nursed, drowned, or buried, as the mother and the author wished and intended:

"On my right breast my boy shall be,
Let no one else lie there but he,
'Twere bliss with him in death to lie,

Which, on this earth, my foes deny."

The passage (post, p. 200) runs, "No one else will lie by me," not "Let no one," &c.; and Margaret, not having so much as an ahndung or presentiment of his lordship's attempt, expresses no anxiety whatever as to her boy, to whom he has applied the apprehension she expresses about Faust. The him in the third line should therefore be altered into thee.

The translator finishes his undertaking in character:

"MEPHISTOPHELES.

She is condemn'd!

VOICES from above.
Is pardon'd!

MEPHISTOPHELES (to FAUST).

Hence and flee!

(Vanishes with FAUST).

MARGARET (from within).

Henry! Henry!"

There being no attempt at metre or rhyme in this place, his lordship has no excuse for inaccuracy; yet every word of this conclusion, except the proper names and one of the stage directions, is wrong. "Sie is gerichtet" is not "She is condemned;"" Sie

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is gerettet” is not “ She is pardoned ;” “Her zu mir” is not " Hence and flee ;" and "Stimme von Innen verhallend is not "Margaret from within." Of such passages we certainly may say—

"Emendare lituræ

Multæ non possunt, una litura potest."

The next attempt to bring the English public acquainted with Faust on which I think it necessary to comment, is a publication entitled: "Faustus, from the German of Goethe. Embellished with Retsch's Series of Twenty-seven Outlines, illustrative of the Tragedy, engraved by Henry Moses." This title is a deceptive one. It ought to stand "Retsch's Series &c. explained by Extracts, &c." for the illustrations are the principal, and the text the accessary. The anonymous author, however, to judge from the preface, would be very far from consenting to any transposition of the kind:

"It is not pretended that the following pages contain a full translation of this celebrated drama. The slight analysis drawn up as an accompaniment to Retsch's Outlines being out of print, the publishers felt desirous to supply its place with a more careful abstract of " Faust," which, while it served as a book of reference and explanation for the use of the purchasers of the plates, might also possess some claims to interest the general reader as an independant publication. With this view the most striking passages and scenes of the original ha been translated into blank verse, and connected by

e

a detailed description in prose, in which the writer has aimed at nothing more than to render the progress of the plot clearly understood. Some parts are omitted which, it was thought, would be offensive to English readers, from the free and occasionally immoral tendency of the allusions which they contain; other parts of the scene have been thrown into narrative, where the difference of taste subsisting between the two nations would have rendered a clear translation of that which in Germany is considered sublime, in our language ludicrous: the general features of the whole have, nevertheless, been endeavoured to be preserved. The original is written in a great variety of metres, but in confining himself to blank verse in all parts of the play, except those which are strictly lyrical, the translator believes that he has adopted the only measure that would enable him to imitate the tone without sacrificing the sense of his text.

"Faust is preceded by a prelude between the manager, author, and a kind of merry fellow or clown. This is nothing more than an introductory dialogue, like that to Gay's Beggar's Opera, and as it bears no relation to the plot of the piece, has not been translated. For a different reason the prologue has also been passed over: it carries the scene to heaven, whither Mephistopheles ascends for the purpose of obtaining permission to tempt Faustus; and, both in conception and execution, is repugnant to notions of propriety, such as are entertained in this country."

The statement marked by italics is not true; he has not so much as attempted the most striking passages and scenes, nor a third of them; though, for aught I know, he may fancy that he has, for his taste seems a very peculiar one. I must be excused, however, for not entering into a detailed disproof of his statements; nor can I spare room for a recapitulation of his mistakes. But as the work certainly shows talent enough to acquire it some portion of authority, I shall give brief examples of the mode in which it is this gentleman's pleasure to translate, connect, describe, and purify Faust.

In the first garden scene, after translating down to that part of Margaret's description of her domestic anxieties where Faust interrupts her by an exclamation (post, p. 127), the writer continues in this manner:

"FAUSTUS.

If she resembled you, she was an angel.

MARGARET.

One moment stay.-(She gathers a flower and plucks the leaves off one by one.)"

There is nothing, not so much as an asterisk, to mark that any thing intervenes between these lines, though, in fact, the words given to Faust belong to the middle of one scene, and those given to Margaret to the middle of another, whilst a whole dialogue between Martha and Mephistopheles intervenes between the two. Here is one of his descriptions:

"Faustus replies to this interrogatory (as to his

religion, post, p. 144) by one of those mystical definitions of belief in God which characterize the professors of natural religion. Margaret, however, notwithstanding her girlish simplicity, has too much good sense to be imposed upon by general professions of faith calculated to cover any kind of religious creed. She tells him he has no christianity, and, desirous apparently to turn from so unpleasant a subject, she then changes the conversation, and then expresses her dislike to her lover's constant companion, Mephistopheles.”

I could give instances of mistranslation by scores. I shall content myself with one:

"Der Erde Mark mit Ahnungsdrang durchwühlen." "Rooting from out thee every trace of earth."

The

Perhaps it is not possible to translate Ahnungsdrang literally, but the writer who is not familiar enough with the difficulty to avoid such a blunder as this, can know next to nothing of Faust. conclusion of the cathedral scene, in which the writer coincides with Lord F. Gower, is a fair example of his mode of erasing the ludicrous: "MARGARET (to a bystander.)

Help, neighbour! oh! support me.”

Germany and England may not always agree in their estimate of sublimity, but Lord F. Gower and this gentleman will find upon inquiry, that this notable emendation of their's is pretty generally regarded as a fair specimen of the ludicrous in both countries.