blood. I bartered my oath for a promise ;-that promise has not been fulfilled, but my oath remains.' * the rare and faint gleam of serenity called forth by expectation of the Archbishop became anxiously thoughtful. "And now at the head of a considerable train, a young and handsome man, richly dressed in the national garb, galloped to the front, and gave the word of command. It was repeated far and near; horse, foot, and artillery, halted, faced half round, and fronted Castle Munkacz. The leader sprang yet onwards with a few companions, paused at the foot of the rock, and looked earnestly up to the castle. De*cidedly, that is not the train of his Grace of Gran,' said the elder Princess, bitterly, but uneasily; 'nor do those below seem very peaceably disposed; had we heard any alarming report I should take them for enemies.' 66 * * *You fall, my father, as you know, a victim to crafty enemies rather than to the king's will, exasperated as he is by an atrocious crime. * * * Your noble blood shall flow, not in accusation, but in atonement; and as your death is an atonement, suffer my life to be dedicated to constant mediation between my king and my country.' "With a compassionate smile the Ban rejoined, "You nourish high thoughts, young man. But hope not for thanks;-not from the Magyars in that coat-not from the Emperor or his ministers as my son. Here you will be only an Hungarian-there only the Emperor's servant.' "Nevertheless,' was Balthasar's decided answer, 'I will be a true Hungarian, and the true servant of the King of Hungary.' * * * * * The ex-Ban is executed, and Balthasar sent, as Captain Gade (the new name assigned him instead of the abolished Zrinyi) to the imperial army; and so ends Das Verlobungs-Fest zu Murany. In Balthasar und Anna we have the rebellion and fortunes of Tököly, usually called Tekely, provoked partly by his own mingled patriotism and ambition, partly by the filial revenge of Helena Zrinyi, with whom he is in love, and whom he marries as Dowager Princess Rakoczy, and the purely patriotic, unwearied, but ever unavailing and misconstrued efforts of Balthasar to mediate between Leopold and the Hungarians, to move the one to clemency, the other to submission upon fair terms. The detail of all this we think ter. "With shouts and clapping of his little hands had Prince Francis beheld the brilliant spectacle; and he now exclaimed: 'How can my grandmother's highness speak so? Those enemies! They are all Hungarians; and how grand they look! And the cavalier there in front, with the dolman* full of gold cords and tassels, and with the feathers nodding in his cap--how he rides! Look, mother look! What is he doing there? He bows, and lowers his sabre, just as if he were greeting us. And now he makes his horse prance and curvet! That is just the man I have always fancied as the leader of my hussars!' (a toy army.) "Helena Zrinyi, in a choking, and yet tolerably steady voice, and without casting a look of triumph or of the slightest scorn at her mother-in-law, said: 'Well, my boy; and that is the Emmeric Tököly.'" The elder Princess, indignant at the approach of rebels to her loyal castle, or ders them to be fired upon, to which her Austrian castle-captain objects, that he cannot do so without danger to the prelate. "And, indeed, upon one of the many sand-hills, not to give; and find our-with this author surrounded by several priests and a few soldiers, they -usual difficulty, in selecting an extract now discovered the primate, recognisable by his am capable of compression within reasonable ple violet-colored robe, his large round hat and his limits, without entirely losing its charac-milk white palfrey. But three or four of his small troops had ridden forward to the young leader, who We will take the first appearance of remained stationary, as though awaiting the return the rebel hero. Helena, now the widow of his salute. of Prince Rakoczy, is, with her son, and Anna Veselenyi (who, upon the violent arrest of her mother had fled to her friend and intended sister-in-law), resident at Munkacx, under the control of her mother-in-law, the bigoted and ultra-loyal dowager, Princess Sophia Rakoczy. The three ladies and the boy-prince are looking from a window for the approach of the venerable Gregory Szelepcsenyi, Archbishop of Gran, sent thither by Leopold. "After a short conference with the prelate's men, Emmeric, not without another bow to the window, turned his horse, and rode back to the head of his squadrons; one of which, to the renewed delight of the young heir of Munkacz, galloped to the sandhill, and encircled the archbishop. "Help, merciful heaven!' exclaimed Princess Sophia, has my life been prolonged only that I might see the anointed of the Lord seized before Munkacz by execrable heretics and rebels, and laid in irons, or his blood shed by the accursed hands of the Amalekites ?"" Tököly, however, merely escorts the archbishop respectfully to the castle, whi"The plain below gradually filled with horse- ther the emperor has sent him to nego men, but they seemed not to belong to a prelate's escort, for they galloped wildly about, casting up ciate with the insurgents. And now, havthick clouds of dust from their light horses' heels, ing relieved any alarm which Princess through which, however, it was discernible that they Sophia's fears might have excited in the were Hungarians. Gradually their numbers increased. Infantry followed, battalions upon batta- reader's mind for the excellent prelate's lions, in close array, and behind them the dust arose safety, as we intend not to attempt an abyet thicker from the wheels of artillery and ammuni-stract of the story, which could be but a tion waggons. A gust of wind dissipated, for an in- dry statement of the triumph and subsestant the white clouds that shrowded the whole; then was a banner seen bearing the arms of Hungary, and the countenance of Princess Sophia, losing * The native name of the Hungarian garb. Conte Pompeo Litta. Fol. Milano, 1833. WE have in a former number of this quent misfortunes of Tököly and his He- | ART. X.-Famiglie Celebri d'Italia, del lena, of the unsuccessful labors of Balthasar, and of the sorrows of his virgin-bride, we shall take our leave of Alexander Bronikowski, with one single additional criticism. He appears to us somewhat deficient in his sense of poetic justice. Of course, we do not wish him to paint virtue prosperous when history records its calamities and sufferings, but we do wish that he would set forth in stronger and bolder relief the final punishment of his vicious characters. He exhibits them almost con amore dur journal noticed this splendid work of Count of the great Italian families, whose names Litta, which may be truly called the Fasti have figured in the eventful history of their country, especially during the middle ages. The author has carefully collected the scattered documents concerning them, placed them in chronological order, family from the earliest authentic records and given the accurate genealogy of each till the present period, where the line is still in existence, or till the period of its extinction. A spirit of sound criticism and an enlightened judgment are everywhere sketches, which are drawn with all possiconspicuous throughout these historical ing their success; their ultimate disappointments, regrets, mortifications, &c. &c. are, as though he were glad to get rid of them, merely mentioned, and that so slightly as wholly to deprive us of any consolatory picture of retribution, as scarcely, perhaps, to produce a moral reflection in the young and light-mind-ble conciseness and clearness of language. ed. Since the above was written, ampler means of appreciating this novelist have been afforded to the British public; a translation of another of his historical novels, Boratinski, having appeared, under the title of "The Court of Sigismund Augustus." We do not, however, consider Boratinski as the best or fairest specimen of our author's powers. If it is replete with more striking scenes, with more novel-like interest than the works of which The plates are beautiful, some of them richly colored, and exhibit the true portraitures of the most distinguished individuals of each family, their coats of medals cast in their name, &c. arms, the monuments raised to them, the As a work of art, it does high credit to Italy, and it may vie with any work of the kind yet The author, produced in any country. unfortunately, is lately dead, after having completed forty-five families, containing of the Italian aristocracy. But among but a small portion of the great catalogue these are some of its most illustrious names. The Visconti of Milan, the Medici of Flowe have spoken, it is inferior to them in of Verona, the Appiani of Pisi, the Vitelli rence, the Carrara of Padua, the Scaligeri the skilful development of character, in of Citta di Castello, the d'Este of Modena, the delicate touches and simple truth to the Trivulzio, the Eccellino, the Sforza nature, which, to us, constitutes Bronikowski's great charm. The characters Attendolo, the Alighieri, the Buonarroti; kowski's great charm. The characters all these, which are complete, constitute in Boratinski are strongly drawn, but somewhat too highly colored. The translator is a Polish refugee of distinction (Count Valerian Krazinski), and we congratulate him upon having attained to mastery of our language very uncommon in a foreigner. At the same time we cannot say that the work does not often betray a want of familiarity with English a a brilliant constellation of fame, genius, and fortune, partly dimmed by guilt and materials which the indefatigable author adversity. We hope that the numerous had collected for the continuation of this great work have fallen into capable hands, and that the series will be continued with equal discrimination and talent. ART. XI.-Memorias Historico-Politicas, de Don Vicente Pazos. Tomo I. Londres. Impreso para el Autor. 1834. 8vo. idiom. In case the Count should, as we hope he will, give us translations of more Polish novels, we would hint to him that Bronikowski requires much compression for English taste, and, like German works generally, to be purified from that German construction of sentences which in English becomes heavy. We regret to learn WE rise highly gratified from the perufrom the preface that Alexander Broni-sal of this volume, the work of an able kowski is lately dead. and honest mind; and sincerely hope that the young republic of Buenos Ayres may ever have to boast amongst her statesmen, spirits so enlightened, candid and sagacious as that of her Vice-Consul in London, its author. The residence of Señor Pazos in so many countries of Europe and America has tended to free his mind from the natural though narrow prejudices inherent to every land; and every reader of Spanish must feel the advantages to be derived from this faithful and spirited, but unpretending narrative of events as they occurred, untinged by political bias. Sefor Pazos commences with a view of Spain from the earliest ages of her history, and adds many touches that are wanting to finish the larger pictures of her historians, with a simplicity and truth that are at once felt and recognised by internal evidence. Facts and reasonings equally correct and novel to the general reader appear in every page, as he proceeds with the Moors, Don Pelayo, and Columbus, the Spanish Discoveries, Almagro and Pizarro, and the state of Spain down to the intrusion of Joseph Buonaparte. His account of the proceedings of Napoleon, the Spanish Insurrection, the Cortes, the French Invasion, the Peninsular War, the various errors committed by the government, and his comments on the infatuated course of the different liberal ministers towards the Spanish-Americans, are concisely and impartially given, in a tone that makes us feel for the author as Dante did for Virgil, when becoming his guide to "the sights and sounds of woe." ions-lehre des Altdeutschen, nebst einem Wurzelverzeichniss. Nach Grimm bearbeitet, Zweite Abtheilung: Altdeutsches Lesebuch. mit Anmerkungen (Old German Rudiments. Part the First Introduction to the Knowledge of the Letters and inflexions of the Old German Languages, with a Catalogue of Roots. According to Grimm.-Part the Second: The Old German Reader, with notes. By Adolphus Zieman.) 8vo. Quedlingburg and Leipzig. 1833. THE copious title of this little volume gives but an inadequate idea of its value and utility. The first division contains not only a condensation of the learned Grimm's views of the Gothic, Old High German, and Middle High German languages, but likewise a copious list of their root-words. It will be found highly useful to the philological student, and a safe and intelligible guide to the lover of po etry and romance, who would fain explore the ancient records of German chivalry and song in the rough but stirring language of contemporary poets. The rules which mark the formation and inflexions of those languages from which the German of the present day is lineally descended, are here briefly but clearly explained in the space of some fifty or sixty pages. In the second division, or as it is appropriately entitled, the "Old German Reading-Book," the student is furnished with examples and applications of those rules, in a selection of passages drawn from the most remarkable monuments of those olden tongues, accompanied by il These extracts are of themselves highly curious. The specimens of the Gothic are taken from Ulfilas: those of the Old High German from Isidore's translation, Kero's Benedictinner-regel, Otfried, &c.; and those of the Middle High German from Lachman's edition of the Nibelungen Noth, from Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzivall, Titurel, Willehalm, the Tristram, Wigalois, and a number of similar works. The reader, it is true, may not always agree with the writer, but will scarcely ever find it possible to deny him the praise of candor, sincerity, judgment and re-lustrative notes from the pen of the editor. search. With this opinion of his talents, we must also add that, unlike the generality of Spanish writers, his language, like his thoughts, possesses little of turgidity, or of exaltado frenzy; and as a clear style is evidence of a clear head,-the thing that has been most wanted in much of the transactions he relates, we trust Señor Pazos will shortly favor us with a second volume of these Memorias, and enlarge the first, in which trifling errors are so amply counter-balanced by all that is dear In the attention which has hitherto been to the lovers of historic truth. The ad- paid to the known and acknowledged revocates of republics should note the pas-lations of early French and English poetry, sages regarding Bolivia. We may pro-and the connection of the latter with the bably notice this work at greater length other literatures of the continent, more hereafter. especially those of the Teutonic branch, has been entirely overlooked. The investigation of the obligations which the ART. XII. Altdeutsches Elementarbuch, poets of these countries have reciprocally von Adolf Zieman. Erste Abtheilung: conferred upon each other, has not yet Grundriss zur Buchstaben und Flex-met with the attention which it deserves. That there existed an intimate connection between the vernacular writers of England and Germany, at a period when they are generally supposed to have been as widely separated as pole from pole, is a fact which may easily be proved. We will say nothing of our borrowing from the Germans" The Merie Jest of a Man that was called Howleglas," for that might have been derived from them through the medium of a French translation; but the adventures of the "Parson of Kalenborow" are clearly translated from the German direct; and, as has just been discovered, the "History of Frier Rush," which caused Ritson so much perplexity, turns out to be a literal prose translation of a German poem, “Von Bruder Rauschen," printed at Magdeburg in 1587. Reynard the Fox was avowedly translated by Caxton from the Dutch; and among the Cottonian MSS. in the British Museum, there is a mystic rhapsody in which the nightingale and her plaintive song are declared to be typical of the doctrines and sufferings of Jesus Christ; the prototype of which the reader will see by referring to the article on Dutch Popular Songs in our last number, (p. 85), is to be found among the Spiritual Songs of Holland. One instance of the obligations of German literature to that of England shall conclude our observations upon this subject. In the Rostock manuscript of "Iwein der Riter mit dem Lewen," by Hartmann von Aue, is the following passage, in which the derivation of this romance from the English one of " Ywain and Gawain," published in Ritson's collection, is plainly stated. کا "Er was Hartman genant, Und was ein Awere, Der Bracht dise mere Zu Tisch als ich han vernomen Do er usz Engellandt was komen Hat ers an den Welschen buchen gelesen."* The three lines which we have printed in Italics are omitted in the edition of this romance published in 1827, under the editorship of Benecke and Lachman. It is true that they do not occur in the manuscripts employed by them; still, the general resemblance which the poems bear to each other would seem to prove that the words in question were the words of Hartman himself, and not the interpolation of a copyist. * He was Hartman named, and was an Auwer, who brought this book into German, as I have heard, after he came out of England, where he had been a long time, and had read it in the English (foreign) books. These few notes will, we think, establish the correctness of our views. The reader who may be desirous of examining this question for himself, will derive invaluable assistance in his researches from the little volume which has called forth these remarks. ART. XIII.-Les Juifs dans le Moyen Age, Essai historique sur leur état civil, commercial et littéraire. Par. J. B. Depping. Paris. 1834. 8vo. THE Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres proposed in 1821, as the subject of a prize essay, an inquiry into the state of the Jews in France, Spain, and Italy, during the middle ages. M. Depping was a competitor for the prize, although not a successful one, and the academy expressed its sense of the merit of his labors by une mention très honorable. The author, however, conceiving that the history of the Jews in the south could not well be separated from that of their brethren in the other countries of Europe, determined to extend his researches, and to make his work embrace a complete sketch of their state over the whole of Europe. The volume before us exhibits the result of his labors and researches. In a short introduction, M. Depping gives a summary of the principal events in the early history of this extraordinary race, and endeavors to indicate the leading features of their national character, as displayed during the various phases of their existence. The body of the work is divided into three epochs; in the first of which the writer follows the Jews, step by step, from their first entrance into Europe after the destruction of Jerusalem, to the end of the 10th century. Previous to the 5th century, there were very few of them to be found in any part of Europe excepting Italy, where they had settled from the commencement of the Roman empire. It is to Italy, therefore, that we must look for the basis of the legislation which was subsequently applied to them. Up to the time of the first Christian emperor, this legislation was alternately harsh or lenient, according to the dis positions of the different sovereigns; but the latter had so far predominated, that previous to Constantine's accession, they had changed the character of persecuted for that of persecutors, and one of his as everywhere else, in their further degradation and oppression. the people or the sovereigns. first measures was to protect the Christians from their violence and insults. Julian, on the contrary, favored and pro- In the second epoch, extending from the tected them. At the fall of the Western 10th to the 13th centuries, we find the empire their worship was still respected, splendor of their name revived in the and they were allowed to follow their na- south, under the Moorish governments in tional customs. With the reign of Jus- Spain. This is the period of their history tinian commenced that barbarous, unjust, which opened up a new era to them, and and sanguinary code, which for a succes- gave them a national literature, ilustrated sion of centuries regulated the policy of by some of their greatest names, such as the various Christian nations towards Rabbi Moseh, Isaac-Ben-Jacob Alphesi, them. Under Justinian it was that they Samuel Jehudah, Aben-Hezrah, and Maiwere first stripped of all civil charges, monides, in Spain; and Abraham-Ben-Daand declared incapable of filling them to vid and the Kimchis in France; in which all eternity; to crown their degradation, last country, however, they were not much the laws respecting them employed the better treated than during some of the most outrageous and insulting epithets; preceding centuries. In Italy, in England, their faith was vilified, and every sort of and elsewhere, the persecution against persecution resorted to, under the sanction them suffered little remission either from of the bishops, to make them renounce it. The popes were rather more favorable to them than the bishops, and sought rather to convert them to Christianity by mildness, in order to induce others to follow their example. In Spain, where their numbers early became excessive, the code of the Visigoths treated them with most revolting barbarity; the rites of their worship were interdicted to them, under the penalty of being stoned or burnt alive, and they were enjoined to eat all their dishes seasoned with pork, the well-known object of their detestation. Under the Moors, who succeeded the Goths, their situation was considerably ameliorated; although the spirit of the Koran is even less favorable to them than to Christians. In France, where they obtained a settlement about the beginning of the 6th century, and introduced the leprosy, the Merovingian kings and the clergy treated them much in the same way as the Visigoths in Spain. Charlemagne mitigated the severity of the laws in various ways, and even went so far as to employ some of them in the distant embassies which required a knowledge of the oriental tongues. Under his two successors. Charles the Pious and Charles the Bald, their influence and power became considerable; they were allowed to buy and sell estates, to fill civil offices, and even to collect the taxes; the unrelenting severity which they displayed in this last capacity, excited the clamors and hostility of the people against them, and from that time a species of civil war was maintained between the two, which continued for centuries, and ended, The third epoch, extending from the 13th to the 16th century, was the most calamitous of all to the unfortunate Hebrew race. The expulsion of the Moors from Spain was a death blow to their power and influence in that kingdom, and everywhere throughout Europe they were treated with the same barbarity and in tolerance which characterized the proceedings of the Spanish inquisitors, under whose power they fell. In France and in England, they became the victims of the periodical fits of popular fury and insanity which broke out on the appearance of any epidemical disorder, of which the Jews were always regarded as the cause, and their wealth became a prey to the avarice and cupidity of the sovereigns of these kingdoms. They found refuge and a short-lived tranquillity in Portugal, on their expulsion from Spain, but lost it when the two countries were united. All over Germany, they were subjected to similar persecution, massacre, and pillage. M. Depping's work everywhere attests the patient and laborious erudition of its author; he has in all cases had recourse to original authorities, and detailed a prodigious number of facts. But he has ra ther collected materials for a future historian than written a history: his book wants the life and animating spirit necessary to carry the reader pleasantly through a narrative replete with so much that shocks and revolts the feelings of an enlightened age, and is altogether deficient in those masterly touches which serve to relieve the sombre gloom of the picture. |