Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/161

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148
NOTES.

belfry of Bruges, was afterwards transported to Ghent by Philip van Artevelde, and still adorns the belfry of that city.

The inscription on the alarm-bell at Ghent is, "Mynen naem is Roland; als ik klep is er brand, and als ik luy is er victorie in het land." My name is Roland; when I toll there is fire, and when I ring there is victory in the land.

Page 28. That their great imperial city stretched its hand through every clime.

An old popular proverb of the tower runs thus:—

"Nürnberg's Hand
Geht durch alle Land."
Nuremberg's hand
Goes through every land.

Page 28. Sat the poet Melchior singing Kaiser Maximilian's praise.

Melchior Pfinzing was one of the most celebrated German poets of the sixteenth century. The hero of his Teuerdank was the reigning emperor, Maximilian; and the poem was to the Germans of that day what the Orlando Furioso was to the Italians. Maximilian is mentioned before, in the Belfry of Bruges. See note to page 14.