THE TOWN CF WILDBAD.
27
The count pays his devotions at Hirsau’s convent shrine,
And witli the holy abbot quaffs .cups of sparkling wine.
Through dark and gloomy forests he then pursues his way Till to the rugged valley in which the Enz liolds sway.
At Wildbad, on the market, a stately structTire lies,
At which the noble stranger for board and rest applies,
There he dismounts his charger, for there he goes to rest,
And daily to the sources repairs, the knightly guest.
Ue Iays aside his doublet, t ( o cool the heated blood,
Ferforms a pious prayer, and dives into the flood.
He always took his Station close to the rocky rent From which exhaustlcss nature her choicest treasures spent.
It would exceed our powers of translation, to do justice to the highflowing poetical language of Uliland: we there- fore coiifine our attempts to the fragment, given liere, and for the sequel refer scholars and lovers of fine poetry to the German original in the Collection of Uhland’s poetical works. — The town was burnt down, but Count Eberhard was saved by a faithful shepherd who carried Iiim on his sliouldcrs across the mountains, to Zavelstein. He princely recompcnsed his deliverer, and in Order to prevent future accidents of this kiud he enclosed Wildbad with a ring-wall.
Wildbad in olden times was very poor; this may be gathered from the eircumstance, that, when Count Eberhard was made a Duke at Worms, in 1495, and all the cities of Wurtemberg sent deputations to congratulate hiin on his accession to this title, and to oder presents of a value corre- sponding to their ineans, the Wildbad deputies only brought twenty one guldens with them;—yet Count Eberhard had granted great liberties to the town, and done everything he could to alleviate their sufferings. At present the Corporation possesses 4800 morgens of forest lands, which is a great help to the poor people, as they get their fuel and timber gratis from the woods. Many of them carn their