Murcigalleros, those who steal at nightfall. Hermit, a highway-robber. Commandments, the fingers. St. Martin asleep, to rob a person asleep. Goblin, police officer. Vineyards and Dancing John, to take flight. Page 52. If thou art sleeping, maiden. From the Spanish; as is likewise the song of the Contrabandista on the same page. Page 55. All the Foresters of Flanders. The title of Foresters was given to the early governors of Flanders, appointed by the kings of France. Lyderick du Bucq, in the days of Clotaire the Second, was the first of them; and Beaudoin Bras-de-Fer, who stole away the fair Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald, from the French court, and married her in Bruges, was the last. After him the title of Forester was changed to that of Count. Philippe d'Alsace, Guy de Dampierre, and Louis de Crécy, coming later, in the order of time, were therefore rather Counts than Foresters. Philippe went twice to the Holy Land as a Crusader, and died of the plague at St. Jean-d'Acre, shortly after the capture of the city by the Christians. Guy de Dampierre died in the prison of Compiégne. Louis de Crécy was son and successor of Robert de Béthune, who strangled his wife, Yolande de Bourgogne, with the bridle of his horse, for having poisoned, at the age of eleven years, Charles, his son by his first wife, Blanche d'Anjou. Page 55. Stately dames, like queens attended. When Philippe-le-Bel, king of France, visited Flanders with his queen, she was so astonished at the magnificence of the dames of Bruges, that she exclaimed: "Je croyais être seule reine ici, mais il paraît que ceux de Flandre qui se trouvent dans nos prisons sont tous des princes, car leurs femmes sont habillées comme des princesses et des reines." When the burgomasters of Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres went to Paris to pay homage to King John, in 1351, they were received with great pomp and distinction; but, being invited to a festival, they observed that their seats at table were not furnished with cushions; whereupon, to make known their displeasure at this want of regard to their dignity, they folded their richly embroidered cloaks and seated themselves upon them. On rising from table, they left their cloaks behind them, and, being informed of their apparent forgetfulness, Simon van Eertrycke, burgomaster of Bruges, replied, "We Flemings are not in the habit of carrying away our cushions after dinner." Page 55. Knights who bore the Fleece of Gold. Philippe de Bourgogne, surnamed Le Bon, espoused Isabella of Portugal on the 10th of January, 1430; and on the same day instituted the famous order of the Fleece of Gold. Page 55. I beheld the gentle Mary. Marie de Valois, Duchess of Burgundy, was left by the death of her father, Charles le Téméraire, at the age of twenty, the richest heiress of Europe. She came to Bruges, as Countess of Flanders, in 1477, and in the same year was married by proxy to the Archduke Maximilian. According to the custom of the time, the Duke of Bavaria, Maximilian's substitute, slept with the princess. They were both in complete dress, separated by a naked sword, and attended by four armed guards. Marie was adored by her subjects for her gentleness and her many other virtues. Maximilian was son of the Emperor Frederick the Third, and is the same person mentioned afterwards in the poem of Nuremberg as the Kaiser Maximilian, and the hero of Pfinzing's poem of Teuerdank. Having been imprisoned by the revolted burghers of Bruges, they refused to release him till he consented to kneel in the public square, and to swear on the Holy Evangelists and the body of Saint Donatus that he would not take vengeance upon them for their rebellion. Page 55. The bloody battle of the Spurs of Gold. This battle, the most memorable in Flemish history, was fought under the walls of Courtray, on the 11th of July, 1302, between the French and the Flemings, the former commanded by Robert, Comte d'Artois, and the latter by Guillaume de Juliers, and Jean, Comte de Namur. The French army was completely routed, with a loss of twenty thousand infantry and seven thousand cavalry; among whom were sixty-three princes, dukes, and counts, seven hundred lords-banneret, and eleven hundred noblemen. The flower of the French nobility perished on that day; to which history has given the name of the Journée des Eperons d'Or, from the great number of golden spurs found on the field of battle. Seven hundred of them were hung up as a trophy in the church of Notre Dame de Courtray; and, as the cavaliers of that day wore but a single spur each, these vouched to God for the violent and bloody death of seven hundred of his creatures. Page 55. Saw the fight at Minnewater. When the inhabitants of Bruges were digging a canal at Minnewater, to bring the waters of the Lys from Deynze to their city, they were attacked and ronted by the citizens of Ghent, whose commerce would have been much injured by the canal. They were led by Jean Lyons, captain of a military company at Ghent, called the Chaperons Blancs. He had great sway over the turbulent populace, who, in those prosperous times of the city, gained an easy liveli hood by laboring two or three days in the week, and had the remaining four or five to devote to public affairs. The fight at Minnewater was followed by open rebellion against Louis de Maele, the Count of Flanders and Protector of Bruges. His superb château of Wondelghem was pillaged and burnt; and the insurgents forced the gates of Bruges, and entered in triumph, with Lyons mounted at their head. A few days afterwards he died suddenly, perhaps by poison. Meanwhile the insurgents received a check at the village of Nevèle; and two hundred of them perished in the church, which was burned by the Count's orders. One of the chiefs, Jean de Lannoy, took refuge in the belfry. From the summit of the tower he held forth his purse filled with gold, and begged for deliverance. It was in vain. His enemies cried to him from below to save himself as best he might; and, half suffocated with smoke and flame, he threw himself from the tower and perished at their feet. Peace was soon afterwards established, and the Count retired to faithful Bruges. Page 55. The Golden Dragon's nest. The Golden Dragon, taken from the church of St. Sophia, at Constantinople, in one of the Crusades, and placed on the belfry of Bruges, was afterwards transported to Ghent by Philip van Artevelde, and still adorns the belfry of that city. The inscription on the alarm-bell at Ghent is, "Mynen naem is Roland; als ik klep is er brand, and als ik luy is er victorie in het land." My name is Roland; when I toll there is fire, and when I ring there is victory in the land. Page 57. That their great imperial city stretched its hand through every clime. An old popular proverb of the town runs thus: :Nurnberg's Hand Geht durch alle Land. Nuremberg's Hand Goes through every land. Page 57. Sat the poet Melchior singing Kaiser Maximilian's praise. Melchior Pfinzing was one of the most celebrated German poets of the sixteenth century. The hero of his Teuerdank was the reigning Emperor, Maximilian; and the poem was to the Germans of that day what the Orlando Furioso was to the Italians. Maximilian is mentioned before, in the Belfry of Bruges. See preceding page. Page 57. In the church of sainted Sebald sleeps enshrined his holy dust. The tomb of Saint Sebald, in the church which bears his name, is one of the richest works of art in Nuremberg. It is of bronze, and was cast by Peter Vischer and his sons, who labored sacrament, is by the hand of Adam Kraft. It is an exquisite piece of sculpture in white stone, and rises to the height of sixty-four feet. It stands in the choir, whose richly painted vis dows cover it with varied colors. Page 58. Wisest of the Twelve Wise Masters, The Twelve Wise Masters was the title of the original corporation of the Mastersingers. Ha Sachs, the cobbler of Nuremberg, though t one of the original Twelve, was the most nowned of the Mastersingers, as well as the most voluminous. He flourished in the sir teenth century; and left behind him thirty-four folio volumes of manuscript, containing two hundred and eight plays, one thousand and seve hundred comic tales, and between four and five thousand lyric poems. Page 58. As in Adam Puschman's song. Gray and white, and dove-like, Page 58. As the old man, gray and dove-like. [In a letter to Freiligrath, written in the spring of 1844, Mr. Longfellow says: "Here I send you a poem on Nuremberg.... I trust I have not mistranslated wie ein Taub Jermas. It cer tainly stands for eine Taube or ein Tauber, and is dove and not deaf, though old Hans Sacha was deaf. But that Puschman describes after wards when he says: Dann sein Red und Gehör begunnt Ihne abzugehn, etc. Therefore dove-like it is and shall be, for F. says I would have it so at any rate!' and at any rate I will."] Page 64. Who, unharmed, on his tusks out caught the bolts of the thunder. A delegation of warriors from the Delaware tribe having visited the governor of Virginia during the Revolution, on matters of busines after these had been discussed and settled in council, the governor asked them some que tions relative to their country, and, among oth ers, what they knew or had heard of the animal whose bones were found at the Saltlicks on the Ohio. Their chief speaker immediately pat himself into an attitude of oratory, and, with a pomp suited to what he conceived the elevation of his subject, informed him that it was a tra dition handed down from their fathers, that in ancient times a herd of these tremendous animals came to the Big-bone licks, and began an universal destruction of the bear, deer, elks buffaloes, and other animals which had been with it thirteen years. It is adorned created for the use of the Indians: that the one hundred figures, among which those of the Twelve Apostles are conspicuous for size and beauty. Page 57. In the church of sainted Lawrence stands a pix of sculpture rare. This pix, or tabernacle for the vessels of the Great Man above, looking down and seeing this was so enraged that he seized his lightning, de scended on the earth, seated himself on a neigh boring mountain, on a rock of which his s and the print of his feet are still to be seen, and hurled his bolts among them till the whole wan M 1 slaughtered, except the big bull, who, presenting his forehead to the shafts, shook them off as they fell; but missing one at length, it wounded him in the side; whereon, springing round, he bounded over the Ohio, over the Wabash, the Illinois, and finally over the great lakes, where he is living at this day.'"-Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, Query VI. Page 66. Once some ancient Scald. [In commenting on this poem in his diary, Mr. Longfellow writes: "What is said of the Scald refers, of course, only to some of the melodies, which may possibly be as old as the days of Hakon Jarl, or older. Hamlet and Yorick are only symbolical of any old king and his jester."] Page 66. Vogelweid the Minnesinger. Walter von der Vogelweid, or Bird-Meadow, was one of the principal Minnesingers of the thirteenth century. He triumphed over Heinrich von Ofterdingen in that poetic contest at Wartburg Castle, known in literary history as the War of Wartburg. Page 69. Like imperial Charlemagne. Charlemagne may be called by preeminence the monarch of farmers. According to the German tradition, in seasons of great abundance, his spirit crosses the Rhine on a golden bridge at Bingen, and blesses the cornfields and the vineyards. During his lifetime, he did not disdain, says Montesquieu, "to sell the eggs from the farmyards of his domains, and the superfluous vegetables of his gardens; while he distributed among his people the wealth of the Lombards and the immense treasures of the Huns." Page 72. List to a Tale of Love in Acadie, home of the happy. [In the earliest records Acadie is called Cadie; afterwards it was called Arcadia, Accadia, or L'Acadie. The name is probably a French adaptation of a word common among the Micmac Indians, signifying place or region, and used as an affix to other words to indicate the place where various things, such as cranberries, eels, seals, were found in abundance. The French turned this Indian term into Cadie or Acadie; the English into Quoddy, in which form it remains when applied to the Quoddy Indians, to Quoddy Head, the last point of the United States next to Acadia, and in the compound Passamaquoddy, or Pollock-Ground.] Page 74. Lucky was he who found that stone in the nest of the swallow. ["If the eyes of one of the young of a swallow be put out, the mother bird will bring from the sea-shore a little stone, which will immediately restore its sight; fortunate is the person who finds this little stone in the nest, for it is a miraculous remedy." Pluquet, Contes Populaires, quoted by Wright, Literature and Superstitions of England in the Middle Ages, I. 128.] Page 74. "Sunshine of Saint Eulalie" was the called. Si le soleil rit le jour Sainte-Eulalie Il y aura pommes et cidre à folie." PLUQUET in WRIGHT, I. 131. Page 75. Flashed like a plane-tree the Persian adorned with mantles and jewels. 66 See Evelyn's Silva, II. 53. [The story runs back to Herodotus, VII. 31, the Persian" being Xerxes.] Page 77. For he told them tales. [The stories of the Loup-garou, or were-wolf, and the Létiche, and the miraculous properties of spiders, clover, and horseshoes, may be found in Pluquet, Contes Populaires, who conjectures that the white fleet ermine fox gave rise to the story of the Létiche.] Page 77. Well I remember a story. [This is an old Florentine story; in an altered form it is the theme of Rossini's opera of La Gazza Ladra.] Page 85. Thou art too fair to be left to braid St. Catherine's tresses. There is a Norman saying of a maid who does not marry Elle restera pour coiffer Sainte Katherine. Page 86. On the Acadian coast, and the prairies of fair Opelousas. [Between the 1st of January and the 13th of May, 1765, about six hundred and fifty Acadians had arrived at New Orleans. The existence of a French population there attracted the exiles, and they were sent by the authorities to form settlements in Attakapas and Opelousas. They afterward established themselves on both sides of the Mississippi from the German Coast to Baton Rouge and even as high as Pointe Coupée. Hence the name of Acadian Coast, which a portion of the banks of the river still bears. See Gayarré's History of Louisiana, the French Dominion, vol. II.] Page 102. Behold, at last, Each tall and tapering mast I wish to anticipate a criticism on this passage, by stating that sometimes, though not usually, vessels are launched fully sparred and rigged. I have availed myself of the exception as better suited to my purposes than the general rule; but the reader will see that it is neither a blunder nor a poetic license. On this subject a friend in Portland, Maine, writes me thus: "In this State, and also, I am told, in New York, ships are sometimes rigged upon the stocks, in order to save time, or to make a show. There was a fine large ship launched last summer at Ellsworth, fully sparred and rigged. Some years ago a ship was launched here, with her rigging, spars, sails, and cargo aboard. She sailed the next day and - was never heard of again! I hope this will not be the fate of your poem!" Page 105. Sir Humphrey Gilbert sailed. When the wind abated and the vessels were near enough, the Admiral was seen constantly sitting in the stern, with a book in his hand. On the 9th of September he was seen for the last time, and was heard by the people of the Hind to say, 'We are as near heaven by sea as by land. In the following night, the lights of the ship suddenly disappeared. The people in the other vessel kept a good lookout for him These severe afflictions "Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground."-Job v. 6. Page 109. Witlaf, a king of the Saxons. [In an entry in Mr. Longfellow's diary is the source from which the legend was derived. "Here is the part of King Witlaf's charter to the Abbey of Croyland relating to his drinking-horn, cited in Maitland's Dark Ages. I also offer to the refectory the horn of my table, that the elders of the monastery may drink out of it on the festivals of the Saints, and may sometimes amid their benedictions remember the soul of the donor, Witlaf." In point of fact, Witlaf was one of the Angle kings of Mercia, who made a gallant stand against the Saxon invaders. It was while falling back before Egbert that Witlaf took sanctuary at Croyland, where he was for four months kept hidden by Siward, third Abbot of Croyland. At the end of three years Siward's influence procured the restoration_of Witlaf, who became tributary to Egbert. In gratitude to the monks, Witlaf greatly added to the grants and privileges of the house.] Page 113. THE SONG OF HIAWATHA. This Indian Edda-if I may so call it - is founded on a tradition, prevalent among the North American Indians, of a personage of miraculous birth, who was sent among them to clear their rivers, forests, and fishing-grounds, and to teach them the arts of peace. He was known among different tribes by the several names of Michabou, Chiabo, Manabozo, Tarenya-wagon and Hiawatha. Mr. Schoolcraft gives an account of him in his Algic Researches, vol. I. p. 134; and in his History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States, Part III. p. 314, may be found the Iroquois form of the tradition, derived from the verbal narrations of an Onondaga chief. Into this old tradition I have woven other curious Indian legends, drawn chiefly from the various and valuable writings of Mr. Schoolcraft, to whom the literary world is greatly indebted for his indefatigable zeal in rescuing from oblivion so much of the legendary lore of the Indians. The scene of the poem is among the Ojibways on the southern shore of Lake Superior, in the region between the Pictured Rocks and the Grand Sable. VOCABULARY Adjidau'mo, the red squirrel. Ahdeek', the reindeer. Ahkose/win, fever. Gitche Gu'mee, the Big Sea-Water, Lake Superior. Gitche Man'ito, the Great Spirit, the Master of Life Gushkewau', the darkness. Hiawatha, the Wise Man, the Teacher; son of Mudje keewis, the West-Wind, and Wenonah, daughter of Nokomis. Ia goo, a great boaster and story-teller. Jee bi, a ghost, a spirit. Kahgahgee', the raven. Kayoshk', the sea-gull. Keeway'din, the Northwest Wind, the Home-Wind. Keneu', the great war-eagle. Kuntasoo, the Game of Plum-stones. Kwo-ne/she, or Dush-kwo-ne/she, the dragon-fy. Mahn-go-tay/see, loon-hearted brave. Megissog/won, the great Pearl-Feather, a magician onl the Manito of Wealth. Meshinau wa, a pipe-bearer. Minjekah wun, Hiawatha's mittens. Minnehaha, Laughing Water; a waterfall on a dream running into the Mississippi, between Fort Snava) and the Falls of St. Anthony. Minneha ha, Laughing Water; wife of Hiawatha. Minne-wa/wa, a pleasant sound, as of the wind is de trees. Mishe-Mo kwa, the Great Bear. Mishe-Nah/ma, the Great Sturgeon. Miskodeed', the Spring Beauty, the Claytonia Virg Moon of Strawberries, June. Moon of the Falling Leaves, September. Mudjekee wis, the West-Wind; father of Hiawatha. Na'gow Wudj'oo, the Sand Dunes of Lake Superar. Nah/ma, the sturgeon. American Indians, vol. II. p. 160, gives an interesting account of the Coteau des Prairies, and the Red Pipestone Quarry. He says: "Here (according to their traditions) happened the mysterious birth of the red pipe, which has blown its fumes of peace and war to the remotest corners of the continent; which has visited every warrior, and passed through its reddened stem the irrevocable oath of war and desolation. And here, also, the peace-breathing calumet was born, and fringed with the eagle's quills, which has shed its thrilling fumes over the land, and soothed the fury of the relentless savage. The Great Spirit at an ancient period here called the Indian nations together, and, standing on the precipice of the red pipe-stone rock, broke from its wall a piece, and made a huge pipe by turning it in his hand, which he smoked over them, and to the North, the South, the East, and the West, and told them that this stone was red, that it was their flesh, that they must use it for their pipes of peace, that it belonged to them all, and that the war-club and scalping-knife must not be raised on its ground. At the last whiff of his pipe his head went into a great cloud, and the whole surface of the rock for several miles was melted and glazed; two great ovens were opened beneath, and two women (guardian spirits of the place) entered them in a blaze of fire; and they are heard there yet (Tso-mec-cos-tee and Tso-mecos-te-won-dee), answering to the invocations of the high-priests or medicine-men, who consult them when they are visitors to this sacred place." Page 116. Hark you, Bear! you are a coward. This anecdote is from Heckewelder. In his account of the Indian Nations, he describes an Indian hunter as addressing a bear in nearly these words. "I was present," he says, at the delivery of this curious invective; when the hunter had despatched the bear, I asked him how he thought that poor animal could understand what he said to it. 'Oh,' said he in answer, the bear understood me very well; did you not observe how ashamed he looked while I was upbraiding him?'"- Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. I. p. 240. Page 118. Sent the robin, the Opechee. [In his first edition, Mr. Longfellow printed, Sent the Opechee, the robin, but apparently was corrected in the pronunciation of the Indian word. A similar change was made by him in the line, All the Wendigoes, the giants, which at first read, All the giants, the Wendigoes.] Page 120. Hush! the Naked Bear will hear thee! Heckewelder, in a letter published in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. IV. p. 260, speaks of this tradition as prevalent among the Mohicans and Delawares. Their reports," he says, "run thus: that among all animals that had been formerly in this country, this was the most ferocious; that it was much larger than the largest of the common bears, and remarkably long - bodied; all |