remembrance might be. She might have suggested various causes of sorrow-such as, quitting an agreeable neighborhood - fine scenery-losing, perhaps, pleasant acquaintances in the town-all with an indifferent, lightsome air, like that with which many an object of adoration loves to survey her parting worshipper as he wallows in the mud of his own embarrassment; rather poking him deeper in, than stretching a helping hand, while all the time she is, perhaps, longing to see the struggling mortal extricate himself and come floundering to her feet. But Orelia's nature being too ingenuous for that sort of dissembling, she made no inquiry on the subject, but merely hoped, in a low voice," that his regret was not caused by his future appearing less hopeful than his past had been;" and, considering her somewhat fluttered state at the time, the question was cleverly enough put, for it gave him a good opening to talk about himself, if he were so disposed. During this speech Orelia had made as many profiles as the space of ground at her feet admitted of-finishing off by the great straggling initials "O. P.," with a flourish beneath them, as was her custom in making her autograph. Then she drew off her glove, and, the act being quite in character with her usual queenly demeanor, she presented it to him, with the native loftiness of her air quite restored to her. He paused, as if considering whether he should his tale unfold; but, looking up, said "For my future, I must trust only to Fortune and myself, for I have no better securities. But I am most unwilling to leave you with the idea that one whom you honored with more notice and kindness than he deserved, was beneath it; and will therefore confide as much to you as Cesario did to the Countess Olivia, saying, that my parentage He took it and, with it, he clasped the is above my fortunes I am a gentle- ends of the fingers that gave it. Lifting them man.'"' to his lips, he kissed her hand Orelia, if she had followed her impulse, twice - thrice; and, before she had quite might have answered in the words of the made up her mind to snatch it away, he was Countess "Fear not, Cesario, take thy for- half-way down the road. Then, with tunes up;" but pride would not let her give flushed cheek, she turned away from the shade so much encouragement to one who had been of the beech beneath which they had been so little explicit. She only murmured (uncon- standing, and, forgetting Rosa, parsonage, sciously sketching the while a gigantic classi- and all, in the more interesting thoughts that cal profile in the gravel with the point of her had intervened, went slowly back to the Herparasol) that "she wished she had the pleas-onry. once a THE WAISTS OF AMERICAN LADIES. -The un- | worthy the contemplation of the ethnologist. natural length and ridiculous smallness of their How comes it to pass that the English typewaists baffle description. A waist that could be which I presume has not, in every case, been so spanned is an English metaphorical expression affected by the admixture of others as to lose its used in a novel, but it is an American fact; and own identity-how comes it to pass, I say, that so alarming does it appear to an Englishman, the English type is so strangely altered in a few that my first sentiment, on viewing the phenom-generations? I have heard various hypotheses; enon, was one of pity for unfortunate beings who might possibly break off in the middle, like flowers from the stalk, before the evening concluded. No less extraordinary is the size of the ladies' arms. I saw many which were scarce thicker than moderate-sized walking-sticks. Yet, strange to say, when these ladies pass the age of forty, they frequently attain an enormous size. The whole economy of their structure is then reversed, their waists and arms becoming the thickest parts of the body. Here is a subject amongst others, the habits of the people — the dry climate. The effect of the latter on a European constitution would have appeared to me sufficient to account for the singular conformation if I had not been persuaded by natives of the country, that the small waist is mainly owing to tight-lacing. This practice, it is said, is persevered in to an alarming extent; and, if report be true, it is to be feared that the effects will be felt by future generations to a greater degree than they are at present. Dub. U. Mag. From the Examiner. flavor of a delicate fruit. By difficulties of The Poems of Goethe: translated in the Orig-suffered himself to be daunted; and he has this kind Mr. Bowring has nevertheless not inal Metres. With a Sketch of Goethe's Life. BY EDGAR ALFRED BOWRING. Par ker and Son. thus he has placed within the reach of Engdone well, in spite of them, to persevere, for lish readers what is perhaps in its kind the utmost that will ever be provided. The skill and NONE who are in any degree acquainted with German literature will be prepared to We opened the translation before us quite receive otherwise than with very great respect prepared to make extremely large allowance the first effort that has been made to translate for the difficulties of the enterprise, and we Goethe's songs, ballads, and minor poems have been surprised and gratified to find how into English. Mr. Edgar Bowring is distin- very small was the demand really made on guished already by the success with which our patience and good-humor. he has rendered the same section of the works taste with which the poems have been renof Schiller into an English version both dered, without change of metre-the graces elegant and faithful. He has now attempted of Mr. Bowring's verse-and the readable to put English draperies upon the lyric muse of Goethe also. flitherto, nobody has ever dared so far; and this is a case in which we may pretty safely, we think, answer for the future, and say that nobody able to translate these poems better than Mr. Bowring has translated them is ever likely to devote his time to so laborious a task. The public, therefore, who must read Goethe in English or not at all, owes very hearty thanks to Mr. Bowring for his courage in having undertaken and achieved a work of very difficult accomplishment-and at the best of very doubtful issue for the love of literature, if not for the love of fame. For assuredly a work like this, however well it may be done, is one with which every tyro, if it so please him, can find fault. The only men really likely to praise will be those who know Goethe well. But a student who has spent on Goethe's poems all the pains and thought of which this volume contains evidence, must be in fact more thoroughly aware than any other man of the peculiar difficulties of the task he has undertaken. To translate Schiller's lesser poems was a work to be held light by comparison. Schiller appealed commonly to feelings of a broad and universal kind. He was a man appealing to his fellows, heart to heart. To be an artist was the accident of his humanity. Most of his poems, therefore, have stuff in them that would come But home to us even in a prose translation. Goethe was an artist above all things; his manhood (we do not say it as a censure) was with him the secondary matter; and he could write better songs than Schiller. With a wonderful skill he could arrange words dexterously into music, and suggest through them as a musician would express through notes -more than they literally say. A very lurge proportion of his songs, taken prosaically and in English, according to the exact sense of their sentences, would be found to contain very nearly nothing; whereas, taken in their own words, metrically, they raise emotions of pleasure as distinct as those awakened by the scent of the violet or the form into which even the most untranslatable of Goethe's lyrics (as the "Heath-Rose," the "Swiss-Song," and others) have been put cannot be praised too heartily. We add a few brief specimens. Each of the two succeeding stanzas is in itself a complete poem :-- THE BLISS OF SORROW. Never dry, never dry, Tears that eternal love sheddeth ! When only half-dried on the eye is the tear! Tears that unhappy love sheddeth ! Then I looked upon the beauteous quiet Held the strong desire I felt to wake her "O, thou love," methought, "I see that Slumber that betrayeth each false feature, Now thy beauteous eyes are firmly closed, Then I on the little table near her 1795. We close our extracts with a single sonnet: On Petrarch's heart, all other days before, Her whom I early cherished in my breast, The love of Petrarch, that all-glorious love, The whole of Goethe's minor poems could not have been published in a single volume within reasonable limits, but Mr. Bowring has been careful to omit only those which it was most advisable to exclude from the collection. The collection, as it stands, is large; embracing not only the songs and ballads as they are commonly arranged, but many of the poems contained in plays and prose works, and a few specimens of the Proverbs and Zahme | Kenien - which latter, by the bye, were tame indeed, for the great German poets lagged far behind the English standard of terseness and point as wits. Mr. Bowring translation of no less than sixty of the poems has also liberally presented to his readers a that make up the beautiful West-Oestlicher Divan. He goes even so far in his enthusiasm as to lament that he could not add to his volume Hermann und Dorothea and Reineke Fuchs, a pair that would fill certainly a volume by themselves. Enthusiasm is a good fault, however, in a case like this, and it is the only fault we are disposed to find with any part of the contents of Mr. Bowring's work. Nor does our objection extend further than to the preliminary sketch of Goethe's life, of which we cannot refrain from observing that it is a panegyric rather than a biography. The wisest man may be allowed to be enthusiastic in discussion of a philosopher and poet so large-minded and many-sided as Goethe; but whether we look at his life or at his works, we surely err when we can see, in either, greatness only. There were, in our humble judgment, some capital defects on the side of vanity in Goethe's character. He was a Jupiter Olympus to himself, as well as to his worshippers; and the very preponderance of his artistic qualities caused great occasional disfigurement in many of his writings. Following some æsthetic purpose, he often (more especially in his novels) outran the ever necessary and welcome commonplaces of good, wholesome, every-day humanity. Wilhelm Meister was indeed a truly great work; but the Sorrows of Werter, though intensely clever, were intensely false in tone; and Werter again was really sensible and healthy, in comparison to that remarkably æsthetic affair of "the mysterious analogy between the laws of attraction, in the case of the natural substances and in that of the human affections" the (with all its cleverness we must say) abominable Wahlverwandschaften. Of this romance Mr. Bowring says that " many people consider it as only inferior to Faust." Yet we would not recomOne long Good-Friday 'twas, one heart-mend him to translate it, and obtain the verdict of the real "many" thereupon, if he truly desires to set up Goethe's altar in this country. ache drear; But may my mistress' Advent ever prove, year. 1807. But we need not tread upon disputed ground. That Goethe's minor poems are ENGLISH LAW ON RAILWAY DEATHS.- -A DOG OUT OF PLACE. 125 among the most charming. very many of | called in by the defendants to attend him after them absolutely the most charming-in the the accident, he was not examined; but Dr. German language, and that Mr. Edgar Bow- Elliotson, whom the deceased had consulted, dering has in this book translated them into posed that in his opinion he might have lived for English faithfully and delicately, are matters many years, and read a report to that effect, which we think beyond dispute, and those which he had written to Dr. Engledue after the only which are under judgment here. Mr. deceased had consulted him. Mr. Tuke, a surBowring's volume should promptly find its geon at Arundel, and Mr. Garrington, a surgeon way into a second and third edition if it ob- found him after the accident. The latter, who at Portsea, deposed to the state in which they tains the success which it well merits. made a post-mortem examination, stated that he found the lungs congested from recent inflammation, inflammation in the pleura, apoplectic cyst in the brain, an enlarged heart with a thickened ventricle, a little water in the abdomen, the ankles slightly swelled and dropsical, and the kidneys small and affected with cystic disease. This gentleman also deposed that he thought inKEETS AND OTHERS (EXECUTORS) v. THE LONDON, flammation and congestion were the causes of the BRIGHTON, AND SOUTH-COAST RAILWAY COMPANY. death, and that most probably they resulted from THIS was an action, under Lord Campbell's the accident. Mr. Adams, surgeon to the LonAct, by the plaintiffs, as executors of Mr. Josiah don Hospital, and Dr. Billing, author of a treatise Groves, a tailor, at Portsea, against the defend-on diseases of the heart, deposed that, in their ants, to recover for Mr. Groves' family compensation in damages for his death, which was occasioned by an accident on the defendants' railway, through the negligence of the defendants' ser ENGLISH LAW ON RAILWAY DEATHS. vants. Mr. Sergeant Byles and Mr. Lush were counsel for the plaintiffs; and the Attorney-General and Mr. Bovill for the defendants. It appeared that in November, 1851, Mr. Groves, who was a widower with a family of four children, came to London on business, and at the same time visited a Miss Richards, to whom he was about to be married, and also Dr. Elliotson, whom he consulted for a complaint attended by spitting of blood, under which he was suffering. On the evening of the 25th November he left London for Portsea by the defendants' railway, and proceeded safely as far as Arundel, when, on passing over a bridge near that town, where there is only one line of rails, in consequence of the driver's neglecting a signal, the train ran into a luggage train, and the carriage in which Mr. Groves was, was overturned and thrown down a bank. The consequence was that Mr. Groves, who was asleep in the carriage at the time the accident happened, was severely injured on the right temple and on the right side, and, having previously lost his eye-sight, died in great suffering at the end of a fortnight. To prove the previous state of his health, Miss Richards, to whom he was about to be married, was called, and she deposed that he was a fine-looking man, thirty-seven years of age; that he had been a widower for two years, and had four children, whose ages were respectively eleven, eight, five, and three years. She also produced his portrait in confirmation of her statement as to his healthy looks, and, after some opposition from the defendants' counsel, it was handed to the jury for inspection. On cross-examination, however, she stated that he had suffered from spitting of blood in the month of June previous to his death, and another illness after a subsequent visit to the Great Exhibition, and that in the following month of October he had an attack of apoplexy. His regular medical attendant was Dr. Engledue, of Portsmouth, but as this gentleman had been opinion, the enlargement of the heart and other ailments of the deceased neither caused his death nor were inconsistent with a long life, though they were of such a nature as an invalid insurance office would have required a higher premium for than usual. It was further deposed that the profits of his business were worth 8007.; but it appeared that the deceased's late foreman had succeeded him upon paying 8001. for the stock, and without giving anything for the good-will of the business. The Lord Chief Justice told the jury they must confine their verdict to such damages as would compensate the children of the deceased for the pecuniary loss they had sustained by the death of their father, and that they must further apportion that loss between the children. The jury retired, and then returned with a verdict for the plaintiffs for 2,000l., which the counsel on each side agreed should be equally divided between the children. A DOG OUT OF PLACE. On the evening of a recent Sunday, as the inhabitants of Ystradganlais, South Wales, were crowding to the chapel to hear a somewhat famous itinerant preacher, a huge dog made his way into the building, bolted up the pulpit stairs, and took possession of the place assigned to the pastor. The unsuspecting itinerant walked up to the pulpit in a short time, but, assailed with fierce growls and a row of teeth like an alligator's, he was glad to get to the bottom of the steps. A second ventured, but only elicited some additional growls. A third sage, thinking discretion the better part of valor, next ascended to make an amicable settlement with Tyke. He did not dispute the dog's right of possession, but endeavored to charm him from his elevated position with a piece of candle. At this Tyke waxed more furious than ever, deeming the candle an insult; and at length the pastor took his place in the small reading-desk, in which he preached, Tyke all the while remaining perched aloft listening to the discourse with a gravity and decorum worthy of a class-leader. The scene may be "more easily imagined than described.” ·Liverpool Standard. 126 DE QUINCEY'S AUTOBIOGRAPHIC SKETCHES.- -CELESTIAL LOVE. From the New Monthly Magazine. THOMAS DE QUINCEY'S AUTOBIOGRAPHIC SKETCHES.* WHY, gifted with such powers to send abroad His spirit, must it lodge in shrines so frailt as fugitive periodical and magazine? has too often, too long, been our question in respect to the writings of the English Opium-eater. At length he appears in a more fitting form - not, indeed, until twelve volumes of his scattered essays have been published in America- but in the first volume of what we trust may be a series most prolonged (in issue, as it has been in expectation) and most successful. The appearance of this volume being almost synchronous with this of our own June number, we have neither time nor room albeit mighty inclination to dilate on its thrice-welcome advent. The general title, "Selections, Grave and Gay," is appropriate and significant-for in pathos and humor both the author excels: to adopt Wordsworth's language, Caverns there are within his mind which sun In part these miscellanies are to be viewed as entirely new; 'large sections have been intercalated in the present edition, and other changes made, which, even to the old parts, by giving very great expansion, give sometimes a character of absolute novelty." Mr. de Quincey proposes to group the collected articles under three general heads-first, a class which proposes primarily to amuse the reader, but which, in doing so, may or may not happen occasionally to reach a higher station, at which the amusement passes into an impassioned interest;" secondly, "those papers which address themselves purely to the understanding as an insulated faculty, or do so primarily" (including, ex. gr., the essays on the Essenes, the Caesars, Cicero, &c.); and, thirdly, a far higher class of compositions in virtue of their aim, " modes of impassioned prose ranging under no precedents" in any literature, viz., the "Confessions," and the Suspiria de Profundis. The present volume is autobiographical, dating from the "Affliction of Childhood" in its earliest germ, onwards to the experiences of fervid youth. Nothing can surpass the touching power, the profound grandeur, the psychological interest of this extraordinary narrative unless it be its sallies of superlative fun, its mirthful originalities of mood and manner. There are bits" of magnificent prose that stand alone for splendor of diction and passion of sentiment in the English language. We have no space for quotation at this late period - no opportunity to show how the future Opiumeater was initiated, yet an infant, in premature spiritual conflict, and in the stern habit of thoughts that lie too deep for tearshow an elder brother ruled the nursery with a sway of which the present chronicle gives the most ludicrous record imaginable. how the autobiographer was introduced to the warfare of a public school, how he entered the world, how he bivouacked in the "nation of London," and pilgrimized amid the beauties and strifes of Ireland. But we could not forbear the utterance of a most cordial welcome to this volume, A parti-colored show of grave and gay, -or or which we trust the "leafy month of June" will cause to be known and read of all men. On a future occasion we hope to indite a paper on the Pathos and Passion, as already we have on the Humor, of Thomas de Quincey, and for such an essay the present tome will present ample scope and verge enough, and to spare. CELESTIAL LOVE. IN the Celestial Empire love-matters are managed by a confidant, or go-between, and the billets-doux written to one another by the papas. At Amoy a marriage was recently concluded between the respectable houses of Tan and O; on which occasion the following epistles, copied from the Panama Herald, passed between the two old gentlemen: From Papa Tan: "The ashamed younger brother, surnamed Tan, named Su, with washed head makes obeisance, and writes this letter to the greatly virtuous and honorable gentleman whose surname is 0, old teacher, great man, and presents it at the foot of the gallery. At this season of the year the satin curtains are enveloped in mist, reflecting the beauty of the river and hills; in the fields of the blue gem are planted rows of willows close together, arranging and diffusing the commencement of genial influences, and consequently adding to the good of the old year. "I duly reverence your lofty door. The guest of the Sue country descends from a good stock, the origin of the female of the Hui country likewise (is so too). You have Selections, Grave and Gay. From Writings received their transforming influences, republished and unpublished, by Thomas de Quincey.sembling the great effects produced by rain, (Vol. I. Autobiographic Sketches.) London: Groombridge and Sons. 1853 + Prelude. much more you, my honorable nearly-related uncle, your good qualities are of a very rare |