ity and wildness, and it was with a thrill of ecstasy I
saw a little child clasp its mother by the neck, and scream out to come
away as it beheld me.

On the second night of our Journey we halted at a little village at
the foot of the Arlberg, called Steuben, where, in default of a regular
prison, they lodged me in an old tower, the lower part of which was
used for a stable. It stood in the very centre of the town, and from
its narrow and barred windows I could catch glimpses of the little
world that moved about in happy freedom beneath me. I could see the
Marktplatz, from which the booths were now being taken down, and could
mark that preparations for some approaching ceremony were going on, but
of what nature I could not guess. A large place was neatly swept out,
and at last strewn with sawdust,--signs unerring of some exhibition of
legerdemain or conjuring, of which the Tyrolese are warm admirers. The
arrangements were somewhat more portentous than are usually observed in
open-air representations, for I saw seats prepared for the dignitaries
of the village, and an evident design to mark the entertainment as under
the most distinguished protection. The crowd--now considerable--observed
all the decorous bearing of citizens in presence of their authorities.

I nestled myself snugly in the deep recess of the window to watch the
proceedings, nor had I long to wait; some half-dozen gayly dressed
individuals having now pierced their way through the throng, and
commenced those peculiar gambols which bespeak backbones of gristle and
legs of pasteboard. It is a class of performance I enjoy vastly. The
two fellows who lap over each other like the links of a chain, and the
creature who rolls himself about like a ball, and the licensed freedoms
of that man of the world--the clown--never weary me, and I believe I
laugh at them with all the more zest that I have so often laughed at
them before. It was plain, after a while, that a more brilliant part
of the spectacle was yet to come, for a large bluff-looking man, in
cocked-hat and jack-boots, now entered the ring and indignantly ejected
the clowns by sundry admonitions with a lash-whip, which I perceived
were not merely make-believes.

"Ah, here he comes! here he is!" was now uttered in accents of eager
interest, and an avenue was quickly made through the crowd for the new
performer. There was delay after this; and though doubtless the crowd
below could satisfy their curiosity, I