of pious and philofophical retirement. The paffion is mutual, but unfortunate. The friends of the lady hurry her to a convent; fhe takes the veil, and both fhe and her lover encounter a premature death, from the effects of disappointment, and the violence of their grief. There are feveral minor plots, of which the most interesting and moft agreeable is the tale of the loves and final marriage of Kronhelm, the friend, and Therefa, the fifter of Siegwart. Juftice requires that we should enable the reader to judge, how well and ably the tranflator has performed her task, for which purpose the following fpecimen is fubjoined. "Moft cordially did Siegwart embrace his friend, and moft unrefervedly confefs his paffion for Marianne. The relief was inexpreffible, when he could difburden his long-oppreffed and overflowing heart. Kronheim fully approved his choice, and gave him no fmall hope that Marianne was not quite indifferent about him, inftantly promifing to endeavour to get at her sentiments, and to make opportunities for his becoming more intimately acquainted with her. This promife was extremely gratifying to Siegwart, only he entreated Kronhelm earnestly, as was confiftent with his natural timidity, to proceed very circumfpectly, and in no way to betray himfelf or him. To his great joy he learnt that her intended marriage with the auditor was a falfe report, and had its foundation in mifconception on the part of Boling. "The two friends now bewildered themselves in agreeable dreams of future happinefs. Kronhelm talked of Therefa, and Siegwart of his Marianne, with the warmest enthusiasm. Each praifed the other's fair one with fpirit, for the fake of hearing fimilar praife of his own. They remained together till midnight, and were then unwilling to part; finding always fomething new to fay to each other. Kronhelm was defirous that Siegwart fhould, when he next wrote to Therefa, mention his fituation, and get his father's approbation of it; but Siegwart would by no means agree to it; for in this point he was beyond measure fearful, referved, and delicate. "Great part of their daily converfation was now on their refpective attachments. Siegwart perceived how unjustly he had nourished an unfounded jealoufy, and he became every day more open-hearted, he revealed to his friend even his former fufpicions of him, and Sophia's unfortunate love for himfelf. They agreed, as foon as any fnow fell again, to have a traineau party and a ball, in which Siegwart fhould attend on Marianne. But even now he began to make many objections which his timidity fuggefted, till Kronhelm diffipated his doubts and his anxious appre henfions by all poffible encouragement. "The next Sunday, Kronhelm went to church with Siegwart, and fancied he remarked in Marianne's looks and deportment fame R BRIT, GRIT. VOL. XXVIII. SEPT. 1806. fome degree of interest for his friend; but to all that he could fay on this fide of the queftion, he obtained nothing but abundance of doubts; brought forward, indeed now, in the hope that they might be contradicted. At the following concert he fung the duet with Marianne to the astonishment of all the hearers. Their voices foared together to the sky, and funk in mournful pathos to the earth; each heart felt fenfations of love and tenderness, but hers the most ; and he must have heard them with very little difcernment, who did not feel that more than skill dictated their tones. In a fhake, fhe looked at Siegwart with an expreffion of fuch taste and emotion, as almost overpowered while it delighted him. When they had finished, the whole company clapped, as ufual, for a long time, while the commended his correct finging and his execution, more by her looks than her words. "We must oftener fing together," faid the; "I never fung with fuch spirit and fuch intereft."—" I can fay the fame," faid Siegwart, with a figh. Kronhelm now came up, and faid, "Was I not right, Mademoifelle Fifcher? Does he not fing well?"-" Oh, you did not tell me half enough!" anfwered the, "Monfieur Siegwart fings extraordinarily well." Others joining them, the conversation became more general. "Siegwart was now fo happy, that he forgot every thing that could disturb him: he himfelf believed that Marianne loved him; and he only wished for an early opportunity to speak to her alone, and to discover to her his whole heart. At parting, when he took his leave, the affability of her manners was ftill increased; and when he got home, in the plenitude of his happiness he wrote as follows: "Say, was not that the glance of love? And did it not my flame approve, By heav'n it did-its humid ray, "Ye angels of celestial love, Defcend, defcend, and bear me hence My weight of varied woes difplay; May upward foar to heav'n, a tenant of the sky." "He "He carried this effufion to Kronhelm, who approved it, and faid, "The time which you exprefs a wifh for in these verses, may foon come that fhe loves you, I have no longer any doubt; and at the next traineau party you fhall drive her, and in the evening at the ball you can declare yourfelf." "With this hope, and the promife given him by his friend, Siegwart was almost befide himfelf. Twenty times in a day did he look at the barometer to fee whether the falling mercury did not foretell fnow he was perpetually watching the ky to difcover fome cloud in it, and hailed every one that seemed loaded. "At laft, on Saturday evening, the fky was quite obfcured; and in the following night there fell a deep fnow. When he waked on the Sunday morning, and faw a white world, he was as much delighted as others would have been with the approach of spring. "A traineau party was immediately fixed for the following day. Kronhelm went to Marianne and her parents, to requeft that Siegwart might be allowed to drive her; for he was too timid to ask her himself. The propofal was readily accepted, and Siegwart was half crazy with joy when his friend brought him the news, Yet his heart palpitated as the time drew nigh when he was to fetch Marianne, and often did he wish this moment, fo much fighed for, afar off: when the hour came, he delayed as long as poffible driving his fledge to her house; but at laft he was forced to fet off; and trembling he afcended the stairs to the apartment where he found her and her father and mother, to whom he bowed refpectfully with a thoufand apologies, not one of which his low voice and great embarrassment fuffered to be understood. Monfieur and Madame Fifcher were extremely polite to him; Marianne was unreferved and kind. In violent trepidation he conducted her to the carriage; but he recovered himself when in the open air, and joined the reft of the party. Marianne, as they went along, expreffed herself pleafed-he ftammered out, "that it was far pleasanter to him, and that he had long wifhed for this happiness," &c. &c. "The party, having made the circuit of the town, drove to a neighbouring village. Siegwart was at a lofs what to fay; he could only praife the weather and the agreeable winter profpect, and congratulate himself that fo fine a fnow had fallen, heartily vexed with his ftupidity, and rummaging high and low for fome. thing to talk on his heart was full, yet nothing occurred to him. At laft he began to talk of the concert; but his converfation, he felt, was cold and indifferent; he wished to begin, fomething else; and yet he entertained her with this alone, till they reached the village. Here they remained fcarcely an hour: the ladies took coffee; the gentlemen a glafs of wine-which a little conquered Siegwart's timidity in their ride back. He led Marianne to the traineau, and once or twice in their little journey he made fome pretext for touching her hand; the perceived it and fmiled in a way that he felt, but which reftrained him. R 2 "The "The afternoon was very fine: the whole country was enveloped in the close white garment of winter, and feemed to attune the foul to folemn penfivenefs. The fun defcended to the horizon like pure tranfparent gold, and threw over the heavens an inde fcribable ferenity. When it funk behind the foreft into a thick mift, it became crimfon; and its reflection tinged the hemifphere with violet and rofe colour. Marianne's countenance glowed in the foft refulgence of the fky: her afpect was ferene; and her bright dark eyes fpoke the fweeteft animation. Now and then fhe looked towards Siegwart, who, loft in ecftacy, nearly forgot to guide the horfe. Every thing was to his ideas folemn; in his imagination, the whole earth around him was a temple: he lifted up his eyes towards heaven; and the glance and the tear that fell with it was a prayer for Marianne's love. For fome time he could fay little, only now and then he called out, "How beautiful every thing is! Look there, at that window of the caftlehow it glitters like gold-only look at the delightful evening glow and look at the foreft there, how refplendent it is nowand the dark shades of the hill!-and only obferve the stillnessOh, this is the most charming day of my life!" "Kronhelm, who was before him, and now and then looked back at him, remarked the fatisfaction that fhone in his eyes, and was expreffed in every feature of his countenance: he participated moft cordially in it, and gave him fome fimiles that faid much." Vol. II. p. 319. Some pleafing poetry is interfperfed, which, we are informed in the preface, has been tranflated by another hand. It is diftinguifhed by much eafe and elegance. It would be very ealy to point out many exceptionable paffages and incidents in the original, but it would be far from easy to select many in the tranflation which merit reprehenfion. The introduction is compofed with much fpirit, and fuggefted by a found judgment. The object is to prove that German literature has not yet met with its due appreciation in this country. This tale, it seems, has been very popular in Germany, and has paffed through feveral editions. We certainly have perufed it in the verfion with much fatisfaction. The characters of Kronhelm and Marianne, the friend and the mistress of Siegwart, are admirable; and whilft we lament that the tale was not made to have a happy termination, we can honeftly recommend it as a chafte, elegant, and interefting compofition. ART. ART. III. Herodotus, tranflated from the Greek, with Notes. By the Rev. William Beloe. In four Volumes, 8vo. The fecond Edition corrected and enlarged. 21. 2s. Leigh and Sotheby. 1806, F all the exftant hiftorians of antiquity, perhaps Herodotus is the most generally interefting. With the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Perfians, and the antient Greeks are affociated in every mind, ideas of the fources of civilization and fcience; and whether or not the eaftern world be fo deeply indebted to the Egyptians as is commonly fuppofed, it it impoffible to read without intereft the hiftory of fuch a people. The elegant fimplicity of the flyle too in which Herodotus relates the manners, cultoms, and fuperftitions of Egypt, has charms almoft peculiar to itself, which every scholar of tafte has felt and acknowledged; whilft no patriot can read unmoved his artless narration of the refiftance made by the Greeks, to the encroachments and ufurpations of the Perfian Monarch. To the Chriftian, however, his hiftory is interefting on other and ftill higher accounts. The Egyptians, Babylonians, and Perfians, make a confpicuous figure in fome of the writings of the Old Teftament; and it is furely defirable to compare what is recorded of thole nations by facred and profane writers who flourished at periods not remote from each other. A hundred years did not intervene between the æra of Daniel and that of Herodotus; and Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi, were cotemporaries with the Greek hiftorian. It is not therefore furprifing that tranflations of fuch a hif tory fhould have been made into the language of almost all the nations of Europe; but it is not perhaps to the credit of the English nation, that, until the year 1791, when Mr. Beloe published the first edition of the work before us, we had no tranflation of Herodotus that an Englifhman could read with pleafure. Littlebury indeed had tranflated him, but not always with fidelity, and never with elegance; and a good verfion of the works of " the father of Hiftory," as he has been called, was a defideratum in literature, which it was referved for the prefent author to fupply. Of his verfion the firft edition was given to the public, before the commencement of our critical labours; and for reafons, which will readily occur to our readers, we thall, by making confiderable extracts from the fecond, afford to the author an opportunity to plead his own cause, rather than enforce what we may think his merits, by any laboured criticifins of ours. At will be proper, however, to exhibit Mr. Beloc in the first R 8 place |