dred years. For the Saxons had not come amongst us, and Ireland was happy then. They were all great men, brave and wise and generous, but Roderick O'Connor outshone them all. He fought great battles, and always gained the day, and all the kings around feared him, and sought his favour and protection. He built great castles and many stately churches, and gave splendid gifts to holy men, and fed all the poor around him and the Saints guarded him and he prospered, and his people would have died for him. But in his times the cursed Saxon landed on our shores, and plundered and destroyed all before them. Roderick withstood them manfully for a long time, and why shouldn't he, hadn't he the flower of Connaught at his back? But at last, and woe's the day, Roderick was surprised by night, and all his fine army were killed or scattered to the winds. The king and the royal body-guard fought their way through the English army, and made their escape to the palace of St. John's-it was called Rindown then. The English pursued the king to Rindown and camped around it, and tried to batter down the big wall before it, but for a long time they had no success, and the king's guards killed a number of the enemy. Now the king had a fosterbrother whom he dearly loved, his name was Phelim; he had been brought up from a child with the king, and lived with him as a brother, and had escaped with him to Rindown. He was a brave man and a great scholar, and people used to say that he could make the king do whatever he advised him. But the bad drop was in Phelim, and he loved money better than he loved the king. So he stole one night into the English camp, and agreed with their general, for a crock of gold, to bring the English by a secret way past the big wall. Well, in the night there was a great cry that the English had passed the wall, and Roderick and his guards rushed from their beds to defend the castle, and fought so stout and true, that the English were not able to take it all that night; but when the morning came, the king saw that many of his men were killed, that the enemy were in great numbers, and that the palace could not be held much longer. So he ordered the boats that were under the castle walls to be got ready, and sent Phelim into the stable to feed his two horses that were there. He then ordered his guards to get into the boats and escape across the lake, and he determined that he and Phelim would swim the horses after them. Now Phelim, when he went to the stable, saw that almost all the corn had been used, and that there was scarcely as much left as would feed the horses-and knowing the king's intentions, and being a villain in his heart, he did not feed the king's horse, but gave all the corn to his own. He then tied up all the gold he had got from the Saxons in a wide belt, which he fastened around his waist. Now, thought he, whatever comes, I have got the gold and my horse has had a double allowance of corn, and we will go gaily across the lake.

"Phelim,' said the king, when the horses were led out, thou art heavier than I am, and thy horse is lighter than mine, thou shalt ride Brian-Dhu across the lake."

"Phelim grew pale as death, and said, Not so, my lord, the lake is wide, my horse is weak, evil would be the hour if he should fail thee on the way, and thy life be lost.'

"Brother of my heart,' cried the loving king, should die, than that a hair of thy head should spoke, he vaulted into Phelim's saddle.

better, far better, I perish;' and, as he

"Phelim trembled exceedingly, but he dared not murmur, and mounted as the king had willed; they dashed together into the lake.

"For a time both horses swam strong and swiftly, for they were of the royal breed, whose sires had come from far beyond the seas, but when they got near to the middle of the lake Brian-Dhu began to fail. Phelim strove to ease him by tearing off the belt of gold, but it was bound too tightly round him, and his trembling fingers could not untie the band. No help was near, for the boats were now far a-head. The king, who was in advance, turned as he heard the splashing and fearful snorting of the horse.

"Quick, Phelim, quick for thy life, throw thyself from him, and swim to me, my horse is fresh, and will safely bear us both.'

"Phelim flung himself from the dying horse, and strove hard to reach the king, but guilt and the belt of gold were too weighty for him, and dragged him down. Roderick made a mighty effort to clutch him by the hair, but the king's hand grasped but the water, and the traitor with a fearful cry sunk beneath the lake. The king escaped safely to the other side, but he never more led his people to the battle. He took the crown from off his head, and cast his sword and spear away, and retired to a lonely island on the far west coast, and was seen no more. They said his heart was broken. People ever since fear to cross the lake at night or in stormy weather, for at those times a pale spirit, bound round with a golden belt, is for ever pursuing them on a wearied horse, calling to them in mournful tones to cut the band that ties the cursed belt, and praying for corn for his famished beast. At other times, on clear still nights, he hovers round the castle walls, wailing and tearing his hair, and for many a mile may be heard his bitter cry, 'Oh, Roderick ! why did I betray thee?'

The blind man's voice trembled as he spoke. I did not speak to him for some time, for I could not help feeling touched by his emotion, though it was for a race that had passed away long before his time, and for occurrences which perchance had never taken place. The pensive mood, however, did not last long; he took out his fiddle and played a few lively notes, which appeared to have the effect of restoring him to himself, for he was soon as gay as ever, and sang innumerable songs along the road, until at length we crossed the Shannon at Lanesborough, and fortunately before the worthy citizens of that flourishing town had left their beds.

At length we arrived at my gorgeous mansion, not indeed in the best of plights, or the happiest of humours; but a good fire and a hot breakfast, after such a night, acted like oil upon our ruffled tempers. Well, thought I, I have made rather a mess of it. I have seen very little, and gone through a great deal. I shall have to pay for a new boat, and shall not be able to walk for a month. I am going to bed now, and long before I awake it will have been noised all through the parish, that the Minor (more shame for him!) went to the pattern, and stayed out all night, dancing and blackeguarding in a shebeen, and came home drunk, and without his coat, at seven o'clock the next morning. And I muttered, as I laid my head upon my pillow, don't let any one ask me to explain the connection between St. John and the events I have witnessed; I can not make it out, and I give it up. But it strikes me, that if the homage paid to them at Lecarrow, be such as they usually require, the Saints will never want for votaries at an Irish Pattern.

A PEASANT'S WEDDING IN THE ORTENAU.

Δειπνα μοι έννεπε, Μουσα, πολυτροφα και μάλα πολλα.

Matron.

Of the many rustic scenes which may be witnessed in the more sequestered valleys of the Oberland of Baden, it was never my fortune to be present at any which more amused me than the grand ceremony of a marriage festival, held with all due regard to the bienséances and the traditionary usages handed down from father to son, and which have not been altered in any respect during many successive generations. It will not be necessary for me to furnish any explanation as to how I happened to be present on this occasion, but it will suffice to give my readers a plain unvarnished statement of all that took place during the three days dedicated to the proper performance of the hymeneal solemnities: besides, too, as I did not openly state that “ a chiel's amang ye taking notes, and 'faith he'll prent them," nor, if I had done so, would they probably have understood me, nothing was kept back from my sight, and I am consequently in a position to give "a full, true, and particular account" of the whole proceedings.

The Ortenau is a valley watered by the Kinzig, extending on both sides of the high road which leads from Offenbach to Schaffhausen, and is celebrated far and wide on account of the excellence of the wine which grows on the surrounding hills. The inhabitants are a very peculiar race of men, rough and uncourteous toward strangers, but equally open-hearted and affectionate with those in whom they have once placed confidence, and they are all more or less affected by a revolutionary taste. But of all, none have attained such a notorious preeminence for brutality and roughness as the inhabitants of the Schottenwald, who are proverbially known over the South of Germany to be as ready with their tongues as their fists, and delighting in nothing so much as to maltreat gens-d'arme, policemen, and those placed in authority over them. They are, in fact, a rustic counterpart of the dwellers in Sachsenhausen, a suburb of Frankfort, who have made themselves distinguished by the prominent position they occupied in every republican émeute in Frankfort. The Ortenau, besides these qualifications, is frequently visited by tourists, on account of a castle which has lately been built there by a Russian at a vast expense, and decorated quite in the feudal style, with drawbridges, portcullises, and the other paraphernalia of a restless and warlike age. With these preliminary remarks, I need only add that the time of year was November, and the vintage just over, and then proceed with my narrative.

Weddings among the peasantry of Germany are invariably solemnized at a public house, and no expense is spared by the bridegroom to do honour to his bride and her friends, and all the relations of both families are invited to share the feast. Nor was this rule broken through in the present instance, for the whole of the village-inn at Ortenau was hired by the Hochzeiter for the occasion, and a repast ordered for nearly two hundred persons. The high contracting parties arrived at about eight o'clock in Ortenau, and sate down to breakfast with their friends who resided in the immediate neighbourhood, while

all the Stroh-vägen, which could be pressed into their service, were sent round to the different villages to bring the loiterers. The policy of this step was evident: for by eleven o'clock, at which hour the marriage-ceremony was to take place, a considerable number of friends had collected in readiness to escort them to church, and, while waiting, took the edge off their appetites with bread and cheese and wine. The bride was dressed in a simple white muslin gown, and only distinguished from her female companions by a wreath of imitation orange-flowers round her head. The bridegroom wore a beaver hat, high well-greased leather boots, a green coat, and bright red waistcoat with gilt buttons, with the Hochzeit's straus in the bosom of his waistcoat. All the men of the party were also dressed in Sunday state, and wore weddingfavours of pink and white ribbon on their hats. One peculiarity I noticed was, that the bride wore her hair uncovered, though all the others had theirs confined beneath the picturesque black and gold Haube, with which they are so generally adorned in the "Oberland;" this is a species of skull-cap placed on the back of the head, tastefully ornamented with gold embroidery, and, being of considerable value, is handed down as an heir-loom from mother to daughter. The procession set out for church at about a quarter past eleven, and returned again by twelve o'clock, when I saw that the bride bore in her girdle the bouquet her husband had, before the marriage, carried on his bosom, and, on their entering the dining-room, she placed it in a glass of water standing on a plate at the upper extremity of the table. The company then sate down round the board, while a band, hired for the purpose from Offenburg, commenced playing a march. The bride and bridegroom did not, however, as I had anticipated, take their places side by side, but one at each end of the table. The soup was then served, and all fell too with great gusto, while the solemn silence was only interrupted by the strains of music. After the soup was removed, rind-fleisch, or boiled beef, of which the soup had been made, was put on the table, accompanied by dishes of gherkins, celery sauce, stewed prunes, dried grapes, horse-radish, häring salat, composed of cold boiled potatoes sliced and mixed with shredded onions, the back and roe of a raw herring, and flavoured with walnut-oil and vinegar, while, here and there, dishes of dandelion salad gave a relief to the table through their greenness. Nor was there any want of wine to wash all this down, for every guest had a bottle of prime sechs und vierziger at his or her respective elbow. After sufficient time had been devoted to discuss this fare, the laughing and chatting commenced with redoubled force, and the tongues of the guests seemed to be loosened by the wine they had imbibed.

Suddenly, to my great surprise, the band rose and marched out of the room: while wondering what this meant, a solution was afforded me by the whole of the company starting up and flocking to the dancing-room, a large hay-loft which had been cleared out for the occasion. The musicians played polkas, waltzes, and schottischen, and dancing was kept up with great glee for nearly three hours. The bride, however, during the whole of this time, did not once dance with her husband, but they appeared to treat one another as perfect strangers. About four a large bell was rung, and the company, preceded by the musicians, returned to the eating-room to enjoy the second course. This consisted of veal and mutton cutlets, salt-pork, and sauerkraut,

large pike and carp, both boiled and stewed, potatoes, beans, carrots, turnips, liver and bacon, raw ham cut in slices, lyonner wurste served in the same manner, and a variety of other dainty concomitants, with a due number of freshly-filled wine-decanters, and the feeding commenced with renewed vigour, as their appetites had been doubtlessly raised by the healthy exercise they had been taking for the last three hours. After a while their efforts relaxed, and then the bride rose from her seat, and lifted up the plate and the glass on it, in which the Hochzeit's straus had been treasured, with the plate in one hand and the glass in the other; she then walked to each guest of the male sex and received the wedding present, for which she thanked them by curtseying gracefully, and offering her cheek to be kissed. As she was very pretty, this probably had some effect in loosening the purse-strings of the visitors; though on such occasions the utmost liberality is exercised, and families would think themselves disgraced, did they not respond as bountifully as possible to this appeal. Besides, too, the vintage was only just over, and the peasants comparatively rich can it then be a matter of surprise, that a metallic shower of double and kronen thaler, fivefranc pieces and other coins, usually so carefully hoarded up in old stockings, now noisily rattled into the plate. The bride, after performing the same ceremony all round the room, deposited the plate and the glass before her husband with a blushing smile. After emptying the plate, he also rose and went round the room, now laying the females under contribution, and kissing each in return for their bounty. This collection is popularly termed das Braut-pfening-Geschenk, and is a usual custom in the Oberland, and doubtlessly in other parts of Germany. After this the musicians again left the room, and all rushed once more to the tanz-boden. On this occasion, however, the bridegroom danced the first round with the bride, and several times afterwards. The most amusing sight to me was when the old men and women stood up to dance their old-fashioned walz, enlivened as they were by wine and good cheer; at the same time the young men gave vent to their happiness by the most frightful shouts and juches and thus created a stupendous noise. After a while, too, one of the band went round to make a collection, which was favourably regarded, if the money he received were any criterion. Several peasants handed out kronen thaler and florins, with a desire to hear the tunes, “Schleswig Holstein meer umschlungen" or the "Itztein Lied," played, in which they all joined most lustily. The heat became terrific through the opaque clouds of dust and tobacco-smoke, nor was I at all sorry when eight o'clock came, and the concluding portion of the marriagefeast was served up. This consisted of the pièces de reserve-such as legs of mutton, larded with bacon and garlic, roast veal, geese stuffed with chestnuts, chickens, haunches of chevreuil, salads, compotes, puddings, &c., and were all done ample justice to. In fact, their appetite was tremendous, and empty dishes and ragged bones were soon the only vestiges of the so lately well-covered board. Dessert followed: cakes, apples, grapes, large kase kuchen of the size of tea-boards, and bottles of kirschwasser were placed on the table to act as digesters.

With this the legitimate proceedings of the day may be said to have terminated, for although the younger portion again visited the dancingroom, the elder remained quietly seated, smoking, and telling timehonoured stories about the French invasion, or listening to the village