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Orgon : Do you want me to murder you ?

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J. B. Poquclin dc Moliere

'[Cleante, Mariane, Valere, Damis, and Dorine enter. Cleante seizes Orgon's arm, as he is about to strike Tartuffe, and allows the villain to escape.

Cleante: Do not lower yourself, my brother, by striking the wretch. Leave the miserable creature to his fate. Perhaps his misfortunes will make a better man of him.

Orgon : Yes; I must end this day happily. Mariane, prepare for your marriage with Valere. It shall take place this evening.

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NIBELUNGENLIED

Siegfried and Kriemhilda

To us in olden legends is many a marvel told

Of praise-deserving heroes, of labours manifold,

Of weeping and of wailing, of joy and festival;

Ye shall of bold knights' battling now hear a wondrous tale.

A very noble maiden grew up in Burgundy;

Than hers no greater beauty in any land might be:

The maid was called Kriemhilda1—a woman passing fair—

For whose sake many a warrior his life must needs forbear.

This beautiful maiden was the ward of her three brothers, noble and wealthy kings, whose country was Burgundy. They were Gunther, Gemot, and the youthful Giselher. Many lords were their vassals, and all Etzel's land rang with the fame of their deeds of might and valour. They dwelt at Worms by the Rhine, with

In the year 1757 the Swiss Professor Bodmer printed an ancient, poetical manuscript, under the title of " Chriemhilde's Revenge and the Lament" (" Chriemilden Rache und die Klage"). This may be considered the first of a stream of publications and speculations still rolling on, with increased volume, to the present hour. Next, after Bodmer's publication C. H. Myller undertook a " Collection of German Poems from the Twelfth, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Centuries," wherein, among other articles, he reprinted Bodmer's " Chriemhilde" and " Klage," with a highly remarkable addition prefixed to the former, essential indeed to the right understanding of it. The whole now stood before the world as one poem, under the name of the " Nibelungenlied," or " Lay of the Nibelungen." This wonderfully romantic early Teutonic poem exists in about twenty ancient manuscripts. It shows that the Germans, as well as the Greeks and the Celts and the Hindus, have their Heroic Age, with a world of demi-gods and marvels. It is a great Northern Epos, a German Iliad, and after six centuries of neglect it has taken undisputed place among the classic books of German literature. Many renderings into modern German

1 Or Kriemhild. 38

honourable service throughout their earthly life; but they came to a mournful end through the strife of two great ladies.

Their mother was Dame Ute, a queen exceeding rich, And Dankrat was their father, broad lands he left to each. When he this life departed, he was a mighty man, Who, e'en while yet a stripling, his mighty deeds began.

Among the strong and bold knights of these three overlords were Hagen of Tronje, his brother Dankwart, the swift-footed, Ortwein of Aletz, the two Margraves, Eckewart and Gere, the powerful Volker of Alsatia, Rumolt the kitchen master, a redoubtable knight, and Sindold and Hunold, masters of the ceremonies at court.

Meanwhile, amid this splendour, the maid Kriemhilda dreamed That she had reared a falcon—strong, fair, and wild he seemed— And that two eagles rent him before her very eyes: No worse grief could life bring her in any evil guise.

Quick to her mother Ute she told the vision dread, Who after her own manner the dream interpreted: " This falcon of thy rearing, thy noble husband he, And now may God defend him, or he is lost to thee! "

"What sayest thou of husbands, O dearest mother mine? Never for hero's wooing shall I, your daughter, pine! Spotless and fair would I be, as now, unto my death; I would forego the sorrow that lurks man's love beneath."

But the maiden's mother exhorted her not to be so sure. And though for many a merry day Kriemhilda lived in happy freedom, yet it was her destiny one day to wed a gallant warrior, and that self-same falcon of her dream was he. Terrible was her vengeance on those who rent him.

have appeared, as well as metrical and prose translations in English. The origin of the mythus of the " Lied " dates oack to wilder Norse sagas, which inspired Wagner's " Nibelungen Ring" (see p. 305), with which it is interesting to compare It. But in the " Lied " the mythological shadows of the sagas are largely eliminated, and the prominent feature is the emerging of the ethical element, showing how inexorably doom follows sin. The following version has been prepared from the German.

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In Netherland was growing a rich king's son and heir, Whose father's name was Siegmund, Sieglind his mother fair. In a strong castle lived they, of far and wide-spread fame, Beside the great Rhine river; and Santen was its name.

That prince's name was Siegfried, a gallant knight and good. In many kingdoms proved he his great and war-like mood; So great his strength of hody, he rode from land to land. Ha! what fine warriors found he on the Burgundian strand!

The young hero, carefully trained, and of the noblest disposition, at length grew stalwart enough to bear weapons. Then he turned his thoughts to women, and dreamt of a fair bride. So Siegmund, his father, summoned all his liegemen to a grand festival in the castle hall. Rich apparel was given to four hundred sworded knights, and, first, mass was sung and honour was given to God. Then the time sped merrily in sports. Horses were saddled, and in the tournament many lances were splintered and shafts broken. Minstrels sang for gold, and were handsomely rewarded. The King enfeoffed Siegried with lands and castles, as in his youth he had been endowed by his sire. The festival lasted a week, and ended gloriously.