For our night's rest, I must promptly
Send a messenger on horseback,
And he must alarm the city:
'Put up quickly all your banners,
Load your cannons for saluting,
And erect an arch of honour!'
Then we enter the next evening
Through the ancient gate in triumph,
And my whip I'll crack so loudly
That the town-house windows rattle.
Then I hear the aged Baron
Asking sharply: 'What's the meaning
Of these banners and this uproar?'
From afar I shout already:
'Heaven's blessing rests upon us;
Here a bridal pair are coming,
And, my lord, they are your children.'
This day ne'er shall be forgotten!
In remembrance shall the tom-cat
Hiddigeigei have a genuine
Whole well-smoked Italian sausage.
For the sake of after ages
Must the good schoolmaster make me
A fine poem on this subject;
I don't care, e'en should it cost me
The amount of two whole thalers,
And it must conclude as follows:
'From true love and trumpet-blowing
Many useful things are springing;
For true love and trumpet-blowing
E'en a noble wife are winning.
May true love and trumpet-blowing
Each one find good fortune bringing,
As our trumpeter young Werner,
On the Rhine at old Saekkingen.'"
THE END.
NOTES.
The town of Saekkingen, where the scene of this poem is laid, is
situated amid beautiful scenery on the outskirts of the Schwarzwald
(Black Forest), on the right bank of the Rhine, and on the road from
Basel to Constance, about 30 miles above the former place. The town
owes its origin to the settlement of St. Fridolinus (as related in the
Third Part of the poem), who came here from Ireland in the 6th century,
and founded a monastery, afterwards converted into a convent for noble
ladies. The settlement was made on an island in the Rhine. In the poem
the town is still considered as lying on an island, but according to
the legend, St. Fridolinus altered the course of the Rhine, leading
its waters entirely to the west side of the island.
The castle of Schoenau, on the site of the old castle of the Baron, the
father of the heroine of the story, stands close to the Rhine, and is
now the seat of Mr. Theodore Bally, the well-known wealthy and
benevolent proprietor of large silk manufactories. He has caused the
old tower of the castle to be restored, and intends to adorn its walls
with frescoes, representing scenes from the poem.
_Page_ 1.--Michele Pagano, a very popular hotel-keeper in Capri, whose
hotel was mostly frequented by German artists. He died only very
recently, universally regretted.
_Page_ 3.--The cat Hiddigeigei, the old Baron's cat, with which the
reader will become better acquainted as a philosophising cat in the
course of the poem.
_Page_ 5.--Amaranth, a poem by Oscar von Redwitz, published a few years
before "The Trumpeter of Saekkingen," and at that time very popular,
especially with certain classes in Germany.
_Page_ 13.--The Boezberg, a mountain in the Jura, over which the old
road from Basel to Zuerich led. Now the railroad between the two places
pierces it with a tunnel.
--The Hozzenwald, the Hauenstein mountains. See note to page 15.
--The Gallus Tower, an old tower at the upper extremity of Saekkingen,
properly called after St. Gallus, now used as a house of refuge for
homeless people.
_Page_ 14.--The graveyard of Saekkingen contains still the tombstone of
the hero and heroine of the poem. Their names, as given there, are
Franz Werner Kirchhofer and Marie Ursula von Schoenau. The first died
in May, 1690, the latter in March of the following year.
_Page_ 15.--The Eggberg is one of the mountains in the Hauenstein
country, to the north of Saekkingen. The inhabitants of this country
were formerly remarkable for their quaint costumes coming down from the
15th century. The men wore shirts with large frills around the neck,
red stomachers, long black jackets, and wide trousers reaching below
the knee, and called hozen. Hence the land was called Hozzenland. The
dress of the women was also very peculiar, and of many bright colours.
These old costumes are now rarely seen.
_Page_ 17.--"The silvery lake," a romantic small lake, half an hour
N.W. from Saekkingen. It lies in a hollow on the hills, surrounded by
rocks and splendid fir-woods. The lake, which is known by the name of
Berg See (mountain lake), is now also called Scheffel See. It is a
favourite spot for excursions from far and near, and abounds in fish.
_Page_ 19.--The Feldberg, the highest point of the Schwarzwald.
_Page_ 20.--St. Blasien, formerly a very ancient monastery of
Benedictine monks, called thus after St. Blasius, Bishop of Sebaste,
whose relics were brought here by one of the early abbots.
_Page_ 21.--"Then appeared as Death and Devil." This is the subject of
one of Albrecht Duerer's most celebrated engravings, called Ritter, Tod,
and Teufel (the Knight, Death, and the Devil), where the knight rides
quietly and unmoved through a gloomy mountain glen, smiling at Death,
who holds up an hourglass before him, and taking no notice at all of
the droll Devil, who tries to grasp him from behind. The knight is
evidently an embodiment of the freer spirit which began to reign then
in Germany. The engraving is of the year 1513.
_Page_ 26.--"Far off on the island glisten." The town of Saekkingen with
its minster.
_Page_ 30.--Rheinfeld, or rather Rheinfelden, a town on the left bank
of the Rhine, about halfway between Saekkingen and Basel, where, during
the Thirty Years' War, in the year 1638 several actions took place.
_Page_ 32.--Wehr, a village about six miles from Saekkingen, on the road
to Schopfheim, in the neighbourhood of a stalactite cave (Hasler
Hoehle) mentioned in the Tenth Part.
_Page_ 38.--Cujacius (Jacques de Cujas), a very distinguished jurist
and professor of law in the university of Bourges (d. 1590). His only
daughter, Susanna, became known by her profligate life. But the stories
told of her by Catherinot cannot have happened during her father's
lifetime, as he died when she was only three years old.
_Page_ 43--Palsgrave Frederic married the Princess Elizabeth, daughter
of James the First of England, in 1613. He was afterwards made king of
Bohemia by the Protestant princes of Germany, and moved to Prague in
1619. In the year following his army was routed near Prague by the
forces of the Catholic League, and he had to fly with his family.
_Page_ 46.--"Of a young and handsome carpenter." The pastor refers here
to a popular German song, still often sung by students:
War einst ein jung, jung Zimmergesell,
Der hatte zu bauen ein Schloss, etc.
It is the story of a young carpenter who built a castle for a Margrave.
During the absence of the latter the Margravine falls in love with the
carpenter. The lovers are afterwards surprised by the Margrave, who has
a gallows built on which the carpenter is hung.
_Page_ 49.--Clovis (465-511), king of the Franks, was married, while he
was still a heathen, to Clotilde, a Christian princess of Burgundy.
During the battle at Tolbiac (Zuelpich), near Cologne, when sorely
pressed by the enemy, the Allemanni, he vowed to become a Christian, if
he should gain the victory. After routing and subjugating the
Allemanni, the king and many thousands of his people were baptised by
the Bishop of Rheims, on the 23rd of December of the same year (496).
_Page_ 50.--"Augusta Rauracorum," Colonia Raurica, afterwards called
Augusta Rauracorum, a Roman colony founded in the year 44 B.C., by L.
Munatius Plancus. On the site of the Roman town are now two villages,
Basel-Augst and Kaiser-Augst, the latter a station on the railroad from
Basel to Zurich. Near Basel-Augst the remains of a Roman amphitheatre
and of a temple can still be seen.
_Page_ 56.--Count Ursus of Glarus had been converted to Christianity by
St. Fridolinus, and, with the consent of his brother Landolph, donated,
a short time before his death, all his estates to the new cloister at
Saekkingen. When Landolph, after the death of his brother refused to
acknowledge his will, Fridolinus was obliged to go to law in order to
make good his claim, and after a long litigation was at last notified
by the government of Glarus that he would not be able to have his
claims settled, unless he could bring the dead Count Ursus himself in
court as a witness. Then, the legend says, Fridolinus went, on the day
appointed for the court, to Glarus, raised Ursus from his grave, and
walked with him to Rankweil (the seat of the court, ten hours from
Glarus), where the count gave testimony in regard to his donation.
Landolph then not only gave up his brother's estates, but added also a
large portion of his own. After that Fridolinus walked back to Glarus
with Count Ursus, and committed him again to his grave. The saint, on
account of this miracle, is visually portrayed in company with the
skeleton of Count Ursus.
_Page_ 58.--Laufenburg, a town six miles above Saekkingen, and situated
on the beautiful rapids of the Rhine. A tower of the old strong castle
on the Swiss side is still standing.
_Page_ 59.--Beuggen, a town on the Rhine below Saekkingen. The ancient
building of the Teutonic order is still standing, and is used now by
the Moravians as an institute for children.
_Page_ 71.--The Wiese, a river coming from the Feldberg and flowing
into the Rhine a little below Basel. The beautiful valley of the clear
rapid river is now much visited, as there is a railroad as far as the
town of Zell. This region has become classic through the poet Hebel,
who wrote in the Allemannic idiom, still generally spoken in this whole
region. At Hausen, the station before Zell, where he was born, a
monument has been erected to him. There is also at Schopfheim,
the station below Hausen, on a hill called Hebelshoehe, a bust
of the poet The women of this region are remarkable for their large
singular-looking caps, to which Scheffel alludes.
_Page_ 76.--This gravel bank, called Field of Fridolinus, is still seen
in the Rhine, opposite the castle Schoenau.
_Page_ 80.--Hallau, a village not far from the railroad station
Neuhausen, the stopping-place for visiting the falls of the Rhine. The
red wine grown there is still very celebrated.
--The Hohe-Randen, a mountain to the north of Schapfhausen.
_Page_ 85.--Theuerdank, a German poem of the beginning of the 16th
century, written by Melchior Pfinzing, the secretary of the Emperor
Maximilian, who had planned and sketched the poem himself.
_Page_ 101.--Grenzach, the first German village going from Basel, on
the railroad to Saekkingen and Constanz. It is celebrated for the wine
grown there.
_Page_ 104.--The Frickthal, in the Swiss canton Aargau, nearly south of
Saekkingen.
_Page_ 105.--Schinznach, a village in the canton Aargau, much visited
on account of its hot sulphur springs. In the neighbourhood are the
ruins of the castle of Hapsburg, the cradle of the imperial house of
Austria.
_Page_ 109.--The mountain lake. See note to page 17.
_Page_ 120.--May drink, or May wine, a favourite drink in Germany for
the spring-time, made by steeping the leaves of woodroof in the light
white wine of the country, and sweetening it with sugar. It is an old
custom prevailing already in the 16th century, when the woodroof was
added to the wine not only to cheer the heart with its fine aroma, but
also for medicinal purposes, as acting on the liver.
_Page_ 135.--Albbruck, a place above Laufenburg on the Rhine, at the
mouth of the little river Alb, the valley of which is the most
beautiful in the Schwarzwald. Formerly there were here quite important
ironworks.
_Page_ 151.--"E'en a common Flemish blacksmith." Quentin Massys
(1466-1530), a celebrated Flemish painter, said to have been originally
a blacksmith. While such, he fell in love, and in order to gain the
maiden's consent as well as her father's (who was an artist) he forsook
his trade, devoted himself to painting, and became a great master in
his art. On the tombstone which his admirers placed on his grave a
hundred years after his death, stands the Latin hexameter:
Connubialis amor ex mulcibre fecit Apellem!
_Page_ 152.--The Gnome's cave (Die Erdmannshoehle), a stalactite cave
near the village of Hasel (whence the cave is called also Haselhoehle),
between Wehr and Schopfheim. It can be reached from the former by a
walk of half an hour, and is often visited with guides. The first cave,
which one reaches through a low passage, is 13 feet high, the next
contains a small lake. There is also a little river rushing along under
steps, over which one walks. The cave contains, like all caves of this
kind, most fantastic stalactite structures, which popular fancy has
called the organ, the chancel, the skeleton, &c. Some columns when
struck give out tones which sound as thirds. The most interesting part
of the cave is called Die Fuerstengruft (The Prince's Sepulchre), a
large room, 16 feet high, with a stalactite structure resembling a
large coffin. Popular superstition has from times immemorial made this
cave the haunt of gnomes.
_Page_ 169.--The ancient county of Hauenstein lies between two spurs of
the Feldberg, the eastern one coming down to the town of Waldshut on
the Rhine, the western one to Saekkingen. It is also called Hozzenland
(see note to page 15). The early history of the country is somewhat
obscure until the time of the Emperor Rudolph of Hapsburg, when it
acknowledged the sovereignty of Austria. In the times of the fight for
the German throne between Albrecht of Austria and Adolphe of Nassau,
and between Frederick the Beautiful and Ludwig of Bavaria, when Suabia
was without a duke and Germany without an emperor, the different
villages of the country founded a union (Einung) for their protection.
There is still in existence such a union document drawn up in the year
1433. The entire union was divided into eight smaller ones, each of
which stood under an elected leader (Einungsmeister). All these eight
leaders elected one of their body as speaker (Redmann), who held the
leadership of the entire union. By this the Hauenstein peasants were
greatly protected in their ancient rights; still the oppression of the
Austrian governors (Waldvoegte) often incited revolutions, the most
important of which occurred during the Peasants' War in 1525. Others
lasted from 1589 to 1614, arising from an impost laid on wine. The poet
introduces such a rising here in the course of his story.
_Page_ 206.--The Fuggers are an Augsburg family, who, by their
linen-trade and weaving, and afterwards by the purchase of mines in
Austria, amassed an enormous fortune, and were raised to the rank of
nobles by the Emperor Maximilian. The family attained their greatest
splendour under the Emperor Charles the Fifth, who, at the time of the
Diet at Augsburg, raised the two brothers then living to the rank of
counts.
_Page_ 235.--Katzenjammer, literally translated, cats' misery, the
vulgar German expression for the indisposition after a drunken debauch.
_Page_ 255.--Parcival, written by Wolfram von Eschenbach about the year
1200. Theuerdank, a German poem of the 16th century. See note to page
85.
_Page_ 277.--"As at Strasburg on the bulwarks." The Swiss soldier
refers here to a popular song:
Zu Strasburg auf der Schanz,
Da ging mein Trauern an, etc.
The simple but touching story of a soldier who stands guard on the
bulwarks of Strasburg and hears the Alpine horn blown on the other side
of the Rhine. Seized with home sickness he swims across the Rhine, but
is taken afterwards and shot as a deserter.
_Page_ 278.--The villa of the Cardinal Borghese, Casa Baldi, near
Olevano, in the Sabine country, is still in existence, and
is now an inn much frequented by artists. It has become celebrated by
Scheffel's humorous song, "Abschied von Olevano" (Farewell to Olevano),
which he wrote on the spot when leaving there after a long sojourn. It
is published in Scheffers collection of songs, "Gaudeamus."
_Page_ 285.--Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni of Venice, who in 1689 became the
successor of Innocent XI. as Alexander VIII.
CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS.