a legion beside, have ever made Germany their most favoured abode! Yes, there will I direct my course; too late indeed to see the midnight revels on the summit of the Brocker, but not too late to view the enchanted tower of Scharzfeld, the moon-light wolf-hunts of Stiege, the magic stones of Reinstein, and to hear the terrific horn of the wild Jazer, who is fated to ride with fiends through the Harz Forests, until time shall be no more! As Zetla is a place so distant from the seats of learning, and so cut off as it were from all intercourse with other countries, it may be a matter of surprise how I became acquainted with the principal superstitions of the Germans; although it will readily be imagined how they became fixed in my memory after they were once made known to me. The truth however is, that my early life, when it was not engaged in more active pursuits, much resembled those of Edwin very in Beattie's Minstrel, and Brian, the wizard Priest of a later poet. In the first instance, the words of the former bard were almost a paraphrase of those uttered by the inhabitants of the Zetland Isles, at my study, abstraction, and variable disposition, from all which causes I received the name of Raymond

the Romantic.

"He was no vulgar boy, Deep thought oft seem'd to fix his infant eye.

Dainties he heeded not, nor gaud, nor toy, Save one short pipe of rudest minstrelsy; Silent when glad; affectionate, though

shy;

And now his look was most demurely sad; And now he laugh'd aloud, though none knew why.

The neighbours star'd and sigh'd, and bless'd the lad;

Some deem'd him wondrous wise, and some believ'd him mad."

In the second place, my studies, although of a nature far superior even to those of the most learned in Zetland, were frequently blended with that mystic and unprofitable kind of love, which, while it is wholly founded in error, nevertheless leads us onward shuddering as we read, to pursue it through all its abstract details, till the mind receives a strong and invincible attachment for the mysterious, the romantic, and the wonderful. I had, even at an early age, become acquainted with the library of

an old German alchemist of North-Maven, in which I found an astonishing collection of ancient authors on magic, from Albumazar, Cornelius Agrippa, and Albertus Magnus, down to Scott, Founan, and Lilly. With such a mind, then, and with such an opportunity of gratifying it, it will be conceived with what ardour I perused

"Whatever tells

Of magic, cabala, and spells, And every dark pursuit allied To curious and presumptuous pride." Such were the means by which I was led to a close acquaintance with the literature of superstition.

I could not describe, if indeed it were relevant to the story, the journey which I made from Paris to the tower of Goslar, in Hanover; since according to those feelings which I have already attempted to delineate, the time and space which intervened, I passed over like a feverish trance, wherein many images rise before us, but none that remain fixed on the memory, or convey any instruction to the mind. In compliance with the usual custom, I provided myself at Goslar, with a miner's habit for the convenience of descending and examining the Silver Mines at Zellerfeld. This consisted of a short dark-coloured coat, with trowsers of the same nature, dark brown leathern boots, and a low fur cap. The machines and engines, connected with the Mines, are spread out for a vast extent above the ground, and are girdled in either by a series of bleak and barren hills, or else by the gloomy verdure of a part of the ancient Hercynian Forest, whose grandest remains are to be found in the Harz District. It was then, on the morning of a day unusually dreary and overclouded, that I advanced towards the gassel, or out-works of the Zellerfeld Silver Mines, in search of a guide to conduct me into their depths, and through the many chambers into which they are divided. As I arrived at the place, there met me one habited in the manner I have already described, and bearing a miner's gad or pickaxe upon his shoulder. His appearance, which of itself was sufficiently rude and ferocious, was rendered yet more so by such a dress; while from beneath the miner's cap there looked out a face of a swarthy red colour, wearing a sarcastic scowl, and, shaded by long locks of hair, musta

chios, and beard of a ruddy brown hue. I shall never have forgotten that face, even if it had not been connected with my extraordinary adventures at Zellerfeld; for one so perfect in cunning, so marked with misanthropy, so wild in expression, and yet wearing such a careless and contemptuous smile, (though I have looked upon and studied some thousands of faces,)I have never seen before, nor shall I ever look upon again. From Hans Sebastian Helevig, the old German alchemist already mentioned, I had acquired in my youthful days a knowledge, not only of the sacred and classical languages, but also of several of the modern tongues, and more especially of those which are connected with the dialect of the Zetland Isles; namely, the Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and German, so that it was without difficulty that I understood and entered into discourse with this mysterious, but to me interesting stranger. As we approached nearer each other, I heard that he was singing a portion of an ancient ballad in praise of Germany, made as I should suppose about the time of the Emperor Maximilian I. "Oh! Germany, oh! Germany,

Thy name afar is known;
The land that sprites and chivalry
Have destin'd for their own:
And glory through thy country shines,
And glory is below,

For no such court, and no such mines The world again can shew!" "Hail friend!" said I, as he drew near me, "I am searching for a guide to the Mines; will you become my conductor?”

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Aye, if you bear a stout heart and a steady head," replied the miner; "for I care not to show the Treasury of Zellerfeld to a coward or an idiot."

"Fear not me," I answered, "whereever you can lead I can follow; I have been in equal hazards ere now, though I am not of Germany.”

"Come on then," was the unceremonious answer, "and if seeing the wonders of the earth-caves can delight you,

As he spoke, a scowling kind of smile passed over his countenance, such as would well have suited the very being he had spoken of; however, it was now too late to recede, and we advanced towards the Mine-works together. There are three different ways of entering the Silver Mines of Zellerfeld; the first is by what is there called an adit, which is a long and large trench, constructed of timber, used for carrying off the waters, admitting the air, and removing the poisonous metallic vapours so common in those places. The second way of going into the Mines is by a series of short ladders, leading down the shaft to the galleries beneath; and at the foot of each of these, are a few boards placed as a stage to rest upon. The third method, which is by far the least fatiguing, and which I adopted, the better to examine the earth in my descent, is by one of the cars or buckets which bring up the ore, and which are raised and lowered by means of a horseengine, under the conical Gapel which is built above the Mine-pit. Before we entered the car, my guide procured a lighted flambeau from the men, who were stationed at the top of the Mine to manage the horse; and then stepping into the basket, which hung freely in the air over an obscure and immense abyss, he motioned to me to follow him. It was with my usual feelings of a delightful, yet hazardous and uncommon enterprise, that I took my place beside Rudenfranck in the bucket; and as soon as we were both seated, he began to sing in a loud and rude voice, which was fearfully reverberated from all sides of the gulf, and which was answered with corresponding tones by those whom we had left above.

Ruden frank. First Miner Rudenfrank.

First Miner.

Rudenfrank.

First Miner.

The flame of Rudenfranck's torch gleamed ruddily upon the variously coloured strata, that appeared in the earth as we descended; while the light, which showed through the top of the shaft, soon decreased to a star, and at length vanishing wholly away, we were left in the most terrific darkness. As we lost the perception of light, we also lost the power of distinguishing sounds, for I no longer heard the hoarse voicǝ of the shaft-man echoed down the cavity. As we continued to go still lower, I could occasionally perceive that Rudenfranck's torch showed many a beautiful piece of micaceous ore; and sometimes it appeared as though my sight penetrated, through the earth, to a mass of treasure glowing in the more remote parts of the rocky chasm. Sometimes too, and that at a great depth from the surface of the ground, I saw the roots of various kinds of forest-trees; which here and there thrust out an arm, and which looked as if they had been hurled downwards to their present station, either when the Harz Forest was first taken by the German Emperors, or at the universal deluge which overthrew all things. Such appearances made me turn to my guide for an explanation, and he replied in the following terms:

"Zellerfeld Silver Mine was discovered in 1070. It stands six miles to the south south-west of Goslar, in the Principality of Grubenhagen, and the circle of Lower Saxony. All men know that this Mine is one of the richest in Westphalia, since silver to the yearly amount of 20,000 crowns is coined out of its bowels but few besides yourself have seen, that, in its yet unknown chambers, there is gold enough to make the poorest miner in the Harz richer than all the kings of the earth. Sometimes, the spirits who make the metals, show them to strangers; and sometimes they mock and frighten them by throwing a handful of red-hot gold at them. As for these trees, they came here when the German Freebooters and the Forest Geister (Forest Ghosts) were the only inhabitants of the Black Forest, when revels, and murders, and phantoms,

and demons, and men who were more than either led, the poor earth such a life as she has not yet recovered: and now the proverb goes, that "there's more wood underground in Rammelsburg, than in all the city of Goslar."

We had now been descending for a considerable time, and I was in continual expectation of arriving at the termination of our journey, when the noise of several impetuous torrents broke upon my hearing. Although these falling waters seemed to surround us on every side, they were unseen, but their roaring and dashing encreasing every moment; I began to feel that it was possible that my guide might deserve the diabolical name, which his companions had given him, and that he being really a fiend in a human form, had lured me into these deeps, and was now about to recompense my unlawful curiosity by dashing me down the mineshaft, or by hurling me into the subterranean waterfalls. When'these fears were at their height, the bucket suddenly stopped, and we passed under a large dark arch where Rudenfranck extinguished his torch, and we were left in the Zellerfeld caverns without a sparkle of light. It was scarcely a moment from the putting out of the torch, which left us in the most impenetrable darkness, to our suddenly entering a large and splendid hall, surrounded by arches of rock glittering most brilliantly with silver mica, and filled with innumerable lights, which show so effulgently in the metallic chamber, that I was unable to look with steadiness upon the glorious spectacle. Around the hall were several spacious galleries containing multitudes of miners at work, with each his light before him glowing in the ore which he was digging, and refracting a variety of prismatic colours in the metallic rock. Through the floor of the hall ran a stream of clear water, which showed in its dark mirror the whole scene in all its glories: nor did the place appear like a fairy palace, all beauty and wretchedness, and loveliness, and silence; for there was a complete subterranean city, in which men and

cattle were employed as actively and as naturally, as ever I beheld them upon the upper ground. In this Silver City of Zellerfeld, there were also fires and lamps placed in the avenues or streets which led from the grand square to the miner's dwellings, and the various houses of entertainment, which were established there; and as these buildings were at the time when I visited the Mine, constructed of the same micaceous rock as the Mine itself, the beauties of the place seemed unbounded and inconceivable. Nor let any one suppose that this subterraneous region was silent. No! for independently of the continual sound of the workmens' gads striking against the rocks, there were also to be heard the song, the shout, the jest, and the tale echoed back from the various bands of miners who were at work in the different galleries; and the rushing sound of the distant waterfalls, gave a romantic and pleasing harmony to the whole.

When I had for some time looked upon this scene in silence, my guide drew me on one side, and said in an undertone :

"Well, now if you've the courage you spake of: descend with me down yonder chasm, and I'll show you a Mine as much beyond this, as the Castle of Sondershausen is beyond a shepherd's hovel."

"What," returned I, "is not this then the famous Mine of Zellerfeld? Where then is the other?"

"Below the mortal earth," replied Rudenfranck sarcastically, "where should it be? Did not the Dwarfs fly there for safety, when the Black Forest was invaded? and do not they make the metals which these slaves toil after, to make slaves of ten thousand more?" "In the name of Heaven," cried I with fervour," who art thou, who art so familiar with this race of spiritual beings?"

"That matters not," replied he, "but come, make your election-descend Raymond Mortlake, where no foot ever yet descended, or lose the only chance Heaven will afford you of gratifying your unbounded curiosity. There's not another miner in all Germany can show you what I can."

His decided manner, his addressing me by my name, the consciousness which I had that he must be a spiritual being, and the novelty of my situation,

all together completely overcame me, and I sank down in a fainting fit on the floor of the Mine. Upon recovering my senses, from the bright light which shone around me, I thought that I was still in the Great Chamber of the Zellerfeld Silver Mine; but after a short time, I discovered that it was not only a perfectly different place, but also that it was occupied by à different race of beings. The apartment, if so I may call it, into which I had been conveyed, was formed of solid polished silver, disposed in the most elegant arches, columns, pillars, and galleries; while, in the interstices of the architecture, there appeared all the many varieties of silver which is found in the earth. There might be seen the capillary silver, spreading out its long slender stems from a rich vase, placed in a niche: then there was the arborescent, or tree silver, flourishing in large branches in a whole garden formed of the same precious shrubs: the gauze, or spider's web silver was hung in rich curtains behind the arches of the hall; while native silver in rock, and micaceous silver ore, and silver dust, lay piled in large and glittering treasuries on every side On one side of the hall there appeared to be a large laboratory, in which, on entering, I found a multitude of swarthy deformed Dwarfs; all employed in combining, analysing, and melting, roasting, washing, and boiling the pure silver, with earths of various descriptions. Furnaces, crucibles, mortars, mills, and engines of all sorts, were being actively worked by these subterranean Alchemists; and flames of a thousand different colours were seen rising from their fires. There were also many other Dwarfs, seemingly of a different species, who were dispatched from time to time either with loads of new-made ore, or else with a thick white veil shaped like a balloon, with which they ascended, and soon after caused it to explode in the air. Sometimes these inferior Dwarfs rose in a thin envelope of pale flame, which we also heard to explode; and sometimes they would mount upward, bearing a piece of ignited ore, which would exhale such poisonous metallic fumes, that they almost caused me to fall down in a state of suffocation. The whole of these processes were conducted in profound silence; nay, even the very action of the machines, the grinding, the