sword and threatened to the slay the son he had by her outright, unless she spoke, and declared her origin. Hereon she exclaimed, Alas! wretched man that thou art, for compelling me to speak, for thereby thou hast destroyed thy wife. I would have remained with thee and done thee much good, hadst thou allowed me to maintain the silence enjoined upon me; but now thou shalt see me no more.' Whereon she vanished. The lad, however, grew apace, and began to bathe in the sea, until one day, whilst so amusing himself, he was suddenly carried away by his mother, in the sight of several people."-Ganfred. Antiscod. p. 1161.

ter.

One more anecdote will conclude this ChapNot far from R, on the Tauber, there came into a married man's house one in appearance like a nobleman, with two servants, one of whom could play on the violin and the other on the fife. This individual gave out that he was come to demand the hand of his host's beautiful daughter in marriage. A banquet was prepared, and they feasted right merrily, the bridegroom elect comporting himself most loverlike. Something, however, aroused the good man's suspicions that all was not right, and he told his guest that it was unseemly that a man of his rank should wed so

much beneath him, and that he had better seek a bride elsewhere. As, however, the guest would by no means consent to forego his intention, his host sent for a priest to ply him with the Holy Scriptures, which angered the other exceedingly, who said that other topics than these should be introduced on such a festive occasion.

Up then stood the host and said, “Ye are villains, and our enemies: ye are come to injure me and mine; but, by God's blessing, ye shall not succeed: we are baptized and believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is able to protect us against all your power and cunning." Immediately, the three wretches vanished, leaving a marvellously foul smell behind them, and on the floor remained three bodies which had been stolen from the neighbouring gallows.

CHAPTER IV.

He turned him round and fled amain,
With hurry and dash to the beach again.
He twisted over from side to side,
And laid his cheek to the cleaving tide.
The strokes of his plunging arms are fleet,
And with all his might he flings his feet:
But the water sprites are round him still,
To cross his path and to work him ill."

THE CULPRIT FAY.

ON NIXIES OR WATER KELPIES.

In treating of this branch of his subject, our author prefaces his chapter with informing us, that in his time, there were many stories and

fables current amongst the common people, which, for the most part, were fabulous and unworthy of credit. Yet, upon the whole, it was not to be denied, that wicked spirits do occasionally manifest themselves in, upon, and below, the surface of the water, commonly termed mermen and mermaids, which are the same as those called more properly nixies, or, in Latin, nixo. These, however, were to be looked upon as being damned spirits; since, from the beginning of creation, they did not belong to the human race; and, as good spirits never inflict injury on mankind, it was equally clear that they were not angels. Being, therefore, neither men nor angels, it followed, as a matter of course, that they were devils, especially as they could not be classed amongst sea monsters, which have neither knowledge nor understanding. "Now, we know," says Dr. Bräuner, "that wicked spirits have their restless abode, sometimes in the air, sometimes in the water, sometimes in the fire, and sometimes on the earth and below the earth, continually pursuing mankind, to injure either their souls or bodies. However, we are not to conclude therefrom that there are particular spirits appropriated to any one element, as they enter into any one of them at the behest of Lucifer, putting people into

great bodily fear, and occasionally bringing them into jeopardy of their lives. A good number of occurrences of this kind can be accounted for on natural causes; others are clearly the agency of spirits."

-In

An instance of the former is as follows:Leipsic there is, opposite the Ranstadter's house, a river called the Elster, and which there falls into the Pleissy. In this a great number of young people are wont to bathe during the summer's heats. This river has, however, a treacherous current, and at some periods, is uncommonly deep. There are a variety of sandbanks in it, and one especially, called by way of distinction, the scholar's bath, from a current tradition, that every year it must have a man for a victim. The fact was, that hardly a year passed without a man being drowned at the spot, and hence arose the popular superstition that a water nixy pulled him under the water; whereas, as our author, for once at least, sensibly observes, the casualty was occasioned by quite a different circumstance, viz., that the young people, when in a violent perspiration, rapidly undressed themselves, and, without allowing themselves time to cool, plunged into the cold water, and were seized with the cramp and sank. This he says had been established by the testi