The Works of Lord Byron Volume V Part 115

Lennart Torstenson, Swedish general, born 1603, fought at the battle of Leipzig, and was taken prisoner at Nurnburg. In 1641 he was appointed General-in-Chief of the Swedes in Germany, and died at Stockholm, April, 1651.

Bernhard, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, born 1604, succeeded Gustavus Adolphus in command in Germany, November 16, 1632; defeated the Imperialists at Rheinfeld, 1638; died at Huningen, 1639.

Banier and Torstenson were living when the Peace of Westphalia was proclaimed, November 3, 1648.]

[174] {373}[George William, Elector of Brandenburgh (1595-1640), was in alliance with Gustavus Adolphus; John George, Elector of Saxony (1585-1656) (_vide supra_, line 179), was on the side of the Imperialists.]

[175] {377}[Compare _The Antiquary_, by Sir W. Scott, i. 366, chap. vii.

ed. 1851: "'Good man,' said Sir Arthur, 'can you think of nothing?--of no help?--I'll make you rich--I'll give you a farm--I'll----' 'Our riches will soon be equal,' said the beggar, looking upon the strife of the waters. 'They are sae already; for I hae nae land, and you would give your fair bounds and barony for a square yard of rock that would be dry for twal hours.'"--_The Antiquary_ was published in 1816, six years before the second version of _Werner_ was written, and ten years after the death of the d.u.c.h.ess of Devons.h.i.+re.]

[176] {381}[The following is the original pa.s.sage in the novel:--"'Stralenheim,' said Conrad, 'does not appear to me altogether the man you take him for:--but were it even otherwise, he owes me grat.i.tude not only for the past, but for what he supposes to be my present employment. I saved his life, and he therefore places confidence in me. He has been robbed last night--is sick--a stranger--and in no condition to discover the villain who has plundered him.... and the business on which I sought the Intendant was chiefly that.'"--_Canterbury Tales_, by Sophia and Harriet Lee, 1838, ii. 203, 204.]

[177] ["'And who,' said he, 'has ent.i.tled you to brand thus with ignominious epithets a being you do not know? Who ... has taught you that it would be safe even for my son to insult me?'--'It is not necessary to know the person of a ruffian,' replied Conrad, indignantly, 'to give him the appellation he merits:--and what is there in common between my father and such a character?'--'_Everything_,' said Siegendorf, bitterly,--'for that ruffian was your father!'"--Ibid., p.

204.]

[178] {382}["'Conrad ... before you thus presume to chastise me with your eye, learn to understand my actions! Young, and inexperienced in the world--reposing hitherto in the bosom of indulgence and luxury, is it for _you_ to judge of the impulse of the pa.s.sions, or the temptations of misery? Wait till, like me, you have blighted your fairest hopes--have endured humiliation and sorrow--poverty and insult--before you pretend to judge of their effect on you! Should that miserable day ever arrive--should you see the being at your mercy who stands between you and everything that is dear or n.o.ble in life!--who is ready to tear from you your name--your inheritance--your very life itself--congratulate your own heart, if, like me, you are content with petty plunder, and are not tempted to exterminate a serpent, who now lives, perhaps to sting us all.'"--_Canterbury Tales_, by Sophia and Harriet Lee, 1838, ii. 204, 205.]

[179] {383}["'You do not know this man,' continued he; 'I do!--I believe him to be mean--sordid--deceitful! You will conceive yourself safe, because you are young and brave! Learn, however, ... none are so secure but desperation or subtilty may reach them! Stralenheim, in the palace of a prince, was in my power! My knife was held over him--a single moment would have swept him from the face of the earth, and with him all my future fears:--I forbore--and I am now in his.--Are you certain that you are not so too? Who a.s.sures you he does not know you?--who tells you that he has not lured you into his society, either to rid himself of you for ever, or to plunge you with your family into a dungeon?'"--_Canterbury Tales_, by Sophia and Harriet Lee, 1838, ii. 205.

It should be noted that this and other pa.s.sages from Miss Lee's story, which have been selected for comparison with the text, are to be regarded as representative parallels--samples of a far more extended adaptation. _Vide ante_, "The Introduction to _Werner_," p. 326.]

[180] ["'Me ... he has known invariably through every change of fortune or of name--and why not you?--_Me_ he has entrapped--are you more discreet? He has wound the snares of Idenstein around me:--of a reptile, whom, a few years ago, I would have spurned from my presence, and whom, in spurning now, I have furnished with fresh venom:--will _you_ be more patient?--Conrad, Conrad, there are crimes rendered venial by the occasion, and temptations too exquisite for human fort.i.tude to master or endure.'"--_Canterbury Tales_, by Sophia and Harriet Lee, 1838, ii.

205.]

[181] {384}["'These are only the systems of my father ... My mother thinks not with him?'"--Ibid., p. 206.]

[182] {385} The Ravenstone, "Rabenstein," is the _stone gibbet_ of Germany, and so called from the ravens perching on it. [Compare _Manfred_, act iii., First Version, _Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 122.]

[cr] {387} ----_and a master_.--[MS. M.]

[183] {388}[Compare--"Cozenage, mere cozenage." _Merry Wives of Windsor_, act iv. sc. 5, line 58.

If further proof were needed, the repet.i.tion or echo of Shakespearian phrases, here and elsewhere in the play, would reveal Byron's handiwork.]

[184] {389}[Compare _Marino Faliero_, act ii, sc. 2, line 115--"These swoln silkworms masters."

Silkworm ("mal bigatto") is an Italianism. See _Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 386, note 4.]

[cs] {391}

----_and hollow_ _Sickness sits caverned in his yellow eye_.--[MS. M.]

[185] {393}["Thou hast harped my fear aright." _Macbeth_, act iv. sc. 1, line 74.]

[186] {396}["Momus is the G.o.d of cruel mockery. He is said to have found fault with the man formed by Hephaestus, because a little door had not been left in his breast, so as to enable his fellows to look into his secret thoughts." (See Lucian's _Hermotimus_, cap. xx.) There was a proverb, ?? ??? ???s?e?? [To~| Mo/mo| a)re/skein] _Momo santisfacere; vide Adagia_ Variorum, 1643, p. 58. Byron describes Suwarrow as "Now Mars, now Momus" (_Don Juan_, Canto VII. stanza lv. line 7).]

[187] {403}[For the "Theban brethren," Eteocles and Polynices, see the _Septem c. Thebas_ of aeschylus. Byron had read and liked the "Seven before Thebes."--_Letters_, 1900, iv. 174.]

[188] {404}[A cavity at the lower end of the lead attached to a sounding-line is partially filled with an _arming_ (tallow), to which the bottom, especially if it be sand, sh.e.l.ls, or fine gravel, adheres.--Knights's _American Mechanical Dictionary_, 1877, art.

"Sounding-Apparatus."]

[189] {405}[Compare _The Age of Bronze_, line 45, for the story of Sesostris being drawn by kings. (See Diodorus Siculus, _Bibl. Hist._, lib. i. p. 37, C., ed. 1604, p. 53.)]

[ct] {406} _And never offered aught as a reward_.--[MS. M. erased.]

[cu] {407} ----_that if thou wert a snail, none else_.--[MS. M.]

[190] {408}[Compare--"The iron tongue of midnight." _Midsummer Night's Dream_, act v. sc. 1, line 352.]

[191] [Compare _Childe Harold_, Canto III. stanza xcvi. line 5, _Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 275, note I.]

[192] {409}[Compare--"With your leave, I will call a will-o'-the-wisp."

Goethe's _Faust_.]

[193] {410}[Compare--"Sleep she as sound as careless infancy." _Merry Wives of Windsor_, act v. sc. 5, line 50.]

[194] {416}[At the siege of Magdeburg, May 19, 1631, "soldiers and citizens, with their wives, boys and girls, old and young, were all mercilessly butchered." "The city was set fire to at more than twelve points, and, except the cathedral and about fifty houses, sank into soot and ashes. It was not Tilly and his men, but Magdeburg's own people, who kindled the city to a conflagration."--_History of the Thirty Years'

War_, by Anton Gindely, 1885, ii. 65, 66.]

[195] {418}[In Miss Lee's _Kruitzner_, Conrad meets his death in a skirmish on the frontiers of Franconia.]

[196] {423}[Compare "Excellent, i' faith; of the chameleon's dish: I eat the air" (Hamlet, act iii. sc. 2, lines 88, 89).]

[197] [Compare--

"Had his free breathing been denied The range of the steep mountain's side."

_Prisoner of Chillon_, lines 142, 143.]

[198] [The Treaty of Prague was signed May 30, 1635.]

[199] {428}[For "the attachment of the nightingale to the rose," see _Giaour_ lines 21-31, _Poetical Works_, 1900, in. 86, note 1.]

[200] {446}["_Gab._ I have yet an additional security. I did not enter Prague a solitary individual; and there are tongues without that will speak for me, although I should even share the fate of Stralenheim! Let your deliberation be short.--_Sieg._ My promise is solemn--sacred--irrevocable: it extends not, however, beyond my own walls."--_Canterbury Tales_, 1838, ii. 268; see, too, pp. 269, 270.]

WERNER

Nov. 1815.

[FIRST DRAFT.]