THE UNITED STATES LITERARY GAZETTE.

Published on the first and fifteenth day of every month, by Cummings, Hilliard, & Co. No. 1 Cornhill, Boston.-
VOL. I.

REVIEWs.

BOSTON, MAY 15, 1824.

cian literature, sufficiently establish his
claim to the reputation of one of the first
scholars of the day; and yet, like many of
his most respectable colleagues, he has
employed no small portion of his time in
preparing works, which are designed to
help the learner through the rudiments of
the language. This circumstance gives a
superior character to his work. Though
designed for a humble province, it bears
the impress of high scholarship, of good
taste, and even of deep philosophy, employ-
ed in one of the noblest exercises of phi-
losophy; in shortening and smoothing the
path, on which the young and inexperi-
enced have just started toward the distant
regions of learning.

-Terms, $5 per annum, payable in July.
No. 3.

to be read, been as difficult as the New Testament would be to any one not brought up in a christian land, the whole stress of learning would still have borne upon the memory, and the understanding would have found no opportunity to afford its assistance. It so happened, however, that the first book read was one, of which the learner could find out the meaning, because it was, in the main, already known to him; and hence the real instrument by which the knowledge of Greek was formerly imparted to the schoolboy, was the English Testament. This was his key to the original Greek and to a considerable part of the Latin definitions of the lexicon.

guage is spoken; and has passed rapidly could comprehend, not previously acquaintthrough a large number of reprints. ed with the thing to be taught. After this The Greek Reader, by Frederic Jacobs, Mr Jacobs' work is one among many hieroglyphical doctrine had been commitProfessor of the Gymnasium at Gotha, instances which might be quoted in Ger- ted to memory, the Greek Testament and a and Editor of the Anthologia. From the many, in which the very first rate qualities Græco-Latin lexicon were put into the seventh German edition, adapted to the and attainments of scholarship have been learner's hands. Here the familiarity of translation of Buttmann's Greek Gram-employed in the preparation of works of the learner with his English Gospels came mar. Boston, 1824. 8vo. pp. elementary instruction in the learned lan-in to help him over difficulties otherwise WE rejoice—almost with exultation-at the guages. His labours on Euripides, the An- insuperable, and something at length was publication of this work; it is a proof of anthologia, and various other works of Gre- understood. Had the first book attempted existing demand for intellectual aliment, which will not suffer the scholarship and talent of our country to lie idle, and also of a disposition in those who are most competent to the task, to bring within the reach of their countrymen, all the means of literary culture which other nations enjoy. There are persons so very foolish as to deny or undervalue the usefulness of studying the classics. It is a fact, and a melancholy fact, that some sensible people seem to be ignorant that the Greek languageto speak of that only-is a far better system of means to express thought than any now in use; that the acquisition of an unknown language by study, is a most valuable exercise of the mind, subjecting it to the influence of wholesome discipline, and improving vastly the faculties of memory, comparison, and invention; and that while the wisdom and poetry of those ages when there was a power and beauty in the human intellect which it has not now, are in the languages that were their original and fitting garment, like a soul within its body, they cannot find in any of the tongues of modern days an adequate exponent. There are some who hold this heresy, but they cannot be many; and while we trust that a disposition to measure the value of every thing by its absolute utility, will become universal, for this very reason, we are confident, that our reading community, will duly appreciate the good of having such a man as Professor Everett, employed in helping our schoolboys to acquire the rudiments of literature, a learning and ability which could find few things too lofty for its ambition or too difficult for its achieve

The first step in an improved method was that of a grammar in the vernacular tongue of the language to be learned. As vernacular literature grew up in the various nations of modern Europe, as books of general science and learning ceased to be composed in the Latin language alone, and were written in English, French, Italian and German, the use of the Latin as the vehicle of instruction became more cumbrous, and in some countries sooner and in some later lectures were given, grammars compiled, and examinations conducted in the vernacular language. Though Germany is, in many respects, an exceedingly scholastic country, vernacular lectures began to be given in the universities there more than one hundred years ago. In the Dutch universities they are still given in Latin; even in the department of national literature.

The great object and end of Jacobs, in preparing this work, was to make the learning of the Greek as easy as possible; that is, to remove all unnecessary difficulties. To acquire the vocabulary of a very copious language; to be possessed of the changes, which that language experienced in a period of more than two thousand years, during all which time it was a living tongue; to learn the peculiarities of its many different authors, styles, and dialects, is of course no very short nor easy task. Much time and much labour must be bestowed on this object, or it cannot be attained. Still, however, the processes to be followed, may be well or ill devised; the assistance ample or deficient; the steps successively taken aptly and naturally suggested, each by the preceding, or the reverse. These objects are almost all neglected in the earlier plans of instruction; and severe compulsory But though grammars of the ancient lanlabour was the only engine, which the clas-guages have, for a long time, been drawn sical instructer, half a century ago, was up in the vernacular tongue, the practice This edition of Jacobs' Greek Reader is wont to apply to the tender mind. The of preparing editions of the first authors to an adaptation to our schools of a work of "sage called Discipline" was called so, by be read, and of school lexicons, in the same very great celebrity in Germany. Mr misnomer. Violence was his real name, tongues, has not even yet been universally Jacobs, its original compiler, is well known and an unseemly bundle of birchen rods adopted. And yet scarce any thing seems as one of the most profound and elegant of was his ignominious instrument of com- plainer than that the true method of teachthe German Hellenists; and in his station mand. He appeared to take delight in ing demands both. On this point, Profesat the head of the High School at Gotha, he imposing hard tasks, that he might magnify sor Everett makes the following very just has been able to add, to the erudition of the the efficacy of his system, in causing them remarks in the preface to this work. critic, practical knowledge of the learner's to be performed. In teaching the Greek needs. His work prepared with such qual- language particularly, he put into the ifications, has accordingly been introduced learner's hand a most meagre and arid into nearly all the learned schools, in the sketch of grammar, written in barbarous extensive regions where the German lan-Latin, expressed in a form, which no man

ment.

"A chief object of the editor in preparing this

work has been to furnish an elementary book to our schools, in which the Greek may be learned through the medium of the English. No learner at school or elsewhere can be as well acquainted with

the Latin as with his mother tongue. The practice of learning Greek, through the medium of Latin, has descended to us from the time, when the Latin was a common language among scholars, when lectures at the universities were exclusively given in that tongue, and commentaries on authors and lexicons published in no other. For schools, however, there is no one circumstance to recommend the continuance of this practice, not even that of becoming more familiar with Latin. The Latin of grammars, commentaries, and lexicons, is not that which the learner ought to acquire; and while the Latin language should be studied in the pure sources of the ancient writers, the learner of Greek ought not to be embarrassed by having his attention devoted to any thing else; or his perceptions rendered difficult or indistinct by the foreign medium through which they are made, and with which he must of course be less familiar than with his native language."

Pour et Contre," &c. 3 vols. 12mo. Philadelphia. 1824.

English running before him, it is almost impossible that he should thoroughly study the Greek. He seems to himself and to his instructer to possess a greater knowl-WE infer from certain passages in Mr Maedge of the language than he really does; turin's life, which are known to the public, and what he learns to recite in this cur- that he writes "ex necessitate rei;" he sory way, he learns in a slovenly, inexact can't help himself; inasmuch as he wants manner. It is another objection to the bread, and has nothing to barter away for Greek Testament, that it does not contain it, but words. We do not mean to charge the languages of the profane classical writ- his words with an absolute divorcement of ers. It was once thought disrespectful to thought; far from it;-he has thoughts in the Scriptures to assert this; and it was the most satisfactory abundance, and fursupposed to contain an imputation on the ther, his fancies are of a nature so singuauthors of the sacred books. It is, how-lar, that they who are in search of intellecever, in the first place, a fact; and no fact, tual wares of this description, may be astold modestly in proper time and place, sured, that they cannot be supplied with can be construed into disrespect. But, in them so good and cheap any where else. the next place, we see no disparagement, Not only are his maidens fairer and softer, The "Greek Reader" fulfils the condi- in saying that Plato wrote one form of and his lovers taller and stronger, and his tions of an elementary book, more than any Greek and St Paul another; or if there be clouds, skies, trees, vales, houses, and horsother with which we are acquainted for disparagement, it is of Plato, not of St Paul. es more exquisite than any others in the that language. The collection of senten- There is no more disrespect in saying that market, but his horrors are more horrible, ces, arranged under the head of the rules the writers of the New Testament did not his storms bring fiercer desolation, his batof the grammar, enables the pupil to begin write the language of Demosthenes, than tles are more wonderful, as, generally immediately to exercise himself in putting that they did not write the language of speaking, every body is killed for the time, to practice the principles and rules, which Moses. They wrote the language of their and afterwards comes to; his yells are the he has learned in the grammar. To these grammatical exercises, succeed the selec- country and age. But we do not mean howlings of tormented fiends, his darkness tions, at first from the easiest authors, and that the New Testament is bad Greek, cor- is deeper than that—to use a homely rupt Greek, or any other opprobrious thing. phrase-in a black cow's stomach; and in increasing in difficulty with the progress It is merely Alexandrian; written by short, "all that sort of thing" is better got the learner may be supposed to have nations not of Greece Proper, and after up than ever before since this species of made. This selection in amount is about the Christian era. But we confess we have manufacture was found profitable. twice as ample as that in Dalzel's Collecobjections of a religious nature against the tanea Minora; while the choice of matter use of the Greek Testament or of the Engis much more judiciously made in refer- lish Bible, as a common school book. To ence to the easy transition to each succes- have a portion of the Scriptures in English sive portion, and to the instructiveness of the read by such of the pupils as can read with nied with English notes, explanatory of the propriety and suitable feeling, is a good old most difficult passages and containing ref-way of beginning and ending school, which we never wish to be disused. But to use erences to the rules of grammar exemplified. the Scriptures to learn to read with, is a A few poetical specimens only are inserted different thing. The mutilations of their and those are all from Homer. On this language, innocently made by the stam-er subject the editor thus expresses himself in mering learner, are shocking; the misthe preface: conceptions of their import often gross and painful; and the disregard of their power and emphasis and sanctity, which is then and thus acquired, are causes why in after life they are read with indifference. All these considerations apply with increased force, to the studying of another language, in the books of the Scriptures, and we are clearly of opinion that they ought to be read for two purposes only, that of edification and that of critical study.

contents. All the extracts are accompa

"The passages from Homer are the only poetical specimens which it has been thought desirable to adopt in this work. The tone of Anacreon's pieces is as exceptionable for a school book as the authenticity of many of them is doubtful. The peculiarities of dialect in the pastoral poets, seem too great to be acquired in or for a few pages of extracts; while the poems of Homer, at once the source and the most illustrious monument of the language of Greece, cannot be too early or too long studied."

A glossary of the words occurring in the volume is placed at its close.

Prof. Everett observes in the course of his preface, that he was led to give the Greek Reader an extent somewhat greater than that of the Collectanea Minora, in order to meet the desires of several respected instructers, who wished for a substitute for a portion at least of the Greek Testament. We understand that this wish has been very generally expressed in our schools, and hope that it will become universal; for we are decidedly of opinion that the Greek Testament is a work highly improper for the purposes of elementary instruction. We have already hinted at the familiarity of the learner with the English of his Bible, as forming one objection to the use of the original. With his recollection of the

The Greek Reader, we understand, has been required, by the corporation of the University in Cambridge, of all candidates for admission from and after the Commencement in 1826, and in consideration of the quantity of matter it contains, a knowledge of the four Gospels only is required in addition.

We have also understood that Professor Stewart has given his very valuable testimony in favour of its excellence, both of plan and of execution, and that an experiment of its usefulness is already making in some of our most respectable academies.

The Albigenses, a Romance. By the Author
of "Bertram," a Tragedy: “Woman; or

If any one would enjoy the luxury of reading two 12mo. vols. without incurring the slightest danger of understanding ten lines in either, we can recommend to him (or her) the "Wild Irish Boy." If she (we incline to the fairer side) desires to listen to a soft tale of the loves, miseries, and murder of a hero and a heroine, of whom the former was an exquisite Irishman, about eight feet in height, soft as a zephyr and strong

than a mad horse, and acquainted with divers dead and living languages by instinct; and the latter was arrayed in unimaginable loveliness from her golden locks to her classic toes, and gifted with ten times the genius and learning that the ugliest woman on earth ever possessed,-why then she may try the "Milesian Chief." But if she, the reader, is endowed with an appetite for horror, which will be satisfied with nothing less than a book that shall keep her feet fast to the fender till the fire is all out and her nose is as blue as the flame of the candle, and the flickering shadows on the wall seem ghosts and ghostesses, and "her blood creeps through her veins like cold worms;" in such case she can't possibly do better than get from the nearest circulating library, the "Fatal Revenge!"

Very different from all these, the earlier works of our author, is that which we are now noticing; and it is well calculated to interest some very much, and to amuse somewhat very many. Since Sir Walter Scott has earned so much money and fame by the Waverly Novels, professional novelists have striven to follow in the same track, although they generally keep at a very respectful distance from their leader. Thus, in the Albigenses, an earnest attempt is made to add to its interest by mingling with

its story great names and great events. The principal persons of the drama are made of Scott's stock characters. Meg Merrilies, Front de Boeuf, Davie Gellatlaw, &c. &c. are there in a very thin disguise, and the general imitation is strikingly evident. In usefulness, as an impressive record of an interesting period, it is inferior to Scott's historical tales, by reason

inferred from the excessive and exterminat- | vainly, in copying them, have added tint or touch:
ing cruelty which finally subdued them. they were such as might have visited the inspired
dreams of a classic sculptor, haunted by the godlike
The spiritual weapons of the papacy were images of the fair humanities of old religion,' the
found insufficient, and the sword was re-deity of Delos, or the son of Maia. The slight de-
sorted to; crusades were preached against gree of unmanliness which the rose-leaf tint of the
them, and it was declared by papal authori-cheek, and the riper and more lusty red' of the
ty that he who slew an Albigeois delivered small mouth, gave to his contour, was corrected by
the church from a more inveterate and the commanding character of his noble profile, the
fearful foe, than if he had slain a mussul- beard, and a brow, on whose broad expanse thought
shade of his dark hair, and short but thickly curled
man. It is the sufferings, the efforts, and seemed to sit as enthroned."
the habits of these people that this novel re-
lates.

The Bishop of Toulouse,-no fictitious character, but one who played a great part in these stirring times, is thus described.

There are very many faults in the "Albigenses,” but with them all, it is interesting. We do not love horror quite well enough amply appointed; in their van rode a body of The Bishop led a numerous band of men-at-arms, to relish so much as Mr Maturin has spiced priests, one of whom sustained the weight of his his story with, and should have been as well vast crosier, and the other his banner, emblazoned satisfied if more of the mysteries were ex-with the mitre, and bearing the motto of the crusaplained and rather fewer impossibilities en-ders, Dieu et l'Eglise, wrought in gold. Close bedured or achieved. Still there is a great mule, and telling his beads; while two pages on hind him was a confessor, mounted on a goodly deal of brilliancy about the style; the ac-foot led the prelate's war-steed, the noble animal tion is well kept up, as something or other champing and rearing, as if he longed for an armed is doing all the time; the ruinous disorder, weight to press his loins, and already smelled the the stern severity, and indomitable firmness battle afar off, the thunder of the captains and the of the Albigeois are reflected from Old shouting. His master seemed to share his impaMortality, but with some variety of colour- tience, often looking back on the fiery force he hoped ere long to bestride in battle, and which, in truth, ing, and are well contrasted with the dis-none save himself seemed able to guide or to command. He had that marked and regular, but chilling physiognomy, which seems rather that of a statue than of a breathing man, an impression of his figure, the immobility of his iron features, which was strengthened by the gigantic proportions and the stern repose of his large, commanding eye. He was arrayed less according to the military costume of the age, than to his own ideas of ecclesiastical chivalry. He disdained the aid of the defensive armour allotted at that period to the higher classes exclusively; he wore neither hose nor shirt of mail, but a corslet laced over a well-quilted gambazon. He had also cuisses and greaves of polished and ponderous steel; and at first sight it would have been difficult to distinguish the warlike prelate from a man fully armed, but for the magnificent and helmet hung at his saddle-bow, or was occasionally jewelled cope which he wore on his head; while his given to a priest to bear, who received it as reverently as he would a relic.

of certain violent anachronisms and a few
variations of fact;-as in giving Queen
Isabella the children whom the first wife of
Philip Augustus had borne him, and in mak-
ing some of the historical characters bend
to his purposes rather too far. Still its use
in this respect is not absolutely worthless.
The period and place chosen-the south of
France in the thirteenth century-are very
interesting; the historical events which are
the basis of the narrative, are not common-
ly known with much distinctness, and Mr
Maturin seems to have sought diligently for
all the information which could aid him.
The Albigeois were an interesting race,
or sect, not only in themselves, but as they
were the true progenitors of the French
Huguenots, and perhaps of the English pu-
ritans. We are apt to think that the Re-cipline, the fiery courage, the courtliness
formation was the earliest dawning of light and magnificence of the crusading chivalry.
upon the long and dark night of papal cor- There is one very serious fault in this work,
ruption. But it was not so; more than one which we may have felt more sensibly from
bright spot opened in the heavens and spoke Mr Maturin's past profession,-that of a
of coming day, though clouds soon closed clergyman. The fun of the novel lies with
over it; the resistance of the Albigeois to the monks and the heretics, and the Bible
the doctrines and decrees of Rome, was is unceasingly made use of to heighten the
one such instance. It is difficult to know jokes. Its most peculiar phraseology and
precisely what sort of people they were or imagery are put into the mouths of hypo-
what tenets they held, so various and con- crites, scoundrels, or fools, and it seems to
tradictory are the accounts given of them be regarded only as affording excellent
by cotemporary writers.
But it should be materials for a jest. Nothing could require
remembered, that these authors were in the and nothing could justify this profanation.
bosom of the papal church, and feared and It cannot be worth while to make an
hated the heretics, whose character they analysis of so long a story as this is; but we
were recording for posterity. It is certain will endeavour to make such extracts as
that they denied the most gross and perni- may serve to show how the book is written.
cious errors of Rome; that they called its The hero comes upon the stage in this
idolatries by their true name, and held a wise.
faith which, whatever were its doctrinal
errors, insisted upon the vanity of ritual
"The first figure rode far before his companion,
and ceremony as a means of escaping the so as almost to be alone. He seemed in the vigorous
punishment of sin. With very great per- slender and flexile graces of youth are strengthening
prime of adolescence, just at that period when the
severance and success did, not only the into the marked and muscular symmetry of perfect
pastors, but some of their flock, toil to over- manhood. He was in armour from throat to heel,
come the obstacles, which, in those days, but it was of a construction that rather displayed
made learning almost impossible to individ- than concealed the exquisite proportions of his form;
uals of humble birth, who were unwilling days, composed of innumerable rings of steel, as in-
it was formed of that complete mail used in those
to enter into the monasteries where all lite-tricately arranged as those of a modern steel purse,
rature then lay shrouded and buried. These and, from its extreme elasticity and flexibility, pos-
heretics became so well acquainted with
the Scriptures, that the assumption of He-
brew names and the habitual use of Scrip-
ture phraseology, served as a common
mark to distinguish them from Catholics.
Their doctrines spread so extensively
throughout Languedoc, and indeed all the
south of France, that the principal nobles
found themselves compelled to follow the
example of Raymond of Toulouse, and re-
sist with arms the armies of the church, or
suffer their estates to be laid waste and
their vassalage destroyed. The hostility of
these doctrines to those of Rome and the
danger apprehended from them, may be

sessing a power of adaptation the nicest and most
faithful to the human form. The modulation of the
were as perceptible through it as if they were veiled
finely turned knee, the taper limb, and slender ancle,
only by the light texture of modern drapery. This
armour covered the entire person, including even
the feet; on the hand it was divided at the thumb,
but enclosed the fingers to the very tips; it was also
the same construction, which in battle was drawn
furnished with a hood or shirt (as it was called) of
over the helmet, and on other occasions was, as on
the present, flung back and hung on the shoulders,
producing no ungraceful effect. ****

"The knight's head was covered only by a barrel
cap, without jewel, plume, or favour, which did not
conceal the dark luxuriance of his curled chesnut
locks; and his features, thus exposed, displayed that
perfect beauty, to which imagination or art would

"Combining in his single person all the physical powers that were the requisites of the stormy age in which he lived, with all the mental energies that make themselves known and felt in every age, the imposing and magnificent-to the mind all that is Bishop of Toulouse presented to the eye all that is overpowering and formidable—a man of power and his strong frame like the human part of the centaur might, body and soul, whose strong mind clung to of old to the animal part, making but one between them; the former urging and directing the latter, and the latter seconding the mighty impulses of the former with a force that seemed instinctive and con

natural."

To make the next extract intelligible, we must state that De Verac, a fantastical but valiant fop, and Semonville, a stupid gether from the castle of Courtenaye, the bull-dog sort of knight, had departed torendezvous of the Crusaders, in hopes to surprise the heretics, and enjoy alone the glory of the victory. They were surprised means to get rid of their gluttonous warder, and taken prisoners; De Verac devised and they escaped. We give the colloquy between the knights and the sentinel.

"They sat gloomily down on a rude bench of stone, where their bound arms, drooping heads, and dos-à-dos position, made each resemble the figure of the tristis captivus in arcu in an old Roman triumph.

So here we are,' said De Verac dolefully, 'like a pair of birds trussed for these cannibals. Men say, the filthy knaves stick not to eat horse-flesh, and even ass-flesh; what 'then may'st thou expect, De Semonville? If they devour me,' said his companion, never trust me an' I do not make shift to stick in their throats, let them take it how they will.' Instead of lying at peace on thy blazoned monument in effigy, thy feet resting on a greyhound, thy shield by thy side, and thy hands joined in a fashion as if thou wert praying, heralds blazoning thy 'scutcheon, priests singing mass, clerks penning goodly epitaphs'

fractured rocks that formed its bed, and the streams
that divided them, and amid which their horses
were now up to their haunches, now struggling for
a precarious footing amid the stony paths, till they
had almost reached its extremity, without discover-
ing an individual, and their progress was checked
by that perpendicular mass of rock, against which
the foremost rider almost dashed the chevron of
his barbed steed before he perceived it was an un-
scalable barrier.

"The Albigeois watched their prey in silence: not an archer drew his bow-not a slinger raised his arm-till the last knight had rode into the defile. 'There thou touchest me,' said Semonville, al- Then from hill, and cliff, and crag-from every most weeping; instead of all this, to be wambling thicket, bush, and almost bough-from front and about in the guts of a filthy Albigeois, like a frog in rear-from flank to flank-down rained the arrowa marsh! Would that the first morsel of me might shower, thicker than the mountain-rain; and fast choke them, or may I never see mine own castle came mingled the sling-stones, like hail in a mounagain!'-'Not a morsel, not a single morsel,' repeat-tain storm: and every shaft had its mark-and eveed the deacon, entering the cave after securing the ry stone left its dint-and the whole assault seemed door inside and out with the best of his care. dealt by invisible hands; for not a shout, war-cry, 'Curse thee, slave!' said De Verac, to whom the or word issued from the assailants. cupidity of his jailor had suggested a faint hope of deliverance, Curse thee! dost thou think that such mechanical morsels were ever intended for the food of a noble or knight?' ***

4

'Now if I could get this fool to join me,' said De Verac; then raising his voice, why, thou eldest child of famine and apparent heir of mere emptiness! thou who hast slept in a warren that thou mightest have visions of vermin; and hast given thanks over a second course of flies! who hast surfeited at the mere smell of a cook-shop, and lain drunk two days from winding a pipe of Malvoisie, at the distance of a league! I tell thee thou wouldst fall into a trance at the bare mention of the viands our sumpter-mule carried but last night.'-'Of a surety the good creatures should not be disregarded,' said the deacon, who hearkened with his very mouth; and now that I think on't, what might

your stores contain ?'

'If I could but make this fool understand me now!' said De Verac; rememberest thou, Semonville, the delicious contents of our'' Mine,' said De Semonville, 'held a piece of marchpane, an agnus, and a charm for the tooth-ache.-Thou dreamest or ravest,' said Verac; 'there was a huge nook of

pasty, some half-dozen pheasants and partridges

Were they red-legged?' interrupted the deacon. As my lady's fool in his new hosen,' said De Verac-a vast conger with a mane like a warsteed, and a sturgeon that the king's fishmonger rode on up the Seine to Paris, as there was no boat large enough to hold him.'-May this be true?' said Mephibosheth.-Have faith in it, I tell thee, thou unconvinced deacon,' answered Verac; otherwise perish in unbelief, and be damned, like a heretic as thou art, to everlasting hunger.'

Semonville, who saw the turn matters were taking, had the sense to hold his tongue. And may I hope to find these curious viands thou tellest of?' Thou wilt find them, that is, if thou make speed; otherwise the Crusaders, or some of thy own vile brethren, will taste of dainty fare ere long.I will gird up my loins, and that suddenly,' said the deacon, with much trepidation; foul shame and sin it were if any of the weaker brethren fell into a gin and a snare because of the savoury meats of the wicked. Surely for them to taste of the accursed thing in any wise were exceeding sinful-it were abominable, and not good.""

We have hardly room for more extracts, but will quote a part of the first battle. The Crusaders, with a valour which lacked its better part, discretion, had left their men-at-arms at Courtenaye, and attacked the heretics, who in the mean time had been joined, without the knowledge of the knights, by the Count of Toulouse and his army.

"The Crusaders rushed in a wild, tumultuous train into the valley, descrying a few fugitives on the rocks that enclosed it, and believing the rest had shrunk amid its caverns and cliffs, disregarding the

"The Crusaders, entangled and disarrayed, still were undismayed, believing this a mere desultory attack of the fugitives-the flight of a few spent arrows. All, however, agreed on the immediate expediency of quitting the defile; and with a wild and derisive, but still joyous shout, they attempted to regain the entrance, and recover the height from which they had descended. It was easier to quit than to regain it. Their array broken-their ar mour useless-their noble steeds galled, wounded, tormented by the broken and rocky ground; backing, facing, rearing, and charging on each other plumes rent--banners torn-shield clashing with shield-housings died in blood;-what a different group did they present from that which, but a few moments past, had rushed like a stream into the valley, flooding its rocky banks to their height with rich tide of gorgeous chivalry! Meanwhile the archers and slingers gave them not a moment's respite; and when they had at length struggled out of the valley, the men-at-arms came rushing from the hills on every side like mountain torrents. * * *

a

"It was towards night, the shadows of which were deepened by the darkness of the surrounding hills, when De Montfort and his companion, wiping their

wilt report at need; but I tell thee, I cannot shake off the heavy presage that weighs down my spirits when I behold yon knight in black armour; I deem him of no earthly frame or mould. Be confirmed that our death's-day is come, and that he comes a messenger from Heaven or hell to tell us so.'

Enguerrand endeavoured to cheer his friend; but at this moment the black knight rode by them like a storm, his horse's feet scattering splintered armour and lopped limbs like leaves in a gale; and he shouted, 'Linger ye here while your task is unfinished,--your destiny unfulfilled? Follow !-follow me!'

"De Montfort braced his helmet and grasped his lance once more at these words; and his companion could see by the twilight that the flushed and sanguine hue of his countenance was exchanged for an ashy paleness: he had but short time for observation.

"Count Raymond and his knights came rushing from the hills like a flood, and surrounded them on every side. Enguerrand was the first to fall, and De Montfort after a few desperate blows, every one of which cost the life of an assailant, was struck from his horse, under whose feet he fell so trampled and defaced, that the Albigeois vainly sought to recognise his body among the slain."

Das Volksleben zu Athen, im Zeitalter des Perikles, nach Griechischen Schriften.— Manners of the Athenians, drawn from Grecian works. By J. H. von Wessenburg. Part 1st, Zurich, 1821. Part 2d, 1823. 12mo. pp. 132.

[Continued from the last number.]
There is an interesting dialogue on the
subject of the drama; in which the exces-
sive love of the Athenians for this kind of
amusement, with their high estimation of
the principal tragedians, is shown in a strik-
ing light; but we pass, in preference, to
the following conversation between Soc-
rates and Aristippus.

brows with their bloody gauntlets, sat down amid a
heap of maimed trunks and severed limbs, as two
wearied woodmen sit down after the toils of the
day amid the trunks and branches of a forest of
felled trees, and looked round them to spy for suc-
cour while light yet remained in the sky. The
towering form of the Bishop of Toulouse was still
seen dimly on the verge of battle smiting with una-
bated force, but far distant from them. They saw
Paladour also; but, could even shout or bugle-sound
reach him where he stood, they knew him too strict
an observer of the laws of chivalry to quit the body
of his brother in arms. Of the other knights, all
were slain, or had deserted the field. They saw
not where De Verac and Semonville, who had easily
found steeds and armour on the field, still shouted
their war-cry, though too late for all but danger and
death, and still did the devoir of gallant knights in
such guise as might well redeem the foppery of the
one and the sullen dullness of the other. There was
a form they had beheld before, but knew not who
he might be it was a knight in black armour, who
had late in the battle joined them and done valiant
deeds; but he seemed to fly from one part of the
field to the other with a speed that prevented their
either demanding his name or deriving hope from
his succour. The arrows now fell in a slackened
shower, the shouts came more distant, and this sin-vidual instances, it cannot be on the whole.
gular figure became more conspicuous from the in-
creased desertion of the field.

"Socrates. Doubtless, Aristippus, you have come from Cyrene, that you might pass here the three days, set apart to celebrate the memory of the fallen, which Pericles concluded yesterday with his oration?

"Aristippus. I did, indeed, and how greatly has this spectacle surpassed my expectations! Never have I seen any thing by which a whole people were so deeply noved, or which exhibited in a more striking manner the dignity of the state, than this funeral celebration in honour of the Greeks who fell in the last war.

"Socrates. And do you promise yourself any useful result from this celebration?

There come no succours from the Castle of Courtenaye,' said Enguerrand De Vitry, turning his dim eyes sadly westward;-'the lord abbot hath been slain or taken, and we are left alone-to perish. The shadows lengthen as our term of hope and life waxes shorter.'

'Enguerrand De Vitry,' said De Montfort, 'thou knowest I am not superstitious, and how I have borne me this day in the bloodiest field I think knight hath ever fought in, thou knowest well, and

All

"Aristippus. The result is not to be expected; it was unequivocally displayed even during the celebration; I witnessed it. The Athenian people were animated by one heart and one soul. seemed to forget their personal interests in their common feelings for Athens. A brilliant flame of grateful recollection was kindled in every breast, for the courage with which the fallen had offered themselves up for their country.

"Socrates. But is not this impression transitory in its nature?

Aristippus. If this should be the case in indi

"Socrates. Yet you are not ignorant that every trace of the deepest emotion is often speedily ob literated. The theatre offers us many examples of this. I am therefore curious to know why you rely on a permanent impression from our funeral celebration.

"Aristippus. Because, in this case, the whole show, the whole pomp, every ceremony,-all which struck the senses, seemed to proceed from and to express the noblest wishes of the Athenian people, and to be in perfect harmony with their highest interests. There was nothing designed for vain