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OUR MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS will be found to embrace almost every variety of subjects, and our NOTE Book contains an interminable host of piquant and pleasant morsels, chiefly original, or selected from the best

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June, 1830.

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Illustrated Article.

THE HEADSMAN OF MENTZ.

A GERMAN LEGEND.

For the Olio.

By J. Y. A

N.

Ar the commencement of the fifteenth century, there dwelt in the famous city of Mentz or Mayence, an aged man, an Italian by birth, named Castruccio. He

was a

was

ation of a few ducats.

See page 4.

Report, too, said that he was rich; and this, perhaps, of all things, tended to place the vender of simples in a situation at once disagreeable and dangerous. But he possessed the characteristic shrewdness and cunning of his countrymen, and avoided the many traps that were laid for him, to the great mortification and disappointment of his enemies. Among those who looked upon the old man with an evil eye, were Franz and Ruprecht, the two sons of the governor, whose dissolute habits had rendered them needy and reckless, and they mutually resolved to seize upon their victim, and make him disgorge the treasure he was supposed to be the possessor of.

being of singular and eccentric habits, and lived ostensibly by selling simples gathered and classed by himself, though it was whispered by many that he had dealings with customers of a more dubious character than the honest Burghers of Mentz. Perhaps the best answer to these gratuitous slanders It was late on the evening of a Septhe quiet and inoffensive habits of Cas- tember day, that a tall and martial looktruccio, who seldom went abroad, ex- ing man, wrapped in a huge cloak, which cept when he attended mass; yet there completely shrouded his person, strode were some who scrupled not to say that down one of the narrow and most conthe Italian would engage to serve a cusfined streets in Mentz. After looking tomer with a drug that would rid a man about him to the right and left, he knockhis neighbour, for the trifling considered at or rather rattled an iron ring, which 1-VOL. V.

A

111

was affixed to a rudely constructed door by means of an iron staple. Here lived Gortz, the public executioner of the city, a man whose dexterity in the use of that tremendous weapon, the German twohanded sword, had been shown on numberless occasions for many years past in the market place of Mentz. The first summons was unattended, when the knocking was repeated until the street reechoed with the noise, for he who knock ed applied the toe of his boot to the purpose of a knocker, and banged and rat tled until a heavy footstep heard within the gloomy dwelling assured him that its inmate was roused. A moment after the grisly head of a man protruded from a window or loop-hole above, and a gruff voice cried out

"The fiend rive thee in tatters, thou graceless bird! what would'st thou with me at this hour?"

Gortz supposed that he was bestowing this anathema upon some of his drinking companions, and was therefore somewhat surprised at hearing his name pronoun

ced in the voice of one of the governor's sons. His head, therefore, quickly disappeared, upon discovering his mistake, and he hastened to the door, half clad as he was, to meet his visitor.

"Ah! Herr Ruprecht, is it you," exclaimed the headsman,holding his iron lamp aloft to take a full survey of his disturber. He was about to mutter some apology for the uncourteous_reception, when he was interrupted by Ruprecht, who bade him dress with all possible speed and follow him. Gortz knew too well the fiery temper of his visitor, to offer to remonstrate, and therefore stept up stairs, slipped on the remainder of his clothes, took his two-handed sword from the wall, and throwing his red cloak around him, departed with Ruprecht, who bent his steps towards the city prison. At a sig nal given by Ruprecht, they were instantly admitted, and Gortz was conducted down into a spacious vault, containing a huge table, and a lamp which cast an uncertain and flickering light around, and shewed that part of the tiled

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"Hold thy peace, Gortz," said Ruprecht, sternly," and wait here until I return to thee." He disappeared as he spoke through a small door on one side of the vault, and presently the headsman heard the voices of men in altercation. "They are wringing a confession from the poor wretch," muttered Gortz, as he moved towards the dungeon and applied his ear to the door. "Have mercy on me, and I will disclose all," said a feeble voice within. "Quick then," replied the voice of Ruprecht, for one waits without who will render all thy riches valueless, if thou art obstinate." Gortz kept his ear still closer to the door, that he might lose not a word of what the prisoner should disclose, and heard the same feeble voice reply thus:-"Gentlemen, I protest before God that what wealth I possess is not worth your acceptance; but such as it is it shall be at your dispo sal, so that you will suffer me to depart to mine own country to-morrow. "We have sworn it to thee," replied Ruprecht and his companion, whom Gortz knew to be his brother Franz.

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"Then hearken to me," said the same faint voice, "ye know the ruined chapel on the opposite banks of the

in the valley Rhine ?" "We do!" 'Against one of the broken pillars stands a tomb; within it are placed what few valuables I feared to keep in mine own dwelling.'

"Good," said Franz, with bitter emphasis, "thou hast made thy confession, and thou canst not die at a better time; prepare thyself, old man, for thou hast but a few moments to live." A faint cry of distress, followed by a noise of struggling, obliged Gortz to quit his station and return to the middle of the vault. He had hardly regained it, when the door of the dungeon opened, and Franz and Ruprecht appeared, each holding an arm of Castruccio, the vender of simples. The poor Italian's frame was

scene was worthy of the pencils of Rembrandt or Albert Durer.

"Down on thy knees, old drugger," cried Franz, and commend thy soul to thy patron saint." The Italian obeyed this order; but as he did so, he cast an impressive look on his tormentors, and his aged face was illumined by a smile, which they could not divine the meaning of; for it seemed to them somewhat strange, that he who had pleaded so earnestly for his life but a few moments before, should now meet death with apparent resignation. Castruccio calmly bowed his neck to receive the fatal stroke; and one of the brothers giving a signal to Gortz, the headsman stepped up to the side of his victim, and unsheathed his tremendous weapon, which flashed brightly in the lamp light. Another moment and the headless trunk of the old man fell convulsed upon the floor of the dungeon, while the head itself rolled to the feet of Franz, the eyes remaining open, and the countenance still retaining its dubious expression.

"Pshaw!" said Franz, spurning the miserable relic with his foot, "this old rogue hath died as firmly as St. Paul himself; let us away, Ruprecht, and you, Gortz, get ye home,-here is a purse for thy work."

"I thank your honour," said the executioner, taking the money, " and I hope the job was done to your satisfaction." Shrewdly performed," said both the

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brothers.

Gortz departed, his head filled with the singular confession which he had overheard in the dungeon. He proceeded homeward and returned to his bed, from which he had been so lately roused, but not to sleep, for his thoughts were

bent on the treasure that the Italian had spoken of. He ruminated upon the subject until morning, when he bethought himself, that by visiting the place that evening he might probably anticipate the brothers, who would not depart upon the expedition until after dark. But then if they should detect him in the act of bearing away the treasure, his life would be sacrificed to their fury. Still 'twas worth some risk, and if he succeeded in his enterprise a few hours hard riding would carry him over the frontiers, far beyond the reach of their vengeance. He palsied on beholding the grim figure of resolved to risk every thing; and in the Gortz, who stood with his red cloak evening, before the city gates were shut, hanging over one shoulder, and his hands Gortz departed upon his expedition, well resting on his two-handed sword. His armed with sword and dagger. From a countenance, at all times fierce and unpeasant who lived at a short distance prepossessing, was not improved by the from the city, he borrowed a wheel-barglare of the lamp, and the unearthly bue row, and an iron bar to force open the which it received from the reflection of tomb, together with a pickaxe and a his flame-coloured cloak. The whole spade. He was soon wafted across the

Rhine, and just as the moon was rising he ascended the hill, and entered the ruin described by the old man. The evening was serene and beautiful, not a breath of air rippled the clear stream of the Rhine below, and the full orb of the moon shed a holy light upon the waters, and glistened on the damaged tombs and pillars of the ruined chapel, where a long forgotten, race had for many years mingled with their kindred dust. The headsman knew that no time should be lost, so grasping his iron bar, he was just about to commence his work of spoilation when the sound of voices in high dispute caused his blood to chill and his whole frame to shake like one in an ague fit. To hide his wheelbarrow and tools behind a tomb, and to crouch himself behind another, was but the work of a moment; and lucky was it for the headsman that he acted so promptly, for he had scarcely concealed himself when the figures of Franz and Ruprecht appeared in the moonlight.

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"I tell thee, Franz," said one, I will not part with the share I have apportioned to myself but with my life. Am Í not thy elder brother? did I not first broach the scheme to thee, and did I

not

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"Thou art a fool, Ruprecht-ay, a fool and a cheat; one who can pick out tasks of danger for others, but who fears to act himself. Greedy dog, by this light I shall henceforth be ashamed to call thee, brother."

"Sirrah," cried Ruprecht, passionately, "I cannot brook this from thee. Silence, or by the Three Kings I shall be tempted to chastise thee on the spot." A contemptuous "Pish!" was the only answer to this threat; but ere the echo of it had subsided, Ruprecht raising his hand, smote his brother to the ground with great violence. Franz, however, quickly raised himself, plucked his sword from its scabbard and rushed furiously upon Ruprecht. Their weapons met with a clash so loud that the owl, which sat upon a wall above them, flew to a distance with a loud scream of affright. The fight continued for some few moments, during which Gortz kept his eye upon the combatants, whose figures he could easily distinguish as the moon was fast ascending the heavens. At length, Franz fell pierced through the body, and after a few struggles, lay dead at the feet of his brother. Wiping his bloody sword upon his brother's cloak, the fratricide sheathed his weapon and proceeded to force off the top of the tomb. The iron rang loudly against the head stone, and presently the huge slab

was thrown over by the vigorous arm of Ruprecht.

"Now," thought Gortz, "if I had my espadon here, I would cleave thee to the chine and seize upon the treasure; but the bodkin I have with me is of no service against one so well skilled in fence."

At that moment Ruprecht entered the tomb, and Gortz expected to see him quickly issue from it with the treasure, when lo! a report as of a piece of heavy ordnance broke the stillness of the night, and a huge column of smoke ascended from the tomb into the clear moonlight, while a heavy mass fell close by the terrified Gortz. The headsman could no longer remain concealed, and starting from his hiding place he rushed out and stumbled over a human body; he looked down and beheld the scorched and blackened carcass of Ruprecht, his apparel still burning, and his features so horribly mutilated, that to identify them would have been impossible.

Alarmed by the report, and guided to the spot by the dense cloud which floated over the ruins, the affrighted peasantry proceeded to the scene of blood; but no one could explain the catastrophe save Gortz, and he had taken care to disappear from the spot with all possible celerity. It will be unnecessary to add that the wily Italian had deceived the brothers, and obtained his revenge by directing them to this tomb, which he had charged with combustibles for that purpose, either himself or by means of a confidential agent. The good Burghers of Mentz marvelled at the strange fate of the brothers; but the truth was not known until the death of Gortz, about twenty years afterwards, who in his last moments gave a minute account of the whole business, and with his life yielded up to another the office of HEADS. MAN OF MENTZ.

A FAREWELL TO THE YEAR 1829.
For the Olio.

Farewell to the year!-It has vanish'd:
From the call-book of Time it is banish'd;

Its beauties lie low in the tomb:

Its successor has come into bloom. May the sorrows that crowded around it,

On the bed that it presses recline!

Ho! the greeting of parting come sound it!
Farewell to the year twenty-nine!
Farewell to the year 1—It is shining
In gold on Fame's pillar of truth;
For slaves, who had met it repining,

Walk'd free ere it sped through its youth!
Though its death-shroud is studded with tears,
And Hibernia echo with cheers,
Yet round smiles of freedom may twine;

Farewell to the year twenty-nine!"

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