NOTES.

NOTE I. Page 97.

The tale of "Miralda" is based on a popular legend, of which an excellent prose version may be found in Ballou's History of Cuba.

NOTE 2. Page 105.

This piece is an imitation of a poem by Praed, entitled "My Partner." There are two other pieces in this collection, which, in deference to certain critics, I ought to mention as imitations of the same author. There is, indeed, a resemblance, in the form of the stanza and in the antithetic style of treatment, to several poems of Praed; but as both the metre and the method are of ancient date, and are fairly the property of whomsoever may employ them, no further acknowledgment seems necessary than that which is contained in this note. The same remark will apply to "The Proud Miss MacBride," which is written in the measure, and (longo intervallo) after the manner, of Hood's incomparable “Golden Legend."

NOTE 3. Page 183.

"POTTER, the Great Magician,"

a clever conjurer of a

former generation, is still vividly remembered by many people in New Hampshire and Vermont.

NOTE 4. Page 233.

The first stanza of this poem I must credit to a fragment of an anonymous German song, which I found afloat in some newspaper. The remaining stanzas are built upon the suggestion of the first.

NOTE 5. Page 281.

If my version of "The Ugly Aunt" is more simple in plot than the prose story in the "Norske Folke-eventer," it certainly gains something in refinement by the variation.

NOTE 6. Page 304.

I'm aware this dainty version

Is n't quite the thing to go forth
For the Grecian's “suggenesthai,”
"Ep oikematos," and so forth;
But propriety 's a virtue

I'm always bound to show forth.

NOTE 7. Page 312.

The tradition of the Wandering Jew is very old and popufar in every country of Europe, and is the theme of many romances in prose and verse. The old Spanish writers make the narrative as diabolical and revolting as possible; while the French and Flemish authors soften the legend (as in the present ballad) into a pathetic story of sin, suffering, and genuine repentance.

NOTE 8. Page 338.

This story is found in many modern languages. In the present version, the traveller is a Frenchman in Holland; in another, he is an Englishman in France; and in a third, a Welshman in some foreign country. The Welsh story (a poem, of which an anonymous correspondent has sent me a translation) is perhaps the best; though it is impossible to say which is the oldest.

NOTE 9. Page 373.

"To show, for once, that Dutchmen are not dull.”

Père Bouhours seriously asked "if a German could be a bel esprit." This concise question was answered by Kramer, in a ponderous work entitled Vindicia nominis Germanica.

NOTE 10. Page 378.

"In closest girdle, O reluctant Muse,

In scantiest skirts, and lightest stepping-shoes.”

Imitated from the opening couplet of Holmes's "Terpsichore,"

"In narrowest girdle, O reluctant Muse, In closest frock, and Cinderella shoes."

NOTE II. Page 379.

"She stoops to conquer' in a Grecian curve.

Terence, who wrote comedies a little more than two thousand years ago, thus alludes to this and a kindred custom then prevalent among the Roman girls :

"Virgines, quas matres student Demissis humeris esse, vincto corpore, ut graciles fiant."

The sense of the passage may be given in English, with sufficient accuracy, thus:

Maidens, whom fond, maternal care has graced
With stooping shoulders, and a cinctured waist.

NOTE 12. Page 382.

"Their tumid tropes for simple 'Buncombe' made."

Many readers, who have heard about "making speeches for Buncombe," may not be aware that the phrase originated as

follows: A member of Congress from the county of Buncombe, North Carolina, while pronouncing a magniloquent set-speech, was interrupted by a remark from the chair, that "the seats were quite vacant. "Never mind, never mind," replied the orator, "I'm talking for Buncombe!"

NOTE 13. Page 382.

"Till rising high in rancorous debate,
And higher still in fierce, envenomed hate."

"Sed jurgia prima sonare

Incipiunt animis ardentibus; hæc tuba rixæ ;
Dein clamore pari concurritur, et vice teli
Sævit nuda manus."-Juv. Sat. xv.

NOTE 14. Page 385.

"Not uninvited to her task she came. ""

This poem was written at the instance of the Associated Alumni of Middlebury College, and spoken before that Society, July 22, 1846.

NOTE 15. Page 385.

"No singer's trick, -conveniently to bring
A sudden cough when importuned to sing."

The capriciousness of musical folk, here alluded to, is by no means peculiar to our times. A little before the Christian era, Horace had occasion to scold the Roman singers for the same fault :

"Omnibus hoc vitium est cantoribus, inter amicos,

Ut nunquam inducant animum cantare rogati;

Injussi nunquam desistant.”.

SAT. iii.

NOTE 16. Page 402.

"And hush the wail of Peter Plymley's ghost."

Rev. Sydney Smith, the English author and wit, lately deceased, who, having speculated in Pennsylvania Bonds to the damage of his estate, berated "the rascally repudiators" with much spirit, and lamented his losses in many excellent jests.

66

NOTE 17. Page 402.

Unfriendly hills no longer interpose

As stubborn walls to geographic foes,

Nor envious streams run only to divide
The hearts of brethren ranged on either side."

"Lands intersected by a narrow frith
Abhor each other. Mountains interposed
Make enemies of nations, who had else
Like kindred drops been mingled into one."

NOTE 18. Page 404.

Cowper.

"Aristophanes, whose humor run

In vain endeavor to be- cloud' the sun."

An allusion to the comedy of "The Clouds," written in ridicule of Socrates.

NOTE 19. Page 459.

An anecdote of the gubernatorial canvass in Vermont in the year 1859.

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