so futile: thus (being entirely ignorant of the events He, Seckendorf, the companion of his youth; the of the morning) they one and all congratulated them friend of his boyhood, and it may be said the innocent upon the happy termination of a dispute which seem-cause of all, how fared he in the estimation of himself? ed to threaten serious consequences: in fact, everybody He had lived for some time in constant fear and wretchappeared to be in good spirits, with the exception of edness; for the day had not been fixed, and when he Seckendorf, who left the table at a very early hour, laid him down at night he was never certain that the and who had remained so silent and abstracted that tale of horror might not be sounded in his ears on nothing but the recollection of yesterday's occurrence waking! but latterly he had dared to hope! for as the could have saved him from the jests of his comrades. prescribed period drew near its close, and still found Löwenstein, on the contrary, seemed even gayer than Löwenstein absorbed in the reckless pursuit of pleausual—he laughed loudly, he talked incessantly, he sure, he had supposed it possible that he might neglect drank deeply-although one who watched him closely to fulfil their dreadful compact! and then (although he might perhaps have discovered that his gaiety was could never speak of him again) his blood would not more forced than natural, and that he only resorted to be called for at his hands. Alas, he utterly misconthese means in order to conceal the real feelings of a ceived the meaning of those very acts which, like the heart but ill at ease. symptoms of a disease, should have taught him the real nature of the cruel malady which preyed upon the mind of its wretched victim; it was evident that he bore so keenly in mind the horrid fate which awaited him, that he could not think upon it with fortitude, and therefore resorted to every kind of excitement, in order to drive it from his thoughts until the period had come when it could no longer be postponed. It was but too evident that he did not intend to break the devil

he threw away the means of life told how plainly he felt that he should never want them. Can anything be conceived more terrible than this? not only to know the very hour at which we are to die, and therefore to crawl through life with the cold hand of death upon our shoulder! but to feel also that the manner of it must shut us out for ever from the mercy of offended Heaven! Oh,

horrible!

On the following morning, Löwenstein applied for a month's leave of absence, which, being granted, he set out for his own domains, where, after preparing the means for raising a large sum of ready money, he occupied himself entirely on business-affairs, and in 'setting his house in order;' all of which being concluded to his satisfaction, he returned to Vienna, about a week before his term of leave had expired, and then instantly commenced a course of life of such cease-ish compact he had made; as the very manner in which less debauchery and dissipation as frequently to create doubts of his sanity in the minds of those who had been previously acquainted with him. At all times rather extravagant, he now became profuse in every item of his expenditure: the most costly carriages thronged his court-yard without the remotest chance of ever being used! a hundred horses were fed and pampered in his stables! and as to his domestics, their name was legion!' His nights and days were Exactly twelve months from the evening of that day spent in the unremitting pursuit of pleasure and excitement of every kind: he made himself the patron which was the epoch of the commencement of this naralike of poets, musicians, actors, philosophers, buf-ration, there was a grand bal masqué at the house of foons, and charlatans, and his house was more geneAmbassador to the imperial court of Vienna. rally the resort of the wanton and licentious than the In the motley crowd there were characters of all kinds, honourable or virtuous: but he was evidently reckless from the buffoon to the night-templar, and many who of consequences, and only seemed to live in the midst mingled in the gay crowd were, on that evening, to of excitement and revelry, without the smallest care their infinite dismay, reminded of their most secret for the world's opinion. peccadilloes, by those who being better disguised than Of course many and marvellous were the reasons asthemselves, had it in their power to pursue their malisigned for such extraordinary conduct; and as he be- cious pastime without the chance of discovery. Löwencame the universal talk of the town, it may well be stein was present in the dress of a Spanish grandee, supposed that the ears of his 'lady love,' of his betroth- which was well calculated to exhibit his symmetrical ed, though deserted bride, were often startled by heart-figure to advantage; his short gold-embroidered velvet rending stories of his profligacy! To her, this sudden cloak hung carelessly over his left shoulder, leaving change had something appalling in it, and many a his richly-worked satin vest exposed to view, whilst weary hour had she passed in maddening speculations the plume of ostrich feathers which nodded from his as to what could have produced it; but she suffered not alone! for though every other pang he had to struggle with, as a part of his dreadful lot might have been borne with fortitude, yet this estrangement was to him like the tearing of his 'dear heart strings!'

the

jewelled hat drooped so low upon his face as to conceal its features nearly as well as some of the masks which, for the sake of coquetry or affectation, was merely held by the hand, instead of being duly fastened over the face. He had been extremely gay during

From the New Monthly Magazine.

the early hours of the evening dancing almost inces- that there are several now living who can vouch for its santly, and leading on the waltzers with such unwearied perfect truth. spirit, as to appear entirely proof against fatigue; but as the night advanced he had retired with his partner from the blaze of the brilliantly-lighted saloon, and was observed to enter the conservatory with her whence the fragrant exotics gave a delightful freshness to the air.

The lady in question was young and beautiful, and though it was evident from her mien and bearing that she belonged to a far higher order, she was dressed in the costume of a peasant of the canton of Zurich; nothing could be more simple than this attire, for, save that her head-dress of black lace, which resembled the outstretched wings of a gigantic butterfly, was secured by means of a small diamond brooch, which might be likened to the body of the insect, she wore no ornaments of any kind; as the bracelet of dark hair which encircled her left arm (and which so strongly resembled the colour of his who stood by her side, as to lead any one to imagine they might be the same) although clasped with gold, could scarcely be called so. Those who watched them on this evening, (and the prying gaze of many were upon them,) say that during their brief interview the lady's looks were sad, and that many a tear after trembling for a moment in her darkblue eyes fell heavily upon her pallid cheek; while he though he spoke with all the forced calmness of despair, was evidently dreadfully agitated!

The strokes upon the silver bell of the enamelled dial at their side were heard to chime the three-quarters; he started as if the pangs of an adder had suddenly pierced his flesh, and these concluding words of their discourse reached the ears of the standers-by-‘Amilie, I cannot! I dare not! I have already staid too long, for I have an engagement to fulfil before midnight, or my honour is lost-Farewell?' He passed hurriedly through the crowd which thronged the saloon, taking no notice of the numerous inuendos of his masked associates, and springing down the marble staircase, he entered his carriage, which whirled him away with great rapidity from the festive scene.

It wanted still a few minutes to midnight when the neighbourhood of was aroused by the report of a pistol-shot! It came from the bed-room of Löwenstein; his servants entered with fear and trembling, and there upon his couch, with the fatal instrument by his side, lay the lifeless corpse of their master, his rich apparel still unremoved spattered with brains and blood! He had lived to the last moment allowed him by the terms of the dreadful agreement to which he had pledged himself, and then he thus fearfully fulfilled it.

The tale is ended! and for the melancholy satisfaction of those who may be unwilling to believe that such a thing could ever come to pass, it may be mentioned

A LONG WHILE AGO.

STILL hangeth down the old accustom'd willow,
Hiding the silver underneath each leaf,
So droops the long hair from some maiden pillow,
There floats the water-lily, like a sovereign
When midnight heareth the else silent grief;
Whose lovely empire is a fairy world,
The purple dragon-fly above it hovering,
As when its fragile ivory uncurl'd
A long while ago.
hear the bees in sleepy music winging
From the wild thyme when they have past the noon-
There is the blackbird in the hawthorn singing,
Stirring the white spray with the same sweet tune;
Fragrant the tansy breathing from the meadow,
As the west wind bends down the long green grass,
Now dark, now golden, as the fleeting shadow
Of the light clouds pass as they wont to pass
A long while ago.

I

There are the roses which we used to gather

To bind a young fair brow no longer fair:-
Ah! thou art mocking us, thou summer weather,
To be so sunny with the loved one!-Where?
'Tis not her voice-'tis not her step-that lingers
In lone familiar sweetness on the wind;

The bee, the bird are now the only singers-
Where is the music once with theirs combined
A long while ago.
As the lorn flowers that in her pale hands perish'd
Is she who only hath a memory here.
She was so much a part of us, so cherished-
So young, that even love forgot to fear.
Now in her image paramount, it reigneth
With a sad strength that time may not subdue;
And memory a mournful triumph gaineth,
As the slow looks we cast around renew

A long while ago.
Thou lovely garden! where the summer covers
The tree with green leaves, and the ground with flow-
Darkly the past around thy beauty hovers—

ers;

The past-the grave of our once happy hours.
It is too sad to gaze upon the seeming

Of nature's changeless loveliness, and feel
That with the sunshine, round the heart is dreaming
Darkly o'er wounds inflicted, not to heal,

A long while ago.
Ah! visit not the scenes where youth and childhood
Shadows will darken in the careless wildwood-
Pass'd years that deepened as those years went by;
There will be tears upon the tranquil sky.
Memories, like phantoms, haunt me while I wander
Beneath the drooping boughs of each old tree;
I grow too sad as mournfully I ponder

Things that are not-and yet that used to be-
A long while ago.

Worn out-the heart seems like a ruin'd alter:-
Where are the friends, and where the faith of yore?
My eyes grow dim with tears-my footsteps falter-
Thinking of those whom I can love no more.
We change, and others change while recollection
Would fain renew what it can but recall.
Dark are life's dreams, and weary its affection,
And cold its hopes-and yet I felt them all
A long while ago.
L. E. L

their premises, and at about the middle of the last century, when the castle was last inhabited, the original square tower formed but a small part of the edifice.

axe has felled its oldest and its grandest trees; but in the close wood which survives, live all the wild and pleasing peculiarities of nature-its complete irregularity-its vistas, in whose perspective the quiet The castle, and a wide tract of the surrounding cattle are peacefully browsing-its refreshing glades, country had from time immemorial, belonged to a where the grey rocks arise from amid the nodding family, which, for distinctness, we shall call by the fern-the silvery shafts of the old birch trees—the name of Ardagh; and, owing to the associations which, knotted trunks of the hoary oak-the grotesque but in Ireland, almost always attach to scenes which have graceful branches, which never shed their honours long witnessed alike, the exercise of stern feudal an under the tyrant pruning hook-the soft green sward-thority, and of that savage hospitality which distin the chequered light and shade-the wild luxuriant guished the good old times, this building has become weeds-its lichen and its moss-all, all are beautiful the subject and the scene of many wild and extraordialike in the green freshness of spring, or in the sad-nary traditions. One of them I have been enabled, by ness and sear of autumn-their beauty is of that kind a personal acquaintance with an eye-witness of the which makes the heart full with joy-appealing to events, to trace to its origin; and yet it is hard to say, the affections with a power which belongs to nature whether the events which I am about to record, aponly. This wood runs up, from below the base, to pear more strange or improbable, as seen through the the ridge of a long line of irregular hills, having per- distorting medium of tradition, or in the appalling dimhaps in primitive times, formed but the skirting of ness of uncertainty, which surrounds the reality. some mighty forest which occupied the level below.

But now, alas, whither have we drifted?-whither has the tide of civilization borne us?-it has passed over a land unprepared for it—it has left nakedness behind it—we have lost our forests, but our marauders remain-we have destroyed all that is picturesqe, while we have retained everything that is revolting in barbarism. Through the midst of this woodland, there runs a deep gully or glen; where the stillness of the scene is broken in upon by the brawling of a mountain stream, which, however, in the winter season, swells into a rapid and formidable torrent.

Tradition says that, sometime in the last century, Sir Robert Ardagh, a young man, and the last heir of that family, went abroad and served in foreign armies, and that having acquired considerable honour and emolument, he settled at Castle Ardagh, the building we have just now attempted to describe. He was what the country people call a dark man; that is, he was considered morose, reserved, and ill-tempered; and as it was supposed from the utter solitude of his life, was upon no terms of cordiality with the other members of his family.

The only occasion upon which he broke through the solitary monotony of his life, was during the continu ance of the racing season, and immediately subse quent to it; at which time he was to be seen among the busiest upon the course, betting deeply and unhesitatingly, and invariably with success. Sir Robert was, however, too well-known as a man of honour, and of too high a family to be suspected of any unfair

There is one point at which the glen becomes extremely deep and narrow, the sides descend to the depth of some hundred feet, and are so steep as to be nearly perpendicular. The wild trees which have taken root in the crannies and chasms of the rock, have so intersected and entangled, that one can with difficulty catch a glimpse of the stream, which wheels, flashes, and foams below, as if exulting in the surround-dealing. He was, moreover, a soldier, and a man of ing silence and solitude.

This spot was not unwisely chosen, as a point of no ordinary strength, for the erection of a massive square tower or keep, one side of which rises as if in continuation of the precipitous cliff on which it is based. Originally, the only mode of ingress was by a narrow portal, in the very wall which overtopped the precipice; opening upon a ledge of rock which afforded a precarious pathway, cautiously intersected, however, by a deep trench cut with great labour in the living rock; so that, in its original state, and before the introduction of artillery into the art of war, this tower might have been pronounced, and that not presumptuously, almost impregnable.

The progress of improvement, and the increasing security of the times had, however, tempted its successive proprietors, if not to adorn, at least to enlarge

an intrepid as well as of a haughty character, and no one cared to hazard a surmise, the consequences of which would be felt most probably by its originato: only. Gossip, however, was not silent-it was remarked that Sir Robert never appeared at the race ground, which was the only place of public resort which he frequented, except in company with a certain strange looking person, who was never seen elsewhere, or under other circumstances. It was remarked, too, that this man, whose relation to Sir Robert was never distinctly ascertained, was the only person to whom he seemed to speak unnecessarily; it was observed, that while, with the country gentry he exchanged no further communication than what was unavoidable in arranging his sporting transactions, with this person he would converse earnestly and frequently. Tradi tion asserts, that to enhance the curiosity which this

unaccountable and exclusive preference excited, the stranger possessed some striking and unpleasant peculiarities of person and of garb-she does not say, however, what these were-but they, in conjunction with Sir Robert's secluded habits, and extraordinary run of luck—a success which was supposed to result from the suggestions and immediate advice of the unknown-were sufficient to warrant report in pronouncing that there was something queer in the wind, and in surmising that Sir Robert was playing a fearful and a hazardous game, and that in short, his strange companion was little better than the devil himself.

had been long past-and the old servant, who generally waited upon Sir Robert, after these visitations, having in vain listened for the well-known tinkle of his master's hand-bell, began to feel extremely anxious; he feared that his master might have died from sheer exhaustion, or perhaps put an end to his own existence, during his miserable depression. These fears at length became so strong, that having in vain urged some of his brother-servants to accompany him, he determined to go up alone, and himself see whether any accident had befallen Sir Robert. He traversed the several passages which conducted from the new to the more Years, however, rolled quietly away, and nothing ancient parts of the mansion; and having arrived in novel occurred in the arrangements of Castle Ardagh, the old hall of the castle, the utter silence of the hour, excepting that Sir Robert parted with his odd com- for it was very late in the night, the idea of the nature panion, but as nobody could tell whence he came, so of the enterprise in which he was engaging himself, a nobody could say whither he had gone. Sir Robert's sensation of remoteness from anything like human habits, however, underwent no consequent change; he companionship, but more than all the vivid but undecontinued regularly to frequent the race meetings, fined anticipation of something horrible, came upon without mixing at all in the convivialities of the gen-him with such oppressive weight, that he hesitated as try, and immediately afterwards to relapse into the to whither he should proceed. Real uneasiness, howsecluded monotony of his ordinary life.

ever, respecting the fate of his master, for whom he It was said that he had accumulated vast sums of felt that kind of attachment, which the force of habitual money-and, as his bets were always successful, and intercourse, not unfrequently engenders respecting obalways large, such must have been the case. He did jects not in themselves amiable-and also a latent unnot suffer the acquisition of wealth, however, to influ- willingness to expose his weakness to the ridicule of ence his hospitality or his housekeeping-he neither his fellow-servants, combined to overcome his relucpurchased land, nor extended his establishment; and tance; and he had just placed his foot upon the first his mode of enjoying his money must have been alto- step of the staircase, which conducted to his master's gether that of the miser-consisting, merely, in the chamber, when his attention was arrested by a low pleasure of touching and telling his gold, and in the but distinct knocking at the hall-door. Not, perhaps, consciousness of wealth. Sir Robert's temper, so far very sorry at finding thus an excuse even for deferring from improving, became more than ever gloomy and his intended expedition, he placed the candle upon a morose. He sometimes carried the indulgence of his stone block which lay in the hall, and approached the evil dispositions to such a height, that it bordered door, uncertain whether his ears had not deceived him. upon insanity. During these paroxysms, he would This doubt was justified by the circumstance, that the neither eat, drink, nor sleep. On such occasions he hall entrance had been for nearly fifty years disused as insisted on perfect privacy, even from the intrusion of a mode of ingress to the castle. The situation of this his most trusted servants; his voice was frequently gate also, which we have endeavoured to describe, heard, sometimes in earnest supplication, sometimes opening upon a narrow ledge of rock which overhangs raised as if in loud and angry altercation, with some a perilous cliff, rendered it at all times, but particularunknown visitant-sometimes he would, for hours ly at night, a dangerous entrance; this shelving plattogether, walk to and fro, throughout the long oak form of rock, which formed the only avenue to the wainscotted apartinent, which he generally occupied, door, was divided, as I have already stated, by a broad with wild gesticulations and agitated pace, in the man-chasm, the planks across which had long disappeared her of one who has been roused to a state of unnatural by decay or otherwise, so that it seemed at least highly excitement, by some sudden and appalling intima- improbable that any man could have found his way across the passage in safety to the door-more particuThese paroxysms of apparent lunacy were so fright-larly, on a night like that, of singular darkness. The ful, that during their continuance, even his oldest and old man, therefore, listened attentively, to ascertain most faithful domestics dared not approach him; con- whether the first application should be followed by sequently, his hours of agony were never intruded another; he had not long to wait; the same low but upon, and the mysterious causes of his sufferings ap- singularly distinct knocking was repeated; so low that peared likely to remain hidden for ever. On one occa- it seemed as if the applicant had employed no harder sion, a fit of this kind continued for an unusual time- or heavier instrument than his hand, and yet despite the ordinary term of their duration, about two days, the immense thickness of the door, so very distinct, VOL. XXXIII-JULY, 1838.

tion.

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