ROMANCE OF THE SELF. 587 



ness ? Would'st them relinquish all thy riches, merely because I 

 have given thee a companion in thy good fortune?" "What is 

 wealth and grandeur to me ?" said Hubert, tc all my friends shun 

 me no one will share my prosperity, except this hated being, who 

 clings to me as a shadow ; whose words are but echoes of mine own, 

 and whose aspect, though like to mine, I regard with disgust and 

 detestation." " Thoirwastest breath in vain;" said the wizard, "I 

 have fulfilled thy request, and it were as easy for thee to alter the 

 course of the sun, as to persuade me to alter thy condition. Begone ! 

 and trouble me no further." t( Demon as thou art," replied the 

 wretched man, " hast thou no compassion ? If I must retain thy 

 fatal gifts, at least let this creature have words and actions differing 

 from mine, even if it thwart me in all my purposes. Let it be any 

 thing but an echo to myself, and I will bless thee I" " Ha !" cried 

 the wizard, e< dost thou taunt me ? Thou askest that, and that alone, 

 which it is beyond my skill to accomplish. Hence, miscreant, thy 

 doom is fixed !" So saying, he stamped violently on the ground, and 

 instantly Hubert felt himself seized by invisible hands, and borne 

 away through the air with such incredible swiftness, that his brain 

 grew dizzy, and his senses forsook him. When he recovered from 

 the stupor occasioned by the rapidity of his flight, he was reclining 

 on a couch in one of his own apartments, and the self still was with 

 him. He wept in anguish. " Miserable wretch that I am," ex- 

 claimed he ; (( my happiness and hopes are blasted for ever : sorrow 

 is my portion here, and eternal torture awaits me hereafter !" 



A weary year wore away, and each day did the urihappiness of 

 Hubert increase ; each day did his hatred of the self wax greater. 

 So miserable, at length, became his existence, that in an agony of 

 passion he drew a knife from his girdle, crying, " There is but one 

 way to rid myself of thee, detested fiend, and I will accomplish the 

 deed, or perish !" Wildly he rushed upon the self, and the glittering 

 steel sunk deep into its bosom j at the same moment its own arm was 

 raised, and with a stroke as true, another weapon clove the heart of 

 the ill-starred Hubert ! A loud crash was heard by the surrounding 

 inhabitants, and when they looked to the place where the stately 

 edifice had so lately stood, they beheld nothing but a confused mass 

 of stones, from which clouds of dust, having, they averred, a sul- 

 phurous smell, arose in large columns. The heap of stones, says my 

 authority, remains to this day, a record of the frailty of evil posses- 

 sions. 



In the morning, hundreds of people repaired to the spot : no ves- 

 tige of the dwelling could be traced. The herbage was withered for 

 miles round, and the leaves had fallen from the trees, shrivelled and 

 yellow, as if they had been visited by autumn, though it was then 

 only the commencement of summer. 



The above tale was told me by an old grey-headed man, at Hesse- 

 cassel ; and, when he had finished, he read me a long sermon, by 

 way of moral, the gist of which was never to seek that which could 

 only be acquired by dishonesty, " For," said he, stroking his beard, 

 and looking extremely wise, (f what is got over the devil's back 

 always goes under his belly." 



