WHICH LATELY DIED OF OLD AGE IN ST JAMES'S PARK. PRIDE of the forest, now laid low, And weep above thy shattered trunk ; Where now thy ancient form has sunk. Full many a time beneath thy boughs Here lovers oft have joined their hands. And now retreat and now advance. The deer, quick bounding o'er the glade, Would stop and listen anxious there; Whole generations passed away, And left thee still without decay In all thy rich and verdant prime; Of each race thou hast known the fame, Unfelt as yet the hand of time. Yet not alone have come to thee Nor music of the merry dance; And hither brought their dangerous spoils; Or framed some plan for future toils. On thy majestic head in peace L. CRITICAL NOTICES. El Traductor Español, or, a New and Practical System for Translating the Spanish Language. By MARIANO CUBI Y SOLER. Baltimore. 12mo. pp. 226. SENOR CUBI has adopted a plan for this work which pleases us, and we think his book will prove a useful auxiliary to learners of the Spanish language; nor do we think it will be the less useful for not being so entirely new in its method as its industrious compiler seems to suppose. We will allow him to state his plan for himself. As progress, however rapid, is gradual, and the mind of man, however stupendous, improves by degrees, the author has commenced his work by some easy moral lessons. These are followed by a few instructive anecdotes, heroic actions, and sprightly witticisms, all noted for purity and simplicity of style. Now the student is supposed to have acquired some knowledge of the mechanism of translation, and he enters into narrations. After narrations, come descriptions, portraits, and characters, which, being more brilliant in language, are also more difficult to translate. Speeches, comparisons, invocations, are compositions of a higher order than the former, and have therefore been placed next in succession. The work then concludes by some allegories, fictions, and select pieces of poetry, which increase the collection to 124 pages. * * * Every word contained in the extracts, whether proper or common, primitive or derivative, has been carefully selected, and systematically divided into ten lessons. The first of these contains every word, verbs excepted, of one syllable, alphabetically arranged. In the second, are words of two syllables, and thus, progressively, until the fifth lesson, which contains the remaining words, of five, six, seven syllables. It has been considered expedient, on account of the long explanation of the mood, tense, person, number, and origin, to divide the verbs from every other word. They are, consequently, placed separately, and divided like the preceding words into verbs of one syllable, verbs of two syllables, &c. We perceive no essential difference between this plan and that of Chambaud's Fables Choisies, an excellent little book for learners of the French language, except in the division of words into classes according to the number of syllables and parts of speech, of the former of which divisions we doubt the utility. In all other respects it is the same, and the advantages of the method are : 1. That the learner has every word set down separately in the vocabulary, not in its primitive form only, but also in every form which it may assume by cases, modes, tenses, &c., and thus one great cause of embarrassment and of frequent applications to the teacher is removed. 2. The vocabulary or dictionary, constructed exclusively for the book to which it is attached, is much more copious, so far as it goes, than general dictionaries can well be, for it embraces proper names of persons, places, heathen deities, &c., which must usually be sought in several different and expensive works. 3. It is more convenient for use, being a part of the same small volume, which contains the lesson, and easily portable in the pocket. The same method has been applied, though less extensively than by Messrs Chambaud and Cubi, to that little Latin compilation, which we have in our classical schools, under the name of Viri Roma, one of those invaluable presents, which the Emeritus Professor, M. L'Homond, has made to the youth of France, and of all nations, with a view, as he beautifully expresses it, "d' épargner à cet âge aimable une partie des larmes que les premières études font couler." Approving as we do Senor Cubi's plan, and allowing him, as we have done, the merit of industry in the execution, we must say, that in one respect he has in our opinion committed an error in judgment. He gives us a number of extracts from Cervantes; but in so doing he has made considerable alterations in the text. We see no reason for this, which would not be equally good for excluding these extracts altogether. That there are many words in this inimitable writer, which are now obsolete, is true; so there are in Shakspeare; but who would wish to see them plucked out, and the text left mutilated or mended by more modern words. To be sure, a foreigner does not so much mind these omissions or substitutions; but to a native admirer of Cervantes, every one of them would cause a shock, something like that which travellers complain of in jolting over the "corderoy roads" of the South. But if the object was to omit obsolete words, it is not always adhered to; for many are rejected which are still in use, and for the omission of which we can imagine no reason. We copy the description of the first sally of Don Quixotte, and will subjoin the entire passage from the works of Cervantes. Primer Salida de Don Quijote. Apenas habia el rubicundo Apolo tendido por la faz de la ancha y espaciosa tierra las doradas hebras de sus hermosos cabellos; y apenas los pequeños y pintados pajarillos con sus lenguas habian saludado, con dulce harmonía, la venida de la rosada aurora, cuando el famoso caballero Don Quijote de la Mancha, dejando las ociosas plumas, subió su famoso caballo Rocinante, y comenzó a caminar por el antiguo y conocido campo de Montiél; y añadió, diciendo: "Dichosa edad y siglo dichoso aquel en donde saldrán á luz las famosas hazañas mias, dignas de entellarse en bronce, esculpirse en mármoles, y pintarse en tablas para memoria en lo futuro." The entire passage is as follows: La Primera Salida que de su Tierra hizo el ingenioso Don Quixote. Apenas habia el rubicundo Apolo tendido por la faz de la ancha y espaciosa tierra las doradas hebras de sus hermosos cabellos; y apenas los pequeños paxarillos con sus arpadas lenguas habian saludado con dulce y meliflua armonia la venida de la rosada Aurora, que dexando la blanda cama del zeloso marido, por las puertas y balcones del manchego orizonte á los mortales se mostraba, quando el famoso cabellero Don Quixote de la Mancha, dexando las ociosas plumas, subió sobre su famoso caballo Rocinante y comenzó á caminar por el antiguo y conocido Campo de Montiel (y era la verdad que por él caminaba), y añadió diciendo: Dichosa edad y siglo dichoso aquel adonde saldrán á luz las famosas hazañas mias, dignas de entallarse en bronces, esculpirse en mármoles, y pintarse en tablas, para memoria en lo futuro. It appears to us, that some of the finest epithets, and the most magnificent, and, if we may so say, epic part of the description contained in this passage have been omitted by Senor Cubi, for what reason we are unable to imagine. Several extracts are given from Father Feijoo, who is mentioned in the vocabulary, and we believe truly, as "one of the most scientific and erudite men Spain ever produced." He appears to have been a man of the most extensive and profound knowledge. He left numerous writings distinguished as much by their elegance as by the wit and learning which they display,-wit and learning, which, being sometimes employed to unmask hypocrisy and expose imposition, procured the possessor the enmity of those who live by cherishing and taking advantage of the ignorance, weakness, and follies of their fellow men. Father Feijoo's character bears a striking resemblance to that of the celebrated Averroes, who flourished at Cordova in the twelfth century. Cordova was then in the hands of the Moors; and was the wealthy, learned, and polished capital of the Western Caliphs. Their fates were as much assimilated as their minds; both were the objects of envy and persecution. We hope to see Feijoo's works better known in North America. In his extracts from Gil Blas, Senor Cubi constantly attributes that work to Padre de la Isla. This may be correct, and we know very well that Spaniards never admit that Le Sage was the author of it. We have heard some of them say, that Le Sage purloined the manuscript from a lawyer in Madrid, and published a translation at Paris as an original work of his own. For our part, we should like to hear the facts and arguments on both, or on all sides of the question, for it appears to have more than two sides; and we think that the question of the authorship of Gil Blas, is one of the most interesting literary problems that now exist. The Hearts of Steel, an Irish Historical Tale of the Last Century. By the Author of "The Wilderness," "O'Halloran," &c. Philadelphia. 1825. 2 vols. 12mo. pp. 326 and 411. This book has three very great faults; it is very long, very dull, and written in a very bad style. If such books can be republished and sold in such numbers as to yield a profit, it augurs ill for the literary taste of our country. The author states in his preface, that it is the second of a series of Irish Tales; we hope it is the last of its race. The first, he tells us, was called "O'Halloran, or the Insurgent Chief;" of which he boasts that three editions have been published in a year, notwithstanding its romantic title; but he regrets that one of the editions issued from the Minerva Press. We saw "O'Halloran," but we did not read it; its title deterred us. This, however, we have read, and if its predecessor had any thing of a family likeness, even the Minerva Press was in our opinion degraded by "intermeddling" with it. The incidents of this work are disjointed, the characters ill-drawn and incongruous, and the language such as was never before written or spoken. On the whole, we do not now remember that we ever read any book so entirely vapid. The author, after the fashion of the author of Waverley, has prefixed his own verses to the heads of many of the chapters. We quote those over the first chapter, as a specimen of the whole book." Think of a people, ancient and renowned, Driven from their homes, where long their fathers dwelt, To range the world in want and desolation; Ah! think what wrath against their haughty spoilers Will long retain the fierce and vengeful feeling. We will not afflict our readers with a sample of the prose, only assuring them, that it is just equal to what is intended for poetry. |