[To be continued.] ESSAY ON THE GENIUS AND WRIT do; here one is under the necessity and plenty, in comparison with the of adopting a different line of con- hard yoke under which they had duct from that generally observed groaned before. among more enlightened neighbours. In the city I live like a philosopher, free, and without care; but the moment I pass through the western gate to go into the country, I harness myself, as it were, for battle, and I leave all my philosophy and nice ideas of morality behind me. Experience has taught me that something tion of a poem must always resemb else besides good words is necessary to combat the perverseness and obstinacy of some charactets; and that the code of Justinian is of more avail in the country than the morals of Seneca. With my country tenants, my patience has been tried by every means imaginable. In fact, I think all manner of trouble is to be met with in the country: I often hear the uuwelcome tidings that→ Morbo Capelle, Spem mentia seges, los est enactus arctro. and the undermost side of a wroug carpet;" and the observation is jus What the varied hues of complexic: are to the human countenance, tha charms of versification are to a poem. As a knowledge of German literature is every thing but extens ve in ths country, the most exquisite poetical morsels, delivered in the origin would not, I presume, be very capt vating to the most of my hearers Whenever, therefore, I have occasion to make citations from my author, I have taken the liberty to transa them into plain English prose. Th Notwithstanding these drawbacks, ungrateful office of prose-translate there are still numerous objects in the must often fail to my lot, in the country, which by their agreeableness lustration of my present subjecthave a tendency to soothe and tran- The sentiment of the injustice I quillize the mind. Nothing, in my should thus do to the memory of opinion, is more agreeable or more man, whose fame deserves to burd becoming a philosopher than agricul- the bounds of his own country ture: I must own that it suits my age, would have withheld me from inclination much; and the simplicity the task, but for the desire and the and even the loquacity of the peasant is more pleasing to me than the refined language of the scholar. When I first came into the possession of this estate in Zealand, every thing about it was in a ruinous condition. Before I enter upon the peculat Time, however, has produced a gene merits of Wieland, I will say some. ral amelioration, and I have spared thing of the language in which he neither pains nor expense in the im- writes. Sprung from the same stert provement of the whole. I have re- with our own, there exists a strong built the fallen cottages, and brought analogy betwixt them; but it ha confusion into a degree of order. enjoyed the singular fortune of preWhen I reflect upon this, and draw serving itself pure from foreign mix the comparison between the present ture, and of expanding from its own and the former state of the whole, native resources with the growing I own it gives me uncommon plea- improvement of the people. Hem sure. It is no small satisfaction to it has attained a unity and coalescence me to think, that I have, in a great of parts to which none of the exmeasure, fulfilled the duties of a good isting languages, with which I am citizen, and have not only cultivated familiar, can lay claim, and a power a portion of desert; but have at the of expressing in a more clear and same time bettered the wretched con- forcible manner, than those ca dition of a number of the inhabitants, whose vocables are derived from by putting them in a situation of ease foreign sources. From the power of opinion of a friend, to whose judg. nient it would be presumption in ne not to pay deference, and to whee wishes it becomes me to yield a ready compliance. combination which it possesses, it Um meině stirně? Wer treibt von meinen can create new words to infinity, Augen den Neběl kende Säbel. Oberon. Ich hab' den Frieden nie gesêhn? Ich hab' ihn Gesehen, altër Vätër, ébèn kōmm ich→→→ nicht hin haben De's schōnen Lebens öde Küste nur without producing obscurity and Der auf der Vorwelt Wundern liegt? it is certain, that it has thus obtained Ich seh, în bûntém Gewühl, bald siegend, a number of words, which can only Des Ritters gutes Schwert, der Heiden blīnbald besiegt be rendered into other languages by periphrasis. There is a simplicity in it which at once reaches the heart, and which renders it peculiarly fitted for poetry; and although it may not possess the compression, and sometimes awful energy of the English, it is certainly greatly superior in harmony and dignity. In English, a very great proportion of our quali fying words, of those words on which, in reading, the principal stress must very often be laid, are monosyllables, and when the syllable following happens to be necessarily long, the ear suffers extremely. But in German, adjectives consist of at least, always a long and a short syllable, and their other words can be so varied by termination, as completely to accord with the views of the poet. I shall illustrate my assertions by passages from both languages, one selected from the most musical of our poets, Milton, certainly in his best style, one from Schiller, and another from Wieland, in German. In the quotation from Milton, I have pointed out those conflictions of long syllables, which, when they occur, reduce the verse in so far to mere prose, if the sense be not sacrificed to the sound: and in the German quotations, I have distinguished the long and short syllables. From Milton. War therefore, open or concealed, alike All these our motions vain sees and derides; wiles. From Wieland. Wo es die Diebeslandung wagen darf. Wallenstein. in this country, may be true of the All this, say some learned people language; but language is only the vehicle of ideas, and can alone be a rational object of study so long as it is used as a mean for our advancement in knowledge and literature ; and we are convinced, from what we see by translation, that the German harvest would by no means recom pense the labourer for his trouble. Can such persons seriously believe, that a nation, so intellectual as the German, a nation that in science and learning ranks so high, the nation of Erasmus, of Lipsius, of Heyne, of Leibnitz, of Wolf, and of Haller, are consider the small encouragement for so low in native literature? Let them translation in this country, and the Persons by whom it is exercised: that every boarding-school miss may translate the sentimental insipidity of a Kotzebue, but that genius, and more particularly poetical genius, can poems of Wieland. of Haller, of never be translated. If the immortal Klopstock, and of Kleist; of Gleim, Lessing, Goethe, and Schiller are not to be sought after in the original Nöch einmal sättelt mir den Hippogryfén, language, it requires no gift of pro ihr Musén, Zúm ritt ins alté romantischě Land- phecy to foretel, that in translation, we shall never enjoy them. I should propose to myself to enquire into the merits of Wieland, as a poet and a novelist alone, were 3 N 466 moments, not his poetry of a cast that peculiarly can be mistaken, on taking it for combines the charms of imagination, granted, that men are always gowith the most seductive philosophy; verned by interest, and that the grand and the philosopher and poet are principle of human improvement, therefore so blended, that an exa- is the wish to better our situation. mination of the one necessarily in- In our castle-building volves the other. His philosophical which are certainly not a few, we system has, in many things, a strong almost uniformly propose to our resemblance to that of Aristippus, selves the pleasures, of whatever nathough considerably modified and ture they may be, sensual or mental, improved, and by no means consists which our improved situation will in the mortification of this life. That at last place within our reách. To this doctrine may be abused by the one department of voluntary study, vulgar, say its advocates, there is no for instance, we are seldom impelled doubt; but what is not liable to more than another, from any other abuse? It is the doctrine, however, motive than from the pleasure we that is congenial to the unprejudiced propose to ourselves from it; and in sentiments of the greatest part of like manner the same may be said of mankind, or at least congenial to nearly the whole range of our ac their practice. To whatever exalta- tions. Marivaux has beautifully il tion we may soar in the closet an lustrated, in his Marianne, the very irrepressible movement within us, different measures of charity result our wishes, our longings, constantly ing from pleasure, and from a general point out to us that happiness or sense of duty; and pointed out how affix to our pleasure is the end and aim of our often we deceive ourselves in the being. Nature seems to have uni- denominations we versally combined pleasure with uti- leading motives. That the indulging lity. She has thus doubly bound us of such considerations will not, in to the execution of her designs; but the end, debase and sensualise the we are bound in silken chains. The character, is highly probable; for great mistake of the epicureans, as what is pleasure with one man is not Dr. Smith observes, was, that they so with another; it is necessarily the sole modified by the disposition, the siconsidered pleasure as spring of action, because every thing tuation and cultivation which each virtuous or exalted will be found, individual possesses. One man sees in the end, productive of pleasure, it in a sensual shape; another in the without considering, that of our im- contemplation of the fine arts; anomediate motives to action, pleasure is ther in meditation, another in works only one; and it is by reflection of fancy or in music, or in different alone we can discover, that pleasure combinations of these, and so forth. will be the ultimate tendency of the Our business is not to form an imaothers. With equal propriety, might ginary being, but to take man as he utility be stated as the impelling is, to analyse the different springs principle, because every thing great his conduct; and we may be sure, or virtuous may, in the end, contri- that in giving the importance to each bute to our utility. But all this is in action which the constitution of our nature has ordained, we shall evidently an abuse of terms. produce the greatest possible sum good. or of of It must be evident, from inspection - into human nature, that the love of These principles are to be found pleasure is the leading principle of less scattered over all our nature; the one we carry about more with us, and seldom lose sight of: Wieland's writings; but they are and that the others, such as benevo- illustrated at greatest length lence, as justice, and so forth, how- Aristipp. The following concluding ever powerful in their influence lines of his Musarion, a poem which while they act, are of secondary ex- I shall examine more minutely in tent, and are necessarily but of the sequel will give something like a seldom recurrence. No politician general idea of them : in his Durch überstandne Noth geschickter Zum weiseren Gebrauch, zum reizenden Betrachtet; dem Geschick sich unterwerfig macht; Nicht wissen will, was alles das bedeute, Des Glücks, das sich mit ihm so unverhofft Was Zeus aus Huld in räthselhafte Nacht versohnte, Gleich fern von Dürftigkeit und stolzem Glückselig, weiler'swar, nicht weil die Bringt Phanias in neidenswerther Ruh In Freuden, die der unverfälschte Stempel Freuden prägt, Der burgerliche Sturm, der stets Athen Trift seine hütte nicht-den Tempel Vor uns Verbarg, und auf die guten leute Den Irrenden bedaurt, und nur den Nicht stets von Tugend spricht, noch, von Doch ohne Sold und aus Geschmack sic Und, glucklich oder nicht, die Welt Giebt der Natur, so weit sein Landgut sich So lustig nie als jugendliche Dichter Den sulten Reitz, der ohne Schimmer rührt Ein Garten, den mit Zephyrn und mit Pomona eich zum Aufenthalt erkohren; Eui kleiner bach, von ulmen überschattet, Im Garten eine Summerlaube Wo, zu der Freundin Kuss, der Saft der Den Thasos schickt, ihm wahrer nectar Eui Nachbar,der Horazens nachbar gleicht, Sie Malen, wenn ihr Hirn von Wein und TRANSLATION -Phanias, fitted by his misfortunes for a wiser use, for a more exquisite enjoyment of fortune, to whom he was so unexpectedly conciliated, equally, removed from want and superfluity, happy while he really was so, and not from the opinion of the world, passed his unenvied life in a most enviable state of tranquillity; in joys on which nature and innocence have set their own stamp as pure and genuine. The civic storms by which Athens was agitated, reached not his humble dwelling, now become the temple of the graces since Musarion was, its ornament. Unaffected art, under the guidance of her genius, gave to nature throughout the whole extent of his possession, the still and tranquil charm, that without dazzling, reaches the heart.-A garden, with zephyrs and flowers, that Pomona had chosen for her abode ;-a grove, in whose wandering mazes love delighted to be lost, in which earnest meditation was often associated with refined raillery; a small rivulet, overshadowed with elms, where, in the mid-day hours, free from intrusion, sleep stole unperceived; in the garden, an arbour, where, heightened by the kiss of his mistress, the juice of the purple grape of Thasos, tasted as nectar; a neighbour, like Horace's neighbour, with pure blood, a clear head, a contented heart, and cloudless brow→→ What an endless source of riches! Think also on Musarion, and say what more can the favour of the Gods give him for a joyful life? The wisdom alone, to feel the whole worth of it, to feel it ever, and contented with his fate, to extend his aims no farther; and this the Gods also gave him. His Mentor was no cynic, with uncombed locks, no wrinkled Cleanthus, the most distinguished of which is his who, when the goblet sparkles, speaks Clelia. But the poem of his to like Zeno, and drinks like Silenus; but which I am the most attached, is love: and who so good a teacher? Wil Musarion, containing about 1700 lingly, and quickly, and casily learnt he lines, from which I have already the charming philosophy that pleasingly This poem be enjoys what nature and the fates have given an extract. allotted us, and willingly resigns the rest; predicted would survive long after that chooses to consider the things of this he himself should have gone quo world in the favourable side; submits to pius Eneas quo Tullus dives et fate without repining; is not obstinately Ancus. bent on knowing what Jupiter, in kind[To be continued.] ness to us, clothed with impenetrable night, and is never enraged at the good people of this under-world, however great fools, finds them and self only ridicu lous, yet, on that account, loves not his brethren the less; compassionates a brother in error, and flees the hypocrite alone; speaks not always of virtue, nor glows at the sound, but practises it from taste, and for its own reward; and happy or not, deems the world neither an elysium nor a hell; neither so corrupted as the moralist sees it from his throne, in the Sixth Story-nor delectable as youthful poets paint, whose brain glows with Wine and Phyllis. PAS A CURIOUS EPITAPH. SIR, DASSING lately throughThetford, I was induced to visit the church. yard while my dinner was preparing at the inn, as I am always pleased with reading the rustic memorials of piety, love, or friendship, which adorn rural tombstones, I was surprised, however, to read the following singular Epitaph, upon a stone close by the North-wall of the church and as I copied off into my pocket-book, for my own possession, I now transmit it to you, if you think it worth a place in your pages. Epitaph. My grandmother was buried here, My sister dropped down dead in the Minories. But the reason why I'm here interr'd, a cording to my thinking, Is owing to my good living and hard drinking: If, therefore, good Christians, you wish to live long, Beware of drinking brandy, gin, or any thing strong. As a poet, Wieland is only known to this country from his Oberon, which has been translated, and it is said ably translated, by Sotheby."This is a poem," says a writer in the Edinburgh Review," in the perusal of which we forget the sober and sceptical criticism of the age in which we live, and willingly indulge to a modern writer that licence of wild and extravagant fiction, which has been usually confined to the specious miracles of antiquity." But the correctness of execution is equally astonishing with the bold and rich imagination which it displays; and he has been particularly happy in his verse, which he perpetually varies to the tone of his subject. Indeed, as a versifier, he may be considered as at the head of the moderns: he has the correctness of Pope, with infi nitely more native ease; but of his general character, I shall afterwards speak at some length. Other poems may furnish individual passages of greater glow and sublimity than BEG leave, through the medium Oberon; but none equally leads of your miscellany, to inform the affections captive, or can com- your correspondent, M. M. (see U. mand, from beginning to end, such MAG. for OCT. last. p. 295.) that Johnson is wrong, and the noble He has produced a variety of other critic right. The laurel-tree does poetical romances and tales, one of bear both flowers and fruit. The undivided attention. I remain, Sir, Your obedient servant, Battersea, Dec. 17, 1810. Z. REPLY TO M. M. RESPECTING LORD I |