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urination , iheoommodore and the commissioners turned to the real work S % -S « A . sarMsa £ * ?„» £$ ^ TSTA ^ ericaas win never submit to the restrictions which have been imposed vpon flve Dutch and Chinese , and any further . allusion to such restraints -will be considered offensive . " That mode of procedure settled the point- The negotiations prospered , a . ffln ^ uJjjr cordialW of intercourse arose between tie Japanese . and their visits , and the gifts of the President were returned , m hnd , by the emperor There was a gorgeous pile of red and yellow cloths , flowered crapes the inimitable Japan -lacquer , tinted porcelain , and the gay varieties of Eastern industry . It was not long before the definitive treaty was framed , and
declaring perpetual and universal pace between the Japanese Umpire the American ^ Bepablic , and stipulating for a limited liberty of commerce between their respective nations . The articles of this historical convention axe printed at length by Dr , Hawkes . The signatures of the commodore and the commissioners were affixed , and celebrated by a festival—an eoeentric entertamment of fish stews , soy , saki , rice , and cakes , served zn lacquered bowls , upon tables spread with scarlet crape , and arranged in Greeian order . Not one article of this treaty was assented to by the Japanese Commissaoners until they had considered its full effect , translated it into their vernacular , tested it by a variety of constructions , expunged all dubious nhrasps and . i > v declaratory clauses , limited its meaning . One remark made
by them as especially deserving of attention . They said : " The Japanese are unliie the Chinese . They are averse to change . " The Japanese understand the C&inese , &r better than the Chinese are commonly understood in Europe . We generally hear the people-of China described as a conservative , immutable nation , with petrified laws and manners , exactly as we hear the French , the least fickle of nations , described as volatile and experimental . Now , precisely as the French are addicted in life , institutioms , tastes , manners , to monotony , die Chinese are addicted to variety . They are perpetually changing , revolting , enacting new institutions , deserting the ancient ways . Tiey are in their nature , inconstant , capricious , revolutionary . History has China wihat it has in le
never , at least , seen in seen France—a numerous peop , living mndcr the sway of'the same family , undisturbed and torpid , during sight hundred years . We have merely noted the diplomatic history of lite American expedition to Japan . We must reserve & review of the new information supplied in . IXr . 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 from saying more of a . book so abundantly interesting .
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HEINE'S BOOK OF SONGS . Hdnrich Heine ' s Book qf Songs . A Translation by Joha E . Wallis . Chapman and Hall . Entertaining , 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 Bcranger , 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 language from 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 ' a case we have an unusual acquaintance with German , and an aintisual regard to fidelity in rendering it ; if he is wot always faithful , the error is not the error of ignorance , but one which arises from , poetical and metrical difficulties . In a modest preface Mr . Waliis informs us these versions were made some sixteen years ago , when he was a student in Germany .
Ibty were translated without any view to publication , not in the order in which they 8 t »? d , 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 « f the original . These a » e the three victims of every translator , — . all must suffer , and any partiality for any one can only be indulged « t 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 arc adequate . If he prints at all it is because Heine has latterly been much talked of , and a " demand" is
supposed to exist . To those who do not read German the volume willbe welcome , and would be more so if they could be made to believe that it represented tho original . But it is not so . The translation is approximative only . The singer has a catarrh , and although through the husky notes you detect tho f inger , you miss the ravishing timbre of his voice . Tako this for example ;¦—The maiden sleeps in her chamber , The moon peeps trembling in ; Without is a ringing and singing , . Like waltzers' merry din . "Ill try to see from tho -window , '" Whence all tfco uproar springs I * She sees there a skeleton standing—He AddleB and scrapes ami sings . "A dance to me thou hast promised , ' *• Aaad never hast kept thy vorr ; * "F «> iright fa a ball in tfio churchyard , * ' Then tcome , and well dance it now . " It works < m th « t » aiaen wildly , It laree fawr forth fmm tho door , - 81 m « omes , and th « aluftetou staging And fiddling marches before .
He fiddles and hops and ambles , Atid rattles each dried-up bone ; And nods and nods with his gleaming skull , That lorribly mocks the moon . Now compare the last stanza of the original : — Es ndelt nod ttazelt -and hiipfet , Und klappert mit seinem Gebein ; Und nickt and nickt mit dem Schadel , Unheimlich im Mondenschoin . 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 melody 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 langer jahre ! with its weird close ? Mr . "Wallis thus ' renders it : —
" Donna Clara ! Donna Clara ! " Loved so fondly many a year ! " Thou art bent on my destruction , " And it costs thee not a tear . " Donna Clara ! Donna Clara ! " Life is sweet to young aud old ! " But below dwells shuddering horror , " And the grave is drear and cold . " Donna Clara ! on the morrow " Will Fernando , to thee plighted , " Claim thy promise at the altar" Am I to tlie feast invited ? " ' " Don Ramiro ! Don Ramiro ! " Thou canst speak in bitter strain , " Harsher than the stars , -whose sentence " Overrules my wishes
vain" Don Ramiro ! Don Ramiro ! " Fling this shadow from thy heart ; " On the earth are maidens many , " But ' tis Heaven that bids us part . " Don Ramiro ! thou hast conquer'd " Many a Moor in bloody fight ; " Conquer now thy own proud spirit , — " Come to-morrow to the rite . " " Donna Clara ! yes , I swear it , " Hear me , Heaven , and hear it , Hell ! ¦ " Thou and I will dance together ; — " Till to-morrow , fare thee -well . "
• " Then good night ! " the window sounded ; Deeply sighing stood the knight , Stood as one -deprived of motion , Then pass'd slowly into night . And at last with lengthen'd struggles , Darkness yielded unto day j Like a blooming flower-garden , Wide outspread Toledo lay . Many a stately house and palace Glitters in the sunny beam ; And the domes of lofty churches , As if newly gilded , gleam .
" Wherefore , pry thee , lovely lady , " Bend so fixedly thine eyes "On the hall ' s remotest corner ?" So the knight in wonder cries . " See ' st thon yonder Don Ramiro , " One in sable mantle dight ?" " Nay , 'tis but a shadow , dearest , " Answers with a smile the knight . But the shadow moves towards them , 'Tis a guest in robes of woe ; And she knows and greets Ramiro , And her cheeks and forehead glow . And the dance is form'd Already , And the merry pairs fly round In the waltz ' s giddy circles , And the trembling floors resound .
" Gladly will I , Don Bamiro , " Join with thee the festive throng ; " But to come in sable mantle " 'Mid our joyous guests was -wrong . " And upon the Fair , Ramiro Gazes stern with brow of gloom , Clasps her round , and darkly murmurs : " Thou hast said tb-at I should come . " In the dance ' s giddy tumult , Lo ! the pair are borne away ; Rolls the drum its martial thunder , And the thrilling trumpets bray . " Snow-white are thy -cheeks , Ramiro !" Whispers Clare in secret dread . " Thou hast bidden me come hither !" In a hollow voice he said .
In the hall the torches glitter Through the flooding throng alway ; Rolls the drum its martial thunder , And tho thrilling trumpets bray . " Ice-cold are thy hands , Ramiro !" Says the Fair , in timid tone . " Thou hast bidden me come hither !" And the torrent sweeps them on . " Leave mo , leave me , Don Ramiro I " These arc odours of tho tomb !" And again the fatal answer : "Thou hast said that I should come . " A _ nd tho floors are smokii > g , glowing , And the frantic music peals ; Like a scene of mad enchantment , Every object spins and reels .
Like a swarm , of bees loud humming , Mingling peal the festal bells , And the sound of prayer and music From tho temples softly swells . JLo ! from out the market chapel Peals the hum of voices loud , And like broken waves commingled , Issues forth the motley crowd . Gallant knights and lovely ladies , Courtiers gaily glancing round , And the merry joy-bells mingle With tho sacred organ ' s sound . And the struggling crowd dividing , That with reverence yields them place , Donna Clara , Don Fernando , Newly wedded , move with grace . To tho bridegroom ' s palace-gateway On the crowd and tumult roll'd ; There the -wedding-feast commences , With tho pomp of days of old . Knightly-gaoaos and well-fill'd tables , Alternato ' mid sounds of mirth -, Hours unwatch'd fly swiftly onwards , Until night descends on earth . For the danoe the guests assemble , And they fill tho lofty hall ; And the rays of thousand torches On their glittering dresses fall . Proudly sit tho bride and bridegroom , Raised the other guests above , Donna Clara , J > on Fernando , And they mingle words of love . Round the vrell In whirling eddies Fly tho glittering dancers gay : Soils the dram its martial thunder , And the thrilling trumpets bray .
" Leave me , leave mo , Don Ramiro !" And sho struggles with her doom . Don Ramiro answers ever : " Thou hast said that I Bhould como !" "Go then , and may God defend iucj !" Loud sho criod in steadfast tone ; And the words were scarcely utter'd Ero ltamiro ' s form was flown . Clam sinks in death-like pallor , Cold and trembling , night around , In tho realms of dull obstruction Soul and body lie spell-bound . And at length the stupor passes ,
And ahe lifts her eyes with pain ; But -astonishment and terror Closo the lovely orbs aguin . For since first the dance had sounded , Sho hod Mover left her » oat , And aho Hits beside the bridegroom , And sho hoarti the knight entreat . 4 t Wherefore are thy cheeka ho pallid ? " Wherefore , love , this air of gloom ?" " And Ramiro ? " falters Clara , — And her terror strikes her dumb .
Darkly frowning at the question , 8 torn and brief tho knight replied " Lady , ask not bloody tidings , " For at noon Ramiro diod . "
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TEH Xi 3 BA PIEJEt . [ No . 330 , Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 19, 1856, page 690, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2150/page/18/
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