Ashley MS 2408

'Queen Berngerd', 'Dame Martha's Fountain', 'The Bard and the Dreams', and 'King Oluf The Saint': ballads translated from the Danish by George Borrow. For the dating of the MSS. see the description of 2396. Ashley Library Catalogue, i, p. 57. As follows:―

1. 'Queen Berngerd'; [1828-1829?]. Autograph fair copy, written on both sides of two quarto leaves of white laid paper. Watermark 'Thomas James' and part of figure of Britannia. The MS. is entitled as above and the stanzas numbered in Borrow's hand. Printed, apparently from a different MS., in The Works of George Borrow, vii, 1923, pp. 273-276. ff. 5-6b.

2. 'Dame Martha's Fountain', a poem translated from the Danish of B. S. Ingemann; [before 1857?]. Autograph fair copy, written on both sides of one quarto leaf of white laid paper, and on one side only of another. Watermark part of lion with trident on crowned shield. The verso of the second leaf is occupied by part of art. 3. Entitled as above in Borrow's hand. First printed in The Foreign Quarterly Review, VI, June 1830, p. 83. Reprinted, apparently from another MS., in The Works of George Borrow, viii, 1923, pp. 182-183. ff. 10-11.

3. 'The Bard and the Dreams'; [before 1857?]. Autograph fair copy, written on both sides of two quarto leaves of white laid paper, and on one side only of another. Watermark part of lion with trident on crowned shield. The recto of the first leaf is occupied by part of art. 2. Entitled as above in Borrow's hand. Printed, with divisions into stanzas not found in this MS. (the only divisions found in the MS. are between ll. 66 and 67, and ll. 87 and 88) in The Works of George Borrow, ix, 1923, pp. 205-208. ff. 11b-13b.

4. 'King Oluf the Saint'; [1824-1829?]. Autograph fair copy, written on both sides of two quarto leaves of white laid paper, and on one side only of another. Watermark 'J Simmons' and figure of Britannia (cf. 2405 art. 1). The MS. is entitled as above, and the stanzas are numbered in Borrow's hand. First printed in The Foreign Quarterly Review, VI, June 1830, pp. 59-61. Reprinted, apparently from another MS., in The Works of George Borrow, vii, 1923, pp. 228-232. ff. 19-21a.

5. Pencil list, almost illegible, of sources for Borrow's translations from the Danish, together with the number from each source. Second from bottom the name Oehlenshlaeger can be made out. f. 21b

Bound up with the MSS. is a copy of Wise's privately printed Queen Berngerd The Bard and the Dreams and Other Ballads, 1913 (ff. 1-4, 7-9, 14-18, 22-26).

Quarto; ff. i+26.

includes:

• ff. 5-6b Ballads ENGLISH: George Borrow, writer: Ballad, 'Queen Berngerd', by George Borrow: [1828-1829?]: Autogr. fair copy.
• ff. 10-11 Bernhard Severin Ingemann, poet: George Borrow, writer: Poetry ENGLISH: Poem, 'Dame Martha's Fountain', by George Borrow, from the Danish of Bernhard Severin Ingemann: bef. [1857?]: Autogr. fair copy.
• ff. 11b-13b Ballads ENGLISH: George Borrow, writer: Ballad, 'The Bard and the Dreams', by George Borrow: bef. [1857?]: Autogr. fair copy.
• ff. 19-21 Ballads ENGLISH: George Borrow, writer: Ballad, 'King Oluf the Saint', by George Borrow: [1824-1829?]: Autogr. fair copy.