could, and from what I Baw to gather some hope,
paying no heed to the miserable, deceptive, proclamations and news
'from the seat of war.' Very good. When at length that battle of all
battles was fought, when all round us every voice was shouting for joy
at new-won freedom, whilst we were still lying in chains of slavery, I
felt as if my heart would break. I felt as though I must gain air and
freedom, for myself and all who were chained to the stake along with
me, by means of some terrible deed. It may seem to you now, and with
the knowledge of me which you think you possess, incredible and
ludicrous; but I can assure you that I went about with the idea in my
mind, the insane idea, that I would set a match to some fort which I
knew the enemy had got well-stocked with powder, and blow it into the
air."

The friend could not help smiling a little at the wild heroism of the
unwarlike Anselmus. The latter, however, could not see this, as it was
dark; and after a few moments' silence he proceeded as follows. "You
have all of you often said that a peculiar planet which presides over
me has a manner of bringing marvellous matters about my path on
occasions of importance, matters in which people do not believe and
which often seem to myself as if they proceeded out of my own inner
being, although there they are, outside of me also, taking form as
mystic symbols of that element of the marvellous which we find all
about us everywhere in life. It was so with me this day two years ago
in Dresden. That long day had dragged itself out in dull, mysterious
silence; everything was quiet outside the gate--not a shot to be heard.
Late in the evening--it might have been about ten o'clock, I slunk into
a coffee house in the old market, where, in an out-of-the-way back room
into which none of the hated foreigners were allowed to penetrate,
friends of like minds and opinions gave each other reassurance of
comfort and hope. It was there where, notwithstanding all the lies
which were current, the true news of the engagements at the Katzbach,
Culm, &c., were first received, where our R. told us of the victory at
Leipzig two days after it happened, though God knows how he obtained
his knowledge of it. My way had led me past the Bruehl Palace, where the
Field Marshal was quartered, and I had been struck by the unusual
lighting-up of the salons, as well as the stir going on all over the
house. I was just mentioning this to my friends, with the rema