domitable Hagen, in al. the wild deeds and sufferings he passes through, but those swinden blicken of his come before us, with the restless, deep, dauntless spirit that looks through them.

for himself. Remarkable only is the evil eye with which queen Brunhild still continues to regard the noble Siegfried. She cannot understand how Gunther, the Landlord of the Rhine, should have bestowed his sister on a vassal: the assurance that Siegfried also is a prince and heir-apparent, the prince namely of Netherland, and little inferior to Burgundian majesty itself, yields no complete satisfaction; and Brunhild hints plainly that, unless the truth be told her, unpleasant consequences may follow. Thus is there ever a ravelled thread in the web of life! But for this little cloud of spleen, these bridal feasts had been all bright and balmy as the month of June. Unluckily, too, the cloud is an electric one; spreads itself in time into a general earthquake; nay, that very night becomes a thunder-storm, or tornado, unparalleled we may hope in the annals of connubial happiness.

Brunhild's reception of Siegfried is not without tartness; which, however, he, with polished courtesy, and the nimblest address, ever at his command, softens down, or hurries over: he is here, without will of his own, and so forth, only as attendant on his master, the renowned King Gunther, who comes to sue for her hand, as the summit and keystone of all earthly blessings. Brunhild, who had determined on fighting Siegfried himself, if he so willed it, makes small account of this King Gunther, or his prowess; and instantly clears the ground, and equips her for battle. The royal wooer must have looked a little blank when he saw a shield brought in for his fair one's handling, "three spans thick with gold and iron," which The Singer of the Nibelungen, unlike the Aufour chamberlains could hardly bear, and a thor of Roderick Random, cares little for interspear or javelin she meant to shoot or hurl, meddling with "the chaste mysteries of which was a burden for three. Hagen, in angry hymen." Could we, in the corrupt, ambiguapprehension for his king and nephew, ex- ous, modern tongue, hope to exhibit any shaclaims that they shall all lose their life, (lip,) dow of the old, simple, true-hearted, merely and that she is the tiuvels wip, or Devil's wife. historical spirit, with which, in perfect purity Nevertheless Siegfried is already there in his of soul, he describes things unattempted yet in Cloak of Darkness, twelve men strong, and prose or rhyme, we could a tale unfold! privily whispers in the ear of royalty to be of Suffice it to say, King Gunther, Landlord of comfort; takes the shield to himself, Gunther the Rhine, falling sheer down from the third only affecting to hold it, and so fronts the edge heaven of hope, finds his spouse the most of battle. Brunhild performs prodigies of athletic and intractable of women; and himspear-hurling, of leaping, and stone-pitching; self, at the close of the adventure, nowise but Gunther, or rather Siegfried, "who does encircled in her arms, but tied hard and fast the work, he only acting the gestures," nay, hand and foot, in her girdle, and hung thereby, who even snatches him up into the air and at considerable elevation, on a nail in the wall. leaps carrying him,-gains a decided victory, Let any reader of sensibility figure the emoand the lovely Amazon must own with sur-tions of the royal breast, there as he vibrates prise and shame, that she is fairly won. Siegfried presently appears without Tarnkappe, and asks with a grave face, When the games then are to begin?

suspended on his peg, and his inexorable bride sleeping sound in her bed below! Towards morning he capitulates; engaging to observe the prescribed line of conduct with utmost strictness, so he may but avoid becoming a laughing-stock to all men.

So far well; yet somewhat still remains to be done. Brunhild will not sail for Worms, to be wedded, till she have assembled a fit No wonder the dread king looked rather train of warriors: wherein the Burgundians, grave next morning, and received the conbeing here without retinue, see symptoms or gratulations of mankind in a cold manner. possibilities of mischief. The deft Siegfried, He confesses to Siegfried, who partly suspects ablest of men, again knows a resource. In how it may be, that he has brought the "evil his Tarnkappe he steps on board the bark, devil" home to his house in the shape of wife, which, seen from the shore, appears to drift off whereby he is wretched enough. However, of its own accord; and therein, stoutly steering there are remedies for all things but death. towards Nibelungen-land, he reaches that mys- The ever-serviceable Siegfried undertakes terious country and the mountain where his even here to make the crooked straight. What Hoard lies, before the second morning; finds may not an honest friend with Tarnkappe and Dwarf Alberich and all his giant sentinels at twelve men's strength perform? Proud Bruntheir post, and faithful almost to the death; hild, next night, after a fierce contest, owns these soon rouse him thirty thousand Nibelun- herself again vanquished; Gunther is there to gen Recken, from whom he has only to choose reap the fruits of another's victory; the noble one thousand of the best; equip them splen-Siegfried withdraws, taking nothing with him didly enough; and therewith return to Gunther, simply as if they were that sovereign's own body-guard, that had been delayed a little by stress of weather.

The final arrival at Worms; the bridal feasts, for there are two, Siegfried also receiving his reward; and the joyance and splendour of man and maid, at this lordliest of hightides; and the joustings, greater than those at Aspramont or Montauban-every reader can fancy

but the luxury of doing good, and the proud queen's Ring and Girdle gained from her in that struggle; which small trophies he, with the last infirmity of a noble mind, presents to his own fond wife, little dreaming that they would one day cost him and her, and all of

Der Wirt rom Rine: singular enough the word Wirth, the title of innkeepers. To such base uses may wo often applied to royalty in that old dialect, is now also come.

Y

them, so dear. Such readers as take any in- | Netherlanders. Here for eleven days, amid terest in poor Gunther will be gratified to learn, infinite joustings, there is a true heaven on that from this hour Brunhild's preternatural earth: but the apple of Discord is already faculties quite left her, being all dependent on her maidhood; so that any more spear-hurling, or other the like extraordinary work, is not to be apprehended from her.

lying in the knightly ring, and two Women, the proudest and keenest-tempered of the world, simultaneously stoop to lift it. Aventure Fourteenth is entitled "How the two queens rated one another." Never was courtlier Billingsgate uttered, or which came more directly home to the business and bosoms of cedence, which indeed, from the time of Cain and Abel downwards, has wrought such effusion of blood and bile both among men and women; lying at the bottom of all armaments and battle-fields, whether Blenheims and Waterloos, or any plate-displays, and tongue-and eye skirmishes, in the circle of domestic Tea: nay, the very animals have it; and horses, were they but the miserablest Shelties and Welsh ponies, will not graze together till it has been ascertained, by clear fight, who is master of whom, and a proper drawing-room etiquette established.

If we add that Siegfried formally made over to his dear Chriemhild the Nibelungen Hoard, by way of Morgengabe, (or, as we may say, Jointure;) and the high-tide, though not the honey-women. The subject is that old story of Premoon being past, returned to Netherland with his spouse, to be welcomed there with infinite rejoicings, we have gone through as it were the First Act of this Tragedy, and may here pause to look round us for a moment. The main characters are now introduced on the scene, the relations that bind them together are dimly sketched out: there is the prompt, cheerfully heroic, invulnerable, and invincible Siegfried, now happiest of men; the high Chriemhild, fitly-mated, and if a moon, revolving glorious round her sun, or Friedel (joy and darling); not without pride and female aspirings, yet not prouder than one so gifted and placed is pardonable for being. On the other hand, we have King Gunther, or rather let us say king'smantle Gunther, for never except in that one enterprise of courting Brunhild, in which too, without help, he would have cut so poor a figure, does the worthy sovereign show will of his own, or character other than that of good potter's clay; farther, the suspicious, forecasting, yet stout and reckless Hagen, him with the rapid glances, and these turned not too kindly on Siegfried, whose prowess he has used yet dreads, whose Nibelungen Hoard he perhaps already covets; lastly, the rigorous and vigorous Brunhild, of whom also more is to be feared than hoped. Considering the fierce nature of these now mingled ingredients, and how, except perhaps in the case of Gunther there is no menstruum of placid stupidity to soften them, except in Siegfried, no element of heroic truth to master them and bind them together, unquiet fermentation may readily be apprehended.

Meanwhile, for a season all is peace and sunshine. Siegfried reigns in Netherland, of which his father has surrendered him the crown; Chriemhild brings him a son, whom in honour of the uncle he christens Gunther, which courtesy the uncle and Brunhild repay in kind. The Nibelungen Hoard is still open and inexhaustible; Dwarf Alberich and all the Recken there still loyal; outward relations friendly, internal supremely prosperous: these are halcyon days. But, alas, they cannot last. Queen Brunhild, retaining with true female tenacity her first notion, right or wrong, reflects one day that Siegfried, who is and shall be nothing but her husband's vassal, has for a long while paid him no service; and, determined on a remedy, manages that Siegfried and his queen shall be invited to a high-tide at Worms, where opportunity may chance for enforcing that claim. Thither accordingly, after ten years' absence; we find these illustrious guests returning; Siegfried escorted by a thousand Nibelungen Ritters, and farther by his father Siegemund, who leads a train of

Brunhild and Chriemhild take to arguing about the merits of their husbands: the latter fondly expatiating on the pre-eminence of her Friedel, how he walks "like the moon among stars" before all other men, is reminded by her sister that one man at least must be excepted, the mighty king Gunther of Worms, to whom, by his own confession long ago at Isenstein, he is vassal and servant. Chriemhild will sooner admit that clay is above sunbeams, than any such proposition; which therefore she, in all politeness, requests of her sister never more to touch upon while she lives. The result may be foreseen: rejoinder follows reply, statement grows assertion; flint-sparks have fallen on the dry flax, which from smoke bursts into conflagration. The two queens part in hottest, though still clear-flaming anger. Not, however, to let their anger burn out, only to feed it with more solid fuel. Chriemhild dresses her forty maids in finer than royal apparel; orders out all her husband's Recken; and so attended, walks foremost to the Minster, where mass is to be said; thus practically asserting that she is not only a true queen, but the worthier of the two. Brunhild, quite outdone in splendour, and enraged beyond all patience, overtakes her at the door of the Minster, with peremptory order to stop: "before king's wife shall vassal's never go.'

mood:

Then said the fair Chriemhilde, Right angry was he
"Couldest thou but hold thy peace, It were surely fo
thy good,

Thyself hast all polluted With shame thy fair bodye;
How can a Concubine By right a King's wife be "

"Whom hast thou Concubined ?" The King's wif
quickly spake;

"That do I thee," said Chriemhilde; "For thy pride and

vaunting's sake;

Man;

Who first had thy fair body Was Siegfried my beloved My brother was it not That thy maidhood from thee wan.” In proof of which outrageous saying, she produces that Ring and Girdle; the innocent conquest of which, as we well know, had a far other

origin. Brunhild bursts into tears; "sadder | revenge. King Etzel sends from his far country day she never saw." Nay, perhaps a new light to solicit her hand: the embassy she hears at now rose on her over much that had been first, as a woman of ice might do; the good dark in her late history; "she rued full sore Rudiger, Etzel's spokesman, pleads in vain that his king is the richest of all earthly kings; that he is so lonely "since Frau Helke died;" that though a Heathen he has Christians about him, and may one day be converted: till, at length, when he hints distantly at the power of Etzel to avenge her injuries, she on a sudden becomes all attention. Hagen, foreseeing such possibilities, protests against the match; but is overruled: Chriemhild departs with Rudiger for the land of the Huns; taking cold leave of her relations; only two of whom, her brothers Gernot and Geiselher, innocent of that murder, does she admit near her as convoy to the Donau.

to ?

Wo on't, will nought persuade ye, Brave Recken, from
Frau Chriembild's flattering message No good doth seem

this road!

to bode."

gen marched (fared) to the Huns," into verses | He Rumold hight, the Sewer, Was known as hero true; as literal as might be; which now, alas, look He spake: "Whom shall his people And land be trusted mournfully different from the original; almost like Scriblerus's shield when the barbarian housemaid had scoured it. Nevertheless, to do for the reader what we can, let somewhat of that modernized ware, such as it is, be set before him. The brave Nibelungen are on the eve of departure; and about ferrying over the Rhine; and here it may be noted that Worms,* with our old Singer, lies not in its true position, but at some distance from the river; a proof at least that he was never there, and probably sang and lived in some very distant region:

Was never a rest from toiling Until the even tide,

"The land to thee be trusted, And my fair boy also,
And serve thou well the women, I tell thee ere I go,
whomso thou findest weeping Her heart give comfort to:
No harm to one of us King Etzel's wife will do."

The steeds were standing ready, For the Kings and for

their men ;

With kisses tenderest, Took leave full many then,
Who, in gallant cheer and hope, To march were nought
afraid!

Them since that day bewaileth Many a noble wife and
maid.

But when the rapid Recken Took horse and prickt away,
The women shent in sorrow You saw behind them stay;
Of parting all too long Their hearts to them did tell ;

Then they took the flood right gaily, Would longer not When grief so great is coming, The mind forebodes not abide.

This City of Worms, had we a right imagination, ought to be as venerable to us Moderns, as any Thebes or Troy was to the Ancients. Whether founded by the Gods or not, it is of quite unknown antiquity, and has witnessed the most wonderful things. Within authentic

times, the Romans were here, and if tradition may be

credited, Attila also; it was the seat of the Austrasian kings; the frequent residence of Charlemagne himself; innumerable Festivals, Hightides. Tournaments, and Imperial Diets were held in it, of which latter, one at least, that where Luther appeared in 1521, will be for ever remembered by all mankind Nor is Worms more famous in history than, as indeed we may see here, it is in romance; whereof many monuments and vestiges remain to this day. "A pleasant meadow there," says Von der Hagen, "is still called Chriembild's Rosengarten. The name Worms itself is derived (by Legendary Etymology) from the Dragon, or Worm, which Siegfried slew, the figure of which once formed the City Arms; in past times, there was also to be seen here an ancient strong Riesen-Haus, (Giant's house.) and many a memorial of Siegfried his Lance, £6 feet long, (almost 80 English feet.) in the Cathedral; his Statue, of gigantic size on the Neue Thurm (New Tower) on the Rhine;" &c. &c. "And lastly the Siegfried's Chapel. in primeval PreGothic architecture, not long since pulled down. In the time of the Meistersingers, too, the Stadtrath was bound to give every Master, who sang the Lay of Siegfried (Meisterlied von Siegfrieden, the purport of which is now unknown) without mistake, a certain gratuity." Glossary to the Nibelungen, Worms.

One is sorry to learn that this famed Imperial City is no longer Imperial, but much fallen in every way from its palmy state; the 30,000 inhabitants (to be found there in Gustavus Adolphus's time) having now declined into some 6.500,-" who maintain themselves by wine-growing, Rhine-boats, tobacco-manufacture, and making sugar-of-lead." So hard has war, which respects nothing, pressed on Worns, ill-placed for safety, on the hostile border: Louvois, or Louis XIV., in 1689, had it utterly devastated; whereby in the interior, "spaces that were once covered with buildings are now gardens."-See Conv. Lexicon, Worms.

well.

To me I trow," spake Hagen, "Life hath not grown so cheap,

To go with will and drown me In riding these waters deep;

But first, of men some few By this hand of mine shall die,

In great King Etzel's country, As best good will have I.

"But bide ye here by the River, Ye Ritters brisk and sound,

Myself will seek some boatman, If boatman, here be -found,

To row us at his ferry, Across to Gelfrat's land:"

Then one of his oars he lifted, Right broad it was and
long,

He struck it down on Hagen, Did the hero mickle wrong,
That in the boat he staggered, and alighted on his knee;

The Troneger grasped his buckler, Fared forth along the Other such wrathful boatman Did never the Troneger strand.

see.

He was full bravely harness'd, Himself the knightly His proud unbidden guest He would now provoke still bore,

With buckler and with helmet, Which bright enough he

wore:

And, bound above his hauberk, A weapon broad was

seen,

That cut with both its edges, Was never sword so keen.

Then hither he and thither Search'd for the Ferryman,
He heard a splashing of waters, To watch the same he
'gan;

It was the white Mer-women, That in a Fountain clear,
To cool their fair bodyes, Were merrily bathing here.

From these Mer-women, who "skimmed aloof like white cygnets, at sight of him," Hagen snatches up "their wondrous raiment;" on condition of returning which, they rede him his fortune; how this expedition is to speed. At first favourably:

more,

He struck his head so stoutly That it broke in twain the
oar,

With strokes on head of Hagen; He was a sturdy wight:
Nathless had Gelfrat's boatman Small profit of that fight.

She said: "To Etzel's country, Of a truth ye well may He wheel'd it back brave Hagen, With many a lusty hie,

For here I pledge my hand, Now kill me if I lie ;
That heroes seeking honour Did never arrive thereat
So richly as ye shall do, Believe thou surely that."

stroke,

The strong oar, with such rowing, In his hand asunder broke ;

He fain would reach the Recken, All waiting on the shore,

oar.

But no sooner is the wondrous raiment No tackle now he had; Hei,* how deftly he spliced the restored them, than they change their tale; for in spite of that matchless honour, it appears, every one of the adventurous Recken is to perish.

Outspake the wild Mer-woman: "I tell thee it will ar-
rive,

Of all your gallant host No man shall be left alive,
Except king Gunther's chaplain, As we full well do

know;

He only, home returning, To the Rhine-land back shall

go."

With throng from off his buckler! It was a slender band;
Right over against a forest He drove the boat to land;

Where Gunther's Recken waited, In crowds along the
beach;

Full many a goodly hero Moved down his boat to reach.

unknown land," like a right yare steersman; Hagen ferries them over himself "into the yet ever brooding fiercely on that prediction of the wild Mer-woman, which had outdone even his own dark forebodings. Seeing the Chaplain, who alone of them all was to return, standing in the boat beside his chappelsoume, (pyxes and other sacred furniture,) he determines to belie at least this part of the prophecy, and on a sudden hurls the chaplain overboard. Nay, as the poor priest swims Thereupon, seeing him bent on ruin, she after the boat, he pushes him down, regardless gives directions how to find the ferry, but of all remonstrance, resolved that he shall die. withal counsels him to deal warily: the ferry- Nevertheless it proved not so: the chaplain house stands on the other side of the river; made for the other side; when his strength the boatman, too, is not only the hottest-tem- failed, "then God's hand helped him," and at pered of men, but rich and indolent; never-length he reached the shore. Thus does the theless, if nothing else will serve, let Hagen stern truth stand revealed to Hagen by the very call himself Amelrich, and that name will bring him. All happens as predicted: the boatman, heedless of all shouting and offers of gold clasps, bestirs himself lustily at the name of Amelrich; but the more indignant is he, on taking in his fare, to find it a counterfeit. He orders Hagen, if he loves his life, to leap out.

These apparently insignificant circumstances, down even to mending the oar from his shield, are preserved with a singular fidelity, in the most distorted editions of Grimhild's Wrack (translated in the Northern Antiquithe tale: see, for example, the Danish ballad, Lady ties, p. 275, by Mr. Jamieson.) This "Hei!" is a brisk interjection, whereby the worthy old Singer now and then introduces his own person, when any thing very eminent is going forward.