Jos Larkin by the firm, who, though rather lamely, exonerated themselves as having been quite taken in by the Gylingden attorney.

Mr. Jos Larkin had a holy reliance upon his religious reputation, which had always stood him in stead. But a worldly judge will sometimes disappoint the expectations of the Christian; and the language of the court, in commenting upon Mr. Jos Larkin, was, I am sorry to say, in the highest degree offensive "flagitious, "fraudulent," and kindred epithets, were launched against that tall, bald head, with a profusion that darkened the air and obliterated the halo that usually encircled it. He was dismissed, in a storm, with costs. He vanished from court, like an evil spirit, into the torture-chamber of taxation.

The whole structure of rapine and duplicity had fallen through with a dismal crash. Shrewd fellows wondered, as they always do when a rash game breaks down, at the infatuation of the performer. But the cup of his tribulation was not yet quite full. Jos Larkin's name was ultimately struck from the roll of solicitors and attorneys, and there were minute and merciless essays in the papers, surrounding his disgrace with a dreadful glare. People say he has not enough left to get on with. He had lodgings somewhere near Richmond, as Howard Larkin, Esq., and is still a religious character. I am told that he shifts his place of residence about once in six months, and that he has never paid one shilling of rent for any, and has sometimes positively received money for vacating his abode.

So substantially valuable is a thorough acquaintance with the capabilities of the law.

I saw honest Tom Wealdon about a fortnight ago-grown stouter and somewhat more phlegmatic by time, but still the same in good-nature and inquisitiveness. From him I learned that Jos Larkin is likely to figure once more in the courts about some very ugly defalcations in the cash of the Penningstal Mining Company, and that this time the persecutions of that eminent Christian are likely to take a different turn, and, as Tom said, with a gloomy shrewdness, to end in "ten years penal!"

One summer I was, for a few days, in the wondrous city of Venice. Everyone knows something of the enchantment of the Italian moon, the expanse of dark and flashing blue, and the phantasmal city rising like a beautiful spirit from the waters. Gliding near the Lido-where so many rings of Doges lie lost beneath the waves-I heard the pleasant sound of female voices upon the water

and then, with a sudden glory, rose a sad, wild hymn, like the musical wail of the forsaken sea :— "The spouseless Adriatic mourns her lord." The song ceased. The gondola which bore the musicians floated by--a slender hand over the gunwale trailed its fingers in the water. Unseen, I saw. Rachel and Dorcas, beautiful in the sad moonlight, passed so near we could have spoken-passed me like spirits-never more, it may be, to cross my sight in life.

THE END.

WE rejoin our English tourists, who, having now seen a good deal of bourgeois life, with its mingled stinginess and profusion, and its unceasing industry, wished to vary their Continental experience a little, and selected, as their next sojourn, Berlin, the residence of Frederic William, son of the first King of Prussia, and brotherin-law of our second George.

The besetting ideas of a traveller in North Germany, now or centuries since, would be that the soil is very light and sandy, and that there is no scarcity of fir trees. Berlin, the capital of Prussia, ruled by Frederic William, was at that time considered one of the largest and best built cities of Germany. The nearer the travellers approached it, the more plentiful appeared the sand; yet they found the environs well cultivated, and rich in fruit and garden stuff. As far as uniformity and size of buildings were concerned, the city was much improved by the successor of Frederic William, but many of the public edifices soon acquired a melancholy appearance by the discoloration and partial falling off of the Roman cement casing the brick. The houses in the suburbs were mostly constructed of wood, painted so as to represent stone. In the suburb of Spandau, was the Queen's favourite retreat, Mon Bijou, and a veritable bijou of architecture and landscape-gardening it was. Mon Bijou was constructed by the Countess de Wartemberg, wife to the late King's Prime Minister. She and her husband were exiled before she had enjoyed her little paradise long; and she sorrowfully gave it up to the King in consideration of a pension settled on them. Our travellers had heard enough of her dissolute life and sorrowful death while, at the commencement of this tour, they abode at the Hague, where her latter years were spent.

This lady had experienced the pleasures, and trials, and troubles of different conditions of life. The daugh

ter of a bargeman at Emmeric, in the duchy of Cleves, and acting, probably, as barmaid in her father's tavern, she had secured the heart and hand of Bidekau, valet to Frederic I., on occasion of a royal visit to the neighbouring court. On coming to Berlin, with her husband, she contrived to win the affection of Baron Kolbe, successor and, in some degree, supplanter of Dankelman, of whom we shall presently speak. She returned his affection so warmly that the poor valet departed with a sad sort of resignation, when grim death, shortly after, sent for him. As soon as it could be done, marriage was solemnized between Kolbe and the fascinating widow, the King himself honouring the nuptials with his presence. Whether she intended to make a conquest of Frederic himself or not, he certainly paid her much attention, created her husband, in time, Count of Wartemberg, and made way for the Countess among the ladies of the Court. Here she indulged in the wildest expenses, and managed, at last, to cause herself and husband to be banished. Frederic having got rid of the Count and Countess, handed over the Bijou to his daughter-in-law, the present Queen of Prussia (sister to our second George), and there she occasionally sulked, during the thousand and one storms that failed to clear the domestic atmosphere in which she lived with her children and her lord, the king of grenadiers.

During this our pleasant tour, we have not inflicted, nor do we mean to inflict, minute descriptions of buildings, but we cannot omit mention of a few. In the Fish-market stood the Hotel Dorffling, occupied by the Count Fink. The founder of this family was a journeyman tailor, who, coming from Tangermunde to Berlin, had not so much money as would pay his fare in the ferry-boat across the Elbe. Charon and his helper declining to give him passage without the traditional oboli, he flung his knap

sack into the river, returned to Tangermunde, and enlisted. The grandfather of the King, Frederic William the Elector, had his attention called to the young tailor by many deeds of daring and military genius, and advanced him to a high position in the army. He kept apart from all cabals, and distinguished himself by his probity and modest demeanour. Hearing that some one had said of him, that even if he were field-marshal, his air would betray the tailor, "True," said he, "I once knew the use of a scissors, and cut cloth in my time, but I have also learned to handle another bit of steel" (tapping his sword-hilt), "and will take the liberty of cutting the ears off the first man that ventures to slander me."

It has been mentioned that Kolbe supplanted Dankelman in his high situation, yet, to all appearance, no one could have a securer seat than that statesman who was Frederic's chief agent in his successful efforts to change his Electorate into a Kingdom. He was prompted to aspire to this dignity by resentment against the Stadtholder of Holland when he became William III. of England; for, in a conference at the Hague, this Sovereign would not allow him the honour of an arm-chair in his presence. Having attained the dignity of being called King, instead of Duke of Prussia, he showered favours on Dankelman, who amused his leisure by building the hotel now used for the reception of ambassadors.

Among the weird stories attached to these old German courts, one was told of this minister and his master. The King, while on a visit to his favourite officer, praised a certain picture in the apartment enthusiastically. "It will soon be in your Majesty's possession," said he. "I shall incur your displeasure, be imprisoned for ten years, and then recalled." The King took a New Testament off the table, and was going to swear that he would never treat him so, but Dankelman stayed his hand. The story goes that he was imprisoned for a longer period than ten years, and that when he was released by Frederic William, and his old office tendered to him, he would not accept of it. This minister bore a high character for patriotism and encouragement of learning.

The reader shall be spared the splendid ceremonics that attended the coronation of this first King of Prussia, as we only intend to mention a trivial anecdote connected with it. The learned Queen, the patroness and correspondent of Leibnitz, was rather addicted to snufftaking, and felt herself much incommoded by the length of the pageant. She sat opposite the King, and hoping that he might not turn his eyes towards her for a few seconds, she rashly took box in hand, opened it, introduced finger and thumb, and was on the point of relieving the yearning of her nose, when she caught the now royal eye inspecting her manoeuvres with much displeasure. He resented the indecorum so much, that he sent one of his gentlemen with instructions to ask her Majesty whether she remembered the place where she was, and the rank she held there? Frederic's second wife was a strict Lutheran. After her accession to the throne she effected such an alteration, that the palace resembled a religious house, where a perpetual retreat was being held. The King was a Calvinist, and devout in his way, but this he considered too much of a good thing, and by a little vigorous use of his authority, he thinned her ghostly counsellors till only Boost, her confessor, was left. Even he was exhorted not to be extra-solicitous for the salvation of his royal mistress. The ensuing specimen of comfort in royal housekeeping is furnished by Baron Pollnitz, already mentioned. He held office about court, and whatever his faults, indifference to religion could not be reckoned among them. He changed his religious profession three times in the course of his life.

"I remember that one day as she was talking about religion to the King, she told him that she was very much grieved to find him a Calvinist, and, by that means, out of the road of salvation. The King, who seemed in an amaze at the compliment, said to her, 'What! do you think then

that I shall be damned? And what will

you say when you speak of me after death? for you could not say der SEELIGE König' (the blessed or saved King). The Queen was a little puzzled how to reply, but after a few moments' reflection she said, 'I will say der liebe verstorbene König' (the dear defunct King). This answer made the King very uneasy."

But all these were things of yesterday, when our Englishmen were on their travels. Frederic I. was in his tomb; and his ministers, whom we have mentioned, and the Countess of Wartemberg, after her sinful lifeeach lay in the narrow bed. Frederic William, husband of Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, and father of Frederic the Great, ruled Prussia, drilled his giant guards, doated on his wife, gave her foul language at times, preached to his family, and occasionally swore at and beat them, kept them on very meagre diet, lived on the worst terms with his son and daughter, and was occasionally led aside by temptation. It was the darling wish of himself and his Queen to wed his daughter, Frederica Sophia Wilhelmina, to her first-cousin, the Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Prince of Wales, and father of our third George. The Queen persevered in this wish, but the King, owing to the influence of favourites, and the uncertain and tedious proceedings at the Court of England, took a dislike to the notion at last, and there was nothing within the royal houses at Berlin or Potsdam which might, even using poetic licence, have been called domestic comfort.

Here are points in the character of the King, as sketched by his daughter, who, after treaties of marriage entered upon with the English Prince, Charles XII. of Sweden, and Augustus, King of Poland, became the wife of the Margrave of Bareith:-" Genius elevated, much judgment and application, marked military talents, temper lively and hot, strict justice, little clemency, parsimony in personal and domestic matters, great liberality to favourites, devotion inclining to bigotry, hatred of pomp and luxury, suspicion, jealousy, and dissimulation.' She forgot to arrange these qualities in a tabular form, with the per cent.value attached to each. She added this characteristic trait:-"He was passionately fond of his royal spouse, yet he could not help using her ill, and allowing her no share whatever in public affairs. He apologized for his conduct by saying that it was necessary to keep women under proper subjection, else they would rule their husbands."

It was not a difficult thing for the English youth and sage to gain ad

mission to the audiences given by the Queen, always on the look-out for news from England. Sir- -Hotham, resident ambassador, was a much greater favourite with the Queen than the King, as Frederick William was more intent on bestowing his daughter's hand on the Margrave of Schwedt or one of the royal suitors already mentioned, than on the English prince. Such was his dislike to the English connexion, that on one occasion when the Ambassador presented him with some proofs of the treachery of his favourites, Grumkau and Seckendorff, he threw them in his face, and even half executed a kick intended for the inviolable person of England's representative. However, reflection suspended the royal boot in air, and he abruptly retired. It was well he did so, as the sturdy Briton would otherwise have knocked him down. He at once withdrew from the palace, and only for the pressing instances of the other ambassadors, entreated for their good offices by the repentant monarch, he would have left the country.

The character and personal appearance of the Queen, as given by her daughter, may be here appropriately introduced:

Her

"The Queen never was handsome. features are strongly marked, and none of Her complexion is pale, her them fine. hair a dark brown, her shape has been one and majestic gait inspires all who behold her with respect. A perfect acquaintance with the world, and a brilliant understanding, seem to promise more solidity than she is possessed of. Her heart is benevolent, generous, and kind; she cherishes the arts and sciences, without having ever devoted much time to the study of them. No one the pride and haughtiness of the House of is without faults; the Queen has hers. All

of the handsomest in the world. Her noble

Hanover are concentrated in her person. Her ambition is unbounded; she is excessively jealous, of a suspicious and vindictive temper, and never forgives those by whom she fancies she has been offended."

This, as well as the character of her husband, would be improved by a graduated scale.

It was not to be wondered at that suspicion should have entered deeply into the King's naturally suspicious nature after the imposture practised on him by John Michael von Kleement, a Hungarian, said by some to have been an illegitimate son of the

King of Denmark, and by others, of the notorious Philip, Duke of Orleans. Taking service under Prince Racoczi, of Transylvania, he assisted at that dignitary's combats with the Emperor of Austria till 1711. It is supposed that he visited Berlin several times, for the purpose of enlisting the sympathies of the Prussian Court in favour of the restless Hungarian chief; but it is certain that he attended the Congress of Utrecht, in 1713, as a person in his confidence.

In 1715, he carried off important papers, presented himself at Vienna, did his former chief all the mischief he could, embraced the Roman Catholic religion in appearance, was well rewarded for his treachery, and provided with an office, under Prince Eugene. It is not clear whether he afterwards resigned his charge, or was dismissed; but in 1718, a year after his departure from Vienna, we find him in Dresden, under the name of Kleeberg, and in the confidence of Count Flemming, Prime Minister. A marriage between the Electoral Crown Prince and an Austrian Archduchess being in contemplation at the time, Flemming was delighted to find one who could give him so much particular information about Viennese affairs. Kleement, improving the position, engaged to get information still more valuable from a resident at the Court. Money rained into his hands for this correspondence, all of which was supplied by his own pen.

He kept Flemming blindfold a long time, and at last was appointed on an embassy to Vienna. This not suiting his own ideas of what was advantageous, he pretended to have received instructions from Prince Eugene to proceed to Holland. On his route he would, of course, have great pleasure in forwarding his patron's views at Berlin.

Things were a little uncomfortable at the time between the two powers. Dresden was ready to confer the bishopric of Naumburg on a Roman Catholic dignitary, and Berlin most eager to prevent that step. Then the rumour was abroad that Prussia, Sweden, and Russia, had made a secret treaty to do something not agreeable to Saxony, and Kleement would get a sight of this parchment, had he to peep through a stone wall. It is probable that in these parting

interviews Flemming spoke in harsh terms of the three suspected powers, and even hinted at the facility of waylaying Frederic William, carrying him off by force, and feasting him in Dresden for a time.

In Berlin, Kleement secured a certain George Henry Lehmann, Weimarresident at this city, and in his handwriting communicated all desirable news to Flemming. This Minister soon after proceeding to Vienna, effected an alliance between Austria, Hanover, and Saxony, and had an opportunity of finding out how he had been deceived by Kleement. He said nothing in public on the subject, merely mentioning to Prince Eugene that it would not be pleasant to acknowledge how cleverly he had been deceived.

Meanwhile Kleement had obtained an interview with Frederic William, and revealed a plot concocted, as he said, by the Cabinets of Saxony and Austria, by virtue of which his sacred person was to be seized on, and conveyed to Dresden, and his son (the future hero of the seven years war), converted to the Roman Catholic faith, and invested with the royal robe. In support of his assertion he produced letters (admirably prepared by himself), from Count Flemming and Prince Eugene, from which it was easy to be gathered that Frederic William was surrounded by a treacherous circle of courtiers, ready to connive at his being seized by twelve horsemen, and carried away. "He (Kleement) was solely induced to reveal this State villany by abstract love of fairness, and a desire to find protection at a Court where he could comfortably renounce Popery, and lead an evangelical life."

The immediate result of this conference was that the King's naturally bad and suspicious temper was sorely aggravated, and his really innocent and faithful adherents treated with coolness and distrust. He slept with loaded pistols under his head, and at Potsdam would not venture to enjoy the solace of a pipe in the company of any but fat-headed citizens. Considerable sums passed through his not very liberal hands into those of his guardian informer, who in some short time proceeded to Amsterdam, on a fictitious order from Prince Eugene.

In his absence Prince Leopold of