FOOTNOTES:
[794:1] These four lines are expressed in the original with exquisite felicity.
'Am Himmel ist geschäftige Bewegung,
Des Thurmes Fahne jagt der Wind, schnell geht
Der Wolken Zug, die Mondessichel wankt,
Und durch die Nacht zeucht ungewisse Helle.'
The word 'moon-sickle' reminds me of a passage in Harris, as quoted by Johnson, under the word 'falcated'. 'The enlightened part of the moon appears in the form of a sickle or reaping-hook, which is while she is moving from the conjunction to the opposition, or from the new moon to the full: but from full to a new again, the enlightened part appears gibbous, and the dark falcated.'
The words 'wanken' and 'schweben' are not easily translated. The English words, by which we attempt to render them, are either vulgar or pedantic, or not of sufficiently general application. So 'der Wolken Zug'—The Draft, the Procession of Clouds.—The Masses of the Clouds sweep onward in swift stream.
LINENOTES:
[[17]]
thou 1800, 1828, 1829.
Before [21] Wallenstein (rises and strides across the saloon). 1800, 1828, 1829.