_Macbeth._ How now, ye secret, black, and midnight hags,
What is't ye do?
_Witches._ A deed without a name.
_Macbeth._
We have said in the conclusion of the last chapter, that, after a day
of unwonted fatigue and extraordinary excitation, the merchant,
Philipson, naturally expected to forget so many agitating passages in
that deep and profound repose which is at once the consequence and the
cure of extreme exhaustion. But he was no sooner laid on his lowly
pallet than he felt that the bodily machine, over-laboured by so much
exercise, was little disposed to the charms of sleep. The mind had
been too much excited, the body was far too feverish, to suffer him to
partake of needful rest. His anxiety about the safety of his son, his
conjectures concerning the issue of his mission to the Duke of
Burgundy, and a thousand other thoughts which recalled past events, or
speculated on those which were to come, rushed upon his mind like the
waves of a perturbed sea, and prevented all tendency to repose. He had
been in bed about an hour, and sleep had not yet approached his couch,
when he felt that the pallet on which he lay was sinking below him,
and that he was in the act of descending along with it he knew not
whither. The sound of ropes and pulleys was also indistinctly heard,
though every caution had been taken to make them run smooth; and the
traveller, by feeling around him, became sensible that he and the bed
on which he lay had been spread upon a large trap-door, which was
capable of being let down into the vaults, or apartments beneath.
Philipson felt fear in circumstances so well qualified to produce it;
for how could he hope a safe termination to an adventure which had
begun so strangely? But his apprehensions were those of a brave,
ready-witted man, who, even in the extremity of danger, which appeared
to surround him, preserved his presence of mind. His descent seemed to
be cautiously managed, and he held himself in readiness to start to
his feet and defend himself, as soon as he should be once more upon
firm ground. Although somewhat advanced in years, he was a man of
great personal vigour and activity, and unless taken at advantage,
which no doubt was at present much to be apprehended, he was likely to
make a formidable defence. His plan of resistance, however, had been
anticipated. He no sooner reached the bottom of the vault, down to
which he was lowered, than two men, who had been waiting there till
the operation was completed, laid hands on him from either side, and
forcibly preventing him from starting up as he intended, cast a rope
over his arms, and made him a prisoner as effectually as when he was
in the dungeons of La Ferette. He was obliged, therefore, to remain
passive and unresisting, and await the termination of this formidable
adventure. Secured as he was, he could only turn his head from one
side to the other; and it was with joy that he at length saw lights
twinkle, but they appeared at a great distance from him.
From the irregular manner in which these scattered lights advanced,
sometimes keeping a straight line, sometimes mixing and crossing each
other, it might be inferred that the subterranean vault in which they
appeared was of very considerable extent. Their number also increased;
and as they collected more together, Philipson could perceive that the
lights proceeded from many torches, borne by men muffled in black
cloaks, like mourners at a funeral, or the Black Friars of St.
Francis's Order, wearing their cowls drawn over their heads, so as to
conceal their features. They appeared anxiously engaged in measuring
off a portion of the apartment; and, while occupied in that
employment, they sang, in the ancient German language, rhymes more
rude than Philipson could well understand, but which may be imitated
thus:--
Measurers of good and evil,
Bring the square, the line, the level,--
Rear the altar, dig the trench,
Blood both stone and ditch shall drench.
Cubits six, from end to end,
Must the fatal bench extend,--
Cubits six, from side to side,
Judge and culprit must divide.
On the east the Court assembles,
On the west the Accused trembles--
Answer, brethren, all and one,
Is the ritual rightly done?
A deep chorus seemed to reply to the question. Many voices joined in
it, as well of persons already in the subterranean vault as of others
who as yet remained without in various galleries and passages which
communicated with it, and whom Philipson now presumed to be very
numerous. The answer chanted ran as follows:--
On life and soul, on blood and bone,
One for all, and all for one,
We warrant this is rightly done.
The original strain was then renewed in the same manner as before--
How wears the night?--Doth morning shine
In early radiance on the Rhine?
What music floats upon his tide?
Do birds the tardy morning chide?
Brethren, look out from hill and height,
And answer true, how wears the night?
The answer was returned, though less loud than at first, and it seemed
that those by whom the reply was given were at a much greater distance
than before; yet the words were distinctly heard.
The night is old; on Rhine's broad breast
Glance drowsy stars which long to rest.
No beams are twinkling in the east.
There is a voice upon the flood,
The stern still call of blood for blood;
'Tis time we listen the behest.
The chorus replied, with many additional voices--
Up, then, up! When day's at rest,
'Tis time that such as we are watchers;
Rise to judgment, brethren, rise!
Vengeance knows not sleepy eyes,
He and night are matchers.
The nature of the verses soon led Philipson to comprehend that he was
in presence of the Initiated, or the Wise Men; names which were
applied to the celebrated Judges of the Secret Tribunal, which
continued at that period to subsist in Suabia, Franconia, and other
districts of the east of Germany, which was called, perhaps from the
frightful and frequent occurrence of executions by command of those
invisible judges, the Red Land. Philipson had often heard that the
seat of a Free Count, or chief of the Secret Tribunal, was secretly
instituted even on the left bank of the Rhine, and that it maintained
itself in Alsace, with the usual tenacity of those secret societies,
though Duke Charles of Burgundy had expressed a desire to discover and
discourage its influence so far as was possible, without exposing
himself to danger from the thousands of poniards which that mysterious
tribunal could put in activity against his own life;--an awful means
of defence, which for a long time rendered it extremely hazardous for
the sovereigns of Germany, and even the Emperors themselves, to put
down by authority those singular associations.
So soon as this explanation flashed on the mind of Philipson, it gave
some clue to the character and condition of the Black Priest of St.
Paul's. Supposing him to be a president, or chief official of the
secret association, there was little wonder that he should confide so
much in the inviolability of his terrible office as to propose
vindicating the execution of De Hagenbach; that his presence should
surprise Bartholomew, whom he had power to have judged and executed
upon the spot; and that his mere appearance at supper on the preceding
evening should have appalled the guests; for though everything about
the institution, its proceedings and its officers, was preserved in as
much obscurity as is now practised in free-masonry, yet the secret was
not so absolutely well kept as to prevent certain individuals from
being guessed or hinted at as men initiated and intrusted with high
authority by the Vehme-gericht, or tribunal of the bounds. When such
suspicion attached to an individual, his secret power, and supposed
acquaintance with all guilt, however secret, which was committed
within the society in which he was conversant, made him at once the
dread and hatred of every one who looked on him; and he enjoyed a high
degree of personal respect, on the same terms on which it would have
been yielded to a powerful enchanter, or a dreaded genie. In
conversing with such a person, it was especially necessary to abstain
from all questions alluding, however remotely, to the office which he
bore in the Secret Tribunal; and, indeed, to testify the least
curiosity upon a subject so solemn and mysterious was sure to occasion
some misfortune to the inquisitive person.
All these things rushed at once upon the mind of the Englishman, who
felt that he had fallen into the hands of an unsparing tribunal, whose
proceedings were so much dreaded by those who resided within the
circle of their power, that the friendless stranger must stand a poor
chance of receiving justice at their hands, whatever might be his
consciousness of innocence. While Philipson made this melancholy
reflection, he resolved, at the same time, not to forsake his own
cause, but defend himself as he best might; conscious as he was that
these terrible and irresponsible judges were nevertheless governed by
certain rules of right and wrong, which formed a check on the rigours
of their extraordinary code.
[Illustration: THE SECRET TRIBUNAL.
Drawn and Etched by R. de los Rios.]
He lay, therefore, devising the best means of obviating the present
danger, while the persons whom he beheld glimmered before him, less
like distinct and individual forms than like the phantoms
of a fever, or the phantasmagoria with which a disease of the optic
nerves has been known to people a sick man's chamber. At length they
assembled in the centre of the apartment where they had first
appeared, and seemed to arrange themselves into form and order. A
great number of black torches were successively lighted, and the scene
became distinctly visible. In the centre of the hall, Philipson could
now perceive one of the altars which are sometimes to be found in
ancient subterranean chapels. But we must pause, in order briefly to
describe, not the appearance only, but the nature and constitution, of
this terrible court.
Behind the altar, which seemed to be the central point, on which all
eyes were bent, there were placed in parallel lines two benches
covered with black cloth. Each was occupied by a number of persons,
who seemed assembled as judges; but those who held the foremost bench
were fewer, and appeared of a rank superior to those who crowded the
seat most remote from the altar. The first seemed to be all men of
some consequence, priests high in their order, knights, or noblemen;
and notwithstanding an appearance of equality which seemed to pervade
this singular institution, much more weight was laid upon their
opinion, or testimonies. They were called Free Knights, Counts, or
whatever title they might bear, while the inferior class of the judges
were only termed Free and worthy Burghers. For it must be observed,
that the Vehmique Institution,[1] which was the name that it commonly
bore, although its power consisted in a wide system of espionage, and
the tyrannical application of force which acted upon it, was yet (so
rude were the ideas of enforcing public law) accounted to confer a
privilege on the country in which it was received, and only freemen
were allowed to experience its influence. Serfs and peasants could not
have a place among the Free Judges, their assessors, or assistants;
for there was in this assembly even some idea of trying the culprit by
his peers.
Besides the dignitaries who occupied the benches, there were others
who stood around, and seemed to guard the various entrances to the
hall of judgment, or, standing behind the seats on which their
superiors were ranged, looked prepared to execute their commands.
These were members of the order, though not of the highest ranks.
Schöppen is the name generally assigned to them, signifying officials,
or sergeants of the Vehmique court, whose doom they stood sworn to
enforce, through good report and bad report, against their own nearest
and most beloved, as well as in cases of ordinary malefactors.
The Schöppen, or Scabini, as they were termed in Latin, had another
horrible duty to perform--that, namely, of denouncing to the tribunal
whatever came under their observation, that might be construed as an
offence falling under its cognisance; or, in their language, a crime
against the Vehme. This duty extended to the judges as well as to the
assistants, and was to be discharged without respect of persons; so
that, to know, and wilfully conceal, the guilt of a mother or brother,
inferred, on the part of the unfaithful official, the same penalty as
if he himself had committed the crime which his silence screened from
punishment. Such an institution could only prevail at a time when
ordinary means of justice were excluded by the hand of power, and
when, in order to bring the guilty to punishment, it required all the
influence and authority of such a confederacy. In no other country
than one exposed to every species of feudal tyranny, and deprived of
every ordinary mode of obtaining justice or redress, could such a
system have taken root and flourished.
We must now return to the brave Englishman, who, though feeling all
the danger he encountered from so tremendous a tribunal, maintained
nevertheless a dignified and unaltered composure.
The meeting being assembled, a coil of ropes, and a naked sword, the
well-known signals and emblems of Vehmique authority, were deposited
on the altar; where the sword, from its being usually straight, with a
cross handle, was considered as representing the blessed emblem of
Christian Redemption, and the cord as indicating the right of criminal
jurisdiction, and capital punishment. Then the President of the
meeting, who occupied the centre seat on the foremost bench, arose,
and laying his hand on the symbols, pronounced aloud the formula
expressive of the duty of the tribunal, which all the inferior judges
and assistants repeated after him, in deep and hollow murmurs.
"I swear by the Holy Trinity, to aid and co-operate, without
relaxation, in the things belonging to the Holy Vehme, to defend its
doctrines and institutions against father and mother, brother and
sister, wife and children; against fire, water, earth, and air;
against all that the sun enlightens; against all that the dew
moistens; against all created things of heaven and earth, or the
waters under the earth; and I swear to give information to this holy
judicature, of all that I know to be true, or hear repeated by
credible testimony, which, by the rules of the Holy Vehme, is
deserving of animadversion or punishment; and that I will not cloak,
cover, or conceal, such my knowledge, neither for love, friendship, or
family affection, nor for gold, silver, or precious stones; neither
will I associate with such as are under the sentence of this Sacred
Tribunal, by hinting to a culprit his danger, or advising him to
escape, or aiding and supplying him with counsel, or means to that
effect; neither will I relieve such culprit with fire, clothes, food,
or shelter, though my father should require from me a cup of water in
the heat of summer noon, or my brother should request to sit by my
fire in the bitterest cold night of winter: And further, I vow and
promise to honour this holy association, and do its behests speedily,
faithfully, and firmly, in preference to those of any other tribunal
whatsoever--so help me God, and His holy Evangelists."
When this oath of office had been taken, the President addressing the
assembly, as men who judge in secret and punish in secret, like the
Deity, desired them to say, why this "child of the cord"[2] lay before
them, bound and helpless. An individual rose from the more remote
bench, and in a voice which, though altered and agitated, Philipson
conceived that he recognised, declared himself the accuser, as bound
by his oath, of the child of the cord, or prisoner, who lay before
them.
"Bring forward the prisoner," said the President, "duly secured, as is
the order of our secret law; but not with such severity as may
interrupt his attention to the proceedings of the tribunal, or limit
his power of hearing and replying."
Six of the assistants immediately dragged forward the pallet and
platform of boards on which Philipson lay, and advanced it towards the
foot of the altar. This done, each unsheathed his dagger, while two of
them unloosed the cords by which the merchant's hands were secured,
and admonished him in a whisper, that the slightest attempt to resist
or escape would be the signal to stab him dead.
"Arise!" said the President; "listen to the charge to be preferred
against you, and believe you shall in us find judges equally just and
inflexible."
Philipson, carefully avoiding any gesture which might indicate a
desire to escape, raised his body on the lower part of the couch, and
remained seated, clothed as he was in his under-vest and _caleçons_,
or drawers, so as exactly to face the muffled President of the
terrible court. Even in these agitating circumstances, the mind of the
undaunted Englishman remained unshaken, and his eyelid did not quiver,
nor his heart beat quicker, though he seemed, according to the
expression of Scripture, to be a pilgrim in the Valley of the Shadow
of Death, beset by numerous snares, and encompassed by total
darkness, where light was most necessary for safety.
The President demanded his name, country, and occupation.
"John Philipson," was the reply; "by birth an Englishman, by
profession a merchant."
"Have you ever borne any other name and profession?" demanded the
Judge.
"I have been a soldier, and, like most others, had then a name by
which I was known in war."
"What was that name?"
"I laid it aside when I resigned my sword, and I do not desire again
to be known by it. Moreover, I never bore it where your institutions
have weight and authority," answered the Englishman.
"Know you before whom you stand?" continued the Judge.
"I may at least guess," replied the merchant.
"Tell your guess, then," continued the interrogator. "Say who we are,
and wherefore are you before us?"
"I believe that I am before the Unknown, or Secret Tribunal, which is
called Vehme-gericht."
"Then are you aware," answered the Judge, "that you would be safer if
you were suspended by the hair over the Abyss of Schaffhausen, or if
you lay below an axe, which a thread of silk alone kept back from the
fall. What have you done to deserve such a fate?"
"Let those reply by whom I am subjected to it," answered Philipson,
with the same composure as before.
"Speak, accuser!" said the President, "to the four quarters of
heaven!--To the ears of the free judges of this tribunal, and the
faithful executors of their doom!--And to the face of the child of
the cord, who denies or conceals his guilt, make good the substance of
thine accusation!"
"Most dreaded," answered the accuser, addressing the President, "this
man hath entered the Sacred Territory, which is called the Red
Land,--a stranger under a disguised name and profession. When he was
yet on the eastern side of the Alps, at Turin, in Lombardy, and
elsewhere, he at various times spoke of the Holy Tribunal in terms of
hatred and contempt, and declared that were he Duke of Burgundy he
would not permit it to extend itself from Westphalia, or Suabia, into
his dominions. Also I charge him, that, nourishing this malevolent
intention against the Holy Tribunal, he who now appears before the
bench as child of the cord has intimated his intention to wait upon
the court of the Duke of Burgundy, and use his influence with him,
which he boasts will prove effectual to stir him up to prohibit the
meetings of the Holy Vehme in his dominions, and to inflict on their
officers, and the executors of their mandates, the punishment due to
robbers and assassins."
"This is a heavy charge, brother!" said the President of the assembly,
when the accuser ceased speaking. "How do you purpose to make it
good?"
"According to the tenor of those secret statutes the perusal of which
is prohibited to all but the initiated," answered the accuser.
"It is well," said the President; "but I ask thee once more, What are
those means of proof? You speak to holy and to initiated ears."
"I will prove my charge," said the accuser, "by the confession of the
party himself, and by my own oath upon the holy emblems of the Secret
Judgment--that is, the steel and the cord."
"It is a legitimate offer of proof," said a member of the aristocratic
bench of the assembly; "and it much concerns the safety of the system
to which we are bound by such deep oaths--a system handed down to us
from the most Christian and holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne, for the
conversion of the heathen Saracens, and punishing such of them as
revolted again to their Pagan practices, that such criminals should be
looked to. This Duke Charles of Burgundy hath already crowded his army
with foreigners, whom he can easily employ against this Sacred Court,
more especially with English, a fierce, insular people, wedded to
their own usages, and hating those of every other nation. It is not
unknown to us, that the Duke hath already encouraged opposition to the
officials of the Tribunal in more than one part of his German
dominions; and that in consequence, instead of submitting to their
doom with reverent resignation, children of the cord have been found
bold enough to resist the executioners of the Vehme, striking,
wounding, and even slaying those who have received commission to put
them to death. This contumacy must be put an end to; and if the
accused shall be proved to be one of those by whom such doctrines are
harboured and inculcated, I say let the steel and cord do their work
on him."
A general murmur seemed to approve what the speaker had said; for all
were conscious that the power of the Tribunal depended much more on
the opinion of its being deeply and firmly rooted in the general
system, than upon any regard or esteem for an institution of which
all felt the severity. It followed, that those of the members who
enjoyed consequence by means of their station in the ranks of the
Vehme saw the necessity of supporting its terrors by occasional
examples of severe punishment; and none could be more readily
sacrificed than an unknown and wandering foreigner. All this rushed
upon Philipson's mind, but did not prevent his making a steady reply
to the accusation.
"Gentlemen," he said, "good citizens, burgesses, or by whatever other
name you please to be addressed, know, that in my former days I have
stood in as great peril as now, and have never turned my heel to save
my life. Cords and daggers are not calculated to strike terror into
those who have seen swords and lances. My answer to the accusation is,
that I am an Englishman, one of a nation accustomed to yield and to
receive open-handed and equal justice dealt forth in the broad light
of day. I am, however, a traveller, who knows that he has no right to
oppose the rules and laws of other nations because they do not
resemble those of his own. But this caution can only be called for in
lands where the system about which we converse is in full force and
operation. If we speak of the institutions of Germany, being at the
time in France or Spain, we may, without offence to the country in
which they are current, dispute concerning them, as students debate
upon a logical thesis in a university. The accuser objects to me, that
at Turin, or elsewhere in the north of Italy, I spoke with censure of
the institution under which I am now judged. I will not deny that I
remember something of the kind; but it was in consequence of the
question being in a manner forced upon me by two guests with whom I
chanced to find myself at table. I was much and earnestly solicited
for an opinion ere I gave one."
"And was that opinion," said the presiding Judge, "favourable or
otherwise to the Holy and Secret Vehme-gericht? Let truth rule your
tongue--remember, life is short, judgment is eternal!"
"I would not save my life at the expense of a falsehood. My opinion
was unfavourable; and I expressed myself thus:--No laws or judicial
proceedings can be just or commendable which exist and operate by
means of a secret combination. I said, that justice could only live
and exist in the open air, and that when she ceased to be public she
degenerated into revenge and hatred. I said, that a system of which
your own jurists have said, _non frater a fratre, non hospes a
hospite, tutus_, was too much adverse to the laws of nature to be
connected with or regulated by those of religion."
These words were scarcely uttered, when there burst a murmur from the
Judges highly unfavourable to the prisoner,--"He blasphemes the Holy
Vehme--Let his mouth be closed for ever!"
"Hear me," said the Englishman, "as you will one day wish to be
yourselves heard! I say such were my sentiments, and so I expressed
them--I say also, I had a right to express these opinions, whether
sound or erroneous, in a neutral country, where this Tribunal neither
did, nor could, claim any jurisdiction. My sentiments are still the
same. I would avow them if that sword were at my bosom, or that cord
around my throat. But I deny that I have ever spoken against the
institutions of your Vehme, in a country where it had its course as a
national mode of justice. Far more strongly, if possible, do I
denounce the absurdity of the falsehood, which represents me, a
wandering foreigner, as commissioned to traffic with the Duke of
Burgundy about such high matters, or to form a conspiracy for the
destruction of a system to which so many seem warmly attached. I never
said such a thing, and I never thought it."
"Accuser," said the presiding Judge, "thou hast heard the
accused--What is thy reply?"
"The first part of the charge," said the accuser, "he hath confessed
in this high presence--namely, that his foul tongue hath basely
slandered our holy mysteries; for which he deserves that it should be
torn out of his throat. I myself, on my oath of office, will aver, as
use and law is, that the rest of the accusation--namely, that which
taxes him as having entered into machinations for the destruction of
the Vehmique institutions--is as true as those which he has found
himself unable to deny."
"In justice," said the Englishman, "the accusation, if not made good
by satisfactory proof, ought to be left to the oath of the party
accused, instead of permitting the accuser to establish by his own
deposition the defects in his own charge."
"Stranger," replied the presiding Judge, "we permit to thy ignorance a
longer and more full defence than consists with our usual forms. Know,
that the right of sitting among these venerable judges confers on the
person of him who enjoys it a sacredness of character which ordinary
men cannot attain to. The oath of one of the initiated must
counterbalance the most solemn asseveration of every one that is not
acquainted with our holy secrets. In the Vehmique court all must be
Vehmique. The averment of the Emperor, he being uninitiated, would not
have so much weight in our counsels as that of one of the meanest of
these officials. The affirmation of the accuser can only be rebutted
by the oath of a member of the same Tribunal, being of superior rank."
"Then, God be gracious to me, for I have no trust save in Heaven!"
said the Englishman, in solemn accents. "Yet I will not fall without
an effort. I call upon thee thyself, dark spirit, who presidest in
this most deadly assembly--I call upon thyself, to declare on thy
faith and honour, whether thou holdest me guilty of what is thus
boldly averred by this false calumniator--I call upon thee by thy
sacred character--by the name of"----
"Hold!" replied the presiding Judge. "The name by which we are known
in open air must not be pronounced in this subterranean
judgment-seat."
He then proceeded to address the prisoner and the assembly.--"I, being
called on in evidence, declare that the charge against thee is so far
true as it is acknowledged by thyself--namely, that thou hast in other
lands than the Red Soil[3] spoken lightly of this holy institution of
justice. But I believe in my soul, and will bear witness on my honour,
that the rest of the accusation is incredible and false. And this I
swear, holding my hand on the dagger and the cord.--What is your
judgment, my brethren, upon the case which you have investigated?"
A member of the first-seated and highest class amongst the judges,
muffled like the rest, but the tone of whose voice and the stoop of
whose person announced him to be more advanced in years than the other
two who had before spoken, arose with difficulty, and said with a
trembling voice,--
"The child of the cord who is before us has been convicted of folly
and rashness in slandering our holy institution. But he spoke his
folly to ears which had never heard our sacred laws--He has,
therefore, been acquitted, by irrefragable testimony, of combining for
the impotent purpose of undermining our power, or stirring up princes
against our holy association, for which death were too light a
punishment--He hath been foolish, then, but not criminal; and as the
holy laws of the Vehme bear no penalty save that of death, I propose
for judgment that the child of the cord be restored without injury to
society, and to the upper world, having been first duly admonished of
his errors."
"Child of the cord," said the presiding Judge, "thou hast heard thy
sentence of acquittal. But, as thou desirest to sleep in an unbloody
grave, let me warn thee, that the secrets of this night shall remain
with thee, as a secret not to be communicated to father nor mother, to
spouse, son, or daughter; neither to be spoken aloud nor whispered; to
be told in words or written in characters; to be carved or to be
painted, or to be otherwise communicated, either directly or by
parable and emblem. Obey this behest, and thy life is in surety. Let
thy heart then rejoice within thee, but let it rejoice with trembling.
Never more let thy vanity persuade thee that thou art secure from the
servants and Judges of the Holy Vehme. Though a thousand leagues lie
between thee and the Red Land, and thou speakest in that where our
power is not known; though thou shouldst be sheltered by thy native
island, and defended by thy kindred ocean, yet, even there, I warn
thee to cross thyself when thou dost so much as think of the Holy and
Invisible Tribunal, and to retain thy thoughts within thine own bosom;
for the Avenger may be beside thee, and thou mayst die in thy folly.
Go hence, be wise, and let the fear of the Holy Vehme never pass from
before thine eyes."
At the concluding words, all the lights were at once extinguished with
a hissing noise. Philipson felt once more the grasp of the hands of
the officials, to which he resigned himself as the safest course. He
was gently prostrated on his pallet-bed, and transported back to the
place from which he had been advanced to the foot of the altar. The
cordage was again applied to the platform, and Philipson was sensible
that his couch rose with him for a few moments, until a slight shock
apprised him that he was again brought to a level with the floor of
the chamber in which he had been lodged on the preceding night, or
rather morning. He pondered over the events that had passed, in which
he was sensible that he owed Heaven thanks for a great deliverance.
Fatigue at length prevailed over anxiety, and he fell into a deep and
profound sleep, from which he was only awakened by returning light.
He resolved on an instant departure from so dangerous a spot, and,
without seeing any one of the household but the old ostler, pursued
his journey to Strasburg, and reached that city without further
accident.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The word Wehme, pronounced Vehme, is of uncertain derivation, but
was always used to intimate this inquisitorial and secret Court. The
members were termed Wissenden, or Initiated, answering to the modern
phrase of Illuminati. Mr. Palgrave seems inclined to derive the word
_Vehme_ from _Ehme_, _i.e._ _Law_, and he is probably right.
[2] The term _Strick-kind_, or child of the cord, was applied to the
person accused before these awful assemblies.
[3] The parts of Germany subjected to the operation of the Secret
Tribunal were called, from the blood which it spilt, or from some
other reason (Mr. Palgrave suggests the ground tincture of the ancient
banner of the district), the Red Soil. Westphalia, as the limits of
that country were understood in the Middle Ages, which are
considerably different from the present boundaries, was the principal
theatre of the Vehme.