thing mercurial in De Quincey's composition; he was rarely profoundly affected by anything from without; to that as much as to any fixed system of ideas or settled principles of criticism, he is indebted for his independent attitude.

Selections from De Quincey which may be compared with Jean Paul:

38-50 Dream Fancies.

57 ff.

61-99 De Quincey's humor at its best and healthiest.

434 ff. A description of his opium dreams.

384 ff. A striking example of De Quincey's rhetoric.

>>> XIII 9-69 Humor perfect of its kind.

D

251-269 A good example of De Quincey's humor.

>> 270-369 Dream Fancies.

Posth. Works I, 1-27.

SCATTERED REFERENCES TO JEAN PAUL.

"Which reminds me of John Paul Richter, who suggests to some author anxiously revising the table of his own errata, that, perhaps, on reflection, he might see

cause to put the whole book into the list of errata; requesting of the reader kindly to erase the total work as one entire oversight and continuous blunder, from page one down to the word finis." Works VI, 26 f. cf. Vorrede zum Hesperus, J. P.'s Werke V, 13.

"The passages in which John Paul speaks of Herder are many two in particular I remember of great beauty; one in the Flegeljahre, the other in his last work Der Comet." Works IV, 390. cf. J. P.'s Werke XX, 54; XXVIII, 142.

"Reminding one of that inscription, so justly admired by Paul Richter, which a Russian Czarina placed on a guide-post near Moscow. This is the road that leads to Constantinople." Works V, 390, note. cf. J. P.'s Werke V, 21.

Superiority of Jean Paul's style to that of most German writers. cf. Works X, 159.

66

Jean Paul's detection of a flaw in the plan of Paradise Lost. cf. Works X, 417. They talked', says John Paul, 'as country-people are apt to talk, concerning nothing'". cf. Works, XIV, 159.

XI. THE LUISE OF VOSS. 1

De Quincey compares the Luise of Voss with the Vicar of Wakefield. The hexameters he finds barbarous; he gives a parody of The Parson's Dinner. A few lines will show De Quincey's humorous exaggeration of the metre. It is a description of the training of a horse for the Austrian cavalry, the practice,

"Which still is required in the trooper who rides in the Austrian army,

...To force your horse to curvet, pirouette, dance on his haunches, And whilst dancing to lash with his feet, and suggest an effectual hinting To the enemy's musqueteers to clear the road for the hinter: To practise your horse in the duty of stormy recalcitration, Wheeling round to present his heels, and in mid caracoling To send the Emperor's greeting smack through the panel of oakwood." The Luise according to De Quincey is an exception in German literature which he finds conspicuously lacking in work of a natural, racy and domestic growth.?

1 Works II, 171. Other references to Voss cf. Works IV, 425 VI, 11; XI, 32; De Quincey knew Voss' Stranslations of Homer.

2 Posth.Works I, 89 ff. A fragment with the title: "Anna Louisa”, Specimen Translation from Voss in Hexameters, with letter to Professor W. (Christopher North.)"

XII. DE QUINCEY AND GERMAN ROMANCE.

1. WALLADMOR.

1

In 1824, inasmuch as no new novel of Scott's was forthcoming for the Leipsic fair, there appeared a romance purporting to be a translation of Sir Walter's newest work, from sheets fresh from the Edinburgh press. The hoax was in many respects cleverly carried through, but the story was hardly one to add to Scott's reputation.

A young man named Bertram, after the shipwreck of the "Halcyon", the vessel in which he had taken passage for Wales, finds himself in a deadly struggle with a stranger for the possession of an empty cask. After gaining it, his better nature prevails and he offers to share it with his enemy. For a while they float together, swimming or resting on the cask in turn, until Bertram loses consciousness. When he comes to himself he is alone on a strange coast, the coast of Anglesey. An old witch (a recollection of Meg Merrilies) puts him on board a vessel bound for Wales. Shortly after his landing, a rough fellow joins him, leads him toward the town and shows him the way to the inn. There Bertram finds a

1 Full Title: Walladmor, Frei nach dem Englischen des Walter Scott, von W. . . . s. Berlin, bei F. A. IIerbig, 1824. 3 Bände. This novel was the first attempt of W. Alexis (real name Häring).

motley company. The description of the guests as well as their conversation is of a dulness inconceivable. The German author, in his attempt to give the book an English cast, indulges in historical episodes, political discussions, and harangues on the subject of Reform by one Dulberry, a half-witted political dreamer. Someone announces the arrest of a certain Nichols, formerly a daring smuggler of the neighborhood, as an accomplice in the Cato-street conspiracy1 (a most awkward attempt to give an air of reality to the piece). On learning that Nichols had been brought on the "Halcyon", Bertram relates the story of the shipwreck and his escape.

On the next day, there is a festal procession to the church. The Squire of Walladmor, after attending with his niece, returns to the townhall to hear the petitions of his people. One, a member of the company at the inn, asks for permission to bury a friend, the captain of a foreign ship. Bertram is surprised to hear the name of the captain, who had landed him on the Welsh coast. He receives a mysterious invitation to attend the burial; there he finds a crowd of smugglers, among them his friends of the inn. The procession meets the revenue officers, for the squire had received later information of the real nature of things; but they are overpowered and the smugglers gallop away to their rendezvous. Another strange note leads Bertram far into the mountains, where he finds Nichols, no other than his opponent after the shipwreck, his guide to the inn and the leader of the burial procession.

Nichols had been attracted to Bertram because of the

1 A conspiracy organized in 1820 by Arthur Thistlewood for the murder of the ministers and the over thron of the government.