The first idea of this Romance was suggested by the story of the

Santon Barsisa, related in The Guardian.—The Bleeding Nun is a

tradition still credited in many parts of Germany; and I have

been told that the ruins of the Castle of Lauenstein, which She

is supposed to haunt, may yet be seen upon the borders of

Thuringia.—The Water-King, from the third to the twelfth stanza,

is the fragment of an original Danish Ballad—And Belerma and

Durandarte is translated from some stanzas to be found in a

collection of old Spanish poetry, which contains also the popular

song of Gayferos and Melesindra, mentioned in Don Quixote.—I

have now made a full avowal of all the plagiarisms of which I am

aware myself; but I doubt not, many more may be found, of which I

am at present totally unconscious.