m 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Aug. 18. 1855. 



before Munchhausen saw the light. Some of the 

 veracious Baron's stories are also to be found in 

 Lange's Delicice AcademiccB (Heilbr., 1665), under 

 the head of Mendacia Ridicula. The Baron never 

 intended, it is said, to print his comical adven- 

 tures, which he was in the habit of repeating in 

 social circles ; and was very much surprised when 

 he knew that they had been published in England 

 without his knowledge, by a learned but unprin- 

 cipled German scholar of the name of Raspe, who 

 had taken refuge in this country from the pursuit 

 of justice, and was much employed in translating 

 works from other languages. 



. In further support of their claims to wit and 

 humour, the Germans refer to their Reineke der 

 Fuchs, and their Tyll Eulenspiegel ; the latter of 

 which has been translated into all the languages 

 of Europe. From Eidenspiegel, the French have 

 derived their own word Espieglerie ; and even the 

 word Calembourg may be traced to the Austrian 

 Eulenspiegel — the priest Wigand von Theben, 

 surnamed the "Jester of Kahlenberg." The 

 reason why such injustice has been done to a 

 highly important ingredient in the character of 

 the German people, is said by a recent writer of 

 their own to be this : because the literary history 

 of Germany has been almost always written by 

 men without any perception of the humorous, 

 and who accordingly either pass It wholly by, or 

 else bestow upon it very slight notice, which is 

 deprived of all freshness and life by being over- 

 laid with the heavy lumber of university learning. 



John Maceat. 

 Oxford. 



My friend Mr. F. L. J. Thimm, In his Litera- 

 ture of Germany historically developed, 12mo., 

 London, attributes the authorship of this work 

 to — 



" K. K. A. Munchhausen — who recited his Abenteuer 

 in company to friends, who superintended their pub- 

 lication — born 1759, died 1836." 



Mr. Thimm, however, admits that on this point 

 he has been led Into error, and will consequently 

 omit or modify the statement in the forthcoming 

 edition of his useful little manual. I merely, 

 therefore, make this allusion to his work In order 

 that those who may consult it on this point may 

 not be led into error. 



I have reason to believe that the following 

 quotation from the Conversations- Lexicon will be 

 found to contain a more correct and explicit ac- 

 count of the book, its authors, translators, and 

 compilers, than Is to be found elsewhere : 



" Munchhausen (Hieronymus Karl. Fried. Freiherr 

 von) aus der sogenannten Weissen Linie des Hauses, 

 geboren 1720 auf dem vaterlichen Gute Bodenwerder im 

 Hannoverischen, gestorb. 1797, gilt fur einen der grossten 

 Liigner und Aufschneider, so dass nach ihm noch gegen- 

 wSrtig alle grotesk komischen Aufschneidereien Munch- 

 No. 303.] 



hausiaden genannt werden. Er fand sein Hauptvergniigea 

 darin, seine als russischer Cavallerie-offizier in den Feld- 

 ziigen gegen die TUrkei, 1737-39 erlebten Abenteuer, die 

 er bis zum wunderbaren ausschmiickte, immer und immer 

 wieder zu erzahlen. Dieses absonderliche Talent hatte 

 ihm zwar in seinem Vaterlande schon weit und breit 

 einen Namen gemacht, doch fand sich f iir die Friichte 

 desselben zuerst in England ein Sammler und Heraus- 

 geber. Die l'*« Sammlung von Munchhausen 's Eeisen 

 erschien dort unter dem Titel : Baron Miinchhausen's 

 Narrative of his marvellous Travels and Campaigns in, 

 Russia (London, 1785). Dieses frivole Werkchen fand 

 vielen Beifall, und wurde in 2 Jahren filnf mal, zuletzt 

 mit zahlreichen und umfangreichen Zusatzen aufgelegt. 

 Nach der 4'«° Englischen Ausgabe erschien die !»*• 

 deutsche Uebersetzung von Burger, London, 1786, welche 

 1788 eine vermehrte und verbesserte Auflage mit Benut- 

 zung der 5'«" englischen zugleich aber mit verschiedenen 

 Zuthaten des Uebersetzers, und wahrscheinlich auch 

 Lichtenberg's erhielt. Die englische Ausgabe von der H. 

 Doring eine neue freie Uebersetzung unter dem Titel 

 Milnchhausen Liigenabenteuer,184:Q, erschienen liess, riihrt 

 ohne Zweifel von dem als Mineralog und Archaolog nicht 

 unbedeutenden, seiner Zeit auch durch bebelristische Pro- 

 ductionen bekannten, sonst aber iibelberuchtigten ehe- 

 maligen Kasselschen Professor und Bibliotheker R. Z. 

 Raspe (1737-94) her, der nach London gefliichtet war, 

 und sich hier mit Schriftstellerei in mehreren Spracheii 

 beschaftigte. 



" Einige von Miinchhausen's bekanntesten Jagd und 

 Kriegsgeschichten finden sich schon, wenn auch in etwas 

 ander und meist roher Gestalt in weit alteren Buchern, 

 wie in Bebel's Facetia, aus denen sie nebst einigen anderen 

 aus Castiglione's Cortegiano, und Bidermann's Utopia, in 

 T. P. Lange's Delicice Acedemicce, Heilbronn, 1766, iiber- 

 gingen. 



" Ausfiihrliches Uber Milnchhausen enthallt Elissen s 

 Einleitung zur neuen Ausgabe d. Abenteuer, Goettingen, 

 1849." — Conversations- Lexicon, 10'^ Ausgabe. 



Southey asks : 



" Who is the author of Miinchhausen's Travels, a book 

 which every one knows because all boys read it ? 



" Two of his stories are to be found in a Portuguese 

 magazine, if so it may be called, published about four- 

 score years ago, with this title . . Folhcto de Ambas Lis- 



boas It ia not likely that the author of 



Milnchhausen should have seen these Folhetos ; . . . . 

 But it is probable that the Portuguese and English writers 

 both had recourse to the same store-house of fable." ^- 

 Omniana, vol. i. p. 155. 



William Bates. 



Birmingham. 



Mr. Breen will find some correspondence on 

 the authorship of this book in Vols. 11. and III. of 

 " N. & Q." I refer to the matter, partly for the 

 sake of repeating a question to which no answer 

 was given at the time of that correspondence : 

 Who was the Englishman spoken of In the Percy 

 Anecdotes as the author of Milnchhausen, and de- 

 signated by the initial " M." (see "N. & Q.," 

 Vol. ill., p. 316.). J.C.R. 



■ .:» j^fyi:ii4_ 



