which he appeared to intimate the desire of placing the coin on a horse. He seemed, by his manners and conduct, to be a child hardly two, and at most three years of age, but of the size and stature of a youth. Most of the policemen were divided in opinion, whether he were to be considered as an idiot, as a madman, or as a sort of savage. Some of them, however, thought it possible, that a crafty impostor might be concealed in the lad, and this opinion derived no little weight from the following circumstance. It occurred to one of them, that an attempt might be made to ascertain whether he could write; a pen and ink were given to him, a sheet of paper was laid before him, and he was desired to use them. He appeared pleased, held the pen without any awkwardness, and wrote, to the astonishment of all who were present, in firm legible characters, the name:

Kaspar Hauser.

He was then further desired to add the name of the place whence he came; but all that he did was to groan forth, "Be a horseman," &c. go home," or "don't know."

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As nothing further could be done with him at present, the rest was left to time, and he was consigned to a policeman, who brought him to a tower which is near the Vestner Thor, (4) and is

destined for those who are arrested by the police, or for vagabonds, &c. In his way thither, though comparatively short, he groaned and sunk almost at every step, if indeed his clumsy motions could be called steps. In the Arrest Room, where he had another prisoner as a companion, he fell into a deep sleep upon his bed of straw.

CHAPTER II.

KASPAR HAUSER, the name which he still retains, wore, when he arrived at Nuremberg, a round hat, of the form that is usual in towns, of rather coarse beaver, lined with yellow silk and red leather, and in it was a view half effaced of the Town of Munich. His naked feet appeared through his half boots, which were much torn, did not fit him, were shod with iron and nails, and had high heels. He wore a black silk neckcloth, and over a coarse shirt,* and a waistcoat of red spotted stuff, which seemed to have been frequently washed; a grey cloth jacket, which the peasants call " Janker," or "Schalk," but which, when more closely examined, and by those who had professional knowledge, appeared not to have been originally destined by the tailor for the jacket of a peasant. It was in its primitive state, as the folding collar still shows,

It was thoughtlessly thrown away, on account, as it was said, of its bad quality, as were also the boots, at the very commencement of these transactions! Such were the proceedings with respect to articles which might have been of the greatest utility in the investigation.

a frock, of which the skirts had been cut off, and the upper parts had been clumsily sewed together, by a hand unaccustomed to such work. The pantaloons also, which were of somewhat a finer cloth, were of a grey colour, and were, like riding pantaloons, lined with the same cloth between the legs, belonged originally rather to a servant, to a groom, or to a woodman, &c. than to a peasant. Kaspar had with him a white and red checked pocket handkerchief, marked in red with the letters K. H., besides some blue and white flowered rags, a key, and a paper with some gold sand, which no person expects to meet with in the cottage of a peasant; there was found in his pocket a small Rosary of Horn, and a tolerably large provision of Spiritual Tracts, viz. exclusive of some Catholic Prayers in Manuscript, several printed papers, such as are usually given, in exchange for sterling money, to the pious in the South of Germany, particularly in places that are the resort of Pilgrims, some of them without any mention of the places were they were printed, others bearing the dates, Altöttingen, Burghausen, Salzburg, Prague. Their edifying titles were, for example, "Spiritual Sentinel," "Spiritual Forget Me Not," "a very effectual Prayer by which we "may participate in all Masses, &c." " Prayer to "the holy protecting Angels," "Prayer to the

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holy Blood," &c. One of these precious little compositions, entituled" Art of recovering lost "time and ill spent years," (without any date of the year when it was printed) seemed to allude ironically to the former life of this youth, such as it was afterwards related by him. From the spiritual gifts which he brought with him, it cannot well be doubted that temporal hands were not alone employed in this affair.

The letter which Kaspar had in his hand when he was found in Nuremberg, and which was addressed, but without a name, to the Captain of the Fourth Squadron of the Sixth Regiment of Light Horse, was in form and substance as follows: (5)

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"From the Bavarian Frontier;

"the place is not named.

High well-born Captain!

.. 1828.

"I send to you a boy, who might, as he "wishes, serve faithfully the King; the boy "was left with me, 1812, the 7th of October, "and I am a poor day-labourer, with ten "children, and have enough to do to take care "of them, and his mother left the child with me to bring him up, but I have not been able

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