HEINE ON FRANCE.* IF it is awkward, as Goethe remarks,
to begin a letter with an apology, it must be still more so to preface a critical notice with an excuse; but for this fact we should feel inclined to apologise for the accidental delay in noticing Mr. Leland's translation of Heine's works on France, issued in two volumes, under the collective title of "French Affairs." The first of these volumes, bearing in German the title of Pranz6sisehe Zustamde, contains the letters which Heine wrote at Paris from December, 1831, to September, 1832, for the Allgemeino Aug8burger (now " Mfinchener ") Zeitung, chiefly on the current political topics in France. He wrote them, according to his own confession, partly to show off his political wisdom, and partly for the sake of material gain, and consequently he did not entertain a very high opinion of their literary merit ; although he scorned to call them "Letters," and applied to them the more dignified title of " Articles " on issuing them, in 1833, in book form. Nevertheless it must be admitted that they have a certain value of their own, more especially from a historical point of view, since they present, on the whole, a faithful picture of French political life during the first years of the reign of Louis-Philippe, and they form, moreover, as the translator remarks, "an admirable prepara- tion for a study of French politics of the present day." Their importance is further proved by the fact that during the course of their publication the letters were frequently translated into French and published in Parisian journals with approval or censure, and that at the instigation of Metternich their continuation in the Allgemeine Zeitung was stopped, although the Press Censor had done his best to make them as harmless as possible. Fortunately Heine kept copies of his "Articles," and when he issued them in book form, he was able to insert all the passages struck out, and to publish all the letters suppressed by the cautious Censor. A much higher opinion Heine had of the articles he contributed to the Allgemeine Zeitung from 1840 to 1843, when he resumed his connection with that journal. These articles were published by him in 1854 under the happy title of Lutetia, after he had taken considerable pains to polish and touch them up. He did this to such an. extent that he flattered himself with the hope " that his Lutetia will form a model-book for the acquisition of an elegant style." This ex- pectation has not been fulfilled, though the Lutetia, taken as a whole, possesses considerable merit, and a melancholy interest attaches to it on account of its being Heine's last work.
What makes Heine's writings on France specially remark- able is the fact that he foretold in them—as has also been pointed out by the translator—for the first time, the impend- * The Works of Heinrich Heine : French Affairs. Lettere from Paris. Vols. VII. and VIII. Translated by 0. G. Leland. London : W. Heinemann. 1893. ing ascendency of Socialism. Poets are prophets, and so Heine saw, upwards of half a century ago, the storm whioh, then looming in the distance, has broken out in our days. Political revolutions have often enough been predicted, but it required more than an ordinary sagacity to foretell a movement which was quite novel in its bearing. Considered from this point of view alone, English readers not conversant with German will read these volumes in their English garb with interest. As regards the translator's performance, it has all the merits and faults of the preceding volumes, although it is, on the whole, superior to most of the Heine translations current in this country. The renderings are not invariably correct, and the absence of notes to Heine's numerous allusions will be sorely felt by English readers ; a defect which we pointed out in a former notice of Mr. Leland's translation. The German editions published of late years are as a rule provided with notes, and it is to be regretted that Mr. Leland did not avail himself of some of them ; for instance, of Dr. Eleter's admirable edition of Heine's " Collected Works," published at the Bibliogra- phisches Institut of Leipzig. In the last volume, Mr. Leland has appended more notes, we believe, than in the preceding volumes, but they are often irrelevant, and do not always pro- perly explain the subject-raatter. On the other hand, we notice with some gratification that he did not repeat in that volume a mistake, which occurred in all the former volumes, to which we alone, as far as we know, had called his attention. We allude to his rendering Herausgeber by the words " Ger- man publisher." Warned by our correction, he translated it in the last volume correctly, " German editor ; " but we think that he ought to have mentioned distinctly that the Heraus- geber was the well-known biographer of Heine, Dr. Adolf Strodtmann.
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