tors of Mr. Carlyle are imitating the imitation of a foreign model; they are imitators raised to the second power, and must share, sooner or later, the fate of their masters and fellow-disciples. We have merely space to touch upon these points in relation to an interesting literary phenomenon, and to indicate the grounds on which we must condemn the peculiarities of style in "Pebblebrook," and other works of the kind. The subject admits of, and deserves, more copious illustration, as one of the signs of the times, though unquestionably a transient one. We will give a few examples of what we are sure nobody will mistake for English. "Through many generations the Being of the father had come to him under sternest pressures, and in him had reached the last fortress of humanity,' &c. - p. 10. "Did any man, without actual prototype, conceive this Life, (the life of Christ,) and thus word-paint it to the hearts of millions?"-p. 25; and a great deal more Carlylese on the same page. Many new life-threads have mysteriously run into the web of the Visible, and many old ones have broken and fallen out."-p. 42. "Except, indeed, that it may get him some world-wages as Professor of Morality." P. 70. But the style of this author is an imitation of Carlyle, not in single expressions merely, but in the general cast and character. We have the same inversions, the same strange comparisons, the same frequent and unnecessary use of the adjective with a definite article as an abstract noun; and the imitation extends even to the printing. The pages are plentifully garnished with staring capitals, which make, as everybody knows, no small figure in the writings of Carlyle. În short, all the tricks of the master-juggler are copied with considerable ingenuity by the disciple. Now, we ask, in all seriousness, if this is the way to be original, or simple, or graceful, or profound, or any thing that a man of sense ought to be? To show that what we have said is correct, we quote a passage of some length. "We cannot believe that this world is, as many assert, full of evil. The tide of human life is a vast stream flowing onward to Eternal Life. The main current is a stream of good, pouring onward to the All-Good. What is that which we name Evil but the eddy-current near the shores of Time? Is it not in Time a part of Good? Were there no eddies, would not the main current, in its strength, wear away the shores of Time? and then, what were Time? That whirling and boiling which we name awful is indeed so; but action is there, and that, as we said, is the purifying thing, and all is working together for good. Even the eddies (of evil) where do they go? Are they not by every Headland turned outward from the shores into the main stream? Whence came this tide of life, this stream of good? We see it flowing onward to Eternity; and know also that it came thence. Invisibly, or but dimly seen, in exhalations from that Ocean it arises, and (in clouds) by the upper influences, is wafted Timeward. Bold swimmer in Time, fear not, but strike out for thy life into the living tide of life. Rest thou must on the shores of Time, and dream such dreams as thou callest reflection: but go not near the marshes where are the pools of stagnation. Rest not long, and rest near the Headlands, where thou nayest see the eddies of evil turning into the current of good. Standing there, out-looking on the wide stream, thou mayest see the rocks (of deadly sin) and seeing learn to shun them: but think not to go onward unwounded, There are dangers hidden (by Hypocrisy); how canst thou escape such unhurt? Bold swimmer, be honest, else indeed how canst thou be bold? Show thy stains and wounds to thy fellowvoyagers; and show also, if thou can, what stained, what harmed thee. So shalt thou do good to all men. How shadowy are these figures! but what could we do without them? The things seen are the Timeshadows of the unseen, the Eternal. Dark atheist! seeing the shadows even, how canst thou say; there is no Sun ? ” — pp. 83, 84. Is this English or Carlylese? The following passage from "Gil Blas," is as applicable now as it was when first written. "Nuñez showed me a preface, which he said he meant to prefix to a collection of comedies that he had in press. He asked me then, what I thought of it. I am no better satisfied,' I replied, with your prose, than with your poetry. Your sonnet is nothing but pompous nonsense; and there are expressions in your preface too far-fetched, words which are not current in popular use, twisted phrases, so to speak. In one word, your style is odd. The works of our old and good authors are not written so.' 'Poor simpleton !' exclaimed Fabricius; 'you do not seem to know, that every prose-writer who aspires at the present day to the reputation of a delicate pen, affects this singularity of style, these outof-the-way expressions, which shock you. There are five or six of us bold innovators, who have undertaken to change the language from white to black; and, please God, we shall succeed in it, in spite of Lope de Vega, Cervantes, and all the other wits, who find fault with us for our new-fangled modes of speech. We are supported by a number of distinguished partisans; and we even have in our conspiracy several theologians.'" 6. La Fontaine. A Present for the Young. From the 1 French. Boston Weeks, Jordan, & Co. 1839. 18mo. pp. 108. IT is stated in the modest preface to this little volume, that the fables which compose it, "have been selected from a manuscript translation of the entire work of M. de la Fontaine," which will be published, if sufficient encouragement is afforded by the reception of this specimen. The translator truly remarks, that the original work "has been more multiplied than any other in French." It is the favorite reading of the young and old, and of people of all nations. Its lessons of wisdom and experience, expressed in the most terse and idiomatic language, have made it a sort of universal classic. But it is a very difficult work to translate, so as to preserve all the spirit and felicity of the original. The French language, for this kind of composition, is far superior to any other in Europe, on account of its numerous brilliant and pithy idioms, and the elegance and spirit of its conversational style. But we think the author of this little volume has succeeded surprisingly well. Though his translations are not always literal, they are conceived and executed in the spirit of the original, and are, on the whole, a very fair, and even faithful, representative of it. It cannot be doubted, that the whole work will be speedily called for, and that it will be a very popular book, if it is all done with the best exercise of the taste and skill shown in the specimens we have examined. But, as one ought to aim at as great a degree of excellence as possible, and he who has done so well can, with the pains demanded by so high and difficult a task, do very much better, we would recommend it to the translator to subject the work to a very deliberate and thorough revision before it is finally committed to the press; with the special purpose of making the translation correspond exactly with the original, in measure, as well as in other things, if it may be. We give one of the fables in the original, together with the translation. 66 LE CORBEAU ET LE RENARD. "Maître corbeau, sur un arbre perché, Maître renard, par l'odeur alléché, Lui tint à peu près ce langage: Hé! bonjour, monsieur du corbeau. Que vous êtes joli! que vous me semblez beau! Sans mentir, si votre ramage Se rapporte à votre plumage, Vous êtes le phénix des hôtes de ces bois. Il ouvre un large bec, et laisse tomber sa proie. Vit aux dépens de celui qui l'écoute : Cette leçon vaut bien un fromage, sans doute. Jura, mais un peu tard, qu'on ne l'y prendrait plus." 66 THE RAVEN AND THE FOX. "Perched on a lofty oak, Sir Raven held a lunch of cheese; 'Ha! how do you do, Sir Raven? The rogue should never cheat him more.” — pp. 6, 7. We have taken this entirely at random. The reader will perceive, that the translator feels the spirit, and has caught the turn, of the original. Yet it contains some departures from the French, which, it seems to us, he would do well to look to. For example, "le corbeau ne se sent pas de joie, ""the raven is beside himself with joy," is translated"Sir Raven, loth to lose such praise." The ingenious translator would find no insuperable difficulty in making alterations in such passages, so as to render his work more spirited than it is now, and considerably more faithful to the letter of the original. 7.-1. Vollständiges Englisch-Deutsches und Deutsch-Englisches Wörterbuch, enthaltend alle in beyden Sprachen allgemein gebräuchliche Wörter. In Zwey Theilen. 2. A Complete Dictionary of the English and German and German and English Languages, containing all the Words in General Use. In Two Volumes. Vol. I. English and German; by Dr. J. G. FLÜGEL. Vol. II. German and English; by JOHANN SPORSCHIL. Second Edition, improved and augmented. Leipsic: A. G. Liebeskind. 1838. SOME of us, who are not yet much past the mezzo del cammin di nostra vita, can remember the time when a German grammar and dictionary could not be had for love or money. The poets of Germany were as much unknown as the poets of Tartary, if such there be; a German book, with its black paper and blacker text, with its heaps of consonants, and apparently unpronounceable words, was as frightful and repulsive as a shaggy polar bear. Nous avons changé tout cela. Within a few years German literature has made great progress in this country. At some of our colleges, particularly Harvard University, almost every student of any pretensions to literary distinction, masters the elements at least of the German language; and the opinions of German philosophers and theologians have already made themselves deeply felt, whether for good or for evil, among the chaos of opinions around us. Under such circumstances, a good dictionary of the German language becomes an affair of great importance. But a good dictionary of any language is not to be had for the asking; and a good dictionary of a language so copious and varying as the German, can be the result only of long years of patient study, and of much skill and discrimination in the use of materials. There are peculiar difficulties in the way of making a good German-English dictionary. In the first place, there is no standard authority to regulate the usage of words. Every author forms new words to suit himself; and perhaps many words may be found in the works of a single writer, which do not elsewhere occur. The expansive capabilities of the German language seem to be almost infinite; and the whim and caprice of individual writers, unchecked by the controlling influence of a great capital, and intellectual centre, give a motley and whimsical aspect to German style, that we find in no other modern language. Adelung, Heinsius, and Campe have endeavoured, but without success, to do for German what Johnson did for English, and the Academy for the French language. Almost |