THE KROTENKOPF AND THE KRAMER. 361 



but still I heard the dear, well-remembered bells, that 

 were as familiar as the voices of old friends. Now they 

 fell, as if borne away on the wind, and then again 

 came swelling on the ear, as though the ringers were 

 pulling right lustily. It was so real, that, had it been 

 some simple church-bell merely, I might have been 

 cheated into belief ; but there was no mistaking those 

 of my own dear native Bath. The author of that most 

 delightful of books ' Eothen' mentions something of 

 the sort occurring to him on a journey, if I remember 

 rightly, when he was crossing the Desert *. 



We went on, and still on, and it seemed as if there 

 was no end to our steep ascent. I could hardly drag 

 my limbs along, so weary was I ; and had I been alone, 

 should certainly have lain down to sleep. Bauer was 

 always far in advance, stopping to wait for me, and 

 lu-ging me on ; for though we were now at last ap- 

 proaching the summit, which was evident from the 

 changed character of the scenery, and from the patches 

 of snow that were lying about, we still had a long way 

 to go, and evening was coming on, and in such a place 



* I ought perhaps to mention that I had been at Bath but a week 

 or two before. In both cases the circumstance arose, no doubt, from 

 the nerves being unstrung by coming illness ; for it was afterwards 

 that I fell sick at Partenkirchen, and the author of 'Eothen,' on 

 arriving at Cairo, had an attack of fever, if not of the plague. I am 

 inclined to think that in every instance, whether such sounds are 

 heard at sea or elsewhere, a state of debility or excitement would be 

 found to be an attendant circumstance, were the matter inquired into. 

 If nothing untoward follow, it is thought no more of; but should 

 the person by whom such music is heard die soon afterwards, it is 

 then looked upon as a supernatural warning, and a friendly summons 

 is recognized in those loud sounds of home. 



