GERMAN LITERATURE.
THE first of the three German books noted below,* is a most plea, sant little work on ancient Greece, political, literary, and artistic; which might be recommended to general notice by the choicest an, tithetical expressions. It is succinct without dryness, eloquent though compact. Even when on the generally dull subject of geo- graphy, F. Jacobs takes a genial view of the lands about him, widely different from those unattractive compendia which concise historians often think fit to inflict upon their readers. He writes like a man who perches himself upon a mountain surrounded.by interesting objects, and points out now the site of some natural peculiarity, now the nook in which some legend is lurking. How- ever, we are sorry to say that our use of the present tense is incorrect. F. Jacobs, whom all our juvenile readers will recognize as one of the editors of the "Bibliotheca Gram," is now deceased, and this is one of his posthumous works. If some of our school- book publishers do not snatch it up, and turn it into an attractive English volume, which may allure unwilling youth into the mazes of Greek history, and induce them to loiter therein, Paternoster Row will lose its character for sharpness of vision. But Paternoster Row will carefully avoid the second of the books named below. It is doubtless agreeable to possess a history of the German race in four handsome volumes, nevertheless the boon may be so liberal as to become oppressive. The world is often uncharitable, and when an author, who adverts to the origin of Christianity in connexion with German history, takes occasion to reprint large portions of the New Testament, he must not be surprised if he is suspected less of piety than of bookmaking. " Shakspere in Germany" has been a favourite watchword for many years; denoting not only a specific book, but a tendency to seek German criticism of a poet whom our High-Dutch brethren regard as the compatriot of the whole Teutonic race. "J. Payne Collier's emendations of Shakspere in Germany," is a phrase less neat and euphonious, but it denotes a fact. The fact is the third book on our list, which exhibits Mr. Collier's emendations in both German and English, arranged in parallel columns.
• (1) Hellas; Vortrage fiber Heimath, Gesehichte, Literatur and Kunst der Hellenen, von F. Jacobs. Berlin. 1853. (2) Gesehichte dee Deutschen Volkes, von J. Venedey. Berlin, 1853. (3)Erganzungsband au Shakespeare's Dramatisehen Werken, von Dr. J. Frese.
Berlin, 1853.
Previous page
