Of newspapers, we speak not. When the press is in a state as it is now in Germany, any thing like an interesting political journal is out of the question. The best thing of the kind that they have, the Allgemeine Zeitung, derives its chief merit from the circumstance that it professedly disclaims having any opinions of its own. In many cases, it lends its columns to be the organ of both parties, always taking care, that the liberal may keep within the limits of moderation; and, which is still more difficult to effect, that the servile may not be guilty of too glaring a violation of common decency. Thus there is continually a double set of articles from Paris-the one from a correspondent belonging to the côté gauche, the other from one who has taken up his abode in the happy mansions of the côté droit. Its sentiments on home politics are still of a lower key; that is to say, it takes things as they come, and the Editor is understood to receive a certain round sum annually from the cabinet of Vienna, to induce him to speak tenderly of the wisdom of that government*. Of their newspapers, then, we speak not; but have to inform our readers, that the daily publications, which we are about to mention, are, each and all, things that we should call reviews or magazines. While we are treasuring up our fond records and saws of books, up to the first of the month, it is the duty, and we look upon it as rather a hard one, of a German Inspector to give his readers a literary treat every morning of their lives, Sundays excepted. Now, if this be hard for the editor, it must certainly be a little awkward for his readers, too; for, if their breakfast tables are stored thus every morning, it must leave a singular blank on the first of the month; for one used to our doings, at least, it must be a sad disappointment, and must make him lament bitterly, with Horace, that he knows not what to do on the first of the month- "Cœlebs quid agam Calendis." But then, in the time of the poet, it must have been still worse; literature had not yet been taught to keep pace with the seasons; time rolled on without having its divisions signalized by their representatives, rousing the world at destined epochs, shorter or longer "A dextra lævaque dies, et mensis, et annus, Meaning by the Hora, as is clear from the context, the quarterly publications. But at the luckless time we speak of, the heavenly bodies were not yet shining on others, moving in somewhat a lower sphere-planets and satellites, whose revolutions are analogous to their own, circling as they are around the centre of their orbits-the public, of which, as of the sun, it is still a matter of dispute among some irreverent philosophers, whether it be, originally, an opaque, or * The Allgemeine Zeitung circulates daily 18,000 copies. The Hamburgh Correspondent circulates nearly 24,000; it is of great local and commercial interest in the north of Germany; but is not so well conducted as the Allgemeine Zeitung, which, in any thing except politics, is admirable. a luminous body. We are, of course, of the latter opinion. But if the ancients were woefully deficient in regular gratifications of their literary taste, still there was among them a race of similar publications, which is not yet quite extinct; phenomena which were thought rather irregular at the literary horizon, and eccentric in their appearance; comets with a formidable tail, to lash the follies of the day. Such were the Satires of Horace, of Juvenal, of Persius; such the Epigrams of Martial; such are now in France the pamphlets of Monsieur de Pradt; such were the several cantos of "Don Juan;" such are, at present-but no matter, our business is with the German periodicals. Of these, we shall first pay our compliments to the Morgen Blatt. It has been flourishing for twenty years; and, if not the first, at least ranks amongst the first of its contemporaries. It is regularly published every morning, as its name implies, except Sunday; and contains original papers on the different departments of the Belles Lettres; popular essays on scientific subjects; original poetry; extracts from interesting new publications, and specimens of yet unpublished works, and ample reports from all quarters on the drama, and on "news of literature and fashion." Besides this, it is attended by four or five weekly supplements, exclusively devoted to reviews of new works; and three or four supplements, containing a gazette of the fine arts, with engravings". Of the original papers, the tales and minor novels are considered the most attractive. There is scarcely an eminent novel writer of the day, scarcely an author, that delights his readers with the lovely and ethereal forms of celestial maidens, or haunts them with the ghosts of their departed aunts, or frightens them out of their wits with omens and mysterious words and signs, or softens them again by moonshine; scarcely a man of note, whose name is whispered in the drawing rooms of Berlin, or reviewed in Blackwood, but is at present, or was at some former time, favoring the Morgen Blatt, in the language of one of them, with "the youngest progeny of his "muse." The fertility of many of these writers is prodigious. There are several who write for three or four of the periodicals, and who, at the same time, favor the world, at Christmas, with divers heart-breaking tales, and with a host of poems in the Taschenbücher. Every third or fourth year they publish a collection of these separate performances, having previously rummaged Willdenow's Botanical Dictionary for the Linnæan name of some flower, both novel and harmonious, to parade on the title page. Nor is this all: for, besides these, their minor lucubrations, they would think it wrong to forego the laudable custom of writing novels in three volumes, post 8vo. We believe we are correct in stating, that there are, at present, upwards of seventy volumes, containing novels and tales, published under the name of The second and third series here mentioned sell also separately, under the title of "Litteratur Blatt," and "Kunst Blatt." Lafontaine, the indefatigable patriarch of the fraternity. We say under his name, for we have it from the very best authority, that several of the most popular novels that go by his name (among them, for instance, Die Familie von Halden) have flown from the pen of a worthy lecturer at one of the German Universities, on national economy. That gentleman happened to catch his particular manner and style so well, that he one day surprised his friend Lafontaine with three neatly written quartos, and a humble query whether he thought them deserving to be ushered into the world under the spell of his name? Lafontaine was highly amused; it had always been his ambition to "astonish the natives" by the number of his productions, and thus the work of his friend was, without hesitation, sent to the press. It had a great run at the time, and the example was soon followed by other productions, which Lafontaine occasionally retouched, but which had less success. Besides Lafontaine,—Laun, Kind, Claurin, and La Motte Fouqué, are, perhaps, the most fertile of the novelists of the day; and some of their best things contributed in establishing the reputation of the Morgen Blatt for its entertaining and romantic tales. Poetry is not much the fashion, at present, in Germany. In this department, the Morgen Blatt is much at a level with the other periodicals; that is to say, very indifferent. It does, perhaps, more often induce us to read its poetry on account of a name, from which we had hoped better things. We must certainly say, that there are exceptions, and that we are sure, from time to time, to meet an old favorite who will never disappoint us. But, in general, we find our time wasted whenever we are tempted to take up any of the poetry in the Morgen Blatt,-thus we have lately noticed a poem by Goethe -a welcome in a Masonic circle at Weimar, to the Duke Bernard upon his return home-but it is, as every thing that Goethe has published within the last fifteen years, trivial in the extreme. It is no doubt a curious fact, that there should be the same dearth of good poetry abroad, while the taste for works of fiction is equally prevailing as both are at home. We must, however, except the drama; in dramatic literature the Germans have unquestionably done a great deal in the last ten years. Though they have not, at present, a writer of the "os magna sonaturum," that might promise to rival the later productions of Schiller, or the earlier ones of Goethe; yet there are some dramas by living poets, that would stand among the very first in the second rank in any literature. Speaking of the drama, we may as well add a word or two on the theatricals in the Morgen Blatt. That subject is taken up with much more interest, and conducted upon a much more extensive scale, than we have ever seen assigned to it in any of our journals, not excepting the Opera-Glass, a publication expressly devoted to it, which we have pleasure in mentioning, having lately seen some papers of much taste and merit in it. If the reader has hitherto conceived, that London theatricals, for instance, are not known on the other side of the water-that Paul Pry has travelled only in the Literary Gazette-that" the wandering Bavarian," after her debut on the stage, had been lost sight of by her fair country women :-if the reader has fancied any such thing, surely he has been sadly mistaken. Let him therefore be informed, that tens of thousands of his fellow-creatures, to wit, all the readers of the Morgen Blatt, of the Abend Zeitung, of the Gazette for the Elegant World, and who can tell how many more periodicals, are as completely au fait on those important affairs, as a minute and animated report can render them. Indeed, there is scarcely a novelty brought out even by the numina minorum gentium, but a notice of it is forthwith committed to writing, and goes out in the shape of foreign letters, the weight and postage of which, who can calculate? If such is the case with the London Stage, it may be readily conceived that they are not backward in reporting whatever is going on at the principal theatres nearer home. The Morgen Blatt has long been famous for its extensive connections in all the principal towns of Europe, and for the exemplary sedulity of its agents, in the transmission, besides other literary chit-chat, of theatrical novelties. It may be asked, what it can be that gives such a peculiar interest just to that sort of intelligence? It is not the result of a passionate predilection for the drama. The Germans are not a nation that would imitate the classical shouts of "Panem et Circenses."They are not so fond of the stage as the French are; and their enthusiasm, at least as far as our observation goes, is not that bearlike kindness which threatens to subvert the foundation of the house. They are not great admirers of show either; and we have often been shocked at the heresy of our German friends, who expressed their horror at what they called, (without at all entering into the fun of the thing,) the absurdity and vulgarity of the English pantomime. But they are great reasoners on every thing connected with science, or the fine arts, or literature. When you fancy them in the clouds, they are deep in the philosophy of taste. They speculate upon the things they admire; they want a reason even for the taste that is in them. They want to dissect, to analyse, to abstract, and upon all occasions to be very profound indeed. Besides, they are dotingly fond of making a speech upon nothing, and a comment upon less than nothing; they are enthusiastic upon theory, and romantic with premeditation; and if it gives them pleasure, we cannot see why they should not be so. It is, moreover, a great encouragement to some branches of literature. Look at their catalogues, the voluminous bulletins of the Leipsic fair, such as our table at present is groaning under, and let us see, if that happy propensity to speculate were at once taken away either from the writing or the reading part of the public, (for these are the only two imaginable classes of that body-tertium non datur,) what were to become of half the authors, who now put forth Beitrage, or Fragmente, or Grundrisse, or Versuche, or other profound works, Von" or "Ueber," this or that? And if all that scribbling were to go to the devil at once; if the ambition of essayists should subside, and "Hearts that once beat high for praise Should feel that thrill no more," what would then become of the remaining half of literature? With all its excellencies, it would not be relished any more, unless set off with advantage against a commensurate quantity of trash. Upon these grounds, and out of consideration to that valuable community, we would say to the German book-makers, aye, and to others too,go on :-and we are fully satisfied, that they will instinctively have followed this sage advice long before this now forthcoming number of their friend, The Inspector, shall have reached them. But to return to the German theatricals; there are other reasons also, which contribute to give a peculiar interest to that department of their journals. The most distinguished performers of the German theatres are frequently visiting other places, and act their favorite parts: this is attended by very considerable advantages for the state of the dramatic art. It relieves the public from the monotonousness occasioned by a constant repetition of the same acting of a character by the same individual. It frequently presents a novel view of favorite scenes, or throws a new light on the finer shades of a character; and on the Germans, devoted as they are to analyse what they have seen, and frequently qualified for it by acute discernment, no hint of that sort is ever lost. The only fear is, that they will make too much of it-and that they will discover what the poet, or the performer, never meant to have said. The performers, in their turn, are certainly benefited by the lessons which their reception by a different, and an observing, audience may give them. For in most of the German theatres, the upper regions, "the Paradise," in the German phrase, have not yet taken the exclusive privilege of representing the taste of the public. It is obvious, that the readers of the theatrical criticisms, not being strangers to the principal performers of Germany, may be somewhat gratified by the recital of details which otherwise might have been uninteresting. The reports of foreign dramatics are very welcome, because they are foreign; because the Germans like of all things to know what is going on in foreign parts; because they like to consult, and, we believe, occasionally overrate, foreign criticism and taste: and because they would be bored to death, however interesting their immediate environs might be, if they were to be cut off from foreign intelligence, fashion, and literature. It is astonishing to see what a mass of information from all parts of Europe is collected in their journals; they are the most sedulous, and the most tasteful, translators; there is not a work of note published at London or Paris, but that goes to Leipsic, or Berlin, or Dresden, or Stutgard, to be done, or, as their phrase curiously says, overset, in German. Of works which are anticipated to have a great run, the proof sheets have |