The Breitmann Ballads | Page 9

John Bull and Brother Jonathan have?long been to England and America." In connection with this?remark, the?following extract from a letter of the Special Correspondent of the?London Daily Telegraph of August 29, 1870, may not be without?interest: -
"The Prussian Uhlan of 1870 seems destined to fill in French legendary chronicle the place which, during the invasions of 1814 - 15, was occupied by the Cossack. He is a great traveller. Nancy, Bar-le-Duc, Commercy, Rheims, Chalons, St. Dizier,?Chaumont, have all heard of him. The Uhlan makes himself quite at home, and drops in, entirely in a friendly way, on mayors and corporations, asking not only himself to dinner, but an?indefinite number of additional Uhlans, who, he says, may be expected hourly. The Uhlan wears a blue uniform turned up with yellow, and to the end of his lance is affixed a streamer?intimately resembling a very dirty white pocket-handkerchief. Sometimes he hunts in couples, sometimes he goes in threes, and sometimes in fives. When he lights upon a village, he holds it to ransom; when he comes upon a city, he captures it, making it literally the prisoner of his bow and his spear. A writer in Blackwood's Magazine once drove the people of Lancashire to?madness by declaring that, in the Rebellion of 1745, Manchester 'was taken by a Scots sergeant and a wench;' but it is a?notorious fact that Nancy submitted without a murmur to five Uhlans, and that Bar-le-Duc was occupied by two. When the Uhlan arrives in a conquered city, he visits the mayor, and makes his usual inordinate demands for meat, drink, and cigars. If his demands are acceded to, he accepts everything with a grin. If he is refused, he remarks, likewise with a grin, that he will come again to-morrow with three thousand light horsemen, and he?gallops away; but in many cases he does not return. The secret of the fellow's success lies mainly in his unblushing impudence, his easy mendacity, and that intimate knowledge of every highway and byway of the country which, thanks to the military?organisation of the Prussian army, he has acquired in the?regimental school. He gives himself out to be the precursor of an imminently advancing army, when, after all, he is only a boldly adventurous free-lance, who has ridden thirty miles across country on the chance of picking up something in the way of information or victuals. Only one more touch is needed to?complete the portrait of the Uhlan. His veritable name would seem to be Hans Breitmann, and his vocation that of a 'bummer;' and Breitmann, we learn from the preface to Mr. Leland's?wonderful ballad, had a prototype in a regiment of Pennsylvanian cavalry by the name of Jost, whose proficiency in 'bumming,' otherwise 'looting,' in swearing, fighting, and drinking lager beer, raised him to a pitch of glory on the Federal side which excited at once the envy and the admiration of the boldest?bush-whackers and the gauntest guerillas in the Confederate host."
The present edition embraces all the Breitmann poems which have as yet appeared; and the publisher trusts that in their collected form they will be found much more attractive than in scattered volumes. Many new lyrics, illustrating the hero's travels in Europe, have been added, and these, it is believed, are not inferior to their predecessors.
N. TRÜBNER.
The Breitmann Ballads.

HANS BREITMANN'S BARTY.
HANS BREITMANN gife a barty;
Dey had biano-blayin',?I felled in lofe mit a Merican frau,
Her name vas Madilda Yane.?She hat haar as prown ash a pretzel,
Her eyes vas himmel-plue,?Und vhen dey looket indo mine,
Dey shplit mine heart in dwo.
Hans Breitmann gife a barty,
I vent dere you'll pe pound;?I valtzet mit Matilda Yane,
Und vent shpinnen' round und round.?De pootiest Fraulein in de house,
She vayed 'pout dwo hoondred pound,?Und efery dime she gife a shoomp
She make de vindows sound.
Hans Breitmann gife a barty,
I dells you it cost him dear;?Dey rolled in more ash sefen kecks
Of foost-rate lager beer.?Und vhenefer dey knocks de shpicket in
De deutschers gifes a cheer;?I dinks dot so vine a barty
Nefer coom to a het dis year.
Hans Breitmann gife a barty;
Dere all vas Souse and Brouse,?Vhen de sooper comed in, de gompany
Did make demselfs to house;?Dey ate das Brot and Gensy broost,
De Bratwurst and Braten vine,?Und vash der Abendessen down
Mit four parrels of Neckarwein.
Hans Breitmann gife a barty;
Ve all cot troonk ash bigs.?I poot mine mout' to a parrel of beer,
Und emptied it oop mit a schwigs;?Und den I gissed Madilda Yane,
Und she shlog me on de kop,?Und de gompany vighted mit daple-lecks
Dill de coonshtable made oos shtop.
Hans Breitmann gife a barty --
Vhere ish dot barty now??Vhere ish de lofely golden cloud
Dot float on de moundain's prow??Vhere ish de himmelstrahlende stern --
De shtar of de shpirit's light??All goned afay mit de lager beer --
Afay in de ewigkeit!
BREITMANN AND THE TURNERS.
HANS BREITMANN shoined de Turners,
Novemper in de fall,?Und dey gifed