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224 THE WHITE GJ-HOST OF BERLIN,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Dating Of Its Foundation Its Origin Alik...
attained the dignity of being regarded not merely as a local but even as a national celebrity .
The first recorded appearance of the "White Lady at the Boyal Schloss in Berlin took place at the decease of the Elector John
George , in 1598 , that terrible year in which the plague carried _off almost a quarter of the population of the city , and in which
therefore the public mind , under the pressure of calamity , must have been well prepared to receive impressions of the marvellous . Her
next visit was on occasion of the death of John Sigismund , in 1609 , in whose funeral sermon , still preserved , Johann 23 erger _, the court
chaplain , says " the White Lady was seen wandering in mournful fashion in the electoral castle , by persons of all ranks and ages ,
sothat no doubt could be entertained respecting her appearance ; " and he further relates that " his Electoral Highness inquired of
me if the "White Lady had "been seen again , whereon I answered , " your Highness has nothing to fear from the "White Lady :
anything of that kind could do you no injury . " A Latin dissertation on the celebrated spectre , by John
Christopher Nagel , affirms that she presented herself before Prince Philip Erdman , while he was sitting in his chair , and announced to him
his approaching death ; and J . M . _Reutsch , another Brandenburgh court chaplain , relates in his " Cedernhain , " that Ci the "White
when Lady app with eared a loud in 1682 voice , and she also called during out , the i Veni Thirty , judiea Years vivos ' war et
mortuos ; ' " * while Peter Goldschmidt mentions in his " Morpheus , " " that , . "In 1659 and 1666 , the White Lady was seen in Berlin , and
soon after , the mother of the Elector died . " He further adds that when , on this occasion , the Master of the Horse , von Burgsdorf ,
expressed unbecoming doubts as to the reality of the vision testified to by those who first witnessed it , the offended spirit met him r
probably in some precinct considered as her special domain , where he had " rushed , in" where " others feared to tread , " and after
severely reproaching him for his incredulity , completed his chastisement by throwing him down the staircase . In following out
the course of this story—the unhallowed intrusion on lady-like privacy , the proud disregard of pious precautions with which a
toodaring man would engage in such an undertaking , the audible address of the indignant spectre , and the peculiar final
catastropheit would require no great stretch of imagination on the part of an antiquarian elucidator of the mysteries couched in nursery rhyme ,
to trace the famous chant of " Goosey , Goosey Gander , " to a Brandenburghian origin !
* Mrs . Crowe mentions her having been heard as well as seen during thethe provides Thirty words Years her iven ' with war above , a but longer , probabl the Latin further y speech taking announcement , and the represents story from Judiciu her another m as mihi addin source adhuc g to , . g
superest ! " I wait for jud , gment . "
224 The White Gj-Host Of Berlin,
224 THE WHITE _GJ-HOST OF BERLIN ,
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1863, page 224, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061863/page/8/
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