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f58
The excitement grew when poetry seized the subject.
The first who wrote a ballad on the murder of Sinclair
was Axel D. Leenberg, but his poetical effusion was soon
ousted by the famous “ Sinclair-Visan,” a ballad of
enormous length, describing the meeting of Charles XII.,
King of Sweden, and Major Sinclair in heaven, or rather
in the Elysian Fields.* 1 The last verse of it—
“ Derför I hjeltar, som ha’n mod
Och hjerta uti broste’,
Ack, hämnen Malkolm Sinclairs blod
Som Kiittler mordisk öste ! ”
u Therefore ye brave ones, in whose breast a courageous
heart beats, avenge the blood of Malkolm Sinclair, who
was cruelly murdered by Kiittler,” found an echo in a
of the Cruel Murder of Major Sinclair on the 17th of June in the Year
*739 ”
1 Both these literary productions have very little poetical merit, the
latter often bordering on the absurd. Thus when the King says to Sinclair,
■“ I do not know you. Who may you be ? ” and Sinclair answers, “ I am a
Swedish major,” etc. But the public temper was excited, the memory of
the great Soldier-King roused, and the hatred of Russia inflamed anew.
The tune also contributed much to the popularity of the ballad. The
title of the first piece is: “ Minnesrunor öfver K. Maj. af Sveriges Tro
Tjenare och Major Malkolm Sinclair som den 17 Junii 1739 i Schlesien
genom ett försåtligt och grymt mord blef afdaga tagens när han uti K.M.
höga ärende var stadd på hemresan ifrån Constantinopel.” The second
is entitled : “ Hjeltarnas Samtal med den tapre . . . men förrädeligen
mördade. . . . Herr Malcom Sinclair uppå de Gufva Eliseiska Fälten . . .
berätade af Herden Celadon,” i.e. “ The Conversation of Heroes with the
Brave but foully murdered M. S. in the Elysian Fields, related
by Pastor Celadon.” The latter name is a pseudonym for A. Odel,
a minor Swedish poet. A third poem on the subject was written
by one Anders Hesselius. Here the call for revenge is less loud and
given in a more indirect way, the poet asking, “ Will tears suffice to
avenge the hero’s blood ? ” See about these and a fourth poem by an
anonymous (“Amicus militaris”) Karl Warburg, illustrated. Svensk
Litteraturhistoria, ii. I pp. 48-51.
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