Retrofpec? of German Literature—Eofler-fair, 1801. 
have already been publifhed at’ Weimar, 
in the ‘* Induitrie Comptoir ;°? and it is 
to be continued. 
PoETRY. 
In the laft Eafter-fair there was a more 
than common dearth of poetical produc- 
tions, which would have been ftill greater 
if fome of the melodious fongtters of the 
German Parnaflus, fuch as Von Meyer, 
Michler, Von Munchhaulen, &c. had not 
chanted cradle-hymns to the new century. 
Sophia Mereau, the lovely poetefs of 
Jena, has collected the late bloffoms of 
her fancy in a Kalathifkos. Prandel and 
Von Weflenberg have likewife given us 
colleStions of their poems. Klamer Smidt 
defcribes in an elegy A Country-par- 
fonage ; and Gramberg, of Oldenburg, 
has formed Garlands of Romantic Tales. 
The longeft and moit highly finifhed: 
poetical produétion that appeared” laft 
Eafter, is Tigpce’s “ Urania,”’ a lyri- 
cal didactic poem on the immortality of 
the foul, in fix cantos. 
But what no catalogue announced may 
be reckoned among the choice(t fruits in 
the ever-blooming garden of the Mules: 
—we allude to the noble chanter’s of 
Flora, VoN DER Lurze’s “Hymn to 
Ceres,”” which Count Profper von Sinzen- 
dorf, of Vienna, caufed to be printed in 
a moft tafteful manner with the flereotypes 
invented by him. ‘The poet himfelf faded 
away like a tender flower; but to. his 
hymn, one of the beft that the German 
language poffefles, we may confidently 
promife immortality. 
Of the periodical colle&tions, where 
poems and narratives, and eflays in profe, 
ftand amicably intermixed, BEcKER’s 
«‘ Erhohlungen” {till maintain a diftin- 
guithed rank, for the entertaining vari- 
ety and judicious feleftion of its con- 
tents. 
NoveELs, RoMANCES, &c. 
Under this head we counted no lefs than 
262 titles: of thefe a very great majority 
is no doubt deftined to hoppy the cheefe- 
monger and grocer; here and there, how- 
ever, a few illuftrious names appear, 
which deferved to be ufhered into public 
in better company. 
The humorous Jean Pau has not 
only given us the continuation of his 
s¢ Titan,’ but likewife reveals the fe- 
cret threnody of the men of the prefent 
day,** Das heimliche Klaglied der iezigen 
Manner.” LaFontTatine’s §* Landpre- 
diger’’ might, by a little more attention to 
brevity, have become a good counterpart 
to Gold{mith’s Vicar of Wakefield. ‘The 
«6 Paftor in Kartoffel-Feli,” is another 
4 
603 
good novel of the fame clafs, of which 
the title is, perhaps, the worft part. 
F. Rochlitz has commenced a new 
feries of modern tales, entitled «‘ Familien- 
Leben,”’’ written with the tender fenfibi- 
lity peculiar to him. The comic poet 
Langbein has worked tales from the 
Thoufand-and-One-Nights, and ancient 
popular ftories, into a talifman again 
ennui, ** Talifman gegen die Langeweile.”” 
FP. ScuLeceu’s “ Florentin’’ might 
well be afhamed of his younger fifter Lu- 
cinda, for the former novel, which, 
though written earlier, was publifhed later 
than the notorious Lucinda, has nothing 
immoral in it, and abounds with many 
tender and happy paflages. 
Of tales in the Oriental ftyle, the ** Dya- 
Na-Sore,”” by Marer, of Vienna, de- 
ferves to ftand higheft in the eftimation of 
the reading public. The new edition 
which has been publifhed in five elegantly 
printed volumes, by Schaumburg of 
Vienna, has been fo remoulded, that it 
may be confidered as a new produétion of 
a poet endowed with the greateft fenfibi- 
lity, and as the pureft eflufion of.a true 
cofmopolite. 
Among the hifforical romances, the 
*¢ Romantifche Biographie des Bertrand 
du Guefclin,” by F. Mayer, of Weimar, 
particularly diftinguifhes itlelf by a faith- 
ful delineation of the manners and chi- 
valric cultoms of the age in which Du 
Guefclin flourifhet. It may, indeed, be 
propofed as a model to thofe who would 
excel in that kind of compofition; and we 
are happy to find that we may expe a 
Black Prince and a Maid of Orleans from 
the pen of the fame author, whom his 
preparatory labours and retfearches fo 
well qualify for the execution of fuch tafks. 
An immenfe mixed multitude of giants, 
ghofts, necromancers, of wanton fatyrs 
and love-fick maidens, of outlaws, rob~ 
bers, and murderers, prefs around us: 
but who fhall venture to penetrate into 
the crowd. We cannot help, however, 
admiring the inventive genius of the 
novel-{criblers, in coining ftrange aud 
wondrous titles to draw the attention of 
the vulgar, Cramer, one of the moft ex- 
peditious manufacturers of romances, who 
has already furnifhed above 50 volumes, 
does not yet feem to be exhaufted: he 
has again given us a **Kix von Kax. 
berg,’’ ‘* Raferein der Liebe,’ and the 
like. But what feem to be moft the 
order of the day are, the deeds and ad- 
ventures of murderers, robbers, and cape 
tains of banditti; in imitation of the 
Gloriofo, and Rinaldo Rinaldini, of Vul- 
pius 5 the latter of which has even been 
tranflated 
