As he found the shielded Tortoise,
"When alive thou'rt dumb," said he,
"Wilt be tuneful if I slay thee,

Die, and thank me for thy death.

And across its hollowed body
Seven strings he featly drew,
And they must resound harmonious
To his heav'nly, childish song.

Lonely in his mother's grotto,
From the world he is afar,

Yet where could the God want matter,
Who created worlds from all?

Not his father's golden seat,

Which Olympus' summit crowns,
Does he sing, but ev'ry kettle

Which adorns his mother's hearth.

Of the tripod and the basin

Does he sing the live-long day:

And of all he may discover,
In each corner of the grot.

Still it is the self-same gift

Which these meaner things adorns,

And which with the staff of peace
Both the worlds can reconcile.

Hence I feel myself content
That, from the monotony
Of this world, a Hermes store*
Is alone assigned to me.

But the difference is this,

That a God then first began

As a child-a father here

To his home returns in song.

Let us take it for the best,

"Tis no cause for ridicule,

If a man contented ends

Where a deity begins.-(Vol. V. p. 64.)

Those who have not read the earlier works of Rückert we would not advise to look at the last two volumes. They will seem puerile and trifling, and will not give a just idea of the author. But those who are familiar with him and his former tendency, who can admire the beautiful position he formerly took, those should add the latter volumes to their collection of his works. They will perceive that the spirit of love whom he addressed in a higher style, whom he recognized as the creative

"Hermes-hausrath;" that is, Hermes household furniture. It has been impossible to preserve the playful grace of the original in this translation. VOL. I.—NO. VI.-OCTOBER, 1839.

PP

power

of the universe, is still the subject of his little domestic lays, as manifested in the bosom of his family. They will know how to accept his excuse.-(Vol. V. p. 115.)

Why do I in my songs so oft
My wife and children name?
Because I feel they are to me
As members of my frame.

And as some talk of eyes and heart,
Of their own body speak;
So will I sing of wife and child,
In sorrow or in joy.

Sometimes to the general reader, or, in fact, to all who do not take an immediate interest in tracing the progress of their author's mind, many of Rückert's later poems will be fatiguing. We repeat that no one should read them, till they have learned him on a larger scale from his earlier works. Let him be followed through all his glorious evolutions of thoughts and images; let his powers be studied through all his variations of metre; let his endless variety of subjects be admired, and when the reader is dazzled, let him calmly retire to the best volumes, and regard the poet, quietly singing the pleasures and annoyances of his home.

However, there are weaknesses in his latter poems, which must be apparent to all. His command of language has here and there impelled him to puerile songs founded on puns, some of them excessively farfetched. Occasionally he indulges in a kind of etymological jokes, which are but puns of a more pedantic order. We need only refer to a poem on the word "dutzend," in the double sense of "dozen," and "thouing," and another on the word " erlangen," used for the verb and the name of the place. One of his punning poems, however, we must except from our general censure, on account of its excessive ingenuity. It is entitled "Der Räthselmann," (Vol. v. 195,) and is remarkable for the immense number of words used in every possible signification. By the way, it would be no bad poem for a learner of the language to commit to memory, as it contains several of the cases where difference of gender marks difference of signification, &c. &c.

We may have appeared too enthusiastic in our praise of Rückert; but we have long known his works and the luxury of reading them; he has been our companion, when we could scarcely read another author; he does not excite us, or startle us; we can quietly contemplate, as he builds his lofty rhymes" and his loftier images. Open him where we will, there is a new thought, or a new truth. And sure we are that, as long as brilliant imagination, gigantic powers of versification, the best,

though, perhaps, not the most intense feeling, and the utmost purity of purpose, can acquire favour, the name of Friedrich Rückert will stand as one of the brightest in German literature.

SIEBOLD'S DESCRIPTION OF JAPAN.

Nippon, Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan und dessen Nebenund Schutzländer. (Nippon, Archive towards the description of Japan and its dependencies.) By Ph. Fr. von Siebold, &c. &c. 6 Hefte, (parts,) Leyden, 1832-8.

In the year 1823, the learned German physician, whose work now lies before us, visited Japan, as the medical attendant of the Dutch factory at Nangasaki, and passed seven years in that secluded empire, a complete terra incognita to the rest of the world, and almost so to the great majority of the few foreignersif, of a few, there can be a great majority-who are allowed to set foot on its shores. But Dr. von Siebold was not included in this majority. The thirst for knowledge of the Japanese Savans obtained for him, to whom they looked up as their instructor, indulgences in the opportunities of acquiring information, such as no European has enjoyed since the expulsion of the Jesuits; and it need scarcely be added that the erudite German made far better use of all opportunities than could the mercantile Dutchmen, from whom all recent accounts of Japan, prior to Siebold's, have been derived. On his return to Europe, the doctor proceeded to give the public at large the benefit of his arduous and not unhazardous researches; he was imprisoned, we believe, for taking plans or maps, and escaped only by the self-devotion of Japanese friends. At Leyden, where he is established under the protection of the King of the Netherlands, he has arranged his Japanese museum for exhibition, and begun publishing the fruits of his labours. The work has been translated into French, but we have not been so fortunate as to meet with it in that garb.

With respect to this last mentioned and most valuable of his operations, we have two subjects of regret: first, that he makes such leisurely haste, as in seven years to have given us only six Hefte, or parts, which, judging from their contents, and the promise held forth by his preface, can be but so very small a portion of the entire work, that we hope not for length of life sufficient to see its completion: second, that, instead of working up his materials into a scholar-like whole, either as Travels, or as a Description of Japan, he has chosen to give them in so desultory a form as, to our mind, not only unfits the work for translation into English, but considerably detracts from the gratification of the studious reader, who finds now a chapter upon one subject,

now a section upon another, wholly unconnected, and written, it might be supposed, as his notes, made upon the spot, came to hand. His own adventures not having, apparently, yet turned up, we have, of his personal narrative, only his voyage to Japan, and about the first quarter of the journey to Yedo.

Of a work thus heterogeneously arranged, we think the best notion will be afforded, by giving the author's scheme of his matter and its classification:

The work is to consist of nine divisions:

1. The mathematical and physical Geography of Japan, Yezo, and the other Japanese dependencies.

2. The People and the State: including the description of the Japanese, their manners, customs, political constitution, and government. In these two parts, the author's travels by sea and land will find their place.

3. Mythology, History, Archæology, and Numismatics.

4. The Arts and Sciences, especially language and literature. 5. Religion, under the title of Nippon Pantheon.

6. Agriculture, Industry, and Trade, with a description of the most remarkable natural productions, &c.

7. The Japanese dependencies, as Yezo, Krafto, the Southern Kurile, and the Loo-Choo islands, mostly from Japanese travellers.

8. Extracts, in translation or original, from old and little known writers, upon Japan, Yezo, &c.

9. Mixed Memoranda, Announcements, Novelties, and Narration, &c. &c., to which all Japanese scholars are invited to contribute.

The reader sees that this Archive will, when complete, be a real storehouse of knowledge respecting Japan.

It is evident, from this table of contents, that Dr. Siebold has not yet given us the most important and the most interesting portions of the information eagerly anticipated from him, such as an account of the manners and customs, the government, and political condition, of the Japanese of their arts, sciences, and literature, no, nor even his own adventures in seeking, obtaining, and using his permission to travel about the empire. Our choice of striking or entertaining extracts is, therefore, much confined, and, in considering the mass of materials before us, we incline to fix upon the beginning of the first part, as showing the different state of feeling towards foreigners found in Japan three hundred years ago, from that now displayed, and the manner in which the change arose. This seems a natural introduction to this singular nation; and thence we think to proceed to a sketch of their religion.

Japan had become a powerful empire during a period of 2203 years, under

the rule of an almost uninterrupted series of one hundred and six sovereigns, when, A. D. 1543, it was accidentally discovered by the Portuguese.

That Japan was already known, under the name of Zi-pan-gu, to Marco Polo, the celebrated traveller of the thirteenth century, no longer admits of doubt. But Antonius Mota, Franciscus Zeimoto, and Antonius Peicota, are named by history as the discoverers of the Japanese islands. On a voyage from Dodra, in Siam, to China, these Portuguese were surprised by a violent tempest, and driven upon the Japanese islands.

This is the statement of most historians: of J. P. Maffeuis, who takes the account from A. Galvanus's History of the Discoveries of the New World, of J. de Barios, Montanus, Valentyn, Kaampfer, Thunberg, and many other writers.

In all probability, the discoverers, who have hitherto been honoured under these variously mangled names, were no other than Fernan Mendez Pinto, Diego Zeimoto, and a third, unnamed Portuguese, who, in the vessel of the notorious pirate, Samipocheca, were thrown by a storm from the Chinese coast upon the Japanese island Tanega-sima. This is confirmed by the testimony of Japanese annals, in which the important adventure with Diego Zeimoto is thus related.

In the 12th year of the Nengo,t Ten-bun, on the 22nd day of the 8th month, (October, 1543,) under the government of the Mikado (Emperor), Konara, and of the Ziogoon (Generalissimo) Yosihar, a strange ship makes the island Tanega-Sima, in the district of Nisimura, near Ko-ura. The crew, in number about two hundred, have a strange aspect. Their language is unintelligible, their country unknown. On board is a Chinese, who understands writing. From him it is learned to be a Nanban (southern barbarian) ship. The 26th of the same month the vessel is taken to the north-west side of the island, to the port of Aka-okï; and Toki-taka, Governor of Tanegasima, strictly investigates the matter, the Japanese Bonze Tsyu-syu-zu, acting as interpreter, by means of Chinese characters. On board the Nanban ship are two commanders, Mura Syuksya and Krista Moota. They bring fire-arms; and first make guns and gunpowder known to the Japanese."

Some hundred years earlier, the Japanese annals mention the appearance of a southern nation on the Japanese coast. Once, in the fourth year of the Nengo Kwannin (A. D. 1020), it is said, " Nan-ban-siu come to Japan, and occasion much evil;" and later, in the 19th year of the Nengo Oo-jeï, (A. D. 1412,) they boast" Nan-ban bring tribute."

Whether these Nan-ban were Europeaus, and of what nation, appears not distinctly from the Japanese annals. Could the latter, perchance, have been the bold Portuguese maritime explorers of Prince Henry, who had strayed thus far?

Hardly, we think, considering how small a portion of even the western coast of Africa was explored in Prince Henry's life-time, or for long after his death. It was not till the latter part of the

Some pages later, in this same part, Siebold announces that, upon closer examination of Pinto's narrative, he discovers this unnamed Portuguese, to be Christoval Borallo. We confess we cannot see how the Japanese extract that follows confirms this notion more than the former, as to the individuality of the dis

coverers.

Nengo is the name of one of the three forms of cycle used in Japanese chronology.

The Chinese characters, being ideographic, convey to foreigners who understand them, the original idea, though a different word, just as the numerals 1, 2, 3 convey the ideas one, two, three, un, deux, trois, ein, zwey, drey, &c., to the natives of England, France, Germany, &c.