59. COWPER TO JOSEPH HILL. Cowper an Joseph Hill. — 1 To make a recompense, Dank abstatten. 2 Attention to my affairs, Besorgung meiner Angelegenheiten. 3 Restored to perfect health, both of body and mind, förperlich und geistig vollkommen hergestellt. 4 From which you could receive it— translate, which might procure it to you. 5 Denselben. 6 To spend with, zubringen bei. 7 Eine Wohnung. 10 Single, 11 8 An. 13 Während. ledig, unverheirathet. HUNTINGDON, June 24, 1765. * DEAR JOE,-The only recompense I can make1 you for your kind attention to my affairs 2 during my illness, is to tell you that, by the mercy of God, I am restored to perfect health, both of mind and body 3. This, I believe, will give you pleasure, and I would gladly do anything from which you could receive it 4. 6 I left St Albans on the seventeenth, and arrived that 5 day at Cambridge, spent some time there with my brother, and came hither on the twenty-second. I have a lodging7 that puts me continually in mind of our summer excursions ; we have had many worse, and except the size of it (which, however, is sufficient for a single 10 man), but few better. I am not quite alone, having brought a servant with me from St Albans, who is the very mirror 11 of fidelity and affection 12 for his master. And whereas 13 the Turkish spy says, he kept no servant, because he would not have an enemy in his house, I hired 14 mine because I would have a friend. Men do not usually bestow these encomiums on their lackeys, nor do they usually * Du—which in letters must be spelled with a capital—and its corresponding possessives are to be used throughout this letter. 15 To have experience of one, einen kennen lernen. 16 Never saw his fellow, habe seinesgleichen noch nicht gesehen. 17 To forget how to spell, schreibt. 18 Circumstance, Anzie20 I believe, benk' ich. 21 Beinamen. 23 In strict truth, wenn man bei 24 Sie gleichen fich wie die Finger einer Hand 25 Zum ersten Mal. 26 Von mir grüßen. 28 Sei versichert. 29 Der aufrichtigen Freund nicht mehr recht wissen, wie man . deserve them; but I have had experience of mine 15, both in sickness and in health, and never fellow 16. saw his The river Ouse-I forget how they spell it 17-is the most agreeable circumstance 18 in this part of the world 19; at this town it is, I believe 20, as wide as the Thames at Windsor; nor does the silver Thames better deserve that epithet 21, nor has it more flowers upon its banks, these being 22 attributes, which, in strict truth,23 belong to neither. Fluellen would say, they are as like my fingers to my fingers 24, and there is salmon in both. It is a noble stream to bathe (in), and I shall make that use of it three times a week, having introduced myself to it for the first time 25 this morning. I beg you will remember me to 26 all my friends, which is a task that will cost you no great pains (to execute); particularly remember me to those of your own house 27, and believe me 28, your very affectionate 29 WILLIAM COWPER. dwell, weilen. 3 To cling to ... 1 To proceed, kommen. hängen 2 To an. 4 Substitute, and where it. 5 Under the rough discipline, unter der strengen Regelung. 6 Blos. 7 Weil. 8 Social affections, gesellschaftliche Verbindlichkeiten. Verlassenste. 10 Rühmt. 11 Unter. 12 Gleichen Verhält 9 nissen. 13 The fairest face of nature, die reizendsten Gegenden. 14 Alle die reizenden Vorzüge der. 15 Tropenländer (climates of the sun). 16 Einöden. 18 Thou canst not bribe his soul, du kannst ihn nicht überreden. 19 When he remembers thee, wenn er deiner gedenkt. 17 Das. that earth under the Whence does this love of our country, this universal passion, proceed1? Why does the eye ever dwell with fondness upon the scenes of infant life? Why do we breathe with greater joy the breath of our youth? Why are not other soils as grateful, and other heavens as gay? Why does the soul of (art.) man ever cling to where it first knew pleasure and pain, and rough discipline of the passions was roused to the dignity of moral life? Is it only that our country contains our kindred and our friends? And is it nothing but a name for our social affections? It cannot be this; the most friendless (of human) being(s) has a country which he admires and extols 10, and which he would, in 11 the same circumstances 12, prefer to all others under heaven. Tempt him with the fairest face of nature 13, place him by living waters under the shadowy trees of Lebanon, open to his view all the gorgeous allurements 14 of the climates of the sun -he will love the rocks and deserts 16 of his childhood better than all these 17, and thou canst not bribe his soul 18 to forget the land of his nativity; he will sit down and weep by the waters of Babylon when he remembers thee 19, O Sion!-SYDNEY SMITH, 15 , 9 61. PRESENCE OF MIND. Geistesgegenwart. 1 Eine Rotte. proceed to, sogleich 3 To 2 To be, sich befinden. 4 Ein Wandkasten. 5 A person placed 6 Drunten. 7 Du sie gut ins Auge fasseft. the court, vor Gericht. 10 Torf. inside, wer innen stand. 3 12 2 To struggle hard, sich tüchtig 14 To mark, sich merken. 15 Verurtheilt. 16 Zeug A party1 of Whiteboys* entered a house in which were 2 a man, his wife, and their daughter, a little girl. The three were all together in one room. The ruffians rushed into the room, dragged the man out of the house, and there proceeded to murder him. In the room where the woman and the girl remained, there was a closet with a hole in its (art.) door, through which a person placed inside could see into the room. The woman concealed the little girl in the closet, and said to her, "Now, child, they are murdering your father down-stairs, and when they (will) have murdered him, they will come up here and murder me. Take care that, while they are doing it, you look well at them, and mind you swear to them when you see them in the court 9. I will throw turf 10 on the fire the last thing 11, to give you light, and struggle hard 12 that you may have time to take a good view." The little girl looked in through the hole in the closet door while her mother was being 13 murdered; she marked 14 the murderers well. She swore to them when she saw them in the court of justice, and they were convicted 15 on her evidence 16. -GOLDWIN SMITH's Irish History and Character. * The Whiteboys were insurgents, who began to create alarm in Ireland in 1762; so called from their ordinary dress being a white frock. 1 62. SCHILLER.-(1759-1805.)* 2 Allerlei Ungemach und 4 Als Schiller. Johann Christoph Friedrich. Wechselfälle durchzumachen. 3 To be appointed, angestellt werden. 5 Das... stand. Arzt. 6 Seine Tendenz, Richtung. 7 Auf den Asperg. 8 Durch schleunige Flucht. 9To devote one's self, sich widmen. 10 Literarischen Arbeiten. Drop "so." 12 Warmer. 13 Ohne Frage. 14 Triebe. 11 15 Die man so rührend darin geschildert findet. 16 Jungfrau. 17 Denkmäler. 18 Powers as a dramatist, dramatische Befähigung. 1 4 (I.) John Christopher Frederick 1 Schiller was born at Marbach, in Würtemberg, and died at Weimar on the 9th of May 1805. His parents being rather poor, he had to pass through manifold hardships and vicissitudes 2, till at last, in 1780, he was appointed 3 surgeon of a regiment of grenadiers stationed 5 at Stuttgart. In 1781 he published his first work, "The Robbers," whose motto, "In tyrannos," shows its tendency. The despotic Duke Charles of Würtemberg had sent the poet Schubart to the fortress of the Asperg for his liberal opinions. Schiller escaped a similar fate by a speedy flight 8, 1782. From that time up to his death, Schiller devoted himself 9 exclusively to his literary pursuits 10. When he died, the whole German nation felt the loss, and nobody more so 11 than Schiller's affectionate 12 friend, the illustrious Goethe. (II.) Schiller's works are unquestionably 18 the most popular in Germany, owing to the deep feeling and the noblest impulses 14 of the human heart so touchingly displayed in them 15. His "Wallenstein," "Maid 16 of Orleans," and "William Tell," are most glorious monuments 17 of the poet's great powers as a dramatist 18. The smaller poetical works of our author are so generally * See HAVET and SCHRUMPF's "German Studies," p. 51. |