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g^ THIB JL3EJ1D^EJI. [No. 330,^^ujidat,
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HEINE'S BOOK OF SOtfGS. JBeinrich.Seine'...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The American Expedition To Japan. Uirrut...
^ miUfners SggisW that : tbe . American- estabhshed at Itfaugaroki shxmwXld . no iiSreaurse ™ th the Butch and Chinese . To . this Ferry " ^^ S ^ Kricans will -never submit to the restrictions which have been Imposed upon the . Dutch and . Chinese , and any further allusion to such restraints will be ^ considered offensive . " - a ? hatmodeljof . procedure settled the . point . The negotiations prospered , a ahi < rukr cordiality of intercourse arose between the Japanese and their
visitors and the gifts © f tie President were returned , in kind , by the emperor . Th ere was a gorgeous pile of red and yellow cloths , flowered crapes , the inimitable Japan lacquer , tinted porcelain , and the gay varieties ofdSaBtern industry . It was not long before the definitive treaty was framed , declaring perpetual and universal peace between the Japanese Empire and the AmericanJRepuhlie , and stipulating for aJlimited liberty of commerce betweenitheir respective nations . The articles of this . historical convention are iprinted at length by Dr . Hawkes . The signatures of the commodore 3 rad the commissioners were affixed , and celebrated by a festival—an AmenfeMft entertainment of fish stews , sov , saki , rice , and cakes , served in
lacquered bowls , upon tables spread with scarlet crape , and arranged in Qrecianiorder . Not one article of this treaty was assented to by the Japanese 'Commissioners until they Aad eorisidered its full effect , translated it into their vernacular , tested it by a variety of constructions , expunged all dubious phrases , and , -by declaratory clauses , limited its meaning . One remark made by them * i s especially deserving of attention . They said : " The Japanese are unlike the Chinese . They . are averse to change . " The Japanese understand the ' . Chinese , zfar better than the Chinese are commonly understood in
Europe . WfiLgenerally hear the people of China described as a conservative , immutable oration , with petrified laws and manners , exactly as we hear the FrjenohjitheJeast fickle of nations , described as volatile and experimental . Now ,-precisely as the . French , are addicted in life , institutions , tastes , manners , to monotony , the Chinese are addicted to variety . They are perpetually changing 7 Tevoliing , * enacting new institutions , deserting the ancient ways . tEhey are in their nature , . inconstant , capricious , revolutionary . History has never , atJeast , seen in China what it has seen in France—a numerous people , living under the sway Df the same family , undisturbed and torpid , during eight ihnndzed -years .
We Jrave muerely noted the diplomatic history of the American expedition to Japan . We . must ; reserve a review of the new information supplied in Er . HaWke ' s elaborate and graphic history . It is scarcely possible , indeed , to bring- out , within one or two articles , all the varied and enticing anecdotes of this ; narration—which most readers will be anxious to peruse for themselves . However , it is -suggestive of some comment , and we cannot refrain firom . flayingJHQre . of . a book so abundantly interesting .
G^ Thib Jl3ej1d^Eji. [No. 330,^^Ujidat,
g ^ THIB JL 3 EJ 1 D ^ EJI . [ No . 330 , ^^ ujidat ,
Heine's Book Of Sotfgs. Jbeinrich.Seine'...
HEINE'S BOOK OF SOtfGS . JBeinrich . Seine's Book of Songs . A Translation by John E . Wallis . Chapman and Hall . Entbh ^ Mning , as we do , very absolute views on the difficulty , almost amounting to impossibility , of poetic translations ; and believing further that it . is precisely the light , graceful , tender , and sportive poems of a JBeranger , a , Goethe , or a . Heine , which above all others defy translation , a translator might justly complain of our judgment , on the ground that we removed his work out of court . This cannot be helped . We can only obviate the unfairness , if unfairness there be , by avowing the fact . When , as so frequently happens , the translator . is ignorant of the languageifrom which he translates , and but imperfectly understands the language into which he translates , there is no need of applying any standard at all ; but in Mr . Wallis ' s case we have an unusual acquaintance with German , and an unusual regard to fidelity-in rendering it ; if he isaiot always , faithful , . the error is not the error of ignorance , but one which arises from poetical and metrical difficulties . In a modest preface Mr . Wallis informs us these versions were made some sixteen years -ago , when he was . a . student in Germany . They w * re . translated without any view to publication , not in the order in which they stand ,. but according to the impulse of the moment , and without any uniform plan for . adjusting the respective claims of the . letter , . the spirit , and the melody of the original . -These aie the three victims of every translator , —rail must suffer , and anypartiality for any one can only be indulged at the expense of greater cruelty to one or both of the others . He has exhibited no haste to rush into print , and even while printing his translations , does not pretend that they are adequate . If he prints at all it is" because TIeine has latterly been much talked of , and a " demand" is supposed to exist . To those who do not read 'German the volume . will be "welcome , and woulxlbe more so £ f they could be made to believe that it represented the orig inal . But it is not bo- The translation is approximative only . The cinger has a catarrh , and although through the husky notes you detect the linger , you miss the ravishing timbre of his voice . Take this for example : —• The maiden sleeps in her chamber , The moon peeps trembling in ; "Without is a ringing and singing , Like waltzers' merry din . "Til try to aeo from the window , ""Whence all the uproar springs' !" She sew there a skeleton standing—• HeflddleB and scrapes ond'sings . U 'A fiance to me thou hast promised , '"' AadneTOT'haBt kept thy vow ; "To-night is a ball in the « hirr * hy « rd , " 3 Ift « a'camo , aadwreJll . dancG it mow . " It works on-the-maiam wildly , It Iuxm h « r < fo * th from the door ; Bhe > comas , « nd tb »>« Uletan winging And . uddling nuaehea Jb « faro .
Ho fiddles and hops and ambles , And rattles-each dried-up bone ; And nods and nods with ; his gleaming ' skull , That horribly mocks the moon . INFow compare the last stanza of the original : — Es fidelt und tiinzelt uad hUpfet , Und klappert mit seineni Gebein ; Und niokt und nickt mit dem Schadel , Unheunlichini Mondenseaein . Mr . Wallis succeeds best with the poems , like those " at the North Sea , " which hamper him less with metrical exigencies , and with Ballads which have a story , and do not wholly depend on the indefinable grace of melod y and imagery . But even in the Ballads we miss many of the felicitous touches which , make the stories poems . Who does not remember Donna Clara ! Donna Clara ! Heissgeliebte longer jahre . ' with its weird close ? Mr . Wallis thus renders it : — " Donna Clara ! Donna Clara ! " Wherefore , prythee , lovely lady , " Loved so fondly many a year ! " Bend so fixedly thine eyes " Thou art bent on my destruction , " On the hall ' s remotest corner ?" " And it costs thee not a tear . So the knight in -wonder cries . " Donna Clara ! Donna Clara ! " See'at thou yonder Don Ramiro , " Life is sweet to young and old ! " One in sable mantle dight ?" " But below dwells shuddering horror , " Nay , ' tis but a shadow , dearest , " " And the grave is drear and cold . Answers with a smile the knight . " Donna Clara ! on the morrow But the shadow moves towards them , " Will Fernando , to thee plighted , 'Tis a guest in robes of woe ; " Claim thy promise at the altar— And she knows and greets Ramiro , " Am I to the feast invited ? ' And her cheeks and forehead glow . " Don Ramiro ! Don Ramiro ! And the dance is fonn'd . already , " Thou canst speak in bitter strain , And the merry pairs fly round " Haraher than the stars , whose sentence In the waltz ' s giddy circles , " Overrules my wishes vain . And the trembling floors resound . " Don Ramiro ! Don Ramiro ! '' Gladly will I , Don Ramiro , " Fling this shadow from thy heart ; " Join with thee the festive throng ; " On the earth are maidens many , "But to come in sable mantle " But ' tis Heaven that bids us part . " 'Mid our joyous guests was wrong . " " Don Ramiro ! thou hast conquer ' d And upon the Fair , Ramiro "Many a Moor in bloody fight ; Gazes stern with brow of gloom , " Conquer now thy own proud spirit , — Clasps her round , and darkly murmurs : " Come to-morrow to the rite . " " Thou hast said tliat I should come . ' " Donna Clara ! yes , I swear it , In the dance ' s giddy tumult , " Hear me , Heaven , and hear it , Hell ! Lo ! the pair are borne away ; " Thou and I will dance together;— Rolls the drum its martial thunder , " Till to-morrow , fare thee well . " And the thrilling trumpets bray . " Thengoodnight ! " the window sounded ; " Snow-white are thy cheeks , Ramiro !" Deeply sighing- stood the knight , Whispers Clare in secret dread . Stood as one deprived of motion , " Thou hast bidden me come hither !" Then pass'd slowly into night . In a hollow voice lie said . And at last with lengthen'd struggles , In the hall the torches " glitter Darkness yielded unto day ; Through the flooding throng alway ; Like a blooming f lower-garden , Rolls the drum its martial thunder , Wide outspread Toledo lay . And the thrilling trumpets bray . Many a stately house and palace " Ice-cold are thy hands , Ramiro !" Glitters in the sunny beam ; Says the Fair , in timid tone . And the domes of lofty churches , " Thou hast bidden me como hither !" As if newly gilded , gleam . And the torrent sweeps them on . Like a swarm of bees loud humming , " Leave me , leave me , JDon Ramiro ! Mingling peal the festal bellu , " These are odours of the tomb !" And the sound of prayer and music And again the fatal answer : From the temples softly swells . "Thou hast said that I should come . " Lo ! from out the market chapel And the floors are smoking , glowing , Peals the hum of voices loud , And the frantic music peals ; And like broken waves commingled , Like a scene of mad enchantment , Issues forth the motley crowd . Every object spins and reels . Gallant knights and lovely ladies , " Leave me , leave me , Don Raniiro !" Courtiers gaily glancing round , And she struggles with her doom . And the merry joy-bells mingle T > on Ramiro answers ever : With the sacred organ ' s sound . " Thou hast said that I should como !" And the struggling crowd dividing , " Go then , and may God > defend me !" That with reverence yields them place , Loud she cried in steadfast tone ; Donna Clara , Don Fernando , And the words were scarcely utterM Newly wedded , move with grace . I ^ ro " Rnmiro'H form wan flown . To tho bridegroom ' s palace-gatoway Clara sinks in death-like pallor , On the crowd and tumult roll'd ; Cold and trembling , night around , . There . the wedding-feast commences , In the realms of dull obstruction With tho pomp of days of old . Soul and body lie spell-bound . Knightly-games and woll-iill'd tables , And at length the stupor passes , Altornate 'mid sounds of mirth ; And uho lifts her eyes with pain ; Hours uttwatch'd fly swiftly onwards , But OBtouiahnient-and terror Until night descends on ourth . Close the lovely . orbs again . For tho dance tho gueats assemble , For since first tho danco . had sounded , -And they fill tho lofty . hall ; She had never left her seat , And the rays of thousand torches . And uho situ bouido tlio bridegroom , On their glittering dressed full . And sho hoara . tho knight entreut . Proudly alt tho bride and bridegroom , " Wherefore . are . thy cheekH bo pullul ? liaised tho other guestsuibovo , ] " Wherefore , love , this air of . gloom ?" . Donna-Claw , . Don ^ Fernando , i " And Uamiro ? " falLora Clara , — And they mingle words of love . Aud . hor torror strikes her duuib . Round tho waul'in whirling eddies , Darkly frowning at tho question , Ifly the glittering danoartjguy : / Stem and brief the knight ruplicd : Roller the drum its martial thunder , > " Lady , auk not bloody tidings , And tho thrilling . trumpets < bray . " For . at noon Iiiuniro died . "
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 19, 1856, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19071856/page/18/
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