The warden paces all night long, Thy selfe and servants more and lesse, And calls each passing hour;

This day must let all labor passe.
Nine, ten, eleven, he cries aloud,

FOR GOOD FRIDAY.
And then, O crown of Fame!
When midnight pauses in the skies, All you that now in bed do lie,
He calls the maiden's name.

Know Jesus Christ this night did die,

Our souls most sinful for to save, Thus has Adelaide Anna Procter ren

That we eternall life might have. dered with consummate art this inci

His whips, His grones, His crown of dent of the Swiss invasion. A bene

thorns, diction or prayer is part of the cry in Would make us weep, lament, and mourn. many country districts of the Tyrol.

A very extraordinary sound woke up From that most quaint little collection of Samuel Rowland's, entitled, “The the good people on St. David's Day. Common Calles, Cries, and Sounds of

It began:the Bellman” (1639), I quote some of

I am no Welchman, but yet to show the following. The sub-title of the

The love I to the country owe; collection is "Or, Divers Verses to put I call this morning and beseeke us in Minde of our Mortality, which Each man prepare him for his leeke. Serve as Warnings to be Prepared at For as I hear some men say all Times for the Day of Death.” Thus The First of March is Saint David's Day. the solemnity which characterizes

New Year, Christmas, Innocents' these sounds will not be wondered at. Day, and many others had all special Here, for instance, is a warning which

sounds.

That for the 1st of January must have seemed most impressive in

ran: the receptive hour of dawn:

All you that doe the bel-man heere All you that in bed doe lye,

The first day of this hopefull yeare, Harken well to what I cry:

I doe in love admonish you, Leave off your sins, repentance crave;

To bid your old sins all adue, It is the only way your soules to save.

And walk as God's just law requires,

In holy deeds and good desires, Or,

Which if to doe you'll doe your best, O Harke, O harke, my masters all, God will, in Christ, forgive the rest. To your poore servant's cry and call,

Finally, I quote one which seems to And know all you that lie at ease,

incorporate the whole relations of bellThat our great God may, if He please, Deprive you of your vital breath.

man and sleepers:Then sleeping, thinke your sleepe is death. Sicke men complaine, they cannot sleepe, Another verse runs:

Ti belman such a noise doth keepe; The belman like the wakefull morning Sayes he too soone proclaims the day.

Others that doe well at play, cocke,

Yet to the sicke that draw short breath, Doth warne you to be vigilant and wise; It puts them in the mind of death. Looke to your fire, your candle, and your

And saies the gamester makes good stake locke,

If he for heaven so long would wake. Prevent what may through negligence And all this while like silly worme arise.

He doth his office but performe. So may you sleepe with peace,

Then if his duty breed disease,
And wake with joy,

Heele goe to bed and none displease.
And no mischances shall
Your state annoy.

One of the most tragic of bellman's For certain days of the week the bell- songs was that of the parish of St. man had certain verses:

Sepulchre's, where the practice was on

the eve of an execution for the bellman FOR SUNDAY.

to go under the window of the conLet labor passe, let prayer be,

demned cell at Newgate, to ring his This day the chiefest worke for thee; bell, and to repeat these verses:

All you that in the condemn'd hold do lie

OLD GERMAN WATCH SONG,
Prepare you, for to-morrow you shall die.
Watch all and pray; the hour is drawing Ten hath struck upon our bell,

Listen, townsmen, hear me tell
near,
That you before the Almighty must ap. That we might be happy men.

God hath given commandments ten, pear. Examine well yourselves, in time repent, Nought avails that men should ward us, That you may not to eternal flames be God will watch, and God will ward us; sent.

May He of His boundless might, And when St. Sepulchre's bell to-morrow

Give unto us all good night. tolls, The Lord have mercy on your souls!

Now all stars must fade away, Past twelve o'clock!

Quickly now must come the day,

Thank your God, who through each hour, According to a note in Stowe's "Sur- Kept you with a Father's power. vey of London" (1618), the repetition of Nought avails, etc. the verse should be by a clergyman, one Robert Done, citizen and merchant

At the beginning of this century the tailor of London, having given to the

watchmen at Herrnhuth, an old Gerparish of St. Sepulchre the sum of £50

man town, used to intimate the hour in for that purpose.

The beadle of Mer- the following quaint lines. There is a chant Taylors' Hall had a similar sti- simple piety and vividness of diction pend, to see that it was duly done. about some of the verses which appeal

It Rather quaint is this city bellman's very strongly to the imagination.

is, in truth, an epitome of the Chrissong:

tian's duty, and a supplication which it Maides to bed and cover coale,

would be difficult to forget. The sixth Let the mouse out of her hole; verse is impregnated with brief humor, Crickets in the chimney sing,

doubtless the good Wächter, like other Whilst the little bell doth ring.

servants, was not sorry to see his term If fast asleepe, who can tell

of office expire, and having done as much When the clapper hits the bell?

as he could for the souls of his sleepThe church-bells used to serve the ing fellow-citizens, he feels he may purposes of clocks before the latter be- safely commit them to their own guarcame common. In 1536 the Corpora- dianship during their waking hours. tion of Shrewsbury made an order for the payment of the clerk of St. Alkmunds for ringing the watch-bell at 4 Past eight o'clock! O, Herrnhuth, do

thou ponder, A.M., so that the watchmen might know

Eight souls in Noah's ark were living heir duties were over.

yonder? Amongst the Volkslieder of the German Fatherland, there are numerous specimens of watchmen's songs, which, 'Tis nine o'clock! Ye brethren, hear it like many others of the songs of the striking? people, have been solely preserved by Keep hearts and houses clean, to our oral transmission. Contrasted with

Saviour's liking. the more modern watchmen's songs, these old German lieder seem to us

Now, brethren, hear the clock is ten and most elaborate; but it must be remem.

passing, bered that time was of less value in

Now rest but such as wait for Christ emthe romantic Middle Ages than it is in bracing. this prosaic and most cursory nineteenth century. I have only been able to give a few verses out of each of

Eleven is past! Still at his hour eleven,

The Lord is calling us from earth to these songs, which are calculated by

heaven. their length "to last out a night in Russia."

The following is an interesting speci

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

II.

men of the watchmen's songs in use in Twelve is the hour that limits time, Germany at the present day:

Man think upon eternity! Twelve!

One! O man, only one thing is needful: Hört ihr, herren, und lasst euch sagen, Man, think upon thy death! One! Die glocke hat acht geschlagen, Bewahret das feuer und das licht, Dass in unisre stadt kein schaden ges- Get up in the name of Jesus Christ, chieht.

bright day Lobt Gott den Herrn.

The

is near at hand;

day soon (Translation.)

The clear day that ne'er delayed; Listen, gentlemen, hear me tell,

God grant us all a good day! Eight hath struck upon the bell,

A good day and happy hours
Guard ye the fires and the candles all, I wish you from the bottom of my heart.
That no harm to our town may befall.

Five, O! reckon five, O!
Praise God the Lord.

At Altorf, the "Wächterrüe" were It is interesting to compare with this

not so lengthy, but they were equally Longfellow's "Song of the Curfew,” redolent of piety and of patriotic feelwith its injunction:

ing. In the town of Glarus the evenCover the embers

ing call is chanted at ten o'clock, and And put out the lights.

the morning one at four o'clock.
Toil comes with the morning,

EVENING CALL.
And rest with the night.

I come upon the evening watch; A physician travelling in Switzerland

God give you all good night, some years ago thus alludes to the

Quench fire and light, songs of the watchmen who disturbed

That God may you guard. his nocturnal slumbers at Chur, a town List to what I tell you, in the canton of the Grisons: "We had The clock has struck ten. very indifferent rest in our inn, owing

MORNING CALL. to the over-zeal of the Chur watchmen, whose practice it is to perambulate the

Get up in the name of the Lord Jesus

Christ, town through the whole night-twelve

For the day has appeared. in number-and who, on the present oc

The sun comes down over the mountains, casion, certainly displayed a most ener

So I wish you all a good day. getic state of vigilance. They not only List to what I tell you, called, but sang out every hour in the The clock has struck four, most sonorous strains, and even sang

The towns of Neuchatel and Zurich a long string of verses on the striking of

used to have their choral watchmen, some. The song which follows is a very good specimen of these nightly but, like many other ancient and inlyrics, which are of ancient origin, and teresting features and relics, these hare have their counterparts in various passed away with the legions of the parts of Germany."

bygones. The following stanza in the

Swiss patois may occasionally
WATCH CHANT AT CHUR.

heard in the outlying districts of the
Hear ye Christians, let me tell you, Zurich canton:-
Our clock has struck eight,
Our clock has struck nine, etc.

Now stand I on the evening watch. Eight, only eight in Noah's time

Protect us, God, this night; Were saved from punishment. Eight!

Give to body and soul rest, Nine deserves no thanking.

And lead us all to heaven. Man think of thy duty! Nine!

An interesting story accounts for the Ten commandments God enjoined,

watch-cry dating from the fourteenth Let us be to Him obedient. Ten! Only eleven disciples were faithful,

century, and still used in the old Rhine

Both story and song Grant Lord that there be no falling off. town of Stein. Eleven!

are hereditary oral possessions of the

be people of Stein, who regard them as of one of the ancient watchmen; at the their most valued heirloom. When the top of the sheet are the lines:conflicts between the towns and the

Watch and pray, feudal lords were raging, a plot to de

For time goes; liver Stein into the hands of neighbor

Think, and directly, ing nobles was made, several traitor

You know not when. ous citizens entering into it.

The gate

And over the engraving:of the city was to be opened to the enemy by them at 2 A.M., the watch- Praised be God! Our Lord, to whom word agreed upon being “Noch a Wyl” Be love, praise, and honor. -“Yet a while." A shoemaker living

The following are the watch-calls at near the gate overheard the whispered Seville and Malaga; similar ones are signal and the clatter of arms outside, used by the watchmen in some parts of and rushing to the watchhouse gave South America:the alarm, and so saved the town.

WATCH-CALL AT SEVILLE. “Noch a Wyl” was adopted as the watchword of Stein, and ever since the watchman, as he calls the hour of two, chants “Noch a Wyl, Noch a Wyl."

A - ve Ma- ri - a

pu- ris - si - ma! COPENHAGEN WATCHMAN'S SONG.

EIGHT O'CLOCK.
When darkness blinds the earth,
And the day declines,
That Time then us reminds

las diez an - da
Of death's dark grave.

WATCH-CALL AT MALAGA,
Shine on us, Jesus sweet,
At every step,
To the grave-place,
And grant a blissful death.

se

ra-no.

The po

FIVE O'CLOCK,

WATCH-CRY AT CADIZ.
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.

In Chili the police consists of two dis-
Come mild sun

tinct bodies, the one cavalry, the other From mercy's pale;

on foot, and they fulfil the office of Light up our house and home.

watchmen, carrying swords. This translation Mr. William Burton lice patrol the streets in general, whilst gives in his “A Voyage from Leith to

the latter take charge of some particuLapland.” Speaking of these Copen- lar portion of the city, for which they hagen night-guardians, he says that

are responsible. A peculiar system from eight in the evening until four in exists in Valparaiso, by which a mesthe morning, all the year round, they sage may be sent through a watchman chant a fresh verse at the expiration from one end of the town to the other, of each hour. The cadence is gener- and an answer obtained within fifteen ally deep and guttural, but with a pe

minutes. This is done by means of a culiar emphasis and tone. From a dis- loud and shrill whistle carried by the tance it floats on the still night air with watchmen, the tones of which vary as a pleasing and impressive effect. The occasion requires. When all is well the verses are of great antiquity, and were whistle runs as follows: written by one of the Danish bishops. The sheet on which these are printed has an emblematic border, very rudely engraved; in the centre there is a figure

serena.

When they cry the hour they all sing for it would describe the passion so the same tune, but the pitch varies ac- often found in kings and conquerors cording to the voice:

much better than bloodthirst. The latter exists, as we shall shortly show, but not often in kings, who, with scarcely an exception, possibly, indeed,

with only one exception in history, Viva Chili, Viva Chili,

have, when evil in that way, been animated rather by a passion for destructiveness than by true bloodthirst. The

latter was probably upon Ivan the Terlas diez anda

rible, when he indulged in his bloodIn the morning the watchmen add

bath at Novogorod, where sixty thou

sand free citizens are supposed to have the prayer:

fallen under his eyes; but the regular Ave Maria, purissima las cinco y media, “bloodthirsty" prince is usually only a the music in no way differing from that perfectly callous person who wishes to of the night-song.

be finally rid of his enemies in the quickThe “chowkeydar" on the frontier of est and easiest way, or who believes Nepaul is an interesting personality; that terror is the strongest instrument he perambulates the village at night, of government. Indifference to human giving vent to loud cries or fierce howls, life can become, and often does bewhich are echoed by all the neighbor- come, quite perfect, as when Tilly ex. ing “chowkeydars." The cries are not plained the horrors of the sack of Magall unmusical, and the watchman, who deburg as an indulgence to his soldiers, is a low caste man, is by no means un- or when Napoleon, for the amusement picturesque, with his blue puggara or of some mistress of a night, sacrificed official badge, and his iron-bound staff. fifty of his soldiers in an escalade In many Oriental countries the watch- which he knew to be positively futile man is still a necessity.

for any military purpose.

Nero probCivilization has proved the Jugger- ably felt no pleasure in the death of his naut of much that was artistic and pics victims, but only relief at their returesque in bygone days. With steam moval, and if Philip II. had been given it has deadened the song of the sailor, to introspection he would have exthe rhythmical chant of the ploughman plained his own conduct in dooming the and the wagoner; and with the police. inhabitants of the Low Countries to man's rattle, the introduction of gas death as a measure of policy justified and electricity, the watchman and his by their rebellion and their heresies. quaint hour-songs have passed away.

If it is true that Charles IX. of France The streets of any great city 'twixt stood on his balcony during the massamidnight and dawn are now full of life, cre of St. Bartholomew shouting out and as light as day. The watchmen “Kill! kill!” it is probable that the true would find no work in these, for the bloodthirst had come upon him, the nineteenth century pedestrian does not raging desire to take life as a relief to need to be told in sonorous tones: the burning hate within; but his

mother, who planned the massacre, Two o'clock, a fine night, and all is well.

was probably free from any impulse of LAURA ALEXANDRINE SMITH,

the kind. Her motive was anxiety for her children's dynastic safety, coupled, it may be, with dislike for men in

whose religious separateness she had From The Spectator. detected, what certainly existed, a BLOODTHIRST.

deep trace of the revolutionary spirit. We have no word in English to ex- Whether in rulers like the French Terpress slaughter-thirst, which is a pity, rorists there was not also some of the