In English, the first translations of parts of the "Nibelungenlied" are contained in the "Illustrations of Northern Antiquities," by Weber, published in 1814, in Edinburgh. The version here given consists in part only of a metrical translation, in part of prose. Lockhart, in his biography of Sir Walter Scott, states that he has no doubt but that the rhymed versions came from that poet's pen, although of this there is no more direct proof. The second attempt in this direction is not less notable. This is from 1831, when Thomas Carlyle wrote in the "Westminster Review" an essay on the "Nibelungenlied" as a review of Karl Simrock's German translation of the poem, in which are contained a number of strophes given with characteristic vigor and a genuine appreciation of the real spirit of the original. The next translation, that of Gostik, in his "Spirit of German Poetry," 1846, is metrical, but, like its predecessors, consists only of parts of the poem. The first translation to lay claim to any degree of completeness was that of Jonathan Birch, published in 1848. It is a metrical version, as its title states, of Lachmann's text, and, like it, divides the poem into twenty lays. The first complete edition of the poem in English does not, however, appear until this of Lettsom's, which has admirably retained the form of the original and much of its spirit, and which for the first time gave to English readers an adequate idea of the real work as it is. For those who care to pursue the subject further than these pages it may be stated that the best editions of the "Nibelungenlied" in the original are those of Friedrich Zarncke, "_Das Nibelungenlied_," originally published in 1856 and since then in several editions, and of Karl Bartsch, "_Das Nibelungenlied_," originally published in 1866, both of which have abundant critical apparatus. The "Nibelungenlied" is not yet sufficiently well known among us, for it is, in the way that has been indicated, not alone the great epic of Germany, but in its widest sense an epic of the Germanic race. [Illustration: Wm H. Carpenter.] COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, May 1, 1901. CONTENTS FIRST ADVENTURE: PAGE Kriemhild's Dream 1 SECOND ADVENTURE: Of Siegfried 4 THIRD ADVENTURE: How Siegfried Went to Worms 8 FOURTH ADVENTURE: How Siegfried Fought with the Saxons 23 FIFTH ADVENTURE: How Siegfried First Saw Kriemhild 44 SIXTH ADVENTURE: How Gunther Went to Woo Brunhild 53 SEVENTH ADVENTURE: How Gunther Won Brunhild 64 EIGHTH ADVENTURE: How Siegfried Came to the Nibelungers 78 NINTH ADVENTURE: How Siegfried was Sent to Worms 86