the old lady of the near castle, rich, childless, and solitary, declared her intention to adopt her. Henceforth Bertha was clad in silk?inhabited a marble palace?and was looked on as being highly favoured by fortune. But in her new situation among her new associates, Bertha remained true to the friend of her humbler days; she often visited the cottage of my father, and when forbidden to go thither, she would stray towards the neighbouring wood, and meet me beside its shady fountain.
She often declared that she owed no duty to her new protectress equal in sanctity to that which bound us. Yet still I was too poor to marry, and she grew weary of being tormented on my account. She had a haughty but an impatient
3. Legendary Christian youths who took refuge in works are among the books that Victor Frankena cave in Ephesus to escape their pagan persecu-stein reads when young and that prompt him to tors and slept for 187 years. begin 'the search of the philosopher's stone' 4. Title character of Frances Sheridan's Oriental (which had the power to transmute base metal into tale of I 767, who is tricked into believing that he gold) and of 'the elixir of life'; his 'favourite has become immortal and that, when he sleeps, he authors' also promise to teach the 'raising of does so for several years at a time. For an excerpt ghosts or devils.' from Nourjahad, see 'Romantic Orientalism' at 6. The story was told by Robert Southey in a 1798 Norton Literature Online. poem entitled 'Cornelius Agrippa: A Ballad of a 5. The 16th-century German researcher of the Young Man That Would Read Unlawful Books.' occult and the alchemical sciences. Agrippa's
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spirit, and grew angry at the obstacles that prevented our union. We met now after an absence, and she had been sorely beset while I was away; she complained bitterly, and almost reproached me for being poor. I replied hastily,?
'I am honest, if I am poor!?were I not, 1 might soon become rich!' This exclamation produced a thousand questions. I feared to shock her by owning the truth, but she drew it from me; and then, casting a look of disdain on me, she said?
'You pretend to love, and you fear to face the Devil lor my sake!'
I protested that 1 had only dreaded to offend her;?while she dwelt on the magnitude of the reward that I should receive. Thus encouraged?shamed by her?led on by love and hope, laughing at my late fears, with quick steps and a light heart, I returned to accept the offers of the alchymist, and was instantly installed in my office.
A year passed away. I became possessed of no insignificant sum of money. Custom had banished my fears. In spite of the most painful vigilance, I had never detected the trace of a cloven foot; nor was the studious silence of our abode ever disturbed by demoniac howls. I still continued my stolen interviews with Bertha, and Hope dawned on me?Hope?but not perfect joy; for Bertha fancied that love and security were enemies, and her pleasure was to divide them in my bosom. Though true of heart, she was somewhat of a coquette in manner; and I was jealous as a Turk. She slighted me in a thousand ways, yet would never acknowledge herself to be in the wrong. She would drive me mad with anger, and then force me to beg her pardon. Sometimes she fancied that I was not sufficiently submissive, and then she had some story of a rival, favoured by her protectress. She was surrounded by silk-clad youths?the rich and gay?What chance had the sad-robed scholar of Cornelius compared with these?
On one occasion, the philosopher made such large demands upon my time, that I was unable to meet her as I was wont. He was engaged in some mighty work, and I was forced to remain, day and night, feeding his furnaces and watching his chemical preparations. Bertha waited for me in vain at the fountain. I ler haughty spirit fired at this neglect; and when at last 1 stole out during the few short minutes allotted to me for slumber, and hoped to be consoled by her, she received me with disdain, dismissed me in scorn, and vowed that any man should possess her hand rather than he who could not be in two places at once for her sake. She would be revenged!?And truly she was. In my dingy retreat I heard that she had been hunting, attended by Albert Hoffer. Albert Hoffer was favoured by her protectress, and the three passed in cavalcade before my smoky window. Methought that they mentioned my name? it was followed by a laugh of derision, as her dark eyes glanced contemptuously towards my abode.
Jealousy, with all its venom, and all its misery, entered my breast. Now I shed a torrent of tears, to think that I should never call her mine; and, anon, I imprecated a thousand curses on her inconstancy. Yet, still I must stir the fires of the alchymist, still attend on the changes of his unintelligible medicines.
Cornelius had watched for three days and nights, nor closed his eyes. The progress of his alembics7 was slower than he expected: in spite of his anxiety, sleep weighed upon his eyelids. Again and again he threw off drowsiness with
7. Distilling apparatuses that Agrippa uses in his alchemical investigations.
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more than human energy; again and again it stole away his senses. He eyed his crucibles wistfully. 'Not ready yet,' he murmured; 'will another night pass before the work is accomplished? Winzy,8 you are vigilant?you are faithful? you have slept, my boy?you slept last night. Look at that glass vessel. The liquid it contains is of a soft rose-colour: the moment it begins to change its hue, awaken me?till then I may close my eyes. First, it will turn white, and then emit golden flashes; but wait not till then; when the rose-colour fades, rouse me.' I scarcely heard the last words, muttered, as they were, in sleep. Even then he did not quite yield to nature. 'Winzy, my boy,' he again said, 'do not touch the vessel?do not put it to your lips; it is a philter9?a philter to cure love; you would not cease to love your Bertha?beware to drink!'
And he slept. His venerable head sunk on his breast, and I scarce heard his regular breathing. For a few minutes I watched the vessel?the rosy hue of the liquid remained unchanged. Then my thoughts wandered?they visited the fountain, and dwelt on a thousand charming scenes never to be renewed? never! Serpents and adders were in my heart as the word 'Never!' half formed itself on my lips. False girl!?false and cruel! Never more would she smile on me as that evening she smiled on Albert. Worthless, detested woman! I would not remain unrevenged?she should see Albert expire at her feet?she should die beneath my vengeance. She had smiled in disdain and triumph?she knew my wretchedness and her power. Yet what power had she??the power of exciting my hate?my utter scorn?my?oh, all but indifference! Could I attain that?could I regard her with careless eyes, transferring my rejected love to one fairer and more true, that were indeed a victory!
A bright flash darted before my eyes. I had forgotten the medicine of the adept; I gazed on it with wonder: flashes of admirable beauty, more bright than those which the diamond emits when the sun's rays are on it, glanced from the surface of the liquid; an odour the most fragrant and grateful stole over my sense; the vessel seemed one globe of living radiance, lovely to the eye, and most inviting to the taste. The first thought, instinctively inspired by the grosser sense, was, I will?I must drink. I raised the vessel to my lips. 'It will cure me of love?of torture!' Already I had quaffed half of the most delicious liquor ever tasted by the palate of man, when the philosopher
