The Heidenmauer; or, The Benedictines

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THE

HEIDENMAUER;

OR THE BENEDICTINES.

BY THE AUTHOR OF
" THE PILOT," " THE BRAVO," &c.

From mighty wrongs to petty perfidy,

Have I not seen what human things could do 1"

BYRON.

IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. I.

LONDON:

HENRY COLBURN AND RICHARD BENTLEY,

NEW BURLINGTON STREET.

1832.

INTRODUCTION.

" I shall crave your forbearance a little ; may be, I will
call upon you anon, for some advantage to yourself."

Measure for Measure.

CONTRARY to a long- established usage, a
summer had been passed within the walls of
a large town ; but the moment of liberation
arrived, the bird does not quit its cage with
greater pleasure than that with which post-
horses were commanded. We were four, in a
light travelling caleche, which strong Norman
cattle transported merrily towards their native
province. For a time we quitted Paris, the
queen of modern cities, with its tumults and
its order ; its palaces and its lanes ; its elegance

VOL. I. B

ii INTRODUCTION TO

and its filth ; its restless inhabitants and its
stationary politicians ; its theories and its prac
tices ; its riches and its poverty ; its gay and
its sorrowful ; its rentiers and its patriots ; its
young liberals and its old illiberals ; its three
estates and its equality ; its delicacy of speech
and its strength of conduct ; its government of
the people and its people of no government ;
its bayonets and its moral force ; its science
and its ignorance ; its amusements and its revo
lutions ; its resistance that goes backward, and
its movement that stands still ; its milliners,
its philosophers, its opera-dancers, its poets, its
fiddlers, its bankers, and its cooks. Although
so long enthralled within the barriers, it was
not easy to quit Paris, entirely without regret —
Paris, which every stranger censures and every
stranger seeks ; which moralists abhor and imi
tate ; which causes the heads of the old to
shake, and the hearts of the young to beat ; —
Paris, the centre of so much that is excellent,
and of so much that cannot be named !

That night we laid our heads on rustic pil
lows, far from the French capital. The sue-

THE HEIDENMAUER. Ill

ceeding day we snuffed the air of the sea.
Passing through Artois and French Flanders,
on the fifth morning we entered the new king
dom of Belgium, by the historical and respect
able towns of Douai, and Tournai, and Ath.
At every step we met the flag which flutters
over the pavilion of the Thuileries, and recog
nized the confident air and swinging gait of
French soldiers. They had just been employ
ed in propping the crumbling throne of the
house of Saxe. To us they seemed as much
at home as when they lounged on the Quai
d'Orsay.

There was still abundant evidence visible at
Brussels of the fierce nature of the struggle
that had expelled the Dutch. Forty-six shells
were sticking in the side of a single building of
no great size, while ninety-three grape shot
were buried in one of its pilasters ! In our
own rooms, too, there were fearful signs of war.
The mirrors were in fragments, the walls broken
by langrage, the wood- work of the beds was
pierced by shot, and the furniture was marked
by rude encounters. The trees of the park

iv INTRODUCTION TO

were mutilated in a thousand places, and one
of the little Cupids, that we had left laughing
above the principal gate three years before,
was now maimed and melancholy, whilst its
companion had altogether taken flight on the
wings of a cannon-ball. Though dwelling in
the very centre of so many hostile vestiges, we
happily escaped the sight of human blood; for
we understood from the obliging Swiss who
presides over the hotel, that his cellars, at all
times in repute, were in more than usual re
quest during the siege. From so much proof
we were left to infer that the Belgians had
made stout battle for their emancipation, one
sign at least that they merited to be free.

Our road lay by Lou vain, Thirlemont, Li£ge,
Aix-la-Chapelle, and Juliers, to the Rhine.
The former of these towns had been the scene
of a contest between the hostile armies the pre
ceding week. As the Dutch had been accused
of unusual excesses in their advance, we looked
out for the signs. How many of these marks
had been already obliterated, we could not well
ascertain ; but those which were still visible

»

THE HEIDENMAUER. V

gave us reason to think that the invaders did
not merit all the opprobrium they had received.
Each hour, as life advances, am I made to see
how capricious and vulgar is the immortality
conferred by a newspaper !

It would be injustice to the ancient Bishop-
rick of Liege to pass its beautiful scenery with
out a comment. The country possesses nearly
every requisite for the milder and more rural
sort of landscape ; — isolated and innumerable
farm-houses, herds in the fields, living hedges,
a waving surface, and a verdure to rival the
emerald. By a happy accident, the road runs
for miles on an elevated ridge, enabling the
traveller to enjoy these beauties at his ease.

At Aix-la-Chapelle we bathed, visited the
relics, saw the scene of so many coronations of
emperors, of more or less renown, sat in the
chair of Charlemagne, and went our way.

The Rhine was an old acquaintance. A few
years earlier I had stood upon the sands at
Katwyck, and watched its periodical flow into
the North Sea, by means of sluices made in the
short reign of the good King Louis, and the

vi INTRODUCTION TO

same summer I had bestrode it, a brawling
brook, on the icy side of St. Gothard. We had
come now to look at its beauties, in its most
beautiful part, and to compare them, so far as
native partiality might permit, with the well-
established claims of our own Hudson.

Quitting Cologne, its exquisite but incom
plete cathedral, with the crane that has been
poised on its unfinished towers five hundred
years, its recollections of Rubens and his royal
patroness, we travelled up the stream so lei
surely as to examine all that offered, and yet
so fast as to avoid the hazard of satiety. Here
we met Prussian soldiers preparing by mimic
service for the more serious duties of their
calling. Lancers were galloping in bodies across
the open fields ; videttes were posted, the cocked
pistol in hand, at every haystack ; while cou
riers rode, under the spur, from point to point,
as if the great strife which is so menacingly
preparing, and which sooner or later must
come, had actually commenced. As Europe is
now a camp, these hackneyed sights scarce drew

THE HEIDENMAUER. vii

a look aside. "We were in quest of the interest
which nature, in her happier humours, bestows.
There were ruined castles, by scores ; grey
fortresses; abbeys, some deserted and others
yet tenanted ; villages and towns ; the seven
mountains ; cliffs and vineyards. At every step
we felt how intimate is the association between
the poetry of nature and that of art — between
the hill side with its falling turret, and the mo
ral feeling that lends them interest. Here was
an island of no particular excellence, but the
walls of a convent of the middle ages crumbled
on its surface : there was a naked rock, desti
tute of grandeur, and wanting in those tints
which milder climates bestow, but a baronial
hold tottered on its apex. Here Caesar led his
legions to the stream ; and there Napoleon
threw his corps d'armee on the hostile bank.
This monument was to Hoche ; and from that
terrace the great Adolphus directed his batta
lions. Time is wanting to mellow the view of
our own historical sites, for the sympathy that
can be accumulated only by the general consent

viii INTRODUCTION TO

of mankind, has not yet clothed them with the
indefinable colours of distance and convention.

In the mood likely to be created by a flood
of such recollections, we pursued our way along
the southern margin of this great artery of cen
tral Europe. We wondered at the vastness of
the Rheinfels, admired the rare jewel of the
ruined church at Baccarach, and marvelled at
the giddy precipice on which a Prince of Prus
sia even now dwells, in the eagle-like grandeur
and security of the olden time. On reaching
Mayence, the evening of the second day, we
deliberately, and, as we hoped, impartially com
pared what had just been seen with that which
is so well and so effectually remembered.

I had been familiar with the Hudson from
childhood. The great thoroughfare of all who
journey from the interior of the state towards
the sea, necessity had early made me acquainted
with its windings, its promontories, its islands,
its cities, and its villages. Even its hidden
channels had been professionally examined, and
time was when there did not stand an unknown
seat on its banks, or a hamlet that had not been

THE HEIDENMAUER. ix

visited. Here then was the force of deep im
pressions to oppose to the influence of objects
still visible.

To me it is quite apparent that the Rhine,
while it frequently possesses more of any par
ticular species of scenery, within a given num
ber of miles, than the Hudson, has none of so
great excellence. It wants the variety, the
noble beauty, and the broad grandeur of the
American stream. The latter, within the dis
tance universally admitted to contain the finest
parts of the Rhine, is both a large and a small
river; it has its bays, its narrow passages among
meadows, its frowning gorges, and its reaches
resembling Italian lakes ; whereas the most
that can be said of its European competitor is,
that all these wonderful peculiarities are feebly
imitated. Ten degrees of a lower latitude,
supply richer tints, brighter transitions of light
and shadow, and more glorious changes of the
atmosphere, to embellish the beauties of our
western clime. In islands, too, the advantage
is with the Hudson, for, while those of the
Rhine are the most numerous, those of the
B 5

X INTRODUCTION TO

former stream are bolder, better placed, and, in
every natural feature, of more account.

When the comparison between these cele
brated rivers is extended to their artificial ac
cessories, the result becomes more doubtful.
The buildings of the older towns and villages
of Europe seem grouped especially for effect,
as seen in the distant view, though security was
in truth the cause ; while the spacious, cleanlv,
and cheerful villages of America must common
ly be entered, to be appreciated. In the other
hemisphere, the maze of roofs, the church tow
ers, the irregular faces of wall, and frequently
the castle rising to a pinnacle in the rear, give
a town the appearance of some vast and anti
quated pile devoted to a single object. Per
haps the boroughs of the Rhine have less of
this picturesque, or landscape effect, than the vil
lages of France and Italy, for the Germans re
gard space more than their neighbours, but still
are they less common-place than the smiling
and thriving little marts that crowd the borders
of the Hudson. To this advantage must be
added that which is derived from the countless

THE HEIDENMAUER. xi

ruins, and a crowd of recollections. Here, the
superiority of the artificial auxiliaries of the
Rhine ceases, and those of her rival come into
the ascendant. In modern abodes, in villas,
and even in seats, those of princes alone except-
ed, the banks of the Hudson have scarcely an
equal in any region. There are finer and
nobler edifices on the Brenta, and in other
favoured spots, certainly, but I know no stream
that has so many that please and attract the
eye. As applied to moving objects, an import
ant feature in this comparison, the Hudson
has perhaps no rival in any river that can pre
tend to a picturesque character. In numbers,
in variety of rig, in beauty of form, in swiftness
and dexterity of handling, and, in general grace
and movement, this extraordinary passage ranks
among the first of the world. The yards of
tall ships swing among the rocks and forests of
the highlands, while sloop, schooner, bright
and canopied steam-boat, yacht, periagua, and
canoe, are seen in countless numbers, decking
its waters. There is one more eloquent point
of difference that should not be neglected.

xii INTRODUCTION TO

Drawings and engravings of the Rhine lend
their usual advantages, softening, and frequent
ly rendering beautiful, objects of no striking
attractions when seen as they exist, while every
similar attempt to represent the Hudson, at
once strikes the eye as unworthy of its original.

Nature is fruitful of fine effects in every
region, and it is a mistake not to enjoy her
gifts, as we move through life, on account of
some fancied superiority in this or that quar
ter of the world. We left the Rhine, therefore,
with regret, for, in its way, a lovelier stream
can scarce be found.

At Mayence we crossed to the right bank of
the river, and passing by the Duchies of Nassau
and Darmstadt, entered that of Baden, at Hei
delberg. Here we sat upon the Tun, examined
the castle, and strolled in the alleys of the
remarkable garden. Thence we proceeded to
Manheim, turning our faces, once more, to
wards the French capital. The illness of one
of the party compelled us to remain a few
hours in the latter city, which presented little
for reflection, unless it were that this, like one

THE HEIDENMAUER. Xlll

or two other towns we had lately seen, served
to convince us, that the symmetry and regu
larity which render large cities magnificent,
cause those that are small to appear mean.

It was a bright autumnal day when we re
turned to the left bank of the Rhine, on the
way to Paris. The wishes of the invalid had
taken the appearance of strength, and we hoped
to penetrate the mountains which bound the
Palatinate on its south-western side, and to
reach Kaiserslautern, on the great Napoleon
road, before the hour of rest. The main object
had been accomplished, and as with all who
have effected their purpose, the principal desire
was to be at home. A few posts convinced us
that repose was still necessary to the invalid.
This conviction, unhappily as I then believed,
came too late, for we had already crossed the
plain of the Palatinate, and were drawing near
to the chain of mountains just mentioned, which
are a branch of the Vosges, and are known in
the country as the Haart. We had made no
calculations for such an event, and former ex
perience had caused us to distrust the inns of

xiv INTRODUCTION TO

this isolated portion of the kingdom of Bavaria.
I was just bitterly regretting our precipitation,
when the church-tower of Duerckheim peered
above the vineyards ; for, on getting nearer to
the base of the hills, the land became slightly
undulating, and the vine abundant. As we
approached, the village or borough promised
little, but we had the word of the postilion that
the post-house was an inn fit for a king, and as
to the wine, he could give no higher eulogium
than a flourish of the whip, an eloquent ex
pression of pleasure for a German of his class.
We debated the question of proceeding, or of
stopping, in a good deal of doubt, to the mo
ment when the carriage drew up before the
sign of the Ox. A substantial-looking burgher
came forth to receive us. There was the pledge
of good cheer in the ample developement of his
person, which was not badly typified by the
sign, and the hale hearty character of his hospi
tality removed all suspicion of the hour of
reckoning. If he who travels much is a gainer
in knowledge of mankind, he is sure to be a
loser in the charities that sweeten life. Con-

THE HEIDENMAUER. XV

stant intercourse with men who are in the habit
of seeing strange faces, who only dispose of
their services to those that are likely never to
need them again, and who, of necessity, are
removed from most of the responsibilities and
affinities of a more permanent intercourse, ex
hibits the selfishness of our nature in its least
attractive form. Policy may suggest a speci
ous blandishment of air, to conceal the ordinary
design on the pocket of the stranger, but it is
in the nature of things that the design should
exist. The passion of gain, like all other pas
sions, increases with indulgence, and thus do
we find those who dwell on beaten roads, more
rapacious than those in whom the desire is la
tent, for want of use.

Our host of Duerckheim offered a pledge, in
his honest countenance, independent air, and
frank manner, of his also being above the usual
mercenary schemes of another portion of the
craft, who, dwelling in places of little resort,
endeavoured to take their revenge of fortune,
by showing that they look upon every post-car
riage as an especial God-send. He had a gar-

xvi INTRODUCTION TO

den, too, into which he invited us to enter, while
the horses were changing, in a way that showed
he was simply desirous of being benevolent,
and that he cared little whether we stayed an
hour or a week. In short, his manner was of
an artless, kind, natural and winning character,
that strongly reminded us of home, and which
at once established an agreeable confidence that
is of an invaluable moral effect. Though too
experienced blindly to confide in national cha
racteristics, we liked, too, his appearance of
German faith, and more than all were we pleased
with the German neatness and comfort, of which
there were abundance, unalloyed by the swag
gering pretension that neutralizes the same
qualities among people more artificial. The
house was not a beer-drinking, smoking, cara
vanserai, like many hotels in that quarter of
the world, but it had detached pavilions in the
gardens, in which the wearied traveller might,
in sooth, take his rest. With such inducements
before our eyes, we determined to remain, and
we were not long in instructing the honest
burgher to that effect. The decision was re-

THE HEIDENMAUER. XV11

ceived with great civility, and, unlike the im
mortal Falstaff, I began to see the prospects of
taking " mine ease in mine inn1' without having
a pocket picked.

The carriage was soon housed, and the bag
gage in the chambers. Notwithstanding the
people of the house spoke confidently, but with
sufficient modesty, of the state of the larder, it
wanted several hours, agreeably to our habits,
to the time of dinner, though we had enjoyed
frequent opportunities of remarking that in
Germany a meal^s never unseasonable. Disre
garding hints, which appeared more suggested
by humanity than the love of gain, our usual
hour for eating was named, and, by way of
changing the subject, I asked, —

" Did I not see some ruins, on the adjoining
mountain, as we entered the village ?"

" We call Duerckheim a city, mein Herr,"
rejoined our host of the Ox ; " though none of
the largest, the time has been when it was a
capital P

Here the worthy burgher munched his pipe
and chuckled, for he was a man that had heard

XVlii INTRODUCTION TO

of such places as London, and Paris, and Pekin,
and Naples, and St. Petersburg, or, haply, of
the Federal City itself.

" A capital ! — it was the abode of one of the
smaller Princes, I suppose ; of what family was
your sovereign, pray ?"

" You are right, mein Herr. Duerckheim,
before the French revolution, was a residence
(for so the political capitals are called in Ger
many), and it belonged to the Princes of Lei-
ningen, who had a palace on the other side of
the city (the place may be about half as large
as Hudson, or Schenectady), which was burnt
in the war. After the late wars, the sovereign
was mtdiatise> receiving an indemnity in estates
on the other side of the Rhine."

As this term of mediatise has no direct
synonyme in English, it may be well to explain
its signification. Germany, as well as most of
Europe, was formerly divided into a countless
number of petty sovereignties, based on the
principle of feudal power. As accident, or
talent, or alliances, or treachery advanced the
interests of the stronger of these princes, their

THE HEIDENMAUER. xix

weaker neighbours began to disappear alto
gether, or to take new and subordinate stations
in the social scale. In this manner has France
been gradually composed of its original, but
comparatively insignificant kingdom, buttressed,
as it now is, by Brittany, and Burgundy, and
Navarre, and Dauphiny, and Provence, and
Normandy, with many other states; and in
like manner has England been formed of the
Heptarchy. The confederative system of Ger
many has continued more or less of this feudal
organization to our own times. The formation
of the empires of Austria and Prussia have,
however, swallowed up many of these princi
palities, and the changes produced by the policy
of Napoleon gave the death-blow, without dis
tinction, to all in the immediate vicinity of the
Rhine. Of the latter number were the Princes
of Leiningen, whose possessions were originally
included in the French republic, then in the
empire, and have since passed under the sway
of the King of Bavaria, who, as the legitimate
heir of the neighbouring Duchy of Deux Ponts,
had a nucleus of sufficient magnitude in this

XX INTRODUCTION TO

portion of Germany, to induce the Congress
of Vienna to add to his dominions ; their ob
ject being to erect a barrier against the fu
ture aggrandisement of France. As the dis
possessed sovereigns are permitted to retain
their conventional rank, supplying wives and
husbands, at need, to the reigning branches
of the different princely families, the term
mediatise has been aptly enough applied to their
situation.

" The young prince was here no later than
last week," continued our host of the Ox ; " he
lodged in that pavilion, where he passed several
days. You know that he is a son of the
Duchess of Kent, and half-brother of the young
Princess who is likely, one day, to be Queen of
England,"

" Has he estates here, or is he still, in any
way, connected with your government ?"

" All they have given him is in money, or on
the other side of the Rhine. He went to see
the ruins of the old castle ; for he had a natu
ral curiosity to look at a place which his an
cestors had built."

THE HEIDENMAUER. XXI

" It was the ruins of the castle of Leiningen,
then, that I saw on the mountain, as we en
tered the town ?"

" No, mein Herr. You saw the ruins of the
Abbey of Limburg ; those of Hartenburg, for
so the castle was called, lie farther back among
the hills."

" What, a ruined abbey, and a ruined castle
too ! — Here is sufficient occupation for the rest
of the day. An abbey and a castle !"

" And the Heidenmauer, and the Teufel-
stein."

" How ! a Pagan's wall, and a Devil's stone !
— You are rich in curiosities !"

The host continued to smoke on, philosophi
cally.

" Have you a guide who can take me, by the
shortest way, to these places ?"

" Any child can do that."

" But one who can speak French is desirable
— for my German is far from being classical.1"

The worthy inn-keeper nodded his head.

" Here is one Christian Kinzel," he rejoined^
after a moment of thought, " a tailor who has

xxii INTRODUCTION TO

not much custom, and who has lived a little in
France ; he may serve your turn."

I suggested that a tailor might find it health
ful to stretch his knee-joints.

The host of the Ox was amused with the con
ceit, and he fairly removed the pipe, in order
to laugh at his ease. His mirth was hearty,
like that of a man without guile.

The affair was soon arranged. A messenger
was sent for Christian Kinzel, and taking my
little male travelling companion by the hand, I
went leisurely ahead, expecting the appearance
of the guide. But, as the reader will have
much to do with the place about to be de
scribed, it may be desirable that he should pos
sess an accurate knowledge of its locality.

Duerckheim lies in that part of Bavaria
which is commonly called the Circle of the
Rhine. The king of the country named, may
have less than half a million of subjects in this
detached part of his territories, which extends
in one course from the river to Rhenish Prussia,
and in the other from Darmstadt to France. It
requires a day of hard posting to traverse this

THE HEIDENMAUER. xxiii

province in any direction, from which it would
appear that its surface is about equal to two
thirds of that of Connecticut. A line of moun
tains, resembling the smaller spurs of the Al-
leghanies, and which are known by different
local names, but which are a branch of the
Vosges, passes nearly through the centre of the
district, in a north and south course. These
mountains cease abruptly on their eastern side,
leaving between them and the river a vast level
surface, of that description which is called
"flats, or bottom land" in America. This
plain, part of the ancient Palatinate, extends
equally on the other side of the Rhine, termi
nating as abruptly on the eastern as on the
western border. In an air line, the distance
between Heidelberg and Duerckheim, which lie
opposite to each other on the two lateral extre
mities of the plain, may a little exceed twenty
miles, the Rhine running equi-distant from both.
There is a plausible theory, which says that the
plain of the Palatinate was formerly a lake,
receiving the waters of the Rhine, and of course
discharging them by some inferior outlet, until

xxiv INTRODUCTION TO

time, or a convulsion of the earth, broke through
the barrier of the mountains at Bingen, drain
ing off the waters, and leaving the fertile bottom
described. Irregular sand-hills were visible, as
we approached Duerckheim, which may go to
confirm this supposition, for the prevalence of
northerly winds might easily have cast more of
these light particles on the south-western than
on the opposite shore. By adding that the
eastern face of the mountains, or that next to
the plain, is sufficiently broken and irregular to
be beautiful, while it is always distinctly marked
and definite, enough has been said to enable us
to proceed with intelligence.

It would appear that one of the passes that
has communicated from time immemorial, be
tween the Rhine and the country west of the
Vosges, issues on the plain through the gorge
near Duerckheim. By following the windings
of the valleys, the post-road penetrates, by an
easy ascent, to the highest ridge, and following
the water-courses that run into the Moselle,
descends nearly as gradually into the Duchy of
Deux Fonts, on the other side of the chain

THE HEIDENMAUER. XXV

The possession of this pass, therefore, in the
ages of lawlessness and violence was, in itself,
a title to distinction and power ; since all who
journeyed by it lay, in person and effects, more
or less at the mercy of the occupant.

On quitting the town, my little companion
and myself immediately entered the gorge.
The pass itself was narrow, but a valley soon
opened to the width of a mile, out of which
issued two or three passages besides that by
which we had entered, though only one of them
preserved its character for any distance. The
capacity of this valley, or basin, as it must have
been when the Palatinate was a lake, is much
curtailed by an insulated mountain, whose base,
covering a fourth of the area, stands in its very
centre, and which doubtless was an island when
the valley was a secluded bay. The summit of
this mountain or island-hill is level, of an irre
gularly oval form, and contains some six or
eight acres of land. Here stand the ruins of
Limburg, the immediate object of our visit.

The ascent was exceedingly rapid, and of se
veral hundred feet ; reddish free-stone appeared

VOL. I. c

XXV INTRODUCTION TO

every where through the scanty soil ; the sun
beat powerfully on the rocks; and I was begin
ning to weigh the advantages and disadvantages
of proceeding, when the tailor approached, with
the zeal of new-born courage.

" Voici Christian Kinzel !" exclaimed ,

to whom novelty was always an incentive, and
who, in his young life, had eagerly mounted
Alp and Apennine, Jura and Calabrian hill,
tower, monument, and dome, or whatever else
served to raise him in the air ; " Aliens, — grim-
pons !"

We scrambled up the hill-side, and, winding
among terraces on which the vine and vegetables
were growing, soon reached the natural plat
form. There was a -noble view from the sum
mit, but it would be premature to describe it
here. The whole surface of the hill furnished
evidence of the former extent of the Abbey, a
wall having encircled the entire place; but the
principal edifices had been built, and still re
mained, near the longitudinal centre, on the
very margin of the eastern precipice. Enough
was standing to prove the ancient magnificence

THE HEIDENMAUER. XXvii

of the structure. Unlike most of the ruins
which border the Rhine, the masonry was of a
workmanlike kind, the walls being not only
massive, but composed of the sand-stone just
mentioned neatly hewn, for immense strata of
the material exist in all this region. I traced
the chapel, still in tolerable preservation, the
refectory, that never-failing solacer of monastic
seclusion, several edifices apparently appropri
ated to the dormitories, and some vestiges of
the cloisters. There is also a giddy tower, of
an ecclesiastical form, that sufficiently serves to
give a character to the ruins. It was closed, to
prevent idlers from incurring foolish risks by
mounting the crazy steps, but its having for
merly been appropriated to the consecrated bells
was not at all doubtful. There is also a noble
arch near, with several of its disjointed stones
menacing the head of him who ventures beneath.
Turning from the ruin, I cast a look at the
surrounding valley. Nothing could have been
softer or more lovely than the near view. That
sort of necessity which induces us to cherish
any stinted gift, had led the inhabitants to turn
c 2

XXviii INTRODUCTION TO

every foot of the bottom land to the best ac
count. No Swiss Alp could have been more
closely shaved than the meadows at my feet ;
and a good deal had been made of two or three
rivulets that meandered among them. The
dam of a rustic mill threw back the water into
a miniature lake ; and some zealous admirer of
Neptune had established a beer-house on its
banks, which was dignified with the sign of the
" Anchor :*" but the principal object in the
interior, or upland view, was the ruins of a
castle, that occupied a natural terrace, or rather
the projection of a rock, against the side of one
of the nearest mountains. The road passed
immediately beneath its walls, a short arrow-
flight from the battlements, the position having
evidently been chosen as the one best adapted
to command the ordinary route of the traveller.
I wanted no explanation from the guide to
know that this was the castle of Hartenburg.
It was still more massive than the remains of
the abbey, built of the same material, and
seemingly in different centuries ; for while one
part was irregular and rude, like most of the

THE HEIDENMAUER. xxix

structures of the middle ages, there were salient
towers filled with embrasures, for the use of
artillery. One of their guns, well elevated,
might possibly have thrown its shot on the
platform of the Abbey-hill, but with little
danger even to the ruined walls.

After studying the different objects in this
novel and charming scene for an hour, I de
manded of the guide some account of the
Pagan's Wall and of the Devil's Stone. Both
were on the mountain that lay on the other side
of the ambitious little lake, a long musket-shot
from the Abbey. It was even possible to see a
portion of the former from our present stand,
and the confused account of the tailor only
excited a desire to see more. We had not
come on this excursion without a fit supply of
road-books and maps : one of the former was
accidentally in my pocket, though so little had
we expected any thing extraordinary on this
unfrequented road, that as yet it had not been
opened. On consulting its pages now, I was
agreeably disappointed in finding that Duerck-
heim and its antiquities had not been thought

XXX INTRODUCTION TO

unworthy of the traveller's especial attention.
The Pagan's Wall was there stated to be the
spot in which Attila passed the winter before
crossing the Rhine, in his celebrated inroad
against the capital of the civilized world, though
its origin was referred to his enemies them
selves. In short, it was believed to be the re
mains of a Roman camp, one of those advanced
works of the empire, by which the barbarians
were held in check, and of which the Hun had
casually and prudently availed himself in his
progress south. The Devil's Stone was de
scribed as a natural rock in the vicinity of the
encampment, on which the pagans had offered
sacrifices : of course, the liberated limbs of the
guide were put in requisition, to conduct us to
a spot that contained curiosities so worthy of
even his exertions.

As we descended the mountain of Limburg,
Christian Kinzel lightened the way by relating
the opinions of the country concerning the
places we had seen and were about to see. It
would appear by this legend, that when the
pious monks were planning their monastery, a

THE HEIDENMAUER. XXXI

compact was made with the Devil to quarry
the stones necessary for so extensive a work,
and to transport them up the steep acclivity.
The inducement held forth to the evil spirit,
for undertaking a work of this nature, was the
pretence of erecting a tavern, in which, doubt
less, undue quantities of Rhenish wine were to
be quaffed, cheating human reason, and leaving
the undefended soul more exposed to the as
saults of temptation. It would seem, by the
legends of the Rhine, that the monks often
succeeded in outwitting the arch foe in this
sort of compact, though perhaps never with
more signal success than in the bargain in ques
tion. Completely deceived by the artifices of
the men of God, the father of sin lent himself
to the project with so much zeal, that the
abbey and its appendages were completed in a
time incredibly short ; a circumstance that his
employers took good care to turn to account,
after their own fashion, by ascribing it to a
miracle of purer emanation. By all accounts,
the deception was so well managed, that, not
withstanding his proverbial cunning, the Devil

xxxii INTRODUCTION TO

never knew the true destination of the edifice
until the Abbey bell actually rang for prayers.
Then, indeed, his indignation knew no bounds,
and he proceeded forthwith to the rock in ques
tion, with the fell intent of bringing it into the
air above the chapel, and, by its fall, of immo
lating the monks and their altar together to his
vengeance. But the stone was too firmly root
ed to be displaced even by the Devil, and he
was finally compelled, by the prayers of the
devotees, who were now, after their own fashion
of fighting, fairly in the field, to abandon this
portion of the country in shame and disgrace.
The curious are shown certain marks on the
rock, which go to prove the violent efforts of
Satan on this occasion ; and among others, the
prints of his form left by seating himself on the
stone, fatigued by useless exertions. The more
ingenious even trace, in a sort of groove, evi
dence of the position of his tail during the time
the baffled spirit was chewing the cud of chagrin
on his hard stool.

We were at the foot of the second moun-

THE HE1DENMAUER. XXxiii

tain when Christian Kinzel ended this ex
planation.

" And such is your Duerckheim tradition
concerning the Devil's Stone?" I remarked,
measuring the ascent with the sight.

" Such is what is said in the country, mem
Herr," returned the tailor ; " but there are
people hereabouts who do not believe it."

My little travelling companion laughed, and
his eyes danced with expectation.

" Allons, grimpons !" he cried again — " al-
lons voir ce Teufelstein !"

In a suitable time we were in the camp. It
lay on an advanced spur of the mountain, a
sort of salient bastion made by nature, and was
completely protected on every side but that at
which it was joined to the mass, by declivities
so steep as to be even descended with some
pain. There was the ruin of a circular wall,
half a league in extent, the stones lying in a
confused pile around the whole exterior, and
many vestiges of foundations and intersecting
walls within. The whole area was covered
c 5

XXXIV INTRODUCTION TO

with a young growth of dark and melancholy
cedars. On the face exposed to the adjoining
mountain, there had evidently been the addi
tional protection of a ditch.

The Teufelstein was a thousand feet from the
camp. It is a weather-worn rock, that shows
its bare head from a high point in the more
advanced ranges of the hills. I took a seat on
its most elevated pinnacle, and for a moment
the pain of the ascent was forgotten.

The plain of the Palatinate, far as eye could
reach, lay in the view. Here and there the
Rhine and the Neckar glittered, like sheets of
silver, among the verdure of the fields, and
tower of city and of town, of Manheim, Spires,
and Worms, of nameless villages, and of Ger
man residences, were as plenty in the scene, as
tombs upon the Appian Way. A dozen grey
ruins clung against the sides of the mountains
of Baden and Darmstadt, while the castle of
Heidelberg was visible, in its romantic glen,
sombre, courtly, and magnificent. The land
scape was German, and in its artificial parts
slightly Gothic ; it wanted the warm glow, the

THE HEIDENMAUER. XXXV

capricious outlines and seductive beauty of
Italy, and the grandeur of the Swiss valleys and
glaciers ; but it was the perfection of fertility
and industry, embellished by a crowd of useful
objects.

It was easy for one thus placed, to fancy him
self surrounded by so many eloquent memo
rials of the progress of civilization, of the infir
mities and constitution, of the growth and am
bition of the human mind. The rock recalled
the age of furious superstition and debased ig
norance — the time when the country lay in fo
rest, over which the hunter ranged at will, con
tending with the beast for the mastery of his
savage domain. Still the noble creature bore
the image of God, and occasionally some master
mind pierced the shades, catching glimpses of
that eternal truth which pervades nature.
Then followed the Roman, with his gods of
plausible attributes, his ingenious and specious
philosophy, his accumulated and borrowed art,
his concerted and overwhelming action, his love
of magnificence, so grand in its effects, but so
sordid and unjust in its means, and last an^l

XXXVI INTRODUCTION TO

most impressive of all, that beacon-like ambition
which wrecked his hopes on the sea of its own
vastness, with the evidence of the falsity of his
system as furnished in his fall. The memorial
before me showed the means by which he gained
and lost his power. The barbarian had been
taught, in the bitter school of experience, to
regain his rights, and in the excitement of the
moment, it was not difficult to imagine the
Huns pouring into the camp, and calculating
their chances of success by the vestiges they
found of the ingenuity and resources of their foes.
The confusion of misty images that succeeded
was an apt emblem of the next age. Out of
this obscurity, after the long and glorious reign
of Charlemagne, arose the baronial castle, with
feudal violence and its progeny of wrongs.
Then came the abbey, an excrescence of that
mild and suffering religion which had appeared
on earth, like a ray of the sun, eclipsing the
factitious brilliancy of a scene from which natu
ral light had been excluded for a substitute of
a meretricious and deceptive quality. Here
arose the long and selfish strife, between an-

THE HEIDENMAUER. XXXvii

tagonist principles, that has not yet ceased.
The struggle was between the power of know
ledge and that of physical force. The former,
neither pure nor perfect, descended to subter
fuge and deceit, while the latter vacillated be
tween the dread of unknown causes, and the
love of domination. Monk and Baron carne in
collision ; this secretly distrusting the faith he
professed, and that trembling at the conse
quences of the blow which his own sword had
given : the fruits of too much knowledge in
one, and of too little in the other, while both
were the prey of those incessant and unwearied
enemies of the race, the greedy passions.

A laugh from the child drew my attention to
the foot of the rock. He and Christian Kinzel
had just settled, to their mutual satisfaction,
the precise position that had been occupied by
the Devil's tail. A more suitable emblem of
his country than that boy, could not have been
found on the whole of its wide surface. As
secondary to the predominant English or Saxon
stock, the blood of France, Sweden, and Hol
land ran, in nearly equal currents, in his veins.

XXXV111 INTRODUCTION TO

He had not far to seek, to find amongst his an
cestors, the peaceful companion of Penn, the
Huguenot, the Cavalier, the Presbyterian, the
follower of Luther and of Calvin. Chance had
even deepened the resemblance, for a wanderer
from infancy, he now blended languages in
merry comments on his recent discovery. The
train of thought that his appearance suggested
was natural. It embraced the long and myste
rious concealment of so vast a portion of the
earth as America, from the acquaintance of
civilized man ; its discovery and settlement ;
the manner in which violence and persecution,
civil wars, oppression, and injustice, had thrown
men of all nations upon its shores ; the effects
of this collision of customs and opinions, un-
thralled by habits and laws of selfish origin ;
the religious and civil liberty that followed;
the novel but irrefutable principle on which its
government was based; the silent working of
its example in the two hemispheres, one of
which had already imitated the institutions
that the other was struggling to approach, and
all the immense results that were dependent on

THE HEIDENMAUER. XXxix

this inscrutable and grand movement of Provi
dence. I know not indeed but my thoughts
might have approached the sublime, had not
Christian Kinzel interrupted them, by pointing
out the spot where the Devil had kicked the
stone, in his anger.

Descending from the perch, we took the path
to Duerckheim. As we came down the moun
tain the tailor had many philosophical remarks
to make, that were chiefly elicited by the for
lorn condition of one who had much toil and
little food. In his view of things, labour was
too cheap, and wine and potatoes were too dear.
To what depth he might have pushed reflec
tions bottomed on principles so natural, it is
impossible to say, had not the boy started some
doubts concerning the reputed length of the
Devil's tail. He had visited the Jardin des
Plantes, at Paris, seen the kangaroos in the
Zoological Gardens in London, and was fami
liar with the inhabitants of a variety of cara
vans encountered at Rome, Naples, Dresden,
and other capitals ; with the bears of Berne he
had actually been on the familiar terms of a

xl INTRODUCTION TO

friendly visiting acquaintance. Having also
some vague ideas of the analogies of things, he
could not recall any beast so amply provided
with such an elongation of the dorsal bone, as
was to be inferred from Christian Kinzel's gut
ter in the Teufelstein. During the discussion
of this knotty point we reached the inn.

The host of the Ox had deceived us in no
thing. The viands were excellent, and abun
dant to prodigality. The bottle of old Duerck-
heimer might well have passed for Johannis-
berger, or for that still more delicious liquor,
Steinberger, at London or New- York ; and the
simple and sincere civility with which every
thing was served, gave a zest to all.

It would have been selfish to recruit nature,
without thought of the tailor, after so many
hours of violent exercise in the keen air of the
mountains. He too had his cup and his viands,
and when both were invigorated by these natu
ral means, we had a conference, to which the
worthy post-master was admitted.

The following pages are the offspring of the
convocation held in the parlour of the Ox.

THE HEIDENMAUER. xli

Should any musty German antiquary discover
some immaterial anachronism, a name misplaced
in the order of events, or a monk called prema
turely from purgatory, he is invited to wreak
his just indignation on Christian Kinzel, whom,
body and soul, may St. Benedict of Limburg
protect, for evermore, against all critics !

THE HEIDENMAUER.

CHAPTER I.

"Stand you both forth now; stroke your chins, and swear
by your beards that I am a knave."

As You Like It.

THE reader must imagine a narrow and se
cluded valley, for the opening scene of this tale.
The time was that in which the day loses its
power, casting a light on objects most exposed,
that resembles colours seen through glass
slightly stained; a peculiarity of the atmo
sphere, which, though almost of daily occur-

44 THE HEIDENMAUER.

rence in summer and autumn, is the source of
constant enjoyment to the real lover of nature.
The hue meant is not a sickly yellow, but rather
a soft and melancholy glory, that lends to the
hill-side and copse, to tree and tower, to stream
and lawn, those tinges of surpassing loveliness
that impart to the close of day its proverbial
and soothing charm. The setting sun touched
with oblique rays a bit of shaven meadow, that
lay in a dell so deep as to owe this parting smile
of nature to an accidental formation of the
neighbouring eminences, a distant mountain
crest, that a flock had cropped and fertilized, a
rippling current that glided in the bottom, a
narrow beaten path, more worn by hoof than
wheel, and a vast range of forest, that swelled
and receded from the view, covering leagues of
a hill-chase, that even tradition had never
peopled. The spot was seemingly as retired as
if it had been chosen in one of our own solitudes
of the wilderness ; while it was, in fact, near the
centre of Europe, and in the sixteenth century.

THE HEIDENMAUER. 45

But, notwithstanding the absence of dwellings,
and all the other signs of the immediate pre
sence of man, together with the wooded charac
ter of the scene, an American eye would not
have been slow to detect its distinguishing fea
tures, from those which mark the wilds of this
country. The trees, though preserved with
care, and flourishing, wanted the moss of ages,
the high and rocking summit, the variety and
natural wildness of the western forest. No
mouldering trunk lay where it had fallen, no
branch had been twisted by the gale and forgot
ten, nor did any upturned root betray the indif
ference of man to the decay of this important
part of vegetation. Here and there, a species
of broom, such as is seen occasionally on the
mast-heads of ships, was erected above some tall
member of the woods that stood on an elevated
point ; land-marks which divided the rights of
those who were entitled to cut and clip ; the
certain evidence that man had long before ex
tended his sway over these sombre hills, and

46 THE HEIDENMAUER.

that, retired as they seemed, they were actually
subject to all the divisions, and restraints, and
vexations, which, in peopled regions, accompany
the rights of property.

For an hour preceding the opening of our
tale, not a sound of any nature, beyond that of
a murmuring brook, had disturbed the quiet of
the silent little valley, if a gorge so narrow, and
in truth so wild, deserved the name. There
was not even a bird fluttering among the trees,
nor a hawk soaring above the heights. Once,
and for a minute only, did a roebuck venture
from its cover, and descend to the rivulet to
drink. The animal had not altogether the elas
tic bound, the timid and irresolute movement,
nor the wandering eye of our own deer, but it
was clearly an inhabitant of a forest ; for while
it in some degree confided in the protection, it
also distrusted the power of man. No sooner
was its thirst assuaged, than listening with the
keenness of an instinct that no circumstances of
accidental condition could destroy, it went up

THE HEIDENMAUER. 47

the acclivity again, and sought its cover with
troubled steps. At the same instant, a grey
hound leaped from among the trees, on the op
posite side of the gorge, into the path, and began
bounding back and forth, in the well-known
manner of that species of dog, when exercising
in restlessness, rather than engaged in the hot
strife of the chase. A whistle called the hound
back from its gambols, and its master entered
the path.

A cap of green velvet, bearing a hunting-horn
above the shade, a coarse but neat frock of simi
lar colour, equally ornamented with the same
badge of office, together with the instrument
itself suspended from a shoulder, and the arms
usual to one of that class, denoted a forester, or
an individual charged with the care of the chase,
and otherwise entrusted with a jurisdiction in
the forest; functions that would be much de
graded by the use of the abused and familiar
term of gamekeeper.

The forester was young, active, and not with-

48 THE HE1DENMAUER.

standing the rudeness of his attire, of a winning
exterior. Laying his fusee against the root of a
tree, he whistled in the dog, and renewing the
call, by means of a shrill instrument that was
carried for that purpose, he soon succeeded in
bringing its fellow to his side. Coupling the
greyhounds in a leash, which he attached to his
own person, he threw the horn from its noose,
and blew a lively and short strain, that rolled
up the valley in mellow and melodious notes.
When the instrument was removed from his
lips, the youth listened till the last of the dis
tant echoes was done, as if expecting some re
ply. He was not disappointed. Presently an
answering blast came down the gorge, ringing
among the woods, and causing the hearts of
many of its tenants to beat quick and fearfully.
The sounds of the unseen instrument were far
more shrill and wild than those of the hunting
horn, while they wanted not for melancholy
sweetness. They appeared both familiar and

THE HEIDENMAUER. 49

intelligible to the young forester, who no sooner
heard them, than he slung the horn in its usual
turn of the cord, resumed the fusee, and stood
in an attitude of expectation.

It might have been a minute before another
youth appeared in the path, higher in the gorge,
and advancing slowly towards the forester. His
dress was rustic, and altogether that of a pea
sant, while in his hand he held a long, straight,
narrow tube of cherry-wood, firmly wrapped
with bark, having a mouth-piece and a small
bell at the opposite end, resembling those of a
trumpet. As he came forward, his face was not
without an expression of ill humour, though it
was rather rendered comic than grave, by a
large felt hat, the front rim of which fell in an
enormous shade above his eyes, rendering the
trim cock in the rear, ludicrously pretending.
His legs, like those of the forester, were encased
in a sort of leathern hose, that left the limbs
naked and free below the knee, while the gar-
VOL. I. D

50 THE HEIDENMAUER.

ment above set so loosely and unbuttoned above
that important joint, as to offer no restraint to
his movements.

" Thou art behind thy time, Gottlob," said
the young forester, as the boor approached,
" and the good hermit will not give us better
welcome for keeping him from prayer. — What
has become of thy herd ?"

u That may the holy man of the Heidenmauer
declare, for it is more than I could answer were
Lord Emich himself to put the question, and
say, in the manner he is wont to use to the Ab
bot of Limburg — what hath become of thy
herd, Gottlob?"

" Nay, this is no trifling matter, if thou hast,
in sooth, let the cattle stray ! Where hadst
thou the beasts last in sight ?"

" Here in the forest of Hartenburg, Master
Berchthold, on the honour of a humble servitor
of the Count."

" Thou wilt yet lose this service, Gottlob, by
thy carelessness !"

THE HEIDENMAUER. 51

" It would be a thousand pities were thy
words to be true, for in that case Lord Enrich
would lose the honestest cow-herd in Germany,
and it would go near to break my heart were
the friars of Limburg to get him ! But the
beasts cannot be far, and I will try the virtue
of the horn once more, before I go home to a
broken head and a discharge. Dost thou know,
Master Berchthold, that the disgrace of which
thou speakest never yet befel any of my family,
and we have been keepers of cattle longer than
the Friedrichs have been electors ?"

The forester made an impatient gesture, pat
ted his hounds, and waited for the effects of the
new blast, that his companion was by this time
preparing to sound. The manner of Gottlob
was that of entire confidence in his own know
ledge of his calling, for notwithstanding his
words, his countenance at no time betrayed un
easiness for the fate of his trust. The valley
was soon ringing with the wild and plaintive
tones of the cherry-wood horn, the hind taking
D2

52 THE HEIDENMAUER.

care to give the strains those intonations, which,
by a mute convention, had from time immemo
rial been understood as the signal for collecting
a lost herd. His skill and faith were soon re
warded, for cow after cow came leaping out of
the forest, as he blew his air, and ere long the
necessary number of animals were in the path,
the younger beasts frisking along the way, with
elevated tails and awkward bounds, while the
more staid contributors of the dairy hurried on,
with business-like air, but grave steps, as better
became their years and their characters in the
hamlet. In a few minutes they were all col
lected around the person of the keeper, who
having counted his charge, shouldered his horn,
and disposed himself to proceed towards the
lower extremity of the gorge.

66 Thou art lucky to have gotten the beasts
together, with so little trouble, Gottlob," re
sumed the forester, as they followed in the
train of the herd.

" Say dexterous. Master Berchthold, and do

THE HEIDENMAUER. 53

not fear to make me vain-glorious. In the way
of understanding my own merits there is little
danger of doing me harm. Thou shouldst
never discourage modesty, by an over scrupu
lous discretion. It would be a village miracle,
were a herd so nurtured in the ways of the
church to forget its duty !"

The forester laughed, but he looked aside,
like one who would not see that to which he
wished to be blind.

" At thy old tricks, friend Gottlob !— Thou
hast let the beasts roam upon the range of the
friars."

" I have paid Peter's pence, been to the
chapel of St. Benedict for prayer, confessed to
Father Arnolph himself, and all within the
month ; what more need a man do, to be in
favour with the Brothers ?"

" I could wish to know if thou ever enter-
tainest Father Arnolph with the history of thy
visits to the pastures of the convent, with Lord
Emich's herd, honest Gottlob ?"

54 THE HEIDENMAUER.

" So .'-—Dost thou fancy, Master Berchthold,
that, at a moment when there is every necessity
to possess a calm and contemplative spirit, I
should strive to put the pious monk in a pas
sion, by relating all the antics of some ill-bred
cow, or of a heifer, who is as little to be trusted
without a keeper, as your jung-frau before she
reaches the years of caution is to be trusted at a
fair without her mother, or a sharp-sighted old
aunt, at the very least ?"

" Well, have a care, Gottlob, for Lord
Emich, though loving the friars so little, will
be apt to order thee into a dungeon, on bread
and water for a week, or to make thy back
acquainted with the lash, should he come to
hear that one of his hinds has taken this liberty
with the rights of a neighbour."

"Let Lord Emich then expel the brother
hood from the richest pasturage near the Jae-
gerthal. Flesh and blood cannot bear to see
the beasts of a noble digging into the earth
with their teeth, after a few bitter herbs, while

THE HEIDENMAUER. 55

the carrion of a convent are rolling the finest
and sweetest grasses over their tongues. Look
you. Master Berchthold, these friars of Lim-
burg eat the fattest venison, drink the warmest
wine, and say the shortest prayers of any monks
in Christendom ! Potz-Tausend ! There are
some who accuse them, too, of shriving the
prettiest girls ! As for bread and water, and a
dungeon, I know from experience that neither
of the remedies agrees with a melancholy con
stitution, and I defy the Emperor, or even the
Holy Father himself, to work such a miracle,
as to make back of mine acquainted with the
lash."

" Simply because the introduction hath long
since had place."

"That is thy interpretation of the matter,
Master Berchthold, and I wish thee joy of a
quick wit. But we are getting beyond the
limits of the forest, and we will dismiss the
question to another conversation. The beasts
are full, and will not disappoint the dairy girls.

56 .THE HEIDENMAUER.

and little matters it whence the nourishment
comes — Lord Emich's pastures or a churchly
miracle. Thou hast hunted the dogs lightly
to-day, Berchthold ?"

" I have had them on the mountains for air
and movement. They got away on the heels
of a roe-buck, for a short run, but as all the
game in this chase belongs to our master, I did
not see fit to let them go faster than there was
need."

" I rejoice to hear thee say it, for I count
upon thy company in climbing the mountain
when our work is ended ; thy legs will only be
the fresher for the toil."

-"Thou hast my word, and I will not fail
thee ; in order that no time be lost, we will part
here to meet again in the hamlet."

The forester and the cow-herd made signs of
leave-taking, and separated. The former quit
ted the public road, turning short to the right
by a private way, which led him across narrow
meadows, and the little river that glided among

THE HEIDENMAUER. 57

them, towards the foot of the opposite moun
tain. Gottlob held on his course to a hamlet
that was now visible, and which completely
filled a narrow pass in the valley, at a point
where the latter made a turn, nearly at a right
angle with its general direction.

The path of the former led him to a habita
tion very different from the rude dwellings to
wards which the steps of the cow-herd tended.
A massive castle occupied a projecting point of
the mountain, overhanging the cluster of houses
in the gorge, and frowning upon all that at
tempted the pass. The structure was a vast
but irregular pile. The more modern parts
were circular salient towers, that were built
upon the uttermost verge of the rock, from
whose battlements it would not have been diffi
cult to cast a stone into the road, and which
denoted great attention to strength in their
masonry, while beauty of form and of work
manship, as they were understood at the period
of which we write, were not entirely neglected.
D 5

58 THE HEIDENMAUER.

These towers, though large, were mere appen
dages to the main building, which, seen from
the position now before the mind of the reader,
presented a confused maze of walls, chimneys,
and roofs. In some places, the former rose
from the green sward which covered the hill
side ; while in others, advantage had been taken
of the living rock, which was frequently so
blended with the pile it supported, both being
of the same reddish freestone, that it was not
easy at the first glance to say what had been
done by nature and what by art.

The path of the forester, led from the valley
up the mountain, by a gradual and lateral ascent
to a huge gate, that opened beneath a high arch,
communicating with a court within. On this
side of the castle there was neither ditch nor
bridge, nor any other of the usual defences,
beyond a portcullis, for the position of the hold
rendered these precautions in a measure un
necessary. Still, great care had been taken to
prevent a surprise, and it would have required

THE HEIDENMAUER. 59

a sure foot, a steady head, and vigorous limbs,
to have effected an entrance into the edifice by
any other passage than its gate.

When Berchthold reached the little terrace
that lay before the portal, he loosened his horn,
and, standing on the verge of the precipice,
blew a hunting strain, apparently in glee. The
music echoed among the hills as suited the spot,
and more than one crone of the hamlet suspend
ed her toil, in dull admiration, to listen to its
wild effect. Replacing the instrument, the
youth spoke to his hounds and passed beneath
the portcullis, which happened to be raised at
the moment.

,

60 THE HEIDENMAUER.

CHAPTER II.

" What sayest thou to a hare, or the melancholy of moor-
ditch?"

King Henry IF.

THE light had nearly disappeared from the
gorge, in which the hamlet of Hartenburg lay,
when Berchthold descended from the castle, by
a path different from that by which he had en
tered it an hour before, and crossing the rivulet
by a bridge of stone, he ascended the opposite
bank into the street, or rather the road. The
young forester having kenneled the hounds,
had laid aside his leash and fusee, but he still

THE HEIDENMAUER. 61

kept the horn suspended from his shoulder.
At his side, too, he carried a couteau-de-chasse,
a useful instrument of defence in that age and
country, as well as a weapon he was entitled to
carry, in virtue of his office under the Count
of Leiningen-Hartenburg, the master of the
hold he had just quitted, and the feudal lord
of most of the adjoining mountains, as well as
of sundry villages on the plain of the Palati
nate. It would seem that the cow-herd ex
pected his associate, or perhaps we might ven
ture to call him friend, for such in truth did he
appear to be, by the easy terms on which they
met. Gottlob was in waiting near the cottage
of his mother, and when the two joined each
other, they communicated by a sign, and pro
ceeded with swift steps, leaving the cluster of
houses.

Immediately on quitting the hamlet, the val
ley expanded, and took that character of fer
tility and cultivation, which has been described
to the reader in the Introduction.; for all who

62 THE HEIDENMAUER.

have perused that opening and necessary pre
face to our labours, will at once recognise that
the two youths introduced to their acquaint
ance, were now in the mountain basin which
contained the Abbey of Limburg. But three
centuries, while they have effected little in al
tering the permanent features of the place, have
wrought essential changes in those which were
more perishable.

As the young men moved swiftly on, the first
rays of the moon touched the tops of the moun
tains, and ere they had gone a mile, always hold
ing the direction of the pass which communi
cated with the valley of the Rhine, the towers
and roofs of the Abbey itself were illuminated.
The conventual buildings were then perfect,
resembling, by their number and confusion, the
grouping of some village, while a strong and
massive wall encircled the entire brow of the
isolated hill. The construction resembled one
of those warlike ecclesiastical princes of the
middle ages, who wore armour beneath the

THE HEIDENMAUER. 63

stole; for while the towers and painted win
dows, the pious memorials and votive monu
ments, denoted the objects of the establishment,
the defences betrayed that as much dependance
was placed on human as on other means, for
the protection of those who composed the bro
therhood.

" There is a moon for a monk as well as for
a cow-herd, it would seem," observed Gottlob,
speaking however in a voice subdued nearly to
a whisper. " There comes the light upon the
high tower of the Abbey, and presently it will
be glistening on the bald head of every straggler
of the convent, who is abroad tasting the last
vintage, or otherwise prying into the affairs of
some burgher of Duerckheim !"

" Thou hast not much reverence for the pi
ous fathers, honest Gottlob, for it is seldom
thou lettest opportunity pass to do them an ill
turn, with tongue or hungry beast."

" Look you, Berchthold, we vassals are little
more than so much clear water in which our

64 THE HEIDENMAUER.

master may see his own countenance, and
at need his own humours. Whenever Lord
Emich has a sincere hatred for man or horse,
dog or cat, town or village, monk or count, I
know not why it is so, but I feel my own choler
rise, until I am both ready and willing to strike
when he striketh, to curse when he curseth, and
even to kill when he killeth."

" Tis a good temper for a servitor, but it is
to be hoped, for the sake of Christian credit,
that the sympathy does not end here, but that
thy affections are as social as thy dislikes.""

" More so, as there is faith in man ! Count
Emich is a huge lover of a venison pasty of a
morning, and I feel a yearning for it the day
long — Count Emich will dispatch you a bottle
of Duerckheim in an hour, whereas two would
scarce show my zeal for his honour in the same
time, and as for other mortifications of this
nature, I am not the man to desert my master
for want of zeal."

" I believe thee, Gottlob," said Berchthold

THE HEIDENMAUER. 65

laughing, " and even more than thou canst find
words to say, in thine own favour, on topics
like these. But, after all, the Benedictines are
churchmen, and sworn to their faith and duty,
as well as any bishop in Germany, and I do not
see the cause of all the dislike of either lord or
vassal."

" Ay, thou art in favour with some of the
fraternity, and it is rare that the week passes
in which thou art not kneeling before some of
their altars ; but with me the case is different,
for since the penance commanded for that
affair of dealing a little freely with one of their
herds, I have small digestion for their spiritual
food."

" And yet thou hast paid Peter's pence, said
thy prayers, and confessed thy sins to Father
Arnolph, and all within the month !"

" What wouldst thou have of a sinner ! I
gave the money on the promise of having it
back with usury. I prayed on account of an
accursed tooth that torments me, at times, in a

66 THE HEIDENMAUER.

manner worse than a damned soul is harrowed ;
and as to confession, ever since my uncommon
candour, concerning the herd, got me into that
penance, I confess under favour of a proper dis
cretion. To tell the truth, Master Berchthold,
the church is something like a two-year old
wife ; pleasant enough when allowed her own
way, but a devil of a vixen when folded against
her will."

The young forester was thoughtful and silent,
and as they were now in the vicinity of the
hamlet which belonged to the friars of Lim-
burg, his loquacious and prurient companion
saw fit to imitate his reserve, from a motive of
prudence. The little artificial lake mentioned
in the Introduction was in existence, at the time
of our tale, but the inn, with the ambitious sign
of the anchor, is the fruit of far more modern
enterprise. When the young men reached a
ravine, that opened into the mountain near the
present site of this tavern, they turned aside
from the high road, first taking care to ob-

THE HEIDENMAUER. 67

serve that no curious eye watched their move
ments.

Here commenced a long and somewhat pain
ful ascent, by means of a rough path, that was
only lighted in spots by the rising moon. The
vigorous limbs of the forester and the cow-herd,
however, soon carried them to the summit of
the most advanced spur of the adjoining moun
tain, where they arrived upon an open heath-
like plain. Although the discourse between
them had been maintained during the ascent,
it was in more subdued tones even than when
beneath the walls of Limburg, the spirits of
Gottlob appearing to ooze away the higher he
mounted.

" This is a dreary and courage-killing waste,
Berchthold," whispered the cow-herd, as his
foot touched the level ground ; " and it is even
more disheartening to enter on it by the aid of
the moon, than in the dark. Hast ever been
nearer to the Teufelstein, at this hour ?"

" I came upon it once at midnight ; for it

68 THE HErDENMAUER.

was there I made acquaintance with him that
we are now about to visit — Did I never relate
the manner of that meeting ?"

" What a habit hast thou of taxing a me
mory ! Perhaps if thou wert to repeat it, I
might recall the facts by the time thou wert
ended ; and to speak truth, thy voice is com
fortable on this sprite's common."

The young forester smiled, but without de
rision, for he saw that his companion, spite of
his indifference to all grave subjects, was, as is
generally the case, the most affected of the two
when put to a serious trial, and perhaps he also
remembered the difference that education had
made in their powers of thinking. That he did
not treat the subject as one of light import
himself, was also apparent by the regulated and
cautious manner in which he delivered the fol
lowing account.

" I had been on the chases of Lord Emich
since the rising of the sun," commenced Bercht-
hold, " for there was need of more than com-

THE HEIDENMAUER. 69

mon vigilance to watch the neighbouring boors.
The search had led me far into the hills, and
the night came, not as it is now seen, but so
pitchy dark, that, accustomed as I was from
childhood to the forest, it was not possible to
tell the direction of even a star, much less that
of the castle. For hours I wandered, hoping
at each moment to reach the opening of the
valley, when I found myself of a sudden
in a field that appeared endless and unin
habited."

" Ay — That was this devil's ball-room ! —
thou meanest untenanted by man."

" Hast thou ever known the helplessness of
being lost in the forest, Gottlob ?"

" In my own person, never, Master Bercht-
hold ; but in that of my herd, it is a misfortune
that often befals me, sinner that I am !"

" I know not that sympathy with thy cows
can teach thee the humiliation and depression
that come over the mind, when we stand on this
goodly earth, cut off from all communication

70 THE HEIDENMAUER.

with our fellows, in a desert, though surround
ed by living men, deprived of the senses of sight
and hearing for useful ends, and with all the
signs of God before the eyes, and yet with none
of the common means of enjoying his bounty,
from having lost the clue to his intentions."

" Must the teeth, of necessity, be idle, or the
throat dry, Master Forester, because the path
is hid?"

" At such a moment the appetites are quiet
ed in the grand desire to return to our usual
communication with the earth. It is like being
restored to the helplessness of infancy, with all
the wants and habits of manhood besetting the
character and wishes."

" If thou callest such a condition a resto
ration, friend Berchthold, I shall make interest
with St. Benedict that I may remain deposed
to the end of my days."

" I weigh not the meaning of every word I
utter, with the recollection of that helpless mo
ment so fresh. But it was when the desolate

THE HEIDENMAUER. 71

feeling was strongest, that I roved out of the
chase upon this mountain heath, there appeared
something before my sight that seemed a house,
and by a bright light that glittered, as I fan
cied at a window, I felt again restored to inter
course with my kind."

" Thou usest thy terms with more discretion
now," said the cow-herd, fetching a heavy breath
like one who was glad the difficulty had found
a termination. " I hope it was the abode of
some substantial tenant of Lord Emich, who
was not without the means of comforting a soul
in distress."

" Gottlob, the dwelling was no other than the
Teufelstein, and the light was a twinkling star
that chance had brought in a line with the rock."

" I take it for granted, Master Berchthold,
thou didst not knock twice for admission at
that door !"

" I am not much governed by the vulgar
legends and womanish superstitions of our hills,
but—1'

72 THE HEIDENMAUER.

" Softly, softly, friend forester, what thou
callest by names so irreverent, are the opinions
of all who dwell in or about Duerckheira ;
knight or monk, burgher or count, has equally
a respect for our venerable traditions. Tau-
sand Sechs und Zwanziger ! what would become
of us if we had not a gory tale, or some alarm
ing and reverend spectacle of this sort, to set
up against the penances, and prayers, and
masses of the friars of Limburg ! As much
wisdom and philosophy as thou wilt, foster-
brother of mine, but leave us our Devil, if it
be only to make battle against the Abbot !"

" Notwithstanding thy big words, I well
know that none among us has at heart a greater
dread of this very hill than thyself, Gottlob !
I have seen thee sweat cold drops from thy
forehead in crossing the heath after nightfall."

" Art quite sure 'twas not the dew ? We
have heavy falls of that moisture in these hills
when the earth is parched."

" Let it then be the dew."

THE HEIDENMAUER. 73

" To oblige thee, Berchthold, I would wil
lingly swear it was a water-spout. But what
didst thou make of the rock and the star ? "

" I could change the nature of neither. I
pretend not to thy indifference to the myste
rious power that rules the earth, but thou well
knowest that fear never yet kept me from this
hill. When a near approach showed me my
error, I was about to turn away, not without
crossing myself and repeating an Ave, as I am
ready to acknowledge ; but a glance upward
convinced me that the stone was occupied — "

" Occupied? — I have always known that it
was possessed, but never before did I think it
was occupied !"

" There was one seated on its uppermost
projection, as plainly to be seen as the rock
itself/1

" Whereupon thou madest manifest that
good speed which has gained thee the favour of
the Count, and thy post of forester."

" I hope the nerve to put the duties of my

VOL. I. E

74 THE HEIDENMAUER.

office in practice had their weight with Lord
Emich," rejoined Berchthold, a little quickly.
" I did not run, Gottlob, but I spoke to the
being who had chosen a seat so remarkable,
and at that late hour."

Spite of his spirits and affected humour, the
cow-herd unconsciously drew nearer to his com
panion, casting at the same time an oblique
glance in the direction of the suspected rock.

" Thou seemest troubled, Gottlob."

" Dost thou think I am without bowels ?
What ! shall a friend of mine be in this strait,
and I not troubled ? Heaven save thee, Bercht
hold, were the best cow in my herd off her
stomach, I could not be in greater concern.
Hadst any answer ?"

"I had, and the result has gone to show
me," returned the forester, musing as he spoke,
like one who was obtaining glimpses of long-
concealed truth, " that our fears oftentimes
prevent us from seeing things as they are, and
are the means of nourishing our mistakes. I

THE HEIDENMAUER. 75

got an answer, and certainly contrary to what
most in Duerckheim would have believed, it
was given in a human voice."

" That was encouraging, though it were
hoarser than the roaring of a bull !"

" It spoke mildly and in reason, Gottlob, as
thou wilt readily believe, when I tell thee it
was no other than the voice of the Anchorite of
the Cedars. Our acquaintance then and there
commenced, since which time, as thou knowest
well, it has not flagged for want of frequent
visits to his abode on my part."

The cow-herd walked on in silence for more
than a minute, and then stopping short, he
abruptly addressed his companion :

"And this, then, hath been thy secret, Bercht-
hold, concerning the manner of commencing on
thy new friendship ?"

" There is no other. I well knew how much
thou wert fettered by the opinions of the coun
try, and was afraid of losing thy company in
these visits, were I, without caution, to tell all

E2

76 THE HEIDENMAUER.

the circumstances of our interview. But now
thou hast become known to the anchorite, I do
not fear thy desertion."

" Never count upon too many sacrifices from
thy friends. Master Berchthold ! The mind of
man is borne upon by so many fancies, — is
ruled by so many vagaries, and tormented by
so many doubts, when there is question con
cerning the safety of the body, to say nothing
of the soul, that I know no more rash confi
dence than to count too securely on the sacri
fices of a friend."

" Thou knowest the path, and can return by
thyself to the hamlet if thou wilt," said the
forester peevishly, and not without severity.

" There are situations in which it is as diffi
cult to go back as to go forward," observed
Gottlob, " else, Berchthold, I might take thee
at the word, and go back to my careful mother,
a good supper, and a bed that stands between
a picture of the Virgin, one of St. Benedict,
and one of my Lord the Count. But for my

THE HEIDENMAUER. 77

concern for thee, I would not go another foot
towards the camp."

" Do as thou wilt," said the forester, who
appeared however to know the apprehension
his companion felt of being left alone in that
solitary and suspected spat, and who turned
his advantage to good account by quickening
his pace in such a manner as would soon have
left Gottlob to his own thick-coming fancies,
had he not diligently imitated his gait. " Thou
canst tell the people of Lord Emich, that thou
abandoned me on this hill."

" Nay," returned Gottlob, making a merit of
necessity, " if I do that, or say that, may
they make a Benedictine of me, and the Abbot
of Limburg to boot !"

As the cow-herd, who felt all his master's
antipathies against their religious neighbours,
expressed this determination in a voice strong
as his resolution, confidence was restored be
tween the friends, who continued their progress
with swift paces. The place was, sooth to say,

78 THE HEIDENMAUER.

one every way likely to quicken any dormant
seeds of superstition that education, or tradi
tion, or local opinions, had implanted in the
human breast.

By this time our adventurers had approached
a wood of low cedars, which, apparently en
circled in a round wall that was composed of a
confused but vast pile of fallen stones, grew
upon the advanced spur of the hills. Behind
them lay the heath-like plain, while the bald
rock which the moon-beams had just lighted,
raising its head from out of the earth, resembled
some gloomy monument placed in the centre of
the waste, to mark and to render obvious, by
comparison, the dreary solitude of the naked
fields. The back-ground was the dark slopes
and ridges of the forest of the Haard mountains.
On their right was the glen, or valley, from
which they had just ascended, and on their
front, looking a little obliquely from the grove,
the plain of the Palatinate, which lay in misty

THE HEIDENMAUER. 79

obscurity, like a dim sea of cultivation, hun
dreds of feet beneath their elevated stand.

It was rare, indeed, that any immediate de
pendant of the Count Emich, and more espe
cially any of those who dwelt in or about his
castle, and who were likely to be called into his
service at an unexpected moment, ventured so
far from the fortress, and in the direction of the
hostile abbey, without providing himself with
the means of offence and defence. Berchthold
wore, as wont, his hunting-knife, or the short
straight sword, which to this day is carried by
that description of European dependant called
a chasseur, and who is seen, degraded to the
menial offices of a footman, standing behind the
carriages of ambassadors and princes, reminding
the observant spectator of the regular and cer
tain decadency of the usages of feudal times.
Neither had Gottlob been neglectful of his per
sonal security, as respects human foes ; for on
the subject of resisting all such attacks, his

80 THE HEIDENMAUER.

manhood was above reproach, as had been
proved in more than one of those bloody frays,
which in that age were of frequent occurrence
between the vassals of the minor German princes.
The cow-herd had provided himself with a
heavy weapon that his father had often wielded
in battle, and which needed all the vigour of the
muscular arm of the son, to flourish with a due
observance of the required positions and atti
tudes. Fire-arms were of too much value and
of too imperfect use to be resorted to on every
light occasion, like that which had now drawn
the foster-brothers, for such supported by long
habit was the secret of the intimacy between
the forester and the cow-herd, from their ham
let to the hill of Duerckheim.

Berchthold loosened his couteau-de-chasse, as
he turned by an ancient gate- way, whose posi
tion was known merely by an interruption of
the ditch that had protected this face of the
wall, and an opening in the wall itself, to enter

THE HEIDENMAUER. 81

the enclosure, which the reader will at once
recognise as the Pagan's Camp of the Introduc
tion. At the same moment Gottlob cast his
heavy weapon from his shoulder, and grasped
its handle in a more scientific manner. There
was certainly no enemy visible to justify these
movements, but the increasing solitude of the
place, and that impression of danger which
besets the faculties when we find ourselves in
situations favourable to deeds of'violence, pro
bably induced the double and common caution.
The light of the moon, which was not yet full,
had not sufficient power to penetrate the thick
branches of the cedars, and when the youths
were fairly beneath the gloomy foliage, although
not left in the ordinary darkness of a clouded
night, they were perhaps in that very species of
dull and misty illumination, which, by leaving
objects uncertain while visible, is the best
adapted to undermine the confidence of a dis
trustful spirit. There was little wind, but the
E5

82 THE HEIDENMAUER.

sighs of the night air were plaintively audible,
while the adventurers picked their way among
the fragments of the place.

It has been elsewhere said, that the Heiden-
mauer was originally a Roman camp. The
warlike and extraordinary people who had
erected these advanced works on the remotest
frontier of their wide empire, had, of course,
neglected none of the means that were necessary,
under the circumstances, either for their secu
rity or for their comfort. The first had been
sufficiently obtained by the nearly isolated posi
tion of the hill, protected, as it was, by walls so
massive and so high as those must have been,
which had consumed the quantity of materials
still visible in the large circuit that remained ;
while the interior furnished abundant proofs
that the latter had not been neglected, in its
intersecting remains, over which Gottlob more
than once stumbled, as he advanced into the
shadows of the place. Here and there, a ruined

THE HEIDENMAUER. 83

habitation, more or less dilapidated, was still
standing, furnishing, like the memorable re
mains of Pompeii and Herculaneum, interesting
and infallible evidence of the usages of those
who have so long since departed to their eternal
rest. It would seem by the rude repairs, which
rather injured than embellished these touching,
though simple monuments of what the interior
of the camp had been in its day of power and
pride, that modern adventurers had endeavoured
to turn them to account, by converting the fall
ing huts into habitations appropriated to their
own temporary uses. All, however, appeared
to have been long before finally abandoned ; for
as Berchthold and his companion stole cau
tiously among the crumbling stones, the gaping
rents and roofless walls denoted hopeless decay.
At length the youths paused, and fastened their
looks in a common direction, as if apprised that
they were near the goal of their expedition.
In a part of the grove, where the cedars grew

84 THE HEIDKNMAUER.

more dense and luxuriant than on most of that
stoney and broken soil, stood a single low build
ing, which, of all there, had the air of being still
habitable. Like the others, it either had been
originally constructed by the masters of the
world, or restored on the foundations of some
Roman construction by the followers of Attila,
who, it will be remembered, had passed a winter
in this camp, and was now rendered weather
proof by the usual devices of the poor and labo
rious. There was a single window, a door, and
a rude chimney, which the climate and the ele
vated situation of the place rendered nearly in
dispensable. The light of a dim torch shone
through the former, the only sign that the hut
was tenanted ; for on the exterior, with the ex
ception of the rough repairs just mentioned, all
around it lay in the neglected and eloquent still
ness of ruin. The reader will not imagine, in
this description, any of that massive grandeur
which so insensibly attaches itself to most that
is connected with the Roman name, for while

THE HEIDENMAUER. 85

in the nature of things, the most ponderous and
the most imposing of the public works of that
people are precisely those which are the most
likely to have descended to our own times, the
traveller often meets with memorials of their
power, that are so frail and perishable in their
construction, as to owe their preservation, in a
great measure, to an accidental combination of
circumstances favourable to such a result. Still,
the Roman was ordinarily as much greater in
little things, if connected with a public object,
as he excelled all who have succeeded him, in
those which were of more importance. The
Ringmauer, or Heidenmauer, is a strong proof
of what we say. There is not an arch, nor a
tomb, nor a gate, nor a paved road of any de
scription in the vicinity of Duerckheim, to show
that the post was more than a temporary mili
tary position, and yet the presence of its former
occupants is established by more evidence than
would probably be found, a century hence,
were half of the present cities of Christendom

86 THE HEIDENMAUER.

to be suddenly abandoned. But these evi
dences are rude, and suited to the objects which
had brought them into existence.

The forester and the cow-herd stood long re
garding the solitary hut, which had arrested
their looks, like men hesitating to proceed.

" I had more humour for the company of the
honest anchorite, Master Berchthold," said the
latter, " before thou madest me acquainted
with his fondness for taking the night air on
the Teufelstein."

" Thou hast not fear, Gottlob ?— Thou, who
bearest so good a name for courage among our
youths !"

" 1 shall be the last to accuse myself of cow
ardice, or of any other discreditable quality,
friend forester ; but prudence is a virtue in a
youth, as the Abbot of Limburg, himself, would
swear, were he here — "

" He is not present in his own reverend and
respected person," said a voice so nigh the ear
of Gottlob, as to cause him to jump nimbly

THE HEIDENMAUER. 87

aside ; u but one who may humbly represent
some portion of his sanctity, is not wanting to
affirm the truth of what thou sayest, son."

The startled young men saw that a monk of
the opposite mountain had unexpectedly ap
peared between them. They were on the lands
of the abbey, or rather on ground in dispute
between the burghers of Duerckheim and the
convent, but actually in possession of the latter,
and they felt the insecurity of their situation as
the dependants of the Count of Hartenburg.
Neither spoke, therefore, for each was striving
to invent some plausible pretext for his appear
ance in a place so unfrequented, and which, in
general, was held in so little favour by the
neighbouring peasantry.

" You are youths of Duerckheim ?" asked
the monk, endeavouring to observe their fea
tures by the imperfect light that penetrated
the foliage of the dark cedars. Gottlob, whose
besetting infirmity was a too exhuberant fluency
of tongue, took on himself the task of answering.

88 THE HEIDENMAUER.

<c We are youths, reverend father," he said,
" as thy quick and sagacious sight hath so well
seen. I will not deny my years, and if I would,
the devil, who besets all between fifteen and
five-and-twenty in the shape of some giddy in
firmity, would soon betray the imposture."

" Of Duerckheim, son ?"

" As there is question between the Abbey and
the town concerning these hills, we might not
stand any better in thy favour, holy Benedic-
ine, were we to say yes."

"In that suspicion, thou dost little justice to
the abbey, son ; we may defend the rights of
the Church, confided in their temporalities as
they are to an unworthy and sinful brother
hood, without feeling any uncharitableness
against those who believe they have claims bet
ter than our own. The love of Mammon is
feeble in bosoms that are devoted to self-deny
ing and repentant lives. Say then boldly that
you are of Duerckheim, and dread not my
displeasure."

THE HEIDENMAUER. 89

" Since it is thy good pleasure, benevolent
monk, I will say boldly that we are of Duerck-
heim."

" And you come to consult the holy Ancho
rite of the Cedars ?M

" It is not necessary that I should tell one of
thy knowledge of human nature, reverend Bene
dictine, that the failing of all dwellers in small
towns, is an itching to look into the affairs of
their neighbours. Himmel ! If our worthy
burgomasters would spare a little time from
the affairs of other people to look into their
own, we should all be greatly gainers ; they in
their property, and we in our comfort !"

The Benedictine laughed, and he motioned
for the youths to follow, advancing himself
towards the hut.

" Since you have given yourselves this trouble,
no doubt with a praiseworthy and pious in
tention, my sons," he said, " let not respect for
my presence change your purpose. We will
go into the cell of the holy hermit, in company,

90 THE HEIDENMAUER.

and if there should be advantage from his bless
ing, or discourse, believe me, I will not be so
unjust as to envy either of you a share."

" The manner in which the friars of Limburg
deny themselves advantages, in order to do
profit to their fellow-christians, is in the mouths
of all, far and near, and this generosity of thine,
reverend monk, is quite of a piece with the
well-earned reputation of the whole brother
hood."

As Gottlob spoke gravely, and bowed with
sufficient reverence, the Benedictine was in a
slight degree his dupe; though, as he passed
beneath the low portal of the hut, he could not
prevent a lurking suspicion of the truth.

THE HEIDENMAUER. 91

CHAPTER III.

' He comes at last in sudden loveliness,
And whence they know not, why they need not guess/

Lara.

IN those ages in which moral wrongs were
chiefly repaired by superstition, and the slaves
of the grosser passions believed they were only
to be rebuked by signal acts of physical self-
denial, the world often witnessed examples of
men retiring from its allurements, to caves and
huts, for the ostensible purposes of penitence
and prayer. That this extraordinary preten
sion to godliness was frequently the cloak of
ambition and deceit is certain, but it would be

92 THE HEIDENMAUER.

uncharitable to believe that, in common, it did
not proceed from an honest, though it might
be an ill-directed, zeal. Hermitages are still
far from infrequent in the more southern parts
of Europe, though they are of rare occurrence
in Germany ; but, previously to the change of
religion which occurred in the sixteenth cen
tury, and consequently near the period of this
tale, they were perhaps more often met with
among the descendants of the northern race,
than among the more fervid fancies of the south
ern stock of that quarter of the world. It is a
law of nature that the substances which most
easily receive impressions, are the least likely
to retain them ; and possibly there may be re
quisite a constancy and severity of character to
endure the never-ending and mortifying exac
tions of the anchorite, that were not so easily
found among the volatile and happy children of
the sun, as among the sterner offspring of the
regions of cold and tempests.

THE HEIDENMAUER. 93

Whatever may be said of the principles of
him who thus abandoned worldly ease for the
love of God, it is quite sure, that in practice,
there were present and soothing rewards in this
manner of life, that were not without strong
attractions to morbid minds ; especially to those
in which the seeds of ambition were dormant
rather than extinct. It was rare, indeed, that
a recluse established himself in the vicinity of
a simple and religious neighbourhood, and few
were they who sought absolute solitude, with
out reaping a rich harvest of veneration and
moral dependence among the untrained minds
of his admirers. In this treacherous manner
does vanity beset us in our strongholds of
mental security, and he who has abandoned the
world, in the hope of leaving behind him those
impulses which endangered his hopes, finds the
enemy in a new shape, intrenched in the very
citadel of his defences. There is little merit,
and commonly as little safety, in turning the
back on any danger, and he has far less claims

94* THE HEIDENMAUER.

to the honours of a hero who outlives the con
test in consequence of means so questionable,
than he who survives because he has given a
mortal blow to his antagonist. The task as
signed to nlan is to move among his fellows
doing good, filling his part in the scale of cre
ation, and escaping from none of the high du
ties which God has allotted to his being ; and
greatly should he be grateful, that, while his
service is arduous, he is not left without the
powerful aid of that intelligence which controls
the harmony of the universe.

The Anchorite of the Cedars, as the recluse
now visited by the monk and his accidental
companions was usually termed by the pea
sants, and by the burghers of Duerckheim,
had made his appearance about six months be
fore the opening of our story, in the Ring-
mauer. Whence he had come, how long he
intended to remain, and what had been his
previous career, were facts equally unknown to

THE HEIDENMAUER. 95

those among whom he so suddenly took up his
abode. None had seen him arrive, nor could
any say from what sources he drew the few ar
ticles of household furniture which were placed
in his hut. They who left the camp untenant-
ed one week, on returning the next, had found
it occupied by a man, who had arranged one
of the deserted buildings in a manner to shelter
him from the storms, and who, by erecting a
crucifix at his door, had sufficiently announced
the motive of his retirement. It was usual to
hail the establishment of a hermit in any par
ticular district, as a propitious event, and many
were the hopes excited, and plans of effecting
temporal objects concocted, by the intervention
of the prayers of the stranger, before his pre
sence had been known a fortnight. All within
the influence of the name of the hermit, except
Enrich of Leiningen-Hartenburg. the burgo
masters of Duerckheim, and the monks of Lim-
burg, heard of his arrival with satisfaction.

96 THE HEIDENMAUER.

The haughty and warlike baron had imbibed a
standing prejudice against all devotees, from
an inherited enmity to the adjoining convent,
which had contested the sovereignty of the val
ley with his family for ages ; while the magis
trates had a latent jealousy of every influence
which custom and the laws had not rendered
familiar. As to the monks, the secret of their
distrust was to be found in that principle of
human nature, which causes us to dislike being
outdone in any merit of which we make an
especial profession, even though superior god
liness be its object. Until now the Abbot of
Limburg was held to be the judge, in the last
resort, of all intercessions between earth and
heaven, and as his supremacy had the support
of time, he had long enjoyed it in that careless
security, which lures so many of the prosperous
to their downfall.

These antipathies on the part of the honoured
and powerful might, to say the least, have ren
dered the life of the anchorite very uncomfort-

THE HE1DENMAUER. 97

able, if not positively insecure, were it not for
the neutralizing effect of the antagonist forces
which were set in motion. Opinion, deepened
by superstition, held its shield over the humble
hut, and month after month glided away, after
the arrival of the stranger, during which he
received no other testimonials of the feelings
excited by his presence, than those connected
with the reverence of the bulk of the popula
tion. An accidental communication with Bercht-
hold was ripening into intimacy, and, as will
be seen in the course of the narrative, there
were others to whom his counsel, or his mo
tives, or his prayers, were not indifferent.

The latter fact was made sufficiently appa
rent to those who, on account of their mutual
distrust, now presented themselves with less
ceremony than usual, at the threshold of the
hut. The Ijght within came from a faggot
which was burning on the rude hearth, but it
was quite strong enough to show the monk and
his companions that the anchorite was not alone.

VOL. I. F

98 THE HEIDENMAUER.

Their footsteps had evidently been heard, and
a female had time to arise from her knees, and
to arrange her mantle, in a manner as effective
ly to conceal her countenance. The hurried
action was scarcely completed, when the Bene
dictine darkened the door with his gloomy
robes, while Berchthold and his friend stood
gazing over his shoulders, with lively curiosity
mingled with surprise.

The form and countenance of the anchorite
were those of middle age. His eye had lost
nothing of its quickness or intelligence, though
his movements had the deliberation and care
that long experience insensibly interweaves in
the habits of those who have not lived in vain.
He expressed neither concern nor wonder at the
unexpected visits, but regarding his guests
earnestly, like one who assured himself of their
identity, he mildly motioned for all to enter.
There was jealous suspicion in the glance of
the Benedictine, as he complied : for until now,
he had no reason to believe that the recluse was

THE HEIDENMAUER. 99

usurping so intimate and so extensive an in
fluence over the minds of the young, as the
presence of the unknown female would give
reason to believe.

u I knew that thou wert of holy life and con
stant prayer, venerable hermit," he said, in a
tone that questioned in more than one meaning
of the term, " but until this moment, I had
not thought thee vested with the Church's
power to hearken to the transgressions of the
faithful, and to forgive sins !"

" The latter is an office, brother, that of right
belongs only to God. The head of the Church
himself is but a humble instrument of faith, in
discharging this solemn trust."

The countenance of the monk did not become
more amicable at this reply, nor did he fail to
cast a scrutinizing glance at the muffled form of
the stranger, in a fruitless endeavour to recog
nise her person.

" Thou hast not even the tonsure," he con
tinued, while his uneasy eye rolled from that
F2

100 THE HEIDENMAUER.

of the recluse to the form of the stranger, who
had shrunk, far as the narrow place would per
mit, from observation.

" Thou seest, father, I have all the hair
that time and infirmities have left me. But is
it thought, in thy beneficed and warlike abbey,
that the advice of one who has lived long
enough to know and to lament his own errors,
can injure the less experienced? If unhappily
I may have deceived myself, thou art timely
present, reverend monk, to repair the wrong."

" Let the maiden come to the confessional of
the abbey church, if distrust or apprehension
weigh upon her mind ; doubt it not, she will
find great comfort in the experiment.""

" As I will testify, from many trials — " ab
ruptly interposed the cow-herd, who advanced
intrusively between the two devotees, in a man
ner to occupy all their attention. " ' Go upon
the hill, and ease thy soul, Gottlob,' is my good
and venerable mother in the practice of saying,
whenever my opinion of myself is getting to be

THE HEIDENMAUER. 101

too humble, ' and discourse with some of the
godly fathers of the abbey, whose wisdom and
unction will not fail to lighten thy heart of even
a heavier load. There is Father Ulrich, he is
a paragon of virtue and self-denial ; and Father
Cuno is even more edifying and salutary than
he ; while Father Siegfried is more balmy to a
soul, than the most reverend Abbot, the vir
tuous and pious Father Bonifacius himself!
Whatever thou doest, child, go upon the hill,
and enter boldly into the church, like a loaded
and oppressed sinner as thou art, and especially
seek counsel and prayer from the excellent and
beloved Father Siegfried.' "

" And thou — who art thou ?" demanded the
half-doubting monk, " that thus speakest of
me, in terms that I so little merit, to my face ?"

" I would I were Lord Emich of Harten-
burg, or, for that matter, the Elector Palatine
himself, in order to do justice to those I honour ;
in which case certain fathers of Limburg should
have especial favour, and that quickly too,

102 THE HEIDENMAUER.

after my own flesh and blood! Who am I,
father ? I wonder that a face so often seen at
the confessional should be forgotten. What
there is of me to boast of, Father Siegfried, is
of thine own forming ; but it is no cause of
surprise that thou dost not recall me to mind,
since the meek and lowly of spirit are sure to
forget their own good works P'

" Thou callest thyself Gottlob — but the name
belongs to many Christians."

" More bear it, reverend monk, than know
how to do it honour. There is Gottlob Frincke,
as arrant a knave as any in Duerckheim ; and
Gottlob Popp might have more respect for his
baptismal vow ; and as to Lord Gottlob of
Manheim — "

" We will overlook the transgressions of the
remainder of thy namesakes for the good that
thou thyself hast done/' interrupted the Bene
dictine, who, having insensibly yielded to the
unction of flattery in the commencement of the
interview, began now to be ashamed of the

THE HEIDENMAUER. 103

weakness, as the fluent cow-herd poured forth
his words in a manner to excite some suspicion
of the quality of praise that came from such a
source. " Come to me when thou wilt, son,
and such counsel as a weak head, but a sincere
heart, can render, shall not be withheld."

" How this would lighten the heart of my
old mother to hear ! ' Gottlob,' would she
say — "

" What has become of thy companion, and of
the maiden ?" hastily demanded the Benedictine*

As the part of the cow-herd was successfully
performed, he stood aside, with an air of well-
acted simplicity and amazement, leaving the
discourse to be pursued between the recluse
and the monk.

" Thy guests have suddenly left us," conti
nued the latter, after satisfying himself by ac
tual observation, that no one remained in the
hut but himself, its regular occupant, and the
honey-tongued Gottlob — " and, as it would
seem, in company."

104 THE HEIDENMAUER.

" They are gone as they came, voluntarily
and without question."

" Thou knowest them by frequent visits,
holy hermit ?"

" Father, I question none : were the Elector
Friedrich to come into my abode, he would
be welcome, and this cow-herd is not less
so. To both, at parting, I merely say, God
speed ye f

" Thou keepest the cattle of the burghers,
Gottlob?"

66 I keep a herd, reverend priest, such as my
masters please to trust to my care.11

" We have grave cause of complaint against
one of thy fellows who serves the Count of
Hartenburg, and who is in the daily habit of
trespassing on the pastures of the church.
Dost know the hind ?"

" Potz Tausend ! If all the knaves who do
these wrongs, when out of sight of their mas
ters, were set in a row, before the eyes of the
most reverend Abbot of Limburg, he would

THE HEIDENMAUER. 105

scarce know whether to begin with prayers or
stripes ; and they say he is a potent priest at
need with both ! I sometimes tremble for my
own conduct, though no one can have a better
opinion of himself than I, poor and lowly as I
stand in your reverend presence, for a hard
fortune, and some oversight in the management
of my father's affairs, have brought me to the
need of living among such associates. Were I
not of approved honesty, there might be more
beasts on the abbey lands ; and they who now
pass their time in fasting in sheer humility,
might come to the practice of sheer necessity."

The Benedictine examined the meek counte
nance of Gottlob with a keen, distrustful eye :
he next invited the hermit to bestow his bless
ing, and then motioning for the hind to retire,
he entered on the real object of his visit to the
hermitage.

We shall merely say, at this point of the
narrative, that the moment was extremely cri
tical to all who dwelt in the Palatinate of the
F 5

106 THE HEIDENMAUER.

Rhine. The Elector had, perhaps imprudently
for a prince of his limited resources, taken an
active part in the vindictive warfare then raging,
and serious reverses threatened to endanger not
only his tranquillity but his throne. It was a
consequence of the feudal system, which then
so generally prevailed in Europe, that internal
disorders succeeded any manifest, though it
might be only a temporary derangement of the
power of the potentate that held the right of
sovereignty over the infinite number of petty
rulers, who, at that period, weighed particu
larly heavy on Germany. To them he was the
law, for they were not apt to acknowledge any
supremacy that did not come supported by the
strong hand. The ascending scale of rulers,
including baron, count, landgrave, margrave,
duke, elector, and king, up to the nominal
head of the state, the emperor himself, with
the complicated and varied interests, embracing
allegiance within allegiance, and duty upon
duty, was likely in itself to lead to dissension,

THE HEIDENMAUER. 107

had the imperial crown been one of far more
defined and positive influence than it was.
But, uncertain and indirect in the application
of its means, it was rare that any very serious
obstacle to tranquillity was removed without
the employment of positive force. No sooner
was the emperor involved in a serious struggle,
than the great princes endeavoured to recover
that balance which had been lost by the long
ascendancy of a particular family, while the
minor princes seldom saw themselves surround
ed with external embarrassment that internal
discord did not come to increase the evil. As
a vassal was commonly but a rude reflection of
his lord^s enmities and prejudices, the reader^
will have inferred from the language of the
cow-herd that affairs were not on the most ami
cable footing between those near neighbours,
the Abbot of Limburg and the Count of Har-
tenburg. The circumstance of their existing
so near each other was, of itself, almost a cer
tain cause of rivalry ; to which natural motive

108 THE HEIDENMAUER.

of contention may be added the unremitted
strife between the influence of superstition and
the dread of the sword.

The visit of the monk had reference to cer
tain interests connected with the actual state of
things, as they existed between the abbey and
the castle. As it would be premature, how
ever, to expose his object, we shall be content
with saying that the conference between the
priest and the hermit lasted for half an hour,
when the former took his leave, craving a
blessing from one of a life so pure and self-
denying as his host.

At the door of the hut the monk found Gott-
lob, who had early been gotten rid of, it will be
remembered, but who, for reasons of his own,
had seen fit to await the termination of the
conference.

" Thou here, son P' exclaimed the Benedic
tine,- -" I had thought thee at peace, in thy
bed, favoured with the benediction of a hermit
so holy P'

THE HEIDENMAUER. 109

" Good fortune is sure to drive sleep from
my eyes, father," returned Gottlob, dropping
in by the side of the monk, who was walking
through the cedars towards the ancient gateway
of the camp. " I am not of your animal kind,
that is no sooner filled with a good thing than
it lies down to rest ; but the happier I become,
the more I desire to be up to enjoy it."

" Thy wish is natural, and, although many
natural desires are to be resisted, I do not see
the danger of our knowing our own happiness."

" Of the danger I will say nothing, father,
but of the comfort, there is not a youth in
Duerckheim, who can speak with greater cer
tainty than myself."

u Gottlob," said the Benedictine, insensibly
edging nearer to his companion, like one will
ing to communicate confidentially, " since thou
namest Duerckheim, canst say aught of the
humour of its people, in this matter of con
tention between our holy Abbot and Lord
Emich of Hartenburg ?"

110 THE HEIDENMAUER.

" Were I to tell thy reverence the truth that
lies deepest in my mind, it would be to say,
that the burghers wish to see the affair brought
to an end, in such a way as to leave no doubt,
hereafter, to which party they most owe obe
dience and love, since they find it a little hard
upon their zeal, to have so large demands of
these services made by both parties."

"Thou canst not serve God and Mammon,
son ; so sayeth one who could not deceive."

" And so sayeth reason, too, worshipful
monk ; but to give thee at once my inmost
soul, I believe there is not a man in our Duerck-
heim, who believes himself strong enough in
learning to say, in this strife of duties, which is
God and which is Mammon !"

" How ! do they call in question our sacred
mission — our divine embassy— in short, our
being what we are ?"

" No man is so bold as to say that the monks
of Limburg are what they are ; that might be
irreverent to the Church, and indecent to Father

THE HEIDENMAUER. Ill

Siegfried ; and the most we dare to say is, that
they seem to be what they are ; and that is no
small matter, considering the way things go in
this world. ' Seem to be, Gottlob,1 said my
poor father, ' and thou wilt escape envy and
enemies ; for in this seemliness there is nothing
so alarming to others; it is only when one is
really the thing itself, that men begin to find
fault. If thou wishest to live peaceably with
thy neighbours, push nothing beyond seeming
to be, for that much all will bear, since all can
seem; whereas being oftentimes sets a whole
village in an uproar. It is wonderful the vir
tue there is in seeming, and the heart-burnings
and scandal, ay, and the downright quarrels
there are in being just what one seems.' No,
the most we say in Duerckheim is, that the
monks of Limburg seem to be men of God."

"And LordEmieh?"

" As to Count Emich, father, we hold it wise
to remember he is a great noble. The Elector
has not a bolder knight, nor the Emperor a

112 THE HEIDENMAUER.

truer vassal ; we say, therefore, that he seems
to be brave and loyal."

" Thou makest great account, son, of these
apparent qualities."

" Knowing the frailty of man, father, and
the great likelihood of error, when we wish to
judge of acts and reasons, ~that lie deeper than
our knowledge, we hold it to be the most pru
dent. No, let us of Duerckheim alone, as men
of caution !"

" For a cow-herd, thou wantest not wit —
Canst read ?"

" By God's favour, Providence put that little
accident in my way when a child, reverend
monk, and I picked it up, as I might swallow
a sweet morsel.*"

"Tis a gift more likely to injure than to
serve one of thy calling. The art can do little
benefit to thy herd !"

" I will not take upon myself to say, that
any of the cattle are much the better for it ;
though, to deal fairly by thee, reverend Bene-

THE HEIDENMAUER. 113

dictine, there are animals among them that
seem to be."

" How ! — wilt thou attempt to show a fact
not only improbable but impossible. Go to,
thou hast fallen upon some silly work of a
jester. There have been numberless of these
commissions of the devil poured forth, since the
discovery of that imprudent brother of Mainz.
I would gladly hear in what manner a beast can
profit by the art of printing ?"

"Thy patience, Father Siegfried, and thou
shalt know. Now here is a hind that can read,
and there is one that cannot. We will suppose
them both the servants of Emich of Harten-
burg. Well, they go forth of a morning with
their herds ; this taking the path to the hills of
the Count, and that, having read the descrip
tion of the boundaries between his Lord's land
and that of the holy Abbot of Limburg, taking
another, because learning will not willingly fol
low ignorance ; whereupon the reader reaches a
nearer and better pasture, than he who hath

114 THE HEIDENMAUER.

gone about to feed upon ground that has only
been trodden upon too often before, by hoof of
beast and foot of man."

" Thy learning hath not done much towards
clearing thy head, Gottlob, whatever it may
have done for the condition of thy herd !"

" If your worship has any doubts of my being
what I say, here is proof of its justice, then —
I know nothing that so crams a man and con
fuses him as learning! He who has but one
horn can take it and go his way ; whereas he
that hath many, may lose his herd while choos
ing between instruments that are better or
worse. He that hath but one sword, will draw
it and slay his enemy : but he that hath much
armour, may lose his life while putting on his
buckler or head-piece."

"I had not thought thee so skilful in an
swers. — And thou thinkest the good people of
Duerckheim will stand neuter between the Ab
bey and the Count ?"

" Father, if thou wilt show me by which side

THE HEIDENMAUER. 115

they will be the greatest gainers, I think 1
might venture to say, with some certainty, on
which side they v will be likely to draw the
sword. Our burghers are prudent townsmen,
as I have said, and it is not often that they are
found fighting against their own interests."

" Thou shouldst know, son, that he who is
most favoured in this life, may find the balances
of justice weighing against him in the next ;
while he who suffers in the flesh, will be most
likely to find its advantages in the spirit."

66 Himmel ! In that case, reverend Bene
dictine, the most holy Abbot of Limburg him
self may fare worse hereafter than even a hind
who now lives like a dog !" exclaimed Gottlob,
with an air of admiration and simplicity that
completely misled his listener. "The one is
said to comfort the body in various ways, and
to know the difference between a cup of pure
Rhenish and a draught of the washy liquors
that come from the other side of our mountains;
while the other, whether it be of necessity or

116 THE HEIDENMAUER.

inclination I will not take upon myself to say,
drinks only of the spring. 'Tis a million of
pities that one never knoweth which to choose,
present ease with future pain, or a starving
body with a happy soul ! Believe me, Father
Siegfried, were thy reverence to think more of
these trials that befall us ignorant youths, thou
wouldst not deal so heavily with the penances,
as thine own severe virtue often tempts thee
to do."

" What is thus done is done for thy health,
future and present. By chastening the spirit
in this manner, it is gradually prepared for its
final purification, and thou art not a loser in
the eyes of thy fellows, by leading a chaste life.
Thou wilt have justice at the settlement of the
great account."

" Nay, I am no greedy creditor, to dun Pro
vidence for my dues. I very well know that
what will come cannot be prevented, and there
fore I take patience to be a virtue. But I hope
these accounts, of which you tell us so often,

THE HEIDENMAUER. 117

are kept with sufficient respect for a poor man ;
for, to deal fairly with thee, father, we have
not overmuch favour in settling those of the
world."

" Thou hast credit for all thy good deeds
with thy fellows, Gottlob."

" I wish it were true ! To me it seems that
the world is ready enough to charge, while it is
as niggardly as a miser in giving credit — I never
did an evil act — and as we are all mortal and
frail, most holy monk, these accidents will befall
even your saint or a Benedictine — that the deed
itself and all its consequences were not set down
against me, in letters that a short-sighted man
might read ; while most of my merits — and con
sidering I am but a cow-herd, they are of re
spectable quality — seem to be forgotten. Now
your Abbot, or his highness the Elector, or
even Count Emich — "

" The Summer Landgrave !" interrupted the
monk, laughing.

" Summer or winter, as thou wilt, Father

118 THE HEIDENMAUER.

Siegfried, he is Count of Hartenburg, and a
noble of Leiningen. Even he does no deed of
charity, or even of simple justice, that all men
do not seize upon the occasion to proclaim it, as
eagerly as they endeavour to upbraid me for
the accidental loss of a beast, or any other little
backsliding, that may befall one who, being
bold under thy holy instruction, sometimes
stumbles against a sin."

" Thou art a casuist, and, at another time, I
must look more closely into the temper of thy
mind. At present, thou mayst purchase favour
of the Church by enlisting a little more closely
in her interests. I remember thy cleverness
and thy wit, Gottlob, for both have been re
marked in thy visits to the convent ; but, until
this moment, there has not been sufficient rea
son to use the latter in the manner that we
may fairly claim to do, considering our fre
quent prayers, and the other consolations af
forded in thy behalf."

THE HEIDENMAUER. 119

" Do not be too particular, Father Siegfried,
for thy words reveal grievous penance !"

" Which may be much mitigated in future,
if not entirely avoided, by a service that I would
now propose to thee, honest Gottlob, and which
I will venture to say, from my knowledge of
thy reverence for holy things, as is manifest in
thy attentions to the pious hermit, and thy love
for the Abbey of Limburg, thou wouldst not
refuse to undertake."

« So !"

" Nay, I have as good as pledged myself to
Father Bonifacius to procure either thee, or
one shrewd and faithful as thee, to do a trusty
service for the brotherhood."

" The latter might not be easy among the
cow-herds !"

" Of that I am sure. Thy skill in the ma
nagement of the beasts may yet gain thee the
office of tending the ample herds of the abbey.
Thou art already believed fit for the charge."

120 THE HEIDENMAUER.

" Not to deny my own merits, sagacious
father, I have already some knowledge of the
pastures.11

" And of the beasts, too, Gottlob ; we keep
good note of the characters of all who come to
our confessionals. There are worse than thine
among them, I do assure thee."

" And yet have I never told thee half that I
might say of myself, father !"

" It is not important now. Thou knowest
the state of the contest between Count Emich
and our abbey. The service that I ask of thee,
son, is this; and by discharging it, with thy
wonted readiness, believe me, thou wilt gain
favour with St. Benedict and his children. We
have had reason to know, that there is a strong
band of armed men in the castle, ready and
anxious to assail our walls, under a vain belief
that they contain riches and stores to repay the
sacrilege ; but we want precise knowledge of
their numbers and intentions. Were we to
send one of known pursuits on this errand, the

THE HEIDENMAUER. 121

count would find means to mislead him;
whereas, we think a hind of thy intelligence
might purchase the churches kindness without
suspicion."

u Were Count Emich to get wind of the mat
ter, he would not leave me an ear with which
to listen to thy holy admonitions.''

" Keep thine own council, and he will not
suspect one of thy appearance. Hast no pre
text for visiting the castle ?"

" Nay, it would be easy to make a thousand.
Here, I might say, I wished to ask the cow
herd of Lord Emich for his cunning in curing
diseased hoofs; or I might pretend a wish to
change my service; or, there is no want of
laughing damsels in and about the hold."

" Enough ; thou art he, Gottlob, for whom I
have sought daily for a fortnight. Go thy way,
then, without fail, and seek me, after to-mor
row's mass, in the abbey."

" It may be enough on the side of Heaven,
father, but men of our prudence must not for-

VOL. I. G

122 THE HEIDENMAUER.

get their mortal state. Am I to risk my ears,
do discredit to my simplicity, and neglect my
herd without a motive ?"

" Thou wilt serve the Church, son ; get
fatour in the eyes of our reverend abbot, and
thy courage and dexterity will be remembered
in future indulgences."

"That I shall serve the Church, is well
known to me, reverend Benedictine, and it is a
privilege of which a cow-herd hath reason to be
proud; but, by serving the Church, I shall
make enemies on earth, for two sufficient rea
sons; first, that the Church is in no great
esteem in this valley ; and second, because men
never love a friend for being any better than
themselves. 6 No, Gottlob,' used my excellent
father to say, c seem to all around thee con
scious of thy unworthiness, after which thou
mayst be what thou seemest. On this condition
only can virtue live at peace with its fellow-
creatures. But if thou wouldst have the re
spect of mankind, ' would he say, * set a fair

THE HEIDENMAUER. 123

price on all thou doest, for the world will not
give thee credit for disinterestedness; and if
thou workest for naught, it will think thou de-
servest naught. No,' did he shake his head
and add, 'that which cometh easy is little
valued, while that which is costly, do men set a
price upon.' "

" Thy father was, like thyself, one that
looked to his ease. Thou knowest that we in
habitants of cells do not carry silver."

" Nay, righteous Benedictine, if it were a
trifle of gold, I am not one to break a bargain
for so small a difference.""

" Thou shalt have gold, then. On the faith
of my holy calling, I will give thee an image of
the Emperor in gold, shouldst thou succeed in
bringing the tidings we require/'

Gottlob stopped short, and kneeling, he re
verently asked the monk to bless him. The
latter complied, half doubting the discretion of
employing such an emissary, between whose
cunning and simplicity he was completely at
G2

124 THE HEIDENMAUER.

fault. Still, as he risked nothing, except in the
nature of the information he was to receive, he
saw no sufficient reason for recalling the com
mission he had just bestowed. He gave the
desired benediction, therefore, and our two con
spirators descended the mountain in company,
discoursing, as they went, of the business on
which the cow-herd was about to proceed.
When so near the road as to be in danger of
observation, they separated, each taking the di
rection necessary to his object.

THE HEIDENMAUER. 125

CHAPTER IV.

" And not a matron, sitting at her wheel,
But could repeat their story."

ROGERS.

THE female, enveloped in the mantle, had
so well profited by the timely interposition of
Gottlob Frinck, as to quit the hermit's hut
without attracting the notice of the Benedictine.
But the vigilance of young Berchthold had not
been so easily eluded. He stepped aside as she
glided through the door, then stopping merely
to catch the eye of the cow-herd, to whom he
communicated his intention by a sign, he fol
lowed. Had the forester felt any doubts as to

126 THE HEIDENMAUER.

the identity of her he pursued, the light and
active movement would have convinced him, that
age, at least, had no agency in inducing her
to conceal her features. The roebuck of his
own forests scarce bounded with more agility
than the fugitive fled on first quitting the
abode of the recluse ; nor did her speed sensibly
lessen, until she had crossed most of the melan
choly camp, and reached a spot where the open
ing of the blue and star-lit void showed that
she was at the verge of the wood, and near the
margin of the summit of the mountain. Here
she paused, and stood leaning against a cedar,
like one whose strength was exhausted.

Berchthold had followed swiftly, but without
losing that appearance of calmness and of supe
rior physical force which gives dignity to the
steps of young manhood, as compared with the
timid but more attractive movements of the
feebler sex. He seemed conscious of his greater
powers, and unwilling to increase a flight that
was already swifter than circumstances required,

THE HEIDENMAUER. 127

and which he knew to be far more owing to a
vague and instinctive alarm, than to any real
cause for apprehension. When the speed of
the female ceased, his own relaxed, and he ap
proached the spot where she stood panting for
breath, like a cautious boy who slackens his
haste, in order not to give new alarm to the
bird that has just alighted.

" What is there so fearful in my face, Meta,
that thou fleest my presence, as I had been the
spirit of one of those pagans that they say once
peopled this camp ? It is not thy wont to have
this dread of a youth thou hast known from
childhood, and I will say, in my own defence,
known as honest and true !"

" It is not seemly in a maiden of my years-
it was foolish, if not disobedient, to be here at
this hour," answered the hurried girl : — "I
would I had not listened to the desire of hear
ing more of the holy hermit's wisdom !"

" Thou art not alone, Meta !"

" That were unbecoming, truly, in my fa-

128 THE HEIDENMAUER.

ther's child !" returned the young damsel, with
an expression of pride of condition, as she
glanced an eye towards the fallen wall, among
whose stones, Berchthold saw the well-known
form of a female servitor of his companion's fa
mily. " Had I carried imprudence to this
pass, Master Berchthold, thpu wouldst have
reason to believe, in sooth, that it was the
daughter of some peasant, that by chance had
crossed thy footstep."

" There is little danger of that error," an
swered Berchthold, quickly. " I know thee
well ; thou art Meta, the only child of Hein-
rich Frey, the Burgomaster of Duerckheim.
None know thy quality and hopes better than
I, for none have heard them oftener !"

The damsel dropped her head, in a move
ment of natural regret and sudden repentance,
and when her blue eye, softened by a ray of the
moon, met the gaze of the forester, he saw that
better feelings were uppermost.

" I did not wish to recount my father's

THE HEIDENMAUER. 129

honours, nor any accidental advantage of my
situation, and, least of all, to thee," answered
the maiden, with eagerness ; " but I felt con
cern lest thou shouldst imagine I had forgotten
the modesty of my sex and condition — or, I
had fear that thou mightest — thy manner is
much changed of late, Berchthold !"

" It is, then, without my knowledge or in
tention. But we will forget the past, and thou

i
wilt tell me, what wonder hath brought thee,

to this suspected and dreaded moor, at an hour
so unusual?"

Meta smiled, and the expression of her coun
tenance proved, that if she had moments of un
charitable weakness, they were more the off
spring of the world's opinions, than of her own
frank and generous nature.

" I might retort the question on thee, Berch
thold, and plead a woman's curiosity as a reason
why I should be quickly answered. — Why art
thou here, at an hour when most young hunt
ers sleep?"

G5

130 THE HEIDENMAUER.

" I am Lord Emich's forester ; but thou, as
there has just been question, art a daughter of
the Burgomaster of Duerckheim."

" I give thee credit for all the difference.
Did my mother know that I was thus about to
furnish a reason for my conduct, she would say,
c Keep thy explanations, Meta, for those who
have a right to demand them !' "

" And Heinrich Frey ?"

" He would be little likely to approve of
either visit or explanation."

" Thy father loves me not, Meta ?"

" He does not so much disapprove of thee,
Master Berchthold, as that thou art only Lord
Emich's forester. Wert thou as thine own
parent was, a substantial burgher of our town,
he might esteem thee much. But thou hast
great favour with my dear mother .'"

" Heaven bless her, that in her own pro
sperity she hath not forgotten those who have
fallen ! I think that, in thy heart as in thy

THE HEIDENMAUER. . 131

looks, Meta, thou more resemblest thy mother
than thy father."

" I would have it so. When I speak to thee
of my being the child of Heinrich Frey, it is
without thought of any present difference be
tween us, I do affirm to thee, Berchthold ; but
rather as showing that in not forgetting my
station, I am not likely to do it discredit. Nay,
I know not that a forester's is a dishonourable
office ! They who serve the Elector in this
manner are noble.1'

" And they who serve nobles, simple. I am
but a menial, Meta, though it be in a way to
do little mortification to my pride."

" And what is Count Emich but a vassal of
the Elector, who, in turn, is a subject of the
Emperor ! Thou shalt not dishonour thyself
in this manner, Berchthold, and no one say
aught to vindicate thee."

" Thanks, dearest Meta. Thou art the child
of my mother's oldest and closest friend, and

132 THE HEIDENMAUER.

whatever the world may proclaim of the differ
ence that now exists between us, thy excellent
heart whispers to the contrary. Thou art not
only the fairest, but, in truth, the kindest and
gentlest damsel of thy town !"

The daughter, only child, and consequently
the heiress of the wealthiest burgher of Duerck-
heim, did not hear this opinion of Lord Emich's
handsome forester without great secret grati
fication.

" And now thou shalt know the reason of
this unusual visit," said Meta, when the silent
pleasure excited by the last speech of young
Berchthold had a little subsided ; " for this
have I, in some measure, promised to thee ;
and it would little justify thy good opinion to
forget a pledge. Thou knowest the holy her
mit, and the sudden manner of his appearance
in the Heidenmauer ?"

" None are ignorant of the latter, and thou
hast already seen that I visit him in his hut."

" I shall not pretend to give, or to seek, the

THE HEIDENMAUER. 133

reason, but sure it is that he had not been a
week in the old Roman abode, when he sought
occasion to show me greater notice than to any
other maiden of Duerckheim, or than any merit
of mine might claim."

" How ! is the knave but a pretender to
this sanctity, after all!"

" Thou canst not be jealous of a man of his
years; and, judging by his worn countenance
and hollow eye, years too of mortification and
suffering ! He, truly, is of a character to give
a youth of thy age, and gentle air, and active
frame, and comely appearance, uneasiness! —
But I see the colour in thy cheek, Master
Berchthold, and will not offend thee with com
parisons that are so much to thy disadvantage.
Be the motive of the holy hermit what it will,
on the two occasions when he visited our town,
and in the visits that we maidens have often
made to his cell, he hath shown kind interest in
my welfare and future hopes, both as they are
connected with this life, and with that to which

134 THE HEIDENMAUER.

we all hasten, although it be with steps that
are not heard even by our own ears.""

" It does not surprise me that all who see
and know thee, Meta, should act thus. And
yet I find it very strange !"

" Nay," said the amused girl, " now thou
justifiest the exact words of old Use, who hath
often said to me, ' Take heed, Meta, and put
not thy faith too easily in the language of the
young townsmen ; for, by looking closely into
their meaning, thou wilt see that they contra
dict themselves. Youth is so eager to obtain
its end, that it stops not to separate the true
from the plausible.' These are her very words,
and oft repeated too, which thou hast j ust veri
fied ; I believe the crone fairly sleepeth on that
pile of the fallen wall !"

" Disturb her not. One of her years hath
great need of rest ; nay, it would be thought
less to rob her of this little pleasure."

Meta had made a step in advance, seemingly
with intent to arouse her attendant, when the

THE HEIDENMAUER. 135

hurried words and rapid action of the youth
caused her to hesitate. Receding to her former
attitude beneath the shadow of the cedar, she
more considerately resumed —

" It would be ungracious, in sooth, to awaken
one who hath so lately toiled up this weary
hill."

" And she so aged, Meta !"

" And one that did so much for my infancy !
I ought to go back to my father's house, but
my kind mother will overlook the delay, for
she loveth Use little less than one of her own
blood."

" Thy mother knoweth of this visit to the
hermit's hut, then ?"

" Dost think, Master Berchthold, that a
burgomaster of Duerckheim's only child would
go forth at this hour, without permission had ?
There would be great unseemliness in such
secret gossiping, and a levity that would better
suit thy damsels of Count Emich's village :
they say, indeed, in our town, that the castle

136 THE HEIDENMAUER.

damsels are none too nice in their manner of
life."

" They belie us of the mountain strangely in
the towns of the plain ! I swear to thee, there
is not greater modesty in thy Duerckheim pa
lace than among our females, whether of the
village or of the castle."

" It may be true in the main, and, for the
credit of my sex, I hope it is so ; but thou wilt
scarce find courage, Berchthold, to say aught
in favour of her they call Gisela, the warder's
child ? More vanity have I never seen in female
form !"

" They think her fair in Hartenburg."

u 'Tis that opinion which spoileth the crea
ture's manner ! Thou art much in her society,
Master Berchthold, and I doubt not that use
causeth thee to overlook some qualities that are
not concealed from strangers. ' Do but regard
that flaunting bird from the pass of the Jaeger-
thai,' said the excellent old Use, one morn that
we had a festival in our venerable church, to

THE HEIDENMAUER. 137

which the country round came forth in their
best array ; ( one would imagine, from its flut
tering, and the movements of its feathers, that
it fancied the eye of every young hunter was
on its plumage, and that it dreaded the bolt of
the archer unexpectedly ! And yet have I
known animals of this breed, that did not so
greatly fear the fowler's hand, if truth were
said!'"

" Thou judgest Gisela harshly ; for though
of some lightness of speech, and haply not
without admiration of her own beauty, the girl
is far from being uncompanionable, or, at times,
of agreeable discourse."

" Nay, I do but repeat the words of Use,
Master Berchthold !"

" Thy Use is old and garrulous, and is like
to utter foolishness."

" This may be so — but let it be foolish, if
thou wilt, the folly of my nurse is my folly. I
have gained so much from her discourse, that I
fear it is now too late to amend. To deal

138 THE HEIDENMAUER.

fairly with thee, she did not utter a syllable
concerning thy warder's daughter that I do not
believe."

Berchthold was but little practised in the
ways of the human heart. Free in the expres
sion of his own sentiments as the air he breath
ed on his native hills, and entirely without
thought of guile, as respects the feeling which
bound him to Meta, he had never descended
into the arcana of that passion of which he was
so completely the subject, without indeed know
ing even the extent of his own bondage. He
viewed this little ebullition of jealousy there
fore as a generous nature regards all injustice,
and he entered only the more warmly into the
defence of the injured party. One of those
sieve-like hearts that have been perforated a
hundred times by the shots that Cupid fires,
right and left, in a capital, would probably
have had recourse to the same expedient, merely
to observe to what extent he could trifle with
the feelings of a being he professed to love.

THE HEIDENMAUER. 139

Europeans, who are little addicted to looking
into the eye of their cis-Atlantic kinsman in
search of the mote, say that the master-passion
of life is but a sluggish emotion in the Ame
rican bosom. That those who are chiefly em
ployed in the affairs of this world should be
content with the natural course of the affec
tions as they arise in the honest relations of the
domestic circle, is quite as probable as it is
true, that they who feed their passions by va
nity and variety are mistaken when they think
that casual and fickle sensations compose any of
the true ingredients of that purifying and ele
vated sentiment, which, by investing the ad
mired object with all that is estimable, leads us
to endeavour to be worthy of the homage we
insensibly pay to virtue. In Berchthold and
Meta the reader is to look for none of that
constitutional fervour which sometimes substi
tutes impulse for a deeper feeling, or for any of
that factitious cultivation of the theory of love,
that so often tempts the neophite to mistake his

140 THE HEIDENMAUER.

own hallucinations for the more natural attach
ment of sympathy and reason. For the former,
they lived too far north ; and for the latter it
might possibly be said, that fortune had cast
their lot a little too far south. That subtle
and nearly indefinable sympathy between the
sexes, which we call love, to which all are sub
ject, since its principle is in nature itself, exists
perhaps in its purest and least conventional
form precisely in the bosoms of those whom
Providence has placed in the middle state, be
tween extreme cultivation and ignorance; be
tween the fastidious and sickly perversion of
over-indulgence, and the selfishness that is the
fruit of constant appeals to exertion ; or the
very condition of the two young persons that
have been placed before the reader in this
chapter. Enough has been seen to show that
Berchthold, though exercising a menial office,
had received opinions superior to his situation ;
a circumstance that is sufficiently explained by
the allusions already made to the decayed for-

THE HEIDENMAUER. 141

tunes of his parents. His language and man
ner, therefore, as he generously vindicated
Gisela, the daughter of the person charged to
watch the approaches of Lord Emich's castle,
were perhaps superior to what would have been
expected in a mere forester.

" I shall not take upon myself the office of
pointing out the faults of our castle beauty, if
faults she hath," he said ; " but this much may
I say in her defence, without fear of exceeding
truth, her father is grown grey under the
livery of Leiningen, and there is not a child in
the world that showeth more reverence or affec
tion to him who gave her being, than this same
bird of thine, with its flaunting plumes, and the
coquetry with the archer's bolt !"

"'Tis said, a dutiful daughter will ever
make an excellent and an obedient wife."

" The luckier then will he be who weds old
Friedrich's child. I have known her keep the
gates, deep into the night, that her father might
take his rest, when the nobles have frequented

142 THE HEIDENMAUER.

the forest later than common ; ay, and to watch
weary hours, when most of her years and sex
would find excuses for being on their pillows.
Now, this have I often seen, going forth, as
thou may st be certain by my office, in Count
Enriches company, in most of his hunts. Nay,
Gisela is fair, none will deny ; and it may
be that, among her other qualities, the girl
knows it."

" She appeareth not to be the only one of
thy Hartenburg pile that is aware of the fact,
Master Berchthold !"

" Dost thou mean, Meta, the revelling abbe,
from Paris, or the sworn soldier-monk of
Rhodes, that now abide in the castle ?" asked
the young forester, with a simplicity that would
have set the heart of a coquette at ease, by its
perfect nature and openness. " Now thou
touchest on the matter, I will own, though one
of my office should be wary of opinions on those
his master loves, but I know thy prudence,
Meta — therefore will I say, that I have half

THE HEIDENMAUER. 143

suspected these two ill-assorted servants of the
church, of thinking more of the poor girl than
is seemly."

" Thy poor Gisela hath cause to hang her
self ! Truly, were wassailers, like these thou
namest, to regard me with but a free look, the
Burgomaster of Duerckheim should know of
their boldness !"

" Meta, they would not dare ! Poor Gisela
is not the offspring of a stout citizen, but the
warder of Hartenburg^s child, and there may
be some difference in thy natures, too — nay,
there is ; for thou art not one of those that
seek the admiration of each cavalier that
passeth, but a maiden that knoweth her worth,
and the meed that is her due. That thou hast,
in something, wronged our beauty of the hold,
I needs must say ; but to compare thee with
her, either in the excellence of the body or that
of the mind, is what could never be done justly.
If she is fair, thou art fairer ; if she is witty,
thou art wise !"

144f THE HEIDENMAUER.

" Nay, do not mistake me, Berchthold, by
thinking that I have uttered aught against thy
warder's daughter that is harsh and unseemly.
I know the girl's cleverness, and moreover I am
willing to acknowledge, that one cruelly placed
by fortune in a condition of servitude, like
her's, may find it no easy matter to be always
what one of her sex and years could wish. I
dare to say, that Gisela, did fortune and oppor
tunity permit, would do no discredit to her
breeding and looks, both of which, sooth to
say, are somewhat above her condition. "

" And thou saidst, thy mother knew of this
visit to the hermit ?"

" And said truth. My mother has never
made objection to any reverence paid by her
daughter to the church, or to its servants.11

" That hath she not ! — Thou art amongst
the most frequent of those who resort to the
abbey in quest of holy offices thyself, Meta !"

" Am I not a Christian ! Wouldst have a
well-respected maiden forget her duties ?"

THE HEIDENMAUER. 145

" I say not that ; but there is discourse
amongst us hunters, that of late the prior hath
much preferred his young nephew. Brother
Hugo, to the duty of quieting the consciences
of the penitents. It were better that some
father, whose tonsure hath a ring of grey, were
put kito the confessional, in a church so much
frequented by the young and fair of Duerck-
heim."

" Thou wouldst do well to write of this to
the Bishop of Worms, or to our holy Abbot,
in thine own scholarly hand. Thou hast the
clerkly gifts, Master Berchthold, and might
persuade !"

" I would that the little I have done in this
way, had not so failed of its design. Thou
hast had frequent proofs of its sincerity, if not
of its skill, Meta,"

" Well, this is idle, and leads me to forget
the hermit: my mother — I know not why—
and now thou makest me think of it, I find it
different from her common rule ; but it is cer-

VOL. I. H

146 THE HEIDENMAUER.

tain that she in nowise discourages these visits
to the Heidenmauer. We are very young,
Berchthold, and may not yet understand all
that enters into older and wiser heads !"

" It is strange that the holy man should
seek just us! If he most urges his advice on
you among the damsels of the town, he -most
gives his counsel to me among the youths of
the Jaegerthal !"

There was a charm in this idea which held
these two young and unpractised minds in
sweet thraldom for many fleeting minutes.
They conversed of the unexplained .sympathy
between the man of God and themselves, long
and with undiminishing interest in the subject,
for it seemed to both that it contained a tie to
unite them still closer to each other. What
ever philosophy and experience may pretend on
such subjects, it is certain that man is disposed
to be superstitious in respect to the secret in
fluences that guide his fortunes, in the dark
passage of the world. Whether it be the mys-

THE HEIDENMAUER. 147

tery of the unforeseen future, or the conscious
ness of how much of even his most prized
success is the result of circumstances that he
never could or did control, or whether God,
with a view to his own harmonious and sub
lime ends, has implanted this principle in the
human breast, in order to teach us dependence
on a superior power, it is certain that few reach
a state of mind so calculating and reasoning as
not to trust some portion of that which is to
come, to the chances of fortune, or to Provi
dence ; for so we term the directing power, as
the mind clings to or rejects the immediate
agency of the Deity, in the conduct of the sub
ordinate concerns of life. In the age of which
we write, intelligence had not made sufficient
progress to elevate ordinary minds above the
arts of necromancy. Men no longer openly
consulted the entrails of brutes, in order to
learn the will of fate, but they often submitted
to a dictation scarcely less beastly, and few in.
deed were they who were able to separate piety
H 2

148 THE HE1DENMAUER.

from superstition, or the grand dispensations of
Providence from the insignificant interests of
selfishness. It is not surprising, therefore, that
Berchthold and Meta should cling to the singu
lar interest that the hermit manifested in them
respectively, as an omen propitious to their
common hopes: common, for though the maiden
had not so far relinquished the reserve she still
deemed essential to her sex, as to acknowledge
all she felt, that subtle instinct which unites the
young and innocent, left little doubt in the
mind of either, of the actual state of the other's
inclinations.

Old Use had consequently ample time to
rest her frame, after the painful toil of
the ascent between the town and the camp.
When Meta at length approached to arouse
her, the garrulous woman broke out in ex
clamations of surprise at the shortness of the
interview with the hermit, for the soundness
of her slumbers left her in utter ignorance

THE HEIDENMAUER. 149

of the appearance and disappearance of Berch-
thold.

" It is but a moment, Meta dear," she said,
" since we came up the hill, and I fear thou
hast not given sufficient heed to the wise words
of the holy man. We should not reject a
wholesome draught because it proves bitter to
the mouth, child, but swallow all to the last
drop, when we think there is healing in the cup.
Didst deal fairly by the hermit, and tell him
honestly of thy evil nature ?"

" Thou forgettest, Use, the hermit has
not even the tonsure, and cannot shrive and
pardon."

" Nay, nay — I know not that ! A hermit
is a man of God ; and a man of God is holy ;
and any Christian may, ay, and should pardon ;
and as to shriving, give me a self-denying re
cluse, who passes his time in prayer, morti
fying soul and body, before any monk of
Limburg, say I ! There is more virtue in

150 THE HEIDENMAUER.

one blessing of such a man, than in a dozen
from a carousing abbot — I know not but I
might say fifty."

" But I had his blessing, nurse."

" Well, that is comforting, and we have
not wearied our limbs for naught ; but thou
shouldst have told him of thy wish to wear the
laced bodice, at the last mass, in order that
thy equals might envy thy beauty. It would
have been wholesome to have acknowledged
that sin, at least."

" But he questioned me not of my sins. All
his discourse was of my father's house, and
of my good mother, and — and of other
matters."

" Thou shouldst then have edged the bod
ice in among the other matters. Have I not
always forewarned thee, Meta, of the danger
of pride, and of stirring envy in the bosom of
a companion ? There is naught more uncom
fortable than envy, as I know by experience.
Oh ! I am no longer young, and come to me

THE HEIDENMAUER. 151

if thou wouldst wish to know what envy is, or
any other dangerous vice, and I warrant thee
thou shalt hear it well explained ! Ay, thou
wert very wrong not to have spoken of the
bodice !"

" Had it been fit to confess, I might have
found more serious sins to own, than any that
belong to dress."

" I know not that ! — Dress is a great be-
guiler of the young heart, and of the handsome
face. If thou hast beauty in thy house, break
thy mirrors that the young should not know it,
is what I have heard a thousand times ; and as
thou art both young and fair, I will repeat it,
though all Duerckheim gainsay my words, thou
art in danger if thou knowest it. No, hadst
thou told the hermit of that bodice, it might
have done much good. What matters it to
such a man, whether he hath the tonsure or
not ? He hath prayers, and fastings, and mid
night thought, and great bodily suffering, and
these are surely worth as much hair as hath

152 THE HEIDENMAUER.

ever fallen from all the monks in the Palatinate.
I would thou hadst told him of that bodice,
child !"

" Since thou so wishest it, at our next meet
ing it shall be said, dear Use ; so set thy heart
at peace."

" This will give thy dear mother great plea
sure ; else, why should she consent that a
daughter of her's should visit a heathenish
camp, at so late an hour ? I warrant thee that
she thought of the bodice !"

" Do cease speaking of the garment, nurse;
my thoughts are bent on something else."

" Well, if indeed thou thinkest of something
else, it may be amiss to say more at present,
though, Heaven it knows ! thou hast great oc
casion to recall that vain-glorious mass to thy
mind. How suddenly thy communion with the
hermit ended to-night, Meta !"

" We have not been long on the mountain,
truly, Use. But we must hasten back, lest my
mother should be uneasy."

THE HEIDENMAUER. 153

"And why should she be so? Am I not
with thee ? Is age nothing, and experience,
and prudence, and an old head, ay, and, for
that matter, an old body too, and a good me
mory, and such eyes as no other in Duerckheim
of my years hath — I say of my years, for thou
hast better ; and thy dear mother's are little
worse than thine — but of my years, few have
their equal. At thy age, girl, I was not the
old Use, but the lively Use, and the active,
and, God forgive me if there be vain-glory in
the words ! but truth should always be spoken
— the handsome Use, and this too without aid
from any such bodice as that of thine."

" Wilt never forget the bodice?- — here, lean
on me, nurse, or thy foot may fail thee in the
steep descent.'"

Here they began to descend, and as they
were now at a point of the path where much
caution was necessary, the conversation in a
great measure ceased.

He who visits Duerckheim now, will find
H5

154 THE HEIDENMAUER.

sufficient remaining evidence to show that the
town formerly extended more towards the base
of the mountain than its present site would
prove. There are the ruins of walls and towers
among the vineyards that ornament the foot of
the hill, and tradition speaks of fortifications
that have long since disappeared, rendered use
less by those improvements in warfare that have
robbed so many other strong places of their
importance. Then, every group of houses on
an eminence was more or less a place of de
fence ; but the use of gunpowder and artillery
centuries ago rendered all these targets useless ;
and he who would now seek a citadel, is most
sure to find it buried in some plain or morass.
The world has reached another crisis in im
provements, for the introduction of steam is
likely to alter all its systems of offence and de
fence both by land and sea, but be the future
as it may, the skill of the engineer had not so
far ripened at the period of our tale, as to pre
vent Meta and her attendant from entering

THE HEIDENMAUER. 155

within walls of ancient construction, clumsily
adapted to meet the exigencies of the imper
fect state of the existing art. As the hour
was early, they had no difficulty in reaching
the burgomaster's door without attracting
remark.

156 THE HEIDENMAUER.

CHAPTER V.

" What news ?"

" None, my lord; but that the world is grown honest."
" Then is doomsday near !"

Hamlet.

WITHIN the whole of these widely extended
states, there is scarcely a single vestige of the
manner of life led by those who first settled in
the wilderness. Little else is found to arrest
the eye of the antiquary in the shape of a ruin,
except the walls of some fortress or the mounds
of an intrenchment of the war of independence.
We have, it is true, some faint remains of times
still more remote ; and there are even a few
circumvallations, or other inventions of defence,

THE HEIDENMAUER. 157

that are believed to have once been occupied
by the red man ; but in no part of the country
did there ever exist an edifice, of either a pub
lic or a private nature, that bore any material
resemblance to a feudal castle. In order,
therefore, that the reader shall have as clear a
picture as our feeble powers can draw, of the
hold occupied by the sturdy baron who is des
tined to act a conspicuous part in the remainder
of this legend, it has become necessary to enter
at some length into a description of the sur
rounding localities, and of the building itself.
We say of the reader, for we profess to write
only for the amusement — fortunate shall we be
if instruction may be added — of our own
countrymen : should others be pleased to read
these crude pages, we shall be flattered and
of course grateful; but with this distinct
avowal of our object in holding the pen, we
trust they will read with the necessary amount
of indulgence.

And here we shall take occasion to hold one

158 THE HEIDENMAUER.

moment's communion with that portion of the
reading public of all nations, that, as respects
a writer, composes what is termed the world.
Let it not be said of us, because we make fre
quent reference to opinions and circumstances
as they exist in our native land, that we are
profoundly ignorant of the existence of all
others. We make these references, crime though
it be in hostile eyes, because they best answer
our end in writing at all ; because they allude
to a state of society most familiar to our own
minds ; and because we believe that great use
has hitherto been made of the same things, to
foster ignorance and prejudice. Should we
unheedingly betray the foible of national vani
ty, (that foul and peculiar blot of American
character !) we solicit forgiveness ; urging, in
our own justification, the aptitude of a young
country for falling insensibly into the vein of
imitation ; and praying the critical observer to
overlook any blunders in this way, if perchance
we should not manifest that felicity of execution

THE HEIDENMAUER. 159

which is the fruit only of great practice. Hither
to we believe that our modesty cannot justly be
impeached. As yet, we have left the cardinal
virtues to mankind in the gross, never, to our
knowledge, having written of " American cou
rage," or " American honesty ;"* nor yet of
" American beauty ;" nor haply of " Ameri
can manliness," nor even of" American strength
of arm," as qualities abstracted and not com
mon to our fellow-creatures, but have been
content, in the unsophisticated language of this
western clime, to call virtue, virtue, and vice,
vice. In this we well know how much we have
fallen short of numberless but nameless clas
sical writers of our own time, though we do not
think we are greatly losers by the forbearance,
because we have sufficient proof that when we
wish to make our pages unpleasant to the fo
reigner, we can effect that object by much less
imposing allusions to national merits ; since we
have good reason to believe there exists a cer
tain querulous class of readers, who consider

160 THE HEIDENMAUER.

even the most delicate and reserved commen
dations of this western world as so much praise
unreasonably and dishonestly abstracted from
themselves. As for that knot in our own fair
country, who aim at success by flattering the
stranger, and who hope to shine in their own
little orbits by means of borrowed light, we
commit them to the correction of a reproof
which is certain to come, and, in their cases,
to come embittered by the consciousness of its
being merited by a servility as degrading as it
is unnatural. As they dive deeper into the se
crets of the human heart, they will learn there
is a healthful feeling that cannot be repulsed
with impunity ; and that as none are so respect
ed as they who fearlessly and frankly maintain
their rights, so none are so contemned as those
who ignobly desert them.

During the time that Berchthold was holding
converse with Meta on the mountain of the
Heidenmauer, Emich of Leiningen was at rest
in his castle of Hartenburg. It has already

THE HEIDENMAUER. 161

been said, that the hold was of massive masonry,
the principal material being the reddish sand
stone that is so abundantly found in nearly the
whole region of the ancient Palatinate. The
building had grown with time, and that which
had originally been a tower, had swelled into a
formidable and extensive fortress. In the ages
which succeeded the empire of Charlemagne,
he who could rear one of these strong places,
and maintain it in opposition to his neighbours,
became noble, and, in some measure, a sove
reign. He established his will as law for the
contiguous territory, and they who could not
enjoy their own lands without submitting to his
pleasure, were content to purchase protection
by admitting their vassalage. No sooner was
one of these local lords firmly established in his
hold, by receiving service and homage from the
husbandmen, than he began to quarrel with his
nearest neighbour of his own condition. The
victor necessarily grew more powerful by his
conquest, until from being the master of one

162 THE HEIDENMAUER.

castle and one village, he became, in process of
time, the master of many. In this manner did
minor barons swell into power and sovereignty,
even mighty potentates, tracing their genealo
gical and political trees into roots of this wild
growth. There still stands, on an abrupt and
narrow ledge of land in the confederation of
Switzerland and in the canton of Argovie, a
tottering ruin that, in past ages, was occupied
by a knight, who from his aerie overlooked the
adjoining village, and commanded the services
of its handful of boors. This ruined castle was
called Hapsbourg, and is celebrated as the
cradle of that powerful family which has long
sat upon the throne of the Caesars, and which
now rules so much of Germany and Upper
Italy. The king of Prussia traces his line to
the house of Hohenzollern, the offspring of an
other castle ; and numberless are the instances
in which he who thus laid the corner-stone of a
strong place, in ages when security was only to
be had by good walls, also laid the foundation

THE HEIDENMAUER. 163

of a long line of prosperous and puissant
princes.

Neither the position of the castle of Harten-
burg, however, nor the period in which it was
founded, was likely to lead to results great as
these just named. As has been said, it com
manded a pass important for local purposes,
but not of so much moment as to give him who
held the hold any material rights beyond its im
mediate influence. Still, as the family of Lei-
ningen was numerous, and had other branches
and other possessions in more favoured por
tions of Germany, Count Emich was far from
being a mere mountain chief. The feudal sys
tem had become methodized long before his
birth, and the laws of the empire secured to
him many villages and towns on the plain, as
the successor of those who had obtained them
in more remote ages. He had recently claimed
even a higher dignity, and wider territories, as
the heir of a deceased kinsman; but in this
attempt to increase his power, and to elevate his

164 THE HEIDENMAUER.

rank, he had been thwarted by a decision of his
peers. It was to this abortive assumption of
dignity, that he owed the soubriquet of the
Summer Landgrave, for such was the rank he
had claimed, and the period for which he had
been permitted to bear it.

With this knowledge of the power of their
family, the reader will not be surprised to hear
that the castle of the Counts of Hartenburg, or
to be more accurate, of the Counts of Harten-
burg-Leiningen, was on a commensurate scale.
Perched on the advanced spur of the mountain,
just where the valley was most confined, and at
a point where the little river made a short
bend, the pass beneath lay quite at the mercy
of the archer on its battlements. In the fore
ground, all that part of the edifice which came
into the view was military, and, in some slight
degree, fitted to the imperfect use that was
then made of artillery ; while in the rear arose
that maze of courts, chapels, towers, gates,
portcullises, state-rooms, offices, and family

THE HEIDENMAUER. 165

apartments, that marked the usages and tastes
of the day. The hamlet, which lay in the dell
immediately beneath the walls of the salient
towers, or bastions, for they partook of both
characters, was insignificant and of little ac
count in estimating the wealth and resources of
the feudal lord. These came principally from
Duerckheim and the fertile plains beyond,
though the forest was not without its value in
a country in which the axe had so long been
used.

We have said that Emich of Leiningen was
taking his rest in his hold of Hartenburg. Let
the reader imagine a massive building, in the
centre of the confused pile we have mentioned,
rudely fashioned to meet the wants of the do
mestic economy of that age, and he will get a
nearer view of the interior. The walls were
wainscotted, and had much uncooth and mas
sive carving ; the halls were large and gloomy,
loaded with armour, and at this moment preg
nant with armed men ; the saloons of the me-

166 THE IIEIDENMAUER.

dium size which suited a baronial state, and all
the appliances of that mingled taste in which
comfort and luxury, as now understood, were
unknown, but which was not without a por
tion of the effect that is produced by an exhi-
hibition of heavy magnificence. With few but
signal exceptions, Germany, even at this hour,
is not a country remarkable for the elegancies
of domestic life. Its very palaces are of simple
decorations, its luxuries of a homebred and in
artificial kind, and its taste is rarely superior,
and indeed not always equal, to our own.
There is still a shade of the gothic in the habits
and opinions of this constant people, who seem
to cultivate the subtle refinements of the mind,
in preference to the more obvious and material
enjoyments which address themselves to the
senses.

Quaint and complicated ornaments, wrought
by the patient industry of a race proverbial for
this description of ingenuity ; swords, daggers,
morions, cuirasses, and all sorts of defensive

THE HEIDENMAUER. 167

armour then in use; such needle- work as it
befitted a noble dame to produce; pictures that
possessed most of the faults and few of the
beauties of the Flemish school ; furniture that
bore some such relation to the garniture of the
palaces of electors and kings, as the decorations
of a village drawing-room in our own time bear
to those of the large towns ; a profuse display
of plate, on which the arms of Leiningen were
embossed and graven in every variety of style ;
with genealogical trees and heraldic blazonry in
colours, were the principal features.

Throughout the whole pile, there was little
appearance, however, of the presence of females,
or even of the means for their accommodation.
Few of that sex were seen in the corridors, or
offices, or courts; though men crowded the
place in unusual numbers. The latter were
chiefly grim and whiskered warriors, who loi
tered in the halls, or in the more public parts
of the castle, like idlers waiting for the ex
pected moment of exertion. None among them

168 THE HEIDENMAUER.

were armed at all points, though this carelessly
wore his morion, that had buckled on a breast
plate, and another leaned listlessly on his arque-
buse or handled his pike. Here a group ex
ercised, in levity, with their several weapons of
offence ; there a jester amused a crowd of slug
gish listeners, with his ribaldry and humour;
and numberless were those who quaffed of the
rhenish of their lord. Although this continent
•had then been discovered, the goodly portion
which has since fallen to our heritage, was still
in the hands of its native proprietors, and the
plant so long known as the weed of Virginia,
but which has since become a staple of so many
other countries in this hemisphere, was not in
its present general use amongst the Germans ;
else would it have been our duty to finish this
hasty sketch, by enveloping it all in mist. Not
withstanding the general air of indifference and
negligence, which reigned within the walls of
Hartenburg, without the gates, in the turrets,
and on the advanced towers, there was the ap-

THE HEIDENMAUER. 169

pearance of more than the customary watchful
ness. Had one been there to note the circum
stance, he would have seen, in addition to the
sentries who always guarded the approaches of
the castle, several swift-footed spies on the
look-out in the hamlet, on the rocks of the
mountain -side, and along the winding paths ;
and as all eyes were turned towards the valley
in the direction of Limburg, it was evident that
the event they awaited was expected to arrive
from that quarter.

While such was the condition of his hold and
of so strong a body of his vassals, Count Emich
himself had retired from observation, to one of
the quaint, half-rude, half-magnificent saloons
of the place. The room was lighted by twenty
tapers, and other well known signs indicated
the near approach of guests. He paced the
large apartment with a heavy and armed heel ;
while care, or at least severe thought, contracted
the muscles around a hard and iron brow, which
bore evident marks of familiar acquaintance

VOL. I. I

170 THE HEIDENMAUER.

with the casque. Perhaps this is the only
country of Christendom, even now, in which the
profession of the law is a pursuit still more
honourable and esteemed than that of arms —
the best proof of a high and enviable civiliza
tion — but at the age of our narrative, the gen
tleman that was not of the church, the calling
which nearly monopolized all the learning of the
times, was of necessity a soldier. Emich of
Leiningen carried arms therefore as much in
course, as the educated man of this century
reads his Horace or Virgil ; and as nature had
given him a vigorous frame, a hardy constitu
tion, and a mind whose indifference to personal
suffering amounted, at times, to ruthlessness,
he was more successful in his trade of violence,
than many a pale and zealous student proves
in the cultivation of letters.

The musing Count scarce raised his looks
from the oaken floor he trod, as menial after
menial appeared, moving with light step in the
presence of one so dreaded and yet so singularly

THE HEIDENMAUER. 171

loved. At length a female, busy in some of the
little offices of her sex, glided before his half-
unconscious sight. The youth, the bloom, the
playful air, the neat coif, the tight bodice, and
the ample folds of the falling garments, at
length seemed to fill his eye with the form of his
companion.

" Is it thou, Gisela?" he said, speaking
mildly, as one addresses a favoured dependant.
" How fareth it with the honest Karl ?"

" I thank my lord the Count, his aged and
wounded servant hath less of pain than is com
monly his lot. The limb he has lost in the ser
vice of the House of Leiningen — "

" No matter for the leg, girl — thou art too
apt to dwell upon that mischance of thy parent."

" Were my lord the Count to leave a limb
on the field, it might be missed when he was
hurried r

" Thinkest thou, child, that my tongue
would never address the Emperor without
naming the defect ? Go to, Gisela; thou art a
I 2

172 THE HEIDENMAUER.

calculating hussy, and rarely permitteth occa
sion to pass without allusion to this growing
treasure of thy family. Are my people actively
on the watch, with or without their limbs ?"

" They are as their natures and humours
tend. Blessed Saint Ursula knows where the
officers of the country have picked up so un
gainly a band, as these that now inhabit Har-
tenburg! One drinketh from the time his
eyes open in the morn until they shut at even ;
another sweareth worse than the northern war
riors that do these ravages in the Palatinate ;
this is a foul dealer in ribaldry, that a glutton
who never moveth lip but to swallow; and
none, nay not a swaggerer of them all, hath
civil word for a maiden, though she be known
as one esteemed in their master's household."

" They are my vassals, girl, and stouter men
at need are not mustered in Germany.""

" Stout in speech, and insolent of look, my
Lord Count, but of most odious company to all

THE HEIDENMAUER. 173

of modest demeanour and of good intentions, in
the hold."

" Thou hast been humoured by thy mistress,
girl, until thou sometimes forgettest discretion.
Go and look my guests are informed that the
hour of the banquet is at hand ; — I await the
pleasure of their presence."

Gisela, whose natural pertness had been
somewhat heightened by an indulgent mistress,
and in whom consciousness of more beauty than
ordinarily falls to the share of females of her
condition, had produced a freedom of language
that sometimes amounted to temerity, betrayed
her discontent in a manner very common to her
sex, when it is undisciplined, or little restrained
by a wholesome education. She pouted, taking
care however that Emich's eye was again turn
ed to the floor, tossed her head, and quitted the
room. Left to himself, the Count relapsed into
his reverie. In this manner did several minutes
pass unheeded.

174 THE HEIDENMAUER.

" Dreaming, as usual, noble Enrich, of esca
lades and excommunication !" cried a gay voice
at his elbow, the speaker having entered the
saloon unseen — " of revengeful priests, of vas-
vsalage, of shaven abbots, the confessional and
penance dire, thy rights redressed, the frowning
conclave, the abbey cellar, thy morion, revenge,
and, to sum up all, in a word that covers every
deadly sin, that fallen angel the Devil !"

Emich forced a grim smile at this uncere
monious and comprehensive salutation, accept
ing the offered hand of him who uttered it,
however, with the frank freedom of a boon
companion.

" Thou art right welcome, Albrecht," he re
plied, " for the moment is near when my
ghostly guests should arrive ; and to deal fairly
by thee, I never feel myself quite equal to a
single combat of wits with the pious knaves ;
but thy support will be enough, though the
whole abbey community were of the party.1'

" Ay, we are akin, we sons of Saint John

THE HEIDENMAUER. 175

and these bastards of Saint Benedict. Though
more martial than your monks of the hill, we
of the island are sworn to quite as many vir
tues. Let me see," he added, counting on his
fingers with an air of bold licentiousness ;
" firstly are we vowed to celibacy, and your
Benedictine is no less so ; then are we self-
dedicated to chastity, as is your Limburg
monk ; next we respect our oaths, as does
your Father Bonifacius ; then both are ser
vants of the Holy Cross;" by a singular influ
ence the speaker and the Count made the sacred
symbol on their bosoms, as the former uttered
the word, " and, doubt it not, I shall be the
equal of the reverend brotherhood. They say
sin can match sin, and saint should surely be
saint's equal ! But, Emich, thou art graver
than becometh a hot carousal, like this we
meditate !"

" And thou gay as if about to gallant the
dames of Rhodes to one of thy island festivals f

The Knight of Saint John regarded his attire

176 THE HEIDENMAUER.

with complacency, strutting by the side of his
host, as the latter resumed his walk, with the
air of a bird of admired plumage. Nor was
the remark of the Count of Hartenburg mis
applied, since his kinsman and guest had, in
reality, expended more labour on his toilette
than was customary in the absence of females,
and in that rude hold. Unlike the stern and
masculine Emich, who rarely divested himself
of all his warlike gear, the sworn defender of
the Cross appeared entirely in a peaceful guise,
if the long rapier that dangled at his side, and
which to a much later period formed an indis
pensable accompaniment of one of gentle con
dition, could be excepted from the implements
of war. His doublet, fully decorated with
embroidery, fringes, and loops, and dotted with
buttons, was of a pale orange stuff, that was
puffed and distended about his person in the
liberal amplitude of the prevailing fashion.
The nether garment, which scarce appeared
however, essential as it might be, was of the

THE HETDENMAUER. 177

same material, and cut with a similar expendi
ture of cloth. The hose were pink, and, roll
ing far above the knee, gave the effect of a rich
colouring to the whole picture. He wore shoes
whose upper-leather rose high against the small
of the leg, buckles that covered the instep, and
about the throat and wrists there was a lavish
display of lace. The well-known Maltese cross
dangled by a red ribbon, at a button-hole of
the doublet ; not above the heart, as is the cus
tom at present among the chevaliers of the
other hemisphere, but, by a vagary of taste, so
low as to demonstrate, if indeed there is any
allusion intended by the accidental position of
these jewels, that the honourable badge was
assumed in direct reference to that material
portion of the human frame which is believed
to be the repository of good cheer ; an inter
pretation that, in the case of Albrecht of Vie-
derbach, the knight in question, was perhaps
much nearer to the truth than he would have
been willing to own. After poising himself,
i 5

178 THE HEIDENMAUER.

first on the point of one shoe, and then on the
other, smoothing his ruffles, shoving the rapier
more aside, and otherwise adjusting his attire
to his mind, the professed soldier of Saint John
of Jerusalem pursued the discourse.

" I am decent, kinsman," he replied; " fit to
be a guest at thy hospitable board, if thou wilt,
in the absence of its fair mistress, but beyond
that unworthy to be named. As for the dames
of our unhappy and violated Rhodes, dear
cousirr, thou knowest little of their humours,
if thou fanciest that this rude guise would have
any charm in their refined eyes. Our knights
were used to bring into the island the taste and
improvements of every distant land, and small
though it be, there are few portions of the
earth in which the human arts, for so I call
the decoration of the human body, flourished
more than in our circumscribed, valiant, and
much- regretted Rhodes. Thus was it, at least,
until the fell Ottoman triumphed !"

" 'Fore God, I had thought thee sworn to all

THE HEIDENMAUER. 179

sorts of modesty, in speech, life, and other
abstinences !"

" And art thou not sworn, most mutinous
Emich, to obey thy liege lords, the Emperor
and the Elector — nay, for certain of thy lands
and privileges, art thou not bound to knights
service and obedience to the holy Abbot of
Limburg ?"

" God's curse on him, and on all the others
of that grasping brotherhood !"

tc Ay, that is but the natural consequence of
thy oath, as this doublet is of mine. If the
rigid performance of a vow were' as agreeable
to the body, as we are taught it may be health-
ful to the soul, Count of Leiningen, where
would be the merit of observance ? I never
don these graceful garments, but a wholesome
remembrance of .watchful nights passed on the
ramparts, of painful sieges and watery trenches,
or of sickly cruises against the Mussulmans, do
not present themselves in the shape of past pe
nances. In this manner do we sweeten sin, by

180 THE HEIDENMAUER.

our bodily pains, and by the memory of hours
of virtuous hardships !"

" By the three sainted Kings of Koeln, and
the eleven thousand virgins of that honoured
city, Master Albrecht ! but thou wert much
favoured in thy narrow island, if it were per
mitted to thee to sin in this fashion, with the
certainty of tempering punishment with so light
service! These griping monks of Limburg
make much of their favours, and he who would
go with a safe skin, must needs look to an in
dulgence had and well paid for, in advance. I
know not the number of goodly casks of. the
purest Rhenish that little sallies of humour
may have cost me, first and last, in this manner
of princely expenditure ; but certain am I, that
did occasion offer, the united tributes would
leave little empty space in Prince Friedricfrs
vaunted tun, in his ample cellars of Heidel
berg!"

" I have often heard of that royal receptacle
of generous liquor, and have meditated a piL

THE HEIDENMAUER. 181

grimage in honour of its capacity. Does the
Elector receive noble travellers with a hospita
lity suited to his rank and means ?"

" That doth he, and right willingly, though
this war presses sorely, and giveth him other
employment. Thy wayfaring will not be weary,
for thou mayst see the towers of Heidelberg
from off these hills, and a worthy steed might
be pricked from this court of mine into that of
Duke Friedrich in a couple of hours of hard
riding.'1

" When the merits of thy cellar are exhaust
ed, noble Emich, it will be in season to put the
tun to the proof," replied the Knight of Rhodes,
" as our esteemed friend here, the Abbe, will
maintain in the face of all the reformers with
which our Germany is infested.""

In introducing another character, we claim
the reader's patience for a moment of digres
sion. Whatever may be said of the merits and
legality of the Reformation, effected chiefly by
the courage of Luther, (and we are neither

182 THE HEIDENMAUER.

sectarian nor unbeliever, to deny the sacred
origin of the Church from which he dissented,)
it is very generally admitted, that the long and
undisputed sway of the prevailing authority of
that age had led to abuses which called loudly
for some change in its administration. Thou
sands of those who had devoted their lives to
the ministrations of the altar, were quite as
worthy of the sacred office as it falls to man^s
lot to become ; but thousands had assumed the
tonsure, the cowl, or the other symbols of eccle
siastical duty, merely to enjoy the immunities
and facilities the character conferred. A long
and nearly undisputed monopoly of letters, the
influence obtained by the unnatural union be
tween secular and religious power, and the
dependant condition of the public mind, the
legitimate consequence of both, induced all who
aspired to moral pre-eminence to take this, the
the most certain, because the most beaten, of
the paths that led to this species of ascendancy.
It is not to the religion of Christendom, as it

THE HEIDENMAUER. 183

existed in the time of Luther, that we are only
to look for an example of the baneful conse
quence of spiritual and temporal authority, as
blended in human institutions. Christian or
Mahommedan, Catholic or Protestant, the evil
comes in every case from the besetting infirmity
which tempts the strong to oppress the weak,
and the powerful to abuse their trusts. Against
this failing there seems to be no security but an
active and certain responsibility. So long as
the severe morality required of its ministers by
the Christian faith is uncorrupted by any gross
admixture of worldly authority or worldly ad
vantage, there is reason to believe that the altar
at least will escape serious defilement ; but no
sooner are these fatal enemies admitted to the
sanctuary, than a thousand spirits, prompted by
cupidity, rush rashly into the temple, willing
to bear with the outward exactions of the faith,
in order to seek its present and visible rewards.
However pure may be a social system or a
religion, in the commencement of its power, the

184 THE HEIDENMAUER.

possession of an undisputed ascendancy lures
all alike into excesses fatal to consistency, to
justice, and to truth. This is a consequence of
the independent exercise of human volition,
that seems nearly inseparable from human frail
ty. We gradually come to substitute incli
nation and interest for right, until the moral
foundations of the mind are sapped by indul
gence, and what was once regarded with the
aversion that wrong excites in the innocent,
gets to be not only familiar, but j ustifiable by
expediency and use. There is no more certain
symptom of the decay of the principles requi
site to maintain even our imperfect standard of
virtue, than when the plea of necessity is urged
in vindication of any departure from its man
date, since it is calling in the aid of ingenuity
to assist the passions, a coalition that rarely
fails to lay prostrate the feeble defences of a
tottering morality.

It is no wonder, then, that the world, at a
period when religious abuses drove even church-

THE HEIDENMAUER. 185

men reluctantly to seek relief in insubordina
tion, should exhibit bold instances of the fla
grant excesses we have named. Military am
bition, venality, love of ease, and even love of
dissipation, equally sought the mantle of reli
gion as cloaks to their several objects ; and if
the reckless cavalier was willing to flesh his
sword on the body of the infidel, in order that
he might live in men's estimation as a hero of
the Cross, so did the trifler, the debauchee, and
even the wit of the capital, consent to obtain
circulation by receiving an impression which
gave currency to all coin, whether of purer or
baser metal, since it bore the outward stamp of
the Church of God.

u Reformers, or rather revilers, for that is
the term they most merit," returned the Abbe
alluded to in the last speech of Albrecht of
Veiderbach, " I consign without remorse to the
devil. As for this pledge of our brave Knight
of Saint John, noble Count Emich, so far as I
am concerned it shall be redeemed ; for I am

186 THE HEIDENMAUER.

certain the cellars of Heidelberg can resist a
heavier inroad than any that is likely to invade
them by such means. But I am late from my
chamber, and I had hoped, ere this, to have
seen our brethren of Limburg ! I hope no
unnecessary misunderstanding is likely to de
prive us of the satisfaction of their presence,
Lord Count ?"

" Little fear of that, so far as it may depend
on any disappointment in a feast. If ever the
devil tempted these monks of the hill, it has
been in the shape of gluttony. Were I to
judge by the experience of forty years passed
in their neighbourhood, I should think they
deem abstinence an eighth deadly sin."

" Your Benedictine is privileged to consider
hospitality a virtue, and the abbot has fair
licence for the indulgence of some little cheer.
We will not judge them harshly , therefore, but
form our opinions of their merits by their deeds.
Thou hast many servitors without, to do them
honour to-night, Lord Enrich."

THE HEIDENMAUER. 187

The Count of Leiningen frowned, and, ere
he answered, his eye exchanged a glance with
that of his kinsman, which the Abbe might
have interpreted into a hidden meaning, had it
attracted his observation.

" My people gather loyally about their lord,
for they have heard of this succour sent by the
Elector to uphold the lazy Benedictines," was
the reply. " Four hundred mercenaries lie
within the abbey walls this night. Master La-
touche, and it should not cause surprise that
the vassals of Emich of Hartenburg are ready
with hand and sword to do service in his de
fence. God's mercy ! — the cunning priests may
pretend alarm, but if any here hath cause to
be afraid, truly it is the rightful and wronged
lord of the Jaegerthal !"

" Thy situation, cousin of Hartenburg," ob
served the wearer of the cross of St. John, " is,
in sooth, one of masterly diplomacy. Here
dost thou stand at sword's point with the Ab
bot of Limburg, ready at need to exchange

188 THE HEIDENMAUER.

deadly thrusts, and to put this long-disputed
supremacy on the issue of battle, while thou
eallest on the keeper of thy cellar to bring forth
the choicest of its contents, in order to do hos
pitality and honour to thy mortal foe ! This
beateth, in all niceties, Monsieur Latouche, the
situation of an abbe of thy quality, who is
scarce churchman enough to merit salvation,
nor yet deep enough in sin to be incontinently
damned in the general mass of evil doers."

" It is to be hoped that we shall share the
common lot of mortals, which is to receive more
grace than they merit," returned the Abb6, a
title that, in fact, scarce denoted one seriously
devoted to the Church. " But, I trust, this
present meeting between the hostile powers
may prove amicable; for, not to conceal the
truth, unlike our friend the knight here, I am
none of the belligerent orders."

" Hark !" exclaimed the host, lifting a finger
to command attention : " heard ye aught ?"

" There is much of the music of thy growl-

THE HEIDENMAUER. 189

ers in the courts, cousin, and some oaths in a
German that needs be translated to be under
stood ; but that blessed signal the supper-bell
is still mute."

" Go to ! — 'Tis the Abbot of Limburg, and
his brethren, Fathers Siegfried and Cuno. Let
us to the portal, to do them usual honour."

As this was welcome news to both the Knight
and the Abbe, they manifested a suitable desire
to be foremost in paying the required attention
to a personage as important in that region as
the rich and powerful chief of the neighbour
ing religious establishment.

190 THE HEIDENMAUER,

CHAPTER VI.

<« Why not?— The deeper sinner, better saint."

BYRON.

A WILD and plaintive note had been sounded
on a horn, far in the valley towards the hill of
Limburg. This melodious music was of com
mon occurrence, for of all that dwell in Europe,
they who inhabit the banks of the Rhine, the
Elbe, the Oder, and the Danube, with their
tributaries, are the most addicted to the culti
vation of sweet sounds. We hear much of the
harshness of the Teutonic dialects, and of the
softness of those of Latin origin ; but, Venice

THE HEIDENMAUER. 191

and the regions of the Alps excepted, nature
has amply requited for the inequality that ex
ists between the languages, by the difference
in the organs of speech. He who journeys in
those distant lands must, as a rule, expect to
hear German warbled and Italian in a grand
crash, though exceptions are certainly to be
found in both cases. But music is far more
common on the vast plains of Saxony than on
the Campagna Felice, and it is no uncommon
occurrence to be treated by a fair-haired pos
tilion of the former country, as he slowly
mounts a hill, with airs on the horn that would
meet with favour in the orchestra of a capital.
It was one of these melancholy and peculiar
strains which now gave the signal to the spies
of Count Emich, that his clerical guests had
quitted the convent.

" Heard ye aught, brothers ?" demanded
Father Bonifacius of the companions who rode
at his side, nearly at the same moment that
the Lord of Leiningen put the same question

192 THE HEIDENMAUER.

in his hold ; " that horn spoke in a meaning
strain !"

" We may be defeated in our wish to reach
the castle suddenly," returned the monk, al
ready known to the reader as Father Siegfried ;
" but though we fail in looking into Count
Emich's secret with our own eyes, I have en
gaged one to do that office for us, and in a
manner, I trust, that shall put us on the scent
of his designs. Courage, most holy Abbot,
the cause of God is not likely to fail for want of
succour. When were the meek and righteous
ever deserted !"

The Abbot of Limburg ejaculated, in a man
ner to express little faith in any miraculous
interposition in behalf of his cure, and he drew
about him the mantle that served in some de
gree to conceal his person, spurring the beast
he rode only the quicker, from a feverish de
sire, if possible, to outstrip the sounds, which
he intuitively felt were intended to announce
his approach. The prelate was not deceived,

THE HE1DENMAUEK. 193

for no sooner did the wild notes reach the castle,
than the signal, which had caught the atten
tion of its owner, was communicated to those
within the walls.

At the expected summons there was a gene
ral movement among the idlers of the courts.
Subordinate officers passed among the men,
hurrying those away to their secret lodging
places who were intractable from excess of
liquor, and commanding the more obedient to
follow. In a very few minutes, and long be
fore the monks, who however pricked their
beasts to the utmost, had time to get near the
hamlet even, all in the hold was reduced to a
state of tranquil repose ; the castle resembling
the abode of any other powerful baron in mo
ments of profound security. Emich had seen
to this disposition of his people in person, taking
strict caution that no straggler should appear,
to betray the preparations that existed within
his walls. When this wise precaution was ob
served, he proceeded, with his two companions,

VOL. I. K

194 THE IIEIDENMAUER.

to take a station near the door of the building
more especially appropriated to the accommo
dation of himself and his friends, in order to
await the arrival of the monks.

The moon had ascended high enough to illu
minate the mountain-side, and to convert the
brown towers and ramparts of Hartenburg into
picturesque forms, relieved by gloomy shadows.
The signals appeared to have thrown all who
dwelt in the hamlet, as well as they who in
habited the frowning hold which overhung that
secluded spot, into mute attention. For a few
minutes the quiet was so deep and general,
that the murmuring of the rivulet which mean
dered through the meadows was audible. Then
came the swift clattering of hoofs.

" Our churchmen are in haste to taste thy
rhenish, noble Emich," said Albrecht of Vieder-
bach, who rarely thought ; " or is it a party of
their sumpter mules that I hear in the valley ?"

" Were the Abbot about to journey to some
other convent of his order, or were he readv

THE HEIDENMAUER. 195

to visit his spiritual master of spires, there is
no doubt that many such cattle would be in
his train ; for of all lovers of fat cheer, Wil-
helm of Venloo, who has been styled Bonifacius
in his baptism of office, is he that most wor
ships the fruits of the earth. I would he and
all his brotherhood were spiritually planted in
the garden of Eden ! They should be well
watered with my tears !"

" The wish hath a saintly odour, but may
not be accomplished without mortal aid — unless
thou hast favour with the Prince Elector of
Koeln, who might haply do thee that service,
in the way of miracle."

" Thou triflest, knight, in a matter of great
gravity," answered Emich roughly, for, not
withstanding his inherited and deadly dislike
of the particular portion of the Church, which
interfered with his own power, the Count of
Hartenburg had all the dependence on superior
knowledge that is the unavoidable offspring of
a limited education. " The Prince Elector
K2

196 THE HEIDENMAUER.

hath served many noble families in the way
thou namest, and he might do honour to houses
less deserving of his grace than that of Leinin-
gen. But here cometh the Abbot and his boon
associates. God's curse await them for their
pride and avarice !"

The clattering of hoofs had been gradually
increasing, and was now heard even on the
pavement of the outer court ; for in order to
do honour to his guests, the Count had especial
ly ordered there should be no delay or impedi
ment from gate, portcullis, or bridge.

" Welcome, and reverence for thy churchly
office, right holy Abbot !" cried Emich, from
whose lips had just parted the malediction, ad
vancing officiously to aid the prelate in dis
mounting — " Thou art welcome, brothers both ;
worthy companions of thy respected and ho
noured chief."

The churchmen alighted, assisted by the me
nials of Hartenburg, with much show of honour
on the part of the Count himself, and on that

THE HEIDENMAUER. 197

of his friends. When fairly on their feet, they
courteously returned the greetings.

" Peace be with thee, son, and with this
cavalier and servitor of the Church !" said Fa
ther Bonifacius, signing with the rapid manner
in which a catholic priest scatters his benedic
tions. " St. Benedict and the Virgin take ye
all in their holy keeping ! I trust, noble
Enrich, we have not given thee cause of vex
ation, by some little delay ?"

" Thou never comest amiss, father, be it at
morn, or be it at even ; I esteem Hartenburg
more than honoured when thy reverend head
passeth beneath its portals."

" We had every desire to embrace thee, son,
but certain offices of religion, that may not be
neglected, kept us from the pleasure. But let
us within ; for I fear the evening air may do
injury to those that are uncloaked.""

At this considerate suggestion, Enrich with
much show of respect to his guests, ushered
them into the apartment he had himself so

198 THE HE1DENMAUER.

lately quitted. Here recommenced the show
of those wily courtesies which, in that semi-
barbarous and treacherous age, often led men
to a heartless and sometimes to a blasphemous
trifling with the most sacred obligations, to
effect their purposes, and which, in our times,
has degenerated to a deception, that is more
measured perhaps, but which is scarcely less
sophisticated and vicious. Much was said of
mutual satisfaction at this opportunity of com
mingling spirits, and the blunt professions of
the sturdy but politic baron, were more than
met by the pretending sanctity and official cha
rity of the priest.

The Abbot of Limburg and his companions
had come to the intended feast with vestments
that partially concealed their characters; but
when the outer cloaks and the other garments
were removed, they remained in the usual at
tire of their order, the prelate being distinguish
ed from his inferiors by those symbols of cleri
cal rank, which it was usual for one of his au-

THE HE1DENMAUER. 199

thority to display, when not engaged in the
ministrations of the altar.

When the guests were at their ease, the con
versation took a less personal direction, for
though rude and unnurtured as his own war-
horse, as regards most that is called cultivation
in our bookish days, Emich of Hartenburg
wanted for none of the courtesies that became
his rank, more especially as civilities of this
nature were held to be worthy of a feudal lord,
and in that particular region.

" 'Tis said, reverend Abbot," continued the
host, pushing the discourse to a point that
might favour his own secret views, " that our
common master, the Prince Elector, is sorely
urged by his enemies, and that there are even
fears a stranger may usurp the rule in the noble
Castle of Heidelberg. Hast thou heard aught
of his late distresses, or of the necessities that
bear upon his house ?"

" Masses have been said for his benefit in all
our chapels, and there are hourly prayers that

200 THE HEIDENMAUER.

he may prevail against his enemies. In virtue
of a concession made to the abbey, by our
common father at Rome, we offer liberal in
dulgences, too, to all that take up arms in his
behalf."

" Thou art much united in love with Duke
Friedrich, lu>ly prelate!" muttered Emich.

" We owe him such respect as all should
willingly pay to the strong temporal arm that
shields them ; our serious fealty is due alone
to heaven. But how comes it that so stout
a baron, one so much esteemed in warlike ex
ercises, and so well known in dangerous enter
prises, rests in his doublet, at a time when his
sovereign's throne is tottering ! We had heard
that thou wert summoning thy people, Herr
Count, and thought it had been in the Elector's
interest ?"

" Friedrich hath not of late given me cause
to love him. If I have called my vassals about
me, 'tis because the times teach every noble to
be wary of his rights. I have consorted so

THE HEIDENMAUER. 201

much of late with my cousin of Viederbach,
this self-denying Knight of Rhodes, that mar
tial thoughts will obtrude even on the brain of
one, peaceful and homebred as thy poor neigh
bour and penitent.1"

The Abbot bowed and smiled, like one who
gave full credit to the speaker's words, while a
by-play arose between the wandering and
houseless knight, the abbe, and the brothers
of Limburg. In this manner did a few minutes
wear away, when a flourish of trumpets an
nounced that the expected banquet awaited its
guests. Menials lighted the party to the hall
in which the board was spread, and much cere
monious form was observed in assigning to each
of the individuals the place suited to his rank
and character. Count Emich, who in common
was of a nature too blunt and severe to waste
his efforts in superfluous breeding, now showed
himself earnest to please, for he had at heart
an object that he knew was in danger of being
baffled by the more practised artifices of the
K5

202 THE HEIDENMAUER.

monks. During the preliminary movements of
the feast, which had all the gross and all the
profuse hospitality which distinguished such
entertainments, he neglected no customary ob
servance. The robust and sensual Abbot was
frequently plied with both cup and dish, while
the inferior monks received the same agreeable
attentions from Albrecht of Viederbach, and
Monsieur Latouche, who, notwithstanding it
suited his convenience to pass through life un
der the guise of a churchman, was none the
worse at board or revel. As the viands and
the generous liquors began to operate on the
physical functions of the brothers, however,
they insensibly dropped their masks, and each
discovered more of those natural qualities,
which usually lay concealed from casual ob
servation.

It was a rule of the Benedictines to practise
hospitality. The convent door was never
closed against the wayfarer, and he who applied
for shelter and food was certain of obtaining

THE HEIDENMAUER. 203

both, administered more or less in a manner
suited to the applicant's ordinary habits. The
practice of a virtue so costly was a sufficient
pretence for accumulating riches, and he who
travels at this day in Europe, will find ample
proofs that the means of carrying into effect
this law of the order were abundantly supplied.
Abbeys of this particular class of monks are
still of frequent occurrence in the forest cantons
of Switzerland, Germany, and in most of the
other catholic states. But the gradual and
healthful transfer of political power from cleri
cal to laical hands, has long since shorn them
of their temporal lustre. Many of these ab
bots were formerly princes of the empire, and
several of the communities exercised sovereign
sway over territories that have since taken
to themselves the character of independent
states.

While the spiritual charge, and the morti
fications believed to characterize a brotherhood
of Benedictines, were more especially left to a

204 THE HEIDENMAUER.

subordinate monk termed the prior, the abbot,
or head of the establishment, was expected to
preside not only over the temporalities, but
at the board. This frequent communication
with the vulgar interests of life, and the con
stant indulgence in its grosser gratifications,
were but ill adapted to the encouragement of
the monastic virtues. We have already re
marked that the intimate connexion between
the interests of life and those of the Church is
destructive of apostolical character. This
blending of God with Mammon, this device of
converting the revealed ordinances of the Mas
ter of the Universe into a species of buttress to
uphold temporal sway, though habit has so long
rendered it familiar to the inhabitants of the
other hemisphere, and even to a large portion
of those who dwell in this, is in our American
eyes, only a little removed from blasphemy ;
but the triumphs of the press, and the changes
made by the steady advances of public opinion,
have long since done away with a multitude of

THE HEIDENMAUER. 205

still more equivocal usages, that were as fami
liar to those who existed three centuries ago,
as are our own customs to us at this hour.
When prelates were seen in armour, leading
their battalions to slaughter, it is not to be sup
posed that the other dignities of this privileged
class, would be more tender of appearances than
was exacted by the opinions of the age.

Wilhelm of Venloo, known since his eleva
tion as "Bonifacius of Limburg, was not pos
sessed of all that temporal authority, however,
which tempted so many of his peers to sin. Still
he was the head of a rich, powerful, and re
spected brotherhood, that had many allodial
rights in lands beyond the abbey walls, and
which was not without its claims to the fealty
of sundry dependants. Of vigorous mind and
body, this dignified churchman commanded
much influence by means of a species of cha
racter that often crosses us in life, a sturdy
independence of thought and action that im
posed on the credulous and timid, and which

206 THE HEIDENMAUER.

sometimes caused the bold and intelligent to
hesitate. His reputation was far greater for
learning than for piety, and his besetting sin
was well known to be a disposition to encounter
the shock between the powers of mind and mat
ter, as both were liable to be affected by deep
potations and gross feeding — a sort of degene
racy to which all are peculiarly liable, who
place an unnatural check on the ordinary and
healthful propensities of nature — just as one
sense is known to grow in acuteness as it is
deprived of a fellow. The abbot loosened his
robe, and threw his cowl still farther from his
neck, while Emich pledged him in rhenish, cup
after cup, and by the time the meats were re
moved, and the powers of digestion, or we might
better say of retention, would endure no more,
his heavy cheeks became flushed, his bright,
deeply seated, and searching grey eyes flashed
with a species of ferocious delight, and his lip
frequently quivered, as the clay gave eloquent
evidence of its enjoyment. Still his voice,

THE HEIDENMAUER. 207

though it had lost its rebuked and schooled
tones, was firm, deep, and authoritative, and
ever and anon as he threw into his discourse
some severe and pointed sarcasm, bitingly
scornful. His subordinates, too, gave similar
proofs of the gradual lessening of their caution,
though in degrees far less imposing, we had
almost said less grand, than that which ren
dered the sensual excitement of their superior
so remarkable. Albrecht and the Abbe also
betrayed, each in his own manner, the influence
of the banquet, and all became garrulous, dis-
putative, and noisy.

Not so with Emich of Hartenburg. He had
eaten in a manner to do j ustice to his vast frame
and bodily wants, and he drank fairly; but,
until this moment, the nicest observer would
have been puzzled to detect any decrease of
his powers. The blue of his large leaden eyes
became brighter, it is true, but their expression
was yet in command, and their language cour
teous.

208 THE HEIDENMAUER.

" Thou dost but little compliment to my
poor fare, most holy Abbot," cried the host, as
he witnessed a lingering look of the prelate,
whose eye followed the delicious fragments of a
wild boar from the hall — " If the knaves have
stinted thee in the choice of morsels, by St. Be
nedict ! but the mountains of my chase can still
furnish other animals of the kind — How now — "

" I pray thee, mercy, noble Emich ! Thy
forester hath done thee fair justice with his
spear; more savoury beast never smoked at
table."

" It fell by the hand of young Berchthold,
the burgher of Duerckheim's orphan. ''Tis a
bold youth in the forest, and I doubt not, his
will one day be a ready hand in battle. Thou
knowest him I mean, father, for he is often at
thy abbey confessionals."

" He is better known to the prior than to one
so busied with worldly cares as I. Is the youth
at hand ? — I would fain render him thanks."

" Hear ye that, varlet ! — Bid my head fo-

THE HEIDENMAUER. 209

rester appear. The reverend and noble Abbot
of Limburg owes him grace."

" Didst thou say the youth was of Duerck-
heim ?"

" Of that goodly town, reverend priest ; and,
though reduced by evil chances to be the ranger
of my woods, a lad of mettle in the chase, and
of no bad discourse in moments of ease.11

ie Thou claimest hard service, cousin of
Hartenburg, of these peaceful townsmen.
Were they left freely to choose between the
ancient duty of our convent and this stirring
life thou leadest the artisans, we should have
more penitents within our walls.11

The fealty of Duerckheim was a long mooted
point between the corporation of Limburg and
the house of Leiningen, and the allusion of the
monk was not thrown away upon his host.
Emich1s brow clouded, and for a moment it
threatened a storm ; but, recovering his self-
command, he answered in a tone of hilarity,
though with sufficient coolness ; —

210 THE HEIDENMAUER.

" Thy words remind me of present affairs,
reverend Bonifacius, and I thank thee that
thou hast put a sudden check on festivities
which were getting warm without an object."
The Count arose, and filled to the brim a cup
of horn, elaborately ornamented with gold,
drawing the attention of all at table to himself
by the action. " Nobles and reverend servants
of God," he continued, " 1 drink to the health
and happiness of the honoured Wilhelm of
Venloo, the holy Abbot of Limburg, and my
loving neighbour. May his brotherhood never
know a worse guide, and may the lives and con
tentment of all that now belong to it, be as last
ing as the abbey walls."

Emich concluded the potent cup at a single
draught. In order to do honour to the mitred
monk, there had been placed by the side of
Bonifacius a vessel of agate, richly decorated
with jewellery, an heir-loom of the house of
Leiningen. While his host was speaking, the
looks of the latter watched every expression of

THE HEIDENMAUER, 211

his countenance through grey, overhanging
shaggy brows, that shaded the upper part of
his face like a skreen of shrubbery planted to
shut out prying eyes from a close, and he
paused when the health was given. Then,
rising in his turn, he quaffed a compliment in
return.

" I drink of this pure and wholesome liquor,"
he said, " to the noble Emich of Leiningen, to
all of his ancient and illustrious house, to his
and their present hopes, and to their final deli
verance. May this goodly hold, and the hap
piness of its lord, endure as long as those walls
of Limburg of which the Count has spoken,
and which, were his loving wishes consulted,
would doubtless stand for ever."

" By the life of the Emperor, learned Boni-
facius !" exclaimed Emich, striking his fist on
the table with force, " you as much exceed one
of my narrow wit in wishes, as in godliness and
other excellences ! But I pretend not to set
limits to my desires in your behalf, and throw

212 THE HEIDENMAUER.

the fault of my imperfect speech on a youth
that had more to do with the sword than with
the breviary. And now let us to serious con
cerns. It may not be known to you, cousin of
Viederbach, or to this obliging churchman who
honours Hartenburg with his presence, that
there has been subject of amicable dispute be
tween the brotherhood of Limburg and my un
worthy house, touching the matter of certain
wines that are believed by the one party to be
its dues, and by the other to be a mere pious
grace accorded to the church — "

" Nay, noble Emich," interrupted the Ab
bot, " we have never held the point to be dis
putable in any manner. The lands in question
are held of us in soccage ; and, in lieu of bo
dily service, we have long since commuted for
the produce of vines that might be named."

" I cry your mercy ; if there be dues at all,
they come of naught else than knight's service.
None of my name or lineage ever paid less to
mortal !"

THE HEIDENMAUER. 213

" Let it be thus," Bonifacius answered more
mildly. " The question is of the amount of
liquor, and not of the tenure whence it comes."

" Thou sayest right, wise Abbot, and I cry
mercy of these listeners. State thou the mat
ter, reverend Bonifacius, that our friends may
know the humour on which we are madly bent."

The Count of Hartenburg succeeded in swal
lowing his rising ire, and made a gesture of
courtesy towards the Abbot, as he concluded.
Father Bonifacius rose again, and notwith
standing the physical ravages that excess was
making within, it was still with the air of calm
ness and discipline that became his calling.

" As our upright and esteemed friend has
just related," he said, " there is truly a point,
of a light but unseemly nature to exist between
so dear neighbours, open between him and us
servants of God. The Counts of Leiningen
have long considered it a pleasure to do favour
to the Church, and in this just and commenda
ble spirit, it is now some fifty years that, at

214 THE HEIDENMAUER.

the termination of each vintage, without re
gard to seasons or harvest, without stooping to
change their habits at every change of weather,
they have paid to our brotherhood — "

" Presented, priest !"

"Presented, — if such is thy will, noble
Enrich, — fifty casks of this gentle liquor that
now warms our hearts towards each other,
with brotherly and praiseworthy affection.
Now, it has been settled between us, to avoid
all future motive of controversy, and either the
better to garnish our cellars, or to relieve the
house of Hartenburg altogether of future im
position, that it shall be decided this night,
whether the tribute henceforth shall consist of
one hundred casks, or of nothing."

" By 'r Lady ! a most important issue, and
one likely to impoverish or to enrich !" ex
claimed the Knight of Rhodes.

" As such we deem it," continued the monk,
64 and in that view, parchments of release, with
all due appliances and seals, have been pre-

THE HEIDENMAUER. 215

pared by a clerkly scholar of Heidelberg.
This indenture, duly executed," he added,
drawing from his bosom the instruments in
question, " yieldeth to Emich all the abbey's
rights to the vines in dispute, and this wanteth
but his sign of arms and noble name, to double
their present duty."

" Hold !" cried the Chevalier of the Cross,
whose faculties began already to give way,
though it was only in the commencement of the
debauch : " Here is matter might puzzle the
Grand Turk, who sits in judgment in the very
seat of Solomon ! If thou renderest thy claims,
and my cousin Emich yieldeth double tribute
money, both parties will be the worse, and
neither possessed of the liquor !"

" In a merry mood, it hath been proposed
that there shall be a trial of love and not of
battle, between us, for the vines. The question
is of liquor, and it is agreed, — St. Benedict be
friend me, if there be sin in the folly ! — to try
on whose constitution the disputed liquor is

216 THE HEIDENMAUER.

the most apt to work good or evil. Let the
Count of Hartenburg give to his parchment
the virtue that hath already been given to this
of ours, and we shall leave both in some place
of observation ; — then, when he alone is able to
rise and seize on both, let him give the victor's
cry ; but should he fail of that power, and
there be a servant of the Church ready, and
able to grasp the instruments, why let him go,
and think no more of land that he hath right
merrily lost."

"By St. John of Jerusalem, but this is a
most unequal contest — three monks against one
poor baron, in a trial of heads !"

" Nay, we think more of our honour, than to
permit this wrong. The Count of Hartenburg
hath full right to call in equal succour, and I
have taken thee, gallant Cavalier of Rhodes, and
this learned Abbe, to be his chosen backers P'

" Let it be so !" cried the two in question, — :
" we ask no better service than to drain Count
Enriches cellars to his honour and profit !"

THE HEIDENMAUER. 217

But the lord of the hold had taken the mat
ter, as indeed it was fully understood between
the principals, to be a question on which de
pended a serious amount of revenue, for all
futurity. The wager had arisen in one of
those wild contests for physical and gross su
premacy which characterize ages and countries
of imperfect civilization ; for next to deeds in
arms and other manful exercises, like those of
the chase and saddle, it was deemed honourable
to be able to undergo the trials of the festive
board with impunity. Nor should it occasion
surprise to find churchmen engaged in these
encounters, for, independently of our writing of
an age when they appeared in the field, there
is sufficient evidence that our own times are not
entirely purified from so coarse abuses of the
gown. But Bonifacius of Limburg, though a
man of extensive learning and strong intellec
tual qualities, had a weakness on this particular
point, for which we may be driven to seek an
explanation in his peculiar animal construction.

VOL. I. L

218 THE HEIDENMAUER.

He was of a powerful frame and sluggish tem
perament, both of which required strong excite
ment to be wrought up to the highest point of
physical enjoyment, and neither the examples
around him, nor his own particular opinions
taught him, to avoid a species of indulgence
that he found so agreeable to his constitution.
With these serious views of a contest, to which
neither party would probably have consented,
had not each great confidence in himself as a
well-tried champion, both Emich and the Ab
bot required that the instruments should be
openly read. The discharge of this duty was
assigned to Monsieur Latouche, who forthwith
proceeded to wade through a torrent of unin
telligible terms, that were generated in the
obscurity of feudal times for the benefit of the
strong, and which are continued to our own
period through pride of professional knowledge,
a little quickened by a view to professional
gain. On the subject of the true consideration
of the respective releases, the instruments them-

THE HEIDENMAUER. 219

selves were silent, though nothing material was
wanting to give them validity, especially when
supported by a good sword, or the power of
the Church, to which the parties looked re
spectively in the event of flaws.

Count Emich listened warily as his guest the
Abbe read clause after clause of the deed.
Occasionally his eye wandered to the firm coun
tenance of the Abbot, betraying habitual dis
trust of his hereditary and powerful enemy,
but it was quickly riveted again on the heated
features of the reader.

" This is well," he said, when both papers
had been examined : " these vines are to re
main for ever with me and mine, without claim
from any grasping churchman, so long as grass
shall grow or water run, or henceforth they pay
double tribute, a tax that will leave little for
the cellar of their rightful lord."

" Such are our terms, noble Emich. But
to confirm the latter condition, thy seal and
name are wanting to the instrument."
L2

220 THE HEIDENMAUER.

u Were the latter to be written by a good
sword, none could do the office better than this
poor arm, reverend Abbot ; but thou knowest
well that my youth was too much given to
warlike and other manly exercises befitting my
rank, to allow much time for acquiring clerkly
skill. By the holy Virgins of Koeln ! it were,
in sooth, a shame to confess that one of my
class, in these stirring times, had leisure for
such lady games ! Bring hither an eagle's
feather — hand of mine never yet touched aught
from meaner wing — that I may do justice to
the monks."

The necessary implements being produced,
the Count of Hartenburg proceeded to execute
the instrument on his part. The wax was
speedily attached and duly impressed with the
bearings of Leiningen, for the noble wore a sig
net-ring of massive size, ready at all times to
give this token of his will. But when it be
came necessary to subscribe the name, a signal
was made to a domestic, who disappeared in

THE HEIDENMAUER. 221

quest of the Counts man-of-charge. This in
dividual manifested some reluctance to perform
the customary office, but, as there was just
then a clamorous dialogue among the party at
table, he seized the moment to examine into the
nature of the document, and the consideration
that was to decide the ownership of the vine
yard. Grinning in satisfaction at a species of
payment in which he held it impossible Lord
Emich could fail to acquit himself honourably,
the dependant took the hand of his master, and,
accustomed to the duty, he so guided it as to
leave a very legible and creditable signature.
When this had been done, and the papers were
properly witnessed, the Count of Hartenburg
glanced suspiciously from the deed in his hand
to the indomitable face of the Abbot, as if he
still half repented of the act. " Look you,
Bonifacius/' he said, shaking a finger, " should
there be flaw or doubt of any intention in this
our covenant, sword of mine shall cut it !"
" First earn the right, Count of Leiningen.

222 THE HE1DENMAUER.

The deeds are of equal virtue, and he who
would lay claim to their benefits must win the
wager. We are but poor brothers of St. Bene
dict, and little worthy to be named with war
like barons and devoted followers of St. John,
but we have a humble trust in our patron/1

" By St. Benedict ! it shall pass for a mira
cle if thou prevailest P shouted Emich, yield
ing the deed in a burst of delight. " Away
with these cups of agate and horn, and bring
forth vessels of glass, that all may see we deal
fairly by each other, in this right manly en
counter. Look to your wits, monks. By the
word of a cavalier, your Latin will do little
service in this dispute."

" Our trust is in our patron," answered Fa
ther Siegfried, who had already done so much
honour to the banquet, as to give reason to be
lieve that, in his case, the fraternity leaned
upon a fragile staff. " He never yet deserted
his children, when fairly enlisted in a good

THE HEIDENMAUER. 223

" You are cunning in reasons, Fathers," put
in the Knight ; " and I doubt not that suffi
cient excuses would be forthcoming, were you
pushed to justify service to the devil !"

" We suffer for the Church," was the Ab
bot's answer, after taking a bumper in obe
dience to a signal from his host. " We hold it
to be commendable to struggle with the flesh,
that our altars may flourish."

As soon as executed, the two deeds had been
placed on a high and curiously-wrought vessel
of silver, that contained cordials, and which
occupied the centre of the board, and more
fitting cups having been brought, the combat
ants were compelled to swallow draught after
draught, at signals from Emich, who, like a
true knight, saw that each man showed loyalty.

But as the conflict was between men of great
experience in this species of contention, and as
it endured hours, we deem it unworthy of the
theme to limit its description to a single chap
ter. Before closing the page, however, we shall

224 THE HEIDENMAUER.

digress for a moment, in order to express our
opinions concerning the great human properties
involved in this sublime strife.

It has been the singular fortune of America
to be the source of numberless ingenious theo
ries, that, taking their rise in the other hemi
sphere, have been let loose upon the world to
answer ends that we shall not stop to investi
gate. The dignified and beneficed prelate
maintains there is no worship of God within
our land, probably because there are no digni
fied and beneficed prelates — a sufficiently logical
conclusion for all who believe in the efficacy of
that self-denying class of Christians ; while the
neophyte, in some lately-invented religion, de
nounces us all in a body as so many miserable
bigots, devoted to Christ ! In this manner is a
pains-taking and plain-dealing nation, of near
fourteen millions of souls, kept, as it were, in
abeyance in the opinions of the rest of mankind,
one deeming them as much beyond, as another
fancies them to be short of, truth. In the fear-

THE HEIDENMAUER. 225

ful catalogue of our deadly sins is included a
propensity to indulge in excesses similar to that
it is now our office to record. As we are con
fessedly democrats, dram-drinking in particular
has been pronounced to be " a democratic
vice."

It has been our fortune to have lived in fami
liarity with a greater variety of men, either
considered in reference to their characters or
their conditions, than ordinarily falls to the lot
of any one person. We have visited many
lands, not in the capacity of a courier, but
staidly and soberly, as becomes a grave occu
pation, setting up our household gods, and
abiding long enough to see with our eyes and
to hear with our ears ; and we feel emboldened
to presume on these facts, in order to express a
different opinion amid the flood of assertions
that has been made by those who certainly have
no better claim to be heard. And, firstly, we
shall here say that, as in the course of justice,
an intelligent, upright, single-minded and dis-
L 5

226 THE HEIDENMAUER.

criminating witness is perhaps the rarest of all
desirable instruments in effecting its sacred
ends, so do we acknowledge a traveller entitled
to full credit, to be the mortal of all others the
least likely to be found.

The art of travelling, we apprehend, is far
more practised than understood. To us it has
proved a laborious, harassing, puzzling, and
oftentimes a painful pursuit. To divest one
self of impressions made in youth ; to investi
gate facts without referring their merits to a
standard bottomed on a foundation no better
than habit; to analyze, and justly to compare
the influence of institutions, climate, natural
causes, and practice ; to separate what is merely
exception from that which forms the rule; or
even to obtain and carry away accurate notions
of physical things ; and, most of all, to possess
the gift of imparting these results comprehen
sively, and with graphical truth, requires a
combination of time, occasion, previous know
ledge, and natural ability, that rarely falls to

THE HEIDENMAUER. 227

the lot of a single individual. One assumes
the task, prepared by acquaintance with esta
blished opinions, which are commonly no more
than prejudices, the result of either policy or of
the very difficulties just enumerated, and he
goes on his way, not only ready but anxious to
receive the proofs of what he expects, limiting
his pleasure to the sort of delight that depend
ent minds feel in following the course pointed
out by those that are superior. As the admit
ted peculiarities of every people are sufficiently
apparent, he converts self-evident facts into
collateral testimony, and faithfully believes and
imagines all that is concealed on the strength of
that which is obvious. For such a traveller,
time wears away men and things in vain ; he
accords his belief to the last standard opinion
of his sect, with, a devotion to convention that
might purchase salvation in a better cause. To
him Vesuvius is just as high, produces the same
effect in the view, and has exactly the same
outline as before the crater fell ; and he watches

228 THE HEIDENMAUER.

the workmen disinterring a house at its base,
and goes away rejoicing at having witnessed
the resurrection of a Roman dwelling after
eighteen hundred years of interment, simply
because it is the vulgar account that Pompeii
was lost for that period. If he should happen
to be a scholar, what is his delight in following
a cicerone (a title assumed by some wily servi-
tore di Piazza) to the little garden that over
looks the Roman Forum, and in fancying that
he stands upon the Tarpeian rock ! His faith
in moral qualities, his graduation of national
virtue, and his views of manners, are equally
the captives of the last popular rumour. A
Frenchman may roll incontinently in the gras
de Paris, filled with an alcohol inflammable
as gunpowder, and in his eyes it shall pass
for pure animal light-heartedness, since it is
out of all rule for a Frenchman to be in
toxicated, while the veriest tyro knows that
the nation dances to a man ! The gallant
general, the worshipful alderman, the right

THE HEIDENMAUER. 229

honourable adviser of the king may stammer
around a subject for half an hour in St. Ste
phen's, in a manner to confound all conclusion,
and generalize so completely as to baffle parti
cularity ; and your hearer shall go away con
vinced of the excellence of the great school of
modern eloquence, because the orator has been
brought up at the " feet of Gamaliel." When
one thoroughly imbued with this pliant faculty
gets into a foreign land, with what a diminished
reverence for his own does he journey ! As
few men are endowed with sufficient penetration
to pierce the mists of received opinion, fewer
still are they that are so strong in right as to
be able to stem its tide. He who precedes his
age is much less likely to be heard than he who
lingers in its rear; and when the unwieldy
body of the mass reaches the eminence on which
he has long stood the object of free comment,
it may be assumed as certain, that they who
were his bitterest deriders when his doctrine
was new, will be foremost in claiming the

230 THE HEIDENMAUER.

honours of the advance. In short, to instruct
the world, it is necessary to watch the current,
and to act on the public mind, like the unseen
rudder, by slight and imperceptible variations,
avoiding, as a seaman would express it, any
very rank sheer, lest the vessel should refuse to
mind her helm and go down with the stream.

We have been led into these reflections, by
frequent opportunities of witnessing the facility
with which opinions are adopted concerning
ourselves, because they have come from the
pens of those who have long contributed to
amuse and instruct us, but which are perfectly
valueless, both from the unavoidable ignorance
of those who utter them, and from the hostile
motives that gave them birth. To that class
which would wish to put in a claim to bon ton,
by undervaluing their countrymen, we have
nothing to say, since they are much beyond
improvement, and are quite unable to under
stand all the high and glorious consequences
dependent on the great principles of which this

THE HEIDENMAUER. 231

republic is the guardian. Their fate was long
since settled by a permanent and wise pro
vision of human feeling ; but, presuming on
the opportunities mentioned, and long habits of
earnest observation in the two hemispheres, we
shall conclude this digression by merely adding,
that it is the misfortune of man to abuse the
gifts of God, let him live in what country or
under what institutions he may. Excess of the
description in question is the failing of every
people, nearly in proportion to their means;
nor are there any certain preventives against a
vice so destructive, but absolute want, or a
high cultivation of the reasoning faculties.

He who has accurately ascertained how far
the people of this republic are behind or before
the inhabitants of other lands, in mental im
provement and moral qualities, will not be far
from the truth in assigning to them a corre
spondent place in the scale of sobriety. It is
true that many foreigners will be ready enough
to deny this position, but we have had abund-

THE HEIDENMAUER.

ant opportunities of observing, that all those
who visit our shores do not come sufficiently
prepared, by observation at home, to make
just comparisons, and what we have here said
has not been ventured without years of close
and honest investigation. We shall gladly
hail the day when it can be said, that not an
American exists so lost to himself as to trifle
with the noblest gift of the Creator ; but we
cannot see the expediency of attaining an end,
desirable even as this, by the concession of
premises that are false.

THE HEIDENMAUER. 233

CHAPTER VII.

" What a thrice double ass
Was I, to take this drunkard for a god !"

Caliban.

PHYSICAL qualities are always prized in
proportion to the value that is attached to
those which are purely intellectual. So long
as power and honour depend on the possession
of brute force, strength and agility are endow
ments of the last importance, on the same prin
ciple that they render the tumbler of more
account in his troop ; and he who has ever had
occasion to mingle much with the brave, and
subject to a qualification that will readily be

234 THE HEIDENMAUER.

understood, we might add, the noble savages of
this continent, will have remarked, that, while
the orators are in general a class who have
cultivated their art for want of qualifications
to excel in that which is deemed still more
honourable, the first requisite in the warrior is
stature and muscle. There exists a curious
document to prove how much even their suc
cessors, a people in no degree deficient in
acuteness, have been subject to a similar in
fluence. We allude to a register that was
made of the thews and sinews among the chiefs
of the army of Washington, during the moment
of inaction that preceded the recognition of in
dependence. By this report it would seem,
that the animal entered somewhat into the ideas
of our fathers, when they made their original
selection of leaders, a circumstance that we
attribute to the veneration that man is secretly
disposed to show to physical perfection, until a
better training and experience have taught him
there is still a superior power. Our first im-

THE HEIDENMAUER. 235

pressions are almost always received through
the senses, and the connexion between martial
prowess and animal force seems so natural, that
we ought not to be surprised a people so peace
ful and unpractised, in their simplicity, be
trayed a little of this deference to appearances.
Happily, if they sometimes put matter into
stations which would have been better filled by
mind, the honesty and zeal that were so general
in our ranks carried the country through in
triumph.

It was a consequence of the high favour en
joyed by all manly or physical qualities in the
sixteenth century, that men were even prized
for their excesses. Thus he who could longest
resist the influence of liquor was deemed, in a
more limited sense, as much a hero as he who
swung the heaviest mace, or pointed the surest
cannon in battle. The debauch in which the
Abbot of Limburg and his neighbour Emich of
Leiningen, were now engaged, was one of no
unusual nature ; for, in a country in which pre-

236 THE HEIDENMAUER.

lates appeared in so many other doubtful cha
racters, it should not excite surprise that some
of the class were willing to engage in a strife
that had little danger, while it was so highly in
favour with the noble and the great.

The reader will have seen that great pro
gress had been made towards the issue of the
celebrated encounter it is our duty to relate,
even before its precise object had been formally
introduced among the contending parties. But
while the monks came to the struggle apprised
of its motive, and prepared at all points to
maintain the reputation of their ancient and
hospitable brotherhood, the Count of Leiningen,
with a sullen reliance on his own powers, that
was somewhat increased by his contempt for
priestcraft, had neglected to bestow the same
care on his auxiliaries. It is scarcely necessary
to add that both the Abbe and the Knight of
Rhodes had become heated to garrulousness
before they perfectly understood the nature of
the service that was expected at their hands,

THE HEIDENMAUER. 237

or, we ought rather to say, of their heads.
With this explanation we shall resume the nar
rative, taking up its thread some two hours
later than the moment when it was last dropped.

At this particular juncture of the strife,
Fathers Siegfried and Cuno had become tho
roughly warmed with their endeavours, and
habitual and profound respect for the Abbot
was gradually giving way before the quicken
ing currents of their blood. The eyes of the
former glistened with a species of forensic fero
city, for he was ardently engaged on a con
troversial point with Albrecht of Viederbach,
all of whose faculties appeared to be rapidly
exhaling with his potations. The other Bene
dictine and the Abbe from time to time min
gled in the dispute, in the character of seconds,
while the two most interested in the issue sat,
warily collecting their powers, and sternly re
garding each other, like men who knew they
were not engaged in idle sport.

" This is well, with thy tales of Lisle Adam,

238 THE HEIDENMAUER.

and the Ottoman power," continued Father
Siegfried, pursuing the discourse from a point,
beyond which we consider it unnecessary to
record all that passed — " This will do to repeat
to the dames of our German courts, for the
journey between these Rhenish plains and yon
der island of Rhodes is far, and few are in
clined to make it, in order to convict thy chiefs
of neglect, or their sworn followers of forgetful-
ness of their vows."

" By the quality of my order ! reverend
Benedictine, thou pushest words to unseemli
ness J — Is it not enough, that the chosen and
the gentlest of Europe should devote soul and
body to services that would better become thy
lazy order — that all that is noble and brave
should abandon the green fields and pleasant
rivers of their native lands, to endure hot suns
and sultry winds from Africa, in order to keep
the unbeliever in his limits, but they must be
taunted with gibes like these ? Go, count the
graves and number the living, if thou would st

THE HEIDENMAUER. 239

learn the manner in which our illustrious mas
ter held out against Solyman, or wouldst know
the services of his knights !"

" It would sound ill in thy ears, were I to
bid thee enter purgatory, to enquire into the
fruits of our masses and prayers, and yet one
and the other are equally easy to perform.
Thou knowest well, that Rhodes is no longer
a Christian island, and that none bearing the
Cross dare be seen on its shores. Go to, Count
Albrecht, thy order is fallen into disuse, and it
is better where it is, hid beneath the snowy
mountains of the country of Nice, than it
might be in the front ranks of Christendom.
There is not a crone in Germany that does not
bewail the backsliding of an order so esteemed
of old, or a maiden that does not speak lightly
of its deeds !"

" Heavenly Patience ! nearest thou this,
Monsieur Latouche ? — and from the mouth of
a chanting Benedictine, who passeth his days
between safe walls of stone, here in the heart of

240 THE HEIDENMAUER.

the Palatinate, and his nights on a warm pal
let, beyond sound even of the rushing winds,
unless, in sooth, he be not bent on offices of
midnight charity among the believing wives of
the faithful !"

" Boy ! dost presume to scandalize the
Church, and dare its anger ?" demanded Boni-
facius, in a voice of thunder.

" Reverend Abbot," answered Albrecht,
crossing himself, for habit and policy equally
held him subject to the predominant authority
of the age, " the little I say is more directed to
the man than to his cloth."

" Let him give utterance to all he fancies,"
interrupted the wily Siegfried. — " Is not a
Knight of Rhodes immaculate, and shall we
refuse him right of speech ?"

" It is held at the court of the chivalrous
Valois," observed the Abbe, who perceived it
was necessary to interfere, in order to preserve
the peace, " that the defence of Rhodes was of
exceeding valour, and few survived it, who did

THE HEIDENMAUER. 241

not meet with high honours from Christian
hands. We have seen numberless of the brave
knights among us, in the most esteemed houses
of Paris, and at the merry castle of Fontain-
bleau, and believe me, none were more sought,
or better honoured. The scars of even Marig-
nano and of Pavia are less prized than those
given by the hands of the infidel."

" Thou dost well, my learned and self-deny
ing brother," answered Siegfried, with a sneer,
" to remind us of the fight of Pavia, and of
thy great master's present abode ! Are there
tidings of late from the Castiles, or is it not
permitted to thy prince to despatch couriers to
his own capital ?"

" Nay, reverend monk, thou pressest with
unkind allusions, and forgettest that, like thee,
we are both servitors of the Church."

" We count thee not — one nor the other.
Martyred St. Peter ! what would become of
thy keys, were they entrusted to the keeping
of such hands ! — Go, doff thy vanities — lay

VOL. I. M

THE HEIDENMAUER.

aside that attire of velvet, if thou wouldst be
known as of the flock."

" Master Latouche," exclaimed Emich, who
was boiling with indignation, but who pre
served his self-command in order to circulate
the cups, and to see that each man did true
service in the prescribed contest, " tell him of
his brother of Wittenberg, and of these late
doings in the hive. Stick that thorn into his
side, and thou shalt see him shrink like a jaded
and galled steed, under a pointed spur ! — Who
art thou, and why dost thou disturb my plea
sures ?"

This sudden interruption of himself was ad
dressed by the baron to a youth, in neat but
modest attire, who had just entered the ban
queting room, and who, passing by the menial
that filled the glasses at the beck of his master's
hand, now stood, with a firm but respectful
mien, at the elbow of the speaker.

" 'Tis Berchthold, my lord's forester. They
bid me come to do your pleasure, noble Count."

THE HEIDENMAUER. 243

" Thou art seasonably arrived to keep the
peace between a sworn Knight of Rhodes and a
garrulous Monk of Limburg. This reverend
Abbot would do thee favour, boy.""

Berchthold bowed respectfully, and turned
towards the prelate.

" Thou art the orphan of our ancient liege
man, he who bore thy name, and was well
esteemed among the townsmen of Duerckheim ?"

" I am the son of him your reverence means,
but that he was liegeman of any of Limburg, I
deny."

" Bravely answered, boy !*" shouted Emich,
striking his fist on the table so hard as to
threaten destruction to all it held : " Ay, and as
becomes thy master's follower ! Hast enough,
Father Bonifacius, or wilt dip deeper into the
youth's catechism ?"

" The young man has been tutored to respect
his present ease," returned the Abbot, affecting
indifference equally to the exultation of the
Count and to the disrespect of his forester.

M2

244 THE HEIDENMAUER.

" When he next comes to our confessionals,
there will be occasion to give him other school-
ing."

" God's truth ! that hour may never happen.
We are half disposed to live on in our sins, and
to take soldier's fortune, in these stirring times ;
which is ever the chance of sudden death, with
out the Church's passport. We are fast getting
of this mind, are we not, brave Berchthold ?"

The youth bowed respectfully, but without
answering, for he saw by the inflamed counte
nances and swimming eyes of all at table, that
the moment was one in which explanations
would be useless. Had it been possible to doubt
the cause of the scene he witnessed, the manner
in which glass after glass was swallowed, at the
will of the cup-bearer, would have explained its
nature. But, far advanced as Father Bonifa-
cius had now become in inebriety, in common
with the other guests, he retained enough of his
faculties, to see that the words of Emich con-

THE HEIDENMAUER. 245

tained an allusion of a dangerously heretical
character.

" Thou art resolved to despise our counsel
and our warnings!" he exclaimed, glancing
fiercely at one and the other. " 'Twere better
to say at once, that thy wish is to see the walls
of Limburg abbey lying on the side of Lim-
burg hill.1'

" Nay, reverend and honoured priest, thou
pushest a few hasty words beyond their mean
ing. What is it to a Count of the noble house
of Leiningen, that a few monks find shelter for
their heads, and ease for their souls, beneath a
consecrated roof within cannon-shot of his own
towers. If thy walls do not tumble until hand
of mine helps to unsettle them, they may stand
till the fallen angel that set them up shall aid
in their overthrow. Truly, Father Bonifacius,
for a godly community, this tale of thy sanc
tuary's origin makes it of none of the best
parentage !"

246 THE HEIDENMAUER.

" Hear ye that !" sputtered Albrecht of Vei-
derbach, who, though his tongue had continued
to sound a sort of irregular accompaniment to
his cousin's speeches, was no longer able to arti
culate clearly — " Hear ye that ! imp of St. Be
nedict ! The devil set ye up, and the devil will
be your downfall. Lisle Adam is a saint to
thy holiest ; and his — good — sword — "

At this word the Knight of Rhodes suc
cumbed, losing his balance in an animated
effort to gesticulate, and fairly falling under the
table. A sarcastic smile crossed the Abbot's
face, at this overthrow of one of his adversaries,
while Emich scowled in disdain at the ignoble
exhibition made by his kinsman ; who, finding
it impossible to rise, resigned himself to sleep
on the spot where he had fallen.

" Swallow thy rhenish, monk, and count not
on the slight advantage thou hast got in the
overthrow of that prating fool," said the host,
whose tones grew less and less amicable, as the
plot thickened — " But to a more fitting subject :

THE HEIDENMAUER. 247

— Berchthold is worthy of his Lord, and is a
youth that thinks of things as things appear.
We may quit thy confessionals for divers rea
sons, as thou knowest. Here is the Monk of
Erfurth ! Ha ! what think you of his new
teaching, and of the manner in which he ad
vises the faithful to come to the altar ? You
have had him at Rome, and at Worms, and
among ye in many councils, and yet the honest
man stands fast in all reasonable opinions.
Thou hast heard of Luther, is it not so, young
Berchthold?1'

" 'Tis certain, my Lord Count, that few in
the Jaegerthal escape the tidings of his name."

" Then are they in danger of a most damna
ble heresy !" interrupted Bonifacius, in a voice
of thunder. " Why tell me of this driveller of
Erfurth, Lord Emich, if thou art not in secret
praying that his rebellious wishes may prosper
at the Church's cost ! But we mark thee, irre
verent Count, and hard and griping penance
may yet purge thee of these prurient fancies — "

248 THE HEIDENMAUER.

Here the Abbot, inflamed as he was with wine
and resentment, paused, for the silent monk,
Father Cuno, fell from his seat like a soldier
shot in battle ; the simple inferior having en
tered into the trial of heads, more with a relish
for the liquor than with any thought of victory,
and having, in consequence, done so much
honour to the potations, as to become an easy
sacrifice to the common enemy. The Abbot
looked at his prostrate follower with grim indif
ference, showing by his hard, scowling, and
angry eye, that he deemed the loss of little mo
ment to the main result. " What matters the
impotency of a fool !" he muttered, turning
away to his principal and only dangerous oppo
nent, with a full return of all his angry feel
ings : — " That the devils are suffered to gain a
momentary and specious triumph, we are well
aware, Baron of Hartenburg — "

" By my father's bones, proud priest, but
thou strangely forgettest thyself ! Am I not a

THE HE1DENMAUER. 249

Prince of Leiningen ? that one of the cowl should
please to call me less !"

" I should have said the Summer Land
grave !" answered Bonifacius, sneerfngly, for
long-smothered hatred was beginning to break
through the feeble barriers that their reeling
faculties still preserved. " I crave pardon of
your highness; but a short reign leaves brief
recollections. Even thy subjects, illustrious
Enrich, may be forgiven, that they know not
their sovereign's title. The coronet that is
worn from June to September scarce gets the
fit of the head !n

" It was worn longer, Abbot, than ever head
of thine will wear a saintly crown. But I for
get my ancient house and the forbearance due
to a guest, in honest anger at an artful and
malignant monk !"

Bonifacius bowed with seeming composure,
and while each appeared to recover his modera
tion, in a misty recollection of the true affair in
M 5

250 THE HEIDENMAUER.

hand, the dialogue between the Abbe and
Father Siegfried, which had been drowned by
the stentorian lungs of the principal disputants,
broke out in the momentary pause.

" Thou sayest true, reverend father,11 said
the former, "but were our fair and sprightly
dames of France to perform these pilgrimages
to distant shrines, of which thou speakest, rude
treatment in the way-faring, evil company, and
haply, designing confessors, might tarnish the
present lustre of their graces, and leave them
less ornaments to our brilliant and gallant
court, than they at present prove. No, I es
pouse no such dangerous opinions, but endea
vour by gentle persuasion and courtly argu
ments, to lead their precious souls nearer to the
heaven they so well merit, and which it were
scarce impious to say, they will so rarely
become."

" This may be well for the towering fancies
of thy French imaginations, but our slower
German minds must be dealt with differently.

THE HEIDENMAUER. 251

By the mass ! I would give little for the suc
cess of the confessor that should deal only in
persuasive and gentle discourse i Here, we
throw out manifold hints of damnation, in
plainer speech."

" I condemn no usage on speculation, Bene
dictine, but truly this directness of condemna
tion would be thought indecorous in our more
refined presences. As yet, thou wilt acknow
ledge, we are less tainted with heresies than thy
northern courts."

Here the deep voice of Emich, who had re
covered a little self-command, again drowned
the by-play of the subordinates.

" We are not children, most reverend Boni-
facius," he resumed, " to irritate ourselves with
names. That I have been denied the honours
and rights of my birth and line, for one come
of no direct descent, is admitted ; but let it be
forgotten. Thou art welcome to my board,
and there is no dignitary of the church, or of
thy brotherhood, that I esteem more than thee

252 THE HEIDENMAUER.

and thine, within a hard ride of these towers.
Let us be friends, holy Abbot, and drink to
our loving graces."

" Count Emich, I pledge thee, and pray for
thee, as thou meritest. If there has been mis
understandings between our convent and thy
house, they have come of the misguidings of
the devil. *We are a peaceful community, and
one given more to prayer and a just hospita
lity than to any grasping desire to enrich our
coffers.1'

" On these points we will not dwell, father,
for it is not easy for baron and abbot, layman
and priest, to see at all times with the same
eyes. I would that this question of authority
in Duerckheim were fairly disposed of, that
there might always be good neighbourhood in
the valley. Our hills shut in no wide plain,
like yon of the river, that we must needs turn
the little level land we have into a battle
ground. By the mass ! most holy Abbot, but
thou wouldst do well to dismiss the Electors'

THE HEIDENMAUER. 253

troops, and trust this matter between us to
gentle and friendly argument."

" If it were the last prayer I uttered, before
passing into the fruition of a self-denying and
holy life, princely Emich, thy wish should not
want support ! Have we not often professed a
willingness to refer the question to the Holy
Father, or any other high church authority,
that can fittingly take cognizance of so knotty
a point. Less than this arbitration would
scarce become our apostolic mission."

" God's truth ! mein Herr Wilhelm, but ye
are too grasping for those who mortify the
flesh ! Is it meet, I ask ye, that a goodly num
ber of valiant and pains- taking burghers should
be led by shaven crowns, in the day of strife,
in fair and foul, evil and good, like so many
worthless women, who, having lived in the idle
ness and vanities of gossip and backbiting, are
fain to hope that their sex's sins may be hid
beneath a monk's frock ? Give me up, there
fore, this question of Duerckheim, with certain

254 THE HEIDENMAUER.

other rights that might be fairly written out,
and the saints in Paradise shall not live in more
harmony than we of the Jaegerthal."

" Truly, Lord Emich, the means of fitting
us for the heavenly state thou namest have not
been forgotten, since thou hast made a purga
tory of the valley these many years — "

" By the mass, priest, thou again pushest
thy remarks beyond discreet speech ! In what
manner have I done aught to bring this scandal
on the neighbourhood, beyond a mere fore
thought to mine own interest ? Hast thou not
opened thy abbey-gates to receive armed and ir
religious men ? — Are not thy ears hourly wound-
ed by rude oaths, and thy eyes affronted by
sights that should be thought unseemly in a
sanctuary? — Nay, that thou mayest not sup
pose I am ignorant of thy hidden intentions,
do not the armed bands of Duke Freidrich
lie at watch, this very moment, within thy
cloisters ?"

" We have a just caution of our rights and

THE HEIDENMAUER. 255

of the Church's honour," answered Bonifacius,
who scarce endeavoured to conceal the con
temptuous smile the question excited.

" Believe me. Abbot of Limburg, so far from
being the enemy of our holy religion, I am its
sworn friend; else should I long since have
joined the proselytes of this brother Luther,
and have done thee harm openly."

" 'Twere better than to pray at our altars
by day, and to plot their fall at night."

" I swear by the life of the Emperor that
thou urgest me too far, haughty priest !"

The clamour created by the Abbe and Fa
ther Siegfried here caused the two principal
speakers to direct their attention, for the mo
ment, to the secondary combatants. From a
courtly dispute, the argument had got to be
so confused and warm between the latter, that
each raised his voice in a vain endeavour to
drown that of his adversary. It was but an
instant, before the whirling senses of M. La-
touche, who had only maintained his present

256 THE HEIDENMAUER.

place in the debauch by fraud, gave way to so
rude an assault, and he staggered to a settee,
where, gesticulating wildly, he soon sunk at his
length, unable to lift his head. Father Sieg
fried witnessed the retreat of his mercurial foe
with a grin of exultation ; then he raised a fe
rocious shout, which, coming from lungs that
had so lately chanted to the honour of God,
caused the young Berchthold to shudder with
horror. But the glazed eyes of the monk, and
his failing countenance, betrayed an inability
to endure more. After staring wildly about
him, with the unmeaning idiotcy of a drunkard,
he settled himself in his chair, and closed his
eyes in the heavy sleep that nature unwillingly
furnishes to those who abuse her gifts.

The Abbot and the Count witnessed the
manner in which their respective seconds were
thus put hors de combat, in sullen silence. Their
growing warmth, and the feelings excited by
the mention of their several grievances, had
insensibly drawn their attention from the pro-

THE HEIDENMAUER. 257

gress of the contest, but each now regained a
certain glimpse of its nature and of its results ;
the recollection served to recall the temper of
both, for they were too well practised in these
scenes, not to understand the value of presence
of mind in maintaining the command of their
faculties.

" Our brother Siegfried hath yielded to the
frailties of nature, noble Enrich," resumed Bo
niface, smiling as placidly on his remaining
companion, as flushed features and a heated
eye would permit. " The flesh of priest can
endure no more than that of layman, else would
he have seen thy flasks drained of their last
drop, for better intention never filled grate
ful heart, in doing honour to the gifts of
Providence."

" Ay, thou passest thy debauches to the ac
count of this subtil ty, while we of the sword,
Master Abbot, sin to-night, and ask forgiveness
to-morrow, without other pretence than our
pleasures. But the hood of a monk is a mask,

258 THE HEIDENMAUER.

and he who wears it, thinks he hath a right to
the benefit of the disguise. I would I knew,
to a bodice, the number of burghers' wives thou
hast shrived since Corpus Domini !"

" Jest not with the secrets of the confessional,
Count Emich; the subject is too sacred for
profane tongues. There has been bitter pe
nance for greater than thou !"

" Nay, mistake me not, holy Abbot," re
turned the baron, hurriedly crossing himself;
" but your bold talkers say there is discontent
in Duerckheim on this point, and I deem it
friendly to communicate the accusations of the
enemy. This is a moment, in which our Ger
man monks are in danger, for, in sooth, thy
brother of Erfurth is no driveller in his cry
against Rome.'"

The eye of Father Boniface flashed fire, for
none are so quick to meet, or so violent to re
sent attacks on what they consider their rights,
as those who have long been permitted to enjoy

THE HEIDENMAUER. 259

monopolies, however frail or unj ust may be the
tenure of their possession.

" In thy heart, rude Emich, thou clingest to
this heresy !" he said : " beware in what man
ner thou castest the weight of thy example and
name into the scale, against the commands
of God and the authority of the Church ! As
for this Luther, a backsliding wretch, that un
quiet ambition and love for a professed but
misguided nun have urged to rebellion, the
devils are rejoicing in his iniquity, and imps of
darkness stand ready to riot in his final and
irretrievable fall."

" By the mass ! Father, to a plain soldier it
seemeth better to wive the sister honestly, than
to give all this scandal in Duerckheim, and
otherwise to do violence to the peace of families
on the fair plains of the Palatinate. If brother
Luther hath done no more than thou sayest
here, he hath fairly cheated Satan, which is
what thy community did of old when it got the

260 THE HEIDENMAUER.

evil spirit to aid in raising thy chapel; and
then, with no great regard to a debtor's obli
gations, sent him away penniless."

" Were the truth known, Emich, I fear it
would be found that thou hast faith in this
silly legend !"

" If thou hast not outwitted the devil, priest,
it hath been that his prudence hath kept him
from bargaining with those he knows to be his
betters in cunning. By the rood ! 'twas a bold
spirit that would grapple, wit to wit, with the
monks of Limburg !"

Disdain kept the Abbot from answering, for
he was too superior to vulgar tradition to feel
even resentment at an imputation of this kind.
His host perceived that he was losing ground,
and he began to see, by the manner in which
his senses were slowly receding, that he was in
imminent danger of forfeiting the important
stake that now depended wholly on his powers
of endurance. The Abbot had a well-earned
reputation of having the strongest head of all

THE HEIDENMAUER. 261

the churchmen of the Palatinate; and Count
Enrich, who was in nowise wanting in physical
excellence of this sort, began to feel that spe
cies of failing which is commonly the forerun
ner, as it is often the cause of defeat. He
swallowed bumper after bumper, with a reck
less desire to overwhelm his antagonist, without
thought of the inroads that he was producing
on his own faculties. Bonifacius, who saw and
felt his superiority, willingly indulged his an
tagonist in this feverish desire to drive the
struggle to a premature issue, and several
glasses were taken in a sort of sullen defiance,
without a syllable issuing from the lips of
either. In this strait, the Count turned his
swimming eyes towards his attendants, in a
vague hope that they who had served him so
faithfully on ordinary occasions, might aid him
in the present desperate emergency.

Young Berchthold Hintermayer stood near
his Lord, in respectful attendance on his plea
sure, for habit prevented him from withdraw-

26*2 THE HEIDENMAUER.

ing without an order. Enough had fallen from
the parties in this singular contest, to let him
inta the secret of its object. He appeared to
understand the appeal, and advancing to do
the office of cup-bearer, a duty that in truth
required some such interference, for he who
should have discharged it had been too dili
gently imitating those at the board, to be able
any longer to acquit himself with propriety of
his functions —

" If my Lord Abbot would but relieve the
passing time," said Berchthold, as he poured
out the wine, " by descanting more at large
on this heresy, he might be the instrument of
saving a doubting soul : I freely confess that,
for one, I find much reason to distrust the faith
of my fathers."

This was attacking the Abbot on his weak
est, not to say his only vulnerable, point.

" Thou shalt smart for this, bold boy !" he
cried, striking the table with a clenched fist.
" Thou harbourest heresies, unfledged and pal-

THE HEIDENMAUER. 263

try reasoner on apostolic missions ! 'Tis well
— 'tis well : the impudent avowal is noted !"

Emich made a sign of gratitude, for in his
rage the priest took a heavy draught, uncon
scious of what he was about.

" Nay, my Lord, the most reverend Abbot
will pardon imprudent speech in one little
gifted in knowledge of this sort. Were it to
strike a wild boar, or to stop a roebuck, or
haply to do harm to my master's enemies, this
hand might prove of some account ; but is it
matter of fair surprise that we of simple wit
should be confounded, when the most learned
of Germany are at a loss what to believe ? I
have heard it said that Master Luther made
noble answers in all the councils and wise
bodies in which he hath of late appeared."

" He spoke with the tongue of Lucifer !"
roared the Abbot, fairly frothing with the vio
lence of ungovernable rage. " Whence cometh
this new and late discovered religion ? Of
what stock and root is it ? Why hath it been

264 THE HEIDENMAUER.

so long hid, and where is its early history ?
Doth it mount to Peter and Paul; or is it
the invention of modern arrogance and rank
conceit ?"

" Nay, father, the same might be asked of
Rome itself, before Rome knew an apostle.
The tree is not less a tree after it hath been
trimmed of its decayed branches, though it
may be more comely.""

Father Bonifacius was both acute and learn
ed, and, under ordinary circumstances, even
the Monk of Wittenberg might have found
him a stubborn and subtle casuist ; but in his
actual condition, the most sophistical remark, if
it had but the aspect of reason, was likely to
inflame him. Thus assailed, therefore, he ex
hibited an awful picture of the ferocity of hu
man passions when brutalized by indulgence.
His eyes seemed starting from his head, his
lips quivered, and his tongue refused its func
tions. He was now in the predicament in
which the Count had so lately stood ; and

THE HEIDENMAUER. 265

though he foresaw the consequences, with the
desperation of an inebriated man, he sought
the renewal of his forces in the very agent
which had undermined them. Count Emich
himself was past intelligible utterance ; but
eloquence not being his strongest arm, he still
maintained sufficient command of his physical
powers to continue the conflict. He flourished
his hand in defiance, and muttered words that
seemed to breathe hatred and scorn. In this
manner did a noble of an illustrious and prince
ly house, and a mitred prelate of the church
stand at bay, with little other consciousness of
the existence of the nobler faculties of their
being, than that connected with the common
mercenary object which had induced this trial
of endurance.

" The Church's malediction on ye all P
Boniface at length succeeded in uttering : then
falling back in his elbowed and well-cushioned
chair, he yielded his faculties to the sinister
influence of the liquor he had swallowed.

VOL. I. N

266 THE HEIDENMAUER.

When Enrich of Leiningen witnessed the
overthrow of his last antagonist, a gleam of
intelligence and triumph shot from beneath
his shaggy brows. By a desperate effort he
raised himself, and stretching forth an arm,
he gained possession of the deed by which the
community of Limburg formally released its
claims upon the products of the disputed
vineyards. Arising with the air of one accus
tomed to command even in his cups, he signed
for his forester to approach, and, aided by his
young and nervous arm, he tottered from the
room, leaving the banqueting-hall, like a de
serted field, a revolting picture of human
infirmity in its degradation and neglect.

As the Count fell heavily upon his couch,
clad as he had been at table, he shook the parch
ment towards his young attendant, till the folds
rattled: then, closing his eyes, his deep and
troubled breathing soon announced that the
victor of this debauch lay like the vanquished,
unconscious, feverish, and unmanned.

THE HEIDENMAUER. 267

Thus terminated the well-known debauch of
Hartenburg, a feat of physical endurance on
the part of the stout baron who prevailed,
that gained him little less renown among the
boon companions of the Palatinate, than he
would have reaped from a victory in the field ;
and which, strange as it may now appear,
derogated but little from any of the qualities
of the vanquished.

268 THE HEIDENMAUER.

CHAPTER VIII.

" And from the latticed gallery came a chant
Of psalms, most saint-like, most angelical,
Verse after verse sung out most holily."

ROGERS.

THE succeeding day was the Sabbath. The
morning of the weekly festival was always an
nounced to the peasants of the Jaegerthal with
the usual summons to devotion. The matin
bell had been heard on the abbey walls, even
before the light penetrated to the bottom of the
deep vale, and all the pious had bent, in com
mon, wherever the sounds happened to reach
their ears, in praise and thanksgiving. But as

THE HEIDENMAUER. 269

the hours wore on, a more elevated display of
Roman worship was prepared in the high mass,
a ceremony addressed equally to the feelings
and the senses.

The sun was fairly above the hills, and the
season bland to seduction. The domestic cat
tle, relieved from their weekly toil, basked
against the hill-side, ruminating in contentment,
and filled with the quiet pleasures of their in
stinct. Children gamboled before the cottage
doors ; the husbandman loitered, in habiliments
that had borne the fashions of the Haard
through many generations, regarding the silent
growth of his crops ; and the housewife hurried,
from place to place, in the excitement of simple
domestic enjoyment. The month was the most
grateful of the twelve, and well filled with
hopes. The grass had reached its height, and
was throwing out its exuberance ; the corn was
filling fast, and the vine began to give forth its
clusters.

In the midst of this scene of rural tranquil-

270 THE HEIDENMAUER.

lity, the deep- toned bells of the abbey called the
flock to its usual fold. Long practice had
made the brotherhood of Limburg expert in
all the duties that were necessary to the earthly
administration of their functions. Even the
peals of the bells were regulated and skilful.
Note mournfully succeeded note, and there
was not a silent dell, for miles, into which the
solemn call did not penetrate. Bells were
heard too from Duerckheim, and even from
the wide plain beyond, but none rose fuller
upon the air, or came so sweet and melancholy
to the ear, as those which hung in the abbey
towers.

Obedient to the summons, there was a gather
ing of all in the valley towards the gate of
Limburg. A crowd appeared also in the di
rection of the gorge ; for devotion, superstition,
or curiosity, never failed to attract a multitude
on these occasions, to witness mass in that cele
brated conventual chapel. Among the latter
came equally the sceptical and the believing,

THE HEIDENMAUER. 271

the young and the old, the fair and her who
deemed it prudent to shade a matronly coun
tenance with the veil, the idle, the half-con
verted follower of Luther, and the lover of
music. It was customary for one of the bro
thers to preach, when mass was ended, and
Limburg had many monks that were skilled in
the subtilties of the times, and some even who
had names for eloquence.

With a management and coquetry that enter
into most human devices that intended to act
on our feelings, especially in matters that it is
not thought safe to confide too much to naked
reason, the peals of the bells were continued
long, with a view to effect. As group after
group arrived, the court of the abbey slowly
filled, until there appeared a congregation suffi
ciently numerous to gratify the self-love of
even a clerical star of our own times. There
was much grave salutation among the different
dignitaries that were here assembled, for of all
those who doff the cap in courtesy, perhaps the

272 THE HEIDENMAUER.

German is the most punctilious and respectful.
As the neighbouring city was fully represented
in this assembly of the religious and curious,
there was also a profitable display of the duties
that are due to station. A herald might have
obtained many useful hints, had he Tbeen there
to note the different degrees of simple homage
that were paid, from the Burgomaster to the
Bailiff. — Among the variety of idle and ill-
digested remarks that are lavished on the
American people and their institutions, it is a
received pleasantry to joke on their attachment
to official dignities. But he who has not only
seen, but observed both his own countrymen
and strangers, will have had numberless occa
sions to remark that this, like most similar
strictures, is liable to the imputation of vapidi
ty, and of being proof of a narrow observation.
The functionary that is literally a servant of
the people, whatever may be his dispositions,
can never triumph over his masters; and,
though it be an honest and commendable am-

THE HEIDENMAUER. 273

bition to wish to be so distinguished, we need
only examine the institutions to see that in
this, as in most other similar circumstances,
there is no strict analogy between ourselves
and European nations. The remark has pro
bably been made, because a respect for official
authority has been found among us, when there
was the expectation, and possibly the wish, to
find anarchy.

At the high mass of Limburg there was
more ceremony observed in ushering the nearest
village dignitary to his place in the church,
than would be observed in conducting the head
of this great republic to the high station he
occupies ; and care was had, by an agent of the
convent, to see that no one should approach
the altar of the Lord of the Universe, without
his receiving the deference he might claim in
virtue of his temporal rank ! Here, where all
appear in the temple as they must appear in
their graves, equals in dependence on divine
support as they are equals in frailty, it will not
N 5

274 THE HEIDENMAUER.

be easy to understand the hardihood of sophis
try which thus teaches humility and penitence
with the tongue, and invites to pride and pre
sumption in the practice; and which, when
driven to a reason for its conduct, defends itself
against the accusation of inconsistency, by re
criminating the charge of envy !

There had been a suitable display of cere
mony when several functionaries of Duerck-
heim appeared, but the strongest manifestation
of respect was reserved for a burgher, who did
not enter the gates until the people were
assembled in the body of the church. This
personage, a man whose hair was just beginning
to be gray, and whose solid, vigorous frame
denoted full health and an easy life, came in
the saddle ; for at the period of which we
write, there was a bridle-path to the portal of
Limburg. He was accompanied by a female,
seemingly his spouse, who rode an ambling-
nag, bearing on the crupper a crone that clung
to her well-formed waist, with easy, domestic

THE HEIDENMAUER. 275

familiarity, but like one unused to her seat.
A fair-haired, rosy girl sat the pillion of the
father, and a serving-man, in a species of offi
cial livery, closed the cavalcade.

Sundry of the more substantial citizens of
Duerckheim hastened to the reception of this
little party, for it was Heinrich Frey, with
Meta, her mother, and Use, that came unex
pectedly to the mass of Limburg. The afflu
ent and flourishing citizen was ushered to the
part of the church, or chapel, where especial
chairs were reserved for such casual visits of
the neighbouring functionaries, or for any
noble that devotion, or accident, might lead to
worship at the abbey's altars.

Heinrich Frey was a stout, hale, obstinate,
sturdy, burgher, in whom prosperity had a
little cooled benevolence, but who, had he
escaped the allurements of office, and the recol
lection of his own success, might have passed
through life as one that was wanting in neither
modesty nor humanity. He was, in short, on

276 THE HEIDENMAUER.

a diminished scale, one of those examples of
desertion from the ranks of mankind to the
corps d'elite of the lucky, that we constantly
witness among the worldly and fortunate.
While a youth, he had been sufficiently con
siderate for the burthens and difficulties of the
unhappy ; but a marriage with a small heir
ess, and subsequent successes, had gradually
brought him to a view of things, that was more
in unison with his own particular interests, than
it was either philosophical or christian-like.
He was a firm believer in that dictum which
says none but the wealthy have sufficient inte
rest in society to be intrusted with its control,
though his own instinct might have detected
the sophistry, since he was daily vacillating
between opposing principles, just as they hap
pened to affect his own particular concerns.
Heinrich Frey gave freely to the mendicant,
and to the industrious ; but when it came to
be a question of any serious melioration of the
lot of either, he shook his head, in a manner

THE HEIDENMAUER, 277

to imply a mysterious political economy, and
uttered shrewd remarks on the bases of society,
and of things as they were established. In
short, he lived in an age when Germany, and
indeed all Christendom, was much agitated by
a question that was likely to unsettle not only
the religion of the day, but divers other vested
interests, and he might have been termed the
chief of the conservative party, in his own par
ticular circle. These qualities, united to his
known wealth ; a reputation for high probity,
which was founded on the belief that he was
fully able to repair any pecuniary wrong he
might happen to commit ; a sturdy maintenance
of his own opinions, that passed with the multi*
tude for the consistency of rectitude ; and a per
fect fearlessness in deciding against all those
who had not the means of disputing his decrees,
had procured for him the honour of being the
first Burgomaster of Duerckheim.

Were the countenance a certain index of the
qualities of the mind, a physiognomist might

278 THE HEIDENMAUER.

have been at a loss to discover the motives
which had induced Ulricka Hailtzinger, not
only the fairest but the wealthiest maiden of
the town, to unite herself in marriage with the
man we have just delineated. A mild, melan
choly blue eye, that retained its lustre in de
spite of forty years, a better outline of features
than is common to the region in which she
dwelt, and a symmetry of arm and bust that,
on the other hand, are rather peculiar to the
natives of Germany, still furnished sufficient
evidence of the beauty for which she must have
been distinguished in early life. In addition to
these obvious and more vulgar attractions, the
matronly partner of Heinrich had an expression
of feminine delicacy and intelligence, of elevated
views, and even of mysterious aspirations, which
rendered her a woman that a nice observer of
nature might have loved to study — and have
studied to love.

In personal appearance, Meta was a copy of
her mother, engrafted on the more ruddy health

THE HEIDENMAUER. 279

and less abstracted habits of the father. Her
character will be sufficiently developed as we
proceed in the tale. We commit Use to the
reader's imagination, which will readily conceive
the sort of attendant that has been introduced.

The Herr Heinrich did not take possession
of his customary post before the high altar,
without causing the stir and excitement among
the simple peasants of the Jaegerthal, and the
truant Duerckheimers who were present, that
became his condition in life. But even city im
portance cannot predominate for ever in the
house of God, and the bustle gradually sub
siding, expectation began to take precedency of
civic rank.

The Abbey of Limburg stood high among
the religious communities of the Rhine, for its
internal decorations, its wealth, and its hospita
lity. The chapel was justly deemed a rare spe
cimen of monastic taste, nor was it wanting in
most of those ornaments and decorations that
render the superior buildings, devoted to the

280 THE HEIDENMAUER.

service of the Church of Rome, so imposing to
the senses, and so pleasing to the admirers of
solemn effects. The building was vast, and, as
prevailed throughout that region and in the
century of which we write, sombre. It had
numerous altars, rich in marbles and pictures,
each celebrated in the Palatinate for the kind
mediation of the particular saint to whom it was
dedicated, and each loaded with the votive
offerings of the suppliant, or of the grateful.
The walls and the nave were painted al fresco,
not indeed with the pencil of Raphael, or Buo-
norotti, but creditably, and in a manner to
heighten the beauty of the place. The choir
was carved in high relief, after a fashion much
esteemed and that was admirably executed in
the middle states of Europe, no less than in
Italy, and whole flocks of cherubs were seen
poising on the wing around the organ, the altar,
and the tombs. The latter were numerous, and
indicated, by their magnificence, that the bodies

THE HEIDENMAUER. 281

of those who had enjoyed the world's advan
tages, slept within the hallowed precincts.

At length a door, communicating with the
cloisters, opened, and the monks appeared,
walking in procession. At their head came the
Abbot, wearing his mitre, and adorned with the
gorgeous robes of his ecclesiastical office. Two
priests, decorated for the duties of the altar,
followed, and then succeeded the professed and
the assistants, in .pairs. The whole procession
swept through the aisles, in stately silence, and
after making the tour of most of the church,
paying homage and oifering prayers at several
of the most honoured altars, it passed into the
choir. Father Bonifacius was seated on his
episcopal throne, and the rest of the brother
hood occupied the glossy stalls reserved for
such occasions. During the march of the
monks, the organ breathed a low accompani
ment, and, as they became stationary, its last
strain died in the vaulted roof. At this mo-

282 THE HEIDENMAUER.

ment the clattering of horses5 hoofs was audible
without, causing the startled and uneasy priests
to suspend the mass. The rattling of steel
came next, and then the heavy tread of armed
heels was heard on the pavement of the church
itself.

Emich of Hartenburg came up the principal
aisle, with the steady front of one confident of
his power, and claiming deference. He was
accompanied by his guests, the Knight of
Rhodes and Monsieur Latouche, while young
Berchthold Hintermayer kept at his elbow,
like one accustomed to be in close attendance.
A small train of unarmed dependants brought
up the rear. There was a seat of honour, in
the choir itself, and near the master altar, to
which it was usual to admit princes and nobles
of high consideration. Passing through the
crowd that had collected at the railing of the
choir, the Count inclined towards one of the
lateral aisles, and was soon face to face with the
Abbot. The latter arose, and slightly recog-

THE HEIDENMAUER. 283

nised the presence of his guest, while the whole
brotherhood imitated his example, though with
greater respect; for, as we have said, it was
usual to pay this homage to worldly rank, even
in the temple. Emich seated himself, with a
scowl on his visage, while his two noble asso
ciates found seats of honour near. Berchthold
stood at hand.

An inexperienced eye could have detected no
outward signs of his recent defeat, in the ex
terior of Wilhelm of Venloo. His muscles had
already regained their tone, and his entire coun
tenance its usual expression of severe authority,
a quality for which it was more remarkable
than for any lines of mortification or of thought.
He glanced at the victor, and then, by a secret
sign, communicated with a lay brother. At
this moment the mass commenced.

Of all the nations of Christendom, this, com
pared with its numbers, is the least connected
with the Church of Rome. The peculiar re
ligious origin of the people, their habits of ex-

284 THE HEIDENMAUER.

amination and mental independence, and their
prejudices (for the protestant is no more free
from this failing than the catholic), are likely
to keep them long separated from any policy,
whether of church or state, that exacts faith
without investigation, or obedience without the
right to remonstrate. An opinion is sedulously
disseminated in the other hemisphere, that busy
agents are rapidly working changes in this
respect, and a powerful party is anxiously an
ticipating great ecclesiastical and political re
sults from the return of the American nation to
the opinions of their ancestors of the middle
ages. Were the fact so, it would give us little
concern, for we do not believe salvation to be
the peculiar province of sects ; but, had we any
apprehensions of the consequences of such a
conversion, they would not be excited by the
accidental accumulations of emigrants in towns,
or on the public works in which the country is
so actively engaged. We believe, that where
one native protestant becomes a catholic in

THE HEIDENMAUER. 285

America, ten emigrant catholics drop quietly
into the ranks of the prevailing sects, and,
without at all agitating the point of which is
the gainer or the loser by the change, we shall
proceed to describe the manner of the mass, as
a ceremony, that ninety-nine in a hundred of
our readers have never had, nor probably ever
will have, an opportunity of witnessing.

There is no appeal to the feelings of man
which has given rise to opinions so decidedly at
variance as those which are entertained of the
Roman ritual. To one description of Chris
tians, these ceremonies appear to be vain mum
meries, invented to delude, and practised for
unjustifiable ends ; while, to another, they con
tain all that is sublime and imposing in human
worship. As is usual in most cases of extreme
opinions, the truth would seem to lie between
the two. The most zealous catholic errs when
he would maintain the infallibility of all who
minister at the altar, or when he overlooks the
slovenly and irreverent manner in which the

286 THE HEIDENMAUER.

most holy offices are so frequently performed ;
and, surely, the protestant who quits the tem
ple in which justice has been done to the for
mula of this church, without perceiving that
there is deep and sublime devotion in its rites,
has steeled his feelings against the admission of
every sentiment in favour of a sect that he is
willing to proscribe. We belong to neither
class, and shall, therefore, endeavour to repre
sent things as they have been seen, not disguis
ing or affecting a single emotion because our
fathers happened to take refuge in this western
world, to set up altars of a different shade of
faith.

The interior of the abbey-church of Lim-
burg, as has just been stated, was renowned in
Germany for its magnificence. -Its vaulted
roof was supported by many massive pillars,
and ornamented with scriptural stories, by the
best pencils of that region. The grand altar
was of marble, richly embellished with agate,
containing as usual a laboured representation

THE HEIDENMAUER. 287

of the blessed Mary and her deified child. A
railing of exquisite workmanship and richly
gilded, excluded profane feet from this sancti
fied spot, which, in addition to its fixtures, was
now glittering with vessels of gold and precious
stones, being decorated for the approaching
mass. The officiating priests wore vestments
stiffened with golden embroidery, while the
inferior attendants were as usual clad in white,
and bound with scarfs of purple.

Upon this scene of gorgeous and elaborate
splendour, in which the noble architecture
united with the minute preparations of the
service, to lead the spirit to lofty contempla
tions, the chant of the monks, and the tones of
the organ, broke in a deep and startling appeal
to the soul. Lives dedicated to the practices
of their community, had drilled the brotherhood
into perfection, and scarce a note issued among
the vaults that was not attuned to the desired
effect. Trombones, serpents, and viols, lent
their aid to increase the solemn melody of

288 THE HEIDENMAUER.

powerful masculine voices, which were so blend
ed with the wind instruments as to comprise
but one deep, grand, and grave sound of praise.
Count Emich turned on his seat, clenching the
handle of his sword, as if the clamour of the
trumpet were in his ears : then his unquiet
glance met that of the Abbot, and his chin fell
upon a hand. As the service proceeded, the
zeal of the brotherhood seemed to increase, and,
as it was afterwards remarked, on no occasion
had the mass of Limburg, at all times known
for its power in music, been so remarkable for
its strong and stirring influence. Voice rolled
above voice, in a manner that must be heard to
be understood, and there were moments when
the tones of the instruments, full and united as
they were, appeared drowned in the blending
of a hundred human aspirations. From the
deepest of one of these solemn peals there arose
a strain, at whose first tone all other music was
hushed. It was a single human voice, of that
admixture of the male and female tones which

THE HE1DENMAUER. 289

seems nearest allied to the supernatural, being,
in truth, a contr'alto of great compass, round
ness, and sweetness. Count Emich started, for,
when these heavenly strains broke upon his ear,
they seemed to float in the vault above the
choir ; nor could he, as the singer was con
cealed, assure himself of the delusion, while the
solo lasted. He dropped his sword, and gazed
about him, for the first time that morning, with
an expression of human charity. The lips of
young Berchthold parted in admiration, and as
he just then met the blue eye of Meta, there
was an exchange of gentle feeling in that quiet
and secret glance. In the mean time, the chant
proceeded. The single unearthly voice that had
so stirred the spirits of the listeners ceased, and
a full chorus of the choir concluded the hymn.

The Count of Leiningen drew a breath so
heavy, that it was audible to Bonifacius. The
latter suffered his countenance to unbend, and,
as in the case of the youthful pair, the spirit of
concord appeared to soothe the tempers of

VOL. I o

290 THE HEIDENMAUER.

these fierce rivals. But here commenced the
ritual of the mass. The rapid utterance of the
officiating priest, gesticulations which lost their
significance by being blended and indistinct,
and prayers in a tongue that defeated their
object, by involving instead of rendering the
medium of thought noble and clear, united to
weaken the effect produced by the music.
Worship lost its character of inspiration, by
assuming that of business, neither attracting
the imagination, influencing the feelings, nor yet
sufficiently convincing the reason. Abandon
ing all these persuasive means, too much was left
to the convictions of a naked and settled belief.
Emich of Hartenburg gradually resumed his
repulsive mien, and the effect of all that he had
so lately felt was lost in cold indifference to
words that he did not comprehend. Even
young Berchthold sought the eye of Meta less
anxiously, and both the Knight of Rhodes and
Monsieur Latouche gazed listlessly towards the
throng grouped before the railing of the choir.

THE HEIDENMAUER. 291

In this manner did the service commence and
terminate. There was another hymn, and a
second exhibition of the power of music, though
with an effect less marked than that which had
been produced, when the listeners were taken
by surprise.

Against a column, near the centre of the
church, was erected a pulpit. A monk rose
from his stall, at the close of the worship, and,
passing through the crowd, ascended its stairs
like one about to preach. It was Father Johan,
a brother known for the devotedness of his faith
and the severity of his opinions. The low re
ceding forehead, the quiet but glassy eye, and
the fixedness of the inferior members of the
face, might readily have persuaded a physiog
nomist that he beheld a heavy enthusiast. The
language and opinions of the preacher did not
deny the expectations excited by his exterior.
He painted, in strong and ominous language,
the dangers of the sinner, narrowed the fold of
the saved within metaphysical and questionable
O 2

292 THE HEIDENMAUER.

limits, and made frequent appeals to the fears
and to the less noble passions of his audience.
While the greater number in the church kept
aloof, listening indifferently, or gazing at the
monuments and other rich decorations of the
place, a knot of kindred spirits clustered around
the pillar that supported the preacher's desk,
deeply sympathizing in all his pictures of pain
and desolation.

The sharp, angry, and denunciatory ad
dress of Father Johan was soon ended, and,
as he re-entered the choir, the Abbot arose
and retired to the cloisters, followed by most
of the brotherhood. But neither the Count
of Hartenburg, nor any of his train, seemed
disposed to quit the church so soon. An air
of expectation appeared, also, to detain most
of those in the body of the building. A monk,
towards whom many longing eyes had been
cast, yielded to the general and touching ap
peal, and quitting his stall, one of high honour,
he took the place just vacated by Father Johan.

THE HEIDENMAUER. 293

This movement was no sooner made, than
the name of Father Arnolph, the Prior, or the
immediate spiritual governor of the community,
was buzzed among the people. Emich arose,
and, accompanied by his friends, he took a
station near the pulpit, while the dense mass of
uplifted and interested faces, that filled the
middle aisle, proclaimed the interest of the con
gregation. There was that in the countenance
and air of Father Arnolph to justify this plain
demonstration of sympathy. His eye was mild
and benevolent, his forehead full, placid, and
even, and the whole character of his face was
that of winning philanthropy. To the influence
of this general and benevolent expression, must
be added evident signs of discipline, much
thought, and meek hope.

The spiritual part of such a man was not
likely to belie the exterior. His doctrine, like
that of the divine being he served, was charit
able and full of love. Though he spoke of the
terrors of judgment, it was with grief rather

294 THE HEIDENMAUER.

than with menace, and it was when dwelling
on the persuasive and attractive character of
faith, that he was most earnest and eloquent.
Again Emich found his secret intentions shaken,
and his frown relaxed to gleamings of sympathy
and interest. The eye of the preacher met that
of the stern baron, and, without making an
alarming change of manner, he continued, as it
were, by a natural course of thought — " Such
is the church in its purity, my hearers, let the
errors, the passions, or the designs of man per
vert it in what manner they may. The faith I
preach is of God, and it partakes of the godlike
qualities of his divine essence. He who would
impute the sins of its mistaken performance
to aught but his erring creatures, casts odium
on that which is instituted for his own good ;
and he who would do violence to his altars,
lifts a hand against a work of omnipotence !"

With these words in his ears, Emich of
Hartenburg turned away, and passed musingly
up the church.

THE HEIDENMA.UER. 295

CHAPTER IX.

" Japhet, I cannot answer thee."

BYRON.

THE Abbey of Limburg owed its existence
and its rich endowments chiefly to the favour
of an emperor of Germany. In honour of this
great patron, an especial altar, and a gorgeous
and elaborate tomb, had been erected. Similar
honours had been also paid to the Counts of
Leiningen, and to certain other noble families
of the vicinity. These several altars were in
black marble, relieved by ornaments of white,
and the tombs were decorated with such heraldic

296 THE HEIDENMAUER.

devices as marked the particular races of the
different individuals. They stood apart from
those already described in the principal church,
in a sort of crypt, or semi-subterranean chapel,
beneath the choir. Thither Count Emich held
his way, when he quitted the column against
which he had leaned, while listening to the ser
mon of Father Arnolph.

The light of the upper church had that soft
and melancholy tint which is so peculiar and
so ornamental to a gothic edifice. It entered
through high, narrow windows of painted glass,
colouring all within with a hue that it was not
difficult for the imagination to conceive had
some secret connexion with the holy character
of the place. The depth and the secluded po
sition of the chapel rendered this light still
more gloomy and touching in the crypt. When
the Count reached the pavement, he felt its
influence deeply, for few descended into that
solemn and hallowed vault without becoming
sensible to the religious awe that reigned

THE HEIDENMAUER. 297

around. Emich crossed himself, and, as he
passed before the altar reared by his race, he
bent a knee to the mild and lovely female
countenance that was there to represent the
Mother of Christ. He thought himself alone,
and he uttered a prayer ; for, though Emich
of Leiningen was a man that rarely communed
seriously with God, when exposed to worldly
and deriding eyes, he had in his heart deep
reverence for his power. As he arose, a move
ment at his elbow attracted a look aside.

tc Ha !— Thou here, Herr Prior P he ex
claimed, suppressing as much of his surprise as
self-command enabled him to do with success ;
" thou art swift in thy passage from the stall to
the pulpit, and swifter from the pulpit to the
chapel P

" We that are vowed to lives of monkish
devotion, need to be often at all. Thou wert
kneeling, Emich, before the altar of thy race ?"

" By St. Benedict, thy patron ! but thou hast,
in good sooth, found me in some such act, holy
o 5

298 THE HEIDENMAUER.

father. A weakness came over me, on entering
into this gloomy place, and I would fain do
reverence to the spirits of those who have gone
before me."

" Callest thou the desire to pray a weakness ?
At what shrine could one of thy name worship
more fittingly than at this, which has been
reared and enriched by the devout of his own
kindred ; or in what better mood canst thou
look into thyself, and call upon divine aid, than
in that thou hast mentioned ?"

" Herr Prior, thou overlookest the occasion
of my visit, which is to hear the abbey mass,
and not to confess and be shrived."

" It is long since thou hast had the benefit
of these sacred offices. Emich !"

" Thou hast done well in thy way, father, at
the desk, and I question not that the burghers
of Duerckheim and their gossips will do thee
credit in their private discourses. Thy fame as
a preacher is not of mean degree even now, and
this effort of to-day would well nigh gain thee a

THE HEIDENMAUER. 299

bishoprick, were the women of our valley in the
way of moving Rome. How fareth it with the
most holy Abbot this morning, and with those
two pillars of the community, the Fathers Sieg
fried and Cuno ?"

" Thou sawest them in their places at the
most holy mass."

" 'Fore heaven ! but they are worthy compa
nions ! Believe me, father, more honest boon
associates do not dwell in our merry Palatinate,
nor men that I love in a better fashion, accord
ing to their merits ! Did^st hear, reverend
Prior, of their visit to Hartenburg, and of their
deeds in the flesh ?"

" The humour of thy mind is quickly
changed, Herr Count, and pity 'tis 'twere thus.
I came not here to listen to tales of excesses in
thy hold, nor of any forgetfulness of those who,
having sworn to better things, have betrayed
that they are merely men."

" Ay, and stout men, if any such dwell in
the empire ! I prize my good name as another,

300 THE HEIDENMAUER.

or I would tell thee the number of vessels that
my keeper of the cellar sweareth are no better
than so many men-at-arms fallen in a rally or
an onset."

" This love of wine is the curse of our region
and of the times. %I would that none of the
treacherous liquor should again enter the gates
of Limburg !"

" God's justice ! reverend Prior, thou wilt in
sooth find some decrease of quantity in future,"
returned Emich, laughing, " for the disputed
vineyards have at last found a single, and,
though it might better come from thee as one
that hath often looked into my interior, as it
were, by confession, a worthy master, I pledge
thee the honour of a noble, that not a flask of
that which thou so contemnest shall ever again
do violence to thy taste."

The Count cast a triumphant glance at the
monk, in the expectation, and possibly in the
hope, that, notwithstanding his professions of
moderation, some lurking signs of regret might

THE HEIDENMAUER. 301

betray themselves at this announcement of the
convent's loss. But Father Arnolph was what
he seemed, a man devoted to the holy office he
had assumed, and one but little influenced by
worldly interests.

" I understand thee, Enrich," he said mildly,
but unmoved. " This scandal was not wanting
at such a moment to bring obloquy upon a
reverend and holy church, against which its
enemies have been permitted to make rude war
fare, for reasons that are concealed in the in
scrutable mysteries of him who founded it."

" Thou speak est in reason, monk, for, to say
truth, yon fellow of Saxony, and his followers,
who are any thing but few or weak, begin to
move many in this quarter to doubts and dis
obedience. Thou must most stoutly hate this
brother Luther in thy heart, father !"

For the first time that day, the countenance
of the Prior lost its even expression of benevo
lence. But the change was so imperceptible to
a vulgar eye, as to escape the scrutiny of the

302 THE HEIDENMAUER.

Count, and the feeling, a lingering remnant of
humanity, was quickly mastered by one so ac
customed to hold the passions in subjection.

" The name of the schismatic hath troubled
me !" returned the Prior, smiling mournfully at
the consciousness of his own weakness ; " I hope
it has not been with a feeling of personal dislike.
He stands on a frightful precipice, and from my
soul do I pray, that not only he, but all the de
luded that follow in his dangerous track, may
see their peril in time to retire unharmed !"

" Father, thou speakest like one that wishes
good to the Saxon rather than harm !"

" I think I may say the words do not belie
the thoughts."

" Nay, thou forgettest the damnable heresies
he practiseth, and overlooketh his motive !
Surely one that can thus sell soul and body for
love of a wanton nun, hath little claim to thy
charity !"

There was a slight glow on the temples of
Father Arnolph.

THE HEIDENMAUER. 303

" They have attributed to him this craven
passion," he answered, " and they have tried to
prove, that a mean wish to partake of the plea
sures of the world, lies at the bottom of his
rebellion ; but I believe it not, and I say it not."

" God's truth ! thou art worthy of thy holy
office, Herr Prior, and I honour thy modera
tion. Were there more like thee among us, we
should have a better neighbourhood and less
meddling with the concerns of others. With
thee, I see myself no such necessity of his
openly wiving the nun, for it is very possible to
enjoy the gifts of life even under a cowl, should
it be our fortune to wear it."

The monk made no answer, for he perceived
he had to do with one unequal to understanding
his own character.

" Of this we will say no more," he rejoined,
after a brief and painful pause ; " let us look
rather to thine own welfare. It is said, Count
Emich, that thou meditatest evil to this holy
shrine; — that ambition, and the longings of

304 THE HEIDENMAUER.

cupidity, have tempted thee to plot our abbey's
fall, in order that none may stand between thine
own baronial power and the throne of the
Elector !w

" Thou art less unwilling to form unkind
opinions of thy nearest neighbour, than of that
mortal enemy of the Church, Luther, it would
appear, Herr Prior. What hast thou seen in
me, that can embolden one of thy charity to
hazard this accusation ?"

" I do but hazard what all in our convent
think and dread. Hast thou reflected well,
Emich, of this sacrilegious enterprise, and of
what may be its fruits ? Dost thou recall the
objects for which these holy altars were reared,
or the hand that laid the corner-stone of the
edifice thou wouldst so profanely overthrow ?"

" Look you, good Father Arnolph, there are
two manners of viewing the erection of thy
convent, and more especially of this identical
church in which we stand. One of our tradi-

THE HEIDKNMAUER. 305

tions sayeth that the arch-knave himself had
his trowel in thy masonry."

" Thou art of too high lineage, of blood too
noble, and of intelligence too ripe, to credit the
tale."

*6 These are points in which I pretend not to
dip too deeply. I am no schplar of Prague
or Wittenberg, that thou shouldst put these
questions so closely to me. It were well that
the brotherhood had bethought itself of this
imputation in season, that the question might
have been settled for or against, as justice
needed, when the learned and great among our
fathers were met at Constance in grave and
general council."

Father Arnolph regarded his companion in
serious concern. He too well knew the deplor
able ignorance, and the consequent superstition,
in which even the great of his time were invol
ved, to manifest surprise ; but he also knew the
power the other wielded sufficiently to foresee

306 THE HEIDENMAUER.

the evils of such a union between force and ig
norance. Still, it was not his present object to
combat opinions that were only to be removed
by time and study, if indeed they can ever be
eradicated, when fairly rooted in the human
mind. He pursued his immediate design, there
fore, avoiding a discussion which, at that mo
ment, might prove worse than useless.

" That the finger of evil mingles more or less
with all things that come of human agency,
may be true," he continued, taking care that
the expression of his eye should neither awaken
the pride, nor arouse the obstinacy of the no
ble ; " but when altars have been reared, and
when the worship of the Most High God hath
continued for ages, we have reason to hope that
his holy spirit presideth in majesty and love
around the shrines. Such hath been the case
with Limburg, Count Emich, and, doubt it
not, we who stand here holding this discourse,
stand also in the immediate presence of that
dread Being who created heaven and earth,

THE HEIDENMAUER. 307

who guideth our lives, and who will judge us
in death !"

" God help us ! Herr Prior. Thou hast
already done thy office in the desk this day,
and I see no occasion that thou shouldst
doubly perform a function that was so well
acquitted at first. I like not the manner of
being ushered, as it were unannounced, into
so dread a presence as this thou hast just pro
claimed. Were it but the Elector Friedrich,
Emich of Leiningen could not presume to this
familiarity without some consultation as to its
fitness.1'

" In the eyes of the Being we mean, Electors
and Emperors are equally indifferent. He lov-
eth the meek, and the merciful, and the just,
while he scourgeth them that deny his autho
rity. But thou hast named thy feudal prince,
and I will question thee in a manner suited to
thy habits. Thou art, in truth, Emich of Lei
ningen, a noble of name in the Palatinate, and
one known to be of long-established authority

308 THE HEIDENMAUER.

in these regions. Still art thou second, or even
third, in worldly command, in this thy very
country. The Elector and the Emperor both
hold thee in check, and either is strong enough
to destroy thee at pleasure in thy vaunted hold
of Hartenburg."

" To the last I yield the means, if thou wilt,
worthy Prior," interrupted the Count ; " but
for the first, he must needs dispose of his own
pressing enemies before he achieves this victory!"

Father Arnolph understood the other's mean
ing, for it was no secret that Friedrich was,
just then, so pressed as to sit on a tottering
throne, a circumstance that was known to have
encouraged the long-meditated designs of the
Count of Hartenburg to get rid of a commu
nity that thwarted his views, and diminished
his local authority.

" Forgetting the Elector, we will turn only
to the Emperor, then," rejoined the Prior.
" Thou believest him to be in his palace, and
remote from thy country, and certainly he hath

THE HEIDENMAUER. 309

here no visible force to restrain thy rebellious
hand. We will imagine that a family he pro
tected, nay, that he loved, stood in the way of
some of thy greedy projects, and that the
tempter had persuaded thee it would be well to
remove it, or to destroy with the strong hand.
Art thou weak enough, Count Emich, to listen
to such advice, when thou knowest that the
arm of Charles is long enough to reach from
his distant Madrid to the most remote corner
of Germany, and that his vengeance would be
as sure as it would be fearful ?"

" It would be a bold warfare, Herr Prior,
that of Emich of Leiningen against Charles
Quintus ! Left to mine own humour, holy
monk, I would rather choose another enemy."

*' And yet thou wouldst war with one might
ier than he ! Thou raisest thy impotent arm,
and thy audacious will, against thy God ! Thou
wouldst despise his promises, profane his altars,
nay, thou wouldst fain throw down the taber
nacle that he hath reared ! Dost thou think

310 THE HEIDENMAUER.

that omnipotence will be a nerveless witness of
this sin, or that an eternal and benign wisdom
will forget to punish ?"

46 By St. Paul ! thou puttest the matter alto
gether in thine own interest, Father Arnolph,
for there is yet no proof that this Abbey of
Limburg hath any such origin, or if it had, that
it hath not fallen into disfavour by the excesses
of its own professed. 'Twere well to send for
the right reverend Abbot, and those pillars of
sanctity, the fathers Cuno and Siegfried, to
bear witness in thy behalf. God's wisdom ! I
reason better with those worthies, in such a
matter, than with thee !"

Emich laughed, the sound echoing in that
vaulted chapel to the ears of the monk like the
scoffing of a demon. Still, the natural equity
of Father Arnolph told him that there was too
much to justify the taunt of the noble, for he
had long and bitterly mourned the depravity
of many of the brotherhood.

" I am not here to sit in judgment on those

THE HEIDENMAUER. 311

who err, but to defend the shrines at which I
worship, and to warn thee from a fatal sin. If
thy hand is ever lifted against these walls, it is
raised against that which God hath blessed, and
which God will avenge. But thou art of hu
man feeling, Emich of Hartenburg, and though
doubting of the sacred character of that which
thou wouldst fain destroy, thou canst not de
ceive thyself concerning these tombs : in this
holy chapel have prayers been often raised and
masses said for the souls of thine own line !"

The Count of Leiningen looked steadily at
the speaker. Father Arnolph had placed him
self, without design, near the opening which
communicated between that sombre chapel and
the superior church. Rays of bright light shot
through the eastern window, and fell upon the
pavement at his feet, throwing around his form
the mild and solemn lustre which comes from
the stained glass of the Gothic ages. The ser
vices of the morning had also spread, through-

312 THE HEIDENMAUER.

out the entire building, that soothing atmo
sphere which is usually the attendant of Roman
worship. The incense had penetrated to the
crypt, and unconsciously the warlike noble had
felt its influence quieting his nerves and lulling
the passions. All who have entered the prin
cipal Basilica of modern Rome have been sub
ject to a combination of moral and physical
causes that produce the result we mean, and
which, though more striking in that vast and
glorious pile, resembling a world with attri
butes and an atmosphere of its own, is also felt
in every catholic temple of consequence in a
lessened degree.

" Here lie my fathers, Arnolph," answered
the Count huskily ; " and here, as thou sayest,
have masses been said for their souls P'

" And thou contemnest their graves — thou
wouldst violate even their bones P"1

" 'Twere not an act for a Christian P'

" Look hither, Count. This is the monu
ment of the good Emich, thy ancestor. He

THE HEIDENMAUER. 313

honoured his God, and did not scruple to wor
ship at our altars."

" Thou knowest, holy Prior, that I have
often bared my soul at thy knees."

" Thou hast confessed, and hast been shrived;
that thou didst not lay up future griefs — "

" Say rather damnation — " interrupted one
behind, whose voice, issuing suddenly from
that sepulchral chapel, seemed to come from
the tombs themselves — " Thou triflest, reverend
Prior, with our holy mission, to deal thus ten
derly with so sore a sinner.1'

The Count of Leiningen had started, and
even quailed, at the first words of interruption;
but looking around he beheld the receding
front, the sunken eye, and the bending person
of Father Johan.

" Monks, I leave you," said Emich, firmly.

"It is good for ye to pray, and to frequent

these gloomy altars ; but I, who am a soldier,

cannot waste further time in your vaults. Herr

VOL. I. P

314 THE HE1DENMAUER.

Prior, farewell. Thou hast a guardian that
will protect the good."

Before the Prior could recover his voice, for
he too had been taken by surprise, the Count
stalked, with a heavy footstep, up the marble
stairs, and the tread of his armed heel was soon
heard on the flags above.

END OP THE FIRST VOLUME.

LONDON :

PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY,
Dorset Street, Fleet Street.

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