attributed to the image of the Black Lady, which has been deposited in
its actual abode since the year of Grace 696. In the course of the
Thirty Years' War, this important relic and its treasury were twice
removed into the city of Salzburg, for security from the Swedish
invaders; and twice brought back in solemn triumph to their ancient
sanctuary.

But a mightier charm than that of gems or metals, the most precious or
the most beautiful, connects itself with the chapel of Altenötting--its
association with historical names of all ages, from Charlemagne and Otto
of Wittelsbach, whose monuments we find inscribed in Runic characters,
to Pius the Sixth, whose dedication, "O clemens, O pia Virgo
Oettingana!" is graven in a "fine Roman hand." It contains sepulchral
vaults of the families of Wallenstein, Tilly, Montecuculi, besides those
of divers electors, archbishops, and archdukes, whose titles speak far
less stirringly to the heart; altogether forming an illustration of the
past, which brings the dark ages in living majesty before our eyes.

Alternately dazzled and disgusted by this fruitless waste of splendour,
this still more fruitless waste of national credulity, I was pondering
over the domestic virtues of a certain "Franziska Barbara, Countess of
Tilly," as recorded over her grave, when the chants of the priests, who
had been engaged in the celebration of mass before the altar, suddenly
ceased; and, as the last fumes of the incense circled upwards to the
blackened roof, there arose another and a solitary voice, evidently of
lay intonation, and deepened by that persuasive earnestness of devotion
which, like an electric chain, connects in holy feeling all sects of the
Christian church. It spoke in the fulness of gratitude, and in the
humbleness of prayer; and although the dialect was tinged with village
barbarism, and its thankfulness addressed to the Black Virgin, I heard