to clothes, they might all get the handsomest they pleased, and their meals were supplied from the ducal kitchen.

As his Grace ended, and lifted up Sidonia and kissed her, she wept and sighed more than ever. "Could he think this of her? No; she would never enter the house which was the talk of all Pomerania. If she consented, then, indeed, would the world believe all the falsehoods that were told of her—of her, who was as innocent as a child!" Hereupon his Grace answered stiff and stern (yet this was not his wont, for he was a right tender master), “Then go your ways. Into that house or nowhere else." (Alas! let every maiden take warning, by this example, to guard against the first false step. Amen, chaste Jesus! Amen.)

That evening Sidonia took up her abode in the house. But that same evening there was a great scandalum, and tearing of each other's hair among the girls. For one of them, named Trina Wehlers, was a baker's daughter from Stramehl, and on the occasion of Clara's wedding she had headed a procession of young peasants to join the bridal party, but Sidonia had haughtily pushed her back, and forbid them to approach. This Trina was a fine rosy wench, and my Lord Duke took a fancy to her then, so that she looked with great jealousy on any one that threatened to rob her of his favour. Now when Sidonia entered the house and saw the baker's daughter, she commenced again. to play the part of the great lady, but the other only laughed, and mockingly asked her, "Where was the princely spouse, Duke Ernest of Wolgast? Would his Highness come to meet her there?"

Then Sidonia raged from shame and despair, that this peasant girl should dare to insult her, and she ran weeping to her chamber; but when supper was served, the scandalum broke out in earnest. For Sidonia had now grown a little comforted, and as there were many dainty dishes from the Duke's table sent to them, she began to enjoy herself

VOL. I.

somewhat, when all of a sudden the baker's daughter gave her a smart blow over the fingers with a fork. Sidonia instantly seized her by the hair; and now there was such an uproar of blows, screams, and tongues, that my gracious lord, the Duke, was sent for. Whereupon he scolded the baker's daughter right seriously for her insolence, and told her that as Sidonia was the only noble maiden amongst them, she was to bear rule. And if the others did not obey her humbly, as befitted her rank, they should all be whipped. His Grace wore a patch of black plaister on his chin, and attempted to kiss Sidonia again, but she pushed him away, saying that he must have told all that happened at Wolgast to these girls, otherwise how could the baker's daughter have mocked her about it.

Whereupon my gracious lord consoled her, and said that if she were quiet and well-behaved, he would take her with him to the Diet at Wollin, for all the young dukes of Pomerania were to attend it, and Prince Ernest amongst the number, seeing that he had summoned them all there, in order to give up the government of the land into their hands, as he was too old now himself to be tormented with state affairs.

When Sidonia heard this, hope sprang up within her heart, and she resolved to bear her destiny calmly.

CHAPTER V.

How they went on meantime at Wolgast-Item, of the Diet at Wollin, and what happened there.

WITH regard to their Serene Highnesses of Wolgast, I have already related, libro primo, that the young lord, Ernest Ludovicus, was carried out of Sidonia's chamber like one dead, when he beheld her abominable wickedness with his own eyes

And all can easily believe that he lay for a long while sick unto death. In vain Dr. Pomius offered his celebrated specific; he would take nothing, did nothing day or night but sigh and groan—

“Ah, Sidonia; ah, my beloved heart's bride, Sidonia, can it be possible? Adored Sidonia, my heart is breaking. Sidonia, Sidonia, can it be possible?"

At last the idea struck Dr. Pomius that there must be magic and devil's work in it. So he searched through all his learned books, and finally came upon a recipe which was infallible in such cases. This was to burn the tooth of a dead man to powder, and let the sick bewitched person smoke the ashes. Such was solemnly recommended by Petrus Hispanus Ulyxbonensis, who, under the name of John XXII., ascended the papal throne. See his Thesaurus Pauperum, cap. ult.

But the Prince would neither take anything nor smoke anything, and the delirium amatorium grew more violent and alarming day by day, so that the whole ducal house was plunged into the deepest grief and despair.

Now there was a prisoner in the bastion tower at Wolgast, a carl from Katzow, who had been arrested and condemned for practising horrible sorceries and magic-namely, having changed the calves of his neighbours into young hares, which instinctively started off to the woods, and were never seen more, as the whole town testified; and other devil's doings he had practised, which I now forget; but they were fully proved against him, and so he was sentenced to be burned.

This man now sent a message to the authorities, that if they pardoned him and allowed him free passage from the town, he would tell of something to cure the young lord. This was agreed to; and when he was brought to the chamber of the Prince, he laid his ear down upon his breast, to listen if it were witchcraft that ailed him. Then he spake

"Yes; the heart beats quite unnaturally, the sound wast like the whimpering of a fly caught in a spider's web; their lordships might listen for themselves."

Whereupon all present, one after the other, laid their car upon the breast of the young Prince, and heard really as he had described.

The carl now said that he would give his Highness a potion which would make him, from that hour, hate the woman who had bewitched him as much as he had adored her. Item, the young lord must sleep for three days, and when he woke, his strength would have returned to him; to procure this sleep, he must anoint his temples with goat's milk, which they must instantly bring him, and during his sleep the Lady Duchess must, every two hours, lay fresh ox-flesh upon his stomach.

When her Grace heard this, she rejoiced that her dear son would so soon hold the harlot in abhorrence who had bewitched him. And the carl gave him a red syrup, which he had no sooner swallowed than all care for Sidonia seemed to have vanished from his mind. Even before the goat's milk came, he exclaimed

"Now that I think over it, what a great blessing that we have got rid of Sidonia."

And no sooner were his temples bathed with the milk than he fell into a deep sleep, which lasted for three days, and when he opened his eyes, his first words were

"Where is that Sidonia? Is the wanton still here? Bring her before me, that I may tell her how I hate her. Oh, fool that I was, to peril my princely honour for a harlot. Where is she? I must have my revenge upon the light wanton."

Her Grace could hardly speak for joy when she heard these words; and she gave the carl, who had watched all the time by the bedside of the young Prince, so much ham and sausages from the ducal kitchen, that he finally could

car.

not walk, but was obliged to be drawn out of the town in a Then she asked Dr. Pomius how such a miracle could have been effected. At which he laid his finger on his nose, after his manner, and replied, such was accomplished through the introduction of the natural Life Balsam, which the learned called confermentationem Mumia, and so the fool went on prating, and her Grace devouring his words as if they were gospel.

Summa.-After a few days the young lord was able to leave his bed, and as they kept fresh ox-flesh continually applied to his stomach, he soon regained his strength, so that, in a couple of weeks, he could ride, fish, and hunt, and his cheeks were as fresh and rosy as ever. One day he mentioned "the groom's mistress," as he called her, and wished he could give her a lesson in lute-playing, it would be one to make her tremble. But when the letter arrived from Duke Barnim, declaring that, from his great age, he proposed resigning the government of Pomerania into the hands of her Grace's sons, there was no end to the rejoicings at Wolgast, and her Grace declared that she would herself accompany them to the Diet at Wollin.

We shall now see what a treat was waiting her at the old castle there. It was built wholly of wood, and has long since fallen; but at the time I write of, it was standing in all its glory.

Monday, the 15th May 1569, at eleven in the forenoon, his Grace of Stettin came with seven coaches and two hundred and fourteen horsemen into the courtyard. And there, on the steps of the castle, stood my gracious Lady of Wolgast, holding the little Casimir by the hand, in waiting to receive his Highness, and all her other sons stood round her -namely, the illustrious Bishop of Camyn, Johann Frederick, in his bishop's robes, with the staff and mitre. Item, Duke Bogislaus, who had presented her Grace with a tame sea-gull. Item, Ernest Ludovicus, in a Spanish mantle of black velvet,