He who has ever witnessed in Germany a celebration of Christ's gifts to the children, knows well the joyful expectation with which the children await in an adjoining room the ecstatic moment when the doors of Paradise shall be opened to them. How beats their hearts, when at length the bell rings, after whose sound they have for weeks long yearned, and in anticipation of which, they have often calculated how frequently the Sandman[46] must do his duty before that moment arrived. And now, the instant that it is become dark, the impatience of the little ones can be no more restrained, and in all, even the poorest houses, the Bescherung, or distribution of the presents, begins. The shutters on this evening are closed in scarcely any of the houses, so that in the dark, as you pass along the streets, you see into the rooms lit up and embellished for the occasion. The Christ-tree covered with lights, throws its beams into the very darkness of the street; and the jubilant cries of the rushing-in children are heard, as transported with the view of their individual presents, they fly to each other to show them. This scene his friends had brought to his observation, and he could not sufficiently thank them for it. A modest supper was now brought out; the friends seated themselves round the table, and while they addressed themselves to discuss it, they heard the reports of pistols every where resounding in the streets. The conversation turned itself upon the festivity of the present night, and on the different modes in which it is celebrated in different countries. "That shooting," said Freisleben, "is a pleasure that we will surrender to other people; but the Vivat! we will help to accomplish. The Chores, Mr. Traveller, which betake themselves this night to their kneips, make, about twelve o'clock, a procession through the city, and bring to some of the Professors a 'Lebe hoch!' But till the hour arrive, we will endeavour to entertain ourselves with the recollection of a former occasion of this kind. It is so natural, at the conclusion of the year, for us to bring its circumstances once more before us, and with what must ours knit themselves?--Certainly with the University-city. I therefore make the proposal, that every one of us, in rotation, relate something which has a particular reference to remarkable persons and events, occurring or existing in Heidelberg in former times, and which were never wanting in Ruperto-Carolo; and in order to make a worthy beginning, our great historiographer, Von Kronen, may, as he lately was on the point of doing, communicate some of the most striking passages from the annals of the City of the Muses." The proposal met with general acceptance. The glasses were again replenished; the cigars sent their curling fumes into the air; and Von Kronen, throwing himself back in the corner of the sofa, began--