If I can't venture to decide between

Rings which the father got expressly made,

That they might not be known from one another.

SAL. The rings-don't trifle with me: I must think
That the religions which I nam'd can be

Distinguished, e'en to raiment, drink, and food.

NATH. And only not as to their grounds of proof.
Are not all built alike on history,
Traditional or written? History

Must be received on trust; is it not so?

In whom now are we likeliest to put trust?

In our own people, surely; in those men

Whose blood we are; in those who, from our childhood,

Have given us proofs of love, who ne'er deceiv'd us,

Unless 'twere wholesome to be deceived.

How can I less believe in my forefathers

Than thou in thine? How can I ask of thee
To own that thy forefathers falsified

* This is the weak point, a zealot would say, the cloven foot, which deprives this celebrated fable of its chief value. It is always a dangerous attempt to represent the Deity in action; and it is strange that Lessing did not see that the father in the fable is guilty of a pious fraud, which it were the height of impiety to attribute to the Deity.-Ed.

VOL. II.

The man is in the right! I must be silent.

NATH. Now let us to our rings return once more.
As said, the sons complain'd. Each to the judge
Swore from his father's hand immediately

To have receiv'd the ring (as was the case)
After he had long obtained the father's promise,

One day to have the ring (as also was).

The father, each asserted, could to him

Not have been false: rather than so suspect

Of such a father, willing as he might be

With charity to judge his brethren, he

Of treacherous forgery was bold to accuse them.
I'm eager now to hear

SAL. Well, and the judge?

What thou wilt make him say.

Go on, go on.

NATH. The judge said, "If ye summon not the father
Before my seat, I cannot give a sentence.

Am I to guess enigmas? Or expect ye
That the true ring should here unseal its lips
But, hold!-you tell me that the true ring
Enjoys the hidden power to make the wearer
Of God and man belov'd: let that decide.
Which of you do two brothers love the best?
You're silent. Do these love-exciting rings
Act inward only, not without? Does each
Love but himself' Ye're all deceiv'd deceivers ;
None of your rings is true.
The real ring
Perhaps is gone. To hide, or to supply
Its loss, your father order'd three for one."

SAL. O charming, charming!

NATH.

"And" (the judge continued)

If will take advice in lieu of sentence,
you

This is my council to you to take up

The matter where it stands. If each of you

Has had a ring presented by his father,

Let each believe his own the real ring.

"Tis possible the father chose no longer
To tolerate the one ring's tyranny;

85

And, certainly, as he much lov'd you all,
And lov'd you all alike, it could not please him
By favouring one to be of two the oppressor.
Let each feel honor'd by this free affection,
Unwarp'd of prejudice; let each endeavour
To vie with both his brothers in displaying
The virtue of his ring; assist its might
With gentleness, benevolence, forbearance,
With inward resignation to the Godhead :
And if the virtues of the ring continue

To show themselves among your children's children
After a thousand thousand years, appear
Before this judgment-seat-a greater one

Than I shall sit upon it, and decide it."

So spake this modest judge.

THE DONAU STRUDEL; OR, THE DANUBE WHIRLPOOL.

THE Danube Whirlpool forms one of the most imposing spectacles which greet the eye of the traveller as he glides down the majestic stream from Linz to Vienna. After entering a narrow rocky pass, which affords a magnificent echo, a slight curve of the river reveals the picturesque little town of Grein, (one of the smallest and poorest in the Austrian monarchy,) with its stately castle of Greinburg. The rocks advance into the river, which is here forty-eight fathoms broad, and form the Greinerschwall. A small flag is hoisted when a vessel is ascending the stream; nor is any vessel allowed to descend until the former has passed this dangerous spot. With rapid, but noiseless rush, the waters hasten by the rocky walls; but soon a distant roar announces the first cataract of the Danube-the dreaded Strudel or Whirlpool. The rocks recede a little, and a massive rocky island, the Woerth, divides the river into two parts; on its summit stands an iron cross. In the right arm, the shallow Hoessgang, the waters flow quietly; but to the left a mighty reef