THE LOWELL OFFERING AND MAGAZINE: Written and selects a text and resolves it into its elements by the process Edited by Factory Operatives. Lowell, Massachusetts. This Magazine has been favorably known for a consi. derable time, and the cause it was meant to serve, was well calculated to enlist public sympathy. We regret exceedingly to find, from the September number, that it is likely to expire for want of patronage. The Editress takes leave of the public in a remarkably well written paper. MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF ENGLAND, from the Revolution in 1688, to the death of George the Second. By John Heneage Jesse. Author of Memoirs of the Court of England, during the reign of the Stuarts-3 volumes. Philadelphia, Lea and Blanchard. Mr. Jesse is already favorably known to the reading public, by his Memoirs of the Court of England, during the reign of the Stuarts; a work abounding in much curious matter, very agreeably arranged. A hasty glance at the present work, for we have had no opportunity of examining it as minutely as we should desire, has satisfied us that the author's reputation is fully sustained. The period he has selected, embraces a most interesting portion of the history of England, and, indeed, of the world; is full of stirring events, and adorned with many characters, illustrious alike in arts and arms. We need only advert to the fact, that the memoirs of Queen Anne, and of the extraordinary men and women, who rendered her court so remarkable, are included in the work under consideration. We are indebted to the politeness of Messrs. Smith, Drinker and Morris, of this City, for a copy of Mr. Jesse's Memoirs, and regret that we are compelled, from want of time, to notice it so hastily. A COURSE OF LESSONS IN THE FRENCH LANGUAGE, on the Robertsonian method, intended for the use of persons studying the language without a teacher. By A. H. Monteith, Esq. First American, from the fourth Brussels, edition. New-York-Wilson & Co., Brother Jonathan Press. of analysis. Even at the end of the first lesson, he speaks in the following confident language of the complete success of his method: "All these phrases the student will be able to render correctly into French, if he has paid attention to the construction of the text, and our observations upon it. This exercise will not only serve as an introduction to writing French, but will tend also to impress the structure and idiomatical peculiarities of the sentences it contains on his memory, and thus a basis will be formed, whereon the structure of the language will rest. The student will now have read, spoken and written a little French, and thus will have obtained a more extended notion of the language, than if he had been turning over the pages of a grammar, with a master, for a twelve month. Each successive lesson will strengthen and augment the knowledge of the language the learner may now be supposed to have attained." One of the prominent objects of the author, is to combat the prevalent notion that the language cannot be successfully acquired, and especially its correct pronunciation, On the contrary, he mainwithout the aid of a master. tains, that by earnest application, and solitary self-reliance, the student will more easily accomplish the task upon the method proposed. One thing we may say with perfect confidence, the book can do no harm, and we may venture to recommend it as a very ingenious exercise to the student, and by no means unworthy the attention of the scholar. WOMAN AN ENIGMA; OR, LIFE AND ITS REVEALINGS. A very pretty story of Love and Jealousy; serious misunderstanding, and final explanation and reconcilement. That woman is an enigma, is a truism with which the world has been long familiar, but so we apprehend is man. In that respect, therefore, the sexes are equal. The scene of the story is laid principally in France during the Revolution, and its tendency is decidedly moral. It inculcates with force, that most obvious but neglected maxim, that important conclusions should never be drawn from a hasty and superficial view of the surface of things. In the affairs of love especially, how often do “trifles light as air,” lead to a train of sorrows overshadowing, perhaps, the whole of after life. The young of both sexes would be benefitted by looking at this picture of "Life and its revealings." We have read a good deal of this book with very considerable pleasure, and whilst we never did believe that the temple of learning was to be reached with rail-way speed, or by any process of machinery-yet we have always thought that the mode of acquiring knowledge constituted a science in itself, capable of great, we liked to have said illimitable, improvement. Every one knows that some methods of teaching are greatly superior to others, and many individuals are endowed with unusual tact in developing | the germs of thought, and "teaching the young idea how to THE AMERICAN NEWSPAPER PRESS.-Passim.-We do shoot." We remember Basil Hall in his "Schloss Hains- not mean to review this many-headed machine. The Enfield," complaining bitterly of the tedious methods by which glish reviewers may attempt the criticism-but they are he acquired the German in eighteen months, in Stiria, whilst, by the improved Parisian process he was then ignorant of, one fourth of the time would have sufficed. The student of law, at the present day, is prepared to smile at the "lucubrationes viginti annorum" of Lord Coke, inasmuch as the dark recesses of that profound science have long since been illuminated by the master-minds of subsequent ages. We have no doubt that our townsman, the principal of the Richmond Academy, could turn out a finished classical scholar in less than one half of the time required by the learned pedagogues of the last generation, with all the aid they could derive from Dr. Birch and the ferule. We know not how the book before us will be estimated by professional linguists, but the plan of the author is certainly ingenious and plausible. Discarding the usual synthetic method by which language is taught, he, at once, prejudiced judges. The Southern Review broached itbut it dealt in generals, and wanted point and specification. The time is coming, when the work will be undertaken by some competent critic-and then we shall see canons laid down for the proper management of the press, and different papers of celebrity brought to the bar, and tried by these rules. We do not mean to undertake that office at presentin fact, touch it when any man may, we fear he will but disturb a nest of hornets. We must say, at this time, and perhaps for twelve months to come, the political press will be like a constant chime of bells-and the chorus will be Clay, Van-Buren, Calhoun, Cass, Johnson; conventions, delegates, voting, nominations, &c. Better take our own nomination-"for the Presidency of this grand Republic, Useful Christian Knowledge, and its friend, and indispensable supporter, Education for the Vice Presidency." Long live, we say, the Republic of Letters! PUBLISHED MONTHLY, AT FIVE DOLLARS PER ANNUM-BENJAMIN B. MINOR, EDITOR AND PROPRIEtor. VOL. IX. RICHMOND, NOVEMBER, 1843. NO. 11. A VISIT TO THE GRAVES OF LUTHER & MELANCTHON, the Real Presence, is said to have replied: "go BY T. C. REYNOLDS, L. L. D., HEIDELBERGENSIS. and behold the blood and body of our Lord, if you will, but I need not go, for I believe it already." "There are moments," says a great poet, "when Few of us are gifted with such a faith, and the we stand nearer to the spirit of our God, and can confidence of the most zealous Christian in the cast a more piercing glance into the dim mists of truth of the sacred books must be confirmed and the future." There are also moments and places strengthened, when he is led to the place where the when and where we stand nearer to the spirits of Lord lay, or touches, with his own hand, the rock the Dead, and can better appreciate their actions of Sinai. The fickle Parisian deems his vows of and character in the past. The soldier who tra- constancy more sacred when made o'er the spot verses, the plains of Marengo or Austerlitz then, where lie the faithful hearts of Abelard and Hefor the first time, can estimate the military genius loise, and the romance of pure and self-sacrificing of the Great Captain in its fullest extent, and ma-love still lingers, like the dying harmony of distant noeuvres, which the pen of the historian, or the music, near the spot where Christian of Brunspencil of the draughtsman has not made clear, wick, in the gardens which surround the princely are explained and justified by the nature and situa- castle of the Electors Palatine at Heidelberg, retion of the battle-field. A walk over the plain of ceived on bended knee, from the lovely and unforMarathon sheds new light on the page of Grecian tunate Elizabeth Stuart, the spotless glove, which, history, and a stroll through the narrow streets of victorious in many a subsequent contest, fluttered ancient Paris enables us to live, in fancy, amid the from his helmet's crest, like a banner in the breeze, scenes of the French Revolution and be eye-wit- and swore "for God and her, like a true knight, to nesses of its horrors. battle, and if God it will, like a true knight, to die." Thus is it with the scenes of Great Events: thus Such places are not as other places. However is it also with the places which Great Men loved, charmless they may be of themselves, there is or have honored with their presence during their something in the very atmosphere which whispers to life-time. How many mysteries in a man's cha- us, in a still small voice-this is Hallowed Ground! racter does the sight of his person clear up! What To a man of feeling and reflection there is a differinsight into that character does not his simple sig-ence between the spot where lie the remains of the nature give? The same may be said of his abode. Long after the period when a man, great in his generation, has been gathered to his fathers, his daily occupations, the habits of his every-day life are distinctly traceable in his dwelling and his chamber, his garden and his favorite walk. While cold and stately History shows us its hero afar off, amid all the pomp and circumstances of his historic station, the gossiping memoir brings us into his immediate neighborhood, admits us into the private apartments, where we may see the Man as well as the Hero; and, while a closer intimacy diminishes our awe and wonder, it increases our affection and often our respect. But 'tis not solely the clearer conception of past events to be obtained by an acquaintance with the scenes amid which they were acted, that constitutes the chief advantage and charm of visits to remarkable places. Not only the mind is stored with an additional knowledge, which leaveneth the whole lump of former reading, but the Heart is bettered, the Soul elevated and the feelings and sympathies purified and enlarged. Great and the Good, and the final resting-places of ordinary mortals. Small circumstances acquire great importance when connected with extraordinary men, and often slender and scarcely visible is the thread which enables us to find our way in the labyrinth of a great man's motives and feelings. To such, then, as do not think these minutiæ beneath their notice, I would address myself: to such as are curious to know of the small things as well as the great things which have occupied Great Men, it may not be uninteresting to wander in thought with me o'er the Mecca of Protestants, and linger, for a moment, around the graves of Luther and Melancthon. To narrate the incidents of their lives is not here my task: to avoid expressing any opinion concerning their principles is my duty. But as men they belong to history, and whatever may be the opinions of individuals, or classes, concerning the authors of Protestantism, every one must view them as men of no ordinary stamp, and whether he consider them messengers of light, or teachers of heresy, must feel a natural curiosity to know St Louis IX of France, when a priest came to how such men lived in their day and were honored announce to him a miraculous confirmation of after it. The space I have allotted to this comthe truth of a favorite dogma of the Roman Church, munication will not permit me to enter much into VOL. IX-81 detail concerning the habits and minor characteris- entice the traveller to enter its low gates, or thread tics of the great Reformers, and I shall confine my-its narrow streets. Over the ramparts which deself to a plain, unvarnished and succint account of fied the might of Charles V., now floats the ensign a visit to their graves. and marked out for his prey. Wittenberg has sunk into the insignificance of a provincial town, and is now but a dull and lifeless fortress: the garrison forms the main portion of its scanty population, (which does not reach five thousand), and even its situation on the Elbe, the great outlet for the produce of North Germany, has not been sufficient to raise it into any importance as a commercial or manufacturing city. of the House of Hohenzollern; and the bold and "Twas in the month of June, in 1839, that I soaring eagle of Russia has alighted on the gates started on this pilgrimage. I had been passing a where stood the square cross of Saxony in simple day or two at Potsdam, visiting the haunts of dignity, the pious emblem of the faith of the House, Frederic the Great and his friend Voltaire. I re- and the boding omen of its subsequent fate. turned late in the afternoon from a visit to Sans Those sceptered bandits, who took upon themselves, Souci, the Prussian Versailles, through whose mag-as if to canonize blasphemy, the name of the Holy nificent gardens I had been strolling the greater Alliance, and dared at Vienna in 1814, with bullypart of the day, and, after a hasty dinner, proceeded ing braggartism, to trample on the rights of the on my way, during the night, through the flat and smaller powers of Europe, tore from the Kingdom sterile plains of Brandenburg. At break of day, I of Saxony nearly one half of its territory, which was in sight of the ancient town of Wittenberg,—the Prussian bird had already grasped in his talons less gay and magnificent than the "City of Palaces" I had left, but possessing for the traveller and for the historian an interest which even the fame of Frederic and Voltaire cannot give the former. It was the capital of the extensive dominions over which the Electors of Saxony ruled in the 15th and 16th centuries: during that period of its glory, it ranked among the greatest and most important cities of Germany, and under the protecting care of those princes, Wittenberg enjoyed a degree of Wittenberg is situated on the right bank of the prosperity which, since the fall of that celebrated Elbe, about two hundred miles above Hamburg, house, it has never been able to regain. These in the midst of a fertile region, the province of illustrious sovereigns are justly termed by Robert-Saxony, particularly that portion bordering on the son the first princes of the Empire, for, in extent, Elbe, being as noted for its rich soil as the neightheir territories exceeded those of any other feudatory of the successors of Charlemagne. As Vicegerents of the Imperial Crown in North Germany, during the interval, sometimes long, which elapsed from the death of an emperor to the election of his successor, they often had sway over half the Empire. The silver mines of Freidburg poured into their treasury quantities of that precious metal, which its scarcity in that age rendered of immense value. As Hereditary Arch-Marshall of the Holy Roman Empire, the head of the House of Saxony, was one of the seven Electors to the crown of the Cæsars, and the royal dignity, which the Golden Bull of Charles the IVth imparted to the electoral cap, placed him on a level with kings. But these great-souled princes were not content merely to accumulate riches or extend their dominions; they sought after treasures which are not of the earth, earthy. Their Court abounded in men of learning and piety, the arts flourished under their protection, and the University of Wittenberg peaceful abodes of the tradesman and the artizan, rose up, to remain a lasting monument of their munificence and their love of science. Commerce poured its riches with no sparing hand into the laps of the citizens, and the beauty and chivalry of Saxony lent their aid to grace a capital already adorned by the genius and learning of Luther and Melancthon. But now, alas! how changed! "No tilts as once of old, No tournays, graced by chieftains of renown, boring Marquisate of Brandenburg is notorious for its sterile sands. The surrounding country is almost an unbroken plain, the land not becoming undulated until the upper part of the valley of the Elbe is approached. The city itself is in form square, surrounded by a rampart of considerable size and height and miles in extent: there is also at the foot of the rampart a very broad and deep moat, filled with water from the Elbe. The fortress, though not of the first class, is very strong, and stood a siege of several months, in the last general war in Europe: Magdeburg and Torgau, with it, may be considered the keys of the Northern Dominions of the King of Prussia. Within, it has little to please or attract; there is nothing imposing in its appearance. The mansions, splendid in their day, but mere hovels in this, where the haughty Barons and fierce Knights of that martial age planned the deeds of violence and blood, they knew but too well how to execute, are now the and the only objects which draw the traveller to the spot are the memorials which are left behind of the authors of the Protestant Reformation. Crossing the moat by a narrow bridge, we entered the town, through what is called a gate, but is nothing more than a low passage under the ramparts, not large enough to admit more than one vehicle at a time. 'Twas early in the morning, and the stillness and gloom which reigned in the empty streets, were just stealthily retreating before the rays of the rising sun and giving way to the visit I asked him if most of the visitors of these approaching day. The hour, with its accompani- tombs were not rather indifferent to the fame and ments, seemed a fit emblem of the period of igno- character of the men whose dust lay under them: rance and licence which preceded the Great revi- he reluctantly admitted that such was the case, and val of letters and religious feeling as well in the the unwonted air of satisfaction with which he Roman Church as beyond its pale. But our speedy related the visit of an American clergymyman, a arrival at the Post-House left me no time for reve-year or two before, disclosed to me that such plearie: I took in haste a bowl of coffee-a refresh-sures were with him rare. 'Twas truly to him a ment which, by a wise regulation of the Prussian sensation akin to that which we feel when we unpost-office, is ready at all hours, of the night as of expectedly hear the familiar tones of our own nathe day, to revive the wearied traveller-and pro- tive tongue, amid a crowd speaking a language ceeded to make inquiries for those who would guide which we understand not. This language of soul me to the places I wished to see. A servant of to kindred soul, 'twas, I fear, but seldom the lot of the house showing me the way, I soon reached the the Sacristan to hear. He was alone in the world dwelling of the Schloss Kuester, or Castle Sacris- in every sense, and but a short period before, as tan. He was taking his morning coffee, but soon the officer informed me, had breathed his last, and despatched it, came out to me, and merely bidding his body was deposited in the burying-ground of me good morning, led the way in silence to the the church, within which are the remains of those Church. We had not very far to go, as it lay to the praise and honor of whom his lifetime was scarcely an hundred yards off, near the gate through devoted. Peace be to his ashes! and those who, which our diligence had entered the city. as I, love to cherish the memory of the virtues of the lowly and the poor, rather than swell the crowd ever ready to chaunt the praises of the famous and the great, will join with me in this prayer and pardon my digression. I cannot resist the temptation to interrupt my narrative here, by devoting a few remarks to this old man. His appearance was quite striking and became his employment well. He was about the middle height, sallow and emaciated. He stooped conside- The Schloss Kirche, or castle church-so called rably, his countenance bore a grave and solemn ex- because it was formerly attached to a Castle of the pression, amounting almost to severity, and the deep Electors and Dukes of Saxony, which has disaptones of a sepulchral voice, (when he, at length, peared under the hand of time-has nothing rebroke silence at the doors of the Church,) seemed markable in its external, or internal appearance. suited to the recital of the events it is his so fre- It is about 100 feet by 40, and is built in the Gothic quent task to relate. His dress was plain and style of the 14th century, with a round tower about coarse but clean and neat, and his gait slow and 100 feet high at the Western extremity. We ensolemn he looked, indeed, like one who was ac-tered on the North side through a door in dimencustomed to brood over misfortunes in which no- sions proportioned to the size of the building, but body sympathized with him. Three years after more remarkable for the massive character of its my visit to Wittenberg, I was passing in sight of style than for any profusion of ornament, that perits ramparts on my way from Berlin to Leipzig. petually recurring characteristic of Gothic doorA Prussian officer of my acquaintance, who had ways. Against this door Luther hung up his celebeen stationed for some time at Wittenberg some brated 95 theses, or arguments, in condemnation years before, happened to be with me and our con- of the doctrine of indulgencies and other dogmas versation turned on the decayed city, which lay Roman Church. These theses he offered before us soon I recalled the old Sacristan to my same time, according to the custom of his mind, and made inquiries concerning him. The day, to defend against all comers--a practice still officer remembered him well and knew his history. retained in the German Universities, in creating a He was a man of some education and talent, but Doctor in any of the four Faculties. "Twas here that which constituted the most prominent trait in he took this bold step and first offered that resisthe old man's character was his admiration of, I tance to the authority of the Popes, which aftermay almost say, his passion for Luther. This wards raised his name to such a height of renown, sentiment is the more worthy of notice on account and was the first in a chain of events destined to of its variety, for the educated Germans, even the change the face of Europe and rend Christendom Protestant, are too much disposed at the present in twain. Although, to use the characteristic reday to undervalue the services and decry the cha-mark of the Sacristan, from the length of time racter of the Great Reformer. But to this old which has elapsed, a skeptical beholder may doubt man the memory of the immortal Doctor was an if this be the very wood to which the theses were all in all. To talk about the Great Reformer was attached, yet one thing at least was certain this his delight-to collect all the information he could was the place where the memorable deed was done about him was his chief avocation. A rich store and we now stood on the very spot, where, more of anecdotes no doubt lay concealed in his bosom, than three hundred years ago, the first step was to be disclosed only to congenial spirits. On my taken in the Protestant Reformation. How varied of the at the must have been the sensations of the crowd which tory attribute to him any great sensitiveness, or too gazed on that simple but imposing act! On this much regard to the conventional decencies and spot I glanced rapidly back through the vista of proprieties of life. As is well known, his coarse centuries to the period of which I speak, and con-language shocked and terrified the courtly Erasjured up with fancy's wand all the circumstances mus; nor did the royal dignity of Henry VIII., preof this great event. The mail-clad noble longing, vent the enraged Reformer from heaping upon him in his penury, for the rich possessions of the abuse and vituperation, which nothing but the emerChurch, the industrious citizen, looking with scorn gency could excuse. But, as I am free to admit, and hate upon the idle and luxurious monk, the in- the emergency did excuse it. The opening of the quiring student, his countenance "sicklied o'er with sixteenth century was a period when nothing could the pale cast of thought," the peasant, smarting be gained by mincing matters. The age and its under the yoke of his lord, and filled with an un-religious and political wants demanded and received conscious longing for some spirit-message from on a champion who knew not fear, who regarded not high, which should furnish him with grounds for King nor Priest, and had the boldness and the sturresisting his tyrants-all these were there. The dy strength to inflict on the flinching backs of usurpspark caught-the public mind was in a feverish ing potentates and corrupted prelates the scourging state-and in a few short years this small flame they so richly deserved, and which a long impunity had kindled into a conflagration which threatened had rendered the more necessary for the good of the political edifice of the Empire with destruction. church and state. A wall may be broken down Here commenced that great religious revolution with the blows of a pick-axe-but the battlements which, though small and peaceful in its beginning, which tyranny has been for centuries employed in was destined, in the course of the next century, to building up, around her strong holds, can only be originate wars which desolated France and Ger-beaten down by the ruthless thrusts of the battermany, caused the destruction of their liberties and shook society in all Europe to its very centre. Luther's face is round and full-in fact, someThrough this door, added the Sacristan as he pro- what to coin a word, beefy in appearance. Quickceeded to open it, the Herr Doctor, as he ceremo-ness, vivacity and intelligence are visible in a niously called the Great Reformer, has often en- countenance which has an air of coarse humor tered this church to declaim against the doctrines about it: but that which characterizes the face of of the Roman Church and through this his body Luther above that of any man, I have seen, is passed to its final resting-place. Power and Energy. In these qualities, the great We entered the church. Within, 'tis simple and Reformer exceeds even Napoleon, and they are exunadorned. Here, as at the door, the image-break-pressed in all their fullness in his face. ing mob had done its work, and nothing remains to attest its ancient character. The cross with the image of the expiring Saviour and the burning candles which, as in all the Southern churches in Germany, stand on the altar, are associated, 'tis true, in our minds with the imposing ceremonies of the Roman ritual-but here they are a part of the ancient ceremonial, retained, perhaps, more by accident than by design. An antique organ adorns the western end of the church, while the eastern end contains the altar. On the south wall, immediately opposite to the door through which we entered, is a full-length portrait of Luther in his monk's dress, such as he is usually represented in engravings. It may be almost superfluous to enter here into a description of the Reformer's appearance, except so far as it may be useful in testing the accuracy of portraits. Luther, to be candid, has, in his portrait, a decidedly vulgar appearance*-nor, I believe does his ing-ram. This portrait is by Lucas Cranach, one of the best of the early German painters and an artist of no ordinary merit. All the likenesses of the Reformer, by this painter, are said to be very accurate; I have seen several and they all resemble each other--a good test of accuracy. In the Royal Museum, at Berlin, I saw a portrait of Luther, by this artist, representing him in the costume of a young cavalier-the disguise he used at the castle of the Wartburg, where he was concealed, after his appearance before the diet at Worms. It excites unwonted feelings in the beholder to see the Reformer in this strange attire, and yet his jolly round face seemed to become it, and I could not avoid thinking of one of his own sayings which we find so often in the mouths of the Germans; best portraits, I find the true Luther. A rude plebeian face, with its huge crag-like brows and bones, the emblem of rugged energy; at first, almost a repulsive face, etc." On Heroes Lecture IV. This, from a warm eulogist of the Reformer, is a sufficient excuse for one who, as I do, claims to * Lest I should be thought too harsh, and therefore incordo him and his character justice. A Hercules-not an rect, in my description of the Reformer's appearance, I will Apollo-cleansed the Augean stables. Not Balder but add here the opinion of that clever compiler of exaggerated Thor it is, who showers down blows with his hammer on mysticism, sound sentiments and bad English, Thomas. Carlyle, on the same point (met since writing the above.) *Carlyle calls him "the bravest heart then living in the "Luther's face is to me expressive of him; in Kranach's world.” the Jätuns. |