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Title: A Bibliography of the writings in Prose and Verse of George Henry Borrow

Author: Thomas James Wise

Release date: June 30, 2008 [eBook #25939]

Language: English

Credits: Transcribed from the 1914 Richard Clay and Sons edition by David Price

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE WRITINGS IN PROSE AND VERSE OF GEORGE HENRY BORROW ***

Transcribed from the 1914 Richard Clay and Sons edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org

Manuscript of Lord’s Prayer in Romany

a
BIBLIOGRAPHY
of
THE WRITINGS IN PROSE AND VERSE
of
GEORGE HENRY BORROW

by
THOMAS J. WISE

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY
By Richard Clay & Sons, ltd.
1914

Of this book
One Hundred Copies Only
have been Printed.

PREFACE

The object of the present Bibliography is to give a concise account, accompanied by accurate collations, of the original editions of the Books and Pamphlets of George Borrow, together with a list of his many contributions to Magazines and other Publications.  It will doubtless be observed that no inconsiderable portion of the Bibliography deals with the attractive series of Pamphlets containing Ballads, Poems, and other works by Borrow which were printed for Private Circulation during the course of last year.  Some account of the origin of these pamphlets, and some information regarding the material of which they are composed, may not be considered as inopportune or inappropriate.

As a writer of English Prose Borrow long since achieved the position which was his due; as a writer of English Verse he has yet to come by his own.

The neglect from which Borrow’s poetical compositions (by far the larger proportion of which are translations from the Danish and other tongues) have suffered has arisen from one cause, and from one cause alone,—the fact that up to the present moment only his earliest and, in the majority of cases, his least successful efforts have been available to students of his work.

In 1826, when Borrow passed his Romantic Ballads through the Press, he had already acquired a working knowledge of numerous languages and dialects, but of his native tongue he had still to become a master.  In 1826 his appreciation of the requirements of English Prosody was of a vague description, his sense of the rhythm of verse was crude, and the attention he paid to the exigencies of rhyme was inadequate.  Hence the majority of his Ballads, beyond the fact that they were faithful reproductions of the originals from which they had been laboriously translated, were of no particular value.

But to Borrow himself they were objects of a regard which amounted to affection, and there can be no question that throughout a considerable portion of his adventurous life he looked to his Ballads to win for him whatever measure of literary fame it might eventually be his fortune to gain.  In Lavengro, and other of his prose works, he repeatedly referred to his “bundle of Ballads”; and I doubt whether he ever really relinquished all hope of placing them before the public until the last decade of his life had well advanced.

That the Ballad Poetry of the old Northern Races should have held a strong attraction for Borrow is not to be wondered at.  His restless nature and his roving habits were well in tune with the spirit of the old Heroic Ballads; whilst his taste for all that was mythical or vagabond (vagabond in the literal, and not in the conventional, sense of the word) would prompt him to welcome with no common eagerness the old Poems dealing with matters supernatural and legendary.  Has he not himself recorded how, when fatigued upon a tiring march, he roused his flagging spirits by shouting the refrain “Look out, look out, Svend Vonved!”?

In 1829, three years after the Romantic Ballads had struggled into existence, Borrow made an effort to place them before a larger public in a more complete and imposing form.  In collaboration with Dr. (afterwards Sir John) Bowring he projected a work which should contain the best of his old Ballads, together with many new ones, the whole to be supported by the addition of others from the pen of Dr. Bowring. [0a]  A Prospectus was drawn up and issued in December, 1829, and at least two examples of this Prospectus have survived.  The brochure consists of two octavo pages of letterpress, with the following heading:—

PROSPECTUS.

It is proposed to publish, in Two Volumes Octavo,
Price to Subscribers £1 1s., to Non-Subscribers £1 4s.,
THE SONGS OF SCANDINAVIA,
translated by
Dr. BOWRING and Mr. BORROW.

dedicated to the king of denmark, by permission of his majesty.

 

Then came a brief synopsis of the contents of the volumes, followed by a short address on “the debt of justice due from England to Scandinavia.”

Two additional pages were headed List of Subscribers, and were left blank for the reception of names which, alas! were recorded in no sufficient number.  The scheme lapsed, Borrow found his mission in other fields of labour, and not until 1854 did he again attempt to revive it.

But in 1854 Borrow made one more very serious effort to give his Ballads life.  In that year he again took them in hand, subjected many of them to revision of the most drastic nature, and proceeded to prepare them finally for press.  Advertisements which he drew up are still extant in his handwriting, and reduced facsimiles of two of these may be seen upon the opposite page.  But again Fate was against him, and neither Kœmpe Viser nor Songs of Europe ever saw the light. [0b]

Manuscript of the Kœmpe Viser And Songs of Europe advertisement

After the death of Borrow his manuscripts passed into the possession of his step-daughter, Mrs. MacOubrey, from whom the greater part were purchased by Mr. Webber, a bookseller of Ipswich, who resold them to Dr. William Knapp.  These Manuscripts are now in the hands of the Hispanic Society, of New York, and will doubtless remain for ever the property of the American people.  Fortunately, when disposing of the bulk of her step-father’s books and papers to Mr. Webber, Mrs. MacOubrey retained the Manuscripts of the Ballads, together with certain other documents of interest and importance.  It was from these Manuscripts that I was afforded the opportunity of preparing the series of Pamphlets printed last year.

The Manuscripts themselves are of four descriptions.  Firstly, the Manuscripts of certain of the new Ballads prepared for the Songs of Scandinavia in 1829, untouched, and as originally written; [0c] secondly, other of these new Ballads, heavily corrected by Borrow in a later handwriting; thirdly, fresh transcripts, with the revised texts, made in or about 1854, of Ballads written in 1829; and lastly some of the more important Ballads originally published in 1826, entirely re-written in 1854, and the text thoroughly revised.

As will be seen from the few examples I have given in the following pages, or better still from a perusal of the pamphlets, the value as literature of Borrow’s Ballads as we now know them is immeasurably higher than that hitherto placed upon them by critics who had no material upon which to form their judgment beyond the Romantic Ballads, Targum, and The Talisman, together with the sets of minor verses included in his other books.  Borrow himself regarded his work in this field as superior to that of Lockhart, and indeed seems to have believed that one cause at least of his inability to obtain a hearing was Lockhart’s jealousy for his own Spanish Ballads.  Be that as it may—and Lockhart was certainly sufficiently small-minded to render such a suspicion by no means ridiculous or absurd—I feel assured that Borrow’s metrical work will in future receive a far more cordial welcome from his readers, and will meet with a fuller appreciation from his critics, than that which until now it has been its fortune to secure.

Despite the unctuous phrases which, in obedience to the promptings of the Secretaries of the British and Foreign Bible Society [0d] whose interests he forwarded with so much enterprise and vigor, he was at times constrained to introduce into his official letters, Borrow was at heart a Pagan.  The memory of his father that he cherished most warmly was that of the latter’s fight, actual or mythical, with ‘Big Ben Brain,’ the bruiser; whilst the sword his father had used in action was one of his best-regarded possessions.  To that sword he addressed the following youthful stanzas, which until now have remained un-printed:

THE SWORD

Full twenty fights my father saw,
   And died with twenty red wounds gored;
I heir’d what he so loved to draw,
   His ancient silver-handled sword.

It is a sword of weight and length,
   Of jags and blood-specks nobly full;
Well wielded by his Cornish strength
   It clove the Gaulman’s helm and scull.

Hurrah! thou silver-handled blade,
   Though thou’st but little of the air
Of swords by Cornets worn on p’rade,
   To battle thee I vow to bear.

Thou’st decked old chiefs of Cornwall’s land,
   To face the fiend with thee they dared;
Thou prov’dst a Tirfing in their hand
   Which victory gave whene’ertwas bared.

Though Cornwall’s moorstwas ne’er my lot
   To view, in Eastern Anglia born,
Yet I her son’s rude strength have got,
   And feel of death their fearless scorn.

And when the foe we have in ken,
   And with my troop I seek the fray,
Thou’lt find the youth who wields thee then
   Will ne’er the part of Horace play.

Meanwhile above my bed’s head hang,
   May no vile rust thy sides bestain;
And soon, full soon, the war-trump’s clang
   Call me and thee to glory’s plain.

These stanzas are interesting in a way which compels one to welcome them, despite the poverty of the verse.  The little poem is a fragment of autobiographical juvenilia, and moreover it is an original composition, and not a translation, as is the greater part of Borrow’s poetical work.

Up to the present date no Complete Collected Edition of Borrow’s Works has been published, either in this country or in America.  There is, however, good reason for hoping that this omission will soon be remedied, for such an edition is now in contemplation, to be produced under the agreeable editorship of Mr. Clement Shorter.

It is, I presume, hardly necessary to note that every Book, Pamphlet, and Magazine dealt with in the following pages has been described de visu.

T. J. W.

CONTENTS

PART I.—EDITIONES PRINCIPES

page

Preface

ix

Celebrated Trials, 1825

3

Faustus, 1825

4

Romantic Ballads, 1826:

 

   First issue

11

   Second issue

44

   Third issue

47

Targum, 1835

47

The Talisman, 1835

58

The Gospel of St. Luke, 1837

62

The Zincali, 1841

66

The Bible in Spain, 1843

69

Review of Ford’sHand-book for Travellers in Spain,” 1845

72

A Supplementary Chapter toThe Bible in Spain,” 1913

81

Lavengro, 1851

85

The Romany Rye, 1857

88

The Sleeping Bard, 1860

92

Wild Wales, 1862

94

Romano Lavo-Lil, 1874

103

The Turkish Jester, 1884

110

The Death of Balder, 1889

111

Letters to the British and Foreign Bible Society, 1911

113

Letters to his Wife, Mary Borrow, 1913

115

Marsk Stig, A Ballad, 1913

116

The Serpent Knight, and Other Ballads, 1913

127

The King’s Wake, and Other Ballads, 1913

131

The Dalby Bear, and Other Ballads, 1913

139

The Mermaid’s Prophecy, and Other Songs relating to Queen Dagmar, 1913

140

Hafbur and Signe, A Ballad, 1913

144

The Story of Yvashka with the Bear’s Ear, 1913

153

The Verner Raven, The Count of Vendel’s Daughter, and Other Ballads, 1913

157

The Return of the Dead, and Other Ballads, 1913

158

Axel Thordson and Fair Valborg, 1913

165

King Hacon’s Death, and Bran and the Black Dog, 1913

166

Marsk Stig’s Daughters, and Other Songs and Ballads, 1913

170

The Tale of Brynild, and King Valdemar and His Sister, 1913

177

Proud Signild, and Other Ballads, 1913

181

Ulf van Yern, and Other Ballads, 1913

182

Ellen of Villenskov, and Other Ballads, 1913

188

The Songs of Ranild, 1913

191

Niels Ebbesen and Germand Gladenswayne, 1913

192

Child Maidelvold, and Other Ballads, 1913

195

Ermeline, A Ballad, 1913

203

The Giant of Bern and Orm Ungerswayne, 1913

207

Little Engel, A Ballad, 1913

208

Alf the Freebooter, Little Danneved and Swayne Trost, and Other Ballads, 1913

212

King Diderik and the Fight between the Lion and Dragon, and Other Ballads, 1913

215

The Nightingale, The Valkyrie and Raven, and Other Ballads, 1913

219

Grimmer and Kamper, The End of Sivard Snarenswayne, and Other Ballads, 1913

223

The Fountain of Maribo, and Other Ballads, 1913

227

Queen Berngerd, The Bard and The Dreams, and Other Ballads, 1913

231

Finnish Arts, Or, Sir Thor and Damsel Thure, 1913

237

Brown William, The Power of the Harp, and Other Ballads, 1913

238

The Song of Deirdra, King Byrge and His Brothers, and Other Ballads, 1913

244

Signelil, A Tale from the Cornish, and Other Ballads, 1913

247

Young Swaigder or the Force of Runes, and Other Ballads, 1913

251

Emelian the Fool, 1913

253

The Story of Tim, 1913

254

Mollie Charane, and Other Ballads, 1913

257

Grimhild’s Vengeance, Three Ballads, 1913

262

Letters to His Mother, Ann Borrow, 1913

266

The Brother Avenged, and Other Ballads, 1913

267

The Gold Horns, 1913

271

Tord of Hafsborough, and Other Ballads, 1914

273

The Expedition to Birting’s Land, and Other Ballads, 1914

275

PART II.

 

Contributions to Periodical Literature, etc.

283

PART III.

 

Borroviana: Complete Volumes of Biography and Criticism

311

PART I.
EDITIONES PRINCIPES, etc.

(1)  [Celebrated Trials: 1825]

Celebrated Trials, / and / Remarkable Cases / of / Criminal Jurisprudence, / from / The Earliest Records / to / The Year 1825. / [Thirteen-line quotation from Burke] / In Six Volumes. / Vol. I.  [Vol. II, &c.] / London: / Printed for Knight and Lacey, / Paternoster-Row. / 1825. / Price £3. 12s. in Boards.

Collation:—Demy octavo.

Vol. I.  Pp. xiii + v + 550, with nine engraved Plates.

Vol. II. „ vi + 574, with seven engraved Plates.

[P. 574 is misnumbered 140.]

Vol. III. „ vi + 572, with three engraved Plates.

Vol. IV. „ vi + 600, with five engraved Plates.

Vol. V. „ vi + 684, with five engraved Plates.

Vol. VI. „ viii + 576 + an Index of 8 pages, together with six engraved Plates.

Issued in drab paper boards, with white paper back-labels.  The leaves measure 8⅝ × 5 inches.

It is evident that no fewer than five different printing houses were employed simultaneously in the production of this work.

The preliminary matter of all six volumes was printed together, and the reverse of each title-page carries at foot the following imprint: “London: / Shackell and Arrowsmith, Johnson’s-Court, Fleet-Street.”

The same firm also worked the whole of the Second Volume, and their imprint is repeated at the foot of p. 574 [misnumbered 140].

Vol. I bears, at the foot of p. 550, the following imprint: “Printed by W. Lewis, 21, Finch-Lane, Cornhill.”

Vol. III bears, at the foot of p. 572, the following imprint: “J. and C. Adlard, Printers, / Bartholomew Close.”

Vols. IV and VI bear, at the foot of pages 600 and 576 respectively, the following imprint: “D. Sidney & Co., Printers / Northumberland-street, Strand.”

Vol. V bears, at the foot of p. 684, the following imprint: “Whiting and Branston, / Beaufort House, Strand.”

Both Dr. Knapp and Mr. Clement Shorter have recorded full particulars of the genesis of the Celebrated Trials.  Mr. Shorter devotes a considerable portion of Chapter xi of George Borrow and his Circle to the subject, and furnishes an analysis of the contents of each of the six volumes.  Celebrated Trials is, of course, the Newgate Lives and Trials of Lavengro, in which book Borrow contrived to make a considerable amount of entertaining narrative out of his early struggles and failures.

There is a Copy of the First Edition of Celebrated Trials in the Library of the British Museum.  The Press-mark is 518.g.6.

(2)  [Faustus: 1825]

Faustus: / His / Life, Death, / and / Descent into Hell. / Translated from the German. / Speed thee, speed thee, / Liberty lead thee, / Many this night shall harken and heed thee. / Far abroad, / Demi-god, / Who shall appal thee! / Javal, or devil, or what else we call thee. / Hymn to the Devil. / London: / W. Simpkin and R. Marshall. / 1825.

Title page of Fautus, 1825

Collation:—Foolscap octavo, pp. xii + 251; consisting of: Half-title (with imprint “Printed by / J. and C. Adlard, Bartholomew Close” at the foot of the reverse) pp. i–ii; Title-page, as above (with blank reverse) pp. iii–iv; Preface (headed The Translator to the Public) pp. v–viii; Table of Contents pp. ix–xii; and Text pp. 1–251.  The reverse of p. 251 is occupied by Advertisements of Horace Welby’s Signs before Death, and John Timbs’s Picturesque Promenade round Dorking.  The headline is Faustus throughout, upon both sides of the page.  At the foot of the reverse of p. 251 the imprint is repeated thus, “J. and C. Adlard, Bartholomew Close.”  The signatures are A (6 leaves), B to Q (15 sheets, each 8 leaves), plus R (6 leaves).

Issued (in April, 1825) in bright claret-coloured linen boards, with white paper back-label.  The leaves measure 6¾ × 4¼ inches.  The published price was 7s. 6d.

The volume has as Frontispiece a coloured plate, engraved upon copper, representing the supper of the sheep-headed Magistrates, described on pp. 64–66.  The incident selected for illustration is the moment when the wine ‘issued in blue flames from the flasks,’ and ‘the whole assembly sat like so many ridiculous characters in a mad masquerade.’  This illustration was not new to Borrow’s book.  It had appeared both in the German original, and in the French translation of 1798.  In the original work the persons so bitterly satirized were the individuals composing the Corporation of Frankfort.

In 1840 ‘remainder’ copies of the First Edition of Faustus were issued with a new title-page, pasted upon a stub, carrying at foot the following publishers’ imprint, “London: / Simpkin, Marshall & Co. / 1840.”  They were made up in bright claret-coloured linen boards, uniform with the original issue, with a white paper back-label.  The published price was again 7s. 6d.

Faustus was translated by Borrow from the German of Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger.  Mr. Shorter suggests, with much reason, that Borrow did not make his translation from the original German edition of 1791, but from a French translation published in Amsterdam in 1798.

The reception accorded to Faustus was the reverse of favourable.  The Literary Gazette said (July 16th, 1825):—

“This is another work to which no respectable publisher ought to have allowed his name to be put.  The political allusion and metaphysics, which may have made it popular among a low class in Germany, do not sufficiently season its lewd scenes and coarse descriptions for British palates.  We have occasionally publications for the fireside,—these are only fit for the fire.”

Borrow’s translation of Klinger’s novel was reprinted in 1864, without any acknowledgment of the name of the translator.  Only a few stray words in the text were altered.  But five passages were deleted from the Preface, which, not being otherwise modified or supplemented, gave—as was no doubt the intention of the publishers—the work the appearance of a new translation specially prepared.  This unhallowed edition bears the following title-page:

Faustus: / His / Life, Death, and Doom. / A Romance in Prose. / Translated from the German. / [Quotation as in the original edition, followed by a Printer’s ornament.] / London: / W. Kent and Co., Paternoster Row. / 1864.—Crown 8vo, pp. viii + 302.

“There is no reason to suppose,” remarks Mr. Shorter (George Borrow and his Circle, p. 104) “that the individual, whoever he may have been, who prepared the 1864 edition of Faustus for the Press, had ever seen either the German original or the French translation of Klinger’s book.”

There is a copy of the First Edition of Faustus in the Library of the British Museum.  The Press-mark is N.351.

Title page of Romantic Ballads

(3)  [Romantic Ballads: 1826]

Romantic Ballads, / Translated from the Danish; / and / Miscellaneous Pieces; / By / George Borrow. / Through gloomy paths unknown— / Paths which untrodden be, / From rock to rock I roam / Along the dashing sea. / Bowring. / Norwich: / Printed and Published by S. Wilkin, Upper Haymarket. / 1826.

Collation:—Demy octavo, pp. xii + 187; consisting of: Half-title (with imprint “Norwich: / Printed by S. Wilkin, Upper Haymarket” upon the centre of the reverse) pp. i–ii; Title-page, as above (with blank reverse) pp. iii–iv; Table of Contents (with blank reverse) pp. v–vi; Preface pp. vii–viii; Prefatory Poem From Allan Cunningham to George Borrow pp. ix–xi, p. xii is blank; Text of the Ballads pp. 1–184; and List of Subscribers pp. 185–187.  The reverse of p. 187 is blank.  There are head-lines throughout, each page being headed with the title of the Ballad occupying it.  The imprint is repeated at the foot of p. 184.  The signatures are a (a half-sheet of 4 leaves), b (a quarter-sheet of 2 leaves), B to M (eleven sheets, each 8 leaves), and N (a half-sheet of 4 leaves), followed by an unsigned quarter-sheet of 2 leaves carrying the List of Subscribers. [12]  Sigs.  G 5 and H 2 (pp. 89–90 and 99–100) are cancel-leaves, mounted on stubs, in every copy I have met with.

Issued (in May 1826) in dark greenish-grey paper boards, with white paper back-label, lettered “Romantic / Ballads / From the / Danish By / G. Borrow / Price 10/6 net.”  The leaves measure 9 × 5½ inches.

The volume of Romantic Ballads was printed at Norwich during the early months of 1826.  The edition consisted of Five Hundred Copies, but only Two Hundred of these were furnished with the Title-page transcribed above.  These were duly distributed to the subscribers.  The remaining Three Hundred copies were forwarded to London, where they were supplied with the two successive title-pages described below, and published in the ordinary manner.

I had an idea that, provided I could persuade any spirited publisher to give these translations to the world, I should acquire both considerable fame and profit; not perhaps a world-embracing fame such as Byron’s, but a fame not to be sneered at, which would last me a considerable time, and would keep my heart from breaking;—profit, not equal to that which Scott had made by his wondrous novels, but which would prevent me from starving, and enable me to achieve some other literary enterpriseI read and re-read my ballads, and the more I read them the more I was convinced that the public, in the event of their being published, would freely purchase, and hail them with merited applause”—[“George Borrow and his Circle,” 1913, p. 102.]

Allan Cunningham’s appreciation of the manner in which Borrow had succeeded in his effort to introduce the Danish Ballads to English readers is well expressed in the following letter:

27, Lower Belgrave Place,
London.
16th May, 1826.

My dear Sir,

I like your Danish Ballads much, and though Oehlenslæger seems a capital poet, I love the old rhymes bestThere is more truth and simplicity in them; and certainly we have nothing in our language to compare with them. . . . ‘Sir Johnis a capital fellow, and reminds one of Burns’Findlay.’  ‘Sir Middelis very natural and affecting, and exceedingly well rendered,—so isThe Spectre of Hydebee.’  In this you have kept up the true tone of the Northern Ballad.  ‘Svend Vonvedis wild and poetical, and it is my favouriteYou must not think me insensible to the merits of the incomparableSkimming.’  I think I hear his neigh, and see him crush the ribs of the JuteGet out of bed, therefore, George Borrow, and be sick or sleepy no longerA fellow who can give us such exquisite Danish Ballads has no right to repose. . . .

I remain,
Your very faithful friend,
Allan Cunningham.

Contents.

 

Page.

Introductory Verses.  By Allan Cunningham.  [Sing, sing, my friend; breathe life again]

ix

The Death-Raven.  [The silken sail, which caught the summer breeze]

I give herewith a reduced facsimile of the first page of the original Manuscript of this Ballad.  No other MS. of it is known to be extant.

1

Fridleif and Helga.  [The woods were in leaf, and they cast a sweet shade]

21

Sir Middel.  [So tightly was Swanelil lacing her vest]

Previously printed (under the title Skion Middel, the first line reading, “The maiden was lacing so tightly her vest,”) in The Monthly Magazine, November 1823, p. 308.  Apart from the opening line, the text of the two versions (with the exception of a few trifling verbal changes) is identical.

Another, but widely different, version of this Ballad is printed in Child Maidelvold and Other Ballads, 1913, pp. 5–10.  In this latter version the name of the heroine is Sidselil in place of Swanelil, and that of the hero is Child Maidelvold in place of Sir Middel.

28

Elvir-Shades.  [A sultry eve pursu’d a sultry day]

Considerable differences are to be observed between the text of the Manuscript of Elvir-Shades and that of the printed version.  For example, as printed the second stanza reads:

I spurr’d my courser, and more swiftly rode,
   In moody silence, through the forests green,
Where doves and linnets had their lone abode.

In the Manuscript it reads:

Immers’d in pleasing pensiveness I rode
   Down vistas dim, and glades of forest green,
Where doves and nightingales had their abode.

32

The Heddybee-Spectre.  [I clomb in haste my dappled steed]

In 1829 Borrow discarded his original (1826) version of The Heddybee-Spectre, and made an entirely new translation.  This was written in couplets, with a refrain repeated after each.  In 1854 the latter version was revised, and represents the final text.  It commences thus:

At evening fall I chanced to ride,
My courser to a tree I tied.
   So wide thereof the story goes.

Against a stump my head I laid,
And then to slumber I essay’d
   So wide thereof the story goes.

From the Manuscript of 1854 the ballad was printed (under the amended title The Heddeby Spectre) in Signelil, A Tale from the Cornish, and Other Ballads, 1913, pp. 22–24.  Borrow afterwards described the present early version as ‘a paraphrase.’

37

Sir John.  [Sir Lavé to the island stray’d]

There is extant a Manuscript of Sir John which apparently belongs to an earlier date than 1826.  The text differs considerably from that of the Romantic Ballads.  I give a few stanzas of each.

1826.

The servants led her then to bed,
But could not loose her girdle red!
I can, perhaps,” said John.

He shut the door with all his might;
He lock’d it fast, and quench’d the light:
I shall sleep here,” said John.

A servant to Sir Lavé hied:—
Sir John is sleeping with the bride:”
Aye, that I am,” said John.

Sir Lavé to the chamber flew:
Arise, and straight the door undo!”
A likely thing!” said John.

He struck with shield, he struck with spear
Come out, thou Dog, and fight me here!”
Another time,” said John.

Early MS.

They carried the bride to the bridal bed,
But to loose her girdle ne’er entered their head
   “Be that my care,” said John.

Sir John locked the door as fast as he might:
I wish Sir Lavé a very good night,
   I shall sleep here,” said John.

A messenger to Sir Lavé hied:
Sir John is sleeping with thy young bride!”
   “Aye, that I am!” said John.

On the door Sir Lavé struck with his glove:
Arise, Sir John, let me in to my love!”
   “Stand out, you dog!” said John.

He struck on the door with shield and spear:
Come out, Sir John, and fight me here!”
   “See if I do!” said John.

40

May Asda.  [May Asda is gone to the merry green wood]

44

Aager and Eliza.  [Have ye heard of bold Sir Aager]

47

Saint Oluf.  [St. Oluf was a mighty king]

Of Saint Oluf there are three MSS. extant, the first written in 1826, the second in 1829, and the third in 1854.  In the two later MSS. the title given to the Ballad is Saint Oluf and the Trolds.  As the latest MS. affords the final text of the Poem, I give a few of the variants between it and the printed version of 1826

1826.

St. Oluf built a lofty ship,
With sails of silk so fair;
To Hornelummer I must go,
And see what’s passing there.”

O do not go,” the seamen said,
To yonder fatal ground,
Where savage Jutts, and wicked elves,
And demon sprites, abound.”

St. Oluf climb’d the vessel’s side;
His courage nought could tame!
Heave up, heave up the anchor straight;
Let’s go in Jesu’s name.

The cross shall be my faulchion now
The book of God my shield;
And, arm’d with them, I hope and trust
To make the demons yield!”

And swift, as eagle cleaves the sky,
The gallant vessel flew,
Direct for Hornelummer’s rock,
Through ocean’s wavy blue.

Twas early in the morning tide
When she cast anchor there;
And, lo! the Jutt stood on the cliff,
To breathe the morning air:

His eyes were like the burning beal
His mouth was all awry;
The truth I tell, and say he stood
Full twenty cubits high.

* * * * *

Be still, be still, thou noisy guest
Be still for evermore;
Become a rock and beetle there,
Above the billows hoar.”

Up started then, from out the hill,
The demon’s hoary wife;
She curs’d the king a thousand times,
And brandish’d high her knife.

Sore wonder’d then the little elves,
Who sat within the hill,
To see their mother, all at once,
Stand likewise stiff and still.

1854.

Saint Oluf caused a ship be built,
   At Marsirand so fair;
To Hornelummer he’ll away,
   And see what’s passing there.

Then answer made the steersman old,
   Beside the helm who stood:
At Hornelummer swarm the Trolas,
   It is no haven good.”

The king replied in gallant guise,
   And sprang upon the prow:
Upon the Ox
[23] the cable cast,
   In Jesu’s name let go!”

The Ox he pants, the Ox he snorts,
   And bravely cuts the swell
To Hornelummer in they sail
   The ugly Trolds to quell.

The Jutt was standing on the cliff,
   Which raises high its brow;
And thence he saw Saint Oluf, and
   The Ox beneath him go.

His eyes were like a burning beal,
   His mouth was all awry,
The nails which feve’d his fingers’ ends
   Stuck out so wondrously.

Now hold thy peace, thou foulest fiend,
   And changed be to stone;
Do thou stand theretill day of doom,
   And injury do to none.”

Then out came running from the hill
   The carline old and grey;
She cursed the King a thousand times,
   And bade him sail away.

Then wondered much the little Trolds,
   Who sat within the hill,
To see their mother all at once
   Stand likewise stiff and still.

The entire ballad should be compared with King Oluf the Saint, printed in Queen Berngerd, The Bard and the Dreams, and Other Ballads, 1913, pp 23–29.

53

The Heroes of Dovrefeld.  [On Dovrefeld, in Norway]

Another version of The Heroes of Dovrefeld, written in 1854, is extant in manuscript.  Unlike that of 1826, which was in four line stanzas, this later version is arranged in couplets, with a refrain repeated after each.  It commences as follows:

On Dovrefeld in Norroway
Free from care the warriors lay.
   Who knows like us to rhyme and rune?

Twelve bold warriors there were seen,
Brothers of Ingeborg the Queen.
   Who knows like us to rhyme and rune?

The first the rushing storm could turn,
The second could still the running burn.
   Who knows like us to rhyme and rune?

58

Svend Vonved.  [Svend Vonved sits in his lonely bower]

In a Manuscript of 1830 the name employed is Swayne Vonved.  There is no 1854 Manuscript of this Ballad.

61

The Tournament.  [Six score there were, six score and ten]

The Tournament was one of the Ballads entirely rewritten by Borrow in 1854 for inclusion in the then projected Kœmpe Viser.  The text of the later version differed greatly from that of 1826, as the following extracts will show:

1826.

Six score there were, six score and ten,
   From Hald that rode that day;
And when they came to Brattingsborg
   They pitch’d their pavilion gay.

King Nilaus stood on the turrets top,
   Had all around in sight:
Why hold those heroes their lives so cheap,
   That it lists them here to fight?

Now, hear me, Sivard Snaresvend;
   Far hast thou rov’d, and wide,
Those warriors’ weapons thou shalt prove,
   To their tent thou must straightway ride.”

* * * * *

There shine upon the eighteenth shield
   A man, and a fierce wild boar,
Are borne by the Count of Lidebierg;
   His blows fall heavy and sore.

There shines upon the twentieth shield,
   Among branches, a rose, so gay;
Wherever Sir Nordman comes in war,
   He bears bright honour away.

There shines on the one-and-twentieth shield
   A vase, and of coppertis made;
That’s borne by Mogan Sir Olgerson:
   He wins broad lands with his blade.

And now comes forth the next good shield,
   With a sun dispelling the mirk;
And that by Asbiorn Mildé is borne;
   He sets the knights’ backs at work.

Now comes the four-and-twentieth shield,
   And a bright sword there you see;
And that by Humble Sir Jerfing is borne;
   Full worthy of that is he.

* * * * *

Sir Humble struck his hand on the board;
   No longer he lists to play:
I tell you, forsooth, that the rosy hue
   From his cheek fast faded away.

Now, hear me, Vidrik Verlandson;
   Thou art so free a man;
Do lend me Skimming, thy horse, this day;
   I’ll pledge for him what I can.”

* * * * *

In came Humble, with boot and spur,
   He cast on the table his sword:
Sivard stands in the green wood bound,
   He speaks not a single word.

O, I have been to the wild forest,
   And have seiz’d the warrior stark;
Sivard there was taken by me,
   And tied to the oak’s rough bark.”

* * * * *

The queen she sat in the high, high loft,
   And thence look’d far and wide:
O there comes Sward Snaresvend,
   With a stately oak at his side.”

Then loud laugh’d fair Queen Gloriant,
   As she looked on Sivard full:
Thou wert, no doubt, in great, great need,
   When thou such flowers didst pull.”

1854.

There were seven and seven times twenty
   Away from Hald that went;
And when they came to Brattingsborg
   There pitch’d they up their tent.

King Nilaus stood on the turret’s top,
   Had all around in sight:
If yonder host comes here to joust
   They hold their lives but light.

Now, hear me, Sivard Snarenswayne,
   One thing I crave of thee;
To meet them go, for I would know
   Their arms, and who they be.”

* * * * *

There shine upon the eighteenth shield
   A Giant and a Sow;
Who deals worse blows amidst his foes,
   Count Lideberg, than thou?

Wherever Sir Nordman comes in war
   He winneth fame in field;
Yon blooming rose and verdant boughs
   Adorn the twentieth shield.

A copper kettle, fairly wrought,
   Upon the next you see;
Tis borne by one who realms has won,
   Sir Mogan good, by thee!

Forth comes the two-and-twentieth shield,
   A sun mid mist and smoke;
Of wrestler line full many a spine
   Has Asborn Milday broke.

A glittering faulchion shines upon
   The four-and-twentieth shield;
And that doth bear Sir Jerfing’s heir,
   He’s worthy it to wield.

* * * * *

Young Humble struck his hand on the board,
   No longer he lists to play;
I tell to you that the rosy hue
   From his cheek fast fled away.

Now hear me, Vidrik Verlandson,
   Thou art a man so free;
Lend me thy horse to ride this course,
   Grey Skimming lend to me.”

* * * * *

In came Humble, with boot and spur,
   On the table cast his sword:
’Neath the green-wood bough stands Sivard now,
   He speaketh not a word.

O, I have been to the forest wild,
   And have seiz’d the warrior good:
These hands did chain the Snarenswayne
   To the oak’s bark in the wood.”

* * * * *

The Queen she sat in the chamber high,
   And thence look’d far and wide:
Across the plain comes the Snarenswayne,
   With an oak-tree at his side.”

Then loud laughed fair Queen Ellinore,
   As she looked on Sivard full:
Thou wast, I guess, in sore distress
   When thou such flowers didst pull!”

A reduced facsimile of the first page of the Manuscript of the 1854 version of The Tournament will be found herewith, facing page 28.

82

Vidrik Verlandson.  [King Diderik sits in the halls of Bern]

Vidrik Verlandson was another of the Ballads entirely re-written by Borrow in 1854 for the proposed Kœmpe Viser.  The text of the later version differed extremely from that of 1826, as the following examples will shew:

1826.

A handsome smith my father was,
   And Verland hight was he:
Bodild they call’d my mother fair;
   Queen over countries three:

Skimming I call my noble steed,
   Begot from the wild sea-mare:
Blank do I call my haughty helm,
   Because it glitters so fair:

Skrepping I call my good thick shield;
   Steel shafts have furrow’d it o’er:
Mimmering have I nam’d my sword;
   ’Tis hardened in heroes’ gore:

And I am Vidrik Verlandson:
   For clothes bright iron I wear:
Stand’st thou not up on thy long, long legs,
   I’ll pin thee down to thy lair:

Do thou stand up on thy long, long legs,
   Nor look so dogged and grim;
The King holds out before the wood;
   Thou shall yield thy treasure to him.”

All, all the gold that I possess,
   I will keep with great renown;
I’ll yield it at no little horse-boy’s word,
   To the best king wearing a crown.”

So young and little as here I seem,
   Thou shalt find me prompt in a fray;
I’ll hew the head from thy shoulders off,
   And thy much gold bear away.”

* * * * *

It was Langben the lofty Jutt,
   He wav’d his steel mace round;
He sent a blow after Vidrik;
   But the mace struck deep in the ground.

It was Langben the lofty Jutt,
   Who had thought his foeman to slay,
But the blow fell short of Vidrik;
   For the good horse bore him away.

It was Langben the lofty Jutt,
   That shouted in wild despair:
Now lies my mace in the hillock fast,
   As thoughtwere hammered in there!”

* * * * *

Accursed be thou, young Vidrik!
   And accursed thy piercing steel!
Thou hast given me, see, a wound in my breast,
   Whence rise the pains I feel.”

* * * * *

Now hear, now hear, thou warrior youth,
   Thou canst wheel thy courser about;
But in every feat of manly strength
   I could beat thee out and out.”

1854.

My father was a smith by trade,
   And Verland Smith he hight;
Bodild they call’d my mother dear,
   A monarch’s daughter bright.

Blank do I call my helm, thereon
   Full many a sword has snapped;
Skrepping I call my shield, thereon
   Full many a shaft has rapped.

Skimming I call my steed, begot
   From the wild mare of the wood;
Mimmering have I named my sword,
   ’Tis hardened in heroes’ blood.

And I am Viderik Verlandson,
   Bright steel for clothes I wear;
Stand up on thy long legs, or I
   Will pin thee to thy lair!

Stand up on thy long legs, nor look
   So dogged and so grim;
The King doth hold before the wood,
   Thy treasure yield to him!”

Whatever gold I here possess
   I’ll keep, like a Kemp of worth;
I’ll yield it at no horseboy’s word
   To any King on earth!”

So young and little as I seem
   I’m active in a fray;
I’ll hew thy head, thou lubbard, off,
   And bear thy gold away!”

* * * * *

It was Langben the Giant waved
   His steely mace around;
He sent a blow at Vidrik, but
   The mace struck deep in the ground.

It was Langben, the lofty Jutt,
   Had thought his foe to slay;
But the blow fell short, for the speedy horse
   His master bore away.

It was Langben, the lofty Jutt,
   He bellow’d to the heaven:
My mace is tight within the height,
   As though by a hammer driven!”

* * * * *

Accurs’d be thou, young Vidrik!
   Accursed be thy steel!
Thou’st given me a mighty wound,
   And mighty pain I feel.

* * * * *

Now hear, now hear, thou warrior youth,
   Thou well canst wheel thy steed;
But I could beat thee out and out
   In every manly deed.”

In Romantic Ballads, and also in the Manuscript of 1854, this Ballad is entitled Vidrik Verlandson.  In the Manuscript of 1829 it is entitled Vidrik Verlandson’s Conflict with the Giant Langben.  The text of this Manuscript is intermediate between that of the other two versions.

A reduced facsimile of the first page of the Manuscript of the 1854 version of Vidrik Verlandson is given herewith, facing p. 35.

98

Elvir Hill.  [I rested my head upon Elvir Hill’s side, and my eyes were beginning to slumber]

In the Manuscript of 1829 this Ballad is entitled Elfin Hill, and the text differs considerably from that printed in 1826.  I give the opening stanzas of each version.

1826.

I rested my head upon Elvir Hill’s side, and my eyes were beginning to slumber;
That moment there rose up before me two maids, whose charms would take ages to number.

One patted my face, and the other exclaim’d, while loading my cheek with her kisses,
Rise, rise, for to dance with you here we have sped from the undermost caves and abysses.

Rise, fair-haired swain, and refuse not to dance; and I and my sister will sing thee
The loveliest ditties that ever were heard, and the prettiest presents will bring thee.”

Then both of them sang so delightful a song, that the boisterous river before us
Stood suddenly quiet and placid, as thoughtwere afraid to disturb the sweet chorus.

1829.

I rested my head upon Elfin Hill, on mine eyes was slumber descending;
That moment there rose up before me two maids, with me to discourse intending.

The one kissed me on my cheek so white, the other she whispered mine ear in:
Arise, arise, thou beautiful swain! for thou our dance must share in.

Wake up, wake up, thou beautiful swain! rise and dancemongst the verdant grasses;
And to sing thee the sweetest of their songs I’ll bid my elfin lasses.”

To sing a song then one began, in voice so sweet and mellow,
The boisterous stream was still’d thereby, that before was wont to bellow.

111

Waldemar’s Chase.  [Late at eve they were toiling on Harribee bank]

Previously printed in The Monthly Magazine, August 1824, p. 21.

115

The Merman.  [Do thou, dear mother, contrive amain]

A later, and greatly improved, version of this Ballad was included, under the title The Treacherous Merman, in The Serpent Knight and Other Ballads, 1913, pp. 15–17.  An early draft of this later version bears the title Marsk Stig’s Daughter.

117

The Deceived Merman.  [Fair Agnes alone on the sea-shore stood]

Previously printed in The Monthly Magazine, March 1825, pp. 143–144.

120

Cantata.  [This is Denmark’s holyday]

127

The Hail-Storm.  [When from our ships we bounded]

The Hail Storm was reprinted in Targum, 1835, pp. 42–43, and again in Young Swaigder or The Force of Runes and Other Ballads, 1913, pp. 14–15.  In each instance very considerable variations were introduced into the text.

136

The Elder-Witch.  [Though tall the oak, and firm its stem]

139

Ode.  From the Gælic.  [Oh restless, to night, are my slumbers]

142

Bear Song.  [The squirrel that’s sporting]

Previously printed, with some trifling differences in the text, in The Monthly Magazine, December, 1824, p. 432.

144

National Song.  [King Christian stood beside the mast]

Previously printed (under the title “Sea Song; from the Danish of Evald”) in The Monthly Magazine, December, 1823, p. 437.

146

The Old Oak.  [Here have I stood, the pride of the park]

149

Lines to Six-Foot Three.  [A lad, who twenty tongues can talk]

151

Nature’s Temperaments:

 

1.  Sadness.  [Lo, a pallid fleecy vapour]

155

2.  Glee.  [Roseate colours on heaven’s high arch]

156

3.  Madness.  [What darkens, what darkens?—’tis heaven’s high roof]

In a revised Manuscript of uncertain date, but c 1860–70, this poem is entitled Hecla and Etna, the first line reading:

What darkensIt is the wide arch of the sky.”

158

The Violet-Gatherer.  [Pale the moon her light was shedding]

159

Ode to a Mountain-Torrent.  [How lovely art thou in thy tresses of foam]

Previously printed in The Monthly Magazine, October, 1823, p. 244.

In The Monthly Magazine the eighth stanza reads:

O pause for a time,—for a short moment stay;
   Still art thou streaming,—my words are in vain;
Oft-changing winds, with tyrannical sway,
   Lord there below on the time-serving main!

In Romantic Ballads it reads:

Abandon, abandon, thy headlong career
   But downward thou rushestmy words are in vain,
Bethink thee that oft-changing winds domineer
   On the billowy breast of the time-serving main.

164

Runic Verses.  [O the force of Runic verses]

167

Thoughts on Death.  [Perhapstis folly, but still I feel]

Previously printed (under the tentative title Death, and with some small textual variations) in The Monthly Magazine, October, 1823, p. 245.

169

Birds of Passage.  [So hot shines the sun upon Nile’s yellow stream]

171

The Broken Harp.  [O thou, who, ’mid the forest trees]

173

Scenes.  [Observe ye not yon high cliff’s brow]

175

The Suicide’s Grave.  [The evening shadows fall upon the grave]

182