BB
rare beauty, that the merit of M. de Châtelain chiefly consists. He has the taste to choose, and the skiU to clothe in befitting language, the ideas which glow in the heaven of invention of a people not French, but in eveiy way pre-eminently différent from the French. Yet, when we see our EngHsh thoughts in the Chevalier's language, we are persuaded they may very easily hâve sprung up on the banks of the Seine or the Loire." — Tfu London RevieWy Nov, 5, 1864.
'' Au résumé, il y a dans ces quatre volumes de 400 à 500 pages chaque, 960 poëmes, chansons et ballades, traduits de 421 auteurs, depuis et même avant Chaucer jusqu'à Tennyson et Longfellow. Plusieurs poëmes anonymes sont de véritables pierres précieuses. Le travail de M. de Châtelain est un labeur de bénédictin. Sa place est marquée dans toutes les bibliothèques d'Europe ; c'est un monument œre perennius /" — yournal de Statistique^ Oct. 1864.
1865. Beautés de la Poésie Allemande. Fleurs des Bords du Rhin. Prix 4s. Londres : Rolandi, Bemers Street, Oxford Street, W.
"The Chevalier de Châtelain has produced a small library of poetical productions, many of them marked by merits of no mean order. We believe that the volume before us is about the forty-second or forty-third, while the buoyant poet announces as to appear in 1867 and 1868, if spared, four other volumes from his graceful and fluent pen. His productions are as varied as they are voluminous, and as charming as they are varied. We are much indebted to the Chevalier for what he has done to présent our own poets, both ancient and modem, in a French dress, not unwortiiy of their original costume, in which they are impressed upon our memories and endeared to our hearts. As Englishmen he has eamed our gratitude for placing within the reach of ail who read
DU CHEVALIER DE CHATELAIN
French the choicest passages, selected with admirable taste, from Chaucer, Shakespere, Gay, Bums, Campbell, Coleridge, Congreve, Darwin, Gray, Hemans, Herrick, Hunt, Milton, Moore, Scott, and Sidney. He exhibits a complète compréhension of the originals, a perfect mastery of his own language, and a singular facility of versification. Now he tums to the banks of the beautiful Rhine, and présents us with the gems of German poetry — translations, félicitons and faithful, into French, of the leading poets of the Vaterland, including Becker, Biirger, Chamisso, Freiligrath, Gellert, Goethe, Heine, Kemer, Kinkel, Klopstock, Kômer, Langbein, Lenau, Lessing, Oehlenschlager, Schiller, Uhland, Wieland, and Zedlitz.
" The volume before us is so exquisitely printed that we cannot overlook its merits in that respect. We may notice, also, that the Chevalier, in an interesting préface, îndulges in an autobiographical retrospect which will be perused with pleasure by ail those who hâve read and admired the multifarious productions of his fertile imagination and his fluent pen." — Uu Moming Advertiser^ April 17, 1865.
"More industrious even than Dr^ Watts's bee, the Chevalier de Châtelain has been gathering honey, not only ail the day, but seemingly ail the night too, by the light of his student lamp, from the wild wildemess of Poetic Flowers that bloom perennially on the banks of the Rhine, constituting the vast and varied area of Teutonic Literature. Having gone the whole round of our own poetic literature, as a translator from English into French, our accomplished author has now boldly ventured, as an interpréter, beyond the border-land of ballad-lore in Germany. Hère is his first gathering of some among those radiant flowers — a very garland of immortelles ! Among them versions of masterpieces as famous as the * Leonore ' of Bùrger, as the * Song of the Sword* of Kômer, as the 'Erl King of Goethe,' as the * Diver ' of Schiller. It is nothing less than an exploit, the translation thus en masse of so many wonderful poems
— ^poems, many of them of fax more than merely European réputation. Several amongst them, and thèse, ît should be said, often about the most difficult of successful accomplishment, are accomplished most successfîilly. Insomuch, that we hâve reasons enow to congratulate the Chevalier, as we do hereby very cordially congratulate him upon the grâce and dexterity with which he has oyercome so many of the difficulties lying in his path — difficulties the conquest of each of which may be said to amount, in its way, to a crucial experiment" — ITte Sun, Aprilzx, 1865.
" We should be inclined to gather, from this poef s wrîtings, that he is, upon the whole, of a cheerflil tempérament, and has found life an enjo3anent, and nature an unexhausted source of inspiration. He always writes with accuracy and ease, exhibiting a ready affluence of images and thoughts, and a great command of a suitable diction." — The Court Circuiar, April 22, 1865.
" Eine andere Anthologie deutscher Gedichte sind die ' Fleurs des Bords du lUiin, par le Chevalier de Châtelain.' Der Herau^eber, unzufrieden mit den politischen Zustanden Frankreichs unter den Bourbonen, den Orléans, wie unter dem Kaiserreich, lebt seit geraumer Zeit in England und fîillt seine Miisse damit aus, diirch Uebersetzungen seine Landsleute mit den Schatzen der englischen und deutschen Literatur bekannt zu machen. Er hat meist werthvolle Lieder ausgewàhlt von Goethe, Schiller, Biirger, Platen, Kemer, Uhland, Heine, Kinkel, ReinicL Selten niu" verirrt sich eine Plattheit, etwa von Castelli hinein. Die Uebersetzung ist meist treu im Gedanken, wie im Versmass, groben Missverstandnissen, wie sie sonst bei Uebersetzungen der Franzosen nicht selten sind, sind wir bei unserer Vergleichung nicht begegnet, Allein, allein, das deutsche lied ist eine gar zu zarte Pflanze, an welcher aile Bemiihungen der Acclimatiseure scheitem. Da is z. B. einn Uebersetzung von Schillers' Glocke ; so oft wir eine paar Zeilen fianzosisch
DU CHEVALIER DE CHATELAIN
lesen, war die unvermeidliche Folge die, dass uns der Deutsche Text, der uns kurz zuvor noch deutlich vor dem Gedachtniss schwebte, auf einige Zeit vôUig entfiel :
' Bon discours est musique exquise Pour Touvrier industrieux.'
Wer kame wohl darauf, dass dies Nichts Anderes ist, als :
' Wenn gute Reden sie begleiten, So âiesst die Arbeit munter fort'
Schiller sagt :
' Wenn sich die Vôlker sebst befrein, So kann die Wohlfahrt nicht gedeihn.'
" Das ist eine Empfindung, instinctiv abstrahirt aus den Grâuelscenen der Schreckenzeit ; der Uebersetzer macht daraus ein politisches Dogma :
' Quand soulevant une tempête Un peuple par lui seul prétend se libérer, Le bien-être de tous ne saurait s'opérer.'
"Er'fïigt deswegen sofort in einer Note hinzu, er sei in diesem Punkte anderer Ansicht als Schiller und halte fur ein von einem Tyrannen unter ein verhasstes Joch gebeugtes Volk den Aufstand fur die heiligste der Pflichten." — Weser-Zeitung^ Bremen, Mai 7, 1865.
" German literature has, in the présent instance, been chosen by the Chevalier de Châtelain as a thème for his indefatigable but always gracefiil and sportive muse, and he has now presented to the world what it is half promised shall be a séries of translations from German poets, as complète as those he has previously given us from our Ënglish bards. The facility, care, and spirit of the Chevalier's versification wcre never more conspicuous than they are in the présent volume. Some of the translations are very happy. Those from Adalbert von Chamisso, Gottfried Auguste Bûrger, the Baron de la Motte Fouqué, and Henrich Heine are among the number of thèse. Very clever, too, is the translation of 'Der Blumen Rache ' of Ferdinand Freiligrath, the espedal object of
the satire of the great poet previously named, Heine. Less happy are some of the translations from Goethe, and the spirit of the Erl-kônig, so well transmîtted by Scott, is partly lost in the version of the Chevalier — in fact, it is in th^ vein of light literature that the essays of thé Chevalier are most successful ; with the wierd and terrible he is less at home." — TTie Sunday Times ^ May 7, 1865.
'^ Cela se ferait lire rien que pour la beauté des caractères et du papier,' — c'est ce que disait dernièrement notre très estimable Courriériste de Paris, à propos de je ne sais quel volume de poésies sortie des merveilleuses presses de feu Perrin, le maître imprimeur lyonnais. C'est exactement ce que nous nous sommes dit aussi quand nous avons eu sous les yeux les ' Fleurs des Bords du Rhin,' un volume tout frais édité, qui a pour auteiu- M. le Chevalier de Châtelain. Nous devons donner aux lettrés qui rêvent pour leurs œuvres une belle impression gothique, l'adresse de l'imprimeur du livre magnifique que nous venons de feuilleter : Whittingham et Wilkins, Tooks Court, Chancery Lane. Oui, c'est à Londres que se trouve le rival du maître lyonnais, un élève, comme lui, des Estienne et des Elzévir.
" Tous ceux que le charme des beaux vers touche encore devront se procurer les * Fleurs des Bords du Rhin,' autant pour la grâce et la poésie d'où ces fleurs sont écloses que pour le travail typographique dont nous avons admiré de prime abord l'exquise exécution. Le contenu est aussi attrayant que le contenant, le poète et l'ouvrier ont également bien mérité : voilà le résumé de notre impression.
" M. de Châtelain est d'ailleurs un poète de la veille. Sa muse a déjà reçu l'encens de journaux qui font autorité. Les * Débats,' le * Pilote,' la ' Gazette de France ' lui ont fait à ses débuts en 1824, le plus brillant accueil.
" Laissons l'auteur résumer lui-même en quelques mots son œuvre d'aujourd'hui : * Dans cet ouvrage nous vivons parmi les poëtes allemands, la plupart de grands génies originaux et prime-sautiers. Ce que nous appelons les
DU CHEVALIER DE CHATELAIN
* Fleurs des Bords du Rhîn,' ce sont les ' Fleurs de la Forêt, de ce bataillon sacré des vieux et des jeunes bardes, rétemel honneur de TAllemagne . . .
" ' Nous espérons que nos lecteurs de France, de Belgique, d'Angleterre et d'Amérique accueilleront avec autant d'indulgence les nobles bardes de la patrie de Goethe et de Schiller, qu'il leur a plu d'accueillir les bardes anglais, écossais, irlandais, et américains que nous avons eu l'honneur de leur présenter, malgré le désavantage du costume français, qui ne vaudra jamais pour des poètes anglais ou allemands le costume national.'
"Arrêtons nous là, on nous avertit que le rez-de-chaussée du journal est déjà trop remplL Puissions-nous en avoir dit assez pour donner à nos lecteurs l'envie de connaître le joli volume du poète Chevalier de Châtelain !" — Z^ Europe, /ûuma/ français de Francfort, Mai 13, 1865.
" We always read the préfaces of the Chevalier's books with interest, but we feel something of regret in reading this: —
" * Nous n'avons du tout l'envie de raconter, même en raccourci, l'histoire de la vie qu'il nous a été donné de parcourir jusqu'ici, cependant, à la veille de déposer la plume, peut-être, pour ne plus la reprendre, . . . tout au moins jusqu'en 1867, oîi, si Dieu nous prête vie, dans ses mains est notre destinée ! nous nous proposons de publier et * La Folle du Logis ' et * Le Testament d'Eumolpe,' alors que nous publions ce qui sera, sinon le dernier, au moins l'un de nos derniers ouvrages, le quarante-deuxième volume de notre oeuvre, ce que nous appelons : " Fleurs des Bords du Rhin," une espèce de spécimen des * Beautés de la Poësie Allemande," il nous plaît de dire, d'oli nous venons, ce qu'il nous a été donné de faire, littérairement parlant, sinon oli nous voulions parvenir.'
** * We need hardly say that what grieves us is the prospect of the worthy Chevalier reposing from his labours from which we hâve lately drawn such a store of intellectual pleasure. It is a selÂsh thing to say, but we could wish
3;r8 ^^'^^ générale des ouvrages
he might be spared to commeûce another efa of honourable and worthy service in that path he has chosen with so much ability and usefukiess. Hoping yet to see niany more additions to the pile of literary contributions he has heap^d up, we leave this part of our notice. He has anticipated one of our most curions wishes to know something of the vie intitne of one who must naturally hâve seen and done so much, in the graphie description of his life. We cannot afiford room for it entire, but one passage more must corne —
" * Nous avons vécu depuis ce temps, et nous pensons bien reposer du dernier grand dormir, dans cette noble et forte Angleterre, asile des cœurs libres, des cœurs loyaujc, oh la pensée indépendante et fière vibre, et a le privilège de se promener à toute heure et partout sans crainte d'être accaparée, molestée, arrêtée par un mouchard ou par un gendarme . . . pour être en fin de compte envoyée ... à une Cayenne quelconque î
" * Et de nouveau^ en Angleterre, nous avons retrouvé les goûts de notre première jeunesse; seulement dans notre première jeunesse resplendissait Byron, le glorieux poète, un soleil d'Orient ; aujourd'hui reluit à rebours, comme eut dit Chaucer, Alfred Tennyson, dont la lyre est restée muette quand il s'est agi de célébrer Shakespeare, l'étemel honneur de l'Angleterre !...Mais Chaucer, mais Shakespeare, mais Bums, mais Praed, et plus de 400 poètes anciens et modernes ont fait tour à tour nos délices, notre société intime, société charmante et variée, société d'élite à laquelle nous sommes redevable des moments les plus doux de notre existence.'
" And we let him say for himself why he favours us with this présent work —
"'Mais en dépit de quelques frondeurs moroses la langue Française, moins profonde, il est vrai, que la langue Allemande, moins riche que la langue Anglaise, n'en est pas moins la langue diplomatique, la langue universelle ; et c'est principalement pour tous ceux, et le
DU CHEVALIER DE CHATELAIN
nombre en est grand, qui ne connaissent ni la langue de Shakespeare ni celle de Goethe que nous avons écrit les * Beautés de la Poésie Anglaise, et que nous venons d'écrire les ' Beautés de la Poésie Allemande !'
" We shall not be expected to be very profuse in our sélections, but if we give the * Erlkônig of Goethe —
' Qui chevauche si vite à travers nuit et vent?
and *Die Hofihung* of Schiller —
* L'homme a souvent des rêves d'or.' ********
we shall hâve done quite enough to shew how masterly thèse choice pièces of German poetry hâve been rendered. We shall gladly welcome what is to come after this avant caurier of German authors, and trust the hope expressed in the following passage in one of the Chevalier's explanatory notes : — ' Il y a deux ans à peine que la Muse Allemande nous a captivé, ce qui explique Texiguité du présent volume, qui peut n'être, si Dieu nous prête vie, et que notre travail soit accueilli favorablement, que le spécimen, que le prélude d'une collection qui avec le temps deviendrait sans doute plus complète,' may be realised as soon as he can find leisure and inclination to carry his présent intention into effect. With ail thèse claims upon every lover of poetry — Erfglish, French, or German — surely the name of the Chevalier de Châtelain will become, as it deserves, *familiar as household words.*" — TTu Straiford-an-Avon Chronide^ May 19, 1865.
" The patience which must hâve been brought to the task of giving French expression to German thought must hâve been enormous ; yet the Chevalier de Châtelain has neither faltered nor despaired, and the resuit is that he now présents to the world a chkrming collection of élégant poetry hitherto scarcelyknown, in such a fonn as to make it acceptable wherever means can be found for the extension of its circulation." — BelTs WeeJdy Messenger, May 27, 1865.
jgO LISTE GENERALE DES OUVRAGES
** In the volume before us, under the title, * Flowers from the Banks of the Rhine, the Chevalier de Châtelain publishes a large sélection of ballads and short poems from Geiman authors, translated into French verse. Pièces from ail the poets more familiar to English readers are to be found in the work — Biirger, Heine, Uhland, Goethe, Schiller, and from about fifty others of greater or less note, some of them being represented by one poem, and others by several. The sélection is a very good one, and altogether the book is one of the most enjoyable the translator has ever published. The translations are faithful, and generally successful, many of them conveying in a high degree the force of the originaL We might instance Biirger's ballad ' Lenore ' as successfiiUy translated, and in Schiller's * Taucher ' the description of the sea and the frightfiil sights the diver saw in his descent are very well rendered ; perhaps the most defective is the last stanza, which in the original is the finest in the ballad — ^too fine to admit of translation. The character of the French language is so différent from that of the German, that it is impossible but that much of the grandeur and flow of the original must be lost in the transition from the one to the other — necessarily more than would be lost in a translation from German into English, thèse two tongues being more nearly allied. Therefore, if in such pièces as Ûie ' Erl-King,* Schiller's * Hope,* and the most délicate parts of * The Song of the Bell ' — the French falls short of conveying * the freshness, strength, and pathos ' of the original, we accept it as inévitable. The last pièce in the book, ' The Midnight Review, from the German of Zedlitz, is very happily rendered. In his prefece, the Chevalier de Châtelain, who is now pretty far advanced in years, gives a brief account of his literaiy labours and the principal events of his life, a great part of which he has spent in England, owing to the muzsled State of the press in his native country." — TTie Aberdun Free Press and Buchan News, ^une 2, 1865.
" Der Chevalier de Châtelain, ein echtes, lebhaftes und
DU CHEVALIER DE CHATELAIN
ruhriges panser Kind, obleich er die wenigste Zeit seines Lebens in der franzôsischen Hauptstadt zugebracht hat, seit 1822 franzôsischer Schriftsteller und seit 1838 in England ansassig, hat eine Reihe englisher Dramen, Erzahlungen und Gedichte aus dem Elnglischen ins Franzôsische iibersetzt und sich as Vermittler zwischen beiden Literaturen in England wenigstens warme Anerkennung erworben. Nachdem er sich voile zwanzig Jahre der englischen Poésie als Dolmetscher gewidmet, hat er jetzt zu demselben Zwecke aus den deutschen L)rrikem eine Auslese getroffen und den Franzosen einen dufdgen Strauss angeboten, den er 'Fleurs des Bords du Rhin/ betitelt hat Dièse Bezeichnung soll den Franzosen romantisch ins Ohr klingen; einen anderen Grund kann der Autor nicht gehabt haben, den gerade die poetischen Bliithen, welche am Rheine gesprossen, sind am spàrlichsten vertreten. Das hiibsche Buch bietet eine Auslese deutscher Lyrik aus den letzten 150 Jahren, die ohne âsthetische oder tendentiôse Vorliebe getroffen wurde. Die Uebersetzungen selbst sind nicht von gleichem Werthe, was sich freilich bei der Stufenleiter der Schwierigkeiten, welche die einzelnen Dichter bieten, leicht erklârt ; im Ganzen aber nehmen sich unsere deutschen I^yriker im franzôsischen Gewande fur den deutschen immer wunderlicher als fur den franzôsischen Léser aus. Dagegen haben fîir uns solche Uebersetzungen den Reiz des Veigleiches zwischen dem Genius der beiden Sprachen und Gefiihlsweisen. Die * Fleurs des Bords du Rhin,' (Londres, Rolandi, 20, Bemers Street, W.) sind immerhin fïir solche, welche die deutschen Lyriker in der Originalsprache nicht lesen kônnen, eine wiUkommene Gabe." — No. 153, Feuilleton der Kôlnischer Zeitung^ vom 3 yunù
" As an introduction to the présent volume, M. de Châtelain has presented the public with some account of his literary career, which has been productive altogether of forty-two volumes in prose and verse. There is little analogy generally between the mind of France and that of Germany, though from time to time Frenchmen hâve
appeared with a taste for ' flowers from the banks of the Rhine/ To us, who are kindred to the Germans in blood, their poetry, upon the whole, is less pleasing than it seems to be to our Gallic neighbours. Through love of contrast, perhaps, we usually, when in search of poetical delights, tum our faces towards the South, and prefer the classic muse of Italy, and the warm romance of Spaîn, to the wild, quaint, fantastic diablerie of Germany. Occasionally, no doubt, poets of Teutonic race hâve striven to throw off the grotesque incubus of the North, and to sport and frolic in the domains of fancy after the manner of people living in sunnier lands, but the leaven infîised by nature into man's clay can never be totally squeezed oui to make way for another kind of leaven attempted to be forced in by study. In spite of example, in spite of theory, in spite of individual conviction, forth springs the national tendency, and counteracts ail other influences. Hence, Goethe, with a devil for his hero, may truly be regarded as the type of the Teutonic faiicy, just as in the East jinns, ghouls, afrits, etc., represent the wild imagination of semitropical Asia. The only literature of pure possibility, so to speak, is that of Greece, which easily adapts itself to the taste of ail highly cultivated nations, whatever may be their faith or modifications of refinement. The imaginative theocracy of Hellenic poetry demands no more belief than what may be conceded to it by men of ail creeds, being, as it is, a sort of Divine Utopia, where things are found just as a mind at once prolific, warm, and génial would like to find them. It is whoUy différent with the poems of thought prédominant in the Panthéon of Germany, where the feeling is often morbid and revolting. For example, if we scrutinize two poems translated in the volume now before us by M. de Châtelain — * The Wild Hunter,' and * Leonore' — ^we become inunediately sensible that we are dealing with the ideas of a diseased imagination. Blaspheming margraves and raving young ladies are at présent chiefly found in asylums for persons of nervous affections. There are touches of vigour in * The Wild
DU CHEVALIER DE CHATELAIN
Hunter,' touches of tendemess in 'Lenore;' butwhenwe hâve gone through the poems, and lay them aside to reflect, it becomes évident to our reason that we bave for a short time been under the influence of the nightmare. Poetiy mistakes its mission when, by exerting the power it possesses, it defonns thegeography of the intellectual world, instead of rendering it more beautiful. Such poems should be regarded as taies for the nurseries of grown-up people, who like to be frightened before they go to bed on a winter's night. Large traces of that plague of the Middle Ages — ^grotesque superstition — are found more or less thickly scattered over the face of ail Europe, but in Germany more profusely than anywhere else. Indications of a superior form of poetical life hâve for some time been discoverable on the banks of the Danube and the Rhine^ but it will take many summers to ripen the new ideas. M. de Châtelaines volume, modest in its aim, pretty and cheerful in its exécution, contains poetical pièces of ail sorts, belonging to no sdiool ; he is neither classical nor romantic, neither serions nor comic, but glancing over what Germany has produced in the way of poetry, sélects such pièces as please him best He is fond of allegory, fond of fable, fond of enchanted mountains and enchanted streams ; but, above ail, he is fond of trees, flowers, and agreeable landscapes. There seems to be a chronology in men's préférences for the productions of the muse. In early life, impassioned poetry bears away the palm ; afterwards, in some, philosophy or satire ; in others, pleasing pictures of natiu-e, woods, streams, bosquets filled with birds and carpeted with tender grass, solace the fancy ; in a few, perhaps, the passionate storms that bore them into the poetical world, likewise bear them out of it To this last class M. de Châtelaines volume is not addressed; his audience will be foimd among the former two sections, but chiefly among those who in works of art give their préférence to landscapes, domestic rather Aan wild, calm, sunny, familiar, rather than rocky, soaring^ tempestuous, like those amid which Salvator Rosa locates
his bandittL The pièce called * The Last Poet,* is one of the prettiest in tiie collection. It undertakes to déclare the time when that phenomenon may be expected to appear, which it maintains will be in the Greek Kalends. The whole train of thought is singularly sweet and pleasing, and ail who can enjoy the touching élégance of French verse will thank the translator for placing the pièce before them." — T/uLondon RevieWy ytUy 15, 1865.
" Victor Hugo, in one of his récent volumes, makes the following pithy remark on translations in gênerai : — * The nation for whose benefit a translation is made, is gènerally very remiss in accepting such translation. £ach country thinks itself, sufficiently rich in its own literature, not to require becoming initiated into the literature ôf another people.* Victor Hugo endeavoured thus to account for the supercilious disdain the French nation evinced, in the last century, for Shakespeare — a disdain carefuUy fostered by Voltaire, who, either not understanding, or not choosing to understand, Shakespeare, disparaged him, and, in vérification of the old Italian saying, tradiUtore traditor^j translated his ' Julius Caesar ' into blank verse (an absurd anomaly in French prosody, which does not admit of any but rhymed poetry) in order to hold him up to the ridicule of his countrymen. No wonder, therefore, that the French, who only heard one side of the question, set forth by a partial counsel, bent on wresting an unfavourable verdict from the judges he appealed to, proceeded forthwith to condemn Shsiespeare without benefit of clergy, on the Punie faith of the King of Prussia's Chamberlain, Monsieur Arouet de Voltaire, who carried his time-semng flunkeyism to the length of admiring his Prussian Majesty's defective French verses.
" But times are altered. France has welcomed heartily François V. Hugo's translation — unfortunately only a prose one — of Shakespeare*s complète works. We say unfortunaidy advîsedly, for however excellent a prose translation may be, it is only a poetic translation that can do justice to a poet's works. France has, likewise, wel-
DU CHEVALIER DE CHATELAIN
comed cordially the two ' Macbeths ' that are in the field — the first due to the élégant pen of Emile Deschamps, and the other to the vigorous one of the Chevalier de Châtelain.
" And now Germany appears equally disposed to welcome feivourably the flowers cuUed from her poetic garland, and woven into a wreath à la Française^ under the title of * Fleurs des Bords du Rhin.' Several newspapers, and more particularly 'l'Europe' of Frankfort, hâve mentioned the new work in terms of praise.
" ' Les Fleurs des Bords du Rhin' contain, indeed, some of the choicest flowers of German literature. On tuming over the leaves just hap hazard, we light upon many of our favourites, both old and new, such as Bùrger's weird poem of *Lenore,' and still more weird *Wild Huntsman ' ; Chamisso's touching Unes on the poor beggar who can't afford to pay the tax on his dog, and is reduced to attempt to drown him, but finding himself unable to accomplish the murder of his canine friend, who licks the hand of his reluctant executioner, chooses rather to seek a watery grave for himself; another pathetic poem by Griin on an old wom-out actor dying on the stage ; Freihgrath's * Revenge of the Flowers,' that kill a young sleeping maiden with their sweets, in revenge for having been removed from their native soil; Heine's terrifie legend of ' Olaf and the Headsman,' describing the wedding of the handsome young knight married to a princess, but whose head was doomed to fall beneath the executioner's axe, at the end of the nuptial banquet ; Kinkel's admirable * Belgian Cathedral,* which transports us to Ghent or to Bruges, in the ' dim, religious light ' of one of their grand old churches ; SchÙler's * Song of the Bell,' and his * Diver,* which, of course, hâve not been forgotten, any more than Goethe's * Erl-king,' besides other short poems by German/s master poet, or than Theodor Kômer's song to his sword, Zedlitz's * Midnight Review,' or Becker's spirit-stirring * German Rhine.' A short poem by Louis of Bavaria, entitled ' A King's Fate,' is a curiosity, inas-
much as a king could only properly depict the loneliness of heart that inevitably waits upon a monarch's state. But it is not only in courts that the vamish of étiquette overlays ail natiual impulses ; since, on tuming to Dràxler-Manfred's fanciful legend, we find that poor Truth is grown so unwelcome a guest, both in cottage and hall, that even her long-leased ' whereabouts * in a well, is denied her in modem times. Thèse, and many others, form altogether a total of 103 poems, comprising fiftyseven auâiors, without reckoning the anonymous pens that hâve contributed many a charming wild-flower.
'^ In judging a work of this kind, due allowance must always be made for the want of malleability of the French language as regards translations. Thus, while the Germas tongue possesses the enviable faculty of rendering French, English, Italian, and, indeed, most Ëuropean kmguages, with wonderful closeness, not only as to matter, but even as to style ; and while English may retum the compliment, as far as regards its cousm-gerpiafif by treadmg very close on the original ; French is perhaps the most difficult to assimilate with German, owing to the différent construction of both languages, and the widely différent modes of thought of the two nations. It seems strange, at first sight, that French cannot do for German ail that German can effect for French. Yet so it is.
" To make our meaning still more clear — that whîch is often charmingly simple in the German language, would, if literally rendered, become childish and mawkish in French. To avoid this, and steer clear of the sneers of Parisian critics, who would be up in arms against any ' German sentimentality,' required no small tact on the part of the translator. Therefore, if we say that in Schiller's ' Gang nach dem Eisenhammer * (* The Walk to the Forge '), the Chevalier has been less happy in the more naïv^ portion of this stem drama than in its gloomier scènes, we say it not as a reproach, but as a result that was to be anticipated. On the other hand, in Schiller^s ' Song of the Bell,' bristling with technical détails, and full
DU CHEVALIER DE CHATELAIN. 387
of a rough sort of vigour, the translator has been most successful. Nor has he been less so in the * Diver,* when reproducing the graphie description of the fabled wonders of the deep — ^the only thing we miss being the comprehensive last line of the original poem, telling us that no * wave ever brought the youâi back again.' But hère again language was the obstacle — the Chevalier tasking himself to translate stanza for stanza, observing the same number of Unes in each, as well as the same rhymes, which increased his difficulties tenfold, seeing that each German verse of the poem alluded to contains more feet than can ever be introduced into a French line ; consequently the same matter had to be compressed into a smaller space. In many of the poems, however, the Chevalier has been eminently successful, even in tiiose passages we consider doubly difficult from their very simplicity. Thus, a poem by Reinick, being a dialogue between a grandame and her granddaughter, or rather a double monologue — since the aged dame talks of the past, heedless of the interruptions of the little girl, who is solely bent on enjoying the présent, and playing to her heart's content — is one of those charming bits of nature in which the translation appears an original poem — and must please ail nations, as grandmammas and grandchildren are to be found everywhere. Uhland's ' Little Roland,' showing us the futiu-e hero of Roncevaux at an âge when he would be in knickerbockers with us modems, is another of those touches of nature that make ' the whole world kin ^ while * The Giant's Playthings ' (*we petty men* on earth being the playthings aie baby giant treats so cavalierly), is one of the prettiest lessons of humanity that can be given to children both great and small, under the form of an amusîng apologue. Altogether, the volume contains a most varied collection of 5ie flowers of German poetry. There are legends — ^some terrible, some amusing, some touching — short poems that might safely be put into the hands of even little children beginning to leam French — poems, in fact, to suit ail minds and ail moods. The translator has not made him-
ce 2
self a slave to great names — and if any critics cavil because, for instance, Lenau occupies a larger space than Goethe, we are inclined to think that it is for Ûie best of reasons, namely, that the poetry of the former delightful writer is better suited for translation than that of the latter. Any way, the Germans ought to be gratefui to the Chevalier for making their poetical literature cease to be a myth to their French neighbours ; and as, even in England, the German language is much less widely known than French, we should think this volume would prove a boon to those who wish to acquire a gênerai idea of the German Pamassus, without the trouble of studying the language, or, in order to ascertain how far it may be worth their while to plunge into the intricacies of ôiose terrible irregular verbs — and to ail such we cordially recommend the * Fleurs des Bords du Rhin.'" — Tke Natioity yune 22, 1865.
"Der Chevalier de Châtelain bringt in 'Fleurs des Bords du Rhin' (Londres, Rolandi), meist wohlgelungene Uebersetzungen deutscher Gedichte. Die Auswahl zeigt eine grosse Belesenheit in unserer poetischen Literatur und beweist zugleich den feinsinnigen Geschmack des Uebersetzers. Nach Kraften hat er sich bemûht, den deutschen Ausdruck durch einen gleich poetischen der franzôsischen Sprache wiederzugeben. Im Allgemeinen hat er das Richtige getroffen, aber freilich wie gross ist immer der Unterscheid von Platen's :
' Das Haupt, das nun der Scheere sich bequemt, Mit mancher krone war's bediademt ;'
zu des Uebersetzers :
* La tête des ciseaux qui provoque l'affront A vu maint diadème enguirlander son front.*
Oder gar von Burger's :
' Lenore fuhr ums Morgenroth Hervor aus bangen Traumen. * zu:
DU CHEVALIER DE CHATELAIN
* A l'aube s'éveilla Lénore Sous le poids d'un afireux souci.' "
Natianai'Zeitungy Berliriy Oct, 14, 1865.
" Ce n*est pas sur les Bords du Rhin seulement que M. de Châtelain a cueilli les fleurs dont il vient de composer un bouquet poétique : il a fait sa récolte sur les rives des divers fleuves, rivières et ruisseaux qui sillonnent TAUemagne. Son nouveau livre est un travail identique à celui qu'il a exécuté au profit de la poésie anglaise, et, s'il ne fallait pas de variété même dans les titres, le volume que nous avons devant nous aurait pu s'appder ' Beautés de la Poésie Allemande.*
" Fleurs ou Beautés, peu importe le nom. Ce qui nous touche, c'est de voir cet indéfatigable labeur allant choisir parmi les poésies étrangères tout morceau de nature à charmer nos yeux et nos oreilles, et nous le présentant dans notre idiome national, en lui conservant, autant que possible, son génie primitif. C'est une tâche dont M. de Châtelain s'est fort bien acquitté pour la poésie anglaise. D'après ce qu'il a fait pour celle-ci, nul doute qu'il n'ait également réussi pour la poësîe allemande ; mais notre ignorance de la langue de Goethe et de Schiller ne nous permet pas de nous porter comme témoin en cette dernière circonstance.
" Les * Fleurs des Bords du Rhin ' ont toutes les qualités que nous avons déjà trouvées dans les autres traductions tie M. de Châtelain ; entrain, verve, facilité, mais aussi ce que nous appellerons les défauts et ce que d'autres appelleront les traits caractéristiques du poète. Si nous n'approuvons pas certaines expressions, certaines inversions, certaines élisions, nous devons reconnaître que M. de Châtelain les a adoptées de propos délibéré et du droit que possède un littérateur d'avoir un genre à lui. Peutêtre est-ce nous qui avons tort dans ces critiques de détail; peut-être est-ce lui qui a raison de vouloir être lui. Grosse question dont nous laissons la solution à de plus compétents. Mais nous sommes heureux de pouvoir signaler les
points sur lesquels nous n'avons que des ëloges à donner, à savoir ce travail incessant de découvertes à travers les tles parfois inconnues de la poésie étrangère, et ce labeur inoui de transformation qui ne trahit jamais la fatigue et nous montre le lutteur toujours frais et toujours dispos, qu'il s'agisse d'exhumer les noms les plus oubliés de la poésie anglaise, de nous initier aux œuvres des poètes allemands, ou de nous transporter sous le soleil éblouissant de l'Orient poétique.
" Dans le volume dont nous nous occupons aujourd'hui, il y a bon nombre de noms qui, il faut bien Tavouer, ne nous étaient pas connus, et qui, cependant, méritent de l'être. Nous y voyons aussi des noms qui ont passé la frontière et qui sont même devenus eiu'opéens ; tels sont ceux de BUrger, de Goethe, do Heine, de Klopstock, de Lessing, et de Schiller. Parmi les pièces traduites par M. de Châtelain, il en est qui sont populaires, même en France, telles sont la ' Chasse infernale ' et * Lénore,' de Biirger, le * Roi des Aulnes,' de Goethe, la * Revue de Minuit,' de ZedUtz. Nous connaissons tous le 'Rhin Allemand,' de Becker, chant de défi du Germain, fièrement et justement relevé par le Gaulois Alfired de Musset, quoi qu'en dise M. de Châtelain: car, si nous admettons le patriotisme de celui-là, il faut bien admettre le patriotisme de celui-ci. Le Rhin 'a tenu dans notre verre,' et ce ne sont pas les couplets de Becker qui notis empêcheraient de l'y faire tenir encore. Et puis, que signifie le Rhin allemand ? Est-ce qu'il n'est pas français â Strasbourg? Est-ce qu'il n'est pas suisse à Bâle et à Schafifhouse ? Mais laissons cette querelle politique, et revenons aux * Fleurs des Bords du Rhin.'
" La ballade y domine, bien entendu ; car la ballade est essentiellement allemande. M. de Châtelain en a fort bien rendu l'esprit, et, n'était le manque d'espace, nous en donnerions un exemple. Nous signalerons aussi l'excellente traduction de la * Revue de Minuit :' —
' Quand a sonne la douzième heure, La douzième heure de minuit, Le tambour quitte sa demeure Au clair de la lune qui luit.*
DU CHEVALIER DE CHATELAIN. ^qi
" Pour temuner, nous reproduirons une fort jolie pièce de Schlegel que nous r^ettons fort, en lisant la traduction, de ne pouvoir lire dans l'original.
