CONTINENTAL WATCHMEN AND THEIR SONGS.
The inquiries I made in Vol. iii., p. 324., respecting the Bellman and his Songs, have been answered by most interesting information (pp. 377. 451. 485.); and the references made by the Editor to V. Bourne's translation was most acceptable. The interest of this subject is increased by finding that the Custos Nocturnus exists at the present day in other countries, resembling very much in duties, costume, and chants the Westminster Bellman. I venture to send you extracts from W. Hurton's Voyage from Leith to Lapland, and Dr. Forbes's Physician's Holiday.
"During the past year of 1849 it has been my lot to reside at four of the most remarkable capitals of Europe, and successively to experience what spring is in London, what summer is in Paris, what autumn is in Edinburgh, and what winter is in Copenhagen. Vividly, indeed, can I dwell on the marvellous contrast of the night aspect of each: but one of the most interesting peculiarities I have noticed in any of them, is that presented by the watchmen of the last-named. When I first looked on these guardians of the night, I involuntarily thought of Shakspeare's Dogberry and Verges. The sturdy watchers are muffled in uniform great coats, and also wear fur caps. In their hand they carry a staff of office, on which they screw, when occasion requires, that fearful weapon the 'morning star.' They also sometimes may be seen with a lanthorn at their belt: the candle contained in the lanthorn they place at the top of their staff, to relight any street-lamps which require trimming. In case of fire, the watchmen give signals from the church towers, by striking a number of strokes, varying with the quarter of the city in which the fire occurs; and they also put from the tower flags and lights pointed in the direction where the destructive element is raging. From eight o'clock in the evening, until four (Query, until five) o'clock in the morning, all the year round, they chant a fresh verse at the expiration of each hour, as they go their rounds. The cadence is generally deep and guttural, but with a peculiar emphasis and tone; and from a distance it floats on the still night air with a pleasing and impressive effect, especially to the ear of a stranger. The verses in question are of great antiquity, and were written, I am told, by one of the Danish bishops. They are printed on a large sheet of paper, with an emblematical border, rudely engraved in the old style; and in the centre is a large engraving exactly representing one of the ancient watchmen, in the now obsolete costume, with his staff and 'morning star' in hand, a lanthorn at his belt, and his dog at his feet.
"A copy of the broadside has been procured me, and my friend Mr. Charles Beckwith has expressly made for me a verbatim translation of the verses; and his version I will now give at length. I am induced to do this, because, not only are the chants most interesting in themselves, as a fine old relic of Scandinavian customs, but there seems to me a powerful poetical spirit pervading them. At the top of the sheet are the lines which in the translation are—
'Watch and pray,
For time goes;
Think and directly,
You know not when.'
"In large letters over the engraving of the watchman are the words (translated):
'Praised be God! our Lord, to whom
Be love, praise, and honour.'
"I will now give the literal version, printed exactly in the same arrangement of lines, letters, and punctuation, as the original:
'Copenhagen Watchman's Song.
Eight o'clock,
When darkness blinds the earth
And the day declines,
That time then us reminds
Of death's dark grave;
Shine on us, Jesus sweet,
At every step
To the grave-place,
And grant a blissful death.'
"Every hour between eight and five o'clock inclusive has its own chant. The last is—
'Five o'clock.
O Jesu! morning star!
Our King unto thy care
We so willingly commend,
Be Thou his sun and shield!
Our clock it has struck five
Come mild Sun,
From mercy's pale,
Light up our house and home.'"
Voyage from Leith to Lapland in 1850,
by W. Hurton, vol. i. p. 104.
Dr. Forbes writes:
"We had very indifferent rest in our inn, owing to the over-zeal of the Chur watchmen, whose practice it is to perambulate the town through the whole night, twelve in number, and who on the present occasion displayed a most energetic state of vigilance. They not only called, but sung out, every hour, in the most sonorous strains, and even chanted a long string of verses on the striking of some.... I suppose the good people of Chur think nothing of these chantings, or from habit hear them not; but a tired traveller would rather run the risk of being robbed in tranquillity, than be thus sung from his propriety during all the watches of the night."—A Physician's Holiday, pp. 80, 81.
Dr. Forbes gives a copy of a "Watch Chant at Chur," with a translation, pp. 81, 82. At p. 116. he says:
"In our hotel at Altorf we were again saluted, during the vigils of the night, but in a very mitigated degree, with some of the same patriotic and pious strains which had so disturbed us at Chur. As chanted here, however, they were far from unwelcome. The only other place, I think, where we heard these Wächterrufe was Neufchatel. These calls are very interesting relics of the old times, and must be considered indicative as well of the simple habits of the old time, as of the pious feelings of the people of old."
He then gives the Evening and Morning Chants in the town of Glarus, and the chant in use in some places in the canton of Zurich; but in Zurich itself the chant is no longer heard.
Dr. Forbes concludes the twelfth chapter with the following observation:
"The same antiquity, and also the inveteracy of old customs to persist, is strikingly shown by the fact that in some parts of the canton of Tessino, where the common language of the people is Italian, the night watch-call is still in old German."
The apparent universality of the Bellman throughout Europe gives rise to questions that would, I apprehend, extend beyond the object of "NOTES AND QUERIES;" such as, Is pure religion benefited by the engrafting of it upon stocks so familiar as the bellman or watchman? What are the causes that the old ecclesiastic bellman is no longer heard in some countries, whilst in others he continues with little or no variation? Has religion lost or gained by the change?
Dr. Forbes's notice of the Tessino watchman calls up the public crier in England, another class of bellmen, asking for a hearing, with his "O yes! O yes!" Little does he think that he is speaking French.
F. W. J.