By force of repetition, Rolfo became perfect in his task, and even attached to it. The explosion amused him greatly, and the rewards which never failed to follow, were such as suited his imbecile yet greedy fancy. This daily exercise was continued unremittingly, up to the day on which the deed which it prefigured was destined to take place. Immediately on being apprised by the second warning of his friendly monitor that his foes were even at hand, Wolfsteïn hastened to lay his train. He had by persevering diligence, and with much manual labour, distributed such a portion of gunpowder and other combustibles through the vaults of his castle, as he conceived would rend the whole fabric from its foundation: he placed his unconscious engineer at his fearful post, and, with a feeling of desperate and diabolical triumph, looked to the near approaching crisis,

when one sudden destruction should involve himself, and all with whom his interests were now connected, regretting only, that Devereux, Father Joseph, Fieramosca, &c. were not at that moment his guests.

VOL. III.

R

1

CHAPTER XV.

"The bitter past, more welcome is the sweet!"

Shakspeare.

HAVING allowed the shock, the thunder, the smoke, the chaotic confusion of this terrible explosion, to subside into that ghastly calm which succeeds an event of horror, we will proceed fearfully to explore the extent of the ruin which has been effected.-The bastion which more immediately overlooked the gulf of Venice had undergone an almost total disruption from the rest of the massy pile:-it was in this division of the castle that Rolfo was stationed, and here the mine took most ample and destructive effect here were the festive apartments of Wolfstein, his scene of banquet and revelry, and here resided many a light and thoughtless minister of his pleasures.

One thunder clap pealed through it, and all that remained was a black, yawning, hollow shell! At the extremity of this bastion were the chambers of the Lady of Lornberg ;-every one of the suite dedicated to her use was involved in the ruin, save only the oriel, where she, with her Confessor and Barbara, were devoutly kneeling before the crucifix, at the moment when the castle was rent in twain. The shock was too sudden and intense to be felt; ere a shudder could creep through their veins, or a shriek escape their lips, they were all stretched uneconscious before the holy image at whose feet they knelt, and which, strange to say, was not shaken from its upright position:—the outward wall of this apartment had fallen, so that the still erect crucifix, and the inanimate forms which lay extended around it, were visible from without, though. surrounded by dust, smoke, and rubbish, while the spot, which seemed hitherto to have been pre

served by its sanctity from the destruction which had annihilated the rest of the bastion, was still rocking and tottering from the recent convulsion. The true cause of Wolfstein's plan not succeeding in its fullest extent cannot now be ascertained;—that he meant to have involved the whole pile, and all its inhabitants, in one undistinguished ruin, nor have left a wreck behind" to mark the place where it stood, could not be doubted. We may hazard a probable guess that the failure was owing to Wolfstein's ignorance of military tactics: he had, very likely, erroneously calculated the strength of his fortress, and the quan. tity of combustible necessary to effect its complete annihilation. However this may be, the sea bastion was the only part of Lornberg castle effectually destroyed, though the whole pilę trembled and quivered to its base.

The confusion, the horror, the mistrust of the surviving part of the household, &c.