n! The days and
nights have not yet all passed. He has a head for twenty; and when we
loitered about together as comedians, while business in our line was
dull, then did he play the parts of emperors and kings, and played and
ranted in such a manner as to compel respect from all. Give him the
world and he will govern it in fine style.'

'A man who plays the buffoon for bread, selected to carry on the work
of the spirit in my native city!' sighed Alf, losing himself in sad
reflections until they arrived at the closed gates.

Here all was crowded with the busy activity of the burghers. The city
walls were repaired and raised,--the ditches were deepened and
furnished with palisades,--new bulwarks and towers arose on
high,--hammer and trowel, shovel and pickaxe, were in constant
motion,--and the dirt carts creaked incessantly. Aged and distinguished
men worked unweariedly, like day-laborers; women and children assisted;
and the pleasure and satisfaction, with which every thing was
accomplished, rendered it very apparent that the most ardent enthusiasm
was the soul of this body.

'Do you not perceive,' cried the tailor, gaily slapping Alf's shoulder,
'that the bishop will be compelled to break many a tooth upon our walls
before he will be able to eat us up?'

'What does that denote?' asked Alf, disregarding the boast, and
pointing to two large stone slabs covered with letters which were
hanging upon the gates.

'Those are the commands of our second Moses, of our great Matthias,'
replied the tailor, reverently. 'He has caused them to be cut in stone
and to be hung thus on all the gates of the city, to keep the people in
the fear of God, so that every man may conduct according to them.'

At that moment a confused drumming alarm rattled in the city, and a
desolate thrilling cry of the raging populace answered the warlike
call; an icy chill diffused itself through every member of Alf's body,
as it seemed to him as if the people were roaring for blood.

'The prophets are calling the people together,' said the tailor,
dragging Alf forward. 'Come, we must hear what they have to say to us;
we belong to the mass, and can give our opinions upon public affairs
whenever it may seem good to us.'

They hastened toward the market, where the human tide, as if agitated
by the wildest storms, waved to and fro, thundering and roaring.

The thickest crowd was about St. Lambert's church, and the mass, armed
with clubs and spears and m