KLOSTERHEIM, OR THE MASQUE, BY THE ENGLISH OPIUM-EATER,

Is a pretty little book, only it wants brains. It is a proof—but proof was not wanting—that a man may write one clever thing, and yet be forevermore incapable of good. The papers describing Mr. DE QUINCY'S early experience, and the results of his un- happy practice of taking laudanum instead of brandy, were forcibly written, and with a play of the imagination that cer- tainly augured ability and future success. Every subsequent at- tempt has been a failure, not merely complete, but ridiculous. To the list must be added Klosterheim; a tale which it has been the object of the author to envelop in mystery, and by which he hoped to excite terror by acting on the superstitious -feelings of his readers. Every thing has been brought to bear upon the idea,— a dark age; a rude people ; Germany, the land of romantic terror; a country torn by intestine divisions; an usurper, a murderer; an injured heir to the throne bred in secret ; banditti, and all the rest of a romancer's paraphernalia ;—and yet the author has not been able to make his subject move at a snail's gallop. All is confusion, instead of mystery; and the darkness is that of blindness, and not of horror. We take no interest in the persons, for they develop no character : the events, by way of being made awful, are re- moved from the sphere of comprehension : the result is brought about by the utmost violence and improbability, and yet is not . striking. The town of Klosterheim, at a time of' great trouble and excite- ment, at the close of the Thirty Years' War, just before the great battle of Nordlingen, is governed by unseen agency. The Land- grave and his wily secretary, an Italian of course, are completely overpowered and paralysed by the invisible influence, who removes guards, spirits away citizens, and overawes all the authorities. His decrees are everywhere posted up, and signed simply "THE MASQUE :"—a Captain Rock in his way : sometimes, and on very pitticular occasions, a masked form is beheld, and on more than one confronts the Landgrave. Every effort is made to seize him, St in vain: he seems everywhere, and is either aware of secret passages, or has the power of making himself invisible. The Ita- lian minister conceives a mode of arresting him : he issues tickets for a masked ball—twelve hundred tickets only, signed and sealed and marked, obtain admittance ; but the Masque is invited by public proclamation, and in a similar manner promises to be pre- sent. Before the evening expires, it is discovered there are twelve hundred and ONE guests present ! The ladies retire ; the gentle- men take their appointed seats; and one form remains standing: it is THE MASQUE.

" There stands he that governs Klosterheim by night !" thought every cava- lier, as be endeavoured to pierce the gloomy being's concealment, with penetrat- ing eyes, or by scrutiny, ten times repeated, to unmasque the dismal secrets which lurked beneath his disguise. " There stands the gloomy murderer thought another. " There stands the poor detected criminal," thought the pitying young ladies, " who in the next moment must lay bare his breast to the Laudgrave's musketeers."

The figure meantime stood traiquil and collected, apparently not in the least disturbed by the consciousness of his situation, or the breathless suspense of more than a thousand spectators of rank and eminent station, all bending their looks upon himself. He had been leaning against a marble column, as if wrapped up in reverie, and careless of every thing about him. But when the dead silence announced that the ceremony was closed, that he only remained to answer for himself, and upon palpable proof—evidence not to he gainsayed—incapable of answering satisfactorily ; when in fact it was beyond dispute that here was at length revealed, in bodily presence, before the eyes of those whom he had so long haunted with terrors, The Masque of Klosterheim,—it was naturally ex- pected that now at least he would show alarm and trepidation ; that he would prepare for defence, or address himself to instant flight.

Far otherwise ! Cooler than any one person beside in the saloon, he stood, like the marble column .against which he had been reclining--upright, massy, and imperturbable. He was enveloped in a voluminous mantle, which at this moment, with a leisurely motion, lie suffered to fall at his feet, and displayed a figure in which the grace of an Antinous met with the columnar strength of a Grecian Hercules,—presenting, in its tout ensemble, the majestic proportions of a Jupiter. He stood—a breathing. statue of gladiatorial beauty, towering above all who were near him, and eclipsing the noblest specimens of the human form which the martial assembly presented. A buzz of admiration arose, which in the following moment was suspended by the dubious recollections investing his past appearances, and the terror which waited even on his present movements. He was armed to the teeth; and he was obviously preparing to move. Not a word had yet been spoken ; so tumultuous was the succession of sur- prises, so mixed and conflicting the feelings, so intense the anxiety. The ar- rangement of the groups was this :—at the lower half of the room, but starting fin-ward in attitudes of admiration or suspense, were the ladies of Klosterheim. At the upper end, in the centre, one hand raised to bespeak attention. was The Masque of Klosterheim. To his left, and a little behind him, with a subtle Venetian countenance, one hand waving back a half file of musketeers, and the other raised as if to arrest the arm of The Masque, was the wily minister Adorni —creeping nearer and nearer with a stealthy stride. To his right was the great body of Klosterheim cavaliers, a score of students and young officers pressing forward to the front ; but in advance of the whole, the Laudgrave of .X—, haughty, lowering, and throwing out looks of defiance. These were the posi- tions and attitudes in which the first discovery of The Masque had surprised them ; and these they still retained. Less dignified spectators were looking downwards from the galleries.

" Surrender !" was the first woad by which silence was broken ; it came from the Landgrave.

" Or die !" exclaimed Adorni.

" He dies in any case," rejoined the Prince. The Masque still raised his hand with the action of one who bespeaks atten- tion. Adorni he deigned not to notice. Slightly inclining his head to the Landgrave, in a tone to which it might be the head-dress of elaborate steel-work that gave a sepulchral tone, he replied,- " The Masque, who rules in Klosterheim by night, surrenders not. He can die ; but first he will complete the ceremony of the night, he will reveal him- self."

" That is superfluous," exclaimed Adorni; " we need no further revelations. Seize him, and lead him out to death !"

" Dor, of an Italian !" replied The .Masque, drawing a flag"' from Ids belt, " die first yourself!" And so saying-, he slowly turned and levelled the barrel at Adorni, who fled with two bounds to the soldiers in the rear. Then, with- drawing the weapon hastily, he added in a tone of cool contempt, " Or bridle that coward's tongue."

But this was not the minister's intention. " Seize him !" lie cried again bn- petuously to the soldiers, laying his hand on the arm of the foremost, and point- ing them forward to their prey.

" No !" said the Landgrave, with a commanding voice ; "Halt ! I bid you." Something there was in the tone, or it might be that there was something in his private recollections' or something in the general mystery-, which promised a discovery that he feared to lose by the too precipitate vengeance of the Italian. " "What is it, mysterious being, that you would reveal ? or who is it that you now believe interested in your revelations?" " Yourself: . Prince, it would seem that you have me at your mercy: where- fore then the coward haste of this Venetian hound ? I am one ; you are many. Lead me then out ; shoot me. But no: freely I entered this hall ; freely I will leave it. If I must die, I will die as a soldier. Such I am ; and neither runagate from a foreign land ; nor"—turning to Adorni—" a base mechanic."

" But a murderer !" shrieked Adorni : " but a murderer ; and with hands yet reeking from innocent blood !"

"Blood, Adorni, that I will yet avenge. Prince, you demand the nature of my revelations. I will reveal my name, my quality, and my mission." "And to whom?"

" To yourself, and none beside. And, as a pledge for the sincerity of nay dis- coveries, I will first of all communicate a dreadful secret, known, as you fondly believe, to none but your Highness. Prince, dare you receive my revelations ?!-

Speaking thus, The Masque took one step to the rear, turning his back upon the room, and by a gesture, signified his wish that the Landgrave should accom- pany him. But at this motion, ten or a dozen of the foremost among the young cavaliers started forward in advance of the Landgrave, in part forming a half circle about his person, and in part commanding the open door-way.

" He is armed !" they exclaimed; " and trebly armed : will your Highness approach him too nearly?" I fear him not," said the Landgrave, with something of a contemptuous tone.

" Wherefore should you fear me?" retorted The Masque, with a manner so

tranquil and serene as involuntarily to disarm suspicion. Were it possible that I should seek the life of any man here in particular, in that case (pointing to the firearms in his belt), why should I need to come nearer? Were it possible that any should find in my conduct here a motive to a personal vengeance upon

• Dag is a sort of pistol or carbine.

myself, which of you is not near enough ? Has your Highness the courage to trample on such terrors?" Thus challenged as it were to a trial of his courage before the assembled rank of Kkaterheim, the Landgrave waved off all who would have stepped forward .officiously to his support. If he felt any tremors, he was now sensible that pride and princely honour called upon him to dissemble them. And probably, that sort of tremors, which he felt in reality, did not point in a direction to which physical support, such as was now tendered, could have been available. He hesitated no longer, but strode forward to meet The Masque. His High- ness and The Masque met near the archway of the door, in the very centre of the groups. With a thrilling tone, deep--piercing—full of alarm, The Masque began thus: "To win your confidence, for ever to establish credit with your Highness, I will first of all reveal the name of that murderer, who this night dared to pol- lute your palace with an old man's blood. Prince, bend your ear a little this way."

With a shudder, and a visible effort of self-command, the Landgrave inclined his ear to The Masque, who added-

" Your Highness will be shocked to hear it :" then, in a lower tone, " Who could have believed it ? It was —." All was pronounced clearly and strongly, except the last word—the name of the murderer : that was made audible only to the Landgrave's ear. Sudden and tremendous was the effect upon the prince : he reeled a few paces off; put his hand to the hilt of his sword ; smote his forehead ; threw frenzied looks upon The Masque,—now half imploring, now dark with vindictive wrath. Then succeeded a pause of profoundest silence, during which all the twelve hundred visitors, whom he had himself assembled, as if expressly to make them witnesses of this extraordinary scene, and of the power with which a stranger could shake him to and fro in a tempestuous strife of passions, were looking and hearkening with senses on the stretch to pierce the veil of silence and of dis- tance. At last the Landgrave mastered his emotions sufficiently to say, " Well, Sir, what next ?"

" Next comes a revelation of another kind ; and I warn you, Sir, that it will not he less trying to the nerves. For this first I needed your ear ; now I shall need your eyes. Think again, Prince, whether vou will stand the trial." " Pshaw! Sir, you trifle with me; again I tell you—" But here the Land- grave spoke with an affectation of composure and with an effort that did not escape notice ;—" again I tell you that I fear you not. Go on."

" Then coine forward a little, please your Highness, to the light of this lamp." So saying, with a step or two in advance, he drew the Prince under the power- ful.glare of a lamp suspended near the great archway of entrance from the in- terior of the palace. Both were now standing with their faces entirely averted from the spectators. Still more effectually, however, to screen himself from any of those eroups on the left, whose advanced position gave them somewhat more the advantage of an oblique aspect, The Masque, at this moment, suddenly drew up, with his left hand, a short Spanish mantle which depended from his

shoulders, 'I and now gave him the benefit of a lateral screen. hen, so far as the company behind them could guess at his act, unlocking with his right hand and raising the masque which shrouded his mysterious features, he shouted aloud in a voice that rang clear through every corner of the vast saloon, " Landgrave, for crimes yet unrevealed, I summon you, in twenty days, before a tribunal where there is no shield but innocence ! " and at that moment turned his counte- nance full upon the Prince. With a yell, rather than a human expression of terror, the Landgrave fell, as if shot by a thunderbolt, stretched at his full length upon the ground, lifeless apparently, and bereft of consciousness or sensation. A sympathetic cry of horror arose from the spectators. All rushed towards The Masque.

He of course escapes in the confusion ; and in the end turns out to be the rightful heir to the Landgrave's authority, and the son of the man he had murdered. But the effects are notwell made out : in fact, it is apparent through the story, that the author is himself doing task-work, and feels none of the terrors he would impose. When he endeavours to explain the mystery by human means, he fails more grievously than did ever Mrs. RADCLIFF under similar circumstances.