death; then addressing the people who were round him, he bade them farewell-told them he died unjustly, but he was consoled in knowing it was in the service of his country. A few of the crowd answered by execrations, but the rest remained in profound and sympathizing silence. He then gave the word himself to fire, and he immediately fell dead by the discharge.His body was cast ignominiously into the sea, while that of his victim was carefully enbalmed and preserved, till it was brought over to Corfu, and finally deposited in the tomb of his ancestors. Shortly after, the afflicted father, the old Bey, was released, and sent to his home in an English ship, and our author accompanied him. He describes the desolation of the old man, now left alone in the world, with much feeling. It is remarkable, that the Athenians, who were a gay, elegant, and luxuriant people, inhabited a province, bleak, and sterile, with no natural beauties to recommend it; while the Spartans, with all their stern virtues, were born and brought up in a country of unequalled charms for its rich luxuriance, and softened beauty. In this scenery, not far from his castle, the old man erected a small monument to the memory of his dear son. "Near his grave he wanders the livelong day, like a ghost lingering round the scene of its departed pleasures, or like a homeless friendless wanderer, who sits in winter beneath the bare and decaying branches of his accustomed oak, when the leaves that once sheltered him are scattered in the wind." On the death of the president, the post was conferred on his brother Augustine. This young man was educated for the bar; but wanting both talent and industry, he was idling about the streets of Corfu, when his brother was elected President of Greece.The president pretended to discover in him some military talents, appointed him to the command of the army in Acarnania, and finally Sir Richard Church, who had done signal service as a Philhellene to the cause of the Greeks, was removed, and this young, inexperienced, and worthless person was appointed Generalissimo in his place. In this important command, he neither achieved nor attempted any thing, but to make money by every art, in which he was very successful.” On the death of his brother, he was brought forward by his party, and became a puppet in the hands of Colocotroni, and other mercenary men, who proposed to rule over Greece by means of such an imbecile president. The consequence was, that the whole of the respectable and independent party declared against him. They would not submit to the arrogant assumption of his talented brother, who had rendered real service to Greece, and it is not to be supposed they would tolerate the equally Russian despotism of a weak and worthless young man. lity against him became implacable; he was called in the Italian idiom of the Morea, uomo infernale, and every chieftain declared his open determination to hang him, if he did not decamp before they caught hold of him. The hosti In this state of public feeling, the excitable population of Greece could not remain long inactive, and hostilities commenced between the people and the government, with an acrimony as great, and an enmity as deadly, as they both had united in displaying towards the Turks. Again, the country was over-run with bands of armed men; the traces of improvement commenced by Capo d' Istrias, were soon obliterated, and desolation more wild and wasting than ever, spread over the country. Of this our author paints several frightful pictures. He arrived at Corinth the day after Griva and the Romeliotes had defeated the partizans of Augustine, pursued them to Argos, and were preparing to invest Napoli, the seat of government : "It was a melancholy afternoon in April, the whole atmosphere was dark and threatening, the rain falling with hopeless pertinacity, and not a living creature was to be seen along the shore. My companion and I pursued our way to Corinth over fields and marshes, whitened with the bones and sculls of men, who had fallen in the revolutionary war. I never beheld a more desolate and gloomy spectacle than the town presented on our first arrival; We trod for many hundred yards, over an undistinguishable heap of ruins. When we entered the interior of the town, the scene was nearly similar; here and there a wet and solitary dog prowled about the deserted streets, and was in no way disturbed at our approach; the houses were all barricadoed, and the wooden windows closely shut, and the rain was pouring down as darkly and as despairingly as on a November Sunday in London. We thought we had arrived at the city of the dead.”— A similar spectacle, but of a more active character, presented itself at other places. They passed over from Athens to Pidavro, the ancient Epidauros. This is now a small fishing village, hemmed in by rocky precipices and so out of the way of intercourse and resort with other places, that it was not to be supposed, that the hope of plunder could bring any straggling party to so poor and sequestered a spot -but no place was exempt from their visits. Just as their boat had reached the shore, a party of Albanese marauders had appeared near the village. A crowd of terrified women and children rushed to the beach, and entreated with more than Irish volubility," to be taken on board a little bark, which could only contain the passengers who had come in, and already filled her. The men who rushed down with the women, were generally armed; but instead of retaining their arms for defence of themselves and property, such was the effect of debasing terror, from constant suffering and alarm, that that they threw their yatigans, muskets and pistols into the boat, and no entreaties of the English would induce them to resume them, and defend themselves : "The Albanese soon appeared, they were, as I conjectured, a straggling party, without pay, or without leader, and subsisting entirely by plunder. A more squalid, ferocious, ruffian-looking set of men I never beheld. They were filthy in the extreme,-their dress was torn and ragged, and their countenances denoted long-endured famine and hardships. They all carried two enormous pistols and a yatigan in their belts, and a long gun over their shoulders. They saw at once that they had no resistance to encounter, so set about their errand vigorously, seizing everything in the way of food or ammunition they could lay their hands on. The people subdued to the cowardice of silent indignation, stood quietly by, watching the seizure of their stores, without venturing even a remonstrance. I was equally disgusted with the dastardly endurance of the one party, and the brutal oppression of the other.The brigands, after rifling every house except the one in which we had established ourselves, began to feast upon their spoils. They were soon intoxicated, and their brutality then became unbridled. Their conduct was that of utter barbarians." After brutally treating all the females they could lay their hands on, one ruffian pursued a young woman with a babe in her arms, who ran shrieking from a house. This was too much for our author to endure—“ So looking this way and that, like Moses when he slew the Egyptian," he rushed after the inebriated brute, and brought him to the ground with a blow of his carbine. The poor woman escaped with her child to an adjoining thicket, where she remained till the satiated Albanians departed, and the travellers pursued their way to Napoli. "These bloodhounds, it appears, now swarm in every part of Greece, and till they are utterly extirpated, there will be neither security nor peace. It is to be hoped that this will be one of the first measures of the new government." This is a dismal picture of that country which has made such sacrifices and waded through so much blood for thirteen years, in pursuit of the phantom Liberty, and when at length it is overtaken, and within their grasp, the very possession has entailed much more evils on them than the pursuit. We confess we were among the number of those who thought that Greece should be left to enjoy in plenary indulgence without restraint or foreign interference, that freedom which she so highly prized. We are now convinced, from melancholy experience, that such an indulgence would be a cruel indifference to that interesting country.The people are utterly incapable of self-government. In their best day, By the way, this word is a good specimen of the mutations which ancient names have undergone. By omitting the initial and final letters, and pronouncing the upsilon as a v, according to modern usage in the Romaic, Epidauros becomes Pidavro. they never could be condensed into a body, but were split into several little states, generally in open hostility to each other. The petty jealousy, ambition, intrigue, and fickleness which distinguished them in ancient times yet remain, without the cultivation of mind and moral sense of right and wrong, which education and knowledge had imparted. They are as ignorant as they are vain and unsteady. Nothing but a strong government, and that im posed by powerful and foreign interference, can reduce them to any order, or keep them so. Whether the young Bavarian has the necessary qualities for this purpose, remains to be seen. We fear, however, from the impracticable character of his subjects, and the mild, and almost imbecile character of the man, that the reign of the Grecian Otho will be almost as short as that of his Roman namesake. CHIVALROUS ROMANCES OF THE GERMANS. By HERR ZANDER, Professor of German Literature. Uns ist alten maeren wunders vil geseit, von heleden lobebaeren, von grozer arebeit, von vreuden und' hochgeziten, von weinen und' von chlagen, If the progress of a country in arts and science be in a great measure connected with and depending upon her political situation, this is more especially the case with regard to the national literature. A most remarkable instance of this we find in Germany, where, during all ages, political events have most powerfully influenced the literary state of the nation. After the Teutonic tribes had overthrown the Roman Empire, between the free and valorous, yet uncultivated Northerns and Southern civilization a beneficent mediator stepped in. The mild principles of the Christian religion soon showed their mighty influence in various ways, but particularly by cheering and powerfully aiding the intellectual Der Nibelungen Liet. The improvement of the people. Goths were the first of the Germans that embraced Christianity, and already in the fourth century (between 360 and 380) their Bishop Ulfilas or properly Wulphilas, translated the Sacred Scriptures* into his native tongue, which sufficiently proves that there were some who would and could read his version. The following centuries are marked by great political convulsions which naturally retarded the progress of civilization for many ages, but almost immediately after those violent commotions had somewhat subsided, various efforts were made for the mental improvement of the country; it was reserved, however, for Charlemagne to begin, properly speaking, a new era. The reign He translated the whole Bible with the exception of Samuel and the Kings; of his version we have, however, but few fragments remaining, especially of the four Evangelists, which are preserved in the library of the university of Upsala, and commonly called the Silver Book. of this great Monarch, and the means which he took to promote science and literature amongst his subjects, are too well known to dwell upon them here. Under him German poetry boldly began to unfold its wings, but its rise was still retarded by the internal wars between his worthless sons and descendants and by the inroads of the Normans and Hungarians. A more favourable period ensued under the Saxon Emperors, after Henry I. and his great son Otho I. had defeated the invading barbarians on the fields of Merseburg and Erfurt. The cities which Henry I. and the three Othos founded for the security of the country, became the centres of science and arts; the intermarriages between the imperial houses of Germany and Constantinople, and the more intimate connexion with Italy had the most favourable effects upon German literature. Gerbert, (after wards Pope Sylvester II.) transplanted into his country those sciences which he had studied in the Colleges of the Spanish Arabs, and thus this period became, as it were, a preparatory school for the next which commences with the gallant race of the Suabian Emperors, under whose reigns German poetry took its highest flight during the middle ages. For nearly 300 years German literature had been almost exclusively nurtured and fostered by Ecclesiastics, but as the Latin language had gained the ascendancy in Church and State, and exercised almost monarchical power, the cultivation of the German tongue might have been endangered, had it not eagerly been taken up by the Nobles. About these times we find a new institution, if we may call it so-of chivalry, whose origin, in spite of many different but equally unsubstantiated suppositions, must be traced to Spain. A bold and brave spirit, certainly, pervaded the Normans and the Franks, but true chivalry first sprung up in Barcelona, the centre of the Spanish Mark, as that part of Spain was called which Charlemagne wrested from the Spanish Arabs. His weak successors had left that country, the western advanced post against the Moors, to her own defence. This dangerous and incessantly threatened position required every hour renewed enthusiasm for freedom and faith, and I called forth uncommon exertions and heroic valour from the Christian Knights. The intervals of repose, however short, afforded to both parties sufficient opportunities for a more intimate acquaintance and the interchange of the arts of peace. Thus, notwithstanding their reciprocal hostility, they soon learned to feel for each other that mutual respect which the brave owe to a brave enemy. Love adventures between Christian Knights and Moorish Ladies, Spanish Dames and the warriors of the Crescent were by no means of rare occurrence, and the hostility and fanaticism that separated the warfaring parties, threw particular charms over their lofty gallantry. The vicinity of Spain exercised a powerful influence upon the highspirited nobles of the Lower Burgundian empire. In Arles, its capital, the politeness of Spanish manners, and the sciences transplanted from the other side of the Pyrenees, soon gained ground. The Provencal people, like their chiefs, were lively, gay and fond of enjoyment; no wonder, then, that poetry, the favourite child of cheerfulness and free reflection, early became the domesticated guest and constant inmate of the Burgundian court and the halls of the nobles. Thus it happens, that the name of the Provence has descended to posterity encircled by a rich and brilliant, never-fading wreath. This poetry, unencumbered and unrestrained by scholastic rules, consisted in the simple effusion of sentiment, in the true expression of nature and the life peculiar to those days; its sphere was tender love, and warlike manliness, it celebrated the beauty and virtue of the ladies, and the valour and bold adventures of the chevaliers. Love, perhaps under a mystical veil, or desire of fame, excited and inspired the Minstrels to poetic contests before the tribunals of beauty and royalty. Such poetry could not be in want of variety, especially in the age of the Crusades which shed a peculiar lustre around it. Those warlike pilgrimages to the Holy Land were joined in the more readily, as they coincided so much with the spirit of chivalry. The knights being always prepared for strife, Godfrey de Bouillon found their breastplates polished and their steeds caparisoned, when he fixed the cross upon his shoulder. Eagerly he was followed by those who were inspired by devotion, anxious for adventures, or desirous of fame and riches,-by the unsuccessful wooer, and by the lover, whose faithfulness was yet to be tried by the caprices of his ladye-love. Thus, a motley crowd, they went to Palestine to tear down the crescent, and to rear the sacred banner of the cross upon the walls of the Holy City. An universal enthusiasm had seized all nations; and this very excitement, already in itself, could not but be favourable to poetry. Moreover, pilgrims and crusaders returning from the East, came home enlightened by various experience and enriched in knowledge, for, like Ulysses of old, they had seen the towns of many men, and learned their customs. Thus, manifold traditions and legends of the Orient, and still more of the Greek empire, and various tales and adventures of the chivalrous crusaders and the gallant Saracens, spread over all the West, and extended and enriched the field of occidental poetry. This influence was the greater, as many minstrels themselves took an active part in the Holy Wars, like the troubadours in the suite of Queen Eleanor of France. During this time chivalry gradually advanced also in Germany, but in this country it assumed a different aspect. There was much dignified firmness in the character of the people, and under the walls of Damascus, as well as in their wars with the Popes and the Normans of Calabria, the German knights evinced, that in the battle-field none were more daring-more powerful, and more resolute; but we find their valour less mingled with enthusiasm, and the bold courage of the Teutonic warrior was but seldom joined to the ardour of chivalric devotion. Chivalric poetry became diffused through Germany not long before the second crusade, which was the first the Germans joined as a nation. But minstrelsy, like chivalry itself, assumed a national character, and the Minnegesang therefore differs much from the lays of the Troubadours. It usually displays In his Vorschule der Aesthetic. less gaiety and vehement passion, but more depth of feeling. The Troubadours frequently play, to use an expression of Jean Paul's*, on the poetic strings with such rich and jewel-loaded hands, that the sparkling mass disturbs, if not the playing itself, yet our hearing of it;-this is but seldom the case with the Minnesingers. Under the fostering care of Frederick I. called Barbarossa,t minstrelsy became not only the fashion at Court, but began to form an essential and almost indispensable part of refinement and politeness, and soon constituted the favourite relaxation of those very men who wielded the lance and the sword in the battle-plain. Emperor Frederick I. himself was distinguished as a minstrel, and with equal enthusiasm the Minnegesang was cherished and cultivated by all the Suabian Emperors; even the last descendant of that glorious race, who lost his life upon the infamous Neapolitan scaffold-the gallant CONRADIN, though a less fortunate Prince than his ancestors, was not less successful in minstrelsy, which during the age succeeding his, more faintly sounded and then died away. The The German Minnesingers, for the most part, led a life similar to that of the Troubadours. Many of them, even of high birth, were seen wandering from one castle to another, and were welcome guests everywhere. Their songs speak the unaffected language of the heart, they are the true effusions of deep-felt sentiments. The simplicity and purity of their poetry, its tenderness and overpowering truth add to it a peculiar attraction, and show at once, that it has been grown in German soil. The charms of love, female beauty and virtue, plaintive sighs of despairing love, rapture when successful, complaints of the fair one's coldness, or a tender solicitude for her welfare, form, if we may so say, the central points of their lays. To these sentiments every thing in their songs must pay homage; all that exists in the breeze, in the waves of the waters, in the depths of the earth, or amongst the flowers of the meadows. In their form these compositions resemble those of the Trouba This was about the same time, when with Eleanor, the heiress of Guienne and Poitou, in 1251, it went over to England as a lovely part of her dowry to the Plantagenet Henry II. VOL. II. E |