LINES On hearing certain Protestations made by Sir C— P— IF, dearest doctor, when you swore, The splendours of that Sunday face; But you no sooner Heaven defy, And your bag-wig with pomp unfurls A larger flow of tie, and thicker groves of curls. "As I'm a knight-upon my sword- And easy Venus laughs within her sleeve. "Tis this points out to fathers sage Hence, mothers learn with stricter care M. HALLOWE'EN IN GERMANY, OR THE WALPURGIS NIGHT. Communicated by the Baron Reichart von Versmacher, of Crackkenburg; and translated by a Student of the University of Gottingen. PART THE FIRST. It seems to be a superstition common to all nations, to suppose that there is a period in every year when the foul spirits of another world are set at liberty to hold a solemn festival in this, together with demons, fiends, magicians, wizards, witches, and goblins of every description. Thus the ancients had the anniversaries of the gods Lares in May; the Dii Manes met every night, as well as the powerful wizards of Norway; the American Indians and Hottentots believed that the spirits of the dead rode on the storm, and that foul demons were let loose upon the moon during an eclipse. In Europe, and more especially in Britain, ghosts were at liberty on the second of November, or All Souls' Day. But it would be occupying too large a space to mention the times of these supernatural festivals throughout the world, and I shall therefore confine myself to one nation, and to one story. Our sprites in Germany follow the custom of the ancient ghosts mentioned above; and meet in the spacious forests of the Harz, on the night of the first of May. It may well be supposed, that few mortals have ever broken in upon so unearthly and solemn an assembly; but, however, some have dared to do so, principally fe males, and various motives have been assigned for their extraordinary courage. The most elaborate and authentic records of Lienalle, whence the subsequent history has been extracted, contain the accounts of those who have ventured upon so hazardous an expedition, with the reasons which caused it; for our wizards and demons, although, like the English fairies, very courteous to such as enter their assembly to seek their friendship and assistance, never fail to revenge any other attempt to disturb their midnight orgies. In the said records we find it written, that they were chiefly women who have gone to the Harz forest on the first of May, or as it is here called, the Walpurgis night: some of these went from curiosity, a great many from vanity, several because the curate preached against it, and a very few from fervent love, and more exalted motives. From these volumes we also learn, that the old Baroness von Frumpenfrau went to inquire whether it would ever be her fortune to enter the matrimonial estate, as, being near sixty, her charms were already on the wane, and there was no time to be lost. The young and volatile Suzanne Romperlass went for a cordial by which her old grandmother might be quieted, while she stole out with Leopold Swaggerhuff, the hussar, upon their moonlight rambles; and the curious Leonor del Spiegel went for no other reason, than that she desired to see what they were like, who met on the Harz mountain, and because she had heard that of all places that was the most to be avoided. The registers of Lienalle do not state how each of these persons was received by the supernatural assembly, but simply remark, that the first was carried away by a black trooper on the anniversary of the Walpurgis night; the second was executed for poisoning her grandmother, after being deserted by Swaggerhuff; and the third was found three days afterwards tied to a pine tree on the very summit of the Blockberg mountain, half dead with fright, cold, hunger, and fatigue. From these, and from many other instances recorded in the Lienalle manuscript, it has been discovered, that whether the Harz spirits were friendly or adverse, such adventures always ended in sorrow, often in disgrace, and sometimes in death. There are, however, a few narratives preserved in that worshipful authority which are not only freed from the character of a depraved heart, so evident in those above quoted, but which are actually interesting and beautiful. In some, the visit to the Harz was excited by all the fer 44 vency of the most devoted love, and the unbounded ardour of the purest friendship: but these also partook of the same character of misfortune; it was an evil communication unworthy of such divine feelings, and therefore the swiftest retribution followed it, as carrying with it the most indulgent atonement. The last person who went to the Harz mountain on a Walpurgis night, was of this latter class; and as her story partook more of the tender and interesting strain than any of the former, the Lienalle manuscript has preserved a fuller account of it. In addition to this, it is remembered in many of the Harz towns, such as Altenau, Blankenburg, Grubenhagen, and Harzgerode, and from some of the inhabitants of those parts I have been able to gather many additional and curious particulars, which are inserted in their proper places. Before commencing, I have only to remark, that since that time the young females of the Harz district will never venture over the mountains, nor into the forest, on the first of May, or the Walpurgis night. The little village of Harzburg lies about one mile to the north of the town of Altenau, which is seated almost in the centre of the Harz district, between the Brocken and Blockberg mountains. The place, at the period of which we write, greatly resembled those villages, or rather groupes of houses, with which we are acquainted in the curious and earlier works of the French and German engravers. Tall narrow cottages, rudely erected of planks, rose up amidst dark groves of pine and fir, while their bases were covered with white brushwood to a considerable height. The fronts of these buildings towered in ascending battlements above the short and narrow sloping roofs which appeared thatched or plastered behind them. At the outer parts were placed a slight wooden staircase, leading up to the higher apartments of the house, which were entered by a tall and narrow door, screened from the mountain blast, by a rude planked canopy and portico. The windows were simply apertures left in the buildings, without any attempt at glazing, and divided only by ill-shaped wooden beams. The fences around these cottages were formed of singled stakes, wattled together by osier wands, with a tall and upright fir door, covered with a single plank as a roofing. Nor were these buildings clustered together like the houses of a village, but scattered and interspersed with trees and dark foliage, which were occasionally relieved by the naked trunks and tops of blasted pines; while beneath many of their lower fragments were left undisturbed in the ground. From these cottages, which were generally situated on high and rocky ridges and crags, were narrow pathways, rudely formed between two banks, which led higher up into the intricacies of the darkest paths of the forest. The pathway gradually wound downward into the common road, which passed through the wood; and in the winter season the rains descended with such force from these eminences, that all communication between the cottagers' dwellings seemed cut off. At one end of this straggling village stood the church, which differed but little from the other buildings, except in having a tall and narrow round tower, covered with a short cone terminating in a spire, and ornamented with several small arched and unglazed windows. The curate of this silent and retired village was named Conrad von Fuddlemann, of whom it was always understood that he preferred a flask of Rhenish to the Commentaries of the most learned German theologists, and the stove side in the parlour of the Wilhelm Tell, to the interior of the church at Harzburg. Indeed, he ten times a day lamented that his lot was cast on so wild, so barren, and so alarming a spot; and if it had not been for the consolations above-mentioned, it may fairly be doubted if the good pastor had not vacated his curacy, and left his flock on the Harz mountains to feed and provide for themselves. "What!" would von Fuddlemann say, as he reflected upon his situation, "What! shall I who was brought up under the tuition of the learned von Thrashentaillen, and afterwards matriculated at the college of Duntzendunder, shall I waste in this desolate, remote, and haunted district the know |