dence, in democratic freedom, in resistance to tyrants, in the inalienable right of the pure, laborious, peaceful tillers of the soil to govern themselves. The interest of the play rests not on William Tell, but with infinite art, which nothing but sincerity could have inspired, it is diffused through the little nations that were lifting themselves into political independence. In this, Schiller has not been equalled by poet or historian. And this conception was purely the creation of his own genius.

But the progress of despotism endangered even Switzerland. Schiller had no hope but in the unseen world. He sought to fly from the pressure of real life, into the tranquil capacious sanctuary of the heart, to cherish freedom, if it were but as a vision. As the hart for the water brooks, he panted for the realms of truth, which puny despots and time-servers could not invade. He had studied the whole history of man, and nowhere found his visions realized. "It is the dove," says a French biographer, "that quitted the ark to wander over all the earth, but finding nowhere rest for its wing, returned to its heaven-appointed shelThe hour of death came to him at a season of deep dejection for the friends of liberty. As his dissolution drew near; just a few instants before his last breath, a friend inquired of him how he was, and received the answer, "calmer and calmer."

ter."

E'en then, says our own Bryant, whose character is kindred with Schiller's, though born in a happier land,

"E'en then he trod

The threshold of the world unknown;
Already, from the seat of God,

A ray upon his garments shone

Shone and awoke that strong desire

For love and knowledge reached not here;

Till death set free his soul of fire,

To plunge into its fitter sphere.

Then who shall tell, how deep, how bright,
The abyss of glory opened round;
How thought and feeling flowed, like light,
Through ranks of being without bound!"

To dwell on Schiller's character is the less necessary, as the admirable life of him by Carlyle is so well known. The perusal of that life we commend to the young men of our country.

In the translations from Schiller, Mr. Dwight has been eminently successful. His version of the Song of the Bell, for

example, of which many versions have been made, is without compare the best; and some of his English competitors were skilful and experienced at the vocation. We notice also among the poems, Mr. Dwight has selected the song "To Joy," "The Artists," "The Ideal and Life," in which Schiller reveals his views of life, and of the duty of the poet. Here also is the sublime song "The Feast of Victory," which was the admiration of Madame de Staël. In all these, as in others, the poetic talent of Mr. Dwight is displayed most happily. "The German Muse" illustrates the independence of German literature, and bestows on it praise of which no part belongs to Goethe. In "Hope," and in the less successfully rendered "The words of Faith," in "The Ideal and Life," Schiller's own creed is delineated. Justice to Schiller compels us also to say, that Mr. Dwight has sometimes admitted from a friend a translation, which he would scarcely have tolerated from himself.

Yet to one of the contributors Mr. Dwight is largely indebted. The versions by Mr. Frothingham are of the highest merit. The diction is beautiful, terse, appropriate, and exact. The spirit is animated; the keeping perfect. "The Flowers," "The Festival of Eleusis," the "Cassandra," are all rendered by Mr. Frothingham, and each will more than justify the high praises we have bestowed; for they show the hand of one who is not satisfied with doing well, but strives to render his versions faultless. We met the other day a beautiful version of Schiller's Indian Death Song, by Sir John Herschel; in this volume we have a translation by Mr. Frothingham. We shall put them side by side, giving but the single remark, that Mr. Frothingham's version is literally exact.

THE INDIAN DEATH SONG.

SIR JOHN HERSCHEL'S VERSION.

See, where upon the mat he sits,
Erect before his door,

With just the same majestic air
Which once in life he wore.

N. L. FROTHINGHAM'S VERSION.

On the mat he's sitting there :
See! he sits upright,

With the same look that he warę
When he saw the light.

But where is fled his strength of But where now the hand's clinched limb,

The whirlwind of his breath
To the Great Spirit when he sent
The peace-pipe's mounting wreath?

weight?

Where the breath he drew,
That to the Great Spirit late
Forth the pipe-smoke blew?

Where are those falcon eyes which Where the eyes, that, falcon-keen,

Sound the death song, bring the gifts,

The last gifts of the dead,

Marked the rein-deer pass,
By the dew upon the green,
By the waving grass?

These the limbs, that, unconfined,
Bounded through the snow,
Like the stag that's twenty-tyned,
Like the mountain roe!

'Neath his head the hatchet hide,
That he swung so strong;
And the bear's ham set beside,

Let all which yet may yield him joy For the way is long;
Within his grave be laid.

The hatchet place beneath his head
Still red with hostile blood,
And add, because the way is long,
The bear's fat limbs for food.

The scalping knife beside him lay,
With paints of gorgeous dye,
That in the land of souls his form
May shine triumphantly.

Then the knife, — sharp let it be, -
That from foeman's crown,
Quick, with dexterous cuts but three,
Skin and tuft brought down; –
Paints, to smear his frame about,
Set within his hand,
That he redly may shine out
In the spirits' land.

We close our desultory criticism with repeating our conviction, that the volume which we have reviewed is the best volume of translations from the German poets in our language. VOL. XXVI. - 3D s. VOL. VIII. NO. III. 48

The work does high honor to Mr. Dwight, who has our best wishes for his literary success. A genuine love of letters, a spirit that has confidence in truth, that is not alarmed by inquiry, a catholic willingness to appreciate excellence of the most opposite kind, mark the character of the Notes, which he has happily appended. They prove him to have reflected deeply, to have given careful thought to his winning employment. In connexion with the poems, they call up for consideration most of the principal German theories of philosophy. There is not a word of illiberality, not a rash, sweeping criticism in all his notes. He seems resolved on appreciating every one's merit; and this amiable and honorable quality is a sufficient defence, even if his speculations should not all be received, and if he should be charged with excess of admiration for one at least of the poets, for whom his labors are winning new suffrages.

ART. VII.-Travels in South Eastern Asia, embracing Hindustan, Malaya, Siam, and China; with notices of numerous Missionary Stations, and a full account of the Burman Empire; with Dissertations, Tables, &c. By HOWARD MALCOM. In two volumes. Boston: Gould, Kendall & Lincoln. 1839. 12mo. pp. 274 and 322.

MR. MALCOM was sent to the East as the deputy and representative of one of the great American Missionary Societies, to examine and adjust many points not easily settled by correspondence; to compare the various modes of operation in different missions; to survey the field; to compare the claims of proposed new stations; to comfort, encourage, and strengthen the missionaries in their arduous work; and to gather details on every branch of the subject on which the Board lacked information. In addition to the present publication, voluminous communications in relation to Mr. Malcom's official doings, inquiries, and conclusions are in possession of the Board which, it is intimated in the preface, will not be withheld from the examination of proper applicants. With the majority of the public we have had access only to the two volumes now before us, which, with exceptions to be noticed, have impressed us favor

ably with the zeal, the perseverance, and the judgment employed by Mr. Malcom in the discharge of the duty assigned to him. The work consists of four parts, embracing Travels in Burmah; Digested Notes on the Burman Empire; Travels in Hindustan, Malaya, Siam, and China; and Dissertations, Tables, &c., with an Appendix, pictorial illustrations, and a map of South Eastern Asia. The claim of originality for the map should have been sustained by a distinct specification of the errors and omissions in previous maps that have been corrected and supplied, and of the instruments and observations by which the localities were ascertained. "Local surveys " and "recent unpublished maps and charts at the Surveyor General's office in Calcutta" are the best authorities, especially if in these are included Captain Pemberton's maps appended to his secret Report on the Burman frontier, which, however, we suspect is not the case; but when Mr. Malcom quotes mere 66 conversations with missionaries and other gentlemen," as furnishing corrections for his map, we suspect altogether the grounds on which it has been framed. The illustrations both in wood and steel are in general executed with spirit and taste; but among the specimens of Oriental languages, forming one of the steel engravings, we observe that the very pardonable mistake has been committed of giving a sentence in the Hindustanee language and Arabic character as a specimen of the Arabic language. The words of the Bengalee airs in the second volume are also incorrectly given, and these are not the only instances in which the reflection is suggested, that it is unsafe for an author to profess to quote even single words, much less sentences, in languages with which he is unacquainted.

There are many topics suggested by the perusal of these volumes which we must omit to notice; but it would be unjust to Mr. Malcom not to advert in the most prominent manner to the calm and just spirit of Christian charity, in which he has estimated the character and institutions of the people of those countries where he has travelled. This is the more remarkable, because it is in contrast with the hasty judgment often pronounced and the harsh language employed by other missionaries. They seem to regard it as a sort of Christian duty to deny to the objects of their benevolence the common virtues of social life and even the ordinary attributes of humanity. In the dark picture that is drawn there is scarcely a redeeming feature, as if man's moral nature did not still survive all the de