The Marvellous Adventures and Rare Conceits of Master Tyll Owlglass

Chapter IX: Part 9

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That thing which a man maketh his own, and causeth aye to be his beloved work, be it evil or good, will beset him for ever, nor, save in the prickings and movings of his trembling conscience, and timorous spirit, will he acknowledge his own desperate courses, the which seemed fair to enjoy, but turn unto the apples of Sodom and Gomorrah i’ the mouth; and like unto the red-hot ploughshare, over the which the hardened criminal walketh, doth the sin all done in life sear the aspen soul, which quivereth in terror at evil doing. And verily when that I look me back over the book, my good master, which now I present unto thee, do I perceive right well that deep meaning and truthful lesson which can be gathered by the careful reading of such a life as that one of good Master Owlglass. It hath been said unto us, that we should not do evil that good may arise therefrom; yet from such actions and enactments as those of our master came forth good, for we are taught therein to know the wisdom of the saying of Solon unto that ancient King Crœsus, that until the end be perceived ye should esteem no man happy. And what profit had Master Owlglass of his knaveries? A life of continual change and hurrying to and fro upon the face of the earth—of carking care, and, oftentimes, pinching hunger and parching thirst. For whatsoever he wrought was a thing spoiled thereafter, and his knavery and wickedness at not any season brought him content. Lo! do we not live in other times; but yet those very same things which lay so heavy upon Owlglass, sit yet openly among us, in defiance of the judgment which the voice of the righteous man pronounceth against them. O that folly, knavery, and injustice, could be rooted up from the fair soil of this world, and cast forth unto the burning! This book was brought forth with not a little travail, for while it should cause the merry laugh upon the cheek of old and young, peradventure it may enter into the hearts of some, and they may read that lesson which we do all merit. If that Master Owlglass had not been a knave and a beguiler, might he not, with his rare wit and ingenious brain, have waxed strong in good and noble things? Therefore strive we to understand the intent of his life, and use those talents with the which God hath endowed us, to the greater glory and honour of the Giver; for truly hath it been here clearly set forth how the fool’s cap doth extinguish all light of use, beauty, or excellency.

APPENDIX A.

_Bibliographical Notes for the Literary History of Eulenspiegel._

In the foregoing volume, as has been announced in the preface, the edition followed in chief has been the oldest Low German quarto, printed at Strasburg in the year 1519. This is the one with which the Franciscan Friar, Doctor Thomas Murner, has been identified; and, as all reasonable surmise and possible evidence indicate him to be the author of the original Eulenspiegel, we have no reason to believe that any older edition will ever be discovered, although there is a rumour of a Low German edition of 1483. The title page is as follows:—“Ein kurtzweilig lesen von Dil Ulen | -spiegel geboren, vsz. dē land zū Brunszwick. Wie er | seī lebē volbracht hat. & evt (?) seiner geschichten.” Underneath Owlglass on horseback with owl and glass. It consists of one hundred and thirty paged leaves in small quarto, and contains twenty-five sheets, marked A–Z, and _a_–_b_ iiii; but the number of pages in a sheet varies from four to six and eight. The number of stories contained in the edition is ninety-six, and, with the exception of nine stories, each is provided with a rudely-executed woodcut, in all of which Eulenspiegel is represented in the ordinary dress of the period, his head uncovered, and without the fool’s dress which it has been the custom since to bestow upon him. Panzer was only acquainted with one copy of this edition mentioned in Wenker’s Catalogue, Strasburg, 1783, p. 215, No. 3175. This is preserved in the Ducal Library of Gotha, and no other is known to exist. It is now readily accessible to the student, being reprinted by Dr. Lappenberg (Dr. Thomas Murner’s Ulenspiegel. Leipzig, T. O. Weigel, 1854).

2. In 1520–30, we meet with another edition, the title of which we here transcribe: “Ayn Kurtz Wylich | lesen van Tyel Ulenspiegel: geboren | vyss dem land Brunzwyck. Wat he seltzamer boitzen be | dreuen hait syn dage, lüstich tzo lesen.” Printed by Servais Kruffter, in quarto, in old Gothic letters; thirteen sheets, A-N, with 104 unnumbered pages. This edition is known from two imperfect copies, which, however, restore, when collated, the whole. The first twelve sheets are in the Imperial Library of Vienna, and the Royal Library of Berlin has the last eleven. This edition differs from all others by possessing no preface. There are seventy-eight stories; and the one which appears second in this edition (which has been taken from the English Black Letter) first makes its appearance as an Eulenspiegel, as do Adventures 93 and 95.

3. A Dutch edition is first found about this time (1520–30), printed at Antwerp by Michiel Van Hoochstraten. The following is the title page:

(Picture of the “Vlenspieghel. (Picture of the
Owl.) Van Vlēspieghels leuen. Mirror.)

En̄ schimpelicke werckē, en̄ wōderlijcke auontueren die | hi hadde
want he en liet hem gheen boeuerie verdrieten.”

The sheets run to K ij., and forty leaves in small quarto. The only known copy is at Copenhagen, in the Royal Library, and wants two leaves. Forty-six, perhaps forty-eight, stories (counting two for the missing leaves) are contained in this edition, but they are not numbered.

4. 1528–1530. The two editions now to be described are perhaps more interesting to English readers than any others, and deserve careful examination. Of the English “Howleglas” two copies only remain, of different editions and presumed years. At the time when Dr. Lappenberg, in 1854, completed his bibliographical list, one of these copies only had reached the British Museum. They are both imperfect; but, fortunately, what is wanting in one copy is completed in the other. The title is as follows:

“Here beginneth a merrye Jest of a man that was called Howleglas, and of many marueylous thinges and Jestes that he dyd in his lyfe, in Eastlande and in many other places.”

Occupying nearly the whole of the remainder of the quarto page is a rude woodcut of a king upon his throne with two people standing before, alluding evidently to the story of the King of Poland’s Jester and Eulenspiegel.[14] The colophon of the earliest edition, which has no date, but to which 1528 is assigned by the British Museum Catalogue (Dr. Lappenberg dates it at 1540–1556), is as follows: “Imprynted at London in Tame Street at the Vintre on the thre Craned wharfe by Wyllyam Copland (⸪).”

The book begins immediately at the back of the title with the following preface:

“For the great desyryng and praying of my good frandes. And I y^e first writer of this boke might not denye thē. Thus haue I compled & gathered much knauyshnes & falsnes of one Howleglas made and done within his lyfe, whiche Howleglas dyed y^e yeare of our lorde God .M.CCCC. & .L.[15] Nowe I desyre to be pardoned both before ghostly & worldly, afore highe & lowe afore noble and unnoble. And right lowly I requyre all those y^t shall reade or heare this presēte Jeste (my ignoraūce to excuse). This fable is not but only to renewe y^e mindes of men or women, of all degrees frō y^e use of sadnesse to passe the tyme, with laughter or myrthe. And for because y^e simple knowyng persons shuld beware if folkes can see. Me thinke it is better to passe the tyme with such a mery Jeste and laughe there at and doo no synne: than for to wepe and do synne.”

The number of adventures in the English Howleglas is forty-six; but they are not numbered, one being a copy of verses (given in Appendix D), and forming an additional chapter, making forty-seven. Of this copy, Signature D is missing; otherwise, excepting the corner of a leaf, it is perfect. Signatures are from A–M, worked in sheets of eight pages, equal to fifty-two pages, of which the last is a blank. It belonged at one time to Garrick, and, with other portions of his library, was transferred to the Museum, where it will be found with the Press-mark C. 21. _c_.

Of this book a second copy exists, as above mentioned, also in the British Museum. It is a later edition (1530), but differing in nothing from the one already described. It is, however, very imperfect, wanting Signature B and the page marked K iiii, as well as all subsequent pages, comprising L and M. This has been completed from the other copy. On the fly-leaf is the following note, which I copy:

“Such is the rarity of this volume, that only _one_ other copy is known, viz., that in the British Museum, which is of another edition, and is also slightly imperfect (_Note by the writer of the fly-leaf comment_: On a more accurate inspection of the above volume, I have discovered that it wants an entire sheet, viz. _c_[_d_]), wanting the corner of a leaf. _This_ copy was purchased at the Roxburgh sale by the late Mr. Heber, whose note will be seen on the fly-leaf immediately preceding the title.”

Mr. Heber’s note is: “1812. Roxburgh sale £14 5 0. Mem. to examine the Museum copy.”

In 1842, it was marked in Lilly’s Catalogue; and the date placed upon it by the Museum authorities is sixth of October, 1857, with the press-mark 12316 _c_.

The only record of any other copy of this English Howleglas, also referred to in the preface, is in a paper of Mr. Halliwell’s in the Papers of the Shakspere Society (vol. iv. p. 18, 26–28), where that gentleman describes the library of a certain Captain Cox, quoting from an account of Queen Elizabeth’s entertainments at Kenilworth, made by Laneham, clerk and keeper of the Council Chamber door.

That same Captain Cox is represented by Ben Jonson in the “Masque of Owls, at Kenelworth, presented by the Ghost of Captain Cox, mounted on his Hobbyhorse 1626,” and is made to say:

“This Captain Cox, by St. Mary,
Was at Bullen with King Ha—ry;
And (if some do not vary)
Had a goodly library,
By which he was discerned
To be one of the learned,
To entertain the queen here,
When last she was seen here.”

It has been stated, that Owlglass also existed as a Miracle Play; but this statement does not seem to refer to more than the Easter Play, to which reference has been made in the Preface.

5. 1532. This year we find the first French edition, stated to be translated from Flemish into French (probably from the Antwerp edition) printed at Paris, the title being as follows:—

Between four flowerets there is first an owl then the word: “Ulenspiegel,” and after it a round glass. Next: “De sa vie de ses oeuures | Et merueilleuses aduentures par luy faictes | et des gran- | des fortunes quil a eux, lequel par milles fallaces ne se lais | sa tromper. Nouuellement translate et corrige de Flamant | en Francoys.” The colophon is thus: “Imprime nouuellement a Paris en l’an Mil*ccccc*xxxii*.” Sheets run to K iiij _b_ in quarto, without pagination, and the type all Gothic. The only known copy exists in the Royal Library at Stuttgart.

6. In the same year, 1532, an edition appeared at Erfurt, printed by Melcher Sachsen. The following is the title: “Von Vlenspiegel eins bau | ren sun (son) des lands Braunschweick, wie | er sein leben volbracht hat, gar mit | seltzamen sachen.” Ten sheets in quarto, leaves in number 84, without pagination; the last being blank. There are 102 stories, with 86 woodcuts, some little merit belonging to the first few—the later ones having been considerably worn. Only four copies, nearly all defective, are known of this edition; one was bought for the private library of the King of Prussia, at the sale of the collection of the Viennese antiquary Matth. Kuppitsch, and presented by his Majesty to the Royal University Library of Berlin. There is another in the Royal Library of München.

7. Another edition, in every respect similar to the Erfurt edition of 1532, was printed between 1533–7; but from the last pages being lost, it is impossible to say by whom, where, or in what year. The copy is at the Royal Library of Berlin. The missing leaves are perfected in manuscript; and it ends with a strange note, to the effect that it was printed at Augsburg by Simon Gymell, and “translated from the old Saxon tongue into good German,” in the year 1498. No such person is known to have existed at Augsburg at that time, and the words between inverted commas, first appear in 1539, in the Cologne edition.

8. In 1538, an edition was again issued, in every way similar to that of 1532, by Melchior Sachsen at Erfurt. Copies at Berlin, in the collections of Herr von Meusebach, and Professor J. A. Nasser.

9. Shortly after the 1532 edition of Erfurt, another quarto edition in forty pages was issued in French, by Alain Lotrian, at Paris. There are forty-six stories and twenty-six woodcuts. The copy examined by Dr. Lappenberg belonged to the Ducal Library at Wolfenbüttel, and contains an autograph of Duke Julius of Brunswick and Lüneburg, dated, July 17, 1567. The title is as follows, after four flowers, with the owl in the centre, and the looking-glass, and between them the word Vlenspiegel: “De sa vie & de ces oeuues[16] | Et merueilleuses aduentures par luy faictes et des gran- | des fortunes quil a euz, lequel par milles fallaces ne se lais | sa tromper. Nouuellement translate et corrige de Flamant | en Francoys.” Colophon: “Cy finist les faictz et merueilleuses aduētures | de Thiel Vlespiegle lequel a este translate de | langage Flameng en Francoys, et nouuelle- | ment imprime a Paris par Alain Lotrian demou- | rant en la rue neufue nostre dame a l’enseigne de l’es | cu de France.”

10. 1539. Ulenspiegel | De sa vie de ses oeuures, | et merueilleuses auentures par luy faictes: et des grandes fortunes quil a eu: leq̄l par nulles fallaces ne se laissa trom- | per: nouuellemēt translate & corrige de flamēnt en francoys.

Colophon: Imprime nouuellement a Anuers en l’an M.CCCCC*XXXIX.

The only copy known is in the Library at Wolfenbüttel. This edition almost coincides with that of Alain Lotrian, with some very trifling variations.

11. 1539. A German edition was this year published with the following title: “EYn wunderbairlich | vnd seltzame History, vonn Dyll Ulnspi | gel, bürtig auss dem land Brunschweig, wie er sein leben | verbracht hat, newlich aufs Sachsischer sprach vff | Teutsch verdolmetscht, seer kurtz- | weilig zu lesenn, myt schö | nen figuren.”

Colophon: “Gedruckt zu Cöln für Sanct Lupus, bey Ian von Ach. Im Iar Dusent Funffhundert Neunund dreissig.”

One copy of it is to be found in the private Library of the king of Würtemburg at Stuttgart. The text is divided into one hundred stories, each with its own heading. The signatures of the sheets run from A to S, each containing four leaves. The name of the printer was found by Dr. Lappenberg as Ian van Aich. One other copy is known to be in the Royal Library at München.

12. 1539. “Wunderbarliche, vnnd seltzame Historyen Tyll Vlnspiegels, ausz dem land zu Braunschweig bürtig, new auss Sachsischer sprach auff gut hochdeutsch verdolmetscht. Straszburg, Jac. Frölich. Mit Holzschnitten. 1539.” This is in quarto, and is mentioned in a catalogue of a collection of books which were to be publicly sold on 25th January, 1847, at Frankfort-on-the-Main. Lappenberg, who gives us this information, appears unable to give any more.

This edition, in quarto, runs as far as S iii, seventy-three pages, without pagination. The book contains one hundred adventures (numbered) and is a reprint, word for word, of the Cologne edition of 1539 (see No. 11, _ante_, p. 224). There are forty woodcuts in all. A copy exists in the Ducal Library at Wolfenbüttel.

14. 1541. Under this year an Augsburg edition, now at Lemberg, is mentioned in San-Marte’s Gross-Polens National Sagen (pp. 203 and 207).

15. 1543. “Wunderbarliche, Vnnd | seltzame historyen, Tyll Vienspiegels | ausz dem land zu Brunschweig bürtig, newlich ausz Säch- | sischer sprach auff gut Hochdeutsch verdolmetscht.” Colophon: “Getrukt zu Straszburg, bey Jacob Frölich, | in M.D.XLIII Iar.”

Woodcuts and pagination similar in almost every respect to the edition of 1519. A copy is in the Royal Library at Göttingen from the Gebauer collection.

Signatures to D iiii., one hundred and nine numbered pages, and one without pagination, in small octavo. There are one hundred and two stories, and some of the woodcuts are new.

17. 1551. “Seltzame unnd | wunderbarliche Historien | Tyll Vlenspiegels, eines Bawren Son | Bürtig auss dem land zu Braunschweiyg | Newlich ausz Sachszischer Sprach auff gut Hochdeutsch verteutscht, sehr | kurtzweilig zu lesen mit schö | nen Figuren.” Colophon: “Zu Strassburg | In Jahr | M.D.L.I.” This is preserved in the Grand Ducal library of Darmstadt; it is in octavo, sheets A–O without pagination; the stories are 102 in number, each with a woodcut.

18. 1554. “Eyn wunderbarlich.... History von Dyll Ulenspegel, Cöln. 4to. 1554.” Preserved at the Royal State Library at München.

Five sheets and a half in 8vo. This translation was made by the rector of the school at Herzogenbusch, and is in iambics. The copy examined by Dr. Lappenberg is preserved in the Town Library at Lübeck, and another exists at Göttingen.

20. 1559. “Les avantures joyeuses et faitz merveilleux de Tiel Vlespiegle, ensemble les grandes fortunes à luy avenues en diverses régions, lequel par falace ne se laissait aucunement tromper: Le tout traduit d’allemand en françoys. Livre fort récréatif pour réveiller les bons espritz. Lyon, par Jean Savgrain, 1559.”

One hundred and nine pages, in 16mo. Brunet mentions several copies of this edition.

Signatures to Q, 127 pages, and one page without number, in small octavo. This is the earliest edition where Vlenspiegle becomes Eulenspiegel. Copies preserved at the Royal Library at Berlin, and the University library at Jena.

22. 1563. Another edition of the version of Nemius appeared in this year, and is preserved at Halle.

23. 1567. “Noctvae Specvlum. | Omnes res me- | morabiles, varias qve | et admirabiles, Tyli Saxonici | machinationes complectens, planè novo more nunc primum ex idiomate Germanico latinitate donatum adiectis insuper elegantissimis iconibus veras omnium historiarū species ad venum adumbrantibus, ante hac nunquam visis aut editis. Avthore Ægidio Periandro, Bruxellensi, Brabantino. Cum Gratia et privilegio ad decennium, Francofvrti ad Mœnum, M.D.LXVII.” At the end: “Impressum Francofurti ad Mœnum, apud Georgium Corvinum, sumptibus Sigismundi Feyrabendt & Simonis Huteri.”

Signatures A-Z, 210 pages, with 103 woodcuts. Copies at Dresden, Göttingen, München, Hamburg, and two copies in the British Museum (Press-marks 243. a. 11 of the King’s Library, and 1080. d. 33). The book is in elegiac verse, and was composed by Giles Omma, who was known as Aegidius Periander.

24. About 1571, a Danish translation of Eulenspiegel is mentioned. See Nyerup Morskabs laesning, p. 269.

This edition is in octavo, with 16 unpaged leaves and 307 numbered pages, and 98 woodcuts. The year 1571 is assigned to it by Ebert. In this versified edition, Fischart applied much of the satire of the book to the events and customs of his time, and he appears to have been well acquainted with the editions which had preceded him, and his knowledge of Rabelais, of whom he was the German translator, was also very great, but he did not know Eulenspiegel to be the work of Murner. Many copies of this edition exist; amongst others, the British Museum contains one, the press-mark of which is 11517. a.

26. 1571. “Evlenspiegels Wunderbarliche, abendtheurische vnd gar seltzame Historien, Geschichte, bossen vnd Fatzwerck, jetzt auffs neuwe mit schönen artlichen Figuren zugericht, so vormals im Deutschen nie gesehen. Getruckt zu Frankfurt am Mayn. M.D.LXXI.” At the end: “Getruckt zu Frankfurt am Mayn durch | Johannem Schmidt, in Verlegung Hieronymi Feyerabends Anno M.D.LXXI.”

Twenty-one and a half sheets in octavo, without pagination.

27. 1567–1574. “De sa vie [et] des ses oeuures, | Et merueilleuses aduentures par luy faictes. Et de grandes fortu- | nes quil a eues, lequel par milles fallaces ne se laissa tromper. Nou | uellement corrige & translate de Flament en Francoys. viii. c. A Paris pour la vesue Jean Borfons, demourant en la rue | neuue Nostre Dame, a lenseigne sainct Nicolas.”

Thirty-two unnumbered pages, in quarto. This edition is almost identical with that of Alain Lotrian. A copy exists in the Ducal library at Wolfenbüttel.

28. 1571. “Les aventures joyeuses et faits merveilleux de Tiel Vlespiegle, trad. du Flamand. Orleans.” An edition in duodecimo.

29. 1571. “Eulenspiegels Historien, mit newen Figuren zugericht. Frankfurt.”

A duodecimo edition mentioned by Celsii, Elenchus librorum ab āo 1500–1602 editorum, II. 221.

30. 1571. “L’histoire joyeuse et recreative de Tiel Vlespiegle; nouvellement reueu et traduit du flameng en françois. Orleans, par Eloy Gibier.”

No date is assigned to this book; but it has been seen by Brunet bound up with “Le Voyage de Panurge,” issued in 1571. One hundred and seventy pages, in 16mo.

31. 1575. “Ulen Spiegel. | Van Ulespieghels leuen Ende schimpe- | lijcke wercken ende wonderlijcke auonturen.... Thantwerpen. Ghedruckt by my Jan van Ghelen in den witten Hasewint, 1575. Met Gratie ende Privilegie. Mit Figg.”

A quarto in the library of Dr. Jacob Grimm; this appears to be the edition prohibited by Philip II. and the Duke of Alba, in 1579.

32 and 33. 1578–9. “Histoire joyeuse et recreative de Tiel Vlespiegle, ou est traité de ses faits et merveilleuses avantures et de grandes fortunes, quil a avés. Traduit de Flamand en françois. Anvers. 1579.”

An octavo spoken of by Von Murr, Journal xiv. 353.

34. 1580. “Ulen Spiegel—Van Ulenspieghels leuen En | schijmpelijcke wercken ende wonderlijcke auonturen | die hi hadde, want hie en liet hem gheē Boeuerije verdrieten | seer playsant en ghenuechlijck om lesen. | Ghedruckt Thantwerpen, | Opede Camerpoortbrugghe in den Schilt van Basele by my | Jan van Ghelen de Jonghe, ghesworen Drucker der Con. Ma. Met Gratie en Privilegie.”

Title-page in black and red, and the name of the book in old Teutonic letters. Thirty-two pages, in quarto. Signatures A-H ij. Copy at Göttingen.

35. 1586. “Wunderbarliche & seltsame Historien Tyl Eulenspiegels—[without place]—1586.”

An octavo in the Royal Library at München.

36. An edition, bearing the date of the year 1588, is mentioned in the Catalogue of the Kiel Library, but is not to be found there now.

37. 1592. An edition of this year, uniform with a Flemish edition of Dr. John Faust, is mentioned by Tross, in Naumann’s Serapeum, vol. xi. p. 159.

Small octavo sheets A-F, forty-eight pages. Preserved in the Royal Library at Berlin. Another Dutch edition, the title of which need not be recapitulated, was also published about this time.

40. 1618. “Wunderbarliche und seltzame Historia | Tyllen Eulen- | spiegels, eines Bawren Son, | aus dem Land zu Braunschweig bür- | tig. Newlich aus Sächsischer Sprache auff | gut Hochteutsch verdolmetschet sehr | kurtzweilig zu lesen. Jetzundt wider frisch gesotten vnd new gebacken. Gedruckt im Jahr M.D.C.XVIII.”

Thirteen sheets in small octavo, without pagination. The stories, 102 in number, with woodcuts. Preserved in a book, together with a song-book printed by Jacob Singe, and with which the Eulenspiegel is uniform, at the Town Library at Bremen.

41. 1636. This edition is not in the list of Dr. Lappenberg. The copy I have examined is in the British Museum (press mark 12315 _c_), and the title is as follows: “L’histoire de | Tiel Vlespiegle | contenant ses faits | merueilleux, & les grandes fortunes | quil a euës durant sa vie. | Nouuellement traduit de Flammand en François.” (Beneath this a woodcut representing in a rude way Eulenspiegel with the glass in the right hand and the owl in the left, on horseback), a Paris, chez Iean Promé, en sa boutique au coin de la ruë Dauphine. 1636. 16mo. The stories are forty-six in number and the epitaph is thus given:—

“Vlespiegle est icy gisant,
Son corp est icy mis en terre,
Pour-ce on aduise le passant,
Q’aucen ne change cette pierre.”

The pagination is only on one side, and extends to thirty-five, signatures A-E iij, and the rude woodcut at the commencement is repeated at the end. The chapters are not numbered, and the following prologue is printed at the back of the title: “Ayant esgard aux prieres d’aucuns miens familiers, ausquels ie n’ay osé bounement refuser, amy Lecteur, i’ay acteur du present Liure, amasse & compilé les plaisantes tromperies mocqueries & finesses, dont usa en sa vie Tiel Vlespiegle, lequel depuis mourut l’an mil trois cent cinquante. En quoy toutes fois ie demande d’estre excusé à l’endroit de toutes personnes, tant Spirituels, que Temporels, Nobles que Roturiers; attendu le dessein que i’ay tousiours eu de n’offencer aucun, l’ayant composé, non point au mespris de la gloire de Dieu, ou pour inuenter menteries & enseigner malice; mais seulement pour recreer & resueiller les esprit eunuyez, afin aussi que les simples se puissent garder de telles tromperies au temps aduenir.” The copy in the Museum is well bound in a dark coloured calf.

42. 1637. “Wonderbaerliche ende seltsame historie van Thijl Ulenspiegel, van zijne schalke, listighe bootsen ende boeverijen, gedruckt by broer Jansz.” Broer Jansz is known as the printer of the earliest Amsterdam newspaper, in 1628.

43. 1640 (?). “Het aerdig leven | van | Thijl Ulenspiegel | Waer in verhallt worden niet alleenelyk veel aerdige en kluchtige Poetsen en Boeveryen, maer ook besonderlyk syn wondere aventueren, die hem geduerende syn Leuen gebeurt zyn, zoo hier, als in andere Landen. T’Antwerpen. By J. H. Heyliger, op de groote Merkt in de Pauw.”

Sheets A-D 2. Sixty-one sides without pagination, in octavo, with rough woodcuts. This edition varies considerably from all others, although founded upon the edition of Broer Jansz. New adventures and scenes are introduced, and the tone of the book much altered.

44. 1655. “La vie de Tiel Vlespiegle de ses faicts merveilleux et finesses par luy faictes, & des grandes fortunes qu’il a euës, lequel par nulles fallaces ne se laissa tromper. Nouuellement corrigée & translatée de Flamand en François. A Troyes. Chez Nicholas Oudot, demeurant en la ruë Nostre Dame au Chappon d’Or Couronné.” Signatures A-E, in small 8vo. In the public Library of Ponikau at Halle.

45. 1657–63. In a volume, entitled “Recueil des plus illustres proverbes, mis en lumière par Jacq. Lagniet”—the Life of Eulenspiegel is given as the fourth book. Brunet, Manuel, Tom. III. s. v. Lagniet.

46. 1663. A French translation in “Les œuvres de Bruscambille. Rouen.” Copy preserved in the Royal Library of Göttingen.

47. 1675. Tyll Eulenspiegel is referred to by Koch, as published this year without place.

48. 1677. “La vie de Til Eulenspiegel, a Troyes.” An octavo, preserved at Göttingen.

49. 1683. This edition was not known to Dr. Lappenberg when his work appeared. The title page is as follows: “La vie | de | Tiel Ulespiegle | De ses farces & merveilleuses finesses, par luy | faites, & des grandes fortunes qu’il | a euës, lequel par milles fallaces | ne se laissa tromper. | Nouvellement corrigée & translatée de Flamen en François, avec des belles figures. | (Here a figure of an owl in a looking-glass). A Paris | Chez Pierre Clinchet, à l’enseigne du Dauphin | M.DC.LXXXIII.” In the British Museum (Press mark, 12315 _a_), small octavo, bound in paper. The woodcuts in this edition are of the rudest kind and the prologue the same as that in the edition of 1636. The stories are forty-six in number, and the epitaph; the number of pages are eighty-eight. Signatures A-F iij. It seems to be a close reprint of the edition above mentioned, No. 44.

50. 1690. “Historia Tillen Eulenspiegels.” An octavo, named in Heise’s Bücher-Catalog. Hamburg, 1827. Vol. I.

51. 1696. “Underlig oc selsom Historie om Tiile Ugelspegel, een Bondes Soen, barnfoed udi Lande Brunszwig, saare Kortvillig at laese, af Tydsken paa danske udsat. Sidste Gang prentet i dette Aar.” At the end is the date of the year, 1696. Thirteen sheets in octavo.

52. 1699. “La vie | de Tiel Ulespiegle | De ses faits merveilleux, des grandes fortunes qu’il a | eues, lequel par aucunes fallace [sic] ne se laissa surprendre ni tromper. A Troyes | Chez Jacques Oudot, demeurant en la rue | du Temple, 1699. Avec permission.” A small octavo, signatures A-C (query F), forty-eight pages, without numbers. The copy described by Lappenberg is preserved in the Imperial Library of Paris.

_17th Century, without particular date._

53, 54. Without date, but belonging to the seventeenth century are two octavo editions mentioned in a catalogue published at Halle in 1846, p. 379.

55. An undated Dutch edition of this period in octavo has the following title: “Wonderlijke Levensgeschiedniss van Thyl Uilenspiegel, behelzende zijn schalkachtig en avonteurlijk leven, op nieuw verbeterd en vermeerderd, met zeldzaamheden welke noch nimmer bekent zijn geweest. Tweede Druck. Rotterdam.” This is a second edition.

56. An edition without date appeared at Amsterdam about this time in octavo. “Wonderbarelyke en zeldzame Historien van Thyl Uilenspiegel, van zyn schalke, listige potsen en Boeveryen, di hy, zoo in zyn dood, als ook in zyn leven bedreven heest. Zeer tydkordig en geneuglyk om te lezen voor oude en jonge lieden.”

57. A Rotterdam edition, with following title page, is in the Bodleian (Douce, v. 58): “Wonderbaarlyke en Zeldzaame | Historie | van | Thyl | Ulenspiegel, | en van Zyn Schalke, Listig Bootzen en | Boerveryen, | die hy en zyn leven | bedreef. | Zeer tydkörtig en genoeglyk om te leezen | Verciert met Figuuren en zyn Lyk-Ceel. | Te Rotterdam. | By Johannes Scheffers, Boek- | Drukker in de Prinsestraat.” Duodecimo, eighty-eight numbered pages, and eight without pagination. Rough woodcuts, and typography in black letter, except the headings of chapters, and the last eight pages. This edition is not mentioned by Dr. Lappenberg.

58. Without date: “La vie de Tiel Vlespiegle de ses faicts et merveilles & des grandes fortunes qu’il a eues, lequel par milles fallacies ne se laissa surprendre n’y tromper. A Troyes et se vend a Paris chez Antoine de Rafflé, Imprimeur Marchand libraire, Rue de petit Pont, à l’Image S. Antoine.” Signatures A-D, small octavo. Preserved in the Royal Library of Dresden, and in the public Library of Ponikau at Halle.

59. A Rouen edition, without date, not mentioned by Lappenberg: “Tiel Vlespiegle de sa vie ..... ne se laissa tromper. A Rouen chez Loys Costé, rue Escuyere aux trois croix Couronnées.” Printed in double columns in quarto, without pagination, and bound in a volume, preserved in the British Museum (press mark, 12513/5, _g_), together with a number of publications by Loys Costé and others, comprising Melusine, Geoffrey a la grand Dent, Richard sans paour, Florimont, and Oliuier de Castille.

60, 61, 62. At this time several Polish translations seem to have appeared. See San Marte Gross-Polens Nationalsagen. Bromberg, 1842. p. 203.

* * * * *

63. 1701. “Tiel Wliespiegle, de sa vie, de ses faits et merveilleuses finesses par lui faites, et des grandes fortunes qu’il a eues, lequel par les fallaces, ne se laissa tromper, traduit du flamand. Rouen. Besogne, 1701.” An octavo, on which see Brunet.

64. 1702. “Histoire de la vie de Tiel Wlepiegle, Contenant ses faits et finesses .... ne s’étant jamais laissé tromper par aucune personne. Amsterdam, chez Nicolas Chevalier.” A duodecimo, in the Royal Library at München, and in the possession of Herr Regierungsrath Blumenbach, of Hanover; as also in the British Museum, press mark, 12315 _a_.

65. 1702. “Histoire de la vie de Tiel Wlespiegle. Contenant ses faits et finesses, ses aventures, et les grandes fortunes qu’il a euës, ne s’etant jamais laissé tromper par aucune personne. Nouvelle Traduction de l’Alemand en François: où l’on a ajouté à cette edition, plusieurs pieces qui n’ont point encore paru en François jusques à present. A Middelbourg chez Ric. Parmenter. MDCCII.” A duodecimo, at the Royal Library at Dresden.

66. 1703. The same title at Amsterdam, printed by Pierre Marteau, MDCCIII. 247 pages, and eight leaves, in duodecimo. In this edition, several adventures are added, which appear in the German Rogue (_vide infra_, No. 71). Copies in the British Museum (press mark 1079 _b_, 18); at the Royal Library at Dresden, and the Town Library at Hamburg.

67. “La | Vie de Tiel | Ulespiegle | (see edition of 1699, _supra_). Troyes, chez la veuve Jacques Oudot. 1705. Avec permission.” In small octavo, with two rude cuts. Signatures extend from A-D ij, over fifty-four pages. Flemish names, as in some other editions, take the place of German. This edition is in the library of Dr. Lappenberg.

68. 1713. “Wunderliche und seltsame Historien Tillen Eulenspiegels, eines Bauren Sohn, aus dem Lande zu Braunschweig bürtig; neulich aus Sächsischer Sprache auf gut Hochteutsch verdollmetscht, &c., &c. Anitzo wieder aufs neue aufgelegt. Gedruckt in diesem Jahre (13) Mit Holzschnitten.” Small octavo. Referred to in the Catalogue of the “Bibliothek der Maatschappij van Nederlandsche Letterkunde, te Leiden,” vol. ii. p. 336.

69. 1714. “La Vie de Tiel Ulespiegle de ses faits ... tromper. A Troyes, 1714.” Duodecimo.

70. 1714. “Wunderliche & Seltzame Historien von Tyll Eulenspiegel.... Kurtzweilig zu lesen. Hamburg gedruckt auffm Schaarsteinweg.” Octavo, sixty-three woodcuts, numbered to 100 chapters, except that, by the omission of chap. 79, there are really only ninety-nine. This is the commonly received text constantly reprinted.

71. 1720. “The | German Rogue, | or the | Life and Merry | Adventures, | Cheats, Stratagems | & | Contrivances | of Tiel Eulespiegel. Let none Eulespiegle’s Artifices blame, | For Rogues of ev’ry Country are the same. | Made English From the High Dutch. London: Printed in the Year MDCCXX.” This edition is the only other version ever made of the work presented in this volume. It differs widely, however, from the popular German Owlglass; many stories are introduced which the original editions did not contain, and the taste for tales of the Decameron class has been consulted in the compilation of it. Dr. Lappenberg, in his bibliographical section, assigns to it the date of 1709; but the only two copies I have seen, one of which is in my possession, give the date 1720 as above. It is an octavo and of extreme rarity, the British Museum contains no copy of it; the only other copy is in the Douce Collection at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. That which I have was formerly the property of Mr. Bernard Quaritch, who priced it at £2 12_s._ 6_d._ A note on the fly-leaf states the rarity of the book, and that the annotator never met with another; and Mr. Thoms says, that he only saw the one in Douce’s Collection. The number of pages is 111, and of chapters forty-four. Signatures B-P 4, with title and preface. The rarity of the book is not much to be regretted; for its contents are not in any way of a nature fitted for quotation or great remark.

72. 1736. “Lustige Historien oder Merckwürdiges Leben, Thaten und Reisen des Weltbekandten Tyll Eulenspiegels. Mit vielen Historischen, Politischen, und Moralischen Anmerckungen, Auch allerhand Tugend-, Staats und Sitten-Lehren, Nach aller Ständen durch und durch, bei jeder Historie, erläutert und beschrieben (Dresden bei Hilscher).” An octavo, preserved at the Royal Libraries of Dresden and Göttingen.

73. 1774. “Wonderbaerlyke en zeldzame Historie van Thyl Ulenspiegel, van zyn Schalke..... Zeer teydkortig en geneuglijk on te lezen. Vor Oude en Jonge Lieden. Te Amsterdam, by Joannes Kannewet.” A small octavo, of eighty-eight numbered pages, and four pages without numbers, preserved at München.

74. A popular romance on Owlglass appeared in two volumes in 1779 and 1784.

75. A Danish translation was published in 1787 at Copenhagen; twelve sheets in octavo without pagination.

76. 1794. “Leben und Sonderbare Thaten Till Eulenspiegels.” An octavo of 136 pages.

77. 1795. The same, republished at Prague and Vienna.

_18th Century, without particular date._

78. In the Bodleian at Oxford (Douce Collection, p. 280, press-mark TT iii) is a French Eulenspiegel, entitled, “Histoire | Plaisante | de | Tiel Ulespiegel | Contenant les faits & subtilités dont | il s’est servi. | Revue et Corrigée de Nouveau. | A Limoges, | Chez F. Chapoulard, Imprimeur-Libraire, | place de Banc.” It is an octavo of twenty-nine pages, and the number of adventures far from complete. It is printed on very bad paper, and evidently with a view to cheapness.

79. “Wonderbaarlyke | en zeldame | Historie | van | Thyl Ulenspiegel, &c. Te Leyden. By P. van Leeuwen. In the de Pieters Choorsteg.” Chiefly curious from a cut on the title, representing Eulenspiegel holding a mirror up for an owl to look in, with the inscription above it, “Broeder myn.” Ninety pages duodecimo, with the ordinary adventures and rude cuts. Preserved in the Bodleian.

80, 81. Several stories of Eulenspiegel were translated into Jew-German, and printed at Frankfort-on-the-Main, in octavo, according to Wolf, “Bibliotheca Hebraica,” vol. iii., p. 86, 1727. Another Hebrew-German edition appears referred to in the same work, vol. ii., p. 1255, 1721.

82. Flögel mentions, in 1789, an old Polish version (p. 473): “Sowizrzal Krotochwilny Smiezny Poczatek, zywot y dokonanie iego.” Without year or place, in octavo.

83. “La Vie | joyeuse et récréative de Thiel Ulespiègle ... qu’il a eues. A Douai. Chez Deregnaucourt. Imprimeur-Libraire, rue Jacques, no. 45.” Three sheets of forty-eight pages in duodecimo, in the Imperial Library at Paris.

84, 85. Of the eighteenth century. “Historien von dem wunderlichen & seltsamen Till Eulenspiegel. Hamburg.” Twelve sheets in octavo. Another edition published by Solbrig of Leipzig.

86, 87. 1804 and 1806. Two Dutch editions, published at Amsterdam and Deventer.

88. 1807. A German Leipzig edition.

89. 1819. Dutch book of the Eulenspiegel character, but not containing the same Adventures. “Het | Leven | van den | Jongen | Ulenspiegel, &c. Te Amsterdam. By B. Koene, Boekdrukker in de Boomstraat.” 12mo. in ninety-six pages, in the Bodleian (v. 58, Douce Collection).

90, 91. A quarto edition, consisting of fifty-five plates, published by Ramberg at Hanover. In the Museum (press-mark, 554 _b_ 40). At Rotterdam in the same year an edition in Dutch appeared, which contained several adventures differing from the common version.

92. 1830. Baron von Halberg in this year published a versified edition in octavo at Crefeld. In the Museum, with the press-mark 11526 _d_.

93–96. “Der ganz neue wiedererstandene Till Eulenspiegel,” in 100 chapters, with 102 woodcuts. “München, 1833, 1836–7, 1844.” This edition has been used in the preparation of this volume.

97, 98. “Avantures de Tiel Ulespiegle et ses bon mots, finesses et amusantes inventions. Par Joseph Octave Delepierre. Bruges. 1835.” Ninety pages in octavo. Only fifty copies of this edition printed.—1840. “Les Aventures de Tiel Ulespiegle. Par Delepierre.” An octavo of 222 pages. This edition of M. Delepierre affirms with amusing mock gravity the entirely Flemish origin of Owlglass, and the names are ingeniously altered to suit Flemish localities. Use has been made of the edition in this version.

99, 100, 101. In the years 1838 and 1839, several editions appeared, one of them that of Cornelius, which, together with the 1519 edition and the preceding, has been consulted in this edition.

102. 1841. An edition belonging to Dr. Simrock’s Collection of German Folkbooks, at Berlin.

103. “Tyll Eulenspiegel’s wunderbare und seltsame Historien. Von Carl Frölich. Reutlingen, 1849.”

104. 1854. Dr. Thomas Murner’s Ulenspiegel. By Dr. J. M. Lappenberg. Leipzig, Weigel. This is the best and completest edition yet published of Owlglass, and one which has formed the groundwork of the translation now published.

Several editions have appeared since, but none of them possessing value sufficient to render notice necessary; the only one which need be mentioned being—

105. “Histoire Joyeuse et Récréative de Tiel L’Espiègle. Nouvelle Edition. Avec une étude littéraire sur Tiel L’Espiègle par Pr. van Duyse. Gand, 1858.”

We have thus, without referring to the numerous badly printed versions of the illustrious Eulenspiegel, given here a complete review of all the editions of this remarkable book, which, from its length, will serve to show how popular it has been from its very first appearance.

In connection with Eulenspiegel literature, it may be interesting in this place to give a description of a curious work, of which three copies are preserved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford (Douce Collection, Catalogue, page 290 A. Press-marks, R 328, 90), and which, by the kind permission of Dr. Bandinel, and of my friend, the Rev. A. Hackman, M.A., Precentor of Christ Church, I have been permitted to examine. It is entitled—

The two copies which I saw are well preserved, especially the one marked “R 90,” which is bound up with the letters of Monsieur De Bergerac. The book is a small 12mo, with 197 pages and two pages of advertisements. The Signature A is formed of title page and six sides (without pagination) of preface and lines to the author. It is one of those dull books so common about that time, and contains the adventures and travels of a personage who, like Owlglass, but without his wit, cheats and robs those whom he encounters. He journeys over France, and becomes a member of a society of thieves, and swears to abide by certain rules of their order, tedious to be recapitulated here. The book is curious as an example of the taste of the time. The chapters are twenty-nine in number, and, as the title page says, epigrams appropriate to the adventures are inserted. Other works, ancient and modern, akin to Eulenspiegel literature, will be found in a subsequent Appendix.

-----

Footnote 14:

Adventure the 24th, pp. 38–39.

Footnote 15:

This should be M.CCC. & L.

Footnote 16:

Error _oeuues_ for _oeuures_.

APPENDIX B.

_The historical Eulenspiegel and his gravestone._

It is scarcely necessary to enter upon the question of the historical Eulenspiegel. That there was such a person seems unquestionable. The names of his parents were Saxon names, not unfrequent, and the name of Ulenspiegel appears as early as 1337, being the name of a widow living at Brunswick, and again in 1473, in conjunction with another name. The widow Ulenspeygel has even been supposed to be the mother of our hero. But what little is known of him, is more easily to be read in the book itself than gathered from other records.

Among the objects of interest which remain to the present time, a testimony of the real existence of Eulenspiegel, is the gravestone at Möllen, the place assigned to him as his last resting-place, both by historical tradition and in the folk-book. Caspar Abel, who in 1729–32 published a collection of old German chronicles, gives one which he describes as having been the property of the family of Hetling, at Halberstadt, and which seems to have been written about 1486. In this chronicle, mention is made under the year 1350 of the ravages of the Black Death at Braunschweig, and it continues: “Thereof died Ulenspeygel at Möllen, among the Gheyseler brethren” (“_Dosulffest sterff Ulenspeygel to Möllen unde de Gheyseler Broder kemen an_”). Yet it is necessary to remark, that this statement, later than the first presumed edition of 1486—of which little is known—is not supported by any other Saxon chronicle of the fifteenth century. The next reference to the grave at Möllen, is in Reimar Rock’s _Lübscher Chronik_, in the following jest concerning the Cardinal Raymond; being the original hint, indeed, which I have amplified in the present book, in adventure the hundredth and tenth: “The Cardinal abode in the first night at Möllen. And when he comprehended the German speech, and heard of the holy-living saint Ulenspegel, an if there had been money in store—after which do all Italians and Spaniards thirst—Ulenspegel could have been entered on the Pope his calendar.” This jest, as Dr. Lappenberg well notices, is at any rate a proof, that at this time the grave was often sought out by visitors. Michael Heberer, in his voyage to Sweden and Denmark, in 1592, describes the gravestone, but not in the way depicted in our cut. He makes no mention of the figure, but only of the owl and glass; and the same description occurs in Merian (_Topographie von Nieder Sachsen_) as being there in 1614. But in 1631, in the manuscript Chronicles of Dethlev Dreyer, a description of the stone, nearly as it now stands, is given; but a basket of owls is mentioned, so it could scarcely be the same. Dreyer and Zeiller (_Reiszbuch durch Hoch und Nieder Teutschland_, 1674), both speak of the gravestone having been renewed and fenced off from the attacks of boys, and other wilful destroyers of antiquities. But the most interesting account is given by Zacharias Conrad von Uffenbach, who visited Möllen in the year 1710, and I shall, therefore, offer a translation of it:—

“We first,” says the writer, “examined at the church, which stands upon a slight hill, just by where one goeth up by steps into the churchyard, near the door, the little hut in which the gravestone of Eulenspiegel is set up and leans against the wall of the church. Formerly it had lain in the churchyard not far from the church, under the elm tree, which still stands in its place, but as by bad boys it was often damaged and went hard to be destroyed by rain and weather, a most worthy and benevolent magistrate of this town, a long time ago, had it placed against the wall of the church, and a small house erected round about it, and closed in, with only an open window, or hole, in front. The stone is more than four ells high, and only about one broad. There is not alone an owl and glass sculptured on the two sides, as Merian or Zeiller says in _Topog. Sax. infer._ p. 184, but the noble [_vornehmes_] likeness of Eulenspiegel is upon it in the size of life, although not quite equal to his stature and tallness, and the above-named things are in his hands. That he wears bells, may not arise from the fact that he plays the part of a wise fool or a jesting knave [_Schalksknecht_], but that in those times the bells were greatly in the fashion, and even worn by great lords (as see in _Observat. Hallens. ad rem liter. spectant. Germanicas_ concerning Schellen-Moritz). The inscription on the lower part of the stone, is somewhat damaged by rain and carelessness; so that it is somewhat difficult to be read by those who know it not. In the wood of the hut very many Owlglasses [_Eulenspiegels_, used in the sense of rogues] have cut their names.”

The expression, that the figure was the size of life, but not quite equal to the stature and tallness of Eulenspiegel, cannot be otherwise understood than that the figure was not entirely cut in the stone, but perhaps only to the knee. It would seem, however, that the figure was repeatedly replaced, for the one now existing differs from the account given by Uffenbach. It stands upright at the wall of the tower, with a wooden shed round it, the lower part of which hides the inscription. Other relics of this apostle of knavery are mentioned by Uffenbach, such as an old shirt of mail, preserved in the council chamber at Möllen. His sword, beaker, and money-pouch, all of a later period, are also shown. With the beaker, a very narrow and deep one, a sorry joke is connected, that he had it so made because his mother bade him never to dip his nose too deep in a glass.

In respect of the gravestone, it is yet to be mentioned, that in a little descriptive work which appeared some years ago, the figure is attributed to a certain knight, Tilodictus Ulenspegel, who, in Westphalian annals of the fourteenth century, is not unknown. Yet for the sake of romance, and also from historical probability, it is best to adhere to the story which remains to us. The inscription on the stone is as follows:—

“Anno 1350 is dŭss
-en vp gehauē ty-
le vlenspegel ligt
her vnder begrauen
marcket wol vnd
dencket dran. wat
ick gwest sivp .. e
... de her vor ...
... an moten mi
glick wer.....”

“Anno 1350 is this sculptured, Tyle Ulenspegel lies here under buried. Mark well and think thereover what I have been....” (rest too fragmentary). But to be restored thus:

“Gedenk daran
Wat ick gwest sivp ... e
... de her vor (uber)
(Gh) an moten mi
glich wer (den).”

“Think thereover, what I have been ... who passeth by may to me become alike.”

At Damme, in Belgium, there is another gravestone with which tradition connects our hero, but unsatisfactorily. A writer in Meyer’s “Conversations Lexicon,” vol. ix. p. 331, thinks this gravestone is that of Eulenspiegel’s father, who might have died at the date of it, 1301.

APPENDIX C.

_Of Dr. Thomas Murner, the author of Eulenspiegel._

As the author of Eulenspiegel, and also as a not unknown man in his own country, as well as in England, it may be not unwelcome to print here a few brief notes concerning Thomas Murner. He was born at Ehenheim, south of Strasburg, the 24th December, 1475, his father being a cobbler at that place. He was educated in a school of the Franciscans at Strasburg, and seems afterwards to have visited, in the capacity of travelling student, the Universities of Paris, Freiburg, Rostock, Prague, Vienna, and Cracow, and in his nineteenth year (1494) appears already to have taken orders. In 1499 he published his first work, his _Invectiva contra Astrologos_, and another piece, the _Tractatus perutilis de phitonico contractu_, and thenceforward lived a life of extreme literary activity. Having similar tastes to Sebastian Brandt, author of the “Ship of Fools,” we find Murner printing similar works—works of a satirical kind, such as the _Narrenbeschwerung_ (“Conjuration of Fools”), the _Schelmenzunft_ (“Knave Corporation”), and the _Gäuchmatt_, in which the various classes of society are bitterly treated, but in a way not interesting to modern persons. The most memorable thing which can connect Murner with England, is the part he took in the dispute between Henry the Eighth and Luther; and a book which he published under the title of “Is the King of England a liar or is Luther?” (_Ob der Kunig usz Engelland ein lügner sey oder der Luther?_), obtained favour for him from Henry.

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The Marvellous Adventures and Rare Conceits of Master Tyll OwlglassChapter IX: Part 9

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