Pick'd the bones of a hypochondriacal Gaul, Whose taste was the worst-whose the frightfullest wish? But a truce to the Gardens and bear with a swivel eye, Paulline! my new bonnet. Well, nobody knows Quick-give me my shawl-where's my best bib and tucker: Pa calls me-"I'm coming"-so Jenny, you see M. B. THE SMITH VELANT.* The author of Kenilworth,whose brilliant and fertile imagination has turned to such good account the popular traditions of his country, has brought into notice that of the invisible Smith, called in Berkshire the Wayland Smith, who is said to have taken up his abode in the valley of the White Horse, in the midst of a number of upright, but rude and misshapen stones. There he is said to shoe all the horses brought thither, provided a piece of money be left upon one of the stones. It is known but to very few, perhaps, that this is far from being a mere local tradition. It is not only of very remote antiquity, but traces of it are found in various other countries besides England. It is not easy to decide which is the country of its origin. It is certain that it has been known in England for several centuries back. In an old romance upon King Horn, published by Ritson,‡ it is thus mentioned: Than sehe lete forth bring But a still more ancient notice of the tradition of Velant is found in the Anglo-Saxon translation of Boethius by King Alfreds, who says, "Where now are the bones of the wise and famous goldsmith Velant? Who can now point out his tomb" This even is not the only proof that the Anglo-Saxons were acquainted with this tradition. In a heroic poem upon the Skyldingues, written in Anglo-Saxon, and published for the first time by Thorkeling, Danish counsellor of state, Biodulph the Goth requires, that if he should happen to fall in fight, he should be buried in his armour-the workmanship of Velant. The armour made by Velant was equally renowned in France. In The Wayland Smith in Kenilworth, communicated by M. Depping, of Paris. † Besides what is said of it in Camden's Britannia, it is also alluded to in Wise's Letter to Dr. Mead, concerning some antiquities in Berkshire, particularly the White Horse. Oxford, 1738, 4to. + Ancient English Metrical Romances. London, 1802, vol. 3. § Oxford edition, 1693, page 43 and 162. De Danorum rebus gestis, poema Danicum dialecto Anglo-Saxonico ex biblioth. Cotton. Havniæ, 1815, Chant 6. a Chronicle of the Counts of Angouleme, written in the 12th century,* it is said, that Count William received his surname of Taillefer, because he could, with his sword made by Velant, cleave asunder a warrior armed cap-a-pie. The fame of this celebrated armourer was also established amongst the Germans. The author of the Latin poem upon the first expedition of Attila into Gaul, published, and to all appearance written, in Germany,t clothes Gauthier de Vorkastein in armour manufactured by Velant. In the German poetry of the middle ages, Veland is often met with under the Germanized name of Veilandt, and his praises rung as being a maker of arms of the finest temper. Godfroy of Strasbourg, in his poem of Tristan, calls him Vilint, and states that he was a duke, who, being driven from his country by two giants, took refuge in the territory of King Elberic, where he followed the profession of a smith, in the mountain of Gloggensachsen. But it is particularly in the north of Europe that the tradition of the Smith Velant has been most firmly established, and where his name is oftenest met with in poetry. There they not only relate many detached anecdotes of him; but there is an entire romance containing the life and adventures of this famous personage. It is this circumstance that has led the modern Danish authors to think that this tradition had its origin in the north. M. Pierre Erasmus Muller has very learnedly discussed this subject in his interesting Bibliothèque des Sagas Islandais.§ To his erudite researches I am indebted for the greater number of the details contained in this article. As an equivalent for the word Smith is to be found in the language of almost every nation, so the Icelanders have rendered it by the word Velant or Voelund; and Mr. Muller finds in this word a convincing proof of the Scandinavian origin of this tradition, for, says he, Voelund is an Icelandic word, the root of which is Voel, which signifies stratagem or skill. Volundar is even at the present day the term which the Icelanders apply to a skilful artist. The most ancient mention of Velant to be found in the northern literature, is in the Edda, which contains an entire canto, called Volundar quida ; but the romance, or Saga of Velant, forms a part of an Icelandic composition somewhat less ancient, called Vilkina Saga. It is in the nature of an episode, and seems to have been added without much attention to the march of the story. Mr. Muller thinks that the Scalde, or poet, who composed the Vilkina Saga, or added this episode to it, must have been acquainted with the German traditions and poems on the same subject, and that it was from them and from the Edda that he derived the materials of the fable of the famous Smith. Mr. Oehlenschaeger, one of the first living poets of Denmark, found this story so interesting, that he has twice treated it, first after the simple narrative of the Edda, and the second time according to the more romantic tale of the Vilkina Saga. Indeed, the second poem is nothing more than a faithful translation of the Icelandic. I shall here give the outlines of it. * Chez Labbe bibliotheca MS. nov. t. 2. De prima expeditione Attila regis Hunnorum in Gallias, Ed. Fischer. Voyez Grimm, de l'origine de la poesie Allemande, dans le tome 4 des Studien De Daub. et Creutzer. § Sagabibliotek, tom. 2. Kisebenhavn, 1818. Dans les Scandinaviske Litteratur-Selskabs-Skrifter. Copenhagen, 1809. Cahier 2. The giant Vade, or Selande, had a son named Velant, whom, at the age of nine years, he placed with a famous and skilful smith, of Hunaland, called Mimit, in order to learn the art of forging iron. After leaving him three winters in Hunaland, Vade took him to a mountain called Kallona, the interior of which was inhabited by two dwarfs, who had the reputation of being more skilful in the working of iron than any other dwarfs,* or ordinary mortals. They manufactured swords, casques, and cuirasses, and were great adepts in the working of gold and silver, of which they made numberless trinkets. Vade agreed with the dwarfs that they should teach his son Velant, in the space of twelve months, all the arts of which they were masters; and for which they were to receive, as a recompense, a golden mark. Velant soon learned all that the dwarfs thought proper to teach him; and when his father returned, at the expiration of the appointed time, to take him away, the dwarfs offered to give him back the golden mark, and teach his son as much again as he had already learned, if he should be allowed to remain another twelve months under their care. Vade consented; but the dwarfs, quickly repenting of the bad bargain they had made, added this condition, that if, upon the appointed day, Vade did not appear to take away his son, they should be at liberty to kill him. To this Vade also gave his assent; but, before his departure, he took his son aside, showed him a sword, which he concealed in a certain spot at the foot of the mountain, and said to him, "If I should not arrive on the appointed day, sooner than allow yourself to be killed by those dwarfs, take this sword and put an end to your own existence, in order that my friends may say, that I gave to the world a man, and not a girl." Velant promised to do so, and re-entered the mountain, where he soon became so skilful in the art of working metals, that the dwarfs became jealous of his superiority. Towards the close of the twelve months, Vade the giant set out for the mountain, where he arrived three days before the expiration of the time. But, finding the entrance to the interior of the mountain not yet open, and being very much fatigued after his long journey, he fell asleep. During his slumber a violent storm arose, a part of the mountain gave way, and buried poor Vade under its fragments. The day fixed upon for his appearance being come, the dwarfs issued from the mountain, but could perceive no traces of Vade the giant. His son Velant, after in vain searching for him, ran to where the sword was concealed, took it, and hiding it under his garments, followed the dwarfs into the mountain. He there killed them (instead of himself), took possession of their tools, loaded a horse with as much gold and silver as he could carry, and set out on his return to Denmark. On being stopped in his progress by a river, he cut down a tree, hollowed out its trunk, stowed his treasures into it, made a cover for it, which rendered it impervious to the water, and getting into it himself, closed the lid, and committed himself to the mercy of the waves. One day that the King of Jutland and his court were out on a fishing * The Finlanders are continually designated in the Sagas as dwarfs, and even sorcerers. They were of a very diminutive stature, and generally lived in the caverns of the mountains; hence their double appellation of dwarfs and necromanVOL. III. No. 18.-1822. cers. 3 X party, on the nets being drawn, there was found in one of them a singularly shaped trunk of a tree. In order to find out what it contained, they were going to break it to pieces, when suddenly a voice issued from the trunk of the tree, commanding the workmen to desist. On hearing which, the workmen ran away precipitately, crying out that there was a sorcerer hid in the piece of timber. In the mean time Velant opened the door of his prison; and on coming out, told the King that he was no sorcerer, and that if he would spare his life and his treasures, he (Velant) would promise to render the King the most signal services. The King assented. Velant concealed his treasures under ground, and entered into the royal service. His charge was to take great care of three knives, which were every day placed before the King at table. One day, while he was washing these knives in the river, one of them fell out of his hands, and sunk to the bottom. Fearing to lose the royal favour, he went secretly to the forge belonging to the King's smith, and made a knife exactly similar to the one that had been lost. The first time the King made use of this knife at dinner, it not only cut the bread, but went clean through the wood of the table. The King, astonished at the extraordinary temper of the blade, wished to know by whom it had been made. Velant, being hard pressed by his Majesty's questions, confessed what had taken place. On this being made known, the King's smith became jealous of Velant, and pretended that he was capable of producing as good work as this stranger, whom he challenged to a trial of skill on the following conditions:-" Make," said he to Velant, "the best sword you are capable of making: in the meantime I shall make a complete suit of armour; which if you can cut through with your sword, my head shall be at your service. But, if the armour resist the edge of your sword, your life shall be the forfeit. In twelve months the trial shall take place." Velant accepted the proposition. Two courtiers became guarantees for the smith, and the King offered himself as security for Velant. The smith immediately shut himself up, together with his assistants, in his forge, in order to work at the armour. Velant, on the contrary, continued to serve the King, and let six months pass away without thinking of his sword. The King at length asked him the reason; and Velant replied, that he had not been able to find his tools, nor his treasures, in the place where he had buried them, and that he suspected that they had been taken away by a person who had seen him hide them, but whose name he knew not. The King issued an order for all his subjects to come together, so that Velant might discover the culpable person. The thinget, or assembly of the people, took place; but Velant did not see the person of the robber amongst them. The King then became angry, and said that Velant had told him a falsehood. Upon this, Velant secretly made the figure of a man exactly resembling the person who, he suspected, had stolen his treasures; he also clothed it in a similar dress to what this person wore, and then placed it in the hall of the palace: on entering which the King exclaimed, "Ah, is that you, Reigin! are you already returned from your embassy? why have you not come to speak to me?" Velant, who had closely followed the King, immediately said, "Sire, you have named the guilty person." The moment Reigin returned, the King forced him to restore to Velant his tools and his treasures. Still, however, he allowed four months more to pass away, till at length, urged by the King, he manufactured, in seven days, a sword which wonderfully pleased his Majesty. They went together to the river-side, and Velant threw into the water a piece of timber a foot in thickness: as this descended with the stream, he held the sword before it, and it was instantly cut in two. But, in returning home, he broke the weapon in pieces, and in three days produced another sword, which he took likewise to the river-side, and tried, in the presence of the King, a similar experiment, but with a piece of wood two feet in thickness, which was also divided in two. Velant, thinking even this not good enough, broke it, and in three hours made a third sword, encrusted with gold, which he tried in the same manner, with a piece of wood three feet long and three feet thick, which had the same fate as its predecessors of minor dimensions. The King was quite charmed with this last weapon, and declared that he would have no other. The great day of trial having arrived, the king's smith first presented himself clothed in a complete suit of armour, the beauty of which excited the admiration of all present. Velant soon after entered the lists with his sword Minning. The smith seated himself in presence of the whole court, and Velant with one stroke of his sword clove the casque, the head, the cuirass, and the body of the unfortunate smith to the very waist. From thenceforth Velant passed for the most skilful workman in the kingdom, and manufactured for the King many precious articles in gold and silver. Shortly after this, the King set out with 30,000 cavaliers to attack an enemy that had made an incursion into the kingdom; but, on the eve of the day of battle, he perceived that he had not brought along with him a little stone, which secured the victory to him that carried it about his person. He offered his daughter and the half of his kingdom to any one who would bring it to him by the next morning; but not one of his knights could be found to undertake in so short a time a journey which required several days. The King at length addressed himself to Velant, who immediately set off on one of the King's swiftest horses, and returned the next morning with the stone. But, just as he was entering the royal tent, he met the King's bailly, accompanied by six cavaliers, who offered him a quantity of gold and silver for the stone, and on his refusal the bailly attempted to take it from him by force, but Velant killed him with a single blow of his sword Minning. The King was very glad to receive the stone, but the death of his bailly angered him so much, that he refused to keep his word with Velant, and drove him from his service. The worthy smith went away meditating plans of vengeance. He disguised himself as a cook, and was hired to serve in the King's kitchen, where he threw a charm over the meats preparing for the princess. There was on the king's table a knife, which always returned a certain sound when it was used in cutting viands that were not perfectly pure. Velant cunningly took away this knife, and replaced it by one which he had made to resemble it exactly. The King and the princess were astonished at finding the viands impure, although the knife had not sounded as usual the tocsin of alarm. They immediately suspected that it was one of Velant's tricks; he was sought after, and discovered. By way of a slight remonstrance for his wag |