recollection, beneath which I lay and first entered upon the
enchanting perusal of Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry. The taste of
another person had strongly encouraged my own researches into this
species of legendary lore; but I had never dreamed of an attempt to
imitate what gave me so much pleasure." He then speaks of some
successful metrical translations which he made at the High School; but
in original rhyme he was less fortunate. "In short," says Sir Walter,
"except the usual tribute to a mistress' eyebrow, which is the
language of passion rather than poetry, I had not for ten years
indulged the wish to couple so much as _love_ and _dove_, when finding
Lewis in possession of so much reputation, and, conceiving that, if I
fell behind him in poetical powers, I considerably exceeded him in
general information, I suddenly took it into my head to attempt the
style by which he had raised himself to fame." Sir Walter next hearing
a striking passage from Mr. W. Taylor's translation of Bürger's
_Leonore_, was induced to procure a copy of the original poem from
Germany, and "the book had only been a few hours in my possession,
when I found myself giving an animated account of the poem to a
friend, and rashly added a promise to furnish a copy in English ballad
verse. I well recollect that I began my task after supper, and
finished it about daybreak the next morning, (it consists of 66
stanzas,) by which time the ideas which the task had a tendency to
summon up, were rather of an uncomfortable character." This success
encouraged Sir Walter to publish his translation of _Leonore_ with
that of _Der Wilde Jager_ (the Wild Huntsman,) in a thin quarto; but,
other translations appearing at the same time, Sir Walter's adventure
proved a dead loss: "and a great part of the edition was condemned to
the service of the trunk-maker." This failure did not discourage Sir
Walter; for, early in 1799 he published _Goetz of Berlinchingen_, a
tragedy, from the German of Goëthe. We thus see that Sir Walter did