Page:Poetry of the Magyars.djvu/88

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lxvi
INTRODUCTION.

amidst the vineyards on the sides of the mountain, where the ancient Benedictine convent stands. There were present several Catholics, and among them Güzmics Izidor, a Benedictine monk, the translator of Theocritus into Magyar Hexameters, and Szalai Imre, the grammarian, now Professor at Pest. A little festival welcomed the poet. It was held in the open air, under a large apple-tree. Horvát rose, and thus addressed the party: "Friends, Döbrentei is here, the Editor of the Erdélyi Museum. I take you all to witness, that, in memory of this day, I name this noble apple-tree the Gábor Fája" (Gabriel's Tree). The word was re-echoed by all the company, they filled their glasses with Hungarian wine, and baptized the Gábor Fája. Güzmics wrote a distich, which was suspended on the tree, which has been since an object of considerable attraction.

I owe much to Döbrentei, far more than my thanks can repay.

Buczy is a native of Kolosvár—his poetry is of the classic character, which has grown out of his great devotion to the writers of Greece and Rome. He was professor of rhetoric at Nagy Szeben (Hermanstadt), but ill health compelled him to abandon his chair, and to retire for some years to