SUDDEN WHITENING OF THE HAIR. 521 



whitened by care and anxiety. "While Hanover was waging an un- 

 equal contest with Prussia, a lady in attendance upon the consort of 

 the brave, blind king, wrote thus of her royal mistress : " In the last 

 two months her hair has grown quite gray, I may say white. Four 

 months since one could scarcely discern a gray hair ; now I can hardly 

 see a dark one." 



A similar change has often taken place in the course of a single 

 night. One of the witnesses in the Tichborne case deposed that, the 

 night after hearing of his father's death, he dreamed he saw him 

 killed before his eyes, and found, on awaking, that his hair had turned 

 quite white. An old man with snow-white hair said to Dr. Moreau : 

 " My hair was as white as you see it now, long before I had grown 

 old. Grief and despair at the loss of a tenderly loved wife whitened 

 my locks in a single night when I was not thirty years of age. Judge, 

 then, of the force of my sufferings." His white hairs brought no such 

 recompense with them as happened in the instance of the gay gallant 

 who had the hardihood to hold a love-tryst in the palace grounds of 

 the King of Spain. Betrayed by the barking of an unsympathetic 

 hound, the telling of the old, old story was interrupted by the appear- 

 ance of the king's guard. The scared damsel was allowed to depart 

 unchallenged ; but her lover was held captive, to answer his offense. 

 Love-making under the shadow of the royal palace was a capital 

 crime ; and so overwhelmed with horror at the idea of losing his head 

 for following the promptings of his heart was the rash wooer, that, 

 before the sun rose, his hair had turned quite gray. This being told 

 King Ferdinand, he pardoned the offender, thinking he was sufficiently 

 punished. 



When the Emperor Leopold was about to make his grand entry 

 into Vienna, the old sexton of St. Joseph's Cathedral was much 

 troubled in his mind. Upon such occasions it had been his custom 

 to take his stand on the pinnacle of the tower and wave a flag as the 

 imperial pageant passed by ; but he felt that age had so weakened 

 his nerve that he dared not again attempt the perilous performance. 

 After thinking the matter over, he came to the conclusion that he 

 must find a substitute ; and knowing his pretty daughter had plenty 

 of stalwart suitors, the old fellow publicly announced that the man 

 who could take his place successfully should be his son-in-law. To 

 his intense disgust, the offer was at once accepted by Gabriel Peters- 

 heim, his special aversion, and the special favorite of the girl, who 

 saw not with her father's eyes. On the appointed day Vienna opened 

 its gates to the new-made emperor ; but it was evening, or near upon 

 evening, when the young flag-bearer welcomed the procession from St. 

 Joseph's Tower. His task performed, Gabriel would have descended 

 from the airy height, but found his way barred. Two wretches had 

 done the treacherous sexton's bidding, and closed the trap-door of the 

 upper stairway, leaving the brave youth to choose between precipi- 



