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should be alive and trembling. We contemplate the unhappy being who, in the moment of conceiving, planning, executing, expiating his guilt, was still a man like ourselves, as if he were some creature whose blood flowed not with the same pulses, whose passions obeyed not the same law with ours. We are little interested in his fortunes, for all sympathy with the fate of our neighbour arises from some remote belief in the possibility of its becoming one day our own; and we are very far, in instances such as these, from desiring to claim any such connexion. It is thus that the instruction is lost, and that what might have been a school of wisdom, becomes merely a pastime for our curiosity.

We are more interested in discovering how a man came to will and conceive a crime, than how he perpetrated it. His thoughts concern us more than his deeds, and the sources of the former much more than the consequences of the latter. Men have scrutinized the depths of Vesuvius, in order to learn the cause of its burning: Why is it that moral attract less attention than physical phenomena? Why is it that we are contented to observe nothing in the human volcano but its eruption?

How many a maiden might have preserved her innocent pride, had she learned to view with somewhat less of horror and of hatred her fallen sisters, and to regard their experience as something that might be useful to herself. How many a careless man might save himself from ruin, would he condescend to hear and study the history of the prodigal, whom folly has already made a beggar! If from contemplating the slow progress of vice, we derive no other lesson, we must at least learn to be less confident in ourselves, and less intolerant towards others.

Whether the offender, of whom I am about to speak, had lost all claim to our sympathy, I shall leave my reader to decide for himself. What we think of him can give himself no trouble; his blood has already flowed upon the scaffold.

Christian Wolf was the son of an innkeeper at Bielsdorf, who, after the death of his father, continued till his 20th year to assist his mother in the management of the house. The inn

was a poor one, and Wolf had many idle hours. Even before he left school he was regarded as an idle loose lad ; the girls complained of his rudeness, and the boys, when detected in any mischief, were sure to give up him as the ringleader. Nature had neglected his person. His figure was small and unpromising; his hair was of a coarse greasy black; his nose was flat; and his upper lip, originally too thick, and twisted aside by a kick from a horse, was such as to disgust the women, and furnish a perpetual subject of jesting to the men. The contempt showered upon his person was the first thing which wounded his pride, and turned a portion of his blood to gall.

He was resolved to gain what was every where denied him; his passions were strong enough; and he soon persuaded himself that he was in love. The girl he selected treated him coldly, and he had reason to fear that his rivals were happier than himself. Yet the maiden was poor; and what was refused to his vows might perhaps be granted to his gifts; but he was himself needy, and his vanity soon threw away the little he gained from his share in the profits of the Sun. Too idle and too ignorant to think of supporting his extravagance by speculation; too proud to descend from Mine Host into a plain peasant, he saw only one way to escape from his difficulties-a way to which thousands before and after him have had re

course-theft. Bielsdorf is, as you know, situated on the edge of the forest; Wolf commenced deer-stealer, and poured the gains of his boldness into the lap of his mistress.

Among Hannah's lovers was one of the forester's men, Robert Horn. This man soon observed the advantage which Wolf had gained over her, by means of his presents, and set himself to detect the sources of so much liberality. He began to frequent the Sun; he drank there early and late; and sharpened as his eyes were both by jealousy and poverty, it was not long before he discovered whence all the money came. Not many months before this time a severe edict had been published against all trespassers on the forest laws. Horn was indefatigable in watching the secret motions of his rival, and at last he was so fortunate as to detect him in the very fact. Wolf was tried, and found guilty; and the

fine which he paid in order to avoid the statutory punishment amounted to the sum-total of his property.

Horn triumphed. His rival was driven from the field, for Hannah had no notion of a beggar for a lover. Wolf well knew his enemy, and he knew that this enemy was the happy possessor of his Hannah. Pride, jealousy, rage, were all in arms within him; hunger set the wide world before him, but passion and revenge held him fast at Bielsdorf. A second time he became a deer-stealer, and a second time, by the redoubled vigilance of Robert Horn, was he detected in the trespass. This time he experienced the full severity of the law; he had no money to pay a fine, and was sent straightway to the house of chastise

ment.

The year of punishment drew near its close, and found his passion increased by absence, his confidence buoyant under all the pressure of his calamities. The moment his freedom was given to him, he hastened to Bielsdorf, to throw himself at the feet of Hannah. He appears, and is avoided by every one. The force of necessity at last humbles his pride, and overcomes his delicacy. He begs from the wealthy of the place; he offers himself as a day-labourer to the farmers, but they despise his slim figure, and do not stop for a moment to compare him with his sturdier competitors. He makes a last attempt. One situation is yet vacant-the last of honest occupations. He offers himself as herdsman of the swine upon the town's common; but even here he is rejected; no man will trust any thing to the jail-bird. Meeting with contempt from every eye, chased with scorn from one door to another, he becomes yet the third time a deerstealer, and for the third time his unhappy star places him in the power of his enemy.

This double backsliding goes against him at the judgment-seat; for every judge can look into the book of the law, but few into the soul of the culprit. The forest edict requires an exemplary punishment, and Wolf is condemned to be branded on the back with the mark of the gallows, and to three years hard labour in the fortress. This period also went by, and he once more dropt his chains; but he was no longer the same man that en◄

tered the fortress. Here began a new epoch in the life of Wolf. You shall guess the state of his mind from his own words to his Confessor.

"I went into the fortress," said he, " an offender, but I came out of it a villain. I had still had something in the world that was dear to me, and my pride had not totally sunk under my shame. But here I was thrown into the company of three and twenty convicts; of these, two were murderers*, the rest were all notorious thieves and vagabonds. They jeered at me if I spake of God; they taught me to utter blasphemies against the Redeemer. They sung songs whose atrocity at first horrified me, but which I, a shamefaced fool, soon learned to echo. No day passed over, wherein I did not hear the recital of some profligate life, the triumphant history of some rascal, the concoction of some audacious villany. At first I avoided as much as I could these men, and their discourses. But my labour was hard and tyrannical, and in my hours of repose I could not bear to be left alone, without one face to look upon. The jailors had refused me the company of my dog, so I needed that of men, and for this I was obliged to pay by the sacrifice of whatever good there remained within me. By degrees I grew accustomed to every thing; and in the last quarter of my confinement I surpassed even my teachers.

"From this time I thirsted after freedom, after revenge, with a burning thirst. All men had injured me, for all were better and happier than I. I gnashed my fetters with my teeth, when the glorious sun rose up above the battlements of my prison, for a wide prospect doubles the hell of durance. The free wind that whistled through the loop-holes of my turret, and the swallow that poised itself upon the grating of my window, seemed to be mocking me with the view of their liberty; and that rendered my misery more bitter. It was then that I vowed eternal glowing hatred to

In some parts of Germany no man can suffer the last severity of the law, unless he confess his guilt. The clearest evidence is not received as an equivalent. Even murderers have right to this indulgence, if indeed (considering what they suffer in lieu of immediate death) indulgence it may be called.

every thing that bears the image of man-and I have kept my vow.

"My first thought, after I was set at liberty, was once more my native town. I had no hope of happiness there, but I had the dear hope of revenge. My heart beat quick and high against my bosom, when I beheld, afar off, the spire arising from out the trees. It was no longer that innocent hearty expectation which preceded my first return. The recollection of all the misery, of all the persecution I had experienced there, aroused my faculties from a terrible dead slumber of sullenness, set all my wounds a-bleeding, every nerve a-jarring within me. I redoubled my pace-I longed to startle my enemies by the horror of my aspect-I thirsted after new contempts as much as I had ever shuddered at the old.

"The clocks were striking the hour of vespers as I reached the market-place. The crowd was rushing to the church-door. I was immediately recognized; every man that knew me shrunk from meeting me. Of old I had loved the little children, and even now, seeking in their innocence a refuge from the scorn of others, I threw a small piece of money to the first I saw. The boy stared at me for a moment, and then dashed the coin at my face. Had my blood boiled less furiously, I might have recollected that I still wore my prison beard, and that that was enough to account for the terror of the infant. But my bad heart had blinded my reason, and tears, tears such as I had never wept, leaped down my cheeks.

"The child,' said I to myself, half aloud, knows not who I am, nor whence I came, and yet he avoids me like a beast of prey. Am I then marked upon the forehead like Cain, or have I ceased to be like a man, since all men spurn me?' The aversion of the child tortured me more than all my three years slavery, for I had done him good, and I could not accuse him of hating me.

"I sat down in a wood-yard over against the church; what my wishes were I know not; but I rememberit was wormwood to my spirit, that none of my old acquaintances should have vouchsafed me a greeting-no, not

one.

When the yard was locked up, I unwillingly departed to seek a lodging; in turning the corner of a street,

I ran against my Hannah: 'Mine host of the Sun,' cried she, and opened her arms as if to embrace me- You here again, my dear Wolf, God be thanked for your return!' Hunger and wretchedness were expressed in her scanty raiment; a shameful disease had marred her countenance; her whole appearance told me what a wretched creature she had become. I saw two or three dragoons laughing at her from a window, and turned my back, with a laugh louder than theirs, upon the soldiers' trull. It did me good to find that there was something yet lower in the scale of life than myself. I had never loved her.

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My mother was dead. My small house had been sold to pay my creditors. I asked nothing more. I drew near to no man. All the world fled from me like a pestilence, but I had at last forgotten shame. Formerly I hated the sight of men, because their contempt was unsufferable to me. Now I threw myself in the way, and found a savage delight in scattering horror around me. I had nothing more to lose, why then should I conceal myself? Men expected no good from me, why should they have any? I was made to bear the punishment of sins I had never committed. My in-. famy was a capital, the interest of which was not easy to be exhaused.

"The whole earth was before me; in some remote province I might perhaps have sustained the character of an honest man, but I had lost the desire of being, nay, even of seeming such. Contempt and shame had taken from me even this last relick of myself,-my resource, now that I had no honour, was to learn to do without it. Had my vanity and pride survived my infamy, I must have died by my own hand.

"What I was to do, I myself knew not. I was determined, however, to do evil; of so much I have some dark recollection. I was resolved to see the worst of my destiny. The laws, said I to myself, are benefits to the world, it is fit that I should offend them; formerly I had sinned from levity and necessity, but I now sinned from free choice, and for my pleasure.

"My first step was to the woods. The chase had by degrees become to me as a passion; I thirsted, like a lover, after thick brakes and headlong leaps, and the mad delight of rushing

along the bare earth beneath the pines. Besides, I must live. But these were not all. I hated the prince who had published the forest edict, and I be lieved, that in injuring him, I should only exercise my natural right of retaliation. The chance of being taken no longer troubled me, for now I had a bullet for my discoverer, and I well knew the certainty of my aim. I slew every animal that came near me, the greater part of them rotted where they died; for I neither had the power, nor the wish, to sell more than a few of them beyond the barriers. Myself lived wretchedly; except on powder and shot, I expended nothing. My devastations were dreadful, but no suspicion pursued me. My appearance was too poor to excite any, and my name had long since been forgot

ten.

"This life continued for several months.-One morning, according to my custom, I had pursued a stag for many miles through the wood. For two hours I had in vain exerted every nerve, and at last I had begun to despair of my booty, when, all at once, I perceived the stately animal exactly at the proper distance for my gun,— my finger was already on the trigger, when, of a sudden, my eye was caught with the appearance of a hat, lying a few paces before me on the ground. I looked more closely, and perceived the huntsman, Robert Horn, lurking behind a massy oak, and taking deliberate aim at the very stag I had been pursuing at the sight a deadly coldness crept through my limbs. Here was the man I hated above all living things; here he was, and within reach of my bullet. At this moment, it seemed to me as if the whole world were at the muzzel of my piece, as if the wrath and hatred of a thousand lives were all quivering in the finger that should give the murderous pressure. A dark fearful unseen hand was upon me; the finger of my destiny. pointed irrevocably to the black moment. My arm shook as if with an ague, while I lifted my gun-my teeth chattered-my breath stood motionless in my lungs. For a minute the barrel hung uncertain between the man and the staga minute-and another

and yet one more. Conscience and revenge struggled fiercely within me, but the demon triumphed, and the huntsman fell dead upon the ground.

"My courage fell with himMurderer!-I stammered the word slowly. The wood was silent as a church-yard, distinctly did I hear it

-Murderer!- -As I drew near, the man yielded up his spirit. Long stood I speechless by the corpse; at last I forced a wild laugh, and cried, 'no more tales from the wood now, my friend! I drew him into the thicket with his face upwards! The eyes stood stiff, and staring upon me. rious enough, and silent too. The feeling of solitude began to press grievously upon my soul.

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I was se

Up till this time I had been accustomed to rail at the over severity of my destiny; now I had done something which was not yet punished. An hour before, no man could have persuaded me that there existed a be ing more wretched than myself. Now I began to envy myself for what even then I had been.

"The idea of God's justice never came into my mind; but I remember a bewildered vision of ropes, and swords, and the dying agonies of a child-murderess, which I had witnessed when a boy. A certain dim and fearful idea lay upon my thoughts that my life was forfeit. I cannot recollect every thing. I wished that Horn were yet alive. I forced myself to call up all the evil the dead man had done when in life, but my memory was sadly gone. Scarcely could I recollect one of all those thousand circumstances, which a quarter of an hour before had been suffered to blow my wrath into phrenzy. I could not conceive how or why I had become a murderer.

"I was still standing beside the corpse,-I might have stood there forever,-when I heard the crack of a whip, and the creaking of a fruit waggon passing through the wood. The spot where I had done the deed was scarcely a hundred yards from the great path. I must look to my safety.

"I bounded like a wild deer into the depths of the wood; but while I was in my race, it struck me that the deceased used to have a watch. In order to pass the barriers, I had need of money, and yet scarcely could I muster up courage to approach the place of blood. Then I thought for a moment of the devil, and, I believe, confusedly, of the omnipresence of God. I called up all my boldness, and strode towards the spot, resolved to dare earth

and hell to the combat. I found what I had expected, and a dollar or two besides, in a green silk purse. At first I took all, but a sudden thought seized me. It was neither that I feared, nor that I was ashamed to add another crime to murder. Nevertheless, so it was, I threw back the watch and half the silver. I wished to consider myself as the personal enemy, not as the robber of the slain.

"Again I rushed towards the depths of the forest. I knew that the wood extended for four German miles* northwards, and there bordered upon the frontier. Till the sun was high in heaven I ran on breathless. The swiftness of my flight had weakened the force of my conscience, but the moment I laid myself down upon the grass, it awoke in all its vigour. A thousand dismal forms floated before my eyes; a thousand knives of despair and agony were in my breast. Between a life of restless fear, and a violent death, the alternative was fearful, but choose I must. I had not the heart to leave the world by self-murder, yet scarcely could I bear the idea of remaining in it. Hesitating between the certain miseries of life, and the untried terrors of eternity, alike unwilling to live and to die, the sixth hour of my flight passed over my head --an hour full of wretchedness, such as no man can utter, such as God himself in mercy will spare to me-even to me, upon the scaffold.

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Again I started on my feet. I drew my hat over my eyes, as if not being able to look lifeless nature in the face, and was rushing instinctively along the line of a small foot-path, which drew me into the very heart of the wilderness, when a rough stern voice immediately in front of me cried, Halt! The voice was close to me, for I had forgotten myself, and had never looked a yard before me during the whole race. I lifted my eyes, and saw a tall savage-looking man advancing towards me, with a ponderous club in his hand. His figure was of gigantic size, so at least I thought, on my first alarm; his skin was of a dark mulatto yellow, in which the white of his fierce eyes stood fearfully prominent. Instead of a girdle, he had a piece of sail-cloth twisted over his green woollen coat, and in it I saw a

Nearly twenty, English measure.

broad bare butcher's knife, and a pistol. The summons was repeated, and a strong arm held me fast. The sound of a human voice had terrified me,—but the sight of an evil-doer gave me heart again. In my condition, I had reason to fear a good man, but none at all to tremble before a ruffian.

"Whom have we here?' said the apparition.

Such another as yourself,' was my answer- that is, if your looks don't belie you.'

"There is no passage this way. Whom seek ye here?'

"By what right do you ask?' returned I boldly. The man considered me leisurely twice, from the feet up to the head. It seemed as if he were comparing my figure with his own, and my answer with my figure— "You speak as stoutly as a beggar,' said he at last.

"That may be I was one yesterday.'

"The man smiled- One would swear,' cried he, 'you were not much better than one to-day.'

"Something worse, friend-I must

on.'

"Softly, friend. What hurries you? Is your time so very precious?'

Life

"I considered with myself for a moment. I know not how the words came to the tip of my tongue. is short,' said I at last, and hell is eternal.'

"He looked steadily upon me. 'May I be dd,' said he, if you have not rubbed shoulders with the gallows ere now.'

"It may be so. Farewell, till we meet again comrade.'

"Stop comrade,' shouted the man: He pulled a tin flask from his pouch, took a hearty pull of it, and handed it to me. My flight and my anguish had exhausted my strength, and all this day nothing had passed my lips. Already I was afraid I might faint in the wilderness, for there was no place of refreshment within many miles of me. Judge how gladly I accepted his offer. New strength rushed with the liquor into my limbs-with that, fresh courage into my heart, and hope and love of life. I began to believe that I might not be forever wretched, such power was in the welcome draught. There was something pleasant in finding myself with a creature of my own stamp. In the state in which I was, I

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