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when the want of rain was felt, a Gallic | no longer. It is only in the chronicles of maiden used to seek for a venomous plant, the time that we can discover the traces called belinuncia; after she had found it, of those finished manners, the mellifluous her companions cut down branches of songs." trees, and accompanied her to the first river, into which she plunged her vegetable offering, whilst the others dipped their branches in the stream to sprinkle her body with the sacred fluid."

We could proceed to many other striking analogies noticed by Guthrie, to show the great similarity between the rites, customs, and manners, of the Russians and the Asiatic nations, but two more will suffice.

In a remark on one passage of these songs, Mr. Guthrie alludes to the similarity of the Noël (short vocal pieces) in parts to those sung at the Russian feasts Koleda; a kind of saturnalia, celebrated about the same time, and he entertains no doubt of their high antiquity. These people have also borrowed from the Romans and modern Italians many of their customs and plea

sures.

Against our supposition that the Russians (and we may add the ancient Celts) derived their imagery and music from the east, Pinkerton, we remember, in one of his the northern Celts had flutes, guitars, harps, works, furnishes some collateral proofs that trumpets, and other instruments, of their own invention; and he supports his opinion by stating that the names of most of them are purely Celtic. Using the same kind burden of a song, in a Spanish invention, of reasoning, we might say that the phrase, because the Spaniards call bordone, the concluding verses of a song chorussed by the company; whereas we know that the same thing exists in other countries under different titles, carol, roundelay, virolay, all meaning the chorus or burden.

In all their ancient musical exhibitions, gesture and action accompanied the music.* In this lies the grand secret of the art in former times: melody, rhyme and measure, aided by appropriate action, must have produced effects which neither harmonical elaboration, nor the augmentation of instru

"The Russians, like the ancient Romans, dine in one room and eat their desert in another, exactly the bellaria or commissatio of antiquity, and I cannot help thinking the Russian name is happily chosen for it; they call it slatkaie zabav-mental power, can ever attain. Simplicity, lenia, the sweet pastime.

"There seems another striking analogy, for I make no doubt that the nuptial flambeaux were formerly of fir or pine (our hutchuika) before the Christian priests introduced wax tapers, exactly the tæda pinea of antiquity."

feeling, and appropriate expression, are so diluted, overloaded, and mingled, that the real elements of musical effect lie buried beneath the accumulated heap of modern improvements.

From what has been said, it will be conceded that much remains to be discovered In "The Present State of Russia trans- before our hypothesis can be fully proved. lated from the High Dutch, 1723," we If, however, the few hints we have thrown glean some few particulars of their dra-out should induce one competent person matic performances. "The Princess Natalia once had the direction of a tragedy which, as as well as a farce, were of her composition, a compound of sacred and profane history. The piece was interspersed with the drolleries of Harlequin !""

Count Segur seems to think that these pleasantries were a revival of those of for

mer times.

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only to look further into the subject, sure we are it will be an interesting, as in all probability it will prove a satisfactory, study. Content with the humble office of pioneer, we cheerfully endeavor to clear the way for others, trusting some day to find it "true that the wonders of the romances of the knights of the round table and twelve peers of France were transported by Odin from Asia into Scandinavia, thence into England and France, and into Russia at the time the Normans settled themselves in that country."t

As it is seldom in this Review that music forms a subject of consideration, we can

"The words of this piece were said to be strong and persuasive, partaking alternately of hope and despair, and they were accompanied by such gestures as made the whole intelligible to us." See Capt. Jones's Travels in Russia, 1797,

See article Russia, For. Qua. Review, 1827,

not close this paper without a just tribute

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"Musicus Autodidactos. 4to. Erfurth.

Del Resorgimento d' Italia Sig. BetiMuseum.

"La Galerie de l' Academie Royale de British Museum. Musique. 8vo. 1754." "Le Beuf (L'Abbé) Traité historique et pratique sur le Chant Ecclésiastique. 8vo.

Paris. 1741." British Museum.

ART. VII.-Histoire de la Littérature Allemande depuis les tems le plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours, précédée d'un parallèle entre la France et l'Allemagne. Par A. Peschier, 2 vol. 8vo. Paris and Geneva. 1836.

to the memory of Dr. Burney, that clever 1738." British Museum. dog, as Dr. Johnson was facetiously pleased to call him. It has lately been attempt-nelli. 2 vol. 8vo. (Bassano)." British ed, for about the two hundredth time, to revive the hyper-critical assertion, that Dr. Burney stole all the best parts of his General History of Music from Sir John Hawkins. We have taken pains to ascertain the falsehood and expose it, and if these parties will look at the 5 vols. 4to. of Hawkins, bequeathed by him to the British Museum, they will find an extract from the Gazetteer of Sept. 23, 1776, announcing the publication of Sir J. Hawkins's book that day, and at page 21 of the Preliminary Discourse, he at the beginning of this present says, year (1776) the musical world were favored with the 1st vol. of a work entitled' A History of Music,' by Dr. Burney." Not to mention this volume, which contains the most elaborate and best digested treatises extant upon ancient Egyptian, Hebrew, and Greek music; in his preface the Doctor expressly tells us, Printed materials lie open to us all; and I spared no expense or pains either in acquiring or consulting them. With respect likewise to MS. information, and inedited materials from foreign countries, few modern writers have perhaps expended more money and time, undergone greater fatigue, or more impaired their health in the search of them than myself;" by which (if there is any belief in the deliberate assertion of a man whose honor was never impeached except in this frail instance) it is evident that the materials for his whole work were gathered but not arranged. As to Sir John Hawkins' judgment, we give one of his MS. notes: let the amateur or professor decide. Singing follows so naturally the smallest degree of proficiency on any instrument that the learning of both is unnecessary!!" The following is a list of works on the department of music upon which we have been touching; they are all accessible to the inquirer, and contain much desirable information hitherto overlooked.

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This work is intended to fill up a void in modern philology, by giving, in a moderate compass, a comprehensive history of German literature, from the first rude specimens of the language to its present high state of cultivation. The literature of Germany is now one of the richest, and certainly the most prolific, in Europe; it is the literature of a country reckoning some forty and odd millions of people-a country which holds, together with France, the balance of the "Continent. It is well to look to this latter fact, namely, that Germany, with its two great monarchies and its other kingdoms and principalities, is now more than ever the great focus of continental diplomacy. Russia itself, the great scarecrow of newspaper politics could not attempt any thing serious, at least in western Europe, but as an auxiliary of one or both of the two great German powers. On the other side, if we look to the rational progress in modern society and to the spreading of liberal institutions, we find nearly one half of Germany under representative governments, which, although they may not have attained the expected perfection which some people attribute to the Spanish constitution in 1812, are still, it "Bévues, erreurs, et misprises de diffé- must be acknowledged, many steps in adrens auteurs célébres en matières Musica-vance of the real absolutism of the late Ferles. Par M. Lefebure, 4to. & 12mo. Paris.dinand VII. In short, Germany, notwith1789" British Museum.

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"De representations en Muisque anciennes et modernes. Par Le Menestrier. 12mo. Paris. 1681." Do.

"Entretiens sur l'Etat de la Musique Grecque au quatrième Siècle. 8vo. Paris, 1777." Library of the Royal Institution.

"Lettre critique et historique sur la Musique Française, Italienne, et sur les Bouffons. 8vo." British Museum.

standing the grumblers both native and foreign, is a tolerably happy, thriving, moral, well-informed contented country, at least as much so as France, and England too.Surely such a country and its people, their manners, opinions and language, and their literature, which is a reflection of all the rest, ought to be attentively studied by the philologist-by every one, in short, who feels an interest about the general concerns

of mankind. And yet the language and the literature of Germany are known both in France and England only to a chosen few. It is astonishing to see the ignorance and the indifference that have prevailed, especially in France, until very recently, concerning a nation which cannot even be said to be separated from it by the Rhine, for both banks of that river in Alsace and Lorraine, which are provinces of France, are inhabited by people of German stock, and speaking German as their vernacular tongue.

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Madame de Stael was the first who broke through the wall which prejudice had raised between France and Germany. Her work, "L'Allemagne," although consisting of separate sketches, and not forming a connected history, yet eloquently and powerfully written, appeared at a time when a wilful man wished to fashion all human mind to a mould of his own. Official reproof and exile were the rewards of her truly fearless attempt; for at that time there were real grounds for fear from the displeasure of Napoleon. Savary's coarse and vulgar sneer remains an imperishable memorial of the system by which the mind was fettered in those times, through the will of one who has been styled the son and champion of the revolution, and who is still looked upon by some credulous people as a favorer of liberty. Peace came, and it was no longer treasonable to study and admire the productions of the German or the English muse. Since then Herder, Schiller, Göthe, Niebuhr, John Paul Richter, Hoffman, and others, have been translated into French. The Revue Germanique and Revue des Etats du Nord have made known the contemporary progress of German literature. But still how little is known of the great majority of German writers, of the learned lucubrations of so many professors of the hundred German universities and colleges-the found civilians, the abstruse metaphysicians, the accomplished scholars, the indefatigable geographers and historians, who toil and labor for the benefit of future generations?Savigny, Thibaut, Ritter, Heeren, Boeckh, Neander, Schlosser, Böttigger, O. Muller, Hammer and many more, to how few they known out of the limits of their own country? A work was wanted to class by order of dates and of departments of literature the best among the innumerable writers that Germany has produced, in order to impart some idea of what they have accomplished in their respective walks. This is what the book before us has in some degree performed. The author, M. Peschier, was happily situated for such a task. He is a native of Western or French, as it is com

pro

are

monly styled, or, more properly speaking, Romande Switzerland; a land of transition between Germany and France, which without being either French or German, yet partakes of the moral temperament and intellectual character of both countries. That south-west corner of Switzerland, the Vaud, Geneva, and Neuchatel, the country of the ancient Burgundians, is like a stepping-stone between France and German Helvetia, which latter is itself one of the out-posts of real Germany. With much of the sound judgment, sincerity, and bonhommie of the German character, the natives of Romande Switzerland unite the liveliness of imagination, the quickness of repartee, and the social refinement of the French. They can therefore appreciate what is valuable in both, and as they belong to a neutral country and have no national prejudices against either, they are likely to be more impartial than either in their judgments. But besides this, our author has qualified himself for his undertaking by a residence of some years in Germany, by having visited its principal cities, by having mixed freely in German society, by having formed connexions in that country, and becoming in fact almost naturalized in it. His work bears in its dedication the name of a distinguished and highly estimable German writer, Baron La Motte Fouquè, which is of itself a recommendation. The first volume begin with an introduction of sixty pages, with the title "Germany and France." It is an original sketch of the disparities between the two countries, and is not the least interesting part of the work. We will quote a few passages, which will give the reader an idea of the author's turn of mind and of his style.

"Man is the same everywhere;' such has been one of the wise saws of certain

critics, who, looking at the mere surface general tendencies which are common to of the human mind, have observed some almost all nations. It may be true that on the threshold of life men resemble each other; the cradle is the common starting point of all; but the resemblance stops there. Climate, manners, habits, religion, education, all tend to break the uniform mould in which nature seems to have cast life, the individuals, one after another, seus. As men proceed along the road of parate themselves from the mass, and each attains a distinct physiognomy of his own. These characteristic features which constitute originality in man, form also the which is one of the profoundest mysteries elements of the individuality of nations, of creation. It were a most interesting subject for study, to seek out the causes which stamp each people with a peculiar

of thought and of action, by minds alert and supple like their bodies, by a warlike instinct; to which they owe their brilliant laurels, and lastly by their taste for pompous ceremonies, brilliant festivals, and splendid monuments. Opposed to this existence, wholly external and practical, stands the genius of meditation, which belongs to the nations of the North; a character more grave, more reflective, of a more abstruse nature, an imperative want of diving into one-self, and analyzing the most fugitive sentiments of the soul. Man, in Germany, is a world in miniature, in which, notwithstanding the discoveries already made, there remains still some unexplored spot, some frequented and uncultivated nook.

character: but this is too vast a field of inquiry for our present work, and we must content ourselves with stating here some matter-of-fact observations. Two great principles exist simultaneously in Europe -on one side the spirit of order, stability, and unity; on the other the love of progressive ideas, of variety, and movement. These two principles exist together, but in very different proportions in each of two neighboring countries which are divided by the course of the Rhine. In Germany, outward calmness and repose prevail, but in the moral and intellectual world within, there is a continual stimulus for progress and change. This moral activity, this constant desire of extending the sphere of the human mind, have earned for Germa ny the name of the country of thought. "In France, the rage for politics per In France the principle of stability, of fix-vades all classes of society. Proteus like, ity, prevails internally; but externally it assumes all forms, and protrudes into every thing is under the influence of move- every conversation. But politics fill little ment and variety. Germany has become space in the ordinary existence of the long since the land of intellectual progress, Germans; they are too careful of their while France is the centre of the political material welfare, too fond of a peaceful and social movement . . . . . . . . . . The and comfortable home, too accustomed to Germans look upon ideas as the source of an inward life, to have, generally speakall our impressions, whilst the French, ing, much relish for the stormy scenes of placed at the other extremity of the moral public life, for the struggles of the bar, the scale, believe in the sovereign empire of hustings, and the parliamentary debate. sensations over the development of the in- This natural taste of the Germans for retellect. This dangerous dogma is one of tirement, domestic life, and the silence of the articles of faith of Condillac's philoso- the cabinet, accounts for their reserve and phy, and we all know the influence of that coolness in the social relations, and for metaphysician and his disciples upon the the absence of that free and communicaphilosophers of the eighteenth century, tive gaiety which imparts a charm to who did not scruple at last to strip man of French conversation. Variety and the his soul, and the universe of its Creator. desire of pleasing effect greater wonders Thus, while the head is perhaps too busily on the left than on the right bank of the at work in Germany, and the mind, by Rhine. We often miss in Germany the dint of soaring higher and higher, loses it- elegance of ton, the urbanity of manners self at times in the misty regions of an un- and of language which are so natural to productive contemplation; on the other the French; even the appearance and carside, the doctrine of sensualism, adopted riage of the people in the former country by the French, has led them once already are somewhat stiff and starched. by a rapid descent to the most deplorable their apparent frigidity is owing to basheffects of a desolating materialism. By fulness, and, instead of a common-place reducing every thing to the miserable pro- gallantry, they have the true politeness, portions of our fragile and perishable na- which is that of the heart; for it is the nature, and trying to explain, mechanically, tion which has most benevolence and corthe phenomena of our intellect, they came diality. The women of Germany are not to consider, in the end, the noblest facul- gifted with that vivacity of spirit and moties of the soul as material and physical bility of imagination which render French gifts. Virtue was no longer the offspring women so fascinating; they have neither of heaven, refined feeling was owing to the prompt repartee of the latter, nor their weakness of organization, and people fan- wonderful sagacity in deciphering the cied that they had discovered, in the pre- most recondite mysteries of the human dominance of certain fluids in our animal heart, nor the tact which gives an original economy, the courage which produces the and refined turn to the expression of evehero, and the self-devotedness which in- ry thought. But the women of Germany spires the martyr. They were on the point possess other qualities which endear them of establishing a course of diet and sani- for ever to those who have once deserved tary treatment in order to stimulate or their confidence and obtained a place in modify talent, of putting a strait waist- their friendship; they possess a frankness coat on the poet, and confining genius in and simplicity of heart, a candor of feela lunatic asylum. Such a system cannot ing, and an evenness of temper, owing to be favorable to poetry, etc. . . a natural fund of indulgence and general benevolence, which is soon perceived in their intercourse with strangers.

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"The French are characterized by their quick intelligence of the affairs of the world, their diplomatic shrewdness and perspicacity, their mobility, their rapidity

But

"The prevalent qualities of the French, "are wit and sagacity, but the Germans

have more soul and more imagination. | kind. Owing to this spiritualism, to this The former are more sensible of faults prevalence of the soul over the other fathan alive to beauties; more fond of art culties, the Germans, even in the midst of than of nature; quick of impression, they the illusions of their fancy, have always are also quick in shaping their thoughts, bowed with respect to the great dogmas but they are likewise, at times, exclusive, of immateriality and immortality, which wilful, and superficial. The Germans are form the key-stone of the structure of remore reflecting, grave, and conscientious: ligion." they conceive slowly, and are circumspect in forming their judgment. Hence it was to be expected that the theory of the fine arts should have assumed a very different character among each of the two nations." -Introduction, p. 1-14.

The author, in noticing the various phases of the French critical art, speaks with just praise of Montaigne, Pascal, Nicole, Arnauld, and Fenélon. In the 18th century, however, literary criticism, in France, gave way to a presumptuous dogmatism, an impertinent frivolity of judgment, to which Voltaire himself lent his then paramount influence. Our age has seen the revival of a better taste, in proof of which we may mention Madame de Stael, Benjamin Constant, Guizot, Villemain, Barante, Thierry, with a chosen band of young writers, who follow the track of those, regardless of party prejudice and clamor.

"As for the Germans, (our author goes on to say) they move on in the front rank of the most forward among the nations of Europe. To criticize the works of the great masters, whether in literature or the arts, is not with them a common vocation, the solution of a mere grammatical or rhetorical problem; it is an important and almost apostolic mission. They are not satisfied with passing judgment on the creations of accidental genius, but they must re-ascend through the course of ages, and explore the sources of the true principles of the art; those principles which are applicable alike to all times and countries. A great critic in Germany stands on a par with a great orator or poet; he enjoys equal respect and equal applause. He feels what he writes, he sympathizes with a noble thought, a fine action, a generous sentiment; his criticism is lofty, eloquent and inspired. Germany, in short, is the country of æsthetics"-pp. 20, 21.

Through the remainder of this interesting introduction our author traces the influence of the national character in the differences existing between the German and French styles of conversation, their music, whole parallel is remarkably well kept up their poetry, and lastly their drama. The whole parallel is remarkably well kept up and clearly defined.

After recalling in the first chapter of his history the scanty memorials of the ancient sketch of Tacitus, who seems to have been Germans, drawn chiefly from the masterly inspired by a kind of instinctive foreboding of the destinies of that unconquerable race which stood alone opposed to Roman despotism and Roman corruption, our author points out the most important distinction between classical liberty and the liberty of the

German races. "Among the nations of of antiquity, liberty was collective and not personal. The masses were first ranged into independent political bodies, every individual of which was nothing by himself, but only acquired importance only as a fraction of the great whole. They were not free-willed men, but citizens, the slaves of their country for life and death." The word "patria" had a despotic influence; it was a sort of divinity to which every thing must be sacrificed, and for which any crime or cruelty might be perpetrated without remorse, and every self-denial or privation endured. There was something grand and no. ble, at least to the imagination, in this devotedness but it was any thing but individual liberty,the liberty of a rational and responsible being. It was fit for men who had no definite idea of any thing beyond the grave. In our own times, men of a similar mind have sought to revive this classic liberty, with the magic words patria, glory, &c., with which they have certainly effected astonishing, but unprofitable and merciless deeds, and only for

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"There are, in many an obscure town of Germany, studious, hard labouring men, miners of thought, who pass years, short space of time; for they found that sometimes perhaps half a century, in so- the masses were not so docile as those of litary retirement, without their names be- ancient Rome or Sparta, in their blind ening heard of. They care little about popu-thusiasm and stoic resignation. Men, in larity or fashion; they work, not for a our days, are apt to inquire for what they party, a coterie, a saloon, but through real are called upon to sacrifice their lives, their love of science, supported in their task by their enthusiasm for the good, the beautiful, and the useful-for all that is great and generous in the heart of man-in order to pay what they look upon as a sacred debt towards their country, and towards man

dearest ties, and their peace; and an empty word does not always afford to them a convincing answer. Christianity has greatly contributed to effect this moral change: it was Christianity that first recalled man to

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