The Monk, by Matthew Lewis

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.