tional oracle, should have been enunciated with the dignified weight derived not only from elevated station and official sanction, but from high endowments also of intellectual and moral worth, with large accessions of legal and literary talent, and all the varied accomplishments of polished and profound learning. It cannot of course escape notice and remembrance, that in two, out of three constitutional judgments in this volume, if no more, as it appears upon the face of them, that of Chief Justice Marshall was different; and had he survived, it would have been in all probability, and we may indeed say certainty, only to have delivered the dissenting opinions. This duty devolved, in regard to all three of those leading cases, principally upon Mr. Justice Story, to whose lot it thus fell, with a most appropriate felicity, to pay at once this parting tribute to the cherished memory of that great and spotless magistrate, and to pronounce their common sentiments in respect to the cardinal principles of that beneficent and beautiful system, which they had so long and so cordially coöperated together in the same sphere to uphold, and establish, and preserve. This profound and reverential feeling is expressed, not without sufficient modesty, and yet firmness, as well as feeling, in the concluding, and as it were valedictory portion, of the dissenting opinion in the Kentucky case; in which he touches. upon the circumstances under which he was left to perform this mournful, but not silent duty, in the following emphatic and expressive strain.

"I am conscious that I have occupied a great deal of time in the discussion of this grave question; a question, in my humble judgment, second to none which was ever presented to this Court, in its intrinsic importance. I have done so, because I am of opinion, (as I have already intimated,) that upon constitutional questions, the public have a right to know the opinion of every judge who dissents from the opinion of the Court, and the reasons of his dissent. I have another and strong motive; my profound reverence and affection for the dead. Mr. Chief Justice Marshall is not here to speak for himself; and knowing full well the grounds of his opinion, in which I concurred, that this act is unconstitutional, I have felt an earnest desire to vindicate his memory from the imputation of rashness, or want of deep reflection. Had he been living, he would have spoken in the joint names of both of us. I am sensible that I have not done that justice to his opinion, which his own great mind and exalted

talents would have done. But with all the imperfections of my own efforts, I hope that I have shown that there were solid grounds on which to rest his exposition of the constitution."— p. 350.

ART. VIII. Tales from the German. Translated by NATHANIEL GREENE. Boston; American Stationers' Company. 1837. 2 vols. 12mo. pp. 355 and 352.

THIS is the unpretending title of a work, given to the public by one of our own townsmen, a few weeks since. Though styled by the translator "Tales," they might well be called Novels, or Romances; for the first of the series occupies a whole volume, of as portly dimensions as would suffice for a brace of Bulwer's or D'Israeli's manufacture. Of the numerous contributions to the stores of fiction, with which the press has teemed of late, we have met with none more to our taste than this, or which is calculated to excite a livelier interest in the reader; a merit which must be slared between the author and the translator. It is a higher effort to translate well. a work of fiction, especially one abounding in colloquial dialogue and local allusions, than a work of sober science, where the terms readily find corresponding equivalents in our own language. The translator of fiction has the difficult task, if he would maintain the interest of his original, of clothing all the peculiar sentiments and images of a foreign nation in the familiar diction of his own.' If he fail in the former particular, the work loses its originality and truth; if in the latter, it will have a forced and formal air, fatal to interest. In whichever way he fails, the flavor of the original, like a fine essence imprisoned in a foul vase, will be spoiled.

A translation, skilfully executed, has, to a certain extent, as far as the public is concerned, a superiority over a native composition; since it makes us acquainted with the peculiarities of the nation to which the original belongs, more intimately and faithfully, than could be obtained from any similar production of our own. It is in literature, what a sensible foreigner who speaks our language fluently is in society, the very best source of information respecting the manners and usages of his own country.

Among the fruits, and the evidences, of that wider attention. to the literatures of other countries, which distinguishes the present day, is the translation, both here and in England, of many of the most popular foreign authors. None of the English writers have done the public better service in this way than Mr. Thomas Roscoe, who has selected with taste, and translated with considerable skill, some of the most interesting fictions of the Spanish, Italian, and German Novelists. From the latter he has made very liberal selections, from the old times of "Reynard the Fox" down to the writings of Tieck and Langbein, our own contemporaries. In this list, however, we find none of the compositions of Van der Velde, one of the most agreeable and popular authors of the present century; we might have added, in any other country than that where the writers seem to think in quartos, one of the most voluminous. His works, published at Dresden in 1824, the year of his death, amount to five and twenty volumes. A Life of the Author is incorporated in this edition. A briefer notice of him and his labors, is inserted in the German "Conversations-Lexicon," which, as it was too long for translation in the American edition of that work, we will give to our readers here. We recommend to Mr. Greene, to prefix to a subséquent edition of his book, a biographical sketch of his author, whose writings cannot be perused without exciting a natural desire to become acquainted with something of his personal history.

"Francis Charles Van der Velde was born at Breslau in 1779, and was educated there, at the Magdalen and Frederick schools. In his thirteenth year he lost his father, who had an office in the Chamber of Stamps at Berlin. In 1797, and the following year, he studied law at Frankfort on the Oder. He afterwards held several offices connected with the administration of justice, at Breslau, Winzig, and Zobten. He died at Breslau on the 6th of April, 1824. Between 1809 and 1814, he published various poems and tales in the journals, and wrote several pieces for the theatre, one of which is The Bohemian Amazons.' He finally devoted himself entirely to novel-writing. His larger tales began to appear in 1817; and he became the favorite of the reading world. His first series of tales is 'The Minerals,' in three volumes. Then followed 'Prince Frederick,' 'The Conquest of Mexico,'The Maltese,''The Lichtensteiner,' 'The Anabaptists,' The Patricians,' Arwed Gyllenstierna,' The Wish of Kanku,' The Theatre of Lovers,' 'The Bohemian

6

Maidens' War,' 'The Horoscope,'' Christina and her Court,' and The Embassy to China.' Van der Velde has been called, but improperly, the German Walter Scott; for in Scott's stories the romance is subsidiary, in Van der Velde's it is the main object. Scott's scenes are intended to illustrate certain historical periods. Van der Velde throws an historical air over his novels, only to give more interest to his characters and story. He has drawn fully half his materials from other than German sources. The scene is sometimes on the borders of Norway, sometimes in Mexico, sometimes in Corsica, at the Cape, in China; and he is skilful in preserving the local coloring, in bodying forth the style of thought and action belonging to the times and places selected, and in giving individuality to his characters."

The application of the name of Walter Scott may seem somewhat overstrained; as, indeed, to whom could it be applied without appearing so? The German Novelist, however, must be admitted to show great variety, and much truth and spirit, in his draughts of character, especially of those of his own countrymen, the subjects of his more intimate observation. He abounds in fine touches of pathos, which go direct to the heart; and if he sometimes, with somewhat of a national failig, oversteps the precise limits of probability, or of good taste, he has given a sombre and terrible coloring to some of his scenes, which takes powerful hold on the imagination. The stories which Mr. Greene has selected for his purpose are, "Arwed Gyllenstierna," taking up a whole volume, "The Lichtensteins," "The Anabaptist, (which the translator has substituted for the plural in the original,) and "The Sorceress." The scene of the first of these is laid at the period of Charles the Twelfth's death. We have spirited portraits of the Swedish monarch, of Ulrica, his ambitious successor, and of the celebrated Baron Swedenborg. But the chief interest of the romance is derived from the character of Arwed, a bold and precipitate young cavalier, whose chivalrous virtues are brought into strong contrast with the cold and prudent policy of the old counsellor, his father. Then we have another interest excited in the persons of two beautiful women; one the heroine, a sort of Flora MacIvor in her way, and the other a counterpart of Di Vernon, with a more liberal dash of the Amazon in her composition,- a lady, in short, who rides with pistols at her saddle-bow, and refreshes herself with a bear hunt before breakfast. The story is enlivened with many touches of feudal grandeur and hos

pitality, and many stirring incidents, which keep a keen interest awake in the reader. We quote the following extract, giving a slight sketch of the celebrated Charles the Twelfth, whose name is as familiar to the English reader as any of the line of British monarchs.

"Arwed followed the general. The door of the royal chamber at that moment opened. A man was standing by a table, upon which were lying a Bible, a map of Norway, and a plan of Frederickshall. His blue, unornamented riding-coat, with large brass buttons, his narrow black neck stock, his thin locks, which bristled in every direction, the broad, yellow, leather shoulderband, from which his long sword depended, and his large cavalry boots, would have led to the conclusion that he was a subaltern officer, but his tall, noble figure, his beautiful forehead, his large, soft, blue eyes, and his well-formed nose, gave to his whole appearance something so majestic, and so highly distinguished him from two embroidered, starred, and ribboned lords who were with him in the room, that Arwed instantly recognised his hitherto unknown king.

"The trenches opened on the fourth,' said the king, fretfully tracing upon the plan with his finger. They ought to be further advanced!'

"Certainly, your majesty!' answered Arwed's protector, in a sad tone. One feels tempted to believe that he who conducts these works either cannot or will not advance them, and it must be conceded that colonel Megret understands his business.'

"I know what you would say, Duecker,' said Charles, with a severe countenance. 'But I will give you a useful lesson. You must not speak ill of any one when you are speaking with your king.'

"Making an effort to suppress his feelings, and followed by the scornful smile of the eldest prince, Duecker retired, whilst the other, a youth of about Arwed's age, amused himself with examining the new comer with a far from becoming hauteur.

"The king, following the glance of his nephew, perceived Arwed, and advanced towards him.

"Who?' asked he, with some embarrassment.

"Gyllenstierna,' answered Arwed, with a profound inclination; a Swedish nobleman, who begs of your majesty that he may be permitted to fight under your banners.'

"Count Gyllenstierna?' inquired Charles, leaning on his giant sword. The father is a determined opponent of my administration!' said he to his brother-in-law, as Arwed bowed affirmatively, and a convulsive smile distorted the lips of his well-formed mouth.