and so continued until his dying day!"

There! Plucked amidst the lap of the Alps from its own hardily-nursed
wild-brier, by the same tenderly-diligent hand[27] that brought home
to us those other half-disclosed twin-buds of Helvetian tradition,
you behold a third, like pure, more expanded blossom. Twine the
three, young poet! into one soft-hued and "odorous chaplet," ready
and meet for binding the smooth clear forehead of a Swiss Maud!--or
fix it amidst the silken curls of thine own dove-eyed, innocent,
nature-loving--Ellen or Margaret.

[Footnote 27: Of Professor Wyes.]

These old-young things--bequests, as they look to be--from the
loving, singing childhood of the earth, may lawfully make children,
lovers, and songsters of us all; and _will_, if we are _fond_, and
hearken to them.

In that same "hallowed and gracious time," lying YON-SIDE our
chronologies,

"When the world and love were young,
And truth on every shepherd's tongue,"

the men and the Dwarfs had unbroken intercourse of _borrowing and
lending_. Many traditions touch the matter. Here is one resting upon
it.

No. CLIV. _The Dwarfs near Dardesheim_.

"Dardesheim is a little town betwixt Halberstadt and Brunswick. Close
to the north-east side, a spring of the clearest water flows, which
is called the Smansborn,[28] and wells from a hill wherein formerly
the Dwarfs dwelled. When the ancient inhabitants of the place needed
a holiday dress, or any rare utensil for a marriage, they betook them
to this Dwarf's Hill, knocked thrice, and with a well audible voice,
told their occasion, adding--

'Early a-morrow, ere sun-light,
At the hill's door, lieth all aright.'

[Footnote 28: For LESSMANSBORN, _i.e._ LESSMANN'S WELL.]

The Dwarfs held themselves for well requited if somewhat of the
festival meats were set for them by the hill. Afterward gradually did
bickerings interrupt the good understanding that was betwixt the
Dwarfs' nation and the country folk. At the beginning for a short
season; but, in the end, the Dwarfs departed away; because the flouts
and gibes of many boors grew intolerable to them, as likewise their
ingratitude for kindnesses done. Thenceforth none seeth or heareth
any Dwarfs more."

In _Auvergne_, Miss Costello has just now learned, how the men and
the Fairies anciently lived upon the friendliest footing, nigh one
another: how the _knowledge_ and _commodious use_ of the _Healing
Springs_ was owed by the former to these