These verses, which appeared in Blackwood for February, 1818, are, says Scott, 'a literal translation of an ancient Swiss ballad upon the Battle of Sempach, fought 9th July, 1386, being the victory by which the Swiss Cantons established their independence; the author, Albert Tehudi, denominated the Souter, from his profession of a shoemaker. He was a citizen of Lucerne, esteemed highly among his countrymen, both for his powers as a Meister-Singer, or minstrel, and his courage as a soldier; so that he might share the praise conferred by Collins on Eschylus, that, 'I rede ye, shrive ye of your sins Before ye farther go; A skirmish in Helvetian hills May send your souls to woe.' 'But where now shall we find a priest 'Right heavily upon your head 'T was on a Monday morning then, The stalwart men of fair Lucerne, It was the Lord of Hare-castle, 'O Hare-castle, thou heart of hare !' There was lacing then of helmets bright, Might well-nigh load a wain. And thus they to each other said, 'Yon handful down to hew Will be no boastful tale to tell, The peasants are so few.' The gallant Swiss Confederates there, бо Then heart and pulse throbbed more and more And down the good Confederates bore It was the Archduke Leopold, So lordly would he ride, But he came against the Switzer churls, The heifer said unto the bull, 'One thrust of thine outrageous horn An Austrian noble left the stour, He and his squire a fisher called- Their anxious call the fisher heard, And while against the tide and wind He should the boatman slay. The fisher's back was to them turned, The boat he overthrew. 110 He whelmed the boat, and as they strove He stunned them with his oar, 'Now, drink ye deep, my gentle sirs, You'll ne'er stab boatman more. 'Two gilded fishes in the lake It was a messenger of woe Has sought the Austrian land: "Ah! gracious lady, evil news! My lord lies on the strand. 120 130 140 150 "One day there was," he said, "when I certainly began to have great doubts whether the mischief was not getting at my mind - and I tell you how I tried to reassure myself on that score. I was quite unfit for anything like original composition; but I thought if I could turn an old German ballad I had been reading into decent rhymes, I might dismiss my worst apprehensions and you shall see what came of the experiment." He then desired his daughter Sophia to fetch the MS. of "The Noble Moringer," as it had been taken down from his dictation, partly by her, and partly by Mr. Laidlaw, during one long and painful day when he lay in bed.' O, WILL you hear a knightly tale of old Bohemian day, It was the noble Moringer in wedlock bed he lay; He halsed and kissed his dearest dame that was as sweet as May, And said, 'Now, lady of my heart, attend the words I say. "T is I have vowed a pilgrimage unto a distant shrine, And I must seek Saint Thomas-land and leave the land that's mine; Here shalt thou dwell the while in state, so thou wilt pledge thy fay That thou for my return wilt wait seven twelvemonths and a day.' That woman's faith's a brittle trust Seven twelvemonths didst thou say? I'll pledge me for no lady's truth beyond the seventh fair day.' |