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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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ssastt ss&r-K a : £ tftj ?~ 5 =. ~ de tly but a repetition of the foolish operations with the - - ^ 0 ^ * .. Aud I am , . yours , truly , Geo . Wtld , m . l > . In conclusion , let us once more remind the reader , that / because he is unconscious of any effort , and , indeed , thinks it impossible he should _ have turned the table , by any stress or pressure it by no means foUow . that the table was moved by any new agent , electrical or spiritual . I can t account for it , " exclaims the startled experimenter , and straightway proceeds to account for it I Because he cannot explain it , by reference to muscular action , of which he knows little , he explains it by reference to something of which he knows nothing ! « , « - ^ 4 . 1 Io i While on this subject , let us quote an amusing example of spiritual communication , " through what is called a " writing medium : —
Sra , —Although I am aware that the subject of the Kappings has been shelved , so far as your columns are concerned , for some little time past I cannot refrain from addressing a line to you as to a case of faith in this strange delusion with which I am myself mixed up in a very ludicrous way . m Havin- ( like a lazy correspondent as . I am , for I have a perfectly Viviamsh dislike to work ) omitted to reply to a communication received from an American friend some months ago , I received the other day a copy of a letter addressed by him to a gentleman in England , with whom he is distantly acquainted , from winch I extract a that sufficiently explains itself : —
passage « One day , while conversing on the subject of the Bappites , my hand commenced to write without the exercise of any volition on my part , and continued to move , on my taking up a pencil , until it had completed the name of ' Mary Ball . My hand then wrote intelligent answers to all and any questions that I addressed to it and still continues to do so whenever I sit down with a pen in my handalthough it is not stronger than my will , and it does not prevent my stopping or writing my own thoughts . Among the various communications , my aunt told me that my old friend , Henry Walker , was dead , giving me the date and place of his about hteen monthand 1 wisn
decease 'Now , I liave not heard from him for eig s , you to ascertain if he be indeed departed , and the exact date of his death . I next asked the sp irit of my aunt if she would visit England or elsewhere , and bring with her the spirit of Henry Walker , so that lie might speak for himself , by the next evening . She said she would . On the next evening , accordingly , I sat down-, when my aunt wrote her name and told me that the spirit of Henry was present . I asked him to take my hand and write his name . My hand immediately wrote , very distinctly , < Henry Walker . ' He told me to write to you for the corroboration of his statements . He then wrote in full the date of his death , the place
where , and the disease of which he died . All these I will tell in some future communication , as I wish the evidence to be conclusive . Please , then , to state , on the test authority , " 1 st , If he be dead ; «« 2 nd , The precise date of his death ; " 3 rd ,. The place ; and , " 4 th , The disease of which he died . " As the said Henry Walker is still living , I supposo that answer will be sufficient reply to the four queries , and will , perhaps , given under my own hand by the next American mail , somewhat shake the faith of one believer in " spirit manifestations " Sir , yours very respectfully , Henet Walker
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Professor Aytoun concluded his Lectures on Poetry , last Tuesday , by a rapid review of Scott , Wordsworth , Byron , Moore , Shelley , and Keats ; and declared that his object in preparing these lectures had never been that of promulgating any new views , but simply of recording his protest against what he helieves to be the modern tendency of worshipping obscurity . We have not observed that to be a modern tendency . It is a very old failing among a small class ; but never was of sufficient importance to warrant six lectures . Apropos of English poetry , let us mention that Fueiliguatii has published a volume of selections in Germany , under the title of Rose , Thistle , and Shamrock , arranged with considerable care . It includes some American poems , and is highly spoken of .
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TWO BOOKS A 11 OUT GOKTJIU . The Vocms of ( loctlie : TranslnUil in the Original Metres , with a Sketch of Goetho's Life . % Etl ur Allied How ring . ' ' W . Parker and bon . Goethe s Opinions on the World , Mankind , Literature , Science , and Art . Trans lated by Otto Wc-m-kNlorn . •»• W . Parker and bon . Two books on an inexhaustible theme , challenging criticism : one worse than worthless , for it , is . misleading ; the other weighty with worth , although open to homo objections . . If the vagaries of rhyme writers were penetrable , or in the least amenable to reason , 0110 might reasonably ask how Mr . Bowring , with hit * admiration of ( loethe , could , in cold blood , dvgaicti da raiur , jmblish such a volume- as ( he one he has just issued , purporting to bo Tha J ocms oj Goethe Admiral ion , not of ( lie , vulgar traditional kind , but springing from quick perception of th « < lelieaey und beauty of these poems , teaches all men that hero the Irtuluttorv must necessarily be tradtttorc , the translator tradncer . Our readers know what we think of the vanity oi
poetical translations ; we have often endeavoured to prove , that you might as well put a violet in ft crucible , and expect to reproduce its beauty and perfume , as to reproduce , in another language , the mysterious Bynthcsis of sound and sense , of meaning and suggested association , which constitutes the vital beauty of a lyric . Hut , impossible as wo Itold adequate translation to be , there wan a possibility of readable , agreeable , translation of Cioethe , if the translator were competent , antl if lie devoted enormouH Inborn- to it . Mr . JJowring is not competent . VVo confess thai on 110 truncation could wo look with satisfied eyes ; but Mr . Bowring ' tf is an inHult . The English reuder , who has heard ao much of Goethe , ( not Without u private mmpicion that ho wub a Uuwbug , " ) will take up tlu 8
^ -t ^ z ^ f ^ s ^ sSSssS to his seeing Charles Keanmurder " Duncan , ^^^ wram ^ i Goethe , and this is the way lie does him honour ! The ^^ JJ ^^ e places of poetic finery , which have been dragged ^ J ™ ^^' of magazines and volumes of poems , one knows not howlong ,. are ^ here gathered together , as representatives of Goethe s simple , straig&ttorwara wSSe Sey rhymes and audacious prosaisms , unrelieved by any oTS MicittrJf pSase which reveal a liter ^ oure ^ Je la forne , and conscious of the inextinguishable P ? wer of w ^' -U XT lOok of those careless graces and happy negligences of idiom , which , loot Like strength reposing on his own right arm , — unrelieved by any gleams of poetic instinct , make the critic lose all *¦ & £ j ££ ^ TK book at random-and be pleased to observe this is no figure of speech , we are actually about * ° quote the tot poem wMch caught our eye on opening ; it turns out to be the wellknown Herz , tnein Herz , was soil das qeben ? " NEW LOVE , NEW LIFE . [ Written at the time of Goethe ' s connexion with Lily . ] " Heart ! my heart ! what means this feeling ? What oppresseth thee so sore 1 "What strange life 19 o ' er me stealing ! I acknowledge thee no more . Fled is all that gave thee gladness , Fled the cause of all thy sadness , Fled thy peace , thine industry—Ah , why suffer it to be ? " Say , do beauty ' s graces youthful , Does this form so fair and bright , Does this gaze , so kind , so truthful , Chain thee with unceasing might ? Would I tear me from her boldly , Courage take , and fly her coldly , Back to her I ' m forthwith led By the path . I seek to tread . " By a thread I ne ' er can sever , For'tis'twin'd with magic skill , Doth the cruel maid for ever Hold me fast against my will ; While those magic chains confine me , To her will I must resign me . Ah , the change in truth is great ! ^ Love ! kind love ! release me straight ! 1775 . Every reader will be able to appreciate the merciless mediocrity of these verses . Let us try again : here are two poems : — " different threats . " I once into a forest far My maiden went to seek , \ And fell upon her neck , when : ' Ah !' \ She threaten'd , ' I will shriek !' " Then cried I haughtily : ' I'll crush The man that dares como near theo !' ? Hush ! ' whisper'dshe : ' My lov'd one , hush ! Or else they'll overhear thee ! ' 1767-9 . " " MAIDBN WISHES . " What pleasure to mo A bridegroom would be ! When married we are , They call us mamma . No need then to sew , To school we ne ' er go ; Command uncontroll'd , Have mnida , whom to ncold ; Choose clothes at our case , Of what tradesmen we please ; Walk freely about , Aiul go to each rout , And unroHtrnhi'd are By papa or mamma . 1707-9 . ' The rhymes of " far and ah ! " and " are and mamma , " arc not Iho worst faults . j ) o you need farther specimens P You do not . if we are angry with Mr . Bowring for the facile mediocrity of his translation , it ia because his volume will be injurious , if accepted . Bad ' original poems are bad , and " there ' s an end on't ; " but bad translations first entrap the unwary reader , by the attraction of a great name , and then deceive him , by allowing him to suppose that the great original is , after all , a very small personage . Had uoothe written at all like Mr . Bowring , no Mr . Bowrmg would have been found lo translate him ! The Booner this volume is withdrawn the better . Mr . Wenekstern ' s volume is of another diameter . It also is a translation , and not always a very felicitous translation ; many of the happy turns of phrase vanishing into commonplace , so that sentences only remarkable for the lambent ilainc which played through them , become , in this English version , altogether unnoticeable . Thin i , s inevitable ,, when the translator is writing in a Inngunge not his own . Mr . Wenckstern bus a very remarkable command over English , but he is not an Englishman , and only an Englishman , gifted with a st y le , could approach tho perfection wo demand . Our readers will have abundant opportunity of forming an opinion on Mr . WenokBtern ' s style , however , lor wo intend
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THE LEADER . [ Saturd ay ^
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 28, 1853, page 524, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1988/page/20/
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