“No longer thou’lt find those beauteous flowers, “Which enchanted thy youthful bosom; “’Twas here they bloom’d,--they’re wither’d now, “And the tempest has scatter’d each blossom.
“Yes, wither’d, and stripp’d, and trampled down “By destiny’s footsteps appalling-- “My friend, this is ever the fate upon earth “Of all that is sweet and enthralling!”--
“Who art thou?” I cried--“like a dream of old times “Thy appearance doth strangely beset me; “Where is thy dwelling, enormous one? “I’ll follow thee there, if thou’lt let me.”
The woman then smiled, and thus she replied: “Thou art wrong, I’m a decent and quiet “And highly moral personage too, “By no means given to riot.
“I’m none of your foreign lorettes, my friend, “And none of your common ladies; “I’m Hamburg’s goddess, Hammonia by name, “And to watch o’er its welfare my trade is!
“Thou art startled perchance to bear this news, “Thou once undaunted singer? “Art thou prepared to follow me still? “Then quick, and no more let us linger.”
But I in reply laugh’d loudly and cried: “I’ll follow thee instanter! “If thou’lt go in front, I’ll go behind,-- “Yes, even to hell in a canter!”
How I managed to mount the narrow stairs I haven’t the slightest notion; Perhaps the spirits carried me up With some invisible motion.
But here, in Hammonia’s little room, The hours pass’d swiftly o’er me; The goddess confess’d the sympathy That she had ever felt for me.
“Look here”--said she, “in former days “The minstrel who sang the Messiah “Was dearest to me of all the throng, “With his piously-sounding lyre.
“To this day the bust of my Klopstock stands “On that chest of drawers, but though on it, “For many a year it has only served “As a block for holding my bonnet.
“Thou’rt my favourite now, and thy likeness hangs “At the head of my bed in due order; “And see, a fresh laurel now surrounds “The cherish’d portrait’s border.
“Yet thy attacks on my sons, I confess, “Repeated by thee so often, “Have sometimes caused me the greatest pain; “Thy language thou must soften.
“I trust that time has cured thee now “Of rudeness so cold-hearted, “And somewhat greater tolerance “For even the fools imparted.
“But say how thou camest to travel north “At such an unclement season? “The weather already is winterly quite,-- “I fain would know the reason.”
