노 rally and exactly had my desire. My sense of "About six o'clock the man who brushes my "Goethe sat in precisely the same attitude, in the material world to the debt and credit of the merchants' cash-book. (N.B.-These are all facts.) Wearied by the lecture, I shall perhaps hardly know what to do between eleven and twelve o'clock, when I shall reluctantly come home to a very bad dinner. Jena is famous for its bad eating and drinking. Then I shall prepare myself for a lecture or two from Geheimer-Hofrath Loder, on Physical Anthro ful of the lectures I attend. I shall do my best During his subsequent residence at Frank-pology, by far the best delivered and most usefort, he made the acquaintance of Goethe's mother, who had "the mien and deportment of a strong person. Of her son she spoke with affection and pride. She gave Mr. Robinson this account of the origin of Goethe's first drama, Götz von Berlichingen: "Her son came home one evening in high spirits, saying, 'Oh, mother, I have found such a book in the public library, and I will make a play of it! What great eyes the Philistines will make at the Knight of the Iron-hand! That's glorious-the Iron hand.' to conquer my dislike of, and even disgust at, anatomical preparations, and my repugnance to inspect rotten carcases and smoked skeletons. And I expect to learn the general laws and structure of the human frame, as developed with less minuteness for general students than dents of medicine. From Loder I shall proceed he employs on his anatomical lectures for sta to Schelling, and hear him lecture for an hour on Esthetics, or the Philosophy of Taste. In spite of the obscurity of a philosophy in which are combined profound abstraction and enthusiastic mysticism, I shall certainly be amused at particular remarks (however unable to comIn the autumn of 1802 Mr. Robinson prehend the whole) in his development of went to Jena, and matriculated as a student Platonic ideas, and explanation of the philosophy veiled in the Greek mythology. I may be at the age of twenty-seven. His matriculaperhaps a little touched now and then by his tion certificate seemed a curious document contemptuous treatment of our English writers, in his eyes. It set forth in Latin that he as last Wednesday I was by his abuse of Dar had been found fitted for studying all the win and Locke. I may hear Johnson called arts and sciences, had undertaken not to thick-skinned, and Priestley shallow. I may knock anybody on the head, never to be- hear it insinuated that science is not to be excome a member of club or society, and to use perted in a country where mathematics are all his knowledge for the advantage of re-jennies and machines for weaving stockings, valued only as they may help to make spinningligion and society. An account of his stu- After a stroll by the river-side in Paradise, I dent life during five days of the week is shall at four attend Schelling's lecture on Specu given in an extract from a letter :lative Philosophy, and I may be animated by the sight of more than 130 enthusiastic young and his fame as well deserved as the heteromen, eagerly listening to the exposition of a doxy and fame of Strauss; Voss, the transphilosophy which in its pretensions is more lator of the Iliad; and Wolf, the disseminaaspiring than any publicly maintained since the tor of doubts as to the unity of the Greek days of Plato and his commentators-a philosophy equally opposed to the empiricism of Locke, epic. Of the first of these Mr. Robinson the scepticism of Hume, and the critical school can recall nothing remarkable, excepting of Kant, and which is now in the sphere of the remark, which modern writers of EngMetaphysics the Lord of the Ascendant. But lish law have shown to be well founded, that if I chance to be in a prosaic mood, I may smile" an English lawyer might render great ser at the patience of so large an assembly listening, because it is the fashion, to a detail which not one in twenty comprehends, and which only fills the head with dry formulas and rhapsodical phraseology. At six I shall come home exhausted with attention to novelties hard to understand; and after, perhaps, an unsuccessful attempt to pen a few English iambics in translation of Goethe's Tasso, I shall read in bed some fairy tale, poem, or other light work." The foregoing account of life at a German University sixty-seven years ago is doubly interesting. It enables us to understand that to professors and students alike the work was very exhausting. The toil of delivering several lectures daily must have been as trying as the task of listening to them. Very slight changes would have to be made in the picture were it altered so as to represent the daily existence of professors and students in Germany now. The reader must be warned, however, that Mr. Robin son was not a typical student. Not all those who studied at Jena then were as assiduous as he, if his fellow-students bore any resemblance to their living successors. German students, for the most part, are quite as fond of pleasure as of study. They frequent the lecture-rooms as often as it is required of them to do so in order to become qualified for the requisite certificate. It was doubt less the same at Jena in 1802. Indeed, Mr. Robinson records that these students drank beer, sang songs, and fought duels. He expressly protests against the notions current then, and not wholly extinct now, that their lives are loose and their manners coarse. Nor were the duels any more terrible in his than in our day. He says that a hundred were fought in the course of six months without limbs being seriously injured or lives being lost. Indeed, the greatest wound inflicted is a slight cut or trifling scratch. The student's duel is but a trial of skill with naked weapons, conducted according to rules which render fatal consequences almost impossible. Among the notable personages whose acquaintance Mr. Robinson made at Jena was Savigny, afterwards well known as the greatest of German jurists and as a profound writer on Roman law; Paulus, the theologian, whose heterodoxy was quite as great vice to legal science by studying the Roman law, and showing the obligations of English law to it, which are more numerous than is generally supposed."* Being at Weimar in 1804, Mr. Robinson made the acquaintance of Madame de Staël, the most distinguished woman of her day, an authoress whose writings were universally read, whose talents were universally admired, who, at a time when good talkers of both sexes were to be met with in many a drawing-room, was renowned and envied on account of her marvellous conversational powers, whose sharp sayings were more dreaded by Bonaparte than a host of armed foes, and who was arbitrarily banished from France because she refused to bridle her tongue at the bidding of a despot. She had come to Germany in order to converse with the men of note, and collect materials for a descriptive work. Naturally, the fame of Weimar led her to choose that small yet brilliant capital as the temporary place of her abode. The most distinguished men were not at all eager to respond to her advances. Schiller and Goethe hardly concealed their dislike to the cross-examination to which Madame de Staël subjected them. Others of less note were flattered, and ready to serve her. However, she found it difficult to fathom the explanations they gave of the different philosophical systems then in vogue, which she professed a desire to understand. It was probably in the hope that Mr. Robinson would help her that she made his acquaintance. Whatever may have been the motive, the result was attained. Nor did the intimacy expire with the occasion which gave birth to it. On the contrary, it increased in strength as years passed away, for Madame de Staël soon discovered that in Mr. Robinson she had an admirer who would not stoop to flatter her vanity, but who was alike ready and willing to enlighten her mental darkness. On his part, he was greatly pleased when first invited to pay her a visit. He was rather surprised, owing to his ignorance of History of English Law, Mr. Finlason has prefixed To the recently published edition of Reeves' an elaborate Introduction in which the correctness of Savigny's remark is verified. Parisian customs, to be ushered into her | Schiller knew English, to which the reply bedroom. "She was sitting most decorous- was, "I have read Shakespeare in English, ly in bed, and writing. She had her night- but on principle not much. My business in cap on, and her face was not made up for life is to write German, and I am convinced the day. It was by no means a captivating that a person cannot read much in foreign spectacle, but I had a very cordial reception, languages without losing that delicate tact and two bright black eyes smiled benignant in the perception of the power of words ly on me." She paid him the compliment, which is essential to good writing." If for which was doubtless deserved, of saying that "read" the word "write" had been substiof all those with whom she had conversed tuted, we should have heartily concurred in he alone had enabled her to comprehend this remark. There is no doubt that the German philosophy. He records his utter practice of writing a foreign language tends failure in making her feel the transcendent to vitiate style, inasmuch as our thoughts excellence of Goethe. Indeed, he once told insensibly clothe themselves in foreign guise. her that she had never understood and never The habit of conversation tends in the same could understand that great poet. Her re- direction. But reading is altogether dif ply is a fine specimen of French audacity ferent. tempered with French wit: "Her eye flashed-she stretched out her fine arm, of which she was justly vain, and said in an emphatic tone:Monsieur, je comprends tout ce qui mérite être compris : ce que je ne comprends n'est rien.'" That the accusation was well founded and the defence insufficient is proved by the following example of her success in spoiling a fine thing. Mr. Robinson had repeated to her the noble say ing of Kant: "There are two things which, the more I contemplate them, the more they fill my mind with admiration-the starry heavens above me, and the moral law within me.' She sprang up, exclaiming, 'Ah, que cela est beau! Il faut que je l'écrive,' and years after, in her Allemagne, I found it Frenchified thus: Car, comme un philosophe célèbre a très bien dit: Pour les coeurs sensibles, il y a deux choses!'" Mr. Robinson's sole yet sufficient commentary on this is "the grave philosopher of Königsberg turned into a cœur sensible!" Although Mr. Robinson made the acquaintance of so many distinguished persons, yet he did not force himself on their society. Indeed, he regretted in after years that he made so little use of his opportunities. Instead, then, of having a long string of anecdotes picked up with infinite toil, and procured at some cost to those who were made to yield them, he has but a small number of sayings to record. Dining with Goethe, he was struck with, and made a note of, this remark, uttered after the poet has stated that he hated everything Oriental: "I am glad there is something that I hate; for otherwise one is in danger of falling into the dull habit of literally finding all things good in their place, and that is destructive of all true feeling." He records the impression of gloom cast over society by the premature death of Schiller, and adds that the only conversation with him he could recall turned upon an inquiry whether or not An incident which occurred at a party at which many persons of quality were present, gives us a fair impression of the esteem in which Schiller and such as he were held by the courtiers of Weimar. Referring to the loss occasioned by Schiller's decease, Mr. Robinson exclaimed, "The glory of Weimar is rapidly passing away.' One of the Gentlemen of the Chamber was offended at this, saying angrily, "All the poets might die, but the Court of Weimar might still remain." He was right. The poets did all die. The Court of Weimar still remains, but its very name would be unknown if these despised poets had not hallowed it with their presence. tr As a student Mr. Robinson had a narrow escape from expulsion. A professor named E, who was unpopular among the students and his colleagues, committed the offence of delivering as his own, a lecture on the Roman Satirists which had been written by another. The book containing the proof of this plagiarism being put into the Englishman's hands, he made use of it in a way very uncomplimentary to the German professor. "As soon as the lecture was over, and E-- had left the room, I called out to the students, Gentlemen, I will read you the lecture over again,' and began reading. I was a little too soon, E- was within hearing, and rushed back to the room. An altercation ensued, and I was cited before the Prorector." The most distinguished of the professors took Mr. Robinson's part; the students naturally sided with him also. He forwarded a statement to the Senate containing his version of the affair, sending along with it corroboratory documents. The result was a victory to him. This goes to prove that he had acquired a mastery over the German tongue. Soon after this he had an occasion for displaying his linguistic ac quirements. Journeying homewards he left Jena for Hamburg in August 1805, passing through a part of North Germany then in | employment. In 1807 he was sent to Alpossession of the French. Being an Eng- tona as special correspondent. The French lishman he was liable to capture and im- had then overrun the Continent. The prisonment as a prisoner of war. With a crushing defeat of the Austrians at Austerfellow-passenger, who was a Frenchman, he litz was succeeded by a victory as thorough had many angry disputes in German. As over the Prussians at Jena. Denmark was soon as he had been ferried across the Elbe neutral. Whether that neutrality would be all danger of capture was over, because preserved or not was the problem of the Hamburg had been declared neutral terri- day, and it was regarded with special inter tory. When in the carriage again, and est by English statesmen. The defeat o moving onwards, Mr. Robinson felt unable the Russians at Friedland led to the conto repress his feelings of triumph, and, snap-clusion that the French would soon compel ping his fingers at the Frenchman, exclaimed in German, "Now, sir, I am an Englishman." The other did not conceal his mortification, and said, "You ought to have been taken prisoner for your folly in running such a risk." The packet in which he sailed for England carried the news of a battle which humiliated Austria, and made the name of Bonaparte a word of terror throughout Europe, while not a few English statesmen were filled with consternation when they heard of the French having triumphed at Austerlitz. After returning home he made the ac 'Tis hard to part when friends are dear, Say not good-night, but in some brighter Bid me good-morning." Mr. Robinson was present at Covent Garden when Lamb's farce Mr. H. was performed for the first and only time. The prologue was well received; but on the disclosure of the hero's name, Hogsflesh, his dislike for which constituted the pivot of the piece, the hisses were loud and general. In these "Lamb joined, and was probably the loudest hisser in the house." To eke out his limited means Mr. Robinson undertook some literary drudgery, translating from the French at a guinea and a half the sheet. An engagement as reporter for the Times afforded him more congenial the Danes to side with them. In order to prevent unpleasant consequences from this, it was decided to capture the Danish fleet, an operation which our Admiral performed with greater ease than was exhibited by those of our statesman who had to defend the morality of the transaction. After narrow escapes from capture, Mr. Robinson first visited Sweden, and then returned to England, when his services as special correspondent were recompensed by promotion to the post of foreign editor of the Times. He did not long remain at his post. The Revolution in Spain in 1808 rendered that country for the moment the object of attention. What Mr. Robinson had done with success on the banks of the Elbe he was asked to repeat on the shores of the Bay of Biscay. Accordingly, as the special correspondent of the Times he sailed on the 23d of June 1808 for the little town of Corunna. What the correspondent thought of Corunna, and what he did there in his official capacity, interest us less than the account he gives of the way in which the operation of the naval and military services were conducted. The following passage shows that for the worst misdeeds and the most inexcusable shortcomings in the Crimea, whereof an account was given to the public by another distinguished correspondent of the Times, there were only too many precedents: "This I must state as the general impression and result--that in the economical department of our campaign in Spain there was great waste and mismanagement, amounting to dishonesty. I have done a good day's work; I have put One day came to me full of glee, and said, £50 in my pocket. C-[who was one of the commiss riat] wanted to buy some [I am not sure of the commodity]. He is bound not to make the purchase himself, so he told me where I coull get it, and what I was to give, and I have £50 for my commission.' expressing surprise he said, 'Oh, it is always done in all purcha-es.' On my "Another occurrence, not dishonourable in its way, but still greatly to be regretted, must be imputed, I fear, to a very honourable man. Only a few days before the actual embarkation of the troops, there arrived from England a cargo of clothing, a gift from English philan- | Bench Prison, and when he came to Printing. thropists (probably a large proportion of them House Square it was only by virtue of a day. Quakers) to the Spanish soldiers. The super- rule. I believe that Walter offered to release cargo spoke to me on his arrival, and I told him from prison by paying his debts. This he him he must on no account unload, that every would not permit, as he did not acknowledge hour brought fugitives, that the transports were the equity of the claim for which he suffered collected for the troops, which were in full re-imprisonment. He preferred living on an altreat, and that if these articles were landed they would become, of course, the prey of the French. He said he would consult Ger eral Brodrick. I saw the supercargo next day, and he told me that the General had said that the safest thing for him to do was to carry out his instructions literally-land the clothes, get a receipt, and then whatever happened he was not to blame. And he acted accordingly." Of the famous battle he saw nothing. When the firing began he was dining in a hotel. He walked a mile or two out of the town, met carts arriving with wounded, saw some French prisoners, learned that the enemy had been driven back, and then returning, went on board the vessel prepared beforehand for his departure. Six months afterwards his connexion with the Times ceased. Having recorded this fact, he goes on to give sketches of two of the notable writers for that journal. Everything relating to the Times in its earlier days has acquired historical importance. We shall quote these sketches because they are revelations of what was at the time hidden in profound mystery : "The writer of the great leaders-the flash articles which made a noise-was Peter Fraser, then a fellow of Corpus Christi, Cambridge, afterwards Rector of Kegworth in Leicestershire. He used to sit in Walter's parlour and write his articles after dinner. He was never made known as editor or writer, and would probably have thought it a degradation; but he was prime adviser and friend, and continued to write long after I had ceased to do so. He was a man of general ability, and when engaged for the Times was a powerful writer. The only man who in a certain vehemence of declamation equalled, or perhaps surpassed him, was the author of the papers signed Vetus-that is Sterling, the father of the younger Sterling, the free-thinking clergyman, whose remains Julius Hare has published. "There is another person belonging to this period who is a character certainly worth writing about; indeed, I have known few to be compared with him. It was on my first acquaintance with Walter that I used to notice in his parlour a remarkably fine old gentleman. He was tall, with a stately figure and handsome face. He did not appear to work much with his pen, but was chiefly a consulting man. When Walter was away he used to be more at the office, and to decide in the dernier ressort. His name was W. Combe. It was not till after I had left the office that I learned what I shall now relate. At this time, and until the end of his life, he was an inhabitant of the King's lowance from Walter, and was, he said, perfectly happy. He used to be attended by a young man who was a sort of half-servant, half-companion. Combe had been for many years of his life a man of letters, and wrote books anonymously. Some of these acquired a great temporary popularity. One at least, utterly worthless, was for a time, by the aid of prints as worthless as the text, to be seen everywhere now only in old circulating libraries. This is The Travels of Dr. Syntax in search of the Picturesque." In 1809 Mr. Robinson resolved to qualify himself for being called to the Bar. His legal studies did not hinder him from cultivating literature, and keeping up close intimacy with the notable men of the time. Henceforth his diary is filled with notes of his reading and critiques upon books, with statements of the way in which he passed his evenings, and records of the conversations which impressed him. With Lamb, Southey, Hazlitt, Coleridge and Wordsworth, he was on the most familiar footing, visiting or corresponding with them. His account of Coleridge is full and instructive. Page after page might be filled with extracts of extreme value. As we cannot quote more than a few fragments, we shall endea your to select some of the shorter and more striking passages. Speaking of Hume, whose preference for the works of the French writers of tragedy over those of Shakespeare was marked, Coleridge said that "Hume comprehended as much of Shakespeare as an apothecary's phial would, placed under the Falls of Niadetermined aristocrat, an enemy to popular gara.' Milton he regarded as "a most elections, and he would have been most decidedly hostile to the Jacobins of the present day. He would have thought our popular freedom excessive. He was of opinion that the government belonged to the wise, and he thought the people fools." "Jeremy Taylor's Holy Dying he affirmed is a perfect poem, and in all its particulars, even the rhythm, may be compared with Young's Night Thoughts." A criticism of Charles Lamb on Coleridge and Wordsworth is noteworthy. To the surprise of Mr. Robinson, "Lamb asserted the former to be the greater poet. He preferred The Ancient Mariner to anything Wordsworth had written. He thought the latter too apt to force his own individual |