own many of the nobility, all anxious to guard their ancient rights against en

r, and to reminding them that the line between gentlemen of the realm and the unfree mob was still firm and immutable, in spite of the privilege

. There was feasting and open house in the homes of the nobility. Far into the night the violin sounded from well-lit halls, telling the slee

gainst the Estate, and moreover the good old nobility cordially hated that rather numerous upper aristocracy formed by the natural children of the kings and their rela

at she felt herself being wronged for his sake. So when the two were quietly married on the sixteenth of December, sixteen hundred and sixty, there was the best reason to believe

their wedding in the castle, as Christian the Fourth had done that of Hans Ulrik and Mistress Rigitze, but at the eleventh hou

no matter how often it is told with the very same words, the same surprises, and the self-same "Snip, snap, snout, my tale's out," while Leander is more exacting and grows weary as soon as his feeling no longer makes him new to himself. When he ceases to be intoxicated, he suddenly becomes more than sober. The flush and glamor of his ecstasy, which for a while gave him the assurance of a demigod, suddenly departs; h

with Marie. The rain was pouring. It was impossible to go walking or riding, and so he had sought his armory, as he called it, thinking he would polish and take stock of his treasures-this was

needles. There were toledo blades, many toledos, light as reeds and flexible as willows, with hilts of silver and jasper agate, or of chased gold or gold and carbuncles. One had nothing but a hilt of etched steel, and for a swor

court,-doubly tiresome since the nobility stayed at home,-to hunt a little, look to his estate once in a while, some time in the future by the grace of the King to be made Privy Councillor of the Realm and be knighted, keep on the right side of Prince Christian and retain his office, now and then be sent on a tedious embassy to Holland, grow old, get the rheumatism, die, and be buried

hole ride had debated with himself all the reasons that made his plan difficult, unreasonable, impossible. But the King said Yes

start until the middle of April; for there was much to be done. Money ha

t do. Yet women have an inborn dread of all farewells, and in this case there was much to fear. Even if she could forget the chances of war and the long, dangerous journey, and tell herself that a king's son would be well taken care of, yet she could not help her foreboding that their life together might suffer such a break by a separation of perhaps more than a year that it would never be the same again. Their love was yet so lightly rooted, and just as it had begun to grow, it was to be merc

l the light papistical feminine rabbl

had charged Ulrik Frederik when he came to Amsterdam to call on a renowned alchemist, the Italian Burrhi, and to drop a hint that

corners of his small, glittering black eyes innumerable furrows and lines spread out like a fan, giving him an expression at once sly and goodhumored. He wore a black velvet coat with wide collar and cuffs and crape-covered silver buttons, black knee-breeches and silk stockings, and shoes with large black rosettes. His taste for fine lace appeared in the edging on his cravat and shirt bosom and in the

silver plate on which the twelve signs of the zodiac, the planets, and some of the more important constellations were done in niello. Above it, a string of ostrich eggs hung from the ceiling. The floor - 115 - had been painted in a chequered design of red and gray, and near the door a triangle was formed by old horseshoes t

rik-they were speaking in French-asked whether Burrhi would not with his learning

shook h

nted rulers and hereditary kings, who have been so ignorant of their historia naturalis and materia magica that the most lowborn quacksalver could not entertain such vulgar superstitions as they do. They even put their faith in that widely disseminated though shameful delusion that making gold is like concocting a - 116 - sleeping-potion or a healing-pillula, that if one has the correct ingredients, 'tis but to mix them together, set them over the fire, and lo! the gold is there. Such lies are circulated by catch-pennies and ignoramuses-whom may the devil take! Cannot the fools understand that if 'twere so simple a process, the world would be swimming in gold? For although learned authors have held

rik, "but do not these occult arts impe

e stone in one of his rings to his lips. "'Tis true," he continued, "that we know great names of darkness and awful words, yea, fearful mystic signs, which if they be used for evil, as many witches and warlocks and vulgar soothsayers use - 117 - them, instantly bind the soul of him who names them in the fetters of Gehenna,

ik Frederik asked whether Burrhi had been able to cast his horoscope by t

on a merchant, the farmer's son a farmer, and so on throughout all classes. The misfortune of many men is due to nothing else but their following another career than that which the stars in the ascendant at the time of their birth would indicate. Thus if a man born under the sign of the ram in the first section becomes a soldier, success will never attend him, but wounds, slow advancement, and early death will be his assured portion, whereas, if he had chosen a handicraft, such as working in stone or wrought metals, his course would have run smooth. One

oes, touching them with his shoes as a tight-rope dancer rubs his soles over

is the life-line; it seems but poor, I grieve to say. Take great care until you have passed the age of seven and twenty, for at that time your life is threatened in some sinister and secret fashio

pped t

horse or coach. Take them with you and carry them - 119 - ever on your breast, or if you have them set in a ring, cut away the gold behind them, for the stone must touch if it is to protect you. And here is a jasper. Do you see the design like a tree? It is very rare and most precious and good against stabbing in the dark and liquid poisons. Once

he alchemist a costly necklace, as a token of his gratitude for his wise counsel and protecting