on their journey, when upon reaching the little frontier town of La Ferette, they are seized upon by the rapacious and cruel governor De Hagenbach, who commits them to prison, after stripping the father of a valuable packet with which he has been intrusted to carry to the court of Burgundy.

De Hagenbach and his followers, however, are overpowered by the towns-people, who revolt, and seizing the governor cause him to be beheaded in the open street. This scene is described with great force and vigour, and the grim headsman is portrayed in a manner peculiar to this author.

The manner in which the elder traveller recovers the packet which he had been so unjustly deprived of, is thus related. He is invited to attend the coun

cil of the chiefs of the Embassy of the Swiss Cantons, by Rudolf Donnerhugel.

"See to our affairs, Arthur, and stir not from the spot on which I leave you,' said Philipson to his son. Look especially after the sealed packet of which I was so infamously and illegally robbed; its recovery is of the utmost consequence

"So speaking, he instantly prepared himself to attend the Bernese, who, in a confidential manner, whispered, as he went arm-in-arm with him towards the church of St. Paul's,

"'I think a man of your wisdom will scarce advise us to trust ourselves to the mood of the Duke of Burgundy, when he has received such an injury as the loss of this fortress, and the execution of his officer. You, at least, would be too judicious to afford us any farther the advantage of your company and society, since to do so would be wilfully to engage in our shipwreck.'

"I will give my best advice,' answered Philipson, 'when I shall be more particularly acquainted with the circum stances under which it is asked of me.'

"Rudolf muttered an oath, or angry exclamation, and led Philipson to the church without farther argument.

"In a small chapel adjoining to the church, and dedicated to St. Magnus the Martyr, the four deputies were assembled in close conclave, around the shrine in which the sainted hero stood, armed as when he lived. The priest of St. Paul's was also present, and seemed to interest himseif deeply in the debate which was taking place. When Philipson entered, all were for a moment silent, until the Landamman addressed him thus:- Signior Philipson, we esteem you a man far travelled, well versed in the manners of foreign lands, and acquainted with the conditions of this Duke Charles of Bur

gundy; you are therefore fit to advise us in a matter of great weight. You know with what anxiety we go on this mission for peace with the Duke; you also know what has this day happened, which may probably be represented to Charles in the worst colours; -would you advise us, in such a case, to proceed to the Duke's presence, with the odium of this action attached to us; or should we do better to return home, and prepare for war with Burgundy?"

""How do your own opinions stand on the subject?" said the cautious Englishman.

""We are divided,' answered the Banneret of Berne. I have borne the banner of Berne against her foes for thirty years; 1 am more willing to carry it against the lances of the knights of Hainault and Lorraine, than to undergo the rude treatment which we must look to meet at the footstool of the Duke.'

"We put our heads in the lion's mouth if we go forward,' said Zimmerman of Soleure ;-' my opinion is, that we draw back."

""I would not advise retreat,' said Rudolf Donnerhugel, were my life alone concerned; but the Landamman of Unterwalden is the father of the United Cantons, and it would be parricide if I consented to put his life in peril. My advice is, that we return, and that the Confederacy stand on their defence.'

"My opinion is different,' said Arnold Biederman; nor will I forgive any man, who, whether in sincere or feigned friendship, places my poor life in the scale with the advantage of the Cantons. If we go forward, we risk our heads-be it so. But if we turn back, we involve our country in war with a power of the first magnitude in Europe. Worthy citizens! you are brave in fight,-show your fortitude as boldly now; and let us not hesitate to incur such personal danger as may attend ourselves, if by doing so we can gain a chance of peace for our country."

""I think and vote with my neighbour and gossip, Arnold Biederman,' said the laconic deputy from Schwitz.

A

"You hear how we are divided in opinion, said the Landamman to Philipson; 'What is your opinion?'

""I would first ask of you,' said the Englishman, what has been your part in this storming of a town occupied by the Duke's forces, and putting to death his Governor?"

"So help me, Heaven!" said the Landamman, as I knew not of any purpose of storming the town until it unexpectedly took place.'

And for the execution of De Hagen

bach,' said the Black Priest, 'I swear to you, stranger, by my holy order, that it took place under the direction of a competent court, whose sentence Charles of Burgundy himself is bound to respect, and whose proceedings the deputies of the Swiss mission could neither have advanced nor retarded.'

"If such be the case, and if you can really prove yourselves free of these proceedings,' answered Philipson, which must needs be highly resented by the Duke of Burgundy, I would advise you by all means to proceed upon your journey; with the certainty that you will obtain from that prince a just and impartial hearing, and it may be a favourable answer. I know Charles of Burgundy; I may even say that, our different ranks and walks of life considered, I know him well. He will be deeply incensed by the first tidings of what has here chanced, which he will no doubt interpret to your disfavour. But if, in the course of investigation, you are able to clear yourselves of these foul imputations, a sense of his own injustice may perhaps turn the balance in your favour, and in that case, he will rush from the excess of censure into that of indulgence. But your cause must be firmly stated to the Duke, by some tongue better acquainted with the language of courts than yours; and such a friendly interpreter might I have proved to you, had I not been plundered of the valuable packet which I bore with me in order to present to the Duke, and in testimony of my commission to him."

"A paltry fetch, whispered Donnerhugel to the Banneret, 'that the trader may obtain from us satisfaction for the goods of which he has been plundered.'

"The Landamman himself was perhaps for a moment of the same opinion. "Merchant, he said, 'we hold ourselves bound to make good to you, that is, if our substance can effect it, -whatever loss you may have sustained, trusting to our protection.'

"Ay, that we will, said the old man of Schwitz, should it cost us twenty zecchins to make it good.'

"To your guarantee of immunity I can have no claim,' said Philipson, 'seeing I parted company with you before I sustained any loss. And I regret the loss, not so much for its value, although that is greater than you may fancy; but chiefly because, that the contents of the casket I bore being a token betwixt a person of considerable importance and the Duke of Burgundy, I shall not, I fear, now that I am deprived of them, receive from his grace that credence which I desire, both for my own sake and yours.

Without them, and speaking only in the person of a private traveller, I may not take upon me as I might have done, when using the names of the persons whose mandates I carried.'

"This important packet,' said the Landamman, shall be most rigorously sought for, and carefully redelivered to thee. For ourselves, not a Swiss of us knows the value of its contents; so that if they are in the hands of any of our men, they will be returned of course as baubles, upon which they set no value.'

"As he spoke, there was a knocking at the door of the chapel. Rudolf, who stood nearest to it, having held some communication with those without, observed with a smile, which he instantly repressed, lest it had given offence to Arnold Biederman, It is Sigismund, the good youth-Shall I admit him to our council ?'

"To what purpose, poor simple lad?' said his father, with a sorrowful smile.

""Yet let me undo the door,' said Philipson; he is anxious to enter, and perhaps he brings news. I have observed, Landamman, that the young man, though witn slowness of ideas and expression, is strong in his principles, and sometimes happy in his conceptions.'

He admitted Sigismund accordingly; while Arnold Biederman felt, on the one hand, the soothing compliment which Philipson had paid to a boy, certainly the duliest of his family, and, on the other, feared some public display of his son's infirmity, or lack of understanding. Sigismund, however, seemed all confidence; and he certainly had reason to be so, since, as the shortest mode of explanation, he presented to Philipson the necklace of diamonds, with the casket in which it had been deposited.

""This pretty thing is yours,' he said. I understand so much from your son Arthur, who tells me you will be glad to have it again.'

"Most cordially do I thank you, said the merchant. 'The necklace is certainly mine; that is, the packet of which it formed the contents was under my charge; and it is at this moment of greater additional value to me than even its actual worth, since it serves as my pledge and token for the performance of an important mission. And how, my young friend,' he continued, addressing Sigismund, have you been so fortunate as to recover what we have sought for hitherto in vain? Let me return my best acknowledgments; and do not think me over-curious if I ask how it reached you?" ""For that matter," said Sigismund, 'the story is soon told. I had planted

myself as near the scaffold as I could, having never beheld an execution before; and I observed the executioner, who, I thought, did his duty very cleverly, just in the moment that he spread a cloth over the body of De Hagenbach, snatch something from the dead man's bosom, and huddle it hastily into his own; so, when the rumour arose that an article of value was amissing, I hurried in quest of the fellow. I found he had bespoke masses to the extent of a hundred crowns at the high altar of St. Paul's; and I traced him to the tavern of the village, where some ill-looking men were joyously drinking to him as a free citizen and a nobleman. So I stepped in amongst them with my partisan, and demanded of his lordship either to surrender to me what he had thus possessed himself of, or to try the weight of the weapon I carried. His lordship, my Lord Hangman, hesitated, and was about to make a brawl. But 1 was something peremptory, and so he judged it best to give me the parcel, which I trust you, Signior Philipson, will find safe and entire as it was taken from you. And-and-I left them to conclude their festivities and that is the whole of the story.'

" Thou art a brave lad,' said Philipson; and with a heart always right, the head can seldom be far wrong. But the church shall not lose its dues, and I take it on myself, ere I leave La Ferette, to pay for the masses which the man hath ordered for the sake of De Hagenbach's soul, snatched from the world so unexpectedly. "Sigismund was about to reply; but Philipson, fearing he might bring out some foolery to diminish the sense which his father had so joyously entertained of his late conduct, immediately added, 'Hie away, my good youth, and give to my son Arthur this precious casket.'

"With simple exultation at receiving applause, to which he was little accustomed, Sigismund took his leave, and the council were once more left to their own privacy.

"There was a moment's silence; for the Landamman could not overcome the feeling of exquisite pleasure at the sagacity which poor Sigismund, whose general conduct warranted no such expectations, had displayed on the present occasion. It was not, however, a feeling to which circumstances permitted him to give vent, and he reserved it for his own secret enjoyment, as a solace to the anxiety which he had hitherto entertained concerning the limited intellect of this simple-minded young man. When he spoke, it was to Philipson, with the usual candour and manliness of his character.

"Signior Philipson,' he said, 'we will hold you bound by no offer which you made while these glittering matters were out of your possession; because a man may often think, that if he were in such and such a situation, he would be able to achieve certain ends, which, that position being attained, he may find himself unable to accomplish. But I now ask you, whether, having thus fortunately and unexpectedly regained possession of what you say will give you certain credence with the Duke of Burgundy, you conceive yourself entitled to mediate with him on our behalf, as you formerly proposed?'

"All bent forward to hear the merchant's answer.

"Landamman,' he replied, ' I never spoke the word in difficulty which I was not ready to redeem when that difficulty was removed. You say, and I believe, that you had no concern with this storming of La Ferette. You say also, that the life of De Hagenbach was taken by a judicature over which you had no control, and exercised none-let a protocol be drawn up, averring these circumstances, and, as far as possible, proving them. Intrust it to me, under seal if you will, - and if such points be established, I will pledge my word as a-as a-as an honest man and a true-born Englishman, that the Duke of Burgundy will neither detain nor offer you any personal injury. I also hope to show to Charles strong and weighty reasons why a league of friendship betwixt Burgundy and the United Cantons of Helvetia is, on his grace's part, a wise and generous measure. But it is possible I may fail in this last point; and if I do, I shall deeply grieve for it. In warranting your safe passage to the Duke's court, and your safe return from it to your own country, I think I cannot fail. If I do, my own life, and that of my beloved and only child, shall pay the ransom for my excess of confidence in the Duke's justice and honour."

"The other deputies stood silent, and looked on the Landamman; but Rudolf Donnerhugel spoke.

""Are we then to trust our own lives, and, what is still dearer to us, that of our honoured associate Arnold Biederman, on the simple word of a foreign trader? We all know the temper of the Duke, and how vindictively and relentlessly he has ever felt towards our country and its interests. Methinks this English merchant should express the nature of his interest at the court of Burgundy more plainly, if he expects us to place such implicit reliance in it.'

"That, Signior Rudolf Donnerhugel,'

MORNING AND EVENING CONCERTS.

MR. F. CRAMER'S CONCERT, HANOVER SQ.

WHATEVER is fashionable very soon becomes popular. Music is fashionable, and therefore it has almost superceded dancing. In every circle, a 'bill of fare' is presented for a concert, containing names of the best vocal and instrumental performers, with the most favourite selections-one good end, this happy turn in the taste of hearing is, that it produces 'unity, peace, and concord.' Lines of carriages are now seen at the west-end resorts, either letting down, or taking up, coteries of ladies who patronise themes to the great Apollo's praise. And the question now, is not have you read the last new novel? - Learnt the last new figure?-but, have you attended the last Morning Concert! Rich as the treats have been, and which are yet to come, none of them have given us greater pleasure, or excited more popular approval by the really musical and high nobility, than Mr. F. Cramer's Evening Concert, at the King's Rooms, Hanover Square, the 15th instant. Indeed, how could it be otherwise? The band of instruments was the most numerous and talented we remember to have heard, and the vocalists consisted of Camporese, Sontag, Miss Marian Cramer, (a young lady of great promise) Blasis, and Miss Stephens -this divine melodist sang 'sweet bird' admirably, which, accompanied by Mr. F. Cramer on the violin in his most pathetic manner, produced the sweetest effect. Phillips, Vaughan, Mr. Cramer, Blagrove, Wright and others, severally distinguished the themes allotted to their powers, and delighted the feelings of the most select and elegant assembly of the season. The concerts of Potter, De Begnis, and others at the Argyle, have followed in succession with various pretensions to public favour.

THE OLD OAK TREE;

OR,

FATHER PHELIM'S DREAM.

(For the Olio.)

Eva. Pray you, lock hand in hand; yourselves in order set;

And twenty glow-worms shall our lanterns be, To guide our measure round about the tree. But stay; I smell a man of middle earth.

Fal. Heavens defend me from that Welch Fairy!

Lest he transform me to a piece of cheese! Merry Wives of Windsor.

FATHER PHELIM had been a rank sinner to shrive,

And homeward was hast'ning full fain, For the shadows of evening were veiling the skies,

And the night dews descended amain. "Botheration!" cried Phelim, "just here will I sit,

'Till the swate moon is lighting the lea, Or else I shall brake my ould neck in some pit;"

So he squatted beneath an oak tree.

Anon rose the moon in her brightest array, And flashed her cold beam in his face; When Phelim upstarted to jog on his way, For midnight was creeping apace. "Oh, Phalim, my jewel," cried a voice somewhere nigh,

Phelim started, and trembled profound, "Oh, Phalim, 'tis poor little Phaidraig, 'tis I, In this oak's notty enthrails I'm bound."

Phelim's teeth 'gan to chatter, with awe and
dismay,
Made his late ruddy visage look pale,
For at distance he heard the approach of the
With his minstrelsey borne on the gale.
And lo, as he gaz'd o'er the moonlighted wold,
The mimic procession was seen,
Full many a ladye and warriour bold

fay,

Came glittering over the green.

Father Phelim no sooner his peril descried,
Than he hastened some covert to gain,
And screen'd by the oak's hollow trunk, he es-

pied,

The gambols perform'd by the train. The glow-worm was there with her glimmer

ing lamp,

And the elves with their sandall'd shoon, Made their high-mettled chargers gaily prance In the beams of the Midsummer moon.

The chrystalized dew-drop bespangled the

hair