SELECTED AND ARRANGED WITH

NOTES AND LITERARY INTRODUCTION

BY

C. A. BUCHHEIM, PH.D., &c.

TROFESSOR OF GERMAN LITERATURE IN KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON
EDITOR OF THE "DEUTSCHE LYRIK," ETC.

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PREFACE.

THE present selection of German ballads is intended as a companion volume to my Deutsche Lyrik already published in this series. In making my selection I have been guided, in general, by the principle I adopted in the latter book; and that, to judge from its popularity, has met with the approval of English readers of German. I have given what I considered the best ballads of each poet, more especially such poems as are calculated to illustrate the characteristics and the progress of German ballad-poetry in each period from Bürger to our own times. I can hardly expect that those who are well acquainted with the poetical literature of Germany will not miss some of their favourite poems. Collections of poetical pieces seem to resemble select companies. However careful a host may have been to invite the most desirable and most distinguished guests, there will always be

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some among the latter who will be disappointed that such and such a one was not included among the company. But a line must be drawn somewhere—in companies as well as in books—and so I was obliged, most reluctantly, to omit some fine ballads of Goethe, Schiller, Uhland, Heine, and several other poets. But I have confident expecta

tion that the collection, such as it is, will furnish an adequate and interesting picture of German balladpoetry.

The selection has certainly not been made in haste. In fact, the book was intended for publication about a year ago, but the work of selecting, arranging, and annotating took far longer than I expected.1 German ballad-literature is unusually extensive, and so I suffered from an overwhelming embarras de richesses. The work of annotating, in particular, required considerable study and labour. The present being a volume intended for the intellectual enjoyment of those English readers who are familiar with German, I confined the notes (which are given in a condensed form) beyond my occasional critical remarks, to the indication of the sources of the several ballads, and

I cannot let this opportunity pass without thanking Messrs. Macmillan & Co. for their patient indulgence regarding the completion of this volume.