It is the temper of a blade that must be the proof of a good sword, and not the gilding of the hilt or the richness of the scabbard; so it is not his grandeur and possessions that make a man considerable, but his intrinsic merit.

F.

* * * * *

THE KNIGHT’S RETURN.

From the German.

(For the Mirror.)

  “Page, what sound mine ears is greeting,
    Whence the lime-trees wave in pride?”
  “’Tis, sir knight, the herds that bleating,
    Wander o’er the mountain’s side.”

  “Say, my page, what means this singing? 
    Notes so sad, some ill betide;”
  “In the village, crowds are bringing
    From the chapel, home a bride.”

  “Say then, why so slowly passes
    Yon dark-rob’d and silent train?”
  “From the saying bridal-masses,
    Monks are coming o’er the plain.”

  “Speak then, why I now behold it;
    Whence yon banner’s milk-white hue?”
  “Ask no further, they unfold it
    To the bride an honour due.”

  “Say, my page, what means that writing
    Graven on yon marble-stone?”
  “’Tis the youth and maiden plighting
    Love to one, and one alone.”

  “How, my page, that name the dearest? 
    See, and true its meaning tell.” 
  “Know, and tremble as thou hearest,
    “’Twas for secret love she fell.”

  “What! my page, if thus ’tis written,
    If for love she dar’d to die,
  Bertha dead! if thus ’tis written,
    As she perish’d, so will I.”

H.

* * * * *

SCOTCH ECONOMY.

(To the Editor.)

The amusing letter of S.S. in No. 536, of The Mirror, has but so very recently met my eyes, that I have been obliged unavoidably to allow some weeks to elapse ere I noticed it.  Indeed, to advert to it at all, I should not have considered necessary, but that your correspondent seems to imply a doubt as to the accuracy of my assertion, in the article “Shavings,” (vide No. 533, p. 83.) Permit me, for the satisfaction of your readers to state, that I was no “flying tourist,” when the fact of a very considerable waste of fuel in Edinburgh, (fuel which would, I thought, sell in England, if not wanted in Scotland,) came repeatedly, I may say, almost daily, under my own personal observation.  A residence of two years in Edinburgh (yes, it certainly was “the Scottish capital,” for I had previously resided during a longer period in the Irish one,) enabled me to state what I then beheld, with a scrutiny which certainly would not have been warranted by a mere casual visit of two days, two weeks, or two months; that the circumstance should have irritated S.S. I cannot consider any fault of mine; my statement was correct.  The possibility of Irish