. summons to humiliation. 
any of Crabbe’s in strength of description. 
1826.) 
From suns and planets down to the poor blade 
That trembled at his foot. “His spirit made 
A friend of God; and with the flowers and birds 
Breathed. up a worship which no earthly words 
Could adequately utter; till with Him 
Conversing,. this poor earth grew dark and dim; 
And the large spirit bursting every bond, 
Rose on immortal wing and soared beyond 
The bounds of time and space, and joyed to roam 
And drink the glories of its native home; 
And heavenly longings swelled within his breast, 
And his heart thirsted for eternal rest. 
*« A few more suns and moons,” he thought, and 
) then 
A long farewell to earth and earthly men ; 
A. full release from guilt, and guile, and woe, 
And all the spirit weeps or fears below.” 
He goes abroad at last, and sends the 
faithless the following letter,— 
~- @ Beloved and lovely,” (thus his letter ran) 
«* Hear the last words of a devoted man. 
I write not to implore, reproach, or grieve: 
I simply send to say that I forgive: 
Blest if that word from any pang may free 
A heart I would not have distressed through me, 
A heart round which I wish more joys to twine 
"Than thy repulse once seemed to snatch from mine. 
But this is over now. My soul, though late, 
Has found a nobler aim, a higher mate; 
God is the object of my love; and I 
Goforth to distant lands to lift on high 
His glorious ensign. We no more shall meet, 
Till thou shalt see me to their Judge's fect 
Leading my little flock. O may this be 
A joyful meeting to both thee and me! 
May we be joined in better bonds than e’er 
Our fondest thoughts anticipated here! 
Farewell ! my prayer shall rise when far away 
For thy dear sake to Him I there obey ; 
And ah ! do thou at times a thought bestow 
On him who scarce knows how to let thee go, 
So loved, so losts;—I feel I must not dwell 
On themes like these; once more, Farewell, Fare- 
well!” 
The ‘ Preacher’—the last and most 
strongly in relief of all his pictures, is a 
dreadful, but faithful representation of the 
horror of mind resulting from pride hum- 
bled to the dust by conscious sin,—or more 
correctly we might say—pride resisting the 
This is beyond 
Specimens. of German Romance, selected 
‘and translated from various Authors. 1826. 
S Shoot yaiba us #4 gale 
—Mr. Soane, the translator, annouces that 
if he had not originally contemplated. a 
much more extensive collection of stories, 
the present limited number would have 
been selected with greater caution than, 
he confesses, was actually employed ; and 
one of the Tales, ‘ Master, Flea,’ would 
certainly not. haye appeared at all... This 
story occupies one .of the three yolumes, 
and.,is, the .most indescribable, production 
we ever read—its scope and bearing re- 
majning utterly incomprehensible: to us 
after two careful perusals. It may be a 
satire on men or fleas—we ‘extinot tell. 
; CMB less off 
Mags nicaion tT 
Seon cr Musee (toll ivi we tart a net 
Rsyiy ott te . , : gh Ht 
Domestic and Foreign. 
323 
Some ofits details are, however, amusing ; 
and belonging, as it does, to the light- 
hearted fairy-land of metamorphosis, with 
talking plants and animals, and supernatural 
power, exercised in ‘ridiculous feats, we’ 
were able to bear with our entire ignorance 
as to the main drift of it. ey | Sei git 
The ‘ Patricians,” filling another volume, 
is the best story, we think, with'the trans~ 
lator, of the set. But on the first’ setting 
out, we are so confused by a multitude’ of 
stormy characters with German names, 
and by the noisy feuds of the nobles and 
burghers of Sweidnitz, whose contests form 
the foundation of the plot, that before 
interest is awakened the memory takes 
alarm at its preliminary task. Still these 
obstreperous knights of the flagon,—when 
we haye once persuaded ourselves to min- 
gle in their stunning society, and have 
grown enough familiar with their discord to 
distinguish the individuals who compose it, 
do gradually develop distinct character- 
istics, and some of them amiable. and 
attractive ones. Tausdorf, who is the 
hero of the story, is a good specimen of 
healthy greatness of mind; Althea, his 
betrothed wife, isan example, equally agree- 
able, of that real nobility of soul, which 
can adopt itself to every change of circum- 
stances without the contraction of a single 
stain. Erasmus, the burgomaster, old. in. 
city-dignities and in the pride, of office, 
and avaricious’ to his heart’s core, displays 
what it is difficult to represent well —rooted 
passions operating their steady ends through 
technical forms,’and employing the appara- 
tus of decorum and established usage as 
active agents in remorseless cruelties, when 
these are necessary to secure vengeance,or 
to confirm or augment power: thus, as 
a requital for submitting to the exactions 
of society, requiring and obtaining from 
that society, by means of those very re- 
straints, powerful instruments for whatever 
the patient and untiring spirit has long 
desired 2 
There is, besides, a fairy tale—and we 
like fairy tales—‘the Adventurers,’ a Wery 
lively story, and another, called ‘ The Blind 
Passenger,’ which we do not like at all. 
We trust these tales are only the pre- 
cursors of multitudes more ; and entertain 
a secret hope that the racy tone of a litera- 
ture, which allows of more interest than 
Jove and adultery, and the metaphysics of 
blue devils, will brace up our own vicious 
and fastidious tastes, and gradually compel 
our sympathies to a more extended action. 
The translator’s duties have been well 
performed, The language is English, Why 
does Mr, Soane withdraw his name from 
the title-page, after it has been announced 
over and over, again in advertisements 2 
There is nothing to be ashamed of, and it 
se late to play the ‘anonymous,’ 
wir. vif +4 
if iv} BL my. anes 336 
: 
a3 
Wins bsdaliect: euros atin ogoels 
