majesty's fleet during the late war, one hundred whereof will, from time to time, be entitled to half-pay during their being out of employment a-shoar, according to their seniorities and his majesty's establishment in that behalf." This list contains the names of three hundred officers. The list of lieutenants of the present day amounts to no less than two thousand seven hundred! all of whom are entitled to halfpay "during the period of their being out of employment a-shoar," which a vast proportion have been ever since the peace of 1815. And so for the present concludes this yarn, "WORKED UP from OLD JUNK.”

THE CONSECRATION OF KING HENRY'S WEAPONS.
(From the German of Gustav Schwab.)

BY JOHN OXENFORD.

THE young King Henry lay asleep,
At Goslau, in the chamber deep.
The doors were fast, no living sound
Through the long hall its passage found,
No whisp'ring breath of man might
creep ;-

The young King Henry lay asleep.

Commands of silence are but weak
When God the Lord in heaven would
speak.

The wind is whistling through the halls;
The rain against the window falls;
The sultry day its weight, at last,
In pealing thunder-claps has cast.

On tiptoe all the servants creep-
They will not venture yet to peep.
"Will not the storm his slumbers
break?"

"Tis not for them their king to wake,
Till through the house the thunder peals,
And with its crash the chamber fills.

The monarch's danger stirs the throng,
The pallid servants flock along.
The noise of rain is heard no more,
No more is heard the thunder's roar.
No other sound the ear can meet
Than clang of mail and tramp of feet.

The folding-door they ope with fear,
Fast closed has been their monarch's ear.
His eye is shut, with slumber drunk ;*
As when first on the pillow sunk,
Is laid in peace his youthful head;
His yellow locks are o'er it spread.

Above his bed the shield and sword
The ravage of the storm record.
As in a furnace melts the blade,
A shapeless mass the shield is made.
Through sheath and steel the lightning's
force,

Darting, had mark'd its burning course.

The servants stare-the king awakes,
And through the mist of slumber breaks.
Scarce at his weapons has he gazed-
He sees their alter'd form, amazed.
But soon the cause he can divine:
"Great God!" he says, "the work was
thine!

"I thought that I could hear thy song,
Great Armorer!-thy hammer strong-
That I could see the leather tann'd†
The iron temper'd by thy hand-
Within thine armory I seem'd
To stand-so boldly have I dream'd!"

Quick from his couch the monarch
sprung,

His hammer in his hand he swung;
With mighty din the sword he beat-
What God begun he would complete.
The blade he fashion'd while 'twas warm,
And to the shield restored its form.

For many years the crown he bore,
And many were the robes he wore,
And many helms his forehead press'd,
And many plates bedeck'd his breast,
Yet ne'er he changed that shield or sword,
Given in the storm by God the Lord,

Still in the sixty-second fight,
The sword is with the lightning bright,
Still on the sixty-second field,
Guards him the lightning-temper'd shield;
The sword and shield still flame as

new,

The sword and shield are ever true.

By thunder dubb'd, the knight was made.
When in his coffin he was laid,
Upon the bier, his kingly crown
Seem'd pallid as his air had grown;
Yet sword and shield like sunshine
gleam'd-

The image of his youth they beam'd.

Schlummertrunken.-J. O.

+ The leather for the sword-sheath. The reader must not be offended at the occasional homeliness of the legend, which is in perfect accordance with the naïve spirit prevailing throughout. -J. O.

MAGINN.

I LOVED Inez-but it was with a libertine love. With what other could I deal? What wanted the man of books, and science, and abstruse mysteries, and the midnight converse with the heavens, and space, and all its winged habitants, to do with a wife? The supposition seemed ridiculous, and I discarded it for ever in the very instant of its birth. I resolved to pursue and gratify my wishes, no matter in what ruin they involved either her or myself. She was the load-star of my soul; she drew me onward to the consummation, whether I would or not. With all the art of which I was master-with every aid from science or from herb, that my universal knowledge had given to me, I wooed her, and at length was delighted to find the vivid impression I had made on her young heart. Nor is it to be wondered that I, who had subdued immortal spirits to my will, should, by subtlety and skill, triumph over one of earth. I had, then, won her heart; she owned her love to me so bewitchingly, and yet with so rosy a pudency, that if aught of female mould could have touched my bosom to the quick, she it must have been; she failing, not a world of attractions could succeed. And once assured that the love between us was reciprocally strong-reciprocally pure-her bliss knew no bounds; and I believe she was as perfectly happy as it is possible for worm-doomed flesh to be. How full of exquisite enchantment were our wanderings on the land, in the delicious evenings of Venice and its picturesque suburbs our sail upon the blue waters of the Adriatic, or upon the unbroken bosoms of the canals! How sweet the luxury to recline in my gondola, with her soft cheek pillowed on my heart! how exquisite to listen to her words of love, and read in her fount-like eyes how deeply I was adored! The hours we passed on the waters, amid song, and sunlight, and music!-never shall they pass away from my recollection. O, bright and peerless soul! whither hast thou gone? Art thou playing about me in the sunbeam?-revisitest thou me in the stellar rays of night? Is thy throne on roses in heaven? or art thou doomed to wretchedness for thy devotion unto me? Or am I-Inez, beautiful spirit! tell me-am I indeed the object of thy hate? Now thou dost know the false delusions of philosophy which led me astray, filling me with haughtiness, and, alas! rending me eternally from thee. Or shall we ever meet again, and know and love, as if nothing had happened to mar our Eden bliss? O thought of ecstasy!

Many and many a time, in my lonely midnight watchings amid the eternal Alps, have I thought of summoning her soul from the cerements of the tomb, and adjuring her, by the name which she dare not resist, to tell me of her present condition. Often have I started up, the spell half muttered on my lips, my whole being trembling with madness-passion-curiosity-what you will; but lo an uncontrollable power always pulled me back, and the fragrant air of morn has been round about me when I wakened from my swoon, half-conscious, half-sceptical of my wild, unhallowed resolution. And so I live on, still unsatisfied, still miserable. Many a shape of splendour I behold interwoven with my dreams—but she cometh not to brighten them. From the deep caverns of the ocean I have seen them ascend in countless multitudes-figures of enchanting loveliness, with eyes of fire and snow-white wings, but she is not of them. The green forests I have watched peopled with aerial forms, who shun me, even while they appear to court, and speak to me with their eloquent looks, but still no Inez do I see flashing amid that ethereal crowd. And yet I feel, methinks, as if she were always near me now, but never have I been able to pierce the veil around, and discover my companion. Why else, my friend, am I absorbed in thoughts of her? How else am I distracted from the golden words of wisdom or poesy which my books unfold? Alone, or in a crowd, of her still I dream. Solitude cannot keep away the thought, nor busy multitudes arouse my mind from its meditations. Who is he that dares to talk to me of the soul's annihilation? I tell thee I have met such men-say rather fools-but never deigned to argue with them on their mad fantasy. Who is he that dares to talk to me of the annihilation of her? Shew him to me and I will not argue with him, but act. Sooner shall I believe that the morning star shineth not. Was this broad and beautiful earth made, then, for brutes? Was it adorned with flowers, and enriched with fruits, decorated with every attraction to fascinate the eye, with lake and landscape, with forests and valleys, merely that a perishing beast called man should tread upon it, and enjoy it for a little while? Was the glorious sun made to light it, and the moon and stars to watch it in the night, and the golden cope of heaven drawn around it, and the million constellations that glitter in the zodiac, put there to serve and to gratify a spiritless mass of flesh, who claimed kindred with the earth alone, and not with all those fair and divine creations? Out upon the men who say these things! I tell thee that such have never loved-have never lost one in whom their heart's affection was treasured. How know I but that I, too, might have been fooled by this incredible creed of annihilation, if I had not known her? Would the Intelligence I possess have saved me from it? Alas! may it not be his interest to deceive? But I am digressing-my brain wanders. Let me pause for a momentbut a moment. The pang is gone!

And had the attendant Spirit given me by the Fates been idle or indifferent all this while? Had he in any way assisted my desires-promoted my wishes-advanced my suit? Yes. To him I had from the beginning entrusted its chief management, and by him it was materially served. In almost every possible earthly shape, the Spirit had thrown himself in the way of Inez, and in all made me the theme of his praise. Now as a young girl of some neighbouring hamlet would

hé sigh into the ear of Inez that he wished fate had given him a lover such as it had allotted to her. Now as an old priest he counselled herself and her mother to neglect not so favourable an opportunity of securing the unbounded wealth which all knew I possessed. In a word, there was not a single character or device by which my passion could be materially welded with her very soul which the Spirit did not adopt; and to his management I attributed the fascinating power I possessed over her. So matters proceeded for the first month, but at the end of that period I observed a remarkable change come over his manner. He no longer flew to execute my commands with the lightning speed which he was wont to exhibit. It was with the most sad and indeed harrowing cast of features that he went to perform my missions to Inez. Disobey he could not-thwart me he dared not; but there was an evident reluctance in all he did that awakened my suspicion; yet as I had never made him acquainted with my ultimate intentions with respect to Inez, I cared little for the sentiments of my servitor, and fondly dreamed that I had blinded him both as to my passions and designs. But knowing full well the privilege he possessed, I resolved to put it completely out of his power to baffle my undertaking, and to effect by fraud what I might not be able to compass by force. For this purpose I gave him the most harassing duties to perform-duties that might have roused the tamest into fierceness; and this I did under the expectation that he would assume his privileged hour, and refuse to execute the degrading offices I had ordered. But my art was vain. Either he perceived my drift, and was determined to balk it; or else it was in the Fates that the catastrophe should close as it did. Fully wearied out by all these machinations, I desisted for awhile; bent as the time drew near to put it effectually out of his power to stand in the path of my passions.

All this time my dreams were wild and fierce. I contemplated my heart, and felt like one, who, uplifting some silken veil expecting to find a flowery garland underneath, beholds a nest of young and fiery dragons. I knew and cursed the passion that led me thus astray, but it was not in my nature to stoop to the control even of my own reason. From boyhood until the present instant, I had had the mastery in whatever I had attempted. Never once had I been foiled. Should I submit now?-and to what?-a shadow called virtue-a name-a folly! So I thought, and pronounced it. Why had I achieved knowledge and power but to rule? Thus I argued within myself, as stretched at full length in my boat I contemplated the silent, starry sky, and fixed the next evening for my enterprise. Suddenly, methought, the sky opened, and I beheld the vision which I relate.

A young and laughing child went bounding through a garden of roses. Happiness was displayed in every movement of the infant, and it ran playfully through the aromatic plants, like a little hind. A rustic cottage was near, and by its door sat two, a man and a woman, the father and mother of the child, and the eyes of both were filled with the bliss of their babe's presence in health and beauty and innocence. And the child turned at times to its parents, and laughed a laugh the essence of enjoyment. But in the corner, unseen by the three, was a huge black viper, which coiled itself under a rose, and darted about its round emerald eyes in every direction, as if looking for a victim. Suddenly the little child came near, and sought to pluck that

very rose, for it was one of the finest in the garden. I tried to scream, to warn the infant or its parents of the danger, but I could not move my lips, and the father and mother still looked on and smiled. Then the child went nearer and caught the flower; but in a minute fell dead, so venomous was the sting of the serpent. Then I cursed him, and the scene vanished from the firmament.

And the second vision that I saw was this

A fair virgin sat beside her mother, and sung to her an old household melody, while the mother spun. It was a scene of beauty, and trees, and purple shrubs. Upon the mother's neck hung a picture of a soldier, and it was set in gold. Suddenly, the daughter snatched it playfully away, and ran down the garden laughing with her prize. But from behind a tree a man sprung, and he had a dagger in his hand. He plunged it into the girl's heart, and went away exulting with that little picture bathed in blood. The gold he tore away, and flung the picture to the winds. And the mother sat there expecting her child, but she came not. And thereupon I cursed the murderer. But as the scene closed, I heard a voice that said, "These two— the serpent and the assassin-have destroyed the body only, but thou wouldst ruin the soul." And I heeded it not, nor either of the two visions. "What an absurd dream I have had!" said I, starting up and laughing.

It was the evening of the first day of the Carnival. We were alone upon the waters-Inez and I. She had that day revealed her whole soul to me with an affectionate freedom that, had I then possessed any of thy spirit, O divine wisdom! might have saved me from the folly into which I was plunging. But it was otherwise in the book of Destiny-and Ruin, with his red eyes, even then brooded over us. How full of life and beauty she appeared!-all her soul sparkled in her eye as I poured forth, in wild impassioned eloquence at her feet, the absorbing passion that burned within me. Anon she took her lute, and played again that soft, sweet strain, which had first awakened my attention, until my whole soul trembled all over with excess of bliss. Then sang she to its silver strings a passage from the enchanting Tasso, in which love-passionate, almighty, and eternal love-was interwoven; and this she breathed with so syrenic a sweetness, that every nerve vibrated in my body, and I was scarcely like one who liveth. We were, as I said, alone. The Spirit had departed, at my command, on an errand which I had marked out specially for that day, and which I resolved should occupy his time so completely that he could offer no disturbance to my desires. And then it was, even in that very moment when she most loved and idolized me, that I made the proposal to her at which my whole being now shudders. I asked her to fly with me for ever-from land, from home, from kindred, and from Heaven, to abide with me by an unholy tie. Accursed infatuation!-to dream that one who loved like her was made to be a spoil, a plaything for the passions. I asked her to forget all the vows I had made-to trample and despise them, and become-what? I did not dare to proceed. Had the whole host of God stood before me, I could not have been more abashed than I felt when, ere I had half proceeded in my declarations, she laid her hand on me, and looked at me steadfastly.

I have heard that when a serpent gazes on the emerald, the brightness of the gem blinds his eyelids, and he turns away in terror from its