investigation, I will tell you all, truly and without reserve. I was
indeed on intimate terms with your sons six years ago,--yes, we
entertained the project which is mentioned in the letter. How the
plan, for the execution of which, the most careful preparations were
made with truly impious acuteness, proved a failure, is to me utterly
incomprehensible. Heaven itself seems to have taken the convent of
those pious ladies under its holy protection. For you must know that
your sons had already, as a prelude to some determined action,
interrupted divine service by all sorts of ribaldry, and that more than
three hundred rascals gathered together within the walls of our then
misguided city, and armed with hatchets and links only waited for the
signal which the preacher was to make, to level the cathedral with the
ground. Directly the music began, your sons, with a simultaneous
movement and in a manner that surprised us, suddenly took off their
hats; as if overcome by deep inexpressible emotion, they bowed down
their faces, and gradually covered them with their hands. At last the
preacher suddenly turning round, after an astounding pause, called to
us with a loud terrific voice to uncover our heads also. In vain did
some of his comrades whisper to him, and sportively jogging him with
their arms, desire him to give the concerted signal for destruction,
the preacher, instead of answering sank upon his knees, with his hands
crossed on his heart, and fervently laying his forehead in the dust,
with all his brothers, recommenced the whole series of prayers, that he
had before derided. The crowd of miserable fanatics, deprived of their
leader, and utterly confounded by the spectacle I have described,
remained in a state of irresolution and inactivity till the conclusion
of the oratorium, which pealed down wondrously from the organ-loft, and
as at this moment several arrests were made by order of the commanding
officer, and some wicked fellows who had behaved indecorously, were
seized and led off by a guard, the wretched troop had nothing to do but
to avail themselves as speedily as possible of the shelter of the crowd
that rose to depart, thus to escape from the cathedral. In the
evening, after vainly asking several times for your sons at the inn,
whither they had not returned, I went with some friends to the convent
in a state of the greatest uneasiness that I might make inquiries of
the door-keepers, who had assisted the imperial guard. How, noble
lady, shall I describe my horror, when I saw the four men as before,
with the hands folded, touching the ground with their heads and
breasts, as though they had been petrified there--in short, bowed down
before the altar of the church with the most intense devotion? In vain
did the bailiff of the convent, who came up at this moment, pull them
by their cloaks, and shake them by their arms, and desire them to leave
the cathedral, which was already growing quite dark, and in which
nobody was left; half-rising in their dreamy fashion they did not
listen to him, until he ordered his men to take them up by the arms,
and lead them out at the porch. Then, at last, they followed us into
the city, though not without sighing, and frequently looking back, with
the most heart-rending sorrow, at the cathedral, which shone gloriously
behind us in the light of the setting sun. The other friends and I
repeatedly, and in the most affectionate manner, asked them what
terrible cause could possibly have produced such a thorough change in
their minds. They looked kindly upon us, and from time to time, with
an expression that still cuts me to the heart, wiped the tears from
their eyes. When they had reached their dwelling, they ingeniously
fashioned a cross of birchen-twigs, and fixed it in a little pyramid of
wax on the large table in the middle of the room between two candles,
with which the servant had made her appearance. While the friends,
whose number increased hourly, stood by, wringing their hands, and in
scattered groups, and speechless with grief, looked at their quiet
ghost-like proceedings, they seated themselves down at the table, as if
their senses were closed to every other object, and folding their
hands, began their devotions. They neither desired the repast, which
the servant brought in to regale their companions, according to the
orders they had left in the morning, nor afterwards, when night
advanced, did they care for the couch which she had set up in the
adjoining room, because they appeared weary. The friends, that they
might not provoke the anger of the host, who seemed much surprised at
the whole proceeding, sat down to a side-table profusely covered, and
ate the viands, which had been prepared for a large party, salting them
at the same time with their tears. The hour of midnight now suddenly
struck, and your four sons, after listening for a moment to the dull
sound of the bell, rose from their seats with a simultaneous movement,
and while we, laying down our napkins, looked at them, anxious to know
what would follow so strange a commencement, they began to sing the
_Gloria in excelsis_ in the most hideous and horrible voice. The sound
of leopards and wolves, when on an icy winters night they roar at the
sky, may be something like it. The pillars of the house, I assure you,
were shaken, and the window-panes smitten by the visible breath from
their lungs, rattled and threatened to fall in, as if handfuls of heavy
sand were dashed against their surface. At this frightful sight we
lost all self-possession, and with hair erect, we darted off in
different directions. Leaving hats and cloaks behind us, we dispersed
through the neighbouring streets, which in a short time were filled,
not with us, but with more than a hundred men who had been awakened
from sleep. The people bursting open the hall-door hurried upstairs to
the room, to discover the source of these fearful and revolting howls,
which seemed to implore the divine mercy, as if from the lips of
condemned sinners in the deepest abyss of the infernal regions. At
last when the clock struck one, the brothers, without having listened
to the indignation of the host, or the exclamations of horror that were
uttered by the people, closed their lips, wiped with a handkerchief
from their forehead the perspiration which fell upon their chin and
breast in large drops, and, spreading out their cloaks, lay down on the
floor to rest an hour from such painful labours. The host, who let
them take their own course, made the sign of the cross over them as
soon as he saw them asleep; and glad to get rid of the infliction, for
the time at least, induced the assembled crowd of people, who were
whispering mysteriously to one another, to leave the room, under the
assurance that the morning would bring with it a salutary change. But,
alas! with the first crow of the cock, the unhappy men rose again to
recommence before the cross which stood on the table, the same dreary,
ghost-like cloister-life, which exhaustion alone had interrupted for
the moment. They would receive no assistance nor advice from their
host, whose heart was melted at their mournful aspect; they merely
asked him to dismiss with kindness their friends, who were in the habit
of assembling about them every day. They wished nothing from him but
bread and water, and a litter of straw, if possible, for the night, so
that the man who used to derive a good profit from their convivial
disposition, was now obliged to submit the whole case to the legal
authorities, and to request them to remove from his house the four
persons, who, without doubt, were possessed of an evil spirit. By
order of the magistrates they underwent a medical examination, and
being proved mad, they were, as you know, removed to the lunatic
asylum, which the benevolence of our late emperor founded for the
benefit of such unfortunate persons within our walls.”
This was said by Veit Gotthelf, the cloth merchant, with much besides,
which we suppress, as we think we have said enough to give a clear
insight into the real state of the case. When he had finished he again
requested the lady not to implicate him in any manner, should the case
undergo a legal investigation.
Three days afterwards the lady who had been greatly shocked at the
account she had heard, took advantage of the fine weather and walked to
the convent, leaning on the arm of a female friend, with the mournful
purpose of surveying the fearful spot where the Almighty had stricken
down her sons, as it were, by invisible lightning. They found the
entrance of the cathedral boarded up, because some building was going
on, and even with straining were unable to see through the chinks of
the boards, any thing but the rosace-window which sparkled
magnificently in the back of the church. Hundreds of workmen, who were
singing merry songs, were on intricate, lightly-built scaffoldings,
occupied in making the towers a good third higher, and in covering the
cross and battlements, which had hitherto been only slated, with
strong, bright copper, which shone in the sunbeams. A thunder-cloud,
completely black, with borders of gold, was behind the building. When
it had spoken its thunder over Aix-la-Chapelle, and had darted some
ineffectual flashes in the direction of the cathedral, it sank
grumbling into the east, dissolved in vapour. It happened that while
the ladies were, from the steps of the spacious convent, contemplating
the double spectacle, absorbed in various thoughts, a nun who was
passing by learned who it was that was standing under the portico. The
abbess, therefore, who had heard of a letter respecting the affair of
the _Corpus Christi_ day, in the possession of the Netherland lady,
immediately sent the sister to her, requesting her to walk up. The
Netherland lady, although surprised for the moment, respectfully
complied with the request; and while her friend, at the invitation of
the nun, retired to a room near the entrance, the folding doors of the
beautifully-formed gallery were thrown open to the visitor who ascended
the stairs. There she found the abbess, who was a noble lady, of calm,
and even royal aspect, with her foot resting upon a stool supported by
dragons’ claws. On a desk by her side lay the score of a piece of
music. The abbess, after she had desired her visiter to take a chair,
told her that she had been already informed of her arrival by the
burgomaster. When she had inquired after the state of the unfortunate
sons in the kindest manner, and had recommended her to console herself
as to their fate, now it was not to be altered, she expressed a wish to
see the letter which the preacher had sent to his friend, the
schoolmaster, at Antwerp. The lady, who had experience enough to see
what would be the consequence of such a step, felt confused for the
moment. However, as the venerable countenance of the abbess inspired
her with unlimited confidence, and it was by no means credible that she
could have any design of making a public use of the contents of the
letter, she took it from her bosom, after a short hesitation, and
handed it to the noble lady, fervently kissing her hand. Whilst the
abbess was reading the letter, she cast a look at the score, which
happened to lie open on the desk; and as the cloth merchant’s narrative
had given her the notion that it might have been the power of music
that had turned the brains of her poor sons on that awful day, she
timidly turned round, and asked the nun who stood behind her chair,
whether that was the composition which had been played in the cathedral
on the memorable _Corpus Christi_ day, six years ago. The young nun
answered in the affirmative, saying that she remembered hearing of the
affair, and that since then, when the music was not used, it was
generally kept in the abbess’s room. At this the lady, deeply moved,
arose and placed herself before the desk, occupied by various thoughts.
She looked at the magical unknown signs, with which, as it seemed, some
fearful spirit had mysteriously marked out its circle, and was ready to
sink into the ground, when she found the “_Gloria in excelsis_” open.
It seemed to her as if the whole terrors of music, which had proved the
destruction of her sons, were whirling over her head; at the mere sight
of the score her senses seemed to be leaving her, and with an
infinitely strong feeling of humility and submission to the divine
power, she heartily pressed the leaf to her lips, and then again seated
herself in her chair. The abbess had, in the meanwhile, read the
letter, and said, as she folded it up: “God himself, on that wonderful
day, preserved the cloister from the wantonness of your misguided sons.
The means that He employed may be indifferent to you, since you are a
Protestant; indeed, you would hardly understand what I could reveal to
you on the subject. For you must know that nobody has the least notion
who it was, that under the pressure of that fearful hour, when
destruction was ready to fall upon us, calmly sat at the organ, and
conducted the work which you there find open. By evidence taken on the
following morning, in the presence of the bailiff of the convent and
several other persons, as recorded in our archives, it is proved that
Sister Antonia, the only one among us who knew how to conduct the work,
lay in the corner of her cell, sick, insensible, and without the use of
her limbs during the whole time of its performance. A nun who, as a
personal relative, was appointed to take charge of her, never stirred
from her bedside during the whole morning on which the festival of
_Corpus Christi_ was celebrated in the cathedral. Nay, Sister Antonia
would herself have confirmed the fact, that it was not she who in such
a strange and surprising manner appeared in the organ-loft, had her
insensible condition allowed her to be questioned on the subject, and
had she not, on the evening of the same day, died of the nervous fever
of which she lay ill, and which did not before appear to be dangerous.
The Archbishop of Trèves, to whom the occurrence was related, has given
the only possible explanation; viz., that St. Cecilia herself performed
this miracle, which is at once so sublime and so fearful; and I have
received a communication from the pope, in which this explanation is
confirmed.”
The abbess returned to the lady the letter, which she had merely asked
for to gain some further information on a matter which she already
partially knew, promising at the same time that she would make no use
of it. Then inquiring whether there were any hopes of her sons’
recovery, and whether by money or other assistance she could do any
thing towards that end--questions which the weeping abbess, while she
kissed her gown, answered in the negative--she kindly shook hands with
her, and dismissed her.
Thus ends this legend. The lady, whose presence in Aix-la-Chapelle was
not required, deposited with the legal tribunals a small sum for the
benefit of her poor sons, and then returned to the Hague, where, in the
course of the year, deeply moved by the event which had taken place,
she returned to the bosom of the Catholic church. The sons died a calm
and happy death, at a late old age, after they had once more sung the
“_Gloria in excelsis_” as usual.
J. O.
THE NEW PARIS.
A CHILD’S TALE, BY J. W. GOETHE.
[The following fanciful tale occurs in the autobiography of Goethe, to
which he has given the name of “Dichtung und Wahrheit.” He is supposed
to tell it, in his childhood, to a party of juvenile friends, and he
introduces it thus:
“I could afford great amusement to my friend, Pylades, and other
kindly-disposed acquaintance, by telling them stories. They liked
them, especially when I told them in my own person, being much
delighted to hear that such odd things could befall their play-fellow.
As for the question when I could find time and place for such
adventures--that was no matter, indeed they pretty well knew all my
ingoings and outgoings, and how I employed myself. To such events,
localities, taken from another spot, if not from another world, were
absolutely necessary, but nevertheless I made every thing happen on the
very day I told it, or the day before. My hearers, therefore, were
less deluded by me, than deceived by themselves. Had I not, in
conformity to my natural disposition learned to mould these aëriel
nothings into something like an artistical form, such vain-glorious
beginnings, would certainly have turned out badly for me in the end.
“If we duly consider this impulse, we may discover in it that
assumption, with which the poet ventures to utter the greatest
improbabilities in a tone of authority, and requires that every one
shall acknowledge that to be real, which to him, the inventor, may
appear to be true in any manner whatever.
“However, what is said above, in general terms, and in the form of
reflection, may be rendered more agreeable, and at the same time more
perceptible by an example. I therefore add such a tale--one, which as
I used to repeat it often to my playmates, still distinctly floats
before my imagination and in my memory.”]
Lately, on the night before Whit Sunday, I dreamed that I was standing
before a mirror, occupying myself with my new summer suit, which my
parents had had made against the approaching festival. The dress
consisted, as you well know, of shoes of nice leather, with great
silver buckles, fine cotton stockings, breeches of black serge, and a
coat of green barracan, with gold buttons. The waistcoat, of
gold-stuff, had been cut out of the one worn by my father on his
wedding-day. My hair was dressed and powdered, my curls stood upon my
head like little wings,--but I could not finish dressing myself; for I
continually changed the articles of wearing apparel, and the first
always dropped off when I was about to put on the second. While I was
thus embarrassed, a handsome young man came up to me, and greeted me in
the kindest manner. “Welcome,” said I, “it gives me great pleasure to
see you here.”--“Do you know me then?” asked he, smiling. “Why not?” I
replied, smiling in my turn. “You are Mercury, and I have often enough
seen pictures of you.”--“I am, indeed,” said he, “and I have been sent
to you by the gods on an important mission. Do you see these three
apples?” stretching out his hand, he showed me three apples, which from
their size he could scarcely hold, and which were as wonderfully
beautiful as they were large. One was green, another yellow, and the
third red, and they looked like precious stones, to which the shape of
fruit had been given. I wished to take them, but he drew me back,
saying, “You must first know, that they are not for you. You are to
give them to the three handsomest young persons in the town, who will,
every one according to his lot, find wives to their heart’s content.
There, take them and manage the matter well,” he added, as he quitted
me, and placed the apples in my open hand. They seemed to me to have
become even larger than they were before. I held them against the
light, and found they were quite transparent, but soon they grew
taller, and at last became three pretty--very pretty little ladies, of
the height of a moderate-sized doll, with dresses of the colours of the
apples. In this form they glided softly up my fingers, and when I was
about to make a catch at them, that I might secure one at least, they
soared up far away, so that I could do nothing but look after them.
There I stood quite astounded and petrified, with my hands high in the
air, and still staring at my fingers, as if their was something to be
seen upon them. All of a sudden I perceived upon the very tips a
charming little girl, very pretty and lively, though smaller than the
others. As she did not fly away, like them, but remained with me, and
danced about, now on this finger, now on that, I looked at her for some
time, in a state of astonishment. She pleased me so much, that I
fancied I might catch her, and was just on the point of making a
grasp--as I thought very cleverly--when I felt a blow on the head, that
caused me to fall completely stunned, and did not awaken from the
stupor it occasioned till it was time to dress and go to church.