In romantic literature examples of this vamping abound. The fine verse in the old Scotch ballad of The Drowned Lovers—
"Thou art roaring ower loud, Clyde water,Thy streams are ower strang;Make me thy wrack when I come back,But spare me when I gang"—is a translation of Martial's epigram on Hero and Leander, where the prayer of Leander is the same:—
"Parcite dum propero, mergite dum redeo."Hafiz furnished Burns with the song of John Barleycorn, and furnished Moore with the original of the piece,—
"When in death I shall calm recline,Oh, bear my heart to my mistress dear," etc.
There are many fables which, as they are found in every language, and betray no sign of being borrowed, are said to be agreeable to the human mind. Such are The Seven Sleepers, Gyges's Ring, The Travelling Cloak, The Wandering Jew, The Pied Piper, Jack and his Beanstalk, the Lady Diving in the Lake and Rising in the Cave,—whose omnipresence only indicates how easily a good story crosses all frontiers. The popular incident of Baron Munchausen, who
