correspondence with him, which exhibits that interval, probably the happiest of her life, when, reposing from the anxieties of government, she enjoyed, without restraint, the literary society that she had been the first to summon around the court, and, little foreseeing the cloud which was to darken her latter days, spent her time in the dignified cultivation of her taste and talents. Writing to Merck she says :

"The good old Oeser has been here, and has brought with him some splendid specimens of art and a Mengs of indescribable beauty.. My love for drawing continues as strong as ever. I have a camera obscura, in which I sketch, and which I find most serviceable in facilitating an acquaintance with the proportions of Nature. For me, it is of great service, as I commenced my devotion to drawing rather late in life. This year I have also purchased an electrifying machine, which is good and powerful, and affords me much occupation. In the mean time the theatrical world is also flourishing, to which friend Wolf † is a faithful ally. You will shortly receive, through Frau Aja,‡ a new dramatic piece, which has just issued from the prolific pen of the privy councillor (Göthe). Thus pass our days quietly and cheerfully; and did not the lean cherries and unripe strawberries of our desserts remind us, we should almost forget that Madre Natura has visited us with a cold, nasty, summer."

Again, when Merck's fit of anatomy was at its height, she writes:

A

"Your elephant bone affairs appear to sever you from all human intercourse. We see nothing of you, and hear of nothing but bones and skeletons. Notwithstanding this, I pluck up heart to address you, having a request to make somewhat in character with your present studies. short time ago, I was reading Camper's Lecture to the Academy of Painting, and was much struck by the truth and profundity of his remarks. I now wish, if possible, to procure some of Camper's drawings of the human head. You must know, dear Merck, that I have for some time past applied myself to portrait painting, and they flatter me by saying I am rather happy in my likenesses. In order, therefore, to perfect myself further in this line, I should much like to see some of those drawings where Camper has divided the head into compartments; and, having heard that you anticipate the pleasure of seeing him this spring, I beg you will employ this opportunity of facilitating my request; without, however, mentioning my name. As for the rest, dear Merck,

*A painter and engraver of some eminence, and a friend of Winckelmann's. + An abbreviation of Wolfgang, Göthe's christian name.

Göthe's mother, resident in Frankfurt; so named by the Counts Stolberg, from one of the popular traditions of the middle ages, where Frau Aja, a princess by birth, and mother of several brave sous, plays a conspicuous part. These old documents, which teem with poetic beauty and historic character, were much in vogue with the Weimar set; and, Madame Göthe's character partaking somewhat of the heroism and tenderness of her ancient namesake, she was generally known by this appellation among her son's acquaintances.

VOL. XVII. NO. XXXIV.

FF

I should much enjoy seeing you here again. If bones are your only attraction, we can oblige you with a whole crop of them. Farewell, and keep me in good remembrance. Your friend,

AMALIE."

Without doubting the sincerity of Merck's devotion to the amiable duchess, he was evidently courtier enough to know how peculiarly he was adapted to serve her; and we find him at all times pouring into the ducal palace a succession of works of art, which, while they gratified her taste, renewed her remembrance of the sender. Her highness, in return, freely availed herself of his services, and frequently consulted him on little acts of patronage and benevolence, which she probably found to be better entrusted to the distant than to the nearer friend. But we must here leave the examination of her various excellencies, and proceed to the character of her son, in whom they were completely reflected.

The letters from the grand duke are twenty-three in number, and, both in elegance of style and moral excellence, exhibit that enlightened prince of modern days, who, although his reign has justly been compared to the Augustan age of literature, and to the later lustre of the Italian States, has left no obsequious flatteries to sully his fame. In this correspondence, conjointly with that of his illustrious mother, we find a delightful picture of sovereignty on a small scale-that happy degree which its owners may wear lightly and cheerfully, without compromising their dignity or denying themselves the indulgence of the social affections, and which, though circumscribed in public power, may be widely diffusive of private good.

The earliest date of these letters is at twenty-three years of age, and we find the young duke already familiar with the details of government, with the affections of a husband, and the hopes of a father. His young duchess, a princess of the House of Darmstadt, who, however, rather tried her husband's and people's patience in the hopes of an heir, is often mentioned by him with the most domestic complacency; and, in her firm but gentle character, seems to afford an earnest of the heroic matron who was one of the few at once to awe and win the heart of Napoleon during his insolent career of conquest.

His highness, as if determined to make his little principality the very essence of all the sweets of art and literature, here ap pears ardently engaged in forming a collection of pictures, prints, and drawings, by old masters; and from the number of his agents stationed in different parts of Germany, and the discrimination of taste evident in this correspondence, Sir Thomas Lawrence himself would not have despised the walls and folios of the Weimar palaces. The salutary influence of Merck's judgment,

and the respect shown to his talents, are conspicuous in every letter. Dating from Weimar, August 26th, 1780, his highness begins,

"Dear Merck My letter has no object beyond that which the commonest flint in the world would effect with a genuine Darmstadt steel-namely, that of eliciting a spark. I am in the most miserable of letter-writing humours, and am so spoiled by your frequent and delightful epistles, that I can hardly live without them."

And again,

"This is only an avant-courier of the acknowledgment of all your kindnesses; among which I may class the Everding, which is exquisitely beautiful, and which, in spite of the wretched state of obtusity in which a succession of coughs, colds, and formal visits have imprisoned my senses, has given me the greatest pleasure. As soon as I am free from all three, I will write to you properly."

Evidently recognizing in Merck one of that rare species of the human kind who carry a practical good sense into all they undertake, his highness largely employed his talents in the advancement of his political plans; and, while sentiment was hardly to be expected from a friend and disciple of Göthe's, its place is occupied by that strong moral sense and practical philanthropy which are infinitely preferable in the head of a state. From the situation occupied by Merck in the Darmstadt government, he was the more adapted to promote the latter virtue, and it appears that a comparison between the economy of both states was frequently made with mutual advantage. The establishment of different manufactures in his territories seems here to be a favourite object with the grand duke; and, though he has been accused of being the man of letters rather than the man of business, this correspondence fully acquits him of any undue predominance. In the first letter, after a long list of commissions regarding works of art, we find his highness thus adding:

"And now for politica. In the first place I wish to procure some written account of the advantages attending the present disposal of the crown estates; with a calculation made from some individual instance of the same, in your country, in order that I may see how the old revenues are continued to be produced from them.

Secondly, I want to see a description of the madder manufacture, as far as it concerns the agriculturist, and how the land is prepared for its cultivation; and I must beg you, dear M. Merck, to inquire, in a private way, among the Swiss, if they would not be inclined to establish a similar manufacture in other countries.

66

Thirdly, Would you have the goodness to look out for a few Anabaptists, who would be induced to undertake a journey next summer to Eisenach, at my cost, in order to inspect an estate which I should be glad to let to them. You may promise them the following terms in my

R name:

"The expenses of the journey thither and back; whatever the result;

"Free exercise of their religion, as they enjoy it in other places; "As long a lease as they can desire;

Exemption from all surety and affidavits upon oath.

"If you can meet with a few people of this description to make the trial on these terms, they may apply next summer forthwith to the President von Herd, at Eisenach, inspect the estate, and enter as tenants the following autumn.

"My list of commissions is now at length finished; but your kindness in undertaking all requests spoils a person so much that one hardly knows where to set proper limits."

The reason for the duke's preference of Anabaptists as tenants for his estate does not appear. They seem, however, to have differed little in principle of conduct from their brethren of the present day, giving him much trouble by their extortion, discontent, and laziness; and they were at last ejected from the es

tate.

With these varied attractions in will not appear surprising that so turned their faces towards Weimar.

and around the sovereign, it many travellers should have The Duke himself says,

"I have been living for the last three weeks in such a round of dissipation, that I have had time neither to think nor write. During this time we have had more strangers here at once, than the course of many years had previously brought to Weimar. This evening we also expect a fresh arrival, and one of a most interesting kind-Prince Augustus of Gotha, with the celebrated Abbé Raynal. I hear wonderful things of his powers of conversation, and all here, from the chief to the heyduke, are on the tiptoe of expectation."

We regret to be obliged to cut short our extracts, but the reader will probably be interested in pursuing the biography of a prince who so much promoted the advance of European intellect, and who, whether in art, science, or agriculture, would have created a Holkham out of a wilderness. Nor is the attraction of this correspondence confined to the character and pursuits of his highness. The events detailed, of course, assume a value proportionate to the station of the writer, and are adapted to supply many an authentic anecdote for future history. From the frequent and characteristic mention of Frederick the Great, who was great-uncle to the duke, a comprehensive sketch may be obtained, and though in some instances the foibles as well as the virtues of that monarch may be here exhibited, yet these are also valuable as illustrative of the spirit of the times.

Our limits forbid our proceeding further, and we must leave his highness's correspondence, together with the rest of the work,

to proclaim their own value to the mind of the reader. The list at the commencement of this article will show how small a portion we have noticed, and the large remnant yet untouched. Of this the correspondence of the artists, and that of the men of science, afford the two most distinct kinds of interest-to the general reader, the former especially, containing, as it does, many delightful letters from Wille, the celebrated engraver, and from Tischbein, the no-less-famed German artist. The latter, among other anecdotes connected with painting, details his intimacy with the Chevalier Hamilton (Sir William Hamilton) at Naples, and his admiration of a girl in the chevalier's suite, whom he describes as an angel of grace and beauty, and in whom we immediately recognize that modern Venus, both in morals and person, the lovely Lady Hamilton. A letter also from Fuseli to Lavater is here introduced, and we quite approve of its introduction, for Fuseli is here seen to the life, and all who at all remember the witty, clever, madcap president, will recognize him as distinctly in every line as in all the wild legacies of his pencil. But here we must stay our remarks, and conclude with expressing a hope that this comprehensive biographic correspondence may meet with the attention that it deserves.

ART. VII.-Marie Tudor, Drame en trois journées, en prose, par Victor Hugo. Paris, 18SS.

THE observation of Cicero's, that the theatre should be the speculum vitæ humanæ, is so just, and so fraught with important consequences to the refinement and morals of a nation, that it cannot be too much insisted upon by those whose duty it is to investigate the merits of dramatic works and writers.

Theatrical productions, indeed, which have not for their end "to hold, as it were, the mirror up to nature, to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure," will neither descend to posterity themselves, nor confer immortality upon their authors. Novelty or fashion may sustain them for a season, but they will inevitably soon fall into oblivion and neglect..

Whether the author and the drama now before us are to be considered as belonging to this class, will appear from the following analysis and examination of the tragedy itself.

The heroine of this piece is Mary Tudor, eldest daughter of Henry VIII. This princess, after succeeding to the throne of England, upon the demise of Edward VI., united herself in mar