eproached.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 2: _Spain and Spaniards in 1843._ By Captain S. E.
WIDDRINGTON, R.N., K.T.S., F.R.S., F.G.S. _A Journey across the Desert
from Ceylon to Marseilles, &c. &c._ By Major and Mrs GRIFFITH. 2 vols.
_Facts in Mesmerism, with Reasons for a Dispassionate Enquiry into it._
By the Rev. CHAUNCY HARE TOWNSHEND, A.M.]

THE SUPERFLUITIES OF LIFE.

A TALE ABRIDGED FROM TIECK.

CHAPTER I.

In the month of February, at the close of an exceedingly severe winter,
a singular tumult took place in the town of ----, the origin, progress,
and final pacification of which, gave rise to the most strange and
contradictory reports. Where every one _will_ relate, and no one knows
any thing of the matter, it is natural that the simplest circumstance
should become invested with an air of the marvellous.

It was in one of the narrowest streets of the populous suburbs of the
town that this mysterious event took place. According to some, a traitor
or desperate rebel had been discovered and captured by the police;
others said that an atheist, who had secretly conspired with others to
tear up Christianity by the roots, had, after an obstinate resistance,
surrendered himself to the authorities, and was now lying in prison,
there to learn better principles. All agreed that the criminal had
defended himself in the most desperate manner. One man, who was a
profound politician and an execrable shoemaker, laboured to convince his
neighbours that the prisoner was at the head of a hundred secret
societies, which had their ramifications over France, Germany, Spain,
Italy, and the far East; and that, in fact, a monstrous insurrection was
on the very point of breaking out in the furthest parts of India, which,
like the cholera, would spread over Europe, and set in flame all its
combustible material.

Thus much was certain, that a tumult had arisen in a small house in the
suburbs; that the police had been called in; that the populace had made
an uproar; that some eminent personage was seen amongst the crowd; and
that, after a little time, all became still again, without any body
being the wiser. In the house itself certain devastations had
undoubtedly been made, which some explained one way, some another,
according to their humours: the carpenters and joiners were busy in
repairing them.

In this house had lived a man of whom no one in the neighbourhood knew
any thing. Whether he was a poet or a politician, a nativ