every means of recovering him from the death-like
swoon into which he had fallen. After much trouble they were
successful. The Marchese and Natalie were then sought for, but both
had disappeared; and neither of them were ever afterwards seen or
heard of in St Petersburg. The bridegroom could never be induced to
tell what it was that the mask concealed.

TRADITIONS AND TALES OF UPPER LUSATIA.

No. IV.

THE MOOR MAIDEN.

"Wildernesses and heaths are not the only spots that boast of their
_Fata Morgana_," said Woldemar, in a society of torch-bearers which
regularly assembled in the old castle on Christmas night.

"The vision appears in a hundred places, in shapes answering to the
peculiarity of soil and country in which she rises. Here she is an
apparition of the air, beaming with splendour; there she unfolds
herself in glittering mist. On the unbounded plain, you behold her in
the form of an enchanted city--a paradise of leafy loveliness, or it
may be simply as a fantastic Erl-King, a giddy dazzling vapour. Let
her appear, however, where and how she will, she is ever seductive,
mysterious, and beautiful, and attended with the awe of a strange
nameless delight.

"You know the high table-land, strewed with countless blocks of
granite, between C---- and K----. Inclosed upon two sides by mountains
and thick groves of beech, it would be a perfect desert but for the
clear crystal brook which purls its way along the glistening stones.
This labyrinthine brook, indeed, fills the barren spot with animation,
whilst it creates too that singular power of attraction which we
cannot explain to ourselves, but which, nevertheless, becomes our
unfailing companion in regions with which the heart of the people has
intimately associated itself by tales of wonder and tradition.

"The Tradition touching this very table-land is dim and shapeless,
like the thick mist of a sultry summer's day, hanging over hill and
valley. It is most convenient to the common working mind to retain and
hold fast in a history only so much as is needful for the great
catastrophe. The people are content to abide by the beginning and end
of things, not concerning themselves with the important connecting
links. All that lies between is left to the imagination of the more
inquisitive to fill up. A tradition of this order occurs to me this
moment, and, by your leave, I will do my best to complete it:--

"A mysterious curse lay upon the noble house of Go