Our author's analysis of the Leuchtthurm, in a dialogue between himself and a friend, is excellent. This is a drama of the new school, and a precious specimen it is; written chiefly in the trochaic measure, as easy to write as the ballad measure of Marmion, and confined to no more fixed rules. Das Schieksal, or Destiny, is predominant, the story is wild and improbable in the highest degree, the characters extravagant, and the general impression left on the mind is cheerless and disagreeable. As a specimen of the dazzling imagery and versification, and, at the same time, of the absurdities, to be met in this piece, we give the following passage. Gaspar recommends his daughter Dorothea to go into a convent; she excuses herself, because she had been brought up at the sea, and she thus compares the sea, and the rising of the sun, with a church and the divine service. 'Und, wenn bei des Morgens Dufte Mich der Vöglein frühes Lied Hab' ich in dem weiten Dome Freudig vor dem Herrn gekniet: Wolken Kommen ernst gezogen, "Liebt und freut euch allerwegen ; "Ich verkünd," euch Gottes Seegen.'-Vol. i. pp. 168. The article on Der Fürst und der Bürger, another piece of Honwald, contains a great quantity of just and original observations on the different kinds of verse employed in the drama. The following are some of the author's remarks on the Alexandrine. The more ancient Alexandrine was one of the earliest measures employed in Europe, perhaps the earliest attempt at poetic expression, for no inquiries have as yet succeeded in discovering its first origin. Whether it only presented an imitation of the ancient trimeter, or that it took the place of the Latin hexameter, or (what appears to me most likely) that it was the musical accompaniment of the military dances of those valiant nations, and was an original invention; our old German heroic songs are, for the most part, especially the Niebelungen, composed in this measure. The Niebelungen are distinguished from several other epic poems of the middle ages, more especially by the greater length of the fourth verse, so that the work arranges itself in strophes. The old Spanish Cid (the epic poem, not the romance, which Herder has made known to us), is in these earlier alexandrines, so also are the oldest French heroic poems, and in Italy also we meet this kind of verse, even in the thirteenth century, when even then it was called the Martellian verse. This measure is distinguished by this, that it has a female cesura in the middle, by which means it gains a syllable, but, at the same time, more freedom and variety. The French dramatists acted, beyond doubt, against their interest, when they placed the male cesura in the middle of the verse, and thus introduced that uniformity, and the beat of time, to overcome and conceal which cost the actor labour enough. They might have been induced to do this, in order to keep clear of the ballad-singing tone into which that more ancient species of verse had sunk, and into which it falls so easily, as we may see by numerous specimens of ancient popular stories, which have kept to this measure as an easy one. I would still, however, hesitate to say, whether, even in its older form, it be suitable to tragedy. In comedy it is excellent.'-Vol. i. pp. 218, 219. We shall on another occasion notice Mr. Tieck's second volume, as well as his remarks on Romeo and Juliet. He is, as might be supposed, an ardent (perhaps, like others of his countrymen, too ardent) an admirer of our great poet. For we, idolaters as we are of Shakspeare, cannot discover in him that wonderful philosophic depth of plan, and other recondite merits, which meet, at every step, the eyes of his German worshippers. Yet, it must be confessed, that they have done much for him, and that they have as full a perception of his real beauties as any of his countrymen. ART. V. Voyage en Sardaigne, de 1819 à 1825; ou Description Statistique, Physique, et Politique de cette Ile. Par le Chevalier Albert de la Marmora. 8vo. avec Atlas in fol. Paris. 1826. Treuttel and Wurtz. London. THIS volume is intended by the author only as an introduction to a larger work on Sardinia, with illustrations. As it is, however, it forms the most accurate, and the best account of that island with which we are acquainted. M. de la Marmora seems to have followed closely the plan of Azuni, whose work on Sardinia was published at Paris in 1802; but though, of course, the two authors do not differ materially upon many points, the greater minuteness of research evinced by M. de la Marmora, and the recentness of his publication, give his book unquestionable superiority and interest. Mannu's History of Sardinia, published in 1825, we have not met with. Most of the details in the present volume will be found equally new and curious to English readers; for it is suprising to find that no English traveller, with the exception of Mr. Galt, who has devoted a few pages of his Voyages to Sardinia, has thought it worth while to notice an island, which might be made so important to us, from the abundance of its commercial resources. * Quarto, 1813. In this point of view, as well as in many others, the present volume is peculiarly interesting. It gives a detailed account of the articles of export and import, and of the productions of the country. Some of the articles which Sardinia imports most largely, are arms, hardware and tin, cotton and woollen manufactures, coffee, and sugars. There are some rich lead mines in the island, which might be rendered highly productive; but the want of roads and machinery amounts to a prohibition upon working them. The same deficiency destroys the value of the forests which are found in the western parts of Sardinia. Glass is not manufactured, though the country abounds in fine sand, pure quartz, and soda. Alum is found in great quantities; it was formerly an article of export. The trade in salts might be increased at least two thirds. Cordage is an article of considerable import; a great quantity is employed in the tunny fishery; but though hemp is abundant, the Sardinians neglect it. All the linen and cotton consumed by the inhabitants, is imported: a cotton manufactory has indeed been recently established at Cagliari, but it has made little progress. The cotton tree grows easily in the island. There is not a single paper manufactory in Sardinia. Several have been established under the royal patronage, but all have failed. If a paper manufactory were undertaken, with ordinary prudence, by any spirited individual, who should reject the patronage of the government, it could not fail to become a lucrative speculation. It would be also favourable to the consumption of the Sardinian oils and alum, and would encourage the manufacture of soap, which is, at present, so inconsiderable a branch of industry, that the quantity produced is not sufficient for the demand. This might also be increased, so as to turn the oils and sodas to account. Though the cork tree grows largely in Sardinia, and all its wines are exported in bottles, no corks are made. Some small morocco manufactories exist in the island; they are prosperous, and the leather is said to be tolerably good. The cloth is very coarse and rare; it is almost entirely an article of import. Silk worms are neglected, though the climate is admirably calculated for rearing them. In short, scarcely any of the productions of the island, any more than its climate, have been turned to account, either by individuals or the go vernment. The chief articles of export are cattle, oil, wine, skins, fish, salt, tobacco, and cheese. Of the latter, a large quantity is exported. On the export of corn, the government places impolitic restrictions. If these were removed, a great part of the country, now waste, would be brought into productive cultivation. M. de la Marmora says, that general opinion states the present population of Sardinia at 470,000; Mr. Galt, in 1811, quotes it at 500,000 but from the tables with which M. de la Marmora has furnished us, it does not seem to exceed 412,000. Sardinia exhibits the spectacle (though in Europe not a singular one) of a country inferior in 1825 to the number of its population in 1775. This retrogradation is ascribed, by M. de la Marmora, to two causes, in our opinion altogether incapable of producing it. The one is the number of assassinations, which, he says, always involve the fate of two persons, the murdered and the murderer, and ruin their families, in which may be generally reckoned four persons at least, in the flower of their age: and secondly, the want of physicians. The latter reason would have made Moliere or Le Sage smile. We have no doubt that the main cause of the decreased population is to be found in the oppressions of the people by the privileged classes, which followed the death of Charles Emmanuel, in 1775, assisted by epidemics, and the French Revolution, and the wars that followed it, until 1816. Since then, the population has been slowly advancing, but the state of vassalage of the peasants, the exactions of the feudal lords, and the pecuniary necessities of the government, must be a far stronger and more probable check upon the increase of the inhabitants, than the two causes cited by M. de la Marmora. The Sardinians are indulgently characterised, both physically and morally, by the author, though he admits that they are revengeful and ferocious. The nobility and ecclesiastics appear to be ignorant and numerous. One individual out of fifty in the population belongs to one or the other of these classes. The dresses of the common inhabitants seem, from the plates, to be of the most primitive, or rather barbarous, kind: they are made of rough goat skins, though some adopt the luxury of tanned leather vests. The women are dressed somewhat in the fashion of the peasants of the south of France. Their houses, which are rudely built, seem to be destitute of comfort, and even convenience; and their greatest pleasures are dancing and eating. Their cookery is of the kind described by Homer, though the upper classes affect the Italian mode. The state of society, as Mr. Galt remarks, seems to be similar to that which existed in Scotland one hundred and fifty years ago. Hunting and shooting are favourite exercises; horse racing is practised, as is a barbarous game of kicking, which generally ends in broken limbs. Of the rude music, and dissonant instruments they possess, the natives seem also to be fond. Some of their usages are curious; one is the paradura, which consists in a subscription of sheep, among the shepherds, to furnish a flock for one of their tribe, who may have lost his-a plan which seems admirably calculated to encourage negligence and idleness. We extract an account of their marriage ceremonies : When a young peasant wishes to marry, he first asks the permission of his father or guardian: when this is obtained, the latter goes alone to the parents of the girl, and says, "I am come to ask for a beautiful white cow which you possess, which will form the glory of my flock, and the consolation of my old age." The other parties reply in the same strain, VOL. II. II and a conversation of a strange kind ensues. They feign not to under stand what is meant, and bringing each of their children by turns, they say, "Is it this one you want?" At last they leave the room, and return, bringing with them the girl, as it were by force. They then arrange the reciprocal presents: and on the day of exchanging them, the bridegroom, accompanied by his friends, who bear the title of paralymphos*, go in pomp to the bride's house. The door is fastened, but on their pronouncing the words honour and virtue, it opens; they enter, the exchanges are made; but the marriage does not always immediately follow this ceremony. Sometimes it is delayed till the house is furnished. A splendid procession takes place on the transport of the bride's clothes to her house, eight days before the marriage. On that occasion, the bridegroom proceeds with his paranymphs to the house of the bride, who kneels at her mother's feet, and, in tears, asks her blessing. The party then proceed to church, to the sound of flutes and bells. On their return, they breakfast at the house of the bride's parents, from which she is carried in triumph on horseback to her new habitation, where the nearest female relative of her spouse is prepared to give the bride her grazia, consisting of a plate of salt, corn, and confectionary, of which she throws a handful at the bride. The reception of the new married couple is generally followed by an entertainment, at which they eat from the same dish, with the same spoon: a ball concludes the nuptial day.'— pp. 260-269. C The funeral ceremonies of the Sardinians are remarkable, as bearing a strong resemblance to the nenie of the Roman præfice, and a still stronger one to those of the modern Greeks: When an individual dies, his body is placed in the middle of the room, with his face exposed, and turned towards the door. The parents and friends of the deceased, or, as it frequently happens, women hired for the occasion, then enter, and feign ignorance of his death. Suddenly they utter a shriek of grief and surprise, followed by tears, sobs, and groans; then a momentary calm succeeds. One of the women rises as if inspired, her face becomes flushed, and she improvises in verse a long eulogy of the deceased; she declaims, in a measured cadence, and at the close of each strophe, cries, ahi! ahi! ahi! in which she is joined by all her companions. 'This discourse, and the tone in which it is pronounced, vary according to the quality of the person who is lamented. For a young girl, the cries of her companions are melancholy and touching; for a young married woman the accompaniment is louder; and for a person of consideration of the male sex, the expressions of regret are still more lively. But when the death of a person killed by his enemy is lamented, the shouts of rage and despair are fearful, and excite in the minds of all present sentiments of hatred and vengeance. His widow has recourse to metaphors. "It is a lion," says she, "slain by a fox-a hero by a coward." She then recals the ancient enmities, and half-forgotten outrages of the assassin's family to those about her, and this is rarely without effect in producing a mark of esteem for the deceased by the murder of some of his enemies.'-pp. 270–272. * Evidently the paranymphs of the ancients. |