“So may that light,” the spirit began to say, “Which leads thee up, find in thine own free will Sufficient wax to last thee all the way, Even to th’ enamelled summit of the Hill. If thou true news of Val di Magra know’st, Or of those parts, inform me of the same, For I was mighty once upon that coast, And Conrad Malaspina was my name. Not the old lord, but his descendant, I: The love which once I to my kindred bore Is here refined.” “O,” thus I made reply, “That realm of yours I never travelled o’er; But where throughout all Europe is the place That knows it not? The honor Fame accords Your house illustrates not alone the race, But makes the land renowned as are its lords; He knows that country who was never there: Still the free purse they bear, and still bright swords So mount my soul as this to thee I swear! Custom and nature privilege them so, That, if through guilt the world’s guide lead astray, They in the path of right straightforward go Sole of all men, and scorn the evil way.” To these my words, “Now go,” the spirit said, For the sun shall not enter seven times more That part of heaven where Aries o’er his bed Stretches and spreads his forked feet all four, Ere this thy courtesy’s belief shall be Nailed in the middle of thy head with nails Of greater force than men’s reports to thee If, unimpeded, Judgment’s course prevails. THE RUSSIAN IDEA. FROM THE GERMAN OF CONRAD VON BOLANDEN. CONCLUDED. III. RUSSIAN VICTIMS. THE following morning, Rasumowski sat with his guests at a sumptuous breakfast in his elegant summer-house, the roof of which rested upon beautifully ornamented pillars. Adolph von Sempach appeared very sad; for he had again received evidences of Alexandra’s indomitable pride and want of feeling. Beck remarked the disposition of his friend, and he thought with satisfaction of the deeply afflicted mother in her lonely palace at Posen. “Some years ago, the emperor emancipated the serfs—did he act prudently?” asked the high official of Berlin. “Whatever the czar does, is well done,” answered the governor; “and if the future czar again introduces the former system of servitude, that also will be right. But you must not understand the abolition of servitude in a literal sense. The serfs; were freed only from servitude to the nobility; the Russian nobility have lost by it. But both peasant and noble will always remain slaves of the emperor. Consequently servitude still exists in Russia, the same kind that you desire to establish in the new German Empire. Ah! there comes the Roman Catholic pastor!” exclaimed the governor, his features assuming at once their accustomed look of ferocity. “Now, gentlemen, see how I shall deal with this hero of liberty, who preaches rebellion to the people!” The pastor timidly approached the Russian dignitary, and allowed himself to be treated in a manner unworthy of his priestly dignity.