How sweet to turn awhile from these, and reign That long, long, polar day, whose very light is pain! Much of the nightmare that oppressed our judgment as to the supposed extravagance and impossibility of this collection has vanished with the darkness of past hours; the fidelity of the descriptions has been recognized as giving the very best picture possible of Eastern manners: and this adherence to truth on one, and so material a point, gives earnest of accuracy on others upon which we cannot be so well informed. Much of this information however, Mr. Lane has undertaken to supply, and no one who is acquainted with his unrivalled and delightful volumes on Egypt, can doubt that he was absolutely the fittest of writers for the task he has undertaken. The doubtful and obscure becomes truth and elucidation in his hands; we are improved, in spite of ourselves, and even by the very means we seek to avoid it; and customs, and manners, and habits of thought, become familiarized to us, even as amongst the chosen playthings of indolent recreation. The grossness too of eastern manners is entirely avoided in this beautiful and useful edition of a work which must have readers so long as the heart is human. The parent need no longer fear, the maiden no longer blush, to take up the work or place it in the hands of a child. Were this the only praise, it would be no ordinary recommendation; but the beauty of type, correct pictorial embellishment, and faithful expression, render this one of the most delightful of works :-—a waking dream, to sooth and wile the listless and vacant hours that creep along during "the long siesta of a summer's day!" Die Sprüche des Bhartriharis. Aus dem Sanskrit metrisch übertragen. (The Proverbs of Bhartriharis: rendered into verse from the Sanscrit.) Von P. von Bohlen, Professor der Orientalischen Sprachen, Konigsberg. Hamburg, 1835. THE Indian proverbs and sayings known under this title, were, about 200 years since, loosely translated into Dutch by the Missionary Abraham Roger, who obtained them from the mouth of a Brahmin on the Coromandel coast. They were paraphrased by Herder in his "Gedanken eines Brahminen." This interesting collection, which from its refined and ethical tendency assumes a high place in morals, and is singularly characteristic of its origin, is now placed before Europeans in an authentic and accurate shape: the slight and requisite changes of form and metre that have been introduced no way lessening the fidelity of the translator. We take from the Book of Love one single specimen. "Beauty, like the full moon fair; Eyes, that match the lily's beaming; Dark, as clustering bees, the hair, Hues, more bright than golden gleaming Flowing lines for hips and breast, Like the front of elephants; Speech, as odours sweet confest; These are charms a maiden wants." Forschungen im Gebiete der Heb. Egypt. Archäologie. Erster Theil. Zur Geschichte der Buchstabenschrift, in besonderer Beziehung der Hebräer, Phönicier, Griechen, und Aegypter. (Researches in the Fields of Hebræo-Egyptian Archaiology. Part I. On the History of Letters, and particularly those of the Hebrews, Phoenicians, Greeks, and Egyptians.) Von Dr. J. L. Saalschütz, Königsberg. 1838. THIS commencing part is of good augury. Authorities, though referred to with due deference, are not too implicitly or blindly followed. There is considerable merit in the wide view taken of the circumstances under which this interesting inquiry presents itself to the eye and mind. The labours of Gesenius form a broad and novel basis for such investigations, and will evince how rashly on one hand theorists have argued, and how still more unfoundedly the probabilities they have brought forward have been denied and ridiculed, as we have lately maintained. We can recommend the work to general readers, and feel anxious to see more of it. Asiastische Studien. Von Carl Friederich Neumann. Erster Theil. (Asiatic Studies, by C. F. Neumann, Vol. I.) Leipzig. 1837. A WORK which we eagerly and gladly hail as the first of a series, and trust that the remainder will bear out the promise of the present volume. Judgment and variety of research are so rarely united that we feel great pleasure in noticing their combination here. An elaborate view of Chinese speech and writing, in which the most recent authorities are carefully consulted, is the fitting introduction to many curious details, from Chinese sources, respecting the natives of the empire and the neighbouring nations and tribes. The volume contains also some notices of Tatar speech, and a view of the present trade of China. A New Method of Learning to Read, Write, and Speak the German Language in Six Months. By H. G. Ollendorff. Translated from the fifth French edition, by G. J. Bertinchamp, A. B. London: Bailliere; and Black and Armstrong. THIS is the only mode; the way in which infants are taught; to learn whatever is needful for the one lesson before them, and no more the men, of but larger growth, require only a larger lesson, and in the same easy form. German, to be understood properly, must be attacked exactly like mathematics, and there is no "royal road" to knowledge. Ollendorff's method well deserves the title of Euclid of the German. After six months close application by this method alone, can this very difficult, but very charming language, be taught without confusion. Such a method is quite invaluable. By it the scholar advances step by step. The opinion of Captain Basil Hall, and he confesses himself a slow scholar, in favour of Mr. Ollendorff's system, both for effectiveness and speed, is the best eulogium for it is from a practical man. MISCELLANEOUS LITERARY NOTICES. GERMANY. THE Talmud is the Corpus Juris Civilis et Ecclesiastici of the Jews. A lexicon or key to such a work-the compilation of a hundred writers during a thousand years must be a treasure to those who are engaged in the study of the Jewish religion and antiquities, and as such we recommend Dessauer's Handwörterbuch als Hilfsmittel zur Erlernung des Talmuds, der Thargumiin und Midraschim. The price is only two dollars. The union of science with literature is the object of "Braga," a new national journal for art and science, commenced with this year, at Heidelberg, by Winter. In this publication, and in the Quarterly Review just started at Stuttgart, by Cotta, we are rejoiced to find an attempt made to divest the German language of that too philosophical garb which has made it so repulsive to those foreign nations-and they are not a few-who are un-initiated into the one-sided diction of Kant and Hegel; and to bring down literature and science to the comprehension of the many. Keeping this object steadily in view, the study of the German language will acquire, by such means, a new impulse throughout the world, and the language itself will gain in power and clearness. A second edition of Hoffmann's Bibliography of the Greek Writers is in the press, thoroughly revised and considerably augmented. A new historical work by Raumer is nearly ready, in 3 vols.; being, Europe from the End of the Seven Years' War till the End of the American War, (1763-1783,) from documents in the British Museum and the French Archives. A Saxon Glossary, by Schmeller, is preparing, being a continuation of the Heliand. In the press, Testamentum Novum Copto-Memphiticum ex MSS. Reg. Bibl. Berol. emendatum a M. Schwartze. Winer is about to publish a new Greek and German Lexicon to the New Testament. Died, at Jena, on the 17th of April, the Baroness Schopenhauer. She was born at Dantzig, in 1770, and was the daughter of the senator H. Trosina. She was married very young to the Banker Schopenhauer, with whom she travelled through many countries of Europe. After her husband's death, she chiefly resided, since 1806, in Weimar, where she collected around her many of the most remarkable characters of the day, who eagerly courted her society. Her works, in 1834, were collected in 24 volumes. In them the reader will find much amusement and instruction, the fruits of a mind delicately sensitive to the higher duties of women, and evincing great strength and refined moral feeling. Gabriele-her best work-Sidonia, and her Travelling Sketches, are her most popular productions. Latterly she was engaged in writing her own Memoirs, of which only the first part is completed, containing her childhood and youth. Dr. Möhler, one of the most learned opponents of Protestantism in modern days, died at Munich, on the 12th of April. His "Athanasius der Grosse und seine Zeit, (2 vols. 8vo., 1827,) displayed profound learning, and deep sympathy with church matters; but the work which attracted attention in Germany, in an extraordinary degree, was his "Symbolik, oder Darstellung der dogmatischen Gegensätze der Katholiken und Protestanten." He was only in his 42d year, and was engaged, at the time of his death, on a Commentary on the Romans, a Church History, and an extensive work on the History of Monachism in Europe. Leitfaden zur Nordischen Alterthumskunde, herausgegeben von der königlichen Gesellschaft für nordische Alterthumskunde. 8vo. Kopenhagen, 1837. The Northern Society of Antiquaries, by whom this valuable little Guide is published, has of late attracted considerable attention to its labours, by the unexpected disclosure of its interesting records relative to American antiquities, a field apparently so remote from the proper scene of its investigations. Such researches into past times, and regard shown for the works and deeds of the ancestors of our common race, betoken a healthy state of public feeling, and a generous sympathy with man, that cannot be too widely shared and propagated. Hence we look with affection upon works like the present, the particular object of which is to point out the most important branches of the antiquities of the north, and to guard the public against that too frequent destruction or mutilation of them, when discovered in the shape of relics of the arts, which so frequently takes place, by ignorant workmen, or barbarians of higher pretensions. The first chapter of this Guide is on the extent and importance of old northern literature; the next presents an abridged review of the monuments and antiquities of the north, and in this part many wood-cuts are given, representing articles of ornament and dress, and of use in domestic economy; of instruments used in war and music, &c.; of runic and other inscriptions, and of coins; the whole opening up a field of most curious and interesting research. The remains of Heathen and Christian antiquity are properly discriminated, and their various periods assigned. The work is concluded with some observations on the discovery and preservation of antiquities, and a recommendation that the workmen employed on such occasions should be superintended by the clergyman of the parish, or the schoolmaster. Museums are established in various parts of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, for the reception and preservation of ancient relics; rewards are bestowed by government; and the full value given for such articles as are brought to them. The effect of all this on the nationality and character of a people need not be dwelt upon here; for our readers, we hope, consist of that class who need no inducement, beyond the impulses of their own enlightened understandings, to urge them to take the lead in every useful and patriotic enterprize. Böttiger's Literarische Zustände und Zeitgenossen promise to be a rich mine of literary anecdote and criticism, and to afford valuable materials for contemporary history and biography. As the work advances, we hope to make it the subject of an interesting article. Died, Feb. 24, 1838, at Leipsic, the Privy Councillor, Chevalier and Professor of Statistics, Carl Heinrich Ludwig Pölitz, for many years esteemed one of the first writers on statistics, history and politics, as also professor at the Leipsic university. He was unmarried, and has left considerable property. His library, which is very considerable, is bequeathed to the library of the city council of Leipsic, of which he was a member. BONN.-Professor C. W. Freytag, having finished his Arabic and Latin Dictionary, has opened a subscription for a work he intends publishing, entitled, "Meidani's Arabian Proverbs," Arabic and Latin; together with those of other Arabian writers, with illustrative notes, &c. Of all the productions of the human mind, none better deserve the attention of men of letters than national proverbs, bearing, as they necessarily do, the stamp of a people's character. The more strongly this is reflected in their Proverbs, the more interesting and valuable must be the latter; and those of Arabia possess this excellence in a superior degree. Proverbs are there the favourite mode of expression, which accounts for the extraordinary number of these in the language. They are whimsically quoted by their authors; and whoever wishes to obtain anything beyond a superficial knowledge of Arabic, will not omit examining them. Ever since the study of the Oriental languages was introduced into Europe, the most distinguished persons have so applied themselves. Erpenius, who especially contributed to turn attention towards Oriental literature, was also the first to make a collection of Arabian proverbs, (1623). Golius, Leunert, and Reiste, followed his example. Pocock, so profoundly versed in Eastern tongues, translated all the Proverbs of Meidani, probably with the intention of publishing them. Albert Schultens having copied this translation at Oxford, in 1772, determined to execute the design abandoned by Pocock, and bring out the whole by subscription, in three quarto volumes, with the addition of Latin notes. His death put an end to the undertaking. His celebrated pupil, Schroder, published, in 1795, only 454 proverbs out of the entire collection. Professor Freytag, receiving some years since a copy of Meidani from the Baron de Sacy, determined to publish it; and for this purpose he went to Leyden to compare his manuscript with the copy preserved there. But, finding Hamaker engaged on the same task, he relinquished in consequence his own intention. Several years elapsed, and Hamaker died, bequeathing M. Freytag his manuscripts, which were enriched with many notes by M. Weyers, his successor at Leyden. The publication is now announced upon the following plan : 1st. To give the collection of Meidani with the vowels, and a translation for those who do not understand Arabic. 2dly. To give as concisely as possible the substance of Meidani's Commentary, containing grammatical, critical, historical, and poetical notes; also, extracts from the works of Scharef-Aldin Samaschari,* and other writers. * M. von Hammer published a small volume of Samaschari about four years since, |