When I awoke, I was passing a wood, And the sight of the trees in such numbers, And their naked wooden reality, Soon scared away my slumbers. The oaks with solemnity shook their heads; The twigs of the birch-trees, in token Of warning, nodded,--and I exclaim’d: “Dear monarch, forgive what I’ve spoken! “Forgive, Barbarossa, my headstrong speech, “I know that thou art far wiser “Than I, for impatient by nature I am-- “Yet hasten thy coming, my Kaiser! “If guillotining contents thee not, “Retain the old plan for the present: “The sword for the nobleman, keeping the rope “For the townsman and vulgar peasant. “But frequently change the order, and let “The nobles be hang’d, beheading “The townsmen and peasants, for God cares alike “For all who life’s pathways are treading. “Restore again the Criminal Court “That Charles the Fifth invented; “With orders, corporations, and guilds “Let the people again be contented. “To the sacred old Roman Empire again “In all its integrity yoke us; “Its musty frippery give us once more, “And all its hocus-pocus. “The middle ages, if you like, “The genuine middle ages “I’ll gladly endure,--but free us, I pray, “From the nonsense that now all the rage is,-- “From all that mongrel chivalry “That such a nauseous dish is “Of Gothic fancies and modern deceit, “And neither flesh nor fish is. “The troops of Comedians drive away, “And close the theatres sickly, “Wherein they parody former times,-- “O Emperor, come thou quickly!” CAPUT XVIII. The town of Minden’s a fortress strong, With arms and stores well provided; But Prussian fortresses, truth to say, I never have abided. We got there just as evening fell; The planks of the drawbridge sadly Beneath us groan’d, as over we roll’d, And the dark moat gaped on us madly. The lofty bastions on me gazed With threat’ning and sulky wonder; The heavy gate open’d with rattling loud, And closed with a noise like thunder. Alas! my soul felt as sad as the soul Of Odysseus, the world-renown’d warrior, When he heard Polyphemus rolling a rock In front of the cave as a barrier. A Corporal came to the door of the coach For our names; I replied to this latter act: “I’m Nobody call’d; I an oculist am, “Who couch the giants for cataract!” At the inn I found my discomfort increase, My victuals fill’d me with loathing; I straight went to bed, but slept not a wink, So heavy I found the bed-clothing. The bed was a large, broad featherbed, Red damask curtains around it, The canopy wrought with faded gold, While a dirty tassel crown’d it.