FOOTNOTES:

[1] John L. Haney, German Literature in England before 1790, in the Americana Germanica, IV, No. 2.

Cf. also, Dr. Haney's monograph, The German Influence on Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Philadelphia, 1902.

Georg Herzfeld, William Taylor von Norwich, Halle a. S. 1897.

[2] The Works of William E. Channing, Boston, 1849. Geo. D. Channing. Vol. I-277.

Cf. also, the remark of Francis Hopkinson, p. 194.

[3] As early as 1754 William Creamer (or Cramer) was appointed Professor of the French and German Languages, at the University of Pennsylvania, which position he held for twenty-one years. In 1780 a German Professorship of Philology was established in the same institution. J. C. Kunze, the first appointee, lectured in German on Latin and Greek. After 1784, his successor, J. H. C. Helmuth, carried out the same policy.

Cf. M. D. Learned, Address at the Opening of the Bechstein Library, University of Pennsylvania, March 21, 1896.

[4] Benjamin Franklin's visit to the University of Göttingen is described in the Göttingische Anzeigen for Sept. 13, 1766, which states that the session of the Royal Society of Sciences held on the 19th of the preceding July was more impressive than usual. "The two famous English scholars, the royal physician, Mr. Pringle, and Mr. Benjamin Franklin, from Pennsylvania, who happened to be at that time in Göttingen on a trip through Germany, took their seats as members of the society."

Cf. the account by Dr. E. J. James (The Nation, Apr. 18, 1895, p. 296), reprinted in B. A. Hinsdale's article Foreign Influence upon Education in the United States, published in the Report of the Commissioner of Education, 1897-98. Vol. I, pp. 604-607.

Cf. also, L. Viereck, German Instruction in American Schools, ibid., 1900-1901. Vol. I, p. 543.

[5] Adams wrote also an account of his journey to Silesia in July, 1800. This was in the form of twenty-nine letters to his brother, written during the trip, and thirteen more added after his return to Berlin. Although they were private communications, the editor of the Port Folio secured them for his magazine and printed them anonymously, without suppressing personal references, as the author would have done, had he known of the publication.

"Whether these passages ever came under the observation of the persons affected is not certain. So long as they remained confined to the columns of an American publication of that day, the probabilities would favor the negative. But they were not so confined. Again, without the knowledge or consent of the author, an individual, unknown to him, but fully aware of the facts in the case nevertheless took the collection from the Portfolio to London, and there had them printed for his own benefit, in an octavo volume, in the year 1804. From this copy they were rendered into German, and published at Breslau the next year, with notes, by Frederick Albert Zimmerman; and in 1807 a translation made into French, by J. Dupuy, was published in Paris by Dentu.

"Thus it happened that these letters, originally intended as purely familiar correspondence, obtained a free circulation over a large part of Europe without the smallest agency on the part of the author, or any opportunity to correct and modify them as he certainly would have done had he ever possessed the power."

Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, Edited by Charles Francis Adams. 12 vols., Philadelphia, 1874. Vol. I, 240-241.

The American publication began in the Port Folio, I-1, Jan. 3, 1801, Phila. For a review of the English edition, cf. The Monthly Review or Literary Journal, XLV-350, December, 1804, London.

[6] "He [A. H. Everett] had probably studied German while he was associated with John Quincy Adams in St. Petersburg, where German influence was strong and the study of the language and literature could be pursued under the most favorable conditions. The United States Magazine and Democratic Review, New York, Vol. X (N. S.) 1842—p. 461, states that he studied at St. Petersburg, among other things, the modern languages."

Frederick H. Wilkens, Early Influence of German Literature in America in the Americana Germanica, III, No. 2, p. 155.

[7] M. D. Learned, German as a Culture Element in American Education, Milwaukee, 1898.

[8] New Idyls, by S. Gessner. Philadelphia, 1802.

[9]

Bürger, Leonora [Wm. Taylor—some variants], Vol. I-221.
Bürger, The Chase [Sir Walter Scott], Vol. II-413.
——, The Water King [M. G. Lewis], Vol. III-92.
Goethe, The Erl-King [M. G. Lewis], Vol. III-93.
——, The Erl-King's Daughter [M. G. Lewis], Vol. III-94.

The last three, however, were also in Lewis' Ambrosio or the Monk, Philadelphia, 1798.

[10] Wilkens' List. Two selections from Bürger and two from Goethe appeared in Lewis' collections, but no editions of their poems exclusively were issued. Klopstock's Messiah was published three times before 1811, but not his shorter poems.

[11] Wilkens mentions about a dozen magazines incidentally but no attempt has been made to investigate this field.

[12] Universal American Almanack, or Yearly Mag., 1764, Phila., contains a poem entitled Golden Verse of Pythagoras.

[13]

Curiosities of Literature, 1793, Philadelphia.
Miscellanies, 1796, Burlington.
A Book, a periodical work, 1807, New York.
The Thistle, 1807, Boston.
Charms of Literature, 1808, Trenton.
The Hive, 1810, Hartford.

[14] Albert H. Smyth, The Philadelphia Magazines and their Contributors, 1741-1850. Philadelphia, Robert M. Lindsay, 1892. Preface, p. 5.

[15] A list of the libraries consulted is given at the beginning of Part V.

[16] M. C. Tyler, The Literary History of the American Revolution, I, 1763-1776, New York, 1897, p. 18.

[17] Smyth, op. cit., p. 20.

[18] M. C. Tyler, A History of American Literature, II, 1676-1765, New York, 1878, pp. 304, 305.

[19] There are in the magazines of the period, 71 translations of German poetry and 10 duplicates; 68 original poems and translations of other Teutonic poetry, and 24 duplicates.

[20] No list of the translations from the Latin and French in these magazines has been made, so that a numerical comparison with those from the German is at present impossible.

[21] John Bach McMaster, Benjamin Franklin as a Man of Letters, Boston, 1887, p. 129 seq.

[22] A similar decline in the German literary influence was noticed also in England after 1810.

[23] The Moss Rose, From the German [of Krummacher]. The Minerva, I-40, May 4, 1822 and II-296, Dec. 20, 1823, N. Y.

[24] The Ranz des Vaches has also four metrical versions:

1833—The Lady's Book, VI-164.
1833—The Juvenile Rambler, II-84.
1835—Amer. Mo. Mag., V-424.
1809—The Visitor, I-72 (entitled Cow Boy's Chant).

[25] Boston Weekly Mag., III-60, Feb. 2, 1805, Boston.

The Visitor, I-72, June 3, 1809, Richmond.

[26] The British Museum catalogue mentions "Fables et Contes [trans. principally from the German of C. F. Gellert, etc.], 1754."

[27] Cf. The Earth's Division, "Trans. from Goethe [sic], by L. E. L." Waldie's Port Folio, Part I-123, Apr. 11, 1835, Phila.

Also, Benevolence, "A Fable from the German of Galleret" [sic], 1802.

[28] Amer. Mus., III, Jan.-June, 1788, p. 539. Cf. Part IV, p. 194; also the remark of W. E. Channing, Part I, p. 1.

[29] "A German writer, L. W. Bruggeman, has published, at Stettin, in Pomerania, a Prussian province, a work, in English, on which he has laboured twenty-five years. It contains a view of all the English editions, translations and illustrations of the ancient Greek and Latin authors. In the execution of this work, he has been at great expense, being obliged to purchase and import a great number of English books. This is a very curious specimen of learned perseverance and labour. That a man should spend his life in recounting the translations of ancient authors into a language foreign to his own! It is one of the most difficult, tiresome, unpopular, and unprofitable branches of the trade. Germany, however, affords innumerable instances of this kind of literary diligence. There is a press at Leipsic abundantly supplied with editions and interpretations of Chinese, Abyssinian, Coptic and Syriac productions."

Mo. Mag. and Amer. Rev., II-8, 1800, N. Y.

[30] A translation of Schiller's Ranz des Vaches in "William Tell" is given in The Constellation, III-266, July 7, 1832, N. Y.

[31] Wilkens, op. cit., p. 164 seq.

[32] Wilkens, op. cit., p. 108 seq. and 164 seq.

In England, likewise, the Idyls were constantly on the book-market and The Death of Abel had 20 editions before 1800. Cf. Herzfeld, op. cit., p. 6.

II.

TRANSLATIONS OF GERMAN POETRY.

THE OLD MAN.

From Gesner.

From the London Magazine, Oct. 1773.

[Prose translation.]

Royal Amer. Mag., p. 14, Jan. 1774, Boston.

[Reprint from the London Mag., p. 437, Sept. 1773, London. Preceding the title: "For the London Magazine."

Salomon Gessner, Palemon, Idyllen, Erste Folge. Concerning the prose translations from Gessner, cf. p. 16.]

For the Pennsylvania Magazine.

MIRTIL AND THIRSIS.

A Pastoral.

From the German.

[Prose translation.]

Penna. Mag., I-359, Aug. 1775, Phila.

[S. Gessner, Myrtil. Thyrsis. Idyllen, Erste Folge.]

Description (with an elegant Engraving) of the celebrated Tomb of Madame Langhans, executed by Mr. John Augustus Nahl, late Sculptor to the King of Prussia, and which is to be seen in the choir of the parish church of Hindlebanck, two leagues from Berne.

As the inscription and verses of the Tombstone, which were written by the celebrated M. de Haller, could not with propriety be introduced in the engraving, we insert them here, in a free translation from the original German.

Hark! the majestic sound! the trumpet hear!
 See the astonish'd tombs give up their prey!
 Oh God! my Savior! 'tis thy voice I hear!
 And with my child, I come t'eternal day,
 Awake my infant; open now thine eyes,
 Leave the corruption of thy mortal birth,
 Arise my child, to thy Redeemer rise,
 And taste at length the joy denied on earth,
 Before his face death must yield to life;
 Hope to real joy ... there, purged from sins,
 Serenety succeeds to grief and strife, Time flies...
 Eternity begins.

In this blessed hope
Sure that her Saviour will fulfill his promise,
Reposes in this Tomb,
Guarded by a tender and sorrowful husband,
Mary Magdalen Waber,
Born 8th August, 1723;
And who departed this life on Easter-Eve 1751,
The wife of
George Langhans,
Preacher of the gospel at Hindelbanck.

Boston Mag., I-56, Dec. 1783, Boston.

THE BACCHANALIAN.

(Translated from the German.)

The thunder rolls dreadfully through the dark sky,
 To the cellar I quickly retire;
 Think not that I wish from the thunder to fly;
 No—'tis for the best wine to enquire.

Universal Asylum and Columbian Mag., IV-253, Apr. 1790, Phila.

LETTER LXI. OF THE SORROWS OF
WERTER, VERSIFIED.

Though Homer fired my youthful breast,
 My tender fancy deep imprest,
 Ere grief had made me smart:
 Yet of him Ossian has ta'en place;
 His woe-fraught strains, with solemn grace,
 Now occupy my heart.
To what a world of direful kind,
 The Bard illustrious leads my mind,
 'Midst heaths and wilds to stray;
 Where the fierce whirlwinds sweep the plain;
 Where the moon feebly holds her reign;
 And ghosts elude the day.
To hear from off the mountains steep,
 The plaintive sounds, from caverns deep,
 Of water's dismal roar:
 To hear the maiden's doleful cries,
 That on her warrior's tomb-stone dies,
 Who her did much adore.
I meet this bard of silver hair,
 He wanders in the valley drear,
 Whilst grief his mind consumes:
 His father's footsteps tries to trace
 In vain, for time does them efface;
 He only finds their tombs.
The pale moon sinks, amid the waves,
 He contemplates her as she laves
 Her tresses in the sea:
 Reflects on time for ever gone,
 When danger pleased and spurred him on,
 Till every foe did flee.
When he returned on evening grey,
 The moon shone on his Bark of prey,
 His trophies won, displayed:
 When by his countenance, I find
 Deep-rooted sorrow fill his mind,
 That youth so soon decayed.
When I perceive that glory bright
 To fade so soon, to sink in night,
 And tottering to the grave:
 And when around he casts an eye
 On the cold earth, where he must die,
 The fate of e'en the brave.—
The traveller will come, he cries,
 He'll come who saw my beauty rise,
 And anxiously enquire;
 Where is the bard and warrior gone,
 Where is Fingal's illustrious son,
 Whither does he retire.
Then searching o'er the field and mead,
 He lightly on my tomb shall tread,
 But me he ne'er shall find:
 Then I, my friend, like a true knight,
 My sword shall draw, my prince to right,
 And ease his troubled mind.
And this atchieved, with grief opprest,
 Could plunge it deep in my own breast,
 And eager for him bleed:
 To follow him now half divine,
 Hero of the Fingalian line,
 Who by my hand was freed.

Universal Asylum and Columbian Mag., VI-50, Jan. 1791, Phila.

[Goethe, Die Leiden des jungen Werthers. Letter dated Oct. 12, 1772.]

AMYNTAS. [α].

A Pastoral Fragment.

[Prose translation.]

Mass. Mag., IV-351 June 1792, Boston.

[S. Gessner, Amyntas. "Bei frühem Morgen kam der arme Amyntas...." Idyllen, Erste Folge.]

Pastoral Eclogue.
THYRSIS AND CHLOE.

[Prose translation.]

Mass. Mag., V-195, Apr. 1793, Boston.

[S. Gessner, Thyrsis.

New Idylles By Gessner. Trans. by W. Hooper, M.D., 1776, London. P. 25, Thyrsis.]

AMYNTAS.

A Pastoral Fragment from Gessner.

N. Y. Mag. or Lit. Repos., IV-584, Oct 1793, N. Y.

[Also in Mass. Mag., IV-351, June 1792, Boston.]

THE MORNING.

By Haller.

The moon retires—Nature's dark veil no more obscures the air and earth—the twinkling stars disappear and the reviving warmth of the sun awakens all creatures.

Already are the heavens adorned with its purple hues and its sparkling sapphires. Aurora, fair harbinger of the day, graciously dispenses smiles; and brightness of the roses which wreath her forehead dissipates the mists of night.

The flaming of the world advances from the eastern gate, triumphantly treading on the shining splendours of the milky way; clouds covered with Heaven's rubies, oppose him with their lightning, and a flame of gold spreads itself around the horizon.

The roses open to salute the sun with genial dews; and the lilies exhale delicious odours from their sattin'd leaves.

The vigilant hind flies to the labour-giving field; he guides with careful pleasure the earth-piercing plough; in the meantime his ears are delighted by the lightsome band of minstrels, which sweeten the air and the woods with their melodious notes. Thus doth benignant Heaven lighten the heavy pressure of toilful industry! O Creator! all that I see are the effects of thy power! thou art the soul of nature and doth actuate every part! the stated periods and glittering appearance of yon orbs, and the unquenched fires of the revolving sun, proceed from thy hands, and boast thy impression!

Thou illumest the solemn moon to guide us amid darkness; thou dost lend wings to the unseen wind, and by night thou dost enrich the earth with fruitful dews.

From the dust thou hast formed yon proud-topt mountain; from sand hast thou produced metals; thou hast spread yon firmament, and thou hast clothed it with clouds, that it may remain unpolluted by the exploring eye of man.

Thou hast wonderfully formed the veins of that fish which causes rivers to overflow, and which makes whirlpools, and spreads devastation with the flappings of his tail. Thou hast built the elephant, and thou hast animated its enormous bulk, that it resembles a moving mountain. Thou supportest yon splendid arches of the heavens upon the vast void; and with thy word thou hast produced from chaos this wondrous universe, filling it with order, and giving it no other limit than its grandeur.

Great God! created spirits are too insignificant to raise the glory of thy works! We lose ourselves in their immensity. To tell them one must resemble thyself on infinity. Humbly contented, I remain in my own prescribed circle. Incomprehensible Being! thy resplendent glories blind the presuming eye of man! and He from whom the earth receives its being, needs not the praises of a worm!

N. Y. Mag. or Lit. Repos., IV-720, Dec. 1793, N. Y.

[Albrecht von Haller, Morgen-Gedanken, Den. 25, Merz, 1725.]

MORNING.

From Haller.

Phila. Minerva, I, May 30, 1795, Phila.

[Also in N. Y. Mag. or Lit. Repos., IV-720, Dec. 1793, N. Y.]

Translated Poetry.

For the New-York Magazine.

THE ZEPHYRS, AN IDYL. [α].

(Translated from the German of Gesner, by W. Dunlap.)

[Prose translation.]

N. Y. Mag. or Lit. Repos., VI-760, Dec. 1795, N. Y.

[S. Gessner, Die Zephyre.]

Translated Poetry.

For the New-York Magazine.

FIRST IDYL OF GESNER.

(Translated from the German by Wm. Dunlap.)

Daphne—Chloe.

[Prose translation.]

N. Y. Mag. or Lit. Repos., n. s., p. 49, Jan. 1796, N. Y.

[S. Gessner, Daphne. Chloe. "Sieh, schon steigt der Mond hinter dem schwarzen Berg...." First idyl—Zweite Folge, 1772.]

THE OLD MAN.

Translated from the German of Gessner.

Phila. Minerva, I, Jan. 16, 1796, Phila.

[Also in The Royal Amer. Mag., p. 14, Jan. 1774, Boston.]

FABLE

Imitated from the German of Gellert.

While a nightingale chanted in the midst of a forest, the neighbouring hills and vallies were delighted with her exquisite melody. Every wild bird forgot to sing, listening with fond admiration. Aurora tarried behind the hill, attending to her musical cadences; and Philomel, in honor of the goddess, warbled with unusual sweetness. At that she paused, and the lark took the opportunity of thus addressing her; 'Your music meets with just approbation; the variety, the clearness, and tenderness of the notes are inimitable; nevertheless, in one circumstance I am entitled to a preference. My melody is uninterrupted; and every morning is ushered with my gratulations. Your song on the contrary, is heard but seldom; and, except during a few weeks in the Summer, you have no claim to peculiar attention.' 'You have mentioned,' replied the Nightingale, 'the very cause of my superior excellence. I attend to, and obey, the dictates of Nature. I never sing but by her incitements; nor even yield to importunate, but uninspired inclination.'

Phila. Minerva, II, Apr. 23, 1796, Phila.

[C. F. Gellert, Die Nachtigall and die Lerche.
Free translation of the first stanza; the second, containing the application of the fable, omitted.]

A FABLE

Imitated from the German of Gellert.

Clarine loved her husband with sincere affection—for he was a husband to her mind. Their desires and aversions were the same. It was Clarine's study to be agreeable, and by unwearied attention, to anticipate her husband's wishes. "Such a wife," says my male reader, who has thoughts of matrimony, "such a wife would I desire."—And such a wife mayst thou obtain.—Clarine's husband fell sick—a dangerous illness.—"No hope" said the physician, and shook his awful whig. Bitterly wept Clarine. "O death!" she cried, "O death! might I prefer a petition? Spare my husband; let me be the victim in his stead." Death heard, appeared, and "What," said the grim spectre, "is thy request?" "There," said Clarine sore dismayed, "There he lies; overcome with agony he implores thy speedy relief."

The Nightingale, I-199, June 16, 1796, Boston.

[C. F. Gellert, Die zärtliche Frau. The introductory stanza not translated.]

THE LASS OF FAIR WONE.

From the German of Bürger.

Phila. Minerva, II, Dec. 17, 1796, Phila.

[G. A. Bürger, Des Pfarrers Tochter von Taubenhain.
W. Taylor of Norwich, The Lass of Fair Wone in the Monthly Magazine, I-223, Apr. 1796, London. Also in Taylor's Historic Survey of German Poetry, 3 vols., 1830, London. II-32, under the title The Parson's Daughter.]

VIRTUE REWARDED:

A Pastoral Tale.

(From the German of Gesner).

[Prose translation.]

Phila. Minerva, II, Dec. 17, 1796, Phila.

[S. Gessner, Daphne.
W. Hooper, New Idylles by Gessner, p. 33, Glicera.]

Miscellaneous.

By Ferdinand Wallhime.

THE WISH

(in imitation of Matthison).

Once more could I wish, ere yet my blest spirit
 Sunk in Elysium, peaceful mansion of shades!
 That spot t' revisit, where Infancy
 In dreams aerial, play'd 'round my brows.
The shrub of my country, whose branches o'erspread
 The cool nest of the patridge, waves gentler my friend,
 Than all the gay forests of laurel
 O'er the dust of the world's mighty conq'rors.
The streamlet of that mead, where in childhood
 I cull'd early violets, more musically murmurs
 'Midst the alders once rear'd by my sire,
 Than the silver Blandusian fountain.
The hill, on which swains, in bands youthful and gay
 Danc'd 'round the trunk of the sweet blossom'd poplar,
 With greater rapture inspir'd my heart,
 Than Alps dazzling heights in roset glimm'ring.
Therefore could I wish, ere yet my blest spirit
 Sunk in Elysium, peaceful mansion of shades
 That spot t' revisit, where infancy
 In dreams aerial, play'd 'round my brows.
Then may death's smirking genius, of a sudden,
 Extinguish life's taper, well pleas'd I'll hasten
 To Xenophon and Plato's musing shade
 And to Anacreon's myrtle tufted bow'r.

Lit. Museum, or Mo. Mag., p. 47, Jan. 1797, West-Chester.

[F. Matthisson, Wunsch an Salis. "Noch einmal möcht' ich, eh in die Schattenwelt...."]

BENEVOLENCE.

A Fable.

Imitated from the German of Gellert.

O'er Howard's tomb soft Pity weeps,
 Bewailing still her favourite's fate;
 And thence the Muse invokes her aid
 Of kindred merit to relate.
Like him to sympathize with woe,
 Like him to heal the broken mind;
 And rear Affliction's drooping head,
 Belinda's generous soul inclin'd.
But want of fortune oft, too oft,
 Her charitable views withstood;
 For what, alas! avails the will,
 Without the power of doing good?
Her uncle dies and leaves his niece
 A clear two thousand pounds per ann.
 "Ah! now," she cries, "I'm blest indeed,
 "I'll help the poor where'er I can."
Scarce had she spoke, when, at her door
 An old decrepid wretch appears;
 Bent on his crutch he begs an alms,
 And moves her pity with his tears.
Belinda felt for his distress,
 She heav'd a sigh and shook her head;
 Then to this aged son of woe
 Stretch'd forth a—crust of mouldy bread.

Amer. Universal Mag., I-28, Jan. 2, 1797, Phila.

[C. F. Gellert, Die Gutthat.]

PRO PATRIA MORI

From the German of Bürger.

For virtue, freedom, human rights, to fall,
 Beseems the brave: it is a Saviour's death.
 Of heroes only the most pure of all,
 Thus with their heart's blood tinge the battle-heath.
And this proud death is seemliest in the man
 Who for a kindred race, a country bleeds:
 Three hundred Spartans from the shining van
 Of those, whom fame in this high triumph leads.
Great is the death for a good prince incurr'd;
 Who wields the sceptre with benignant hand:
 Well may for him the noble bare his sword,
 Falling he earns the blessings of a land.
Death for a friend, parent, child, or her we love,
 If not so great, is beauteous to behold:
 This the fine tumults of the hearts approve;
 It is the walk to death unbought of gold.
But for mere majesty to meet a wound—
 Who holds that great or glorious, he mistakes:
 That is the fury of the pamper'd hound,
 Which envy, anger, or the whip, awakes.
And for a tyrant's sake to seek a jaunt
 To hell ——'s a death which only hell enjoys;
 Where such a hero falls—the gibbet plant,
 A murderer's trophy, and a plunderer's prize.

Amer. Universal Mag., I-141, Jan. 23, 1797, Phila.

[G. A. Bürger, Die Tode.]

THE LASS OF FAIR WONE.

From the German of Bürger.

Amer. Universal Mag., I-211, Feb. 6, 1797, Phila.

[Also in Phila. Minerva, II, Dec. 17, 1796, Phila.]

THE BROKEN PITCHER.

From the German of Gesner.

[Prose translation.]

The Key, I-69, Mar. 10, 1798, Frederick Town.

[S. Gessner, Der zerbrochene Krug.]

LEONORA. [α].

A Ballad from Bürger.

The following translation (made some years since) of a celebrated piece, of which other versions have appeared, and are now on the point of appearing, possesses so much peculiar charm and intrinsic merit, that we are happy in being permitted to present it to our readers.

[The translation follows.]

Weekly Mag., I-221, Mar. 17, 1798, Phila.

[G. A. Bürger, Lenore.
Wm. Taylor of Norwich, Lenora.
Mo. Mag. and British Register, I-135, Mar. 1769, London.
M. G. Lewis, Tales of Wonder, 1801, London.

The translation appeared anonymously in the above mentioned, but was afterwards printed with several changes under the title Ellenore in Taylor's Historic Survey of German Poetry, II-40.

Also in Tales of Terror and Wonder, collected by M. G. Lewis. With an introduction by Henry Morley, 1887, London. Cf. Preface.]

TO A LITTLE CHARMER.

From the German of Lessing.

Come kiss me, little Charmer,
 Nor suppose a kiss can harm you;
 Kisses given, kisses taken,
 Cannot now your fears awaken;
 Give me then a hundred kisses
 Number well those sweetest blisses,
 And, on my life, I tell you true,
 Tenfold I'll repay what's due,
 When to snatch a kiss is bolder
 And my fair one's ten years older.

Weekly Mag., II-30, May 5, 1798, Phila.

[G. E. Lessing, An eine kleine Schöne.]

For the Weekly Magazine.

THE SWALLOW. A FABLE.

(From the German of Lessing.)

Believe me, my friend, the great world is not suited to philosophers or poets. We are insensible to their real worth; and they, alas! are often weak enough to exchange it for a mere nothing.

In early ages the swallow was as tuneful and melodious a bird as the nightingale; but she soon became weary of residing in solitary groves to excite the admiration of none but the industrious peasant and the innocent shepherdess. She left her humble friends, and removed into town. What was the consequence? As the inhabitants of the city had not leisure to attend to her divine song, she gradually forgot it, and in its stead learned to—build.

Weekly Mag., II-82, May 12, 1798, Phila.

[G. E. Lessing, Die Schwalbe.]

THE CHASE.

By Gottfried Augustus Bürger.

Weekly Mag., II-413, July 28, 1798, Phila.

[G. A. Bürger, Der wilde Jäger.

Sir Walter Scott, The Wild Huntsman. Published with William and Helen in 1796 and entitled The Chase.

M. G. Lewis, Tales of Wonder. Entitled The Wild Huntsmen. By Walter Scott.

Cf. note to Leonora, in the Weekly Mag., I-221, Mar. 17, 1798.]

THE ERL-KING.

(The Original is by Goëthe, Author of Werter.)

Who is it that rides through the forest so fast,
 While night frowns around him, while chill roars the blast?
 The father, who holds his young son in his arm,
 And close in his mantle has wrapped him up warm.
—"Why trembles my darling? Why shrinks he with fear?"
 "Oh father! my father! the Erl-king is near!
 The Erl-king, with his crown and his beard long and white!"
 —"Oh! thine eyes are deceived by the vapours of night."
—"If you will, dear baby, with me go away,
 I will give you fine clothes; we will play a fine play;
 Fine flowers are growing, white, scarlet and blue,
 On the banks of yon river, and all are for you."
—"Oh father! my father! and dost thou not hear
 What words the Erl-king whispers low in mine ear?"—
 —"Now hush thee, my darling, thy terrors appease:
 Thou hear'st 'midst the branches when murmurs the breeze."
—"If you will, dear baby, with me go away,
 My daughter shall tend you so fair and so gay;
 My daughter, in purple and gold who is drest,
 Shall nurse you, and kiss you, and sing you to rest."
—"Oh father! my father! and dost thou not see?
 The Erl-king and his daughter are waiting for me?"
 —"Now shame thee, my dearest! 'tis fear makes thee blind:
 Thou seest the dark willows which wave in the wind."—
—"I love you! I dote on that face so divine!
 I must and will have you, and force makes you mine!"
 —"My father! my father! Oh hold me now fast!
 He pulls me! he hurts, and will have me at last!"—
The father, he trembled; he doubled his speed:
 O'er hills and through forests he spurred his black steed:
 But when he arrived at his own castle-door,
 Life throbbed in the sweet baby's bosom no more.

Weekly Mag., III-93, Aug. 18, 1798, Phila.

[Goethe, Erlkönig.
M. G. Lewis, Tales of Wonder, 1801, London.

The above text, however, is taken from Lewis' Ambrosio, or the Monk (1795), which has several variants. The first Amer. reprint of The Monk was taken from the fourth British edition, 1798, Phila. Cf. Preface.]

THE ERL-KING'S DAUGHTER.

(The Original is Danish; but I read it in a German Translation.)

Weekly Mag., III-94, Aug. 18, 1798, Phila.

[J. G. Herder, Erlkönigs Tochter in the Fourth Book (Nordische Lieder) of Stimmen der Völker in Liedern. Trans. from the Danish.

M. G. Lewis, Tales of Wonder and The Monk.

Cf. note to The Erl-King.

The original is in the Kiampe Viiser.]

AMYNTAS, A PASTORAL TALE. [β]

(From the German of the celebrated Gessner.)

[Prose translation.]

Weekly Mag., III, 347, 358, Mar. 23, 30, 1799, Phila.

[S. Gessner, Mycon. In the French version, entitled Amyntas.

W. Hooper, New Idylles, p. 18.]

FRIENDSHIP

Translated from the German.

Set to music by Russ.