history of the Saxon race, the predecessors of a portion of the present inhabitants of England. The British reviewer says, that “phrases like antiquated English constantly met our ear: When the Frisians talked of their old rights and customs, of their representatives of towns and districts, we could not but trace a marvellous resemblance between them and our ancestors." In New England, we may justly say, that it reminds us of onr valued civil privileges and rights. The Saxon race in England were always the ardent advocates of popular rights; and the customs most favorable to the liberty of the subjects may be traced to them. "It is pleasant when the tales of freedom are associated with the beauties of nature. Liberty has more than the two voices of the sea and of the mountains: the trees of the forest have been sacred to her, and Dodona has respired to her inspirations. The free Frisians, the title by which the race is always distinguished, meeting under the branches of the oaks of Upstal, listening year after year to the popular laws, and discussing the modifications which time and experience suggested for their improvement, are, in our minds, among the most interesting objects of the olden times." "The present inhabitants of Friesland retain much of their ancient simplicity. They live in a separate district of the Netherlands; alone as it were; but are a united and happy people. In their features, they resemble the people of England far more than those of Holland. They are remarkable for their attachment to the study of natural philosophy and mathematics and among them have appeared some astronomers of profound sagacity. The common peasants make calculations of eclipses, and revolutions of comets, with great accuracy. The Planetarium of Franeker was the work of a wool-comber, horn in 1744, and lately deceased, at the age of 84." There are seven Universities in Prussiathe number of students in them has much increased since 1820. In that year there were 3380, of whom 740 were foreigners. In 1827 there were 5950, 1150 of whom were foreigners. In divinity 890 in 1820, and in 1827 1950 Protestants, and nearly half the number of Catholics. Students in law 1160 in 1820, and in 1827, 1670. In medicine about the same in 1827 as in 1820. In philology 450 in 1820, and in 1827, 715. Baron Humboldt has lately set out on a journey into the centre of Ásia. He is a learned and impartial traveller; and his journals are read with great satisfaction; for he relates no idle stories, and gives no exaggerated statements for effect. There have lately been numerous earthquakes at Cadiz and vicinity. A great part of the city and environs were submerged: much property and many lives were lost. The shocks succeeded one another, at short intervals, for two days and nights. The utmost consternation prevailed, at the latest dates. A diary of the reign of Oliver Cromwell, kept by a member of the Parliament during that period, has been recently published. It gives many facts and anecdotes relating to the Protector, not before published. Some workmen employed in making excavations on the scite of an ancient city in Tuscany, have lately discovered 3000 pieces of Roman coin, chiefly silver, bearing date at the time of Julius Caesar, the Triumvirate and Augustus. A large collection of rare books in divinity and controversial theology, has been advertised for sale in Exeter, England; the catalogue of a part only of this collection contains six thousand five hundred volumes and pamphlets; they are the works of early Christian writers, of Catholics, Protestants, Puritans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Baptists, &c. The London University is said to be in a prosperous state. The pupils are as numerous as had been expected. The instructers and lecturers are very eminent characters: their introductory discourses have been published. Lectures are given on the mechanic arts, the physical sciences and natural history, as well as on classical literature, mathematics, history, ethics and philology. The benefit of such an institution to the population of London must be incalculable. The late English papers represent the distresses of the laborers at the manufactories to be very great. Many have been dismissed by their former employers, and the wages of others have been diminished. These establishments are far less profitable than formerly. In many instances the owners are embarrassed. The people of property in the United States must learn to be cautious from the sufferings of others. London papers to the 18th of April have been received. In a hasty glance at their contents, little was noticed in literature, either new or interesting. The Catholic Relief Bill was passed in the House of Peers, by 107 majority, which was a greater vote than had been expected. This is an important event in the history of Great Britain, and the wisest statesmen there anticipate the best effects from the adoption of the measure. It will certainly put down the spirit of discontent in Ireland; and many who were apt to oppose the government will now give it their support. A government must be paternal if it wishes the support and confidence of the people. WILHELM MEISTER'S LEHRJAHRE. Eia Roman, herausgegeben. von Göthe. Stuttgart und Tübingen. 1816. WE would have our readers enter, if possible, into all the feelings with which we open the volumes before us. We admire the genius of Göthe more than of any other writer of the present age. To justify this admiration we might mention the esteem in which he is held in his own country. The great scholars and critics of Germany do not hesitate to rank him by the side of Homer and Shakspeare. He has certainly far outstript all rivalry on an arena where literary competition is more eager than in any other part of the world. In his old age, he now sways an undisputed sceptre over the tastes which he himself has in a great measure formed by his writings, and is receiving the earnest of his earthly immortality in the unbounded applauses of his countrymen. But all this might be laid to the account of national partiality. We prefer to appeal, therefore, to his writings themselves, as proofs of the superiority of his powers. The first thing which strikes us in looking over the works of Göthe is their almost unexampled variety. There is scarcely a species of elegant literature in which he has not written, nor a mode of verse through which his harp has not freely and sweetly run. It is nothing uncommon, however, for authors to attempt all the various kinds of composition. But of those who do so, almost all palpably fail somewhere. To this remark, Göthe is one of a very few exceptions. Some of his works have been severely criticised. But we have never seen it written in any respectable criticism, that Göthe had absolutely failed. His healthy and versatile powers seem to execute as easily as his daring fancy designs. When his whole soul has appeared to be cast into some fixed form of imagi VOL. I.-NO. III. 20 nation, it has instantly assumed other attitudes, equally perfect, though wholly unlike. We can think of many who might perhaps have written the 'Sorrows of Werther.' But, judging from what is usually observed, their other works would have come forth sicklied over with the pale cast' of a diseased and wasted imagination. The later works of Göthe, however, bear not a trace of this early excess of passion. His vigorous mental constitution survived the indiscretions, which would have ruined a weaklier frame. He recovered at once the natural tone of his mind. And while the works of most authors bear a striking family resemblance, no two of his are alike. The inventors of an art are rarely its greatest masters. The talents and labors of others are generally needed to bring it to perfection. But Göthe has given models in several species of writing which were entirely new. His Sorrows of Werther, Egmont, Faust, Wilhelm Meister's Lehrjahre, and many others had no example in Germany. And yet he gave them a perfection which none of his numerous imitators have been able to attain. The 'Wanderungen Sternbald' of Tieck, and the 'Heinrich von Ofterdingen' of Novalis, are excellent imitations of the work now in review. But both of them, though very popular, are allowed, on all hands, to be inferior to the original. What Paterculus said of Homer, may therefore justly be said of Göthe: In quo hoc maximum est, quod neque ante illum, quem ille imitaretur, neque post illum qui eum imitari posset, inventus est.' But we must omit any general account of the monuments of Göthe's genius. And we can do this the more willingly, as only a part of the interest which we feel in him is derived from the superiority of his powers. We are drawn to his pages by the humane, philanthropic spirit which pervades them, more than by all the versatility, originality and power of talent which they display. Here is the secret of the greatness of his present reputation and the evidence of his future immortality. He has a hold upon the hearts of men. Commanding talents, unaccompanied by benevolent dispositions may extort a reluctant homage for a season. But this will soon cease to be paid, like the forced duty to a tyrant, while men of distant times and other lands will pay their affectionate tributes to the memory of those who have sympathized with human feelings, and loved and honored human kind. Göthe frequently laments his early asso ciates : 'The circle where my youthful rhymes But the unknown multitude which rises around him continue the same loud applause with which he was at first received; and so it will be, we cannot doubt, from age to age, while human nature shall continue the same. The book, the title of which is prefixed to this article, is little known in this country. Any minute examination of the merit of particular scenes and personages would, therefore, be uninteresting and unprofitable. Moreover, we despair of giving a just impression of the whole by any number of extracts. Finished works always sustain an injury when represented in this way. Splendid passages are oftenest found, where they are most needed, in the midst of dreary pages; like light-houses on desolate coasts. They are no part of the object of Göthe, who aims at the perfection of the whole, and at the general impression. We propose, therefore, to consider more generally the particular species of romance to which Wilhelm Meister's Lehrjahre belongs, to examine this work by the rules of this particular species, and to defend it from some of the objections of the critics. We must be allowed a somewhat formal statement of the different kinds of romance; since most of the objections especially of the English critics, arise evidently from inattention to the proper divi sions. The three great objects of romantic writing are action, passion, and character; and romances are called, according as one or the other of these is the specific object, romances of chivalry, of sentiment, and of character. These kinds seem frequently to be blended in the same work. But even where this is the case, there is generally one prominent object, to the attainment of which the other kinds are made subservient. The romance of chivalry aims at the interest of action. It requires rapidity, variety and complexity of incident, dramatic plot and catastrophe. In the wonders and terrors of its scenes, human passion and human character find but little place, and truth to nature is intentionally violated. The writer of the romance of chivalry must possess a strong inventive imagination; but may easily dispense with knowledge of man, observation of society, taste, reason, and almost every quality which is requisite in other composition. This kind of romance flourished most, as we should naturally suppose, in the dark ages. Familiar examples in this kind are the Orlando Furioso of Ariosto, the Oberon of Wieland, the romances of Mrs. Radcliff, the Arabian Nights, and a thousand more of less note once the miserable classics both of rich and poor, but now, happily, supplanted by a less injurious reading. The romance of sentiment is of an entirely opposite character. Here the great theme is passion. Only a few and unimportant incidents are needed as the basis of the work. Deep, single, overwhelming passion forms the all-absorbing interest. The Sorrows of Werther' and the 'Nouvelle Heloise' are the principal works which are purely of this class. The third kind, the romance of character, aims at displaying human character in all the circumstances of life. Here everything depends upon the faithfulness of the picture to the real world. Both incidents and passions are of course involved. Passions, however, are represented with less unity, and with more abatements, than in tragedy and the romance of sentiment; and incidents occur in a more just proportion of great and small, and in a more broken order than in the romance of chivalry. The works belonging to this class may be conveniently subdivided. Those which have subjects of historical importance, which are less faithful in their representation of real life, which lay their scenes in distant countries and past times compose one class. A second contains those which exhibit the plain realities of common and present life, and which, while they embellish the scene with wit and genius, are strictly faithful to nature. The novels of Scott and Cooper belong to the former class, which is by far the most popular in England and America. Don Quixote, Gil Blas, Sir Charles Grandison, Tom Jones and Wilhelm Meister are prominent examples of the latter class. This third kind of romance has deservedly taken precedence of both the others in modern times. And not only in romantic writing is the representation of character becoming the great and worthy object, but it has also been attempted in the drama. Before the experiment was made, it was generally supposed that a fair delineation of character in natural circumstances was inconsistent with the excitement of pity and compassion, the great end of tragedy. But the Egmont of Göthe has illustriously demonstrated that this supposition was groundless. The romance of character requires greater talent, and exerts a more salutary influence than either of the other kinds. Romances of chivalry require less talent than any other works of imagination. To conduct fantastic forms through enchanted regions which are beyond the province of taste and reason can certainly be no very difficult task. Any one who will give the reins to his fancy will soon find himself matching the wildest extravagances of which he has ever read. Inventive imagination, as was said above, is the great requisite in this species of fiction. And this faculty is the very least attribute of genius. It always prevails in barbarous ages, and gives way as cultivation advances. Creating monsters and heaping up prodigies are vulgar exploits in comparison with representing either passion or character. In displaying human passion, both skill and genius are indeed requisite; but not, we think, in so high a degree as in displaying human character. The stronger passions which are the common |