bid you good morning."-" Hout, man, dinna gang awa sae soon; come up and see the lasses again, and tak a Welsh rabbit wi' John and me." I was deaf to his entreaties, however, and ran off amidst cries of, "Mind the morn -the day I mean and come ower soon." The streets in Edinburgh on Newyear's-day, all the working-classes being idle, were filled with people of both sexes, on parties of pleasure or visits of kindness. All the children were taken to visit their relatives or friends, and share in the spoils of cake and sweetmeats, which even the lowest provided on this occasion. The water-carriers and milk-women, in their daily visits to their customers, were treated with a dram, and cheese and bread or buns; but, as the innumerable glasses offered could not be contained in one stomach, they were in use to carry bottles for the reception of the superabundant liquor. The oyous look of the people, most of them in their Sunday clothes, might have told a stranger it was a season of gladness; and though not a few, whom prudence had not taught to measure their potations by their ability to carry the intoxicating load, were reeling here and there, yet even these lost not their general character for sobriety by a New-year's day excess. The forenoon, spent in visiting, was succeeded by family-dinners, where those whom nature has connected together drew the ties of friendship and affection still closer round the little circle, by mutual wishes for mutual success. I visited Mrs Callimanky in the forenoon, to ask for my old friend, whom a slight headache had put out of order; and went punctually at three to dinner, where I met Mrs M'Guffie and her daughters, and formed an acquaintance with Mr John Gimmerpet, the young man whom his uncle had rescued from the clutches of the town-guard; -the consequence of which was an invitation to Windlestrawlee, along with Mr and Mrs Callimanky, to repeat the pleasures of the time in the enjoyment of Auld Handsel Mununday, as aunty Betty was pleased to term it, in the country. Such were the New-year's-days of Edinburgh in former times, and such they continued to be for very many But, years. But a change has taken place in the morals and manners of the common people, not less striking than that which those who remember Edinburgh fifty years ago must have remarked in the accommodation and habits of the higher ranks of this metropolis. To what cause this change for the worse in a people hitherto accounted singularly correct in moral and religious duties is to be attributed, it is for the philosopher and political economist to judge. Want of that education which a Scottish father, however poor, was accustomed to give to his offspring, I should, without hes hesitation, set down as one of the most prominent; for certainly the same anxiety is not now exhibited by parents in the lower classes of society, to suffer privations that their children may enter on the world with advantages superior to their own. be that as it may, the New-year's day rejoicings in Edinburgh got a check on the 31st of December, 1811, which will deter many from appearing in the streets on similar occasions. De pravity had been making a slow and silent, but perceptible advance, and it burst out on that night with tremendous consequences. A combination had been formed by a number of young men and boys of the lowest rank and most depraved habits, to take advantage of the unsuspecting confidence with which the citizens of Edinburgh had been accustomed to walk the streets on the last evening of the year. They had provided themselves with bludgeons from the neighbouring shrubberies, and at the hour of eleven the streets presented a scene little inferior in horror to that of a city taken by storm. Every well-dressed person was surrounded by parties of this band, and, whether resisting or not, was knocked down and robbed. One unfortunate policeman, whose general activity marked him out as an object of vengeance, was murdered with circumstances of great cruelty; and a gentleman from Leith died of the injuries he received a few days after. Numerous others were severely hurt in the attempt to defend themselves and their property; and the savage band continued to keep possession of the streets, in defiance of the civil power, till four o'clock next morning. How they were allowed to carry on their depredations on the peaceable inhabitants so long was matter of surprise, as troops might have been procured from the Castle in half an hour. But such an occurrence was matter scarcely within the compass of belief," either of the persons charged with the police of the city, or of the inhabitants. The chief depredators were, however, soon after seized; and, betrayed by their accomplices, (for there is no friendship among the wicked) many others were taken into custody. The watches, seals, &c., had been deposited on that evening by M'Intosh, one of the leaders, in a hole dug in a park at the Meadows, and afterwards removed by him and Sutherland, another of the party, who fled with the booty to Glasgow. The activity of the police and magistrates soon traced the fugitives; and Sutherland and M'Intosh were seized in that city, and the watches traced in their transmission to other hands. Skelton, one of the gang, was tried before the High Court of Justiciary on the 2d of March, and found guilty, but afterwards pardoned; and Macdonald, M'Intosh, and Sutherland, and three others who had made their escape, were brought to trial on the 20th of March, for the murder of Dugald Campbell, police watchman, and ten other charges of robbery and assault. long trial, which lasted till four o'clock next morning, the three young men were found guilty; M'Intosh of the murder, (for there was evidence of his striking the unfortunate man with a bludgeon on the head as he lay on the pavement,) and Sutherland and Macdonald for robbery and assault; and all the three were sentenced to be executed on the 22d of April, on a gibbet erected for the purpose, in the centre of the High Street, and opposite to the place where the watchman was so cruelly mur After dered. a An execution, for a long period of time, was a rare occurrence in Edinburgh; and the necessity of the example, fortunately for the country, was but seldom required. The riots which led to the condemnation of the three young men were still fresh in the memory of the inhabitants, and an uncommon interest in their fate was excited. The gibbet and drop, with a decent attention to public feeling, was put up, as it generally is, at midnight; and the apparatus of death next morning met the eye in dismal blackness, and as if raised by enchantment, in the centre of the principal street. To prevent all interruption from associates in guilt, so numerous as it was proved this association had been, the streets were lined at one o'clock from the Tolbooth (now removed) to the place of execution, by strong detachments of the Renfrew and Perthshire Militia ; the first regiment of Local Militia was stationed in Hunter's Square; a troop of the 6th Dragoon Guards at the Royal Exchange; and a piquet of volunteers was assembled in the Parlia ment Close. Constables and policemen were also placed at all the avenues to the High Street, to prevent the passage of horses or carriages. A little before. two o'clock the magistrates and three of the city ministers proceeded from the Council Chambers in the Royal Exchange to the Tolbooth; and after nearly an hour, spent as usual in devotion, the criminals were brought forth to receive the sentence of the law. The crowd on the street, the broadest in the city, was at this time immense. Every window of its high houses was crowded, every place that could command a view of the scene was occupied; and even the spires of the Tron Church and St Giles, where accessible, were clothed with spectators. Except the line protected by the military for the procession, and the little space round the platform, the whole street presented a mass of human beings, larger than was ever before witnessed in Edinburgh. The high constables first appeared, all dressed in black, and walking four and four; then followed the magistrates in their robes, preceded by their officers : and the criminals were next seen bare-headed, and each accompanied by a clergyman, walking in solemn and affecting pace, unconscious of the ten thousand gazers around them, to the place from which they were to return no more alive. A large party of extra constables to the amount of one hundred and fifty, also dressed in mourning, closed the procession. The culprits, whose youth excited much commiseration, all of them being under twenty, and M'Intosh not much above sixteen years of age, mounted the scaffold, attended by the clergymen and magistrates; and a hymn was sung, which, from its stri- effect; and when the clergyman read king application to the circumstances out the hymn, and lifted up his hands of the unfortunates, gave additional solemnity to the scene. The services of the Scottish Church, though destitute of all parade and imposing forms, have often struck me as peculiarly affecting from their simplicity; and I know not that I ever felt half so much moved by "the pealing anthem" of a cathedral choir, as by the untutored expressions of praise from a multitude of human voices at a tent-preaching in the country. The deep interest of the worshippers on the present occasion, and the greatness of the Being addressed, together with praises from many thousand tongues who joined in the service, had altogether a sublime to begin the concluding prayer, the whole multitude took off their hats, and remained uncovered during the continuance of the worship. At last the prayer ended; the clergymen and magistrates descended from the platform; and the executioner proceeded to his office. A tear glistened in the eye of M'Intosh as he looked up for a moment at the fatal gibbet. The poor creatures took leave of one another-the drop fell-and a convulsive shudder, and articulate sighs from ten thousand bosoms, testified the public feelings at the fate of the victims, and the regret that such an example had had become necessary in Edinburgh. HORE GERMANICA. Νο. ΧΙΠ. Schlenkert's Rudolph of Habsburg. If it be allowable to judge of the con- the adoption of all or any of these dition as well as of the character of a nation from its literature, we may boldly decide, that the Germans possess, amongst other things, a wonderful superabundance of leisure. Their authors appear to take up their pens without feeling the slightest impatience to get to the end of their tasks, or anticipating any possibility of such a sensation arising in the breasts of their readers. The consequence of this unbounded confidence in the public patience and perseverance is, that in their works of imagination, they develope the concatenation of events, the state of the hearts and minds (with every the smallest variation) of their personages, imparting even their most abstract opinions, the fluctuations of those opinions, and the discussions that may give rise to such fluctuations, with a minuteness of detail somewhat startling to writers accustomed to cater for the amusement of this busy country. To the same cause which has given to this whole genus of composition such a character of circumstantiality, may probably be attributed the existence of certain species in the order, which, though frequent in Germany, are, we believe, unknown in all other parts of Europe. Now, although we by no means propose to recommend Teutonic-shall we say varieties or mongrels?-wethink that some knowledge of them may prove useful, as a contribution to the natural history of either literature or the human mind, and are accordingly about to give an account of one of them. We must, however, in the first place, entreat the English reader not to throw down our paper in alarm at the representation now following of its subject, but to trust to our experience of his habitual hurry, for giving our lengthy original, with all practicable brevity. The particular non-descript which we desire to introduce to his acquaintance, is a sort of Play in four volumes, named in its own native land "A historical-romantic Picture!" It is in fact a dramatic life of its hero, whom it commonly selects from amongst the most distinguished characters of German history. As a specimen of these, "Historisch-Romantische Gemühlde,' we have taken the "RUDOLPH OF HABSBURG," of Frederic Christian Schlenkert, the author of some other works of a similar kind, who, in his performance, professes to present tous, in a picturesque manner, a full, true, and particular life of the first Emperor of the reigning family of Austria. This Biography in scenes, is divided into four parts, the first, painting Empress. The fire upon your cheeks disproves your words. You know the stately comrades. Lady Anna. By my innocence, I do not. Their wearing my colour has surely been the sport of chance. Rudolph's youth, the second, his Certainly by mere accident, my hoearly manhood, as reigning Count of noured lady. Habsburg, and Landgrave of Alsace; the third and four fourth, his conduct as Emperor. Each part forms a volume, and is divided into three periods, comprising some more, some fewer years of the hero's life. To each period is attached a separate Dramatis Personæ. The Empress continues to teaze The whole is in prose, except the de- Anna, and Anna to defend herself, dication; that is written in blank more at length than we are inclined verse, and is addressed to the manes to give their conversation. The Emof the Emperor Leopold the II. peror and his courtiers discuss the The first period of the first part, is merits, and probable names and sucintroduced by a preliminary narrative cess of the two champions. Meanaccount of the troubles that disturbed while the jousting proceeds, and the the last Hohenstauffen Emperor Fre- two unknown knights overthrow all deric the Second, during his latter their opponents. When most of the years, of his son Henry's rebellion, which recalled him from his wars with the refractory Lombards, of the rebel's subjugation and condemnation, -of the negociations for Frederic's third marriage, and finally, of the conclusion of his nuptials with the English Princess Isabella, in the 1235, others have fallen, the Falcon Knight, after various courtesies, unhorses Manfred, and the Lion Knight, (we do not well comprehend how,) in running a tilt, lifts Burkhard, Anna's brother, out of his saddle, and replaces him in it. This leads to compliments. Burkhard solicits admittance into the upon which occasion he knighted 36 brotherhood; the Lion Knight ex noble youths, amongst whom the most distinguished were his own natural son Manfred, afterwards King of Sicily, and Rudolph of Habsburg. The drama itself opens with a tournament, held in honour of the Imperial wedding. The Emperor and Empress, with the elderly, ecclesiastical, وو claims rapturously, "Brother in arms, and -." This unfinished sentence gives rise to more imperial jests against Anna, and more blushes upon her part, whilst the Emperor bestows the highest praises upon the unknown knights. During this conversation, Ulrick of Regensberg presents him and female portion of their court, self to encounter the Lion Knight, occupy an elevated station; the judges and is thrown to the ground, when he of the tournament, and the younger attacks him sword in hand. The knightsare in the lists. Amongst these judges prevent the Lion Knight from last appear Manfred, Burkhard of alighting to accept the challenge, by Hohenberg, and Ulrick of Regens- declaring it to be contrary to the laws berg, a relation of the Abbot of St of the tournament. They then pro Gallen, and hereditary chamberlain to the Abbey. Two stately knights with closed visors, resembling each other in their armour, and in the green colour of their scarfs, and distinguished only by their different crests, -a Lion and a Falcon, ride into the lists. The Emperor observes, "A pair of gallant adventurers." Empress. Brothers probably. They are exactly alike in colour and ar mour. Count Albert of Habsburg, Rudolph's father. Perhaps only brothers in arms, dread lady. Empress (to Lady Anna of Hohen berg.) If my eyes deceive me not, fair damsel, both wear your favourite colour. Lady Anna (blushing very deeply.) nounce that the tournament itself is closed, and that the highest prize must be divided between the Lion and Falcon Knights. These adventurers refuse a division, asserting that a still higher prize, which only one can possess, depends upon the impending decision. They then encounter each other; the Falcon Knight loses his stirrups; his antagonist remains unmoved, and at the same instant embraces him warmly, exclaiming, "Brother, it is mine, it is mine! You are vanquished! Yours be the first prize of the tournament, mine the inestimable prize, the privilege of entering the lists of love." Falcon Knight. Leave me, thou mighty one! I cannot stand against thee! Lion Knight, (releasing him from his embrace, and offering his hand.) We remain friends. Falcon Knight, (giving his hand warmly.) Friends, and brothers in arms unto death! Rudolph. We will pass over a scene in which the Empress seems to wish she could exchange Frederic for Rudoph, and then seeks to console herself by playing upon the youthful hero and Anna, and set before our readers the manner in which Hieronymus performs his engagement. The successful Knights are now summoned to receive their prizes from the fair hands of the Empress Isabella. He of the Lion takes off his helmet, and Anna, with a rapid glance and burning blush, recognizes Rudolph of Habsburg. The young Empress appears to be deeply impressed by his beauty, and requires all the time afforded her, by the father's delight, and the Emperor's eulogies, to recover herself. She then, in rather long and solemn orations, distributes the prizes; the first to Rudolph, the second to the Falcon Knight, who proves to be Meinhard, Count of the Tyrol, and the third to Burkhard of Hohenberg. The Emperor expresses his admiration of her eloquence, and leads her off to the banquet, giving directions that the three Hopes, meaning over his papers, privately expresses ing the three wearers of green, shall be placed together. We have given this first scene as much at length as we could venture to do without fearing to tire our readers, both as we think it in some degree interesting as a German representation of a tournament, and as it affords a fair specimen of the general manner of the work. We will now endeavour to get forward rather faster, confining our extracts to such parts as appear to exhibit the peculiar characteristics of the author. After a couple of scenes between the old Counts of Habsburg and Hohenberg, and between their sons, respecting the loves and future marriage of Rudolph and Anna, we come to the vanquished and angry Ulrick of Regensberg and his uncle the Abhot, who who with some trouble persuades his nephew not to attack Rudolph openly, but to trust the care of revenging his defeat to him. Ulrick at last agrees, and leaves the Abbot to arrange the business with the Court Astrologer Hieronymus. These two worthy persons take some pains, apparently not very successfully, to deceive each other. In the end, the Astrologer pockets a purse offered him in pure charity by the Abbot, and promises to give the Emperor fair warning of the dangers which threaten his family from the future prosperity of We find the Emperor and the Astrologer tête-a-tête in the private chamber of the former. The latter, after much obscure discourse, in which every answer seems wrung from him, gives the imperial querist, in the name of the stars, a lofty panegyric and favourable prognostication touching Isabella, pronounces Prince Henry to be fallen for ever, and prophesies every virtue and all success and happiness to Prince Conrad, Frederic's second son, now intended for his heir, as also to his illegitimate offspring. The Emperor, highly pleased with these communications, inquires respecting the fortunes of the three heroes of the late tournament. Hieronymus, whilst turn his satisfaction at being saved the trouble of leading to the subject. He then speaks very favourably of the three en masse, proceeds to the separate character of each, and when he comes to Rudolph, hastily collects his papers, with the exclamation, "Nothing of him!" Emperor. Why not, good Master? Hieronymus. He surpasses them all. No mortal master of astrology can follow his eagle flight. Emperor, (earnestly.) What mean you? Hieronymus. Nothing, my most dread Lord and Emperor. My mouth grows dumb, my eyes dark, all my senses fail me, when the terribly splendid vision of this one man forces itself upon my imagination. Emperor, (with bitterness.) That I have observed both yesterday and today. Master Hieronymus is all respect and humility, when he addresses this wonderful man. Hieronymus. I act not thus from myself; the master must bow his neck even lower than ordinary men under the yoke of necessity. ! Emperor. Must he? That is in ruth incomp incomprehensible Hieronymus. Try yourself. See if the Emperor can contend against Necessity. The Emperor will fail. Emperor. Then even the Emperor |