above all, the craft, the tact, and inexhaustible knavish adroitness of Reinecke himself, are in strict accuracy of costume. Often also their situations and occupations are bestial enough. What quantities of bacon and other proviant do Isegrim and Reinecke forage; Reinecke contributing the scheme-for the two were then in partnership-and Isegrim paying the shot in broken bones! What more characteristic than the fate of Bruin, when, ill-counselled, he introduces his stupid head into Rustefill's half-split log; has the wedges whisked away, and stands clutched there, as in a vice, and uselessly roaring, disappointed of honey, sure only of a beating without parallel! Not to forget the Mare, whom, addressing her by the title of Good-wife, with all politeness, Isegrim, sorepinched with hunger, asks whether she will sell her foal: she answers, that the price is written on her hinder hoof; which document the intending purchaser, being" an Erfurt graduate," declares his full ability to read; but finds there no writing, or print, save only the print of six horsenails on his own mauled visage. And abundance of the like; sufficient to excuse our old Epos on this head, or altogether justify it. Another objection, that, namely, which points to the great, and excessive coarseness of the work, here and there, it cannot so readily turn aside; being indeed rude, old-fashioned, and homespun, apt even to draggle in the mire neither are its occasional dulness and tediousness to be denied; but only to be set against its frequent terseness and strength, and pardoned as the product of poor humanity, from whose hands nothing, not even a Reinecke de Fos, comes perfect.

He who would read, and still understand this old Apologue, must apply to Goethe, whose version, for poetical use, we have found infinitely the best; like some copy of an ancient, bedimmed, half-obliterated wood-cut, but new-done on steel, on India-paper, and with all manner of graceful, yet appropriate appendages. Nevertheless, the old Low-German original has also a certain charm, and simply as the original would claim some notice. It is reckoned greatly the best performance that was ever brought out in that Dialect; interesting, moreover, in a philological point of view, especially to us English; being properly the language of our old Saxon Fatherland; and still curiously like our own, though the two, for some twelve centuries, have had no brotherly communication. One short specimen, with the most verbal translation, we shall here insert, and then have done with Reinecke:

"De Greving was Reinken broder's söne,

The Badger was Reinke's brother's son,

De sprak do, un was sêr köne;

He spake there, and was (sore) very (keen) bold.

He forantworde in dem Hove den Fos,

He (for-answered) defended in the Court the Fox,
De dog was sêr falsh un lôs.

That (tho') yet was very false and loose.
He sprak to deme Wulve also fôrd:
He spake to the Wolf so forth:

Here Isegrim, it is ein ôldspräken word,
Master Isegrim, it is an old-spoken word,
Des fyendes mund shaffet selden frôm,

The (fiend's) enemy's mouth (shapeth) bringeth seldom advantage!

So do ji ôk by Reinken, minem ôm.

So do ye (eke) too by Reinke, mine (eme) uncle.
Were he so wol alse ji hyr to Hove,

Were he as well as ye here at Court,

Un stunde he also in des Koninge's love

And stood he so in the King's favour,
Here Isegrim, alse ji dôt,
Master Isegrim, as ye do,
It sholde ju nigt dünken gôd,
It should you not (think) seem good,
Dat ji en byr alsus forspräken
That ye him here so forspake
Un de ôlden stükke byr fôrräken.
And the old tricks here forth-raked.

Men dat kwerde, dat ji Reinken hävven gedân,
But the ill that ye Reinke have done,
Dat late ji al agter stan.

That let ye all (after stand) stand by.
It is nog etliken heren wol kund,
It is yet to some gentlemen well known,
Wo ji mid Reinken maken den ferbund,
How ye with Reinke made (bond) alliance,
Un wolden wären twe like gesellen :
And would be two (like) equal partners:
Dat mot ik dirren heren fortällen.
That mote I these gentlemen forth-tell.
Wente Reinke, myn ôm in wintersnôd,
Since Reinke, mine uncle, in winter's-need,
Umme Isegrim's willen, fylna was dôd.
For Isegrim's (will) sake, full-nigh was dead.
Wente it geshag dat ein kwam gefaren,
For it chanced that one came (faring) driving,
De hadde grote fishe up ener karen
Who had many fishes upon a car:

Isegrim hadde geren der fishe gehaled,

Isegrim had fain the fishes (have haled) have got,
Men he hadde nigt, darmid se wörden betaled.

But he had not wherewith they should be (betold) paid.

He bragte minen ôm in de grote nôd,
He brought mine uncle into great (need) straits,
Um sinen willen ging he liggen for dôd,
For his sake went he to (lig) lie for dead,
Regt in den wäg, un stund äventur

Right in the way, and stood (adventure) chance.
Market, worden em ôk de fishe sûr?

Mark, were him eke the fishes (sour) dear-bought?
Do jenne mid der kare gefaren kwam
When (yonder) he with the car driving came
Un minen ôm darsulvest fornem,

And mine uncle (there-self) even there perceived,
Hastigen tôg he syn swërd un snel

Hastily (took) drew he his sword and (snell) quick,
Un wolde mineme ome torrükken en fel

And would my uncle (tatter in fell) tear in pieces.
Men he rögede sik nigt klên nog grôt;

But he stirred himself not (little nor great) more or less;
Do mende he dat he were dôd;

Then (meaned) thought he that he was dead;

He läde ön up de kar, und dayte en to fillen,

He laid him upon the car, and thought him to skin,

Dat wagede he all dorg Isegrim's willen

That risked he all through Isegrim's will!

Do he fordan begunde to faren

When he forth-on began to fare,

Wärp Reinke etlike fishe fan der karen

Cast Reinke some fishes from the car,
Isegrim fan ferne agteona kwam
Isegrim from far after came
Un derre fishe al to sik nam
And these fishes all to himself took.
Reinke sprang wedder fan der karen
Reinke sprang again from the car;
Em lüstede to nigt länger to faren
Him listed not longer to fare.

He hadde ôk gêrne der fishe begërd,

He (had) would have also fain of the fishes required,
Men Isegrim hadde se alle fortêrd.
But Isegrim had them all consumed.
He hadde geten dat he wolde barsten,
He had eaten so that he would burst,
Un moste darumme gên torn arsten.
And must thereby go to the doctor.
Do Iregrim der graden nigt en mogte,
As Iregrim the fish-bones not liked,
Der sülven he em ein weinig brogte.
Of these same he him a little brought.”

Whereby it would appear, if we are to believe Grimbart the

Badger, that Reinecke was not only the cheater in this case, but also the cheatee: however, he makes matters straight again in that other noted fish-expedition, where Isegrim minded not to steal but to catch fish, and having no fishing-tackle, by Reinecke's advice, inserts his tail into the lake, in winter-season; but before the promised string of trouts, all hooked to one another and to him, will bite, is frozen in, and left there to his own bitter meditations.

We here take leave of Reinecke de Fos, and of the whole Æsopic genus, of which it is almost the last, and by far the most remarkable example. The Age of Apologue, like that of Chivalry and Love-singing, is gone; for nothing in this Earth has continuance. If we ask, where are now our People's-Books? the answer might give room for reflexions. Hinrek van Alkmer has passed away, and Dr. Birkbeck has risen in his room. What good and evil lie in that little sentence !-But doubtless the day is coming when what is wanting here will be supplied; when as the Logical, so likewise the Poetical susceptibility and faculty of the people; their Fancy, Humour, Imagination, wherein lie the main elements of spiritual life,-will no longer be left uncultivated, barren, or bearing only spontaneous thistles, but in new and finer harmony, with an improved Understanding, will flourish in new vigour; and in our inward world there will again be a sunny Firmament and verdant Earth, as well as a Pantry and culinary Fire; and men will learn not only to recapitulate and compute, but to worship, to love; in tears or in laughter, hold mystical as well as logical communion with the high and the low of this wondrous Universe; and read, as they should live, with their whole being. Of which glorious consummation there is at all times, seeing these endowments are indestructible, nay, essentially supreme in man, the firmest ulterior certainty, but, for the present, only faint prospects and far-off indications. Time brings Roses!

ART. V.-Notice sur la vie politique, et les travaux parlementaires de M. George Canning, extraite de la Biographie Universelle des Contemporains; et suivie de réflexions sur son système politique. Par Alph. Rabbe. Paris: Janvier, 1827. Svo. THIS little work, published in the last year of Mr. Canning's life, furnishes our neighbours with an inaccurate account of that distinguished man. The time, indeed, is not come, when a history of that life can be written, at once fully and impartially. The difficulty which attaches to the biography of any statesman recently deceased, is, in the case of Mr. Canning, much aggra

vated by the peculiar occurrences of his latter years, and more especially of the year in which he died; occurrences which have made the party feeling, incident to such occasions, as complicated as it is intense; and have interested in his posthumous fame many who, up to the last few months of his existence, were his strongest opponents. A curious train of events had placed him in a new, and as it appears to us, a false position. Under this impression, and with nothing before us but the meagre history of M. Rabbe, we shrink from an attempt at systematic biography. We take, however, this opportunity of correcting some grievous errors into which the French author has fallen; and also of continuing, through Mr. Canning's administration of the Foreign Office, the examination of the disputed points in the Foreign Policy of England, which was commenced in our last number. And here we may derive much assistance from an English work, published in the present year, professing to narrate "The Political Life of Mr. Canning, from his acceptance of the Seals of the Foreign Department in September, 1822, to the period of his death in August, 1827."

But it appears to us that there never was a public man whose private sentiments had a more active influence upon his public conduct; that there never was a statesman whose personal and political history were more intimately blended; and we therefore gladly seize the opportunity, which M. Rabbe's work affords us, of going back to an earlier period of Mr. Canning's life for an elucidation of his political system: we wish much that the materials in our possession, or our own information, allowed us to describe more minutely one of the most remarkable, as well as eminent characters of the age.

Mr. Canning attained distinction at a very early period of life; at Eton, and at Christ Church, he was not only distinguished, as many youths have been distinguished, for proficiency in scholastic exercises; he acquired and maintained a superiority in intellectual power, which made him, as an under-graduate, an object of curiosity and interest. There are now living eminent men in the learned professions, who call to mind the first opportunity of becoming acquainted with even the person of Mr. Canning, as a memorable incident of their academical residence.

It is well known, that his character at the University occasioned his introduction to Mr. Pitt, and procured him a seat in the House of Commons. We have never seen in print an anecdote, which we know to be as authentic as it is characteristic, concern

* M. Rabbe states him to have been introduced into the House of Commons by the influence of Mr. Sheridan, and to have been afterwards noticed by Mr. Pitt. In this, as in other instances, we shall state the fact correctly, without always noticing the mistakes of the French writer.