_
* * * * *
SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS
THE FOREIGN REVIEW, NO. IX.
More than one acknowledgment is due from us to this excellent work,
although the publishers may doubt our sincerity by our selecting the
following interesting Ballad, from the German of Christian Count
Stolberg; which, observes the reviewer, "is by some considered the
poet's best effort, and a translation is therefore here attempted:"--
ELIZA VON MANSFIELD.
A BALLAD OF THE TENTH CENTURY.
"Still night! how many long for thee!
Now while I wake to weep,
O thou to them hast comfort brought,
Repose and gentle sleep.
Wished too, thou comest to me; now I
Am lonely, and am free,
And with my many sighs profound
May ease my misery.
Alas! what evil have I done
They treat me so severely?
My father always called me his
_Good_ child whom he loved dearly.
My dying mother on my head
Poured her best blessings forth:
It may in heaven be fulfill'd,
But surely not on earth!
Change not this blessing to a curse
For those who me offend.
O God! forgive them what they do,
And cause them to amend.
Ah, I with patience might bear all,
If, Love, thou wouldst not be,
Thou who consumest my troubled heart
With hopeless agony!
If now, while one sweet hope remains,
I cannot this endure;
Thou breakest then, poor heart.
Pages:
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52