of the burgomaster and the oldest of the councillors, to
perform the office.

Having gone round two sides of the table on their "_pressing_" embassy,
it was not to be wondered at, that their voices became, by their
efforts, rather husky, so that at last their friendly exhortation
assumed almost the tone of a threat. A rough voice sounded in Albert's
ear, "Why don't you eat, why don't you drink?" Startling, he turned
round, and beheld a large man with a red face, who had addressed these
words to him, and before he had time to give an answer, a little short
man, with a high shrill voice saluted his ear, on the other side.

"But eat and drink and take your fill--
Such is our magisterial will."

"I have long thought it would come to that," said old Breitenstein, as
he took breath for a moment from the vigorous attack he had been making
on a haunch of roebuck; "there he sits and talks, instead of enjoying
the excellent dishes of roast meats, which have been put before us in
such profusion."

"With your permission," said Dieterick von Kraft, interrupting him,
"though the young man eats nothing, he is a lover oL wine, and a
capital judge of it; I found it out immediately, for he cannot keep his
eyes from the bottom of his cup; therefore do not blame him if he
prefers old Uhlbacher before anything else."

Albert had no idea how he had become the subject of this extraordinary
apology; he was on the point of making an excuse, when another event
drew his attention. Breitenstein had now taken pity upon the pig's head
with the lemon stuck in its mouth, which he very cleverly extracted
from its jaws, and undertook, with great avidity and experienced hand,
its further dissection. Just as he was in the act of swallowing the
first mouthful of one of the choicest bits, the burgomaster came to him
also, with the same exhortation, "Why don't you eat, why don't you
drink?" Breitenstein looked at him with astonishment, but his speaking
organs had no time to exercise their functions; he however nodded his
head, and pointed to the well-polished bone of the haunch of roebuck in
his plate. The little man, also, with the cracked voice, though it
appeared unnecessary, would not be debarred repeating his friendly
exhortation--

"But eat and drink and take your fill,--
Such is our magisterial will."

And thus it was in the good old times. At least no one could complain
of being invited to a mere