the garden he found the very person whom he most wished to avoid, unexpectedly beside him. He approached with many bows, and a singular request. He had been struck, it seems, with the beauty of Peter's shadow; would he but make him a present of it?

Peter thought him crazy; but the tall man followed up the request with a tempting offer. He had many things in his pocket which the gentleman might like, and he deemed any price too little in exchange. Jewels, divining rods, mandrake roots, change-pennies, money-extractors, the napkins of Rolando's Squire, (would that we were acquainted with that history!) Fortunatus's wishing-cap.-The last clenched the bargain,-Done! The shadow was given for the bag; and in Mr. Cruickshank's inimitable frontispiece we almost see the wonderful dexterity with which the tall, thin, pale, meagre, elderly gentleman loosened it from the ground from head to foot, lifted it up, rolled it together, and put it into his pocket.

Peter Schlemihl went back to the town light hearted, and full of glee. His pockets were lined and laden with gold, and the inexhaustible source of future supplies was safe in his bosom. He was first roused from his waking dreams of assured wealth by a shrill old woman. "Take care, Sir, take care, you have lost your shadow!" "Where has the gentleman left his shadow?" cried the sentinel as he passed the gate; "Good heavens, the poor fellow has no shadow," said two wenches within it; and a hunch-backed schoolboy at last drove him into a hackney coach by observing that "respectable people are accustomed to carry their shadows with them when they go into the sun.'

Alone and in his chamber Peter found to his cost that man is not always pulvis et umbra jointly. Dust he could down with in any quantity, for the bag had no limit; but he looked in vain for the accompaniment of a shadow which had become a substantial want. For his abode he chose a tavern which faced the North, and there in a delirium of avarice and possession he shook the purse again and again till he rolled and wallowed on the overflowing heaps of gold. Night came on, and he fell asleep on this most uncomfortable mattress. In the morning he perceived the new difficulty in which he had involved himself. The purse refused to reingorge the treasure which it had vomited forth so lavishly; no windows opened on the sea; and at last with infinite toil and trouble he succeeded in dragging his cumbrous heaps to a large cupboard which stood in a recess.

Could he but again see the man with whom he had struck his unprofitable bargain. He described him minutely to

Bendel, his valet, and ordered him strictly to detain any one who resembled him. But the tall man was too cunning for the valet. He left a message that he was going to cross the sea, and that in a year and a day he would again seek out Peter, and propose another arrangement which perhaps might be to his liking. Bendel took the message without knowing that it was delivered by the very man whom he most wanted to catch.

Foiled in any immediate chance of an interview with his tormentor, Peter tried to engage a painter to furnish him with a false shadow. It was necessary to offer some excuse for the loss of the real original appurtenance, and he stated that while travelling in Russia one hard winter, the cold was so intense, that his shadow was frozen to the ground, and it was impossible for him to get it free. The painter it seems was awake; he threw a piercing glance upon his customer, and answered that the simplest and wisest determination for him who had no shadow, was never to go into the sun. In his despair at this rebuff, Peter made Bendel his confidant; and the good youth, though shocked at the discovery, promised every aid in his power to his pitiable master, and dedicated all his services to conceal the tremendous secret. Somewhat relieved by this unexpected instance of self-devotion, Peter recovered courage enough to mix in society, though only in shades, and during twilight. He again encountered Fanny, the nymph who had asked for the marquée. In her rich suitor there was no fear that she might recognize the raw and bashful novice whom she had once only seen ; and Peter was not without hopes of a lover's success. In an illuminated garden, he contrived to separate her from the other guests. She looked modestly towards the ground and gently returned the pressure of his hand, when the envious moon burst through a cloud and shewed but one shadow for both. Fanny swooned with affright. Schlemihl dashed hastily from the garden, and by the next morning was a hundred miles from the scene of his disgrace.

Bendel and another servant, Rascal, who had learnt to make himself useful by his dexterity, were the sole companions of his flight. He continued his journey into a distant Kingdom, and sending Bendel forward to procure a fitting residence, from the sums which were expended in preparation, and from the mysterious hints of the arrival of an illustrious stranger, (his name was concealed for obvious, reasons,) he was astonished on his entry to the town which he had chosen for his abode, by a long procession of priests, virgins, and aldermen, who hailed him with vivas, as their

good Prince incognito. He was mistaken for the King of Prussia in disguise, and all his efforts to undeceive his loyal and simple-hearted subjects were utterly unavailing. The King of Prussia's intended progress was contradicted, but Schlemihl had spent his money profusely, his fêtes were magnificent, and his condescension most truly regal: therefore though no longer King of Prussia, he was still a King, -aye every inch a King,-though it little mattered, since he chose to keep on the mask, what crown it was he wore. And now he fell seriously in love. It was but a petite amourette with Fanny. A sort of wish to discover whether without a shadow any woman could think him marriageable. But with the good and gentle Mina, he fell heartily and romantically in love. Mina loved in return. She was the daughter of a simple forest-master, who was astonished at the good fortune of his child. The marriage day was fixed, It was to be the morning after the year and the day had closed. We have no space to follow up the catastrophe. Rascal, the servant, by some means discovered his master's secret, and blazoned it abroad. The Forester granted but three days for the chance of the recovery of the shadow. At the expiration of that time, if Schlemihl failed to place himselfi'the sun," Mina was to become Rascal's bride; for he too was a suitor, and he had pillaged his master sufficiently to make good his claim.

Meantime the grey-coated stranger is true to his appointment. Our readers must have anticipated his real nature ere this, and will not be surprised at his new request. Pen, blood, and parchment were all ready, and the bond required as the price of the restitution of the shadow ran in the following words, "I hereby promise to deliver over my soul to the bearer, after its natural separation from my body." Schlemihl had virtue enough to refuse, or, as he honestly allows, his personal antipathy prevented him more strongly than his principles from signing the contract; for he considered the tall elderly gentleman to be no better than a sneaking scoundrel and a scornful irritating imp. What the gentleman thought of him in return, shall be given in his own words.

"I am sorry, Mr. Schlemihl, that you so capriciously push away the favours which are presented to you; but I may be more fortunate another time. Farewell, till our speedy meeting! By the way, you will allow me to mention, that I do not by any means permit my purchases to get mouldy; I hold them in special regard, and take the best possible care of them.'

"With this he took my shadow out of his pocket, and with a

dexterous fling it was unrolled and spread out on the heath on the sunny side of his feet, so that he stood between the two attendan shadows, mine and his, and walked away; mine seemed to belong to him as much as his own; it accommodated itself to all his movements and all his necessities.

"When I saw my poor shadow again after so long a separation, and found it applied to such base uses, at a moment when for its sake I was suffering nameless anguish, my heart broke within me, and I began to weep most bitterly. The hated one walked proudly on with his spoil, and unblushingly renewed his proposals.

"You may have it 'tis but a stroke of the pen; you will save, too, your poor unhappy Mina from the claws of the vagabond; save her for the arms of the most honourable Count. 'Tis but a stroke of the pen, I say.' Tears broke forth with new violence; but I turned away, and beckoned to him to be gone.

Bendel, who had followed my steps to the present spot, approached me full of sadness at this instant. The kind-hearted fellow perceived me weeping, and observed my shadow, which he could not mistake, attached to the figure of the extraordinary, grey unknown one, and he endeavoured by force to put nie in possession of my property; but not being able to lay firm hold on this subtile thing, he ordered the old man, in a peremptory tone, to abando what did not belong to him. He, for a reply, turned his back upon my well-meaning servant, and marched away. Bendel followed him closely, and lifting up the stout black-thorn cudgel which he carried, required the man to give up the shadow, enforcing the command with the strength of his nervous arm but the man, accustomed perhaps to such encounters, bowed his head, raised his shoulders, and walked silently and calmly over the heath, accompanied by my shadow and my faithful man. For a long time I heard the dull sound echoed over the waste. It was lost at last in the distance. I stood alone with my misery as before." P. 86.

For three days Schlemihl wandered in despair over the dreary heath on which this interview had occurred.. the morning of the fourth, as he sat musing under a rock which sheltered him from the sun and the betrayal threatened by its beams, a gentle rustling approached him. He saw no one, but a shadow, not unlike his own, and without an owner, passed by him on the sand. A chase ensued, Schlemihl gained upon the shadow, when it stopped and turned suddenly round.

"Like the lion pouncing upon his prey, I sprung forward upon it with a mighty effort to take possession. I felt most unexpectedly that I had dashed against something which made a bodily resistance-I received from an unseen power the most violent thrust which a human being ever felt. The working of terror was dreadfully acting within me; its effect was to close my arms as in a spasm,

to seize on what stood unseen before me. I staggered onwards, and fell postrate on the ground; beneath me, on his back, was a man whom I held fast, and who now was visible.

"The whole affair was now naturally explained. The man must have possessed the viewless charm which makes the possessor, but not his shadow, invisible. He first held it, and afterwards had thrown it away. I looked round, and immediately discovered the shadow of the invisible charm-I leaped up and sprang towards it, and did not miss at last the valuable spoil-unseen, and shadowless, I held the charm in my hand." P. 94.

Possessed of the secret of invisibility he hastened to the Forester's garden.

"I walked into the garden, my bosom trembling with the alarm of expectation. A laugh approached me. I shook: looked eagerly around me, but could perceive nobody. I moved farther forward, and a noise as of the pacing of human feet seemed near me. Still I could see nothing-I thought my ears were deceived; but it was early, nobody was in Count Peter's arbour-the garden was empty, I rambled over the familiar paths, until I came near to the mansion. I heard the same sound more distinctly. I sat down with a sorrowful heart upon a bank immediately opposite the front door, in a sunny spot. It appeared to me as if I heard the invisible imp laughing insultingly. The key was turned in the door, which opened, and the forest-master walked out with papers in his hand. I felt something like a mist around my eyes-I looked roundand, oh horrible! the man in the grey coat was sitting close to me, looked on me with a satanic smile. He had drawn his wishing-cap over my head. At his feet my shadow and his own lay peacefully one against the other; he was playing carelessly with the wellknown parchment which he held in his hand, and while the forestmaster was walking backwards and forwards in the shade of the arbour, he bent himself familiarly to my ear, and whispered to me these words :

Now, then, you have at last accepted my offer, and so we sit two heads under one cap. Very good! very good! But pray give me my charm again-you do not want it any more, and are too honourable a man to keep what does not belong to you-no thanks-I assure you I lent it you from my heart." He took it gently from my hand, put it into his pocket, laughed insultingly at me, and so loudly, that the forest-master looked round attracted by the noise. I sat there as if I had been petrified. "You most agree,' he rejoined, that such a cap is much more convenient. It does not cover its possessor alone, but his shadow also, and as many people besides as he likes to have with him. Look, now, to-day I get two of ye.' He laughed again. You must know, Schlemihl, that what is not done by fair means at first, may be enforced at last; I still thought you would have

VOL. XXI. FEB. 1824.

N