The Romance of a German Court. By All Ecilaw. ("
Le Rai de Thessalie.") (Remington ind Co.)—We cannot affect the ignorance of the reviewer in the Times on the Beene and persons portrayed in this translation of "La Roi de Thessalie." That reviewer carried his innocence so far as to wonder why the English title took the form it does, "especially as there is nothing to show that the scene of action is German; lather the contrary." "A Nihilist source might be ascribed to it, but that the perfidy of the King of Thessaly, relating as it does to a Court intrigue, is hardly of the kind which makes Nihilists." Hardly ! The book is the story of the well-known scandal of the treatment by the Grand Duke of Hesse of the Princess Kalomine, whose name appears under the scarcely veiled transliteration of Mineleko ; while the illustrious personage who was supposed to have been the chief instigator of the perfidy of the " Roi de Thessalie," is dubbed the "Queen of the Orient," and her son-in-law, the hereditary Prince of the Empire of Babylon, is called "Fritz" tout court. Apart, however, from the realistic vividness of the descriptions of the Ger- man Court, and the spice of scandal imported into the story by its revelations of " serene " life, the tale is a dramatic story, fall of power and pathos, and admirably told. How far the details of the romance correspond with the details of the true story, only the King of Thessady himself could say. Whether they be tree or false, they are related with consummate art, and it is impossible for any one to read the book without having his soul purged by the passion of pity and sympathy for the unfortunate heroine, and without being completely carried away by the grace and force of the teller of the tale. This is true, even of the English translation, which carries the fact that it is a translation almost in every sentence, as, though the English is grammatically correct and irreproachable, yet the turn of the phrases and the structure of the sentences are quite foreign. We there- fore recommend the learned reader to read the original French ; but to the unlearned reader, we heartily commend the translation as a tale of interest and power.
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