1831.] 



Domestic and Foreign. 



335 



taken place. In 1820, tho outlet became nccident- 

 ly stopped ; during: the succeeding: years the ob- 

 struction increased, tlie lake gradually filled, the 

 water has reached the ancient level, and Greece 

 is free. 



At Athens, Captain T. could not get 

 permission from the Turkish commander 

 to visit the Acropolis. The temple of 

 Theseus has suffered some new dilapi- 

 dations 



A swarm of bees, unhappily for the temple, 

 pays Capt. T., not content with the security of 

 Mount Hymettus, established their hive within 

 the crevices of the pediment. The Turks dis- 

 covered the spot, they climbed to the roof ; and 

 finding that the honey could not be extracted 

 without overthrowing a portion of the building, 

 they with considerable difficulty hurled down one 

 half of the pediment, which now, instead of its 

 chaste outline, presents a broken and ragged 

 breach. Some of the figures in basso-relievo 

 have also been lately mutilated here, one of the 

 Lapithse has had a leg knocked off there, a 

 Centaur has been beheaded ; but these injuries 

 are the works of virtuosi. The western part of 

 the temple was severely injured by a flash of 

 lightning in 1821, which threw down part of the 

 cornice and shattered one of the columns ; but 

 notwithstanding this, the Theseion is still the 

 most perfect temple in existence. The interior 

 had been a Greek church, and is now a stable 

 for the Turkish cavalry. 



Pouqueville is very unceremoniously 

 treated by Captain Trant who, by the 

 way, we suspect, from the tone of his 

 book, lends too ready an ear to any that 

 talk with him. 



The Domestic Gardener's Manual, fyc.* 

 by a Practical Horticulturist. Though 

 published anonymously, the volume is 

 dedicated, in a manner implying a per- 

 sonal acquaintance, to Mr. Sought, the 

 President of the Horticultural Society 

 a gentleman every where known for 

 his own numerous dissertations on Gar- 

 dening, and practical knowledge of the 

 subject. The very name is a security. 

 To us who, though we know little 

 about gardening, know something about 

 books the volume before us is full of 

 information, and appears to be a very 

 superior production. The author treats 

 the matters before him philosophically 

 as well as practically, and appears as 

 much at home in the science of his sub- 

 ject as in the results of experience, and 

 whatever bears upon the best modes of 

 operation. Wherever we have dipped 

 in the volume, we have met with the 

 information we sought for. The vast 

 mass of materials are conveniently 

 thrown into monthly portions, each with 

 three subdivisions the first confined to 

 the philosophy of the subject the se- 

 cond, to vegetables the third, to fruits 

 accompanied also with a Naturalist's 

 Kalendar. The table of contents and 

 the index furnish a ready reference to 



each article, and the whole must be 

 acceptable to the horticulturist. The 

 author is obviously well acquainted with 

 the best productions on the subject, and 

 has not disdained to avail himself of the 

 shrewdness and experience of Cobbett, 

 of whose works, in this department, he 

 speaks with the respect they deserve, 

 and which ought not to be withheld, be- 

 cause he runs wild in politics, or is more 

 violent than the occasion requires, or 

 more coarse than the fastidious can 

 brook. 



The History of German Poetry, by W. 

 Taylor, of Norwich, 3 vols. 8uo. Mr. 

 Taylor, of Norwich, is well known to 

 have spent the best years of his life 

 upon German literature. His transla- 

 tions have been pretty numerous, and 

 for years he wrote lives of the poets for 

 one periodical, and criticized their works 

 for another. His object in the present 

 publication was to bring together these 

 scattered pieces of his performance, and, 

 by filling up occasional gaps, to furnish 

 something approaching a complete view 

 of German poetry, from the earliest 

 times to the present ; and, bej r ond all 

 doubt, he has accomplished a work su- 

 perior to any thing of the kind, relative 

 to German poetry, extant in our lan- 

 guage. Mr. Taylor assumes as seems 

 inevitable among professional critics a 

 lofty and lordly tone, and is apt to set 

 at defiance, in his own case, the very 

 laws he has been in the habit of admi- 

 nistering to others with some severity. 



The first German poet, or at least the 

 first writer of German hexameters, Mr. 

 Taylor introduces in the person of Ovid, 

 who appears, from his own account, 

 while an exile on the shores of the 

 Euxine, to have written German verses, 

 and to have been somewhat ashamed of 

 them 



All pudet! et Getico scrips! sermonelibellum 

 Structaquesunt nostris barbara verba modis. 



Ovid himself wrote nothing but hex. 

 and pentameters ; but nostris modis 

 might, in his days, imply lyric measures 

 in great variety ; and so, it is not quite 

 certain that he anticipated "Wieland and 

 Klopstock. None of his barbara verba 

 survive. 



The earliest piece of German poetry 

 extant appears to have been the per- 

 formance of Odin ; it forms a part of the 

 u Edda," a collection made by order of 

 Charlemagne. Mr. Taylor makes Odin 

 cotemporary with Julian, and considers 

 his Valhalla, or paradise, to be nothing 

 but the description of some of the re- 

 cruiting quarters of the Romans. Among 

 the pieces of the times of Odinismis the 

 story of the Sword Tyrfing, which is 

 not so much German as Runic : Mr. 

 T. translates it from a German transla- 



