Note 57 — HISTORICAL, TRADITIONAL, AND RELIGIOUS BALLADS.

The translation of this poem by Goethe, who disclaims any knowledge of the original, is perfectly admirable. It first directed attention to the literature of Servia. His account of it is as follows: “It is now fifty years since I translated the Lament of the noble Bride of Hassan Aga, which is found in the Travels of the Abbé Fortis, and in the Morlachian Notices of the Countess Rosenberg. I rendered it from the French version, preserving the rhythmus and the measure of the original.” When Vuk printed his first collection of Servian songs, Goethe was greatly delighted at finding it among them. It was omitted in his other editions, because Vuk had not himself heard it in the Servian language; and it was his determination to publish nothing for whose authenticity he could not himself personally vouch.