2.32 
The Ellmy mwece the Cimbric nations 
of Germany, which writers generally con- 
found with the Gothic race. The. re- 
mains of the German Cymry remain unmix- 
ed to this day, in the mountainous parts 
_ of Saxony, on the river Eibe, under the 
name of /Vendi, but generally ‘called 
Welfhmen by their neighbours, and {peak- 
ing a fifter dialect of the Welth language. 
- Original Poetry: 
[April 2, 
- ‘Theabove Triads are extracted from a 
work now in the prefs, called the Myzyr- 
ian Archaiology ‘of Wales, vol.\i. page 60. 
Mr. Edward Williams, already mentioned, 
is preparing for-the prefs a tranflation of 
all the Triads, with other valuable docu- 
ments of Britith Hiftory, hitherto un- 
known to the world. Iam, your’s, &c. 
March 1, 1801.” MEIRION.. 
+5 
- ORIGINAL POETRY. 
A- MASQUE, 8y GOETHE 3, tranflated from 
the. original Manujcript by Mr. MELLISH, 
\ of Weimar. 
Eitreduction. 
"TERE 24th of O€tober has been, thefe ao 
years, aday of great rejoicing to all the 
polifhed inhabitants of Weimar. It is the 
birth-day of the Dutchefs Amalia, of Saxe 
Weimar; mother of the reigning Duke, a 
lady. who in the moft intimate confidence of 
the Graces and the Mufes, from an inter- 
courfe of fo manyyears with the firft writers and 
poets of her country, from her journey to 
Italy, and munificent prote@tion and patron- 
age of all which has ever been regarded by 
the- moft_ enlightened as the. fublime and 
beautiful in antient and modern times, will 
ever remain immortal as Olympia (with 
which name Wieland in many poems ad- 
drefied to her has faluted her) and as Princefs, 
in the annals of German Literature. . Gathe, 
among whofe earlier poems there is more 
than one, which owes its origin to the birth- 
day feftival of this beloved princefs, 
theught he could not weave a fairer garland 
for this day, which was tobe celebrated by 
the reprefentation of a little dramatic perfor. 
mance in the private theatre of the Duichefs, 
than by writing an allegorical mafk which 
fhould at once remind the fpe€tators of the 
mimetic arts of antiquity, and prefent to 
their eyes as it were a moving, animated, 
and plaftic work. . The refleCtions upon an- 
tient and modern time, which fo naturally 
occur at the beginning of a new century, fur- 
nifhed the genial poet with an cpportunity of 
introducing two mafks, who, pafling from 
the mo# dire& oppofition to the moft clieer- 
ful unity, prefent with refpe€tful homage the 
rofy garland of youthful joy- and the caken 
chaplet of mature defert, to a princefs who 
has-equal claims on both. The firft mak, 
NEoTERPE, reprefented moderntime. She 
was the very model of Hebe and eternal youth, 
and was performed by a beautiful young lady, 
with all the grace which played before the 
poet’s fancy as he conceived the idea. . The 
other mafk, Par zoPpHrown, was the living 
fymbol of antient, yet net antiquated time. 
The idea of the Indian, or, as he is alio called, 
+ 
s 
the bearded, Bacchus, fuch as have been-here» 
and there preferved among the monuments 
of antique act, appears to have been prefent to 
the poet’s mind in the compofition of this 
figure. The flowing curls of his head. and 
beard were brown, not grey or bleached by 
age. The whole keeping of this vigorous 
figure denoted the fullnefs of complete man- 
hood, ftopping as it were in | its«career 
and not declining. |The white long-flowing 
tunica was bound by a red girdle, anda red. 
cloak fell in rich folds.of drapery from the 
leit fhoulder. The affiftance of the cothur- 
nus and other embellifhments of the antique 
drama was not forgotten. It was played by 
a young man of more than ufual ftlature, who 
anfwered thoroughly the wifhes of the poet. 
To each of thefe principal mafks the poet 
gave two mute- attendants,. who contributed 
very much tothe grouping and keeping of 
the whole. Neoterpe appeared attended by 
two children of different ages, whofe comic 
mafks declared at once, at leaft in the origi- 
nal, their names. The fir& was called © 
Blanchec; the fecond the tranflator. was 
cbliged to render, Saucebox. In the original 
it is Nafeweis: Dr. Donne indeed, fpeaking 
fomewhere of faucy critics, calls them, nofeqife | 
critics ; but the tranflator thought this author. | 
ity too weak to reft upon. Palzophron — 
entered leaning upon two male figures, whofe _ 
attributes were fully fignified by, the maiks 
they wore. Every one immediately recog- 
nized the grumbling Croaker and obftinate 
Ever-right. The poem, which has this pecu- — 
liarity that it is written in regular iambics, a ~ 
meature as little attempted by German as ~ 
Englifh writers, has been rendered into Englifh 
in the fame metre by the imgenious tranflator 
of Goecthe’s Hermann and Dorothea, and — 
Schiller’s Mary Stuart, whofe fkillful cog 
tions for rendering the well-chofen works of 
the moft eminent German poets now living, — 
familiar to his countrymen, lays claim to the ~ 
higheft praife of all who are not blinded by © 
prejudice. Mi 
The tranflation of this mafque has been read — 
to, and approvedof by, the celebrated author © 
of the poem. A copper-plate from a beauti- 
ful coloured drawing by Profeflor Meyer, ex-— 
Se 
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