656 
translation be as well done as it probably can 
be, we doubt if the English reader will be 
convinced, or will not rather be constrained 
to exclaim, “ Bad is the best!” The 
translator sanctions his own opinion by Ma- 
dame de Staél’s conceptions, in these terms 
—if terms of her’s can be anglicised :— 
“¢ Schiller’s Tell,” says she, ‘ is coloured 
with those vivid and brilliant hues, which 
transport the imagination into the pictu- 
resque scenes, where the virtuous conspiracy 
‘of Riitli was formed. From the first line, 
the Alpine horns ring in our ears—every 
thing inspires a glowing interest for Switzer- 
land ; and so closely does the skill of the 
artist make every thing bear upon this point, 
that the nation itself becomes a dramatic 
personage.”? This, no doubt, it is which 
constitutes the charm to the native; but 
this is precisely the charm that cannot be 
communicated to aliens. The beauty of 
the original, too, consists very considerably 
“in the idiomatic strength and energy of the 
language—in the proverbial cast and mould 
of the words and sentiments, which find a 
recognizing sympathy —an echo—in the 
heart of a German, which vanish utterly in 
translation. Occasionally, the translator 
catches successfully the pith and spirit of the 
original—as often, indeed, we doubt not, as 
the thing is practicable. When Tell’s wife 
upraids Baumgarten for suffering her hus- 
band to be arrested, who had rescued him at 
his own extreme peril :— 
Hast thou, then, tears alone for bis misfortune? 
Where, Sir, were you when your deserving 
friend 
Was cast in bonds? 
sistance? 
You saw, and let the cruel deed be done! 
You coolly suffered them to take your friend 
From out the very midst of ye! Would Tedz 
Have acted so by you? Did he that time, 
When your pursuers press’d upon your heels— 
Did he stand whining, as the raging lake 
Was foaming in your path? No! not with idle 
tears 
He pitied thee! He sprang into the boat, 
Forgot both wife and child, and—set thee free! 
The opening scene is most felicitously 
turned ;— 
Where then was your as- 
FIsHER-Boy (sings in his boat). 
The smiling lake tempted to bathe in its tide, 
A youth lay asleep on its green swarded side, 
There heard hea melody 
Flowing and sweet, 
As when voices of angels 
In paradise meet. 
As thrilling with pleasure he wakes from his rest, 
Up rises the water—it flows o’er his breast ! 
And a voice from the deep 
Cries, “With me must thou go, 
I lure the young shepherds, 
And drag them below.” 
HERDSMAN (0n the mountains). 
Ye meadows, farewell! ; 
And thou sunny green shore, 
The herd must depart, 
For the sunimer is o’er. 
Monthly Review of Literature, 
[June, 
We traverse the mountain, yet come we again, 
When the birds of the spring re-awaken their 
strain ; 
When the earth with new fiow’rets its breast shall 
array, 
And the rivulet flow, in love's own month of May. 
Ye meadows, farewell! 
And thou green sunny shore, 
The herd must depart, ~ 
For the summer is o’er. 
CuAmors Hunrer (appearing on the top of 
a cliff). 
When it thunders: on high, and the mountain- 
bridge shakes, 
Undismayed the bold hunter hisdizzy path takes, 
He daringly strides o’er 
The icy-bound plain, 
Where spring ne’er can flourish, 
Nor verdure e’er reign. 
All under his feet is a wide misty sea, 
Which shuts from his sight where man’s dwelling 
may be, 
Save when, through a rent 
In the clouds, is revealed, 
Deep under their billows, 
The green of the field. 
History of Russia and of Peter the 
Great, by General Count Philip de 
Ségur, Author of the History of Na- 
poleon’s Expedition to Russia in 1812; 
1829.— Russia has no history before the 
ninth century. It commences with ‘the 
irruption of a horde of the Baltic Varan- 
gians, in 862, headed by Rurick, who laid 
at Novogorod the foundations of an em- 
pire, which, by his immediate successors, 
was enlarged to an enormous extent, but 
soon split and broken, after the fashion of 
those ages, into family appanages, perpe-’ 
tually the source of discords—alternately lost 
aud won—resumed and regranted—till, thus 
torn and lacerated, it sunk under the do- — 
minion and tyranny of the Tartars. Writh- _ 
ing under the fangs of these conquerors for — 
more than two centuries, it was at length ~ 
rescued, to be again crushed and rent under 
invasions from the west, as destructive, 
though not so permanent, as those of the 
east; but, finally, under a new dynasty, 
re-assembled and re-combined, to cover, as 
it now does, the ninth part of the habitable 
globe, and control a population of sixty 
millions. 
Over this immense empire, and over a 
period of nearly nine hundred years, Count 
Ségur has cast a rapid but discriminating 
glance, catching, in the wide sweep, at no- 
thing but the main and marking points— 
because, he seems to think, these are not 
times for more particularizing views. “The 
sciences,” says he, *¢ are spreading with — 
rapidity. A larger share of our attention 
is every day required by them. At the 
same time,-our recent political emancipa- 
tion adds to the number of our habitual du- 
ties, and the lessons of history become more 
than ever indispensable for our guidance. 
But how can we satisfactorily attend to the 
present, if we do not abridge the study ofthe 
