SHAKSPEARE IN HIS STUDY.

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the people, nor protect the priests and virgins consecrated to God; without his prohibitions, without the penalties which he denounces on those who refuse to obey me, vain would be the attempt in this country to abolish heathen ceremonies or idolatrous sacrifices. He held five councils in Germany, and founded the celebrated abbey of Fulda. In 754, he undertook another journey for the conversion of the Frisiens, and in the succeeding year, having erected tents for the accommodation of the pagans, to whom he was about to administer the rites of confirmation, the heathen part of the population attacked the encampment, and slew the apostle with his companions.

The abbey of Fulda was founded by Boniface in the year 744, and within seven years from the period of its foundation, it was released from all episcopal supremacy, and placed under the immediate authority of the Papal See. It was soon highly celebrated for the learning of its inmates, and its power was confirmed by a degree 968, by which the abbey of Fulda was raised to the primacy above all the other abbeys of Germany. The abbots maintained their power and dignity, and have borne the title of imperial chancellors to the empress, since the reign of the emperor Charles the Fourth. They likewise passed through all the storms consequent upon the introduction of the Reformation into Germany. In 1752, the abbey was raised to a bishopric. It was secularized in 1803, and given to the House of Nassau Orange, but as Prince William had borne arms against Napoleon, it was taken from him, and incorporated with the short-lived Grand Duchy of Frankfort. It was then taken possession of by Prussia, in the year 1815, but relinquished and the territory made over partly to Bavaria, but principally to the Electorate of Hesse Cassel, to which it still belongs.

SHAKSPEARE IN HIS STUDY.

WHO would not fain behold the noble face
And god-like features, thoughtful yet serene
Of that far-seeing mind, who nature's depths
With eye prophetic scann'd, and in sweet words
Such as no other mortal ever spoke,
Pourtray'd the scenes of life, the weal and woe
Of dire ambition, hate, or filial love :

In whose unrivall'd strains the budding germs

Of mighty passions rise and swell, until uncheck'd
They rage with force resistless, a sad tale
And glowing beacon for all times to come.
No gloomy dreamer he, but living truth
Pervades his pictures, as his cheerful soul
Soars o'er the sombre moments of this life
And with inspir'd tongue proclaims aloud
That this great world is beautiful and true;
That man's own errors form the awful road
Which leads to misery, for, like the sun
In noonday splendor, he dispels the clouds
That heavily oppress the heart of man.
Now at his lightsome touch fresh forms arise
Clad in etherial gladness, which delight
The soul with joy; e'en in his lower world

He glories in his triumphs as he shows

The merry revels of the passing hour.

Hail to thee, matchless spirit, thou shalt live

For aye the admiration of the world

When Greek and Roman shall be known no more.

LEIPZIG.

THE TOWN HOUSE AND MARKET PLACE.

THE city of Leipzig lies in a plain, formerly disfigured by marshes, but now covered with fertile fields and numerous villages. Several small rivers run very near each other, and wind their way slowly through the level land, uniting at last at a short distance from the city. It was in attempting to cross one of these, the Elster, at the foot of one of the finest gardens in the suburbs, that Prince Poniatowsky was drowned, immediately after the battle of Leipzig. The town was formerly fortified, but as in many other instances in the north of Germany, the fortifications, which, from the modern system of warfare, were but of little value, have been demolished, and the inequalities produced by the walls and ditches of olden time, have been skilfully made to contribute to pleasing walks and shady promenades. Of the three castles or forts, mentioned in earlier periods, but one remains, the Pleissenburg, which has been modernized. The round tower of the castle serves as an observatory.