e deeds of others in song, and not dare with them the
danger?"

Koerner's battle-songs became firebrands. He consecrated himself to
his country in the village church near Zobten. He wrote the
battle-hymn for the occasion, which was a service for the departing
volunteers.

"We swore," he said, "the oath of fidelity to our cause. I fell upon
my knees and implored God's blessing. The oath was repeated by all,
and the officers swore it on their swords. Then Martin Luther's 'A
Mighty Fortress is our God' concluded the ceremony."

He wrote a thrilling war-song on the morning of the battle of
Danneberg, May 12, 1813. It ended with these words:--

"Hark! hear ye the shouts and the thunders before ye?
On, brothers, on, to death and to glory!
We'll meet in another, a happier sphere!"

On May 28, 1813, Major Von Luetzow determined to set out on an
expedition towards Thuringia, with his young cavalry and with
Cossacks. Koerner begged to accompany him. Luetzow commissioned him as
an officer. He was wounded, and left for a time helpless in a wood,
on the 17th of June. In this condition he wrote his famous "Farewell
to Life."

"My deep wound burns," &c.

Koerner recovered, but was suddenly killed in an engagement on August
26th.

The "Sword Song" of Koerner which Von Weber's music has made famous,
was written a few hours before his death. It was an inspiration to
the German cause.

"Luetzow's Wild Chase" thrilled Prussia. Like the "Watch on the
Rhine" in the recent war, it was the word that fired the national
pride, and nerved men to deeds that crowned the cause with glory.

"The Rhine! the Rhine!" shouted the young German heroes at last,
looking down on the river.

"Is there a battle?" asked the officers, dashing on in the direction
of the shout.

"No, the enemy has gone over the Rhine," was the answer. "The Rhine!
the Rhine!"

Mr. Beal introduced a number of selections from German composers, the
loved tone-poets, with interesting stories and anecdotes. We reproduce
a part of these musical incidents, as they properly belong to the
history of the river of song.

Taking up a selection from Schubert's famous symphony, he spoke
feelingly of the author, and then gave some pictures of the lives of
Beethoven and Bach.

THE AUTHOR OF THE ERL KING.

Poor Schubert! The composer of what operas, symphonies, overtures,
choruses, m