6

In the course of his impetuous quarrels with the leading crusaders, a zealous preacher is said to have had the boldness to advise him not to rebuke other people's vices till he had purged himself of his own; and he counselled him first to rid himself of his three favourite daughters, his pride, his avarice, and his voluptuousness. You advise well,' replied Richard, and I hereby dispose of the first to the Templars, of the second to the Benedictines, and of the third to my prelates.' The anecdote is characteristic of the wit, the bonhomie, and frankness, which have saved this monarch from the severer judgments of history. Undoubtedly the Templars and Benedictines deserved his compliment, and of his prelates, Peter of Blois tells us, that whether they devoted more time to packs of women or packs of hounds was a matter of extreme doubt. But Richard himself, with an inheritance that should have moved him to exertions worthier of his duties and

his name, was a slave to all these vices. He never won a victory which his pride did not change to a defeat; and every victory, and every defeat, every pleasure, every glory, every humiliation of his life, were purchased by the plunder and the impoverishment of his subjects. Yet his wonderful strength and valour, in that age of martial adventure and bold exploit, endeared him even to the people he so slighted and misgoverned; made him the general theme of the poets and romancers of the succeeding century; and to this hour associates thoughts of high-hearted generosity and the purest chivalry with the name of RICHARD CŒUR DE LION.

New Books.

THE SPIRIT OF GERMAN POETRY: a Series of Translations from the German Poets. With Biographical Notices. By JOSEPH GOSTICK. Medium 8vo. London: W. Smith.

A VERY useful, very agreeable, and very cheap publication. The necessity for every educated and accomplished person, to say nothing of inclination, to be acquainted with German poetry, renders a manual and selection of this kind valuable. Mr. Gostick has, it appears to us, performed his labour very judiciously, and in a manner that proves him to be well-informed on the subject, and with a critical appreciation and analysation extremely serviceable to the reader.

The literature of our own country, in all departments, is becoming so insurmountable, that it is found absolutely necessary to condense it into

extracts and beauties, and a very diligent reader now finds it difficult to make himself acquainted with more than the master-pieces of the most celebrated authors. To foreign literature, therefore, but little time can be given, and to be thus presented with a fair specimen of the chief German poets, is a great boon.

There is no necessity for us to enter upon any criticism of the poetry itself; but we have been struck by two things: first, that after all the immense sensation created by the German writings, that there are so comparatively few poets could claim a place in this collection; and, secondly, that the tendency of the whole runs so much towards words and sentiments. A great deal more condensation, and a little more reality, would, apparently, vastly improve the whole national poetry, which, from first to last, seems to spring more from enthusiasm than observation. Compared (at all events, by these specimens) with our grand outbreak of poetry in the 16th century, it is comparatively weak and purposeless. It is not fair to make comparisons through the medium of translation; and, therefore, we shall leave the subject, merely reminding the reader, that in Mr. Gostick's book, will be found an agreeable collection and a valuable guide.

THE LIFE OF CARL THEODOR KÖRNER, written by his Father, with selections from Poems, Tales, and Dramas. Translated by G. F. RICHARDSON, F.G.S. 2 vols. post 8vo. Second Edition. London: D. Nutt.

THEODOR KÖRNER is principally known in this country as the author of a lyric, entitled "the Sword," which has frequently appeared as a translation in our periodicals. This spirited song, most persons believed, was an isolated poem, which, like the ballad of The Burial of Sir John Moore, "Not a drum was heard," had given its author an almost universal popularity. Körner had, however, much stronger claims to fame. If he has left nothing behind him that entitles him to be ranked amongst the great creative poets, still, it must be confessed, he had considerable lyric powers, and was, altogether, very happily constituted. Nature had been bountiful to him in physical gifts, and he had made the most of them by acquiring all the accomplishments that could fully help to develop them. His temperament was highly enthusiastic, and being carefully tended by his parents, and soundly educated under the care of his father, he manifested a generous and chivalrous nature. In addition to these qualifications for gaining the admiration of the world, he possessed a great talent for versification; and, if high sentiments couched in spirited language, be poetry, he was a poet. As he stood on the verge of manhood, Germany had been armed to a national resistance of the French domination; and, as a distinguished student, he took a conspicuous part in the outburst, of what would now be termed, Young Germany. His enthusiastic songs were well-timed; he was himself a realisation of the beau ideal of a modern military hero, and being extremely popular, a lieutenant's commission in the volunteer regiment

of students was bestowed on him. Here, he fought, sung and caroused, in a way that poets like to feign, and ladies love to know of. In his twenty-second year he was, however, killed in a skirmish, and dying in the prime and flush of his popularity, left the character of a perfect juvenile hero.

That some abatement must be made for the circumstances by which he was surrounded, there is no doubt; but still enough remains to prove that Körner was entitled to be incorporated with the poets of Germany. His precocity was remarkable, though by no means without many parallels. Although dying thus early, he left behind him a large collection of popular lyric poems, comedies, tragedies, and prose pieces. His tragedies are said to have gained him most deserved and permanent fame; but as far as we can judge through the medium of translation, his lyric poems seem to be most possessed of the "faculty divine." Enthusiasm seems to be the source of his inspiration, and the feeling thus engendered, decorated by a high conceit, forms the staple quality of his verse.

The life by his father, the collection of materials and remarks made by Mr. Richardson, the translator, and the numerous incidental notices of celebrated poets and contemporaries, all combine with the poems to render the two volumes light and interesting reading: and, doubtless, it is a work that will find its way to ladies' boudoirs and the tables of military cavaliers.

HARDING'S FABLES FOR YOUNG FOLKS. Grant and Griffith.

THIS is a very charming, and withal, a very seasonable little book for little people. The Fables treat of "Flowers, Trees, Animals, Birds, Insects, &c.," and with grace and tenderness recommend such objects to the intelligence and sympathies of early learners. Mr. Harding is an earnest and affectionate teacher. The volume is very nicely illustrated with wood-engravings, happily illustrative of the text.

LA SOUBRETTE; or, The Adventures and Recollections of Theresa Dorney: a Narrative founded on Fact. 3 vols. post 8vo. London. Madden and Malcolm.

THIS novel reminds one of the fictions of the last century, when adventures of all kinds were narrated witk a simple intention and in a simple style. While perusing "La Soubrette," we could not help being reminded of the once popular but now utterly forgotten Betsy Thoughtless." In both, there is the same sensible observation of manners and character, with that violent dash of the romantic, that ever will have a charm for the young novel reader.

There is, however, in "La Soubrette," a very praiseworthy aim to expose the painful and wrong position assigned to the domestic teacher in society. There is rather an injudicious straining to prove the case,

and a romantic, stage kind of villany and false marriage introduced, rather too hackneyed to deserve revival:-perhaps this is the fact so particularly set forth in the title-page, but such occurrences are now so highly improbable, that it is not necessary to warn handsome ladies' maids against such impositions.

The Authoress is apparently unaccustomed to writing, but whatever may be her deficiencies, she (for it is certainly a woman's writing) has the one great requisite for popularity, and that is the power of imparting a strong interest to her narrative;-there is not a page of it which, if glanced at, does not, to a certain extent, fascinate the reader, and in spite of the severest critical consideration afford amusement. This is so essentially the quality required to produce successful fictions, that there can be little doubt the writer, gifted as she also is with considerable powers of observation, will become celebrated in this class of literature.

LEGENDS OF THE Isles, and other POEMS. BY CHARLES MACKAY. Post 8vo. Edinburgh and London: Blackwood and Sons.

Ir is a hopeless task for the critic to bring all versification within one category: what is poetry to one mind is not so to another, and there may be a doubt raised whether the essence of poetry is not something engendered between the writer and the reader. Leaving, therefore, this vexed question to future consideration or neglect, we can only say that Mr. Mackay has already acquired a large number of readers, who acknowledge his verses to possess the influence of poetry. The present volume will probably enlarge that number. His versifi.. cation is for the most part smooth and fluent, and the subject of his poems interesting. If we are obliged to class him as a poet, we must say he belongs to that section that derive their inspiration from an ardent temperament, and that his verses are the result of enthusiasm. This, singly, certainly does not produce the highest kind of poetry, there being wanting to it the intellectual fecundity that arises from a strongly creative imagination. As a poet of the feelings, however, Mr. Mackay has won himself an auditory and a place that he will doubtless keep.

A COMPLETE CONCORDANCE TO SHAKSPERE: being a Verbal Index to all the passages in the Dramatic Works of the Poet. By Mrs. COWDEN CLARKE. In 18 parts. Imperial 8vo. London: Chas. Knight & Co. THIS is probably the most stupendous honour ever paid to genius by one admirer. The Iliad has been written to be put into a nutshell, a childish piece of homage: but here we have the works of the poet repeated many times over. Endless toil, incessant attention, a love untiring for the author, could alone have produced such a work. Mrs. Clarke has performed what a very long list of nobles and gentles once proposed and failed in, namely, to erect a monument to Shakspere.

Here we have one more lasting than brass or stone. A Concordance to Shakspere! A concordance to the only author, which would not seem to be a presumptuous rivalling with that concordance which belongs to the book most important to the human race.

There have been a verbal index, and an index to the most remarkable passages in Shakspere's works. Both works of labour, by persevering, pains-taking men; but here we have the patient adoration of a woman producing a work more laborious than both combined, and infinitely more useful. Twiss's verbal index had no connecting sentences, so it was hap-hazard work turning for the paragraph desired. Ayscough's index was thought a miracle of labour, but its imperfection is proved by the present being many (we should say five) times its bulk.

To those who have not seen the book it may be necessary to explain Mrs. Clarke's plan, which is to give every word, with a reference to every place it is used in, and a sufficient quotation to mark the sense it is used in. It will be seen that as there must be five or six words in every line, exclusive of connecting words and expletives, consequently the text of the plays must be given five or six times over. We can easily understand that this must have been the labour of many years. A degree of skill was required in making the exact quotation required to give the exact sense of the word, and in this Mrs. Clarke has been very

fortunate.

The immense utility for matters of reference is obvious at a glance, but it seems to us that many other advantages may be derived from an examination of this storehouse of words. Classical students of the dead languages have long known the advantage of studying an author through the means of a good verbal index, and thus comparing an author's various uses of a word. In the present book he has the double advantage of seeing the various sentences in which it is used at one view. This itself will greatly aid the elucidation of Shakspere's text, and also of contemporary authors. It becomes in this way a great lexicographical aid to the language. It also presents many curious facts to the inquiring as to the comparative use of words, and presents in a most striking point of view the illimitable powers and inexhaustible wonders of Shakspere's genius.

It would not be right to take leave of this noble labour without noticing the excellent manner in which it is printed. To at all bring it within the pecuniary means of purchasers, and get it in a moderate bulk, a small type is absolutely necessary; but it is beautifully clear and admirably printed. Altogether it is a work that all concerned with may very justly be proud of, and for which the public should be grateful.

FOREST AND GAME-LAW TALES. By HARRIET MARTINEAU. In 3 vols. fcap. 8vo. London: Moxon.

As the first of these volumes has only reached us, we presume the other two are not yet issued. Miss Martineau avows her object to be