nd cavil where their sires adored; but for thee the mermaid of
the ocean shall wail in her coral caves, and the sprite that lives in
the waterfalls shall mourn! Strange shapes shall hew thy monument in the
recesses of the lonely rocks! ever by moonlight shall the fairies pause
from their roundel when some wild note of their minstrelsy reminds them
of thine own,--ceasing from their revelries, to weep for the silence of
that mighty lyre, which breathed alike a revelation of the mysteries of
spirits and of men!

* It was just at the time the author was finishing this work
that the great master of his art was drawing to the close
of his career.

The King of the Silver Mines sat in a cavern in the valley, through
which the moonlight pierced its way and slept in shadow on the soil
shining with metals wrought into unnumbered shapes; and below him, on a
humbler throne, with a gray beard and downcast eye, sat the aged King
of the Dwarfs that preside over the dull realms of lead, and inspire
the verse of -----, and the prose of -----! And there too a fantastic
household elf was the President of the Copper Republic,--a spirit that
loves economy and the Uses, and smiles sparely on the Beautiful. But, in
the centre of the cave, upon beds of the softest mosses, the untrodden
growth of ages, reclined the fairy visitors, Nymphalin seated by her
betrothed. And round the walls of the cave were dwarf attendants on
the sovereigns of the metals, of a thousand odd shapes and fantastic
garments. On the abrupt ledges of the rocks the bats, charmed to
stillness but not sleep, clustered thickly, watching the scene with
fixed and amazed eyes; and one old gray owl, the favourite of the witch
of the valley, sat blinking in a corner, listening with all her might
that she might bring home the scandal to her mistress.

"And tell me, Prince of the Rhine-Island Fays," said the King of the
Silver Mines, "for thou art a traveller, and a fairy that hath seen
much, how go men's affairs in the upper world? As to ourself, we live
here in a stupid splendour, and only hear the news of the day when
our brother of lead pays a visit to the English printing-press, or the
President of Copper goes to look at his improvements in steam-engines."

"Indeed," replied Fayzenheim, preparing to speak like AEneas in the
Carthaginian court,--"indeed, your Majesty, I know not much that will
interest you in the present aspect of mortal affairs, except that you
are