RELICS OF POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 



107 



which such an event produced. But on the morning which fol- 

 lowed^their revel, the fisherraen found their old boat, the provis- 

 ions they had stowed in it, their guest, and his adopted son, gone 

 for ever. 



Many years after this adventure, Eric, Lord of Hermanwald, 

 and his young heir, reappeared at their estate in the district of 

 Hanover. This traveller, better known to the world as the Chev- 

 alier Megret, was one of the few who stood beside the unfortu- 

 nate Charles XII. at the siege of Fredericshall, when L^e received 

 the shot which ended his career ; and Megret's celebrated words 

 — " the play is over — let us hegone^^'' — were still remembered by 

 those who hated the traitor, though they loved the treason. 

 Therefore he had quitted the associates and the scenes he then 

 frequented, and the engineer Megret transformed himself into 

 Baron Hermanwald, proprietor of the large estate and Mountain- 

 House of Heinnichshohe, from whence, after a short residence, he 

 disappeared with his wife and only son, reporting among his neigh- 

 bours and dependents, that his health required a visit to the south 

 of Europe. Ten years had elapsed when he announced his return, 

 and settled as a disconsolate widower and a professed misanthro- 

 pist, in entire seclusion. No one sought to interrupt it; but his 

 son, as he advanced to manhood, showed an uncontrollable genius 

 for military affairs. He entered that celebrated regiment which 

 Frederick the Great made his chief pride and delight. Young 

 Hermanwald's fine person and noble deportment, added to the 

 professional skill he derived from his paternal tutor, entitled him 

 to distinction in a corps so select ; and he held a captain's rank 

 with such severe attention to discipline, as Frederick himself could 

 not have excelled. Among the privates was a youth about the 

 same age, of admirable proportions, and very engaging counte- 

 nance, which bore a comparison even with his young command- 

 er's, and had been noticed by the king when on parade. Frede- 

 rick's humour for multiplying and improving his favourite race is 

 sufficiently well known, and the circumstance now connected with 

 my story is upon record in his history. Taking his usual morning 

 ride without attendants, he saw a young Lithuanian peasant-girl, 

 with the fine complexion and large stature peculiar to her pro- 

 vince, gathering flax near his road. He called her, and writing a 

 few lines on a shp of paper, bade her deliver it to Count Lieuwen 

 at Konigsberg. The dollar which accompanied this commission, 



