Memories of the Middle Ages, when the Emperors, rough and bold, Had their dwelling in thy castle, time defying, centuries old;
And thy brave and thrifty burghers boasted, in their uncouth rhyme, That their great imperial city stretched its hand thro' every clime.
In the court-yard of the castle, bound with many an iron band, Stands the mighty linden planted by Queen Cunigunde's hand;
On the square the oriel window, where in old heroic days, Sat the poet Melchoir singing Kaiser Maximilian's praise.
Everywhere I see around me rise the wondrous world of art; Fountains wrought with richest sculpture standing in the common mart;
And above cathedral doorways saints and bishops carved in stone, By a former age commissioned as apostles to our own.
In the church of sainted Sebald sleeps enshrined his holy dust, And in bronze the Twelve Apostles guard from age to age their trust;
In the church of sainted Lawrence stands a pix of sculpture rare, Like the foamy sheaf of fountains rising through the painted air.
Here, when Art was still religion, with a simple, reverent heart Lived and labored Albrecht Durer, the Evangelist of Art;
Hence in silence and in sorrow, toiling still with busy hand, Like an emigrant he wandered seeking for the Better Land.
_Emigravit_ is the inscription on the tomb-stone where he lies; Dead he is not, but departed--for the artist never dies.
Fairer seems the ancient city and the sunshine seems more fair, That he once has trod its pavement, that he once has breathed its air!
[A] These stanzas are here reproduced by the courtesy of Houghton, Mifflin & Co., the regular publishers of Longfellow's works.
"Durer" by Gurnsey in _Harper's Magazine_, Vol. 40.
+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's Note: | | | | Page 105 "cleanlines" might be a typographical error for | | "clean lines" or "cleanliness". | | | | Inconsistencies in the use of the words background(s)/ | | back-ground(s); masterpiece(s)/master-piece(s); and | | today/to-day have been retained as in the original book. | | | | | The following changes have been made to the original: | | Page 16 which he carresses gently changed to | | "caresses" | | Page 75 Mary in some of his lovliest pictures changed to | | "loveliest" | | Page 105 for their part in the distruction changed to | | "destruction" | | Page 144 dissapointment, that lies crouching changed to | | "disappointment" | | Page 187 whole scene of the Crucifiixon changed to | | "Crucifixion" | | Page 195 magnifience of the four hundred changed to | | "magnificence" | +--------------------------------------------------------------+