In the hall wherein the horses were ranged, And drawn out in rows long and silent, Together the Emperor rubb’d his hands While his pleasure seem’d getting quite vi’lent. He counted the horses, one by one, And poked their ribs approving; He counted and counted, and all the while His lips were eagerly moving. “The proper number is not complete,”-- Thus angrily he discourses: “Of soldiers and weapons I’ve quite enough, “But still am deficient in horses. “Horse-jockeys I’ve sent to every place “In all the world, to supply me “With the very best horses that they can find “And now I’ve a good number by me. “I only wait till the number’s complete, “Then, making a regular clearance, “I’ll free my country, my German folk, “Who trustingly wait my appearance.”-- Thus spake the Emperor, while I cried: “Old fellow! seize time as it passes; “Set to work, and hast thou not horses enough, “Then fill up their places with asses.” Then Barbarossa smiling replied: “For the battle there need be no hurry; “Rome certainly never was built in one day, “Nothing’s gained by bustle and flurry. “Who comes not to-day, to-morrow will come, “The oak’s slow growth might shame us; “_Chi va piano va sano_ wisely says “The Roman proverb famous.” CAPUT XVI. The carriage’s jolting woke me up From my dream, yet vainly sought I To keep awake, so I slumber’d again, And of Barbarossa thought I. Again we went through the echoing halls, And talked of great and small things; He ask’d me this, and he ask’d me that, And wish’d to know about all things. He told me that not one mortal word From the world above had descended For many a year,--in fact not since The Seven-years’ war had ended. With interest he for Karschin[57] ask’d, For Mendelssohn (Moses the glorious), For Louis the Fifteenth’s mistress frail, The Countess Du Barry notorious. “O Emperor,” cried I, “how backward thou art! Old Moses is dead and forgotten, With his Rebecca; and Abraham too, The son, is dead and rotten. “This Abraham and Leah, his wife, gave birth “To Felix[58], who proved very steady; “His fame through Christendom far has spread, “He’s a Chapel-master already. “Old Karschin likewise has long been dead, “And Klenke, her daughter, is dead too; “Helmine Chezy, the granddaughter, though, “Still lives--at least she is said to. “Du Barry lived merrily, keeping afloat, “For Louis the Fifteenth screen’d her “As long as he lived, but when she was old “They cruelly guillotined her. “King Louis the Fifteenth died in his bed, “By the doctors attended and seen to; “But Louis the Sixteenth was guillotined, “And Antoinette the Queen too.