~ 
602 
3 er ~ -~ * 
Origin of Burger’s Leonora. 
can only take-in this direétion, and hot - 
obliquely, as in the European game. 
‘But when they are on the other fide of the 
river, they may take in front and fideways; 
et fo as not to go -back; the pawn 
br saght to the leit band of the adveriary, 
is changed to a piece already taken, at the 
option o ot the party wha has conduéted his 
pawn fo far. 
Suéh’ are the rules and the 
this game among the Chineie. - 
procefs of 
For the Moathiy Magazine. 
The following Letters qwere addrefjed-to the Editor 
of a literé ary journal in London, wi ith whofe 
plan it is inconfiftent to injert arti oe of corr é- 
Jpendence : fro him they were banded to us for 
publication. Cur aefire to oblige the foreign 
Crd or bas prompted us to-adnzt Webco. et We 
ecoupider it asa mere queftion of curiofity, whether 
Bir gers Balladisin any degree ai efesccimento + 
bis merit is not dizi sifeed b by the pre-cxifrence of 
whe fiory. In the jecond woluige ee Poems by 
Robert Sauthey, p. 145) riay be found ax ex 
tPadt from Mattherv of Wepim: ier relatize 
—@ tale alfo occur riag in Olaus Magnus and in 
the Nu: emberg Chronicle, the cat tofir opbe. of 
which bears an obvious refemblance to .the le “y. 
of Lexore. This incident perhaps bas been ufed 
by | fome LA: innefinger, and bas contr haa its 
; fporklet to kin dle the imagination of Burger. ‘¢ 
BEAR SIR, ‘* 
‘ N a fhlort excurfion to the Lower 
i Rhine, ft happened to ftop for dinner 
at the es houte of Glandorf, a {mall 
place in the bi fhoprick of Ofmabruck.— 
Belides my fellow-traveller, a gentleman of 
Valenciennes, there was no other company 
but a young chanoinefle of the abbey of 
Efien, who was going on 2 vilit to her no- 
bie parents in the neighbourhood of Oina- 
bruck,—Dinner was ferved, and the poft- 
matter, a Mr. Cordes, foaed us, to do the 
honours of the table rather than to par- 
take of the-fare. My Frenchman had 
{con engaged in a eeeenn with the 
lady ; and, tandis quil pouffoit fa fortune, 
i bended the poitmal ter, in whom I was 
agreeably furprifed to meet with a man of, 
learning, aftonithingly well verfed beth in 
Enplifh and Germaniiterature. He feemed 
ee to hear that the latter had become 
more than ever familiar to the Englith 
reader.. I mentioned fimdry good tranf- 
lations to him, .and when I happened to 
{peak of the late elegant edition of burgers 
Leonora, he couid net retrain from faying, 
<6 TI with they had henoured the Wonk 
with a lefs fine edition; and not accufed 
the author of plagiari{m.”” Thefe words 
eccafioned a more minute enquiry. He 
inlifted upon the fable being of Saxon ori- 
) 
= 
[Sept. 
gin, and offered to produce an old man, an — 
inhabitant of the place, who, would repeat 
nearly the whole poem in Tw Dutch ; add= 
ing that this man frequently heard it re- 
cited in his youth, by people fill older 
than himfelf, from whem he ‘had. learned 
it. - My time would not permit me to fto 
Ps the man; but having told Mr>Cordes 
« J] meant to come ee by the fame 
road, he had. the goodnefs to promife me 
his opir ion in writing concerning the ori- 
gin ot the fable; which, m iaét, I found in 
renal nefs “age : arrived a. fecond time 
at Glandorf, and herewith I fend you a 
faniaionn of it. - You will as a patron of 
German literature find means of giving it 
publi city, and thereby remove the error 
into which the ‘admirers. of that tr uly 
ieauGihdl Ballad have been led concerning 
its Origin. Your's, &c. 
Hamburg; April 95 1799e oo 

Bee ABLY to your kind sequel I 
communicate to-you with pleafure, i in writ- 
ing all I ees and what already + ¥ nave 
told you By word of mouth, concerning 
Birger’s Leonora, confidered. as a popu- 
lar fale in Lowxr Saxony. Ido fo with 
the great tef{ fatisfaCtion,.as it confirms — 
Birger’s own affertion: than an old Low- 
Dutch ballad furnifhed him with the idea 
of that’ piece, which aflertion-yeu will fee 
fated in the German - Mercury—(der 
Deutfche Mercur, {e&. 2. -and.in Sekt 4. 
of Mr. Schlegel) in contradiétion to fome 
Englith antiquarians, who fay, that Bur- 
ger took his Leonora from a collection of 
old Balls ids, publithed in London, in three 
volumes. in 1723, and in whichthe matter 
of that Poem is Contained in a ftory, en- 
titled: The Suffolk Miracle, or a Relation 
of a young Man, who a Month after bis 
death appeared to bis Ssvee etheart. 
I have of.en heard the tale repeated by 
Kaa perfons of this. place; and among 
others by a man of the age cf 75 years. 
A ttl greater proof of its being a popu- 
lar tale of Low Saxon origin, is its being 
fo univerfally known in thefe parts ; and 
I heard it feveral. times recited almeéft im 
the {ame manner by my ftep- mother; who 
is 71, years old, 
Rheine,\at five German miles’ diftance 
from hence, in -the bifhopric of Munfter, 
and ailured me, that in her yeuth fhe 
heard it often related, by feve ral people. 
The ftory runs 2s follows: 
The lover enlifs in the ar my, is killed, 
appears by night gently rapping at the 
door of his fete She afks, Who's 
there? ** Drew leef is dar,’ is his anfwer 
2 
lives in a place called’ 
She 
