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    J0^ The deader and Saturday' Ana lyst. [...

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    A'GERMAN PASTOR* T HE business of" the t...

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    * Tha Z(fo of Schlaiormm'hoi', as unfohl...

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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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    * The Autobiography Of Loigh Muni. A Now...

    had been delicately reared , amid cohveritumal decencies , and Ins Xnirid had been trained , not left to work its issues put ;/ by its- own Impulses . Jlis father had encoiiriisred liis verse making-, and published the prod tice in- a volume of " Juvenilia , " of which the author lived to be ashamed . We remember once to have had copies of this volume , and are inclined to believe that Leigh Hunt was top sensitive on this score . The prevailing character of it was elegance , after the Pope and Shenstone mocTelv All tlfis indicated a course of culture calculated to form the taste . "What Leigh Himt had of genius was simply reflective . He grew up to a perception of better models , and learned to imitate them more judiciously . He went back to the Elizabethan poets , and carried bis public ( for he had one ) with him . ¦ ' - ¦ ' _

    As a teacher of the people , Leigh Hunt had peculiar qualifications . His want of classieality , which made him despise the Kenible school of acting-, was one . His taste was in the direction of romantic literature ; arid , therefore , a priori , of a popular nature . His association with the superior literary men of his day gave him ultimately a forced elevation and importance , and suggested to him possibilities beyond the natural reach of his own powers . His mind was , as it were * recreated by his intimacy . with ¦ Keats , Shelley , Byron , and his occasional interviews with Wordsworth and Coleridge . The two latter evidently awakened in him admiration and wonder—with the former he was on more familiar terms—nevertheless , they transcended him . The latter statement , however , must be accepted with some limitation . In the drama he was at least their equal . His " Legend of Florence" is more dramatic in its substance than anvthiiig produced by either of them , except " The Cenci . "

    We have another biography on our table—but it is not an aittobiography . It is a hasty , not to say careless compilation , or memoir ofLord J ^ acaulay ; « i which the deceased peer is considered as a historian , statesman , and essayist . It may , perhaps , be found an amusing compendium , as it includes some anecdotes of his life and literary labours . Lord Macaulay , like Leig-li Hunt , is also a representative man ; but he represents the successful literary man of the present dayi not that of the earlier portion of the century . He began life with advantages , to which the eldW essayist had no claim . Trained iii the severe Calvinistic school , his religious notions had none of the laxity which beset the latter . He was a stui * dy presbyfather t

    terian of the stern Calvin cut ; and derived from las an exac knowledge of the letter of ^ eiipture , He belonged to a family that had always been fortunate in lifei ; and was himself one of the most fprtimate of pien . The little \ vork to which we have adverted presents the reader with a rapid outline of his career , and really contains some original matter that is profitable for instruction . In conclusion , we feel that we have done rightly in noticing these two works together—for they are associated on the principle of Contrast ,, and present verv opposite phases , both of character and fortune , yet . both alike illustrative of literary life in the nineteenth century , so different in its manifestations when contemplated at its beginning or near its end . .

    J0^ The Deader And Saturday' Ana Lyst. [...

    J 0 ^ The deader and Saturday' Ana lyst . [ Teb , 18 ^ I 860 .

    A'German Pastor* T He Business Of" The T...

    A'GERMAN PASTOR * T HE business of" the translator has become a separate and important ; vocation in the paths of literature and science . Indeed , to be a good translator , more than ordinary ability is requisite , for in rendering the text of a foreign wr iter into his own language it should be the chief aim of the translator , as far as be has the pow ' er , to transfer the wit , beauty , and spirit of his author into his pages . As tin ' s is certainly the principal object which a translator should have in view while'transferring the f e elings and opinions of a foreign writer into orir mother tongue , this object can only be . satisfactorily accomplished by translating the whole sense of the original in that style which we may be sure the author himself would have used or have desir-ed to use . had he written in English Now , whatever may

    be the merits ' of German writers generally , and they are no doubt great , the idea of complexity arid heaviness ^ vith which translations of some of the best German authors inspire the mere English reader , creates tf distaste for the othei'wise rich and recondite German literature . Even the matter and the manner of a Gorman writer , that he may appear to advantage in England , musti undergo at change—not an essential , but simply a , conventional and idiomatic change—before he cau be relished We . Such a translation as wo mean would not at all interfere with the . " individuality " of the original , nor destroy any local or national characteristics and diffbrencea between us . On the contrary , the translation of works on the principle wo intend would , while maintaining the essential characteristic ^ of different nations , add materially to the power a ; nd

    popularity of foreign works among us . For in our language the mysticism and obscurity of Gcrnian writers are absolutely unreadable and unintelligible . We look for clearness of thought and expression in a book , nnd the unpopularity of every writer hero is in proportion to his want of this element of perspicuity . Thin fact , however , the admirable translator of the "Life and Letters ofSchleiermacher " scorns to Imve felt 5 for in the execution of hoi ? task she has carefully avoided all verbal " Germanisms , " and lms , consequently , succeeded in giving 1 us , in a popular style , the life of a man whose name is , worthy of becoming ft household word among- us . When eight yours more shall Imvo elapsed—n period , according to spmo of our prophetic interpreters of holy writ , that shall mark Oho commencement of all possible , blessing's— -it will bo a . century

    since the birth of Schleiermacher , and if ; is now a quartei" of a century since he died . He kept the " noiseless tenor of his Way " preacher and ' professor of theology in an , age of wars and revolutions , when poets and philosophers who made fame common were numerbus in every land . From his life and letters , now before us , we have no difficulty in forming a high opinion of the German preacher and professor . In some respects he may be pronounced a kind of Gerrnan Dr Watts , for his whole feeling- and understanding were faithfully and assiduously employed in the ; service of religion , all his aims and duties being , through a long - life * set upon the perfecting of himself and the happiness of his fellow-men . And . notwithstanding his talents and learning , his fame will rest chiefly on Jus character . To Christianity he was devoutly attached , and to those among it he addressed

    the cultivated classes of his age -who contemned a series of " Discourses on Religion , " which had a general and beneficial effect . While Schleiermaeher professed his firm belief in historical Christianity , he nevertheless roused the indifferent and the sceptical by appealing directly to the true religious sentiment within us as the source of piety to God and love to man . But sermons are , perhaps , heard by more and read by fewer persons ^ than anv other human productions . The perennial freshness of the Christian religion itself testifies against the idea that it is in its nature unwelcome to humanity .. It is its own evidence of its divine and indestructible truth . Sermons and discourses on religion may , indeed , state this fact over and over again , but they can add little to its force and ' -authority .. Hence , perhaps , the short-lived popularity

    of the divine ; for every generation loves to perceive and teach in its own way the eternal principles of the Christian revelation : The German theological professors , are proverbially prodigies oi learning . They have genius ,, and are partial to the broadest culture . Literature , philosophy , and Science are subordinated by them to the interests of religion . They may , however , from their extreme bookish habits , be too deeply saturated with dreams and opinions , and too scantily acquainted with the world , to be among- the foremost practical religious te . idvers and leaders of the world—the class of whom the Apostle Paul is the type . Schleiermacheiv however , stands high among religious teachers and reformers , aud as far as a very long epistolary . correspondency can'be said to constitute the of hleiermaeher cbinlete

    life of a man , we have the life Sc . p .. enough in the present volumes . For though it maybe a new species of autobiography , there : is , after all , no truer index to a man's heart fchaft is gene / ally contained in his letters ; especially when , as in the present instance ' , the writer freely and-Honestly expresses liis feelings and opinions on all subjects that Come under-his notice . We . tlnnk that from the poem of the poet , the tale of the novelist , the annals of the historian , we may learn pretty accurately ho \ v much each is able to do , what his powers may-be , but _ we may not .-learn much perhaps of what he himself really is . But from the letters of a distinguished man it is easy to get at his innermost feelings ,-he photographs himself—objective interests scarcely ever intervening' between himself and friends , either to conceal or modify his feelings . tluit the

    In the sonnets of ShaUespeare it has been suggested great dramatist ' s autobiography is written . No cloubt those sonnets evince much that was private and personal in the life ot the poet , but they certainly cannot lie accepted as autobiography . It is not so , however , with an author ' s letters , collected and arranged with strict regard to the time and place of their production . In . best bipirraphicsT is not a . letter frequently the most , interestingportion of the book , be the life as graphic and well written as it may ? There is nothing , however , wanting in " the present volumes to enable the reader to become acquainted with a great and good man , whoso affectionate heart and unclouded intellect we . cannot but hold in tho highest esteem . It is something , too , to learn how they feel and thinlr , and what they say and do in social life in Germany , and Sehleierinacher informs us all about these things in liis . times .

    The correspondence of Schleiermaeher shows how closely Gonnim criticism resembles our own , though for the most part German politics and philosophy may bo very different from ours . Hayingbeen informed that a certain literary journal had ceased to exist , ho observed , " It is quite in accordance with the laws of necessity that publications which are deficient in vigour , though not foiling in good intentions , must perish , while' others which , " Sir spite ot their bad tendencies , sire conducted with a certain ijmouut ot ability and ' skill , nourish , and deserve to do so . " " Sngca , " ho tells us , " are the only persons who ever do anything , though he himself knew that they somotimefl negleot to do liwiny things , for he informs tho world that his friend Schlegol left him in the lurch while translating Pluto . "Is not wit , " hoasltn , " the offspring of a light heart nnd a lively imagination ? "' There is much force and wisdom in the following : —

    "Be not astonished that your good mother clings so strongly to life . Why should she not ! She is independent , she . hns reason to bit aatudlea with her children , nnd iahnppy > ' » their love . To dospiw lifo is either enormous prido or revolting JovUy ; to bo indittbronfc to life is ouJy permitted bo him who feels that liis innor being is a ripe fruic , n \ xd who enjoys him-Kdf as such , or to him whoso real life is ftlrcudy destroyed , iviui to wlioiu therefore , denth ia no more than nu outwwrd fornmlity j but to 1 >« ublo to ilcltu-h ourselves from life in spito of nntiiro ' s clinging to it , flint- ™ tlio highost triumph of fuith and religion . Often tho ltiBt radiant xnoment is called . rapidly infp being , even in souls Wherein the etoynnl ligli . t hua not ( ilwuys shono with bright elTulgonco . " In tho Bocond volume- of luVXifo nnd Letters" lie i « 1 noro spocn ^ lativo , but ho never travels into n huid ofnu ' sts where bin j-eiulorrt < mn pcnrcely get a glimpao ol ' hiin .. JIo is plain to all undoi'HlnnaingH , yet truly ' profound , Jn a Jotter to . Tuoobi ho snys , " I will not evou in eternity aJUow myRelt ' to bo deprived of tho right to pliil »; flonlnHq . And he goos on to eny , " When my Christian i'cejing 1 is oojitjokuia or a

    * Tha Z(Fo Of Schlaiormm'hoi', As Unfohl...

    * Tha Z ( fo of Schlaiormm'hoi ' , as unfohloil In his AutQMdf / rayfig and Zotfovtt . TnvviHlaiod from tho German by Fiiepjerxoa Howan . London i Simith , Elder , nml Oo ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 18, 1860, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18021860/page/16/