Produced by Irma Špehar, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) THE DEVIL'S ELIXIR. FROM THE GERMAN OF E. T. A. HOFFMANN. _In diesem Jahre wandelte auch her Deuvel offentlich auf den Strassen von Berlin.----_ _Haftit Microc. Berol. p. 1043._ In that yeare, the Deville was alsoe seene walking publiclie on the streetes of Berline.---- VOL. I. WILLIAM BLACKWOOD, EDINBURGH: AND T. CADELL, LONDON. 1829. THE DEVIL'S ELIXIR. CHAPTER I. My life, from my fourth to my sixteenth year, was spent at a lonely farm-house, on the banks of the river Saale, near the Cistertian Monastery of Kreuzberg. The house, though not large, had once been the residence of a baronial family, that was now extinct, and of whose representatives strange stories were narrated. Of course, therefore, their castle was gloomy; of course, also, said to be haunted, and its immediate environs were in keeping with the character of the principal mansion. There was, for example, a garden in the old style, with steps and terrace walks, now ruined and neglected; thick hedges of yew and cypress, with trees cut into fantastic shapes, which the present owner had not found leisure, or perhaps had not permission, to destroy. The surrounding country, however, at some distance, was very beautiful, presenting a fine diversity of hill and dale, rock, wood, and water. The situation of the Cistertian Convent, too, is particularly admired; but in the recollections which I am thus commencing, rapid, simple narrative must be my leading object; I have no time for diffuse and verbose description.