CHAPTER I.

How the sub-prioress, Dorothea Stettin, visits Sidonia and extols her virtue-Item, of Sidonia's quarrel with the dairywoman, and how she beats the sheriff himself, Eggert Sparling, with a broom-stick.

MOST EMINENT AND ILLUSTRIOUS PRINCE!-Your Serene Highness will surely pardon me if I pass over, in libro tertio, many of the quarrels, bickerings, strifes, and evil deeds, with which Sidonia disturbed the peace of the convent, and brought many a goodly person therein to a cruel end; first, because these things are already much known and talked of; and secondly, because such dire and Satanic wickedness must not be so much as named to gentle ears by me.

I shall therefore only set down a few of the principal events of her convent life, by which your Grace and others may easily conjecture much of what still remains unsaid; for truly wickedness advanced and strengthened in her day by day, as decay in a rotting tree.

The morning after her arrival in the convent, while it was yet quite early, and Wolde Albrechts, her lame maid, was sweeping out the refectory, the sub-prioress, Dorothea Stettin, came to pay her a visit. She had a piece of salmon, and a fine haddock's liver, on a plate, to present to the lady, and was full of joy and gratitude that so pious and chaste a maiden should have entered this convent. 66 Ah, yes! it was indeed terrible to see how the convent gates lay open, and the men-folk walked in and out, as the lady herself had seen yesterday. And would sister Sidonia believe it, sometimes

the carls came in bare-legged? Not alone old Matthias Winterfeld, the convent porter, but others—yea, even in their shirt-sleeves sometimes-oh, it was shocking even to think of! She had talked about it long enough, but no one heeded her, though truly she was sub-prioress, and ought to have authority. However, if sister Sidonia would make common cause with her from this time forth, modesty and sobriety might yet be brought back to their blessed cloister."

Sidonia desired nothing better than to make common cause with the good, simple Dorothea-but for her own purposes. Therefore she answered, “Ay, truly; this matter of the What else were open gates was a grievous sin and shame. these giddy wantons thinking of but lovers and matrimony? She really blushed to see them yesterday."

Illa.—“True, true; that was just it. All about love and marriage was the talk for ever amongst them. It made her heart die within her to think what the young maidens were nowadays."

Hæc.—“Had she any instances to bring forward; what had they done?"

Illa." Alas! instances enough. Why, not long since, a nun had married with a clerk, and this last chaplain, David Grosskopf, had taken another nun to wife himself."

Hac.

Oh, she was ready to faint with horror."

Illa (sobbing, weeping, and falling upon Sidonia's neck).— “God be praised that she had found one righteous soul in this Sodom and Gomorrah. Now she would swear friendship to her for life and death! And had she a little drop of wine, just to pour on the haddock's liver? it tasted so much better stewed in wine! but she would go for some of her The liver must just get one turn on the fire, and then the butter and spices have to be added. She would teach her how to do it if she did not know, only let the old maid make up the fire."

own.

Hæc. "What was she talking about? Cooking was child's play to her; she had other things to cook than haddocks' livers."

Illa (weeping).—"Ah! let not her chaste sister be angry; she had meant it all in kindness."

Hæc..—“ No doubt—but why did she call the convent a Sodom and Gomorrah? Did the nuns ever admit a lover

into their cells?"

Illa (screaming with horror).—" No, no, fie! how could the chaste sister bring her lips to utter such words?"

Hac." What did she mean, then, by the Sodom and Gomorrah?"

Illa." Alas! the whole world was a Sodom and Gomorrah, why, then, not the convent, since it lay in the world? For though we do not sin in words or works, yet we may sin in thought; and this was evidently the case with some of these young things, for if the talk in their hearing was of marriage, they laughed and tittered, so that it was a scandal and abomination! "

Hac." But had she anything else to tell her—what had she come for?"

Illa.-"Ah! she had forgotten. The abbess sent to say, that she must begin to knit the gloves directly for the canons of Camyn. Here was the thread."

Hac.

"Thousand devils! what did she mean?"

Illa (crossing herself).-"Ah! the pious sister might let the devils alone, though (God be good to us) the world was indeed full of them!"

Hæc.-"What did she mean, then, by this knitting-to talk to her so the lady of castles and lands?"

Illa.-"

.—"Why, the matter was thus. The reverend canons of Camyn, who were twelve in number, purchased their beer always from the convent-for such had been the usage from the old Catholic times and sent a waggon regularly every half-year to fetch it home. In return for this goodness, the

nuns knit a pair of thread gloves for each canon in spring, and a pair of woollen ones in winter."

Hac.—“Then the devil may knit them if he chooses, but she never will. What! a lady of her rank to knit gloves for these old fat paunches! No, no; the abbess must come to Send a message to bid her come."

her!

And truly, in a little time, the abbess, Magdalena von Petersdorf, came as she was bid; for she had resolved to try and conquer Sidonia's pride and insolence by softness and humility.

But what a storm of words fell upon the worthy matron! "Was this treatment, forsooth, for a noble lady? To be told to knit gloves for a set of lazy canons. Marry, she had better send the men at once to her room, to have them tried on. No wonder that levity and wantonness should reign throughout the convent!"

Here the good mother interposed

If

"But could not sister Sidonia moderate her language a little? Such violence ill became a spiritual maiden. she would not hold by the old usage, let her say so quietly, and then she herself, the abbess, would undertake to knit the gloves, since the work so displeased her."

Then she turned to leave the room, but, on opening the door, tumbled right against sister Anna Apenborg, who was stuck up close to it, with her ear against the crevice, listening to what was passing inside. Anna screamed at first, for the good mother's head had given her a stout blow, but recovering quickly, as the two prioresses passed out, curtsied to Sidonia-

"Her name was Anna Apenborg. Her father, Elias, dwelt in Nadrensee, near Old Stettin, and her great-greatgrandfather, Caspar, had been with Bogislaff X. in the Holy Land. She had come to pay her respects to the new sister, for she was cooking in the kitchen yesterday when the lady arrived, and never got a sight of her, but she heard that

this dear new sister was a great lady, with castles and lands. Her father's cabin was only a poor thing thatched with straw," &c.

All this pleased the proud Sidonia mightily, so she beckoned her into the room, where the aforesaid Anna immediately began to stare about her, and devour everything with her eyes; but seeing such scanty furniture, remarked inquiringly

"The dear sister's goods are, of course, on the road?" This spoiled all Sidonia's good-humour in a moment, and she snappishly asked—

"What brought her there?"

Hereupon the other excused herself—

"The maid had told her that the dear sister was going to eat her salmon for her lunch, with bread and butter, but it was much better with kale, and if she had none, her maid might come down now and cut some in the garden. This was what she had to say. She heard, indeed, that the subprioress and Agnes Kleist ate their salmon stewed in butter, but that was too rich; for one should be very particular about salmon, it was so apt to disagree. However, if sister Sidonia would just mind her, she would teach her all the different ways of dressing it, and no one was ever the worse for eating salmon, if they followed her plan."

But before Sidonia had time to answer, the chatterbox had run to the door and lifted the latch—

"There was a strange woman in the courtyard, with something under her apron. She must go and see what it

was, but would be back again instantly with the news.

In a short time she returned, bringing along with her Sheriff Sparling's dairy-woman, who carried a large bundle of flax under her apron. This she set down before Sidonia

"And his worship bid her say that she must spin all this for him without delay, for he wanted a new set of shirts, and the thread must be with the weaver by Christmas.”