est upon a hilltop, and saw the city lying
before me in the distance. The sea gleamed afar off, the heavens
glittered with innumerable stars, and beneath them lay the Holy City,
a long strip of mist, like a slumbering lion on the quiet earth,
watched and guarded by mountains around like shadowy giants.

I soon reached an extensive, lonely heath, where all was gray and
silent as the grave. Here and there a ruined wall was still standing,
or some strangely-gnarled trunk of a tree; now and then night-birds
whirred through the air, and my own shadow glided long and black in
the solitude beside me. They say that a primeval city lies buried
here, and that Frau Venus makes it her abode, and that sometimes the
old pagans rise up from their graves and wander about the heath and
mislead travelers. I cared nothing, however, for such tales, but
walked on steadily, for the city arose before me more and more
distinct and magnificent, and the high castles and gates and golden
domes gleamed wondrously in the moonlight, as if angels in golden
garments were actually standing on the roofs and singing in the quiet
night.

At last I passed some humble houses, and then through a gorgeous
gate-way into the famous city of Rome. The moon shone bright as day
among the palaces, but the streets were empty, except for some lazy
fellow lying dead asleep on a marble step in the warm night air.
The fountains plashed in the silent squares, and from the gardens
bordering the street the trees added their murmur, and filled the air
with refreshing fragrance.

As I was sauntering on, not knowing--what with delight, moonlight, and
fragrance--which way to turn, I heard a guitar touched in the depths
of a garden. "Great heavens!" I thought, "the crazy student with his
long surtout has been secretly following me all this time." But in
a moment a lady in the garden began to sing deliciously. I stood
spellbound; it was the voice of the Lady fair! and the selfsame
Italian song which she often used to sing at her open window!

Then the dear old time recurred so vividly to my mind that I could
have wept bitterly; I saw the quiet garden before the castle in the
early dawn, and thought how happy I had been among the shrubbery
before that stupid fly flew up my nose. I could restrain myself no
longer, but clambered over the gilded ornaments surmounting the grated
gate-way and leaped down into the garden whence the song proceeded. As
I did so I perceived a slender