left his comrades, advanced up a rock in one direction, and then, in another, came back to his fellow, held a consultation in an undertone, moved slowly on, and after a few minutes repeated the same manœuvre. It was plain to us, their victims, that they were ignorant of the route to take. Their private conference was merely a council of war, and the digressions of the one, a reconnoitring expedition. Yet, whenever interrogated, they still persisted that we were in the right direction, and that a few minutes more would bring us in sight of the cavern. At last, the little droll, as we called him, came up to me and pointed out that the men had taken the wrong valley; that we ought to keep on the left side of a ridge of rocks instead of pursuing the right, as we did in obedience to our guides, and that, if we would trust to him, he would conduct us there in a short time. A council of war was now held on our side, at which Crypps declared the men knew no more than he did about this region, and that, though it was jolly to be in such a plight, it were unwise, considering the ladies, to continue our expedition further. This idea was seconded by myself, and unanimously adopted. Our decision was then made known to the guides. At first they demurred, asserting that they knew every inch of the ground. But this would not do for us. We were resolved, we told them, not to go a step farther. They then came to a compromise. They admitted that they had only been there once before in their lives, and that was 66 many a year agone; "that people never came to see such an out-of-the-way place; and that it was probable the droll-whom they had excluded from their councils, as other wise corporalities exclude men of knowledge from their councils-might know something about it, as he had been accustomed to look after the goats in the forests close by. This was the most satisfactory part of their speech. Here was involuntary testimony in favour of the droll; so, after another conference on our side, in which the Frenchman shrugged his shoulders prodigiously, and the German twisted the ends of his moustaches convulsively, and the alderman declared the exertion and fright he had undergone would make him eat for a mouth, we agreed to put ourselves under the leadership of our stunted "ancient," and marched on.

At last, after many groans of despair from Amelia and Julia as we wound up midway along rocks, and under rocks by a pathway hardly safe for a cat, we turned suddenly round a sharp angle of the mountain, and, to our great joy and surprise, the mouth of the cavern gaped before us.

The Schafloch, or ice cavern, the object of our expedition, is situated about two-thirds up the side of a nearly perpendicular mountain, some three thousand feet high, which flanks the valley of the Justis-Thal. A visit to this extraordinary place is amply repaid, and though the toil and fatigue to reach it are considerable, they are wonderfully soon forgotten when once you are safely ensconced in front of this spacious vault, especially if you have, as we had, an ample déjeuner à la fourchette quickly spread out before us by the guides. It is unnecessary to give the bill of fare, or the quantity of good warm things-I mean, of course, of an alcoholic character-we | took internally to preserve us against the cold that was likely to attack us externally. The 1 reader must now suppose us to have chanted the post-prandial grace, and lighted our waxcandles and torches ready for our descent into the jaws of this Alpine Gehenna. He must also understand that this cavern is by no means a small one; the entrance itself is at least fifty feet wide by thirty feet high, and these dimensions rapidly and considerably increase as the cavern deepens.

We entered first of all a vast vestibule, cut out of the living stone, but so ruggedly and unevenly that boulders threatened to fall down from its gigantic ceiling at every step we took. The floor is no less uneven than the ceiling. This hall was still lighted with the light of day, but so feebly that the gloom, it ought properly to be called, was in perfect harmony with the place, From the vestibule we turned off to the left into a continuation of the chasm which became dark as Erebus, and in a moment we experienced a striking difference of temperature. Outside it was a bright, hot July day; in the entrance there were a restrained warmth and a modified cold. We had no sooner descended into this spacious subterranean gallery than a dull, heavy Cimmerian chill seized upon our limbs, and we had need of all the cloaks, coats, wrappers, and comforters we could amass. However, we found this state of the atmosphere in some degree relieved by the exercise it cost us in clambering over steep sharp blocks of stone, or every now and then slipping down into an unperceived hole, or nearly wrenching off a foot by jamming it in a narrow cleft of the ground into which we had accidentally trodden.

This charming pavement—an admirable place of penance for bare-footed pilgrims-continued for about three or four hundred feet, when we came upon a still more delightful flooring of smooth ice, interrupted here and there by projecting noses of rock, and so admirably inclined as to render it impossible for the most

upright of mortals to maintain his equilibrium. It was equally dangerous to attempt to slide down this crystal surface, for at the bottom of it the floor rounded off abruptly into a watery gulf, the Tartarean depth of which the guides assured us had never been fathomed.

However, we were not to be daunted by the dread of unfathomable abysses, especially as to penetrate into the farthest recesses of this cavern was the object of our excursion. Columbus on the Atlantic was our model; so one after another we put foot on this treacherous platform, and happily found that by taking due precaution we need not slide more than a yard or so at a time. In this manner we eventually arrived on to a ledge of rocks that broke through the ice, and again we stood on terra firma. The darkness and fear passed away, for we had rekindled our extinguished torches and courage, and were prepared to take a full survey of the new stage to which we were advanced. Let no one say that the sight we now beheld was not worth all the risk and labour we had undergone. By the combined light of our torches and candles, we beheld a vast number of transparent columns descending from the roof to the floor. They were of different dimensions. As they approached the ground they increased considerably in size, assuming the shape and proportions of crystal pavilions. A beautiful filigree-work and sometimes a series of transparent pinnacles ornamented the exterior of these subterranean kiosques, which sparkled in the rays of our torches and reflected all the hues of the rainbow. These little palaces, I found by breaking open the side of one of them, were hollow, and capable of containing four or five persons. Nothing would do but we must improvise a general illumination on the largest scale; so all the available ends of wax-candles were brought into requisition, and the indefatigable Crypps lit up the interior brilliantly in an incredibly short time. The enchantment was now complete. We might have fancied ourselves dropped down into fairy-land but for the darkness, chill, and silence without.

When we had gratified our curiosity sufficiently in this quarter we proceeded to the farther end of the cavern, or at least as far as we thought it prudent, to ascertain where the flooring of ice rounded off into the abyss of unfathomable water we heard trickling below. Like a true Briton the Hon. Weldon Crypps was bent on experimentalising; so, having taken some large stones with him, he began hurling them into the profound mystery. Presently a heavy double-bass gurgle issued forth with ominous depth of voice, indicating

the danger of further progress. Having thus ascertained that if either of us ventured farther he would most probably not return by the way he went, the signal of retreat was given, and in about forty minutes after encountering the same amusing difficulties which had enlivened our descent, Eneas-like we gained the upper air,-by no means, as Crypps humorously observed, agreeing with him that

Facilis descensus Caverni.

We then made our way through the JustisThal-it took us four hours, by-the-by-to our boat, and arrived at Thun shortly after sunset, having taken fifteen hours to accomplish what a guide-book facetiously calls-a morning's walk. HAROLD KING.

Her

LEGENDS OF CHARLEMAGNE'S CITY. No. VII.-FASTRADA'S RING. HILDEGARDE had gone to her God. husband had mourned her, and then raised another to her vacant place. This third wife of his was Fastrada, daughter of Rudolf, a Frankish count. She was married to Charlemagne at Worms in 783. She had not Hildegarde's noble heart, nor her sweet and loving nature; but the young bride's dazzling beauty, liveliness, and wit, made her perfect mistress of her husband's heart. Her lightest wish was his law. Even the squabblings, bickerings, and feuds with which her petulance filled his court failed to shake his love and fealty to this spoiled and malicious beauty. Stern as he was, he humoured her with a criminal weakness which made her doubly capricious and overbearing. Still he was wilfully blind. In the midst of his dream of love and bliss, death tore the blooming lady from his arms. She drooped and died at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, after nine short years of wedlock. Her husband's anguish was unutterable. He who faced death and disaster without flinching, who had borne all other woes with kingly dignity, now seemed to have lost his manhood and his

faith. He gave way to such frenzied paroxysms of despair, that his faithful followers thought grief had driven him well-nigh crazy. Night and day he watched beside the corpse; they could not tear him from it. He seemed to fancy that life must come back to the senseless clay. He called on her name without ceasing; sometimes he would cry out, "She is not dead, but sleeping," and stare wildly into the blank faces of the living, into the still, white face of the dead. He could not be induced to seek his lonely pillow, he loathed the sight of food and drink, and when his paladins besought him to let them bury the remains, they actually quailed before his fury. He swore that she

He had ever loved and respected good Archbishop Turpin as one of the trustiest of his councillors; but since the prelate had got hold of the ring, he would hardly suffer him a moment out of his sight. This influence became so great, that the man of God actually trembled at the extent of his own secret sway. He had ever exerted it for the weal of church and state, never to forward any private interests of his own; still he foresaw the terrible consequences that might ensue, were the talisman to pass into other and less scrupulous hands. Long and anxious meditation convinced him that he had best rid himself of the gem and its load of cares, and thus also prevent others from becoming possessed of it. He long sought his opportunity, and chance favoured him at last. He had accompanied the Emperor to his huntingseat, raised on the site of the ruins of Ephen, just beside Aix-la-Chapelle.

would waken from her trance, and, as if to bear him out, corruption seemed to have spared the beauty of the dead. He was lean and frightful to behold,-so wan with grief and fasting. None dared to meddle with him, he looked so like a phantom from the world of gloom, so haggard, gaunt, and hollow-eyed; now raging like a maniac at those who would have lured him away, now plaintively calling on the muchloved name. Even good Archbishop Turpin, who heretofore had never spoken in vain, was unheeded. Men feared that not only the Emperor's reason but his very life was in jeopardy. In this hour of distress the good archbishop and the sorrowing dwellers in the palace wearied Heaven with prayers, and God, came to their aid at last. Turpin slept, and in the small hours of the night a vision revealed to him the secret spell that enthralled his master, body and soul. He saw the corpse and the watcher, and a ring plaited in the shining tresses that mocked the death-pallor with their golden gleam. He knew by intuition that in the gem lay the magic bond between the living and the dead. He suddenly awoke, fell on his knees, gave glory to God, and stole on tiptoe to the death-chamber. The weary watcher never heeded him; he stooped down over the corpse, trembling; he lifted the silken tresses one moment, and the ring was in his hand. That instant Charlemagne started as from a troubled dream, and, shuddering, faced the bitter reality. He saw, he owned, that she who was the joy of his life was indeed gone from him, and he bore it like a man. listened to the holy man's words of resignation, threw himself on his bosom, and wept aloud. These grey-haired men wept together, and of his own accord, Charlemagne followed the prelate from the death-chamber. He ordered Fastrada to be wrapped in purple and gold, and carried with unheard-of pomp to Mayence, and buried there right royally in the abbey church of St. Alban, where he erected a splendid tomb to her memory. No mention is made of his having attended her funeral. Perhaps he could not bear to hear the clay rattle on the coffin that held all he loved best on earth.

He

Great was the joy of his people when they saw him issue once more from the gloomy portals of his castle, and ride once more through the streets of Frankfort. All the time of his infatuation, the neglected business of the state had accumulated, and now he set to work to put all to rights. In his gloomy castle of Ingelheim he plodded through the business of his realm, striving to stifle the pangs of bereavement in the manifold cares of state, thus to deaden his ceaseless regret for the bewitching woman whom he could never forget.

The castle stood in the midst of a little lake. One morning Turpin stole away from his master's side, dropped in the ring, and the blue waters closed on it for ever. From that hour a mystic tie bound Charlemagne to the spot. He had always liked the city he had created. Henceforth he loved it better than any spot on earth. He never slept out of his hunting-seat, unless imperatively summoned away by the most urgent calls of business; and each return endeared it more and more. No matter how far away he had to go, the magic gem, sparkling unseen in the waters of Ephen, brought him back again. Towards the end of his days the Castle of Ephen was his favourite refuge from the cares of state. For whole hours at a time he would sit under the shady trees looking down into the still water. Men said his brain was busy recreating the eventful past-the bloody wars, the glorious triumphs of his prime-the hours of fleeting rapture passed within those very walls with Fastrada by his side.

A modern manor-house, called Frankensberg, is built on the old foundations of his castle. The lake, though hardly larger than a mill-pond, is beautifully still and clear and deep. They say the magic ring yet lies where Turpin cast it, buried in the lake's unruffled depths. I saw the spot in the early spring time, and can well excuse my good old author's rapture when the professor exclaims in rolling long-worded periods, "When the bright spring time gladdens all the land, and trees are green with tender leaves, and meadows gay with flowers; when nightingales warble in the budding woods around, then let the weary wanderer seek this spell-haunted spot, and let him, like Imperial Charlemagne, suffer the balm of God's own lovely nature to soothe this life's gnawing cares."