in a dream. For this counsel he was upbraided as a coward by the king, and sullenly retired to a neighbouring hill, where he beheld the fight. Of the other eleven champions who had accompanied Gunthar, eight defied Walther, one after another, and were all felled to the ground by him. The remaining three use a very curious weapon, which is described in several chronicles of the Franks, against him. They throw a trident with strings at his feet, and endeavour to cast him to the ground, and then to murder him. But he stands firm, and kills them all. Gunthar flies to Hagano, who is reconciled to him, and advises him to get Walther into a snare, by a feigned retreat. Walther, not suspecting the stratagem, remains in a cave, and in the morning, when he issued to proceed on his journey, is attacked by the King and Hagano. The former soon falls before the Aquitanian, and fractures his thigh-bone; and the latter, after having struck off his opponent's right hand, had his head opened, and his right eye thrust out, by the poniard of Walther. Then the three heroes reconcile themselves, drink together on the field of battle, and joke upon the loss of their limbs. The Franks return to Worms, and Walther to Aquitania, where he reigned in peace for thirty years. The subject of this poem is alluded to, towards the conclusion of the song of the Nibelungen; and a very similar story occurs in the 86th and the following chapters of the Wilkina-Saga, an account of which will be given in p. 28, &c. There the hero is called Walther of Waskastein, which name he also bears in the third part of the Book of Heroes. Fischer judges the poem to have been written in the sixth century. It was probably produced in the time of King Pepin. The MS. at Carlsruhe appears to be of the ninth century; and in the chronicle of the abbey of Novalese, founded in the eighth century, at the foot of Mont Cenis, printed by Muratori, and by him judged to have been compiled about 1060, an account is given of Walther, son of Alfer, King of Aquitania, who was a monk in that monastery, and underwent similar adventures. A quotation is given in the chronicle from the Latin poem. The principal heroes of it also occur in the Nibelungen and the Book of Heroes, but there, instead of Franks, they are Burgundians.

10. and 11. The Flight of Dietrich to the Huns, and his vain endeavour to recover his realm. Both in a MS. of the Vatican, transcribed in 1477.

12. The Song of the Nibelungen, and the Lament. Of this most ancient among the Teutonic metrical romances, there are three MSS. at St. Gallen, Hohenems, and Munich. The latter half, with the Lament, was printed separately by Bodmer; and the whole in Miller's collection, mentioned above. A new edition, in which the orthography and the principal antiquated words have been modernised, but the versification and the antique cast of the language retained, was published in 1807, by Hagen *. From a comparison

*We have to regret that the copy which has reached us wants the introduction, which would have given us great light upon the

history

comparison of the latter with the old copy in Miller, the abstract in this volume has been made. It is not easy to determine in what age the poem was written, and the author is unknown. At the end of the Lament, which is in a different measure, and was probably written by a different person, and in a subsequent period, the author of that poem names himself Conrad; from which evidence Miller very absurdly concluded the whole to be the work of Conrad of Wuerzburg, who did not flourish till the years 1280 and 1300. I have no doubt whatever, that the romance itself is of very high antiquity, at least of the eleventh century, though certainly the present copy has been considerably modernized. It will be seen immediately that it is quoted in the Wilkina-Saga, as being very ancient at the time that work was compiled, which was about the year 1250.

13. The Song of Master Hildebrand. The oldest copy is at Dresden, in MS. From an ancient edition, in which it has been considerably shortened; it was reprinted by Eschenburg, and a translation of the latter will be found in the Appendix, No. 2. The chief value of the ballad, besides that of the poetry, is its coinciding so nearly with the ancient prose-fragment already mentioned.

14. King Rother; a very ancient poem, which has lately been published from the only manuscript of it which is known, in the Heidelberg library, at the Vatican. It forms, as it were, an intermediate chain between the German cyclus of romance and that of Charlemagne. The hero is the grandfather of that emperor, and the father of Pepin. Almost the same story, but attributed to a different set of actors, occurs in the Wilkina-Saga, (pp. 113 -132.) The German editor supposes, with great probability, that it was produced in the first half of the twelfth century. The antiquity of the language, and the rudeness of the versification and of the rhymes, which are very similar to those used in the poem of St. Anno, mentioned above, vouch for the truth of his supposition. The fable of the poem is so singular, that an abstract of it deserves to be given to the English public.'

The introduction next proceeds to give an account of various sagas and romances of the Scandinavians.-The entire dissertation manifests a precision of information, an erudition of detail, and a comprehensive completeness of circumspection, rarely displayed by the poetic antiquary. If something of the elegance and amenity of Warton be wanting in the style, more of method is evinced in the arrangement, and more of fundamentality in the research.

[To be continued.]

history of the poem, and its connection with Scandinavian romances, as the learning of M. v. d. Hagen insures the great research of his investigations.'

ART.

ART. III. Du Congrès de Vienne, &c.; i.e. On the Congress at Vienna. By the Author of the "Antidote to the Congress of Rastadt," the "History of the French Embassy to Warsaw," &c. 8vo. 2 Vols. Paris. 1815. London, Bossange and Masson. The Congress of Vienna. By M. de Pradt, Author of the "Antidote to the Congress of Rastadt," &c. Translated from the French; complete in one Volume. 8vo. pp. 240. Boards. Leigh, and Bossange and Masson. 1816.

THE

HE interest excited by M. de Pradt's account of his embassy to Warsaw in 1812, of which we made a report in the Appendix to our lxxviiith Volume, prepared the public to look for a considerable share of curious information and remark in the present work; and in this expectation they will by no means be disappointed. We have not here, indeed, as in the former production, minutes of official conversations, but we are furnished with a variety of liberal and sometimes luminous observations on the principles that ought to regulate the permanent policy of Europe. Though the author will certainly not stand high, in a moral point of view, with those who remember his former subserviency to Bonaparte, or with the more limited number who will condemn his disclosure of the confidential views of his quondam master, yet in acuteness, knowlege of the principles of history and perception of the improved system of government that is necessary in the altered state of Europe, we are induced to assign him no inconsiderable rank among the political reasoners of the age. We shall therefore lay before our readers a detailed report of the more interesting passages; translating from a copy in the original French, and finding frequent occasion to amend the style by omitting the repetitions and curtailing the redundancies, that are unavoidable on the part of a writer who has no idea of taking the pains which are necessary to prepare a volume for the press.

Near the beginning of the work, we have a very interesting chapter under the title of Etat Nouveau des Nations, by which is meant the important change introduced in the course of the last century in the political views and feelings of the great mass of society. Our soil,' says M. de P., remains as before, but it is inhabited by a new race; -men move under the same sky, but with very different views. In former days, warlike contests or religious controversies absorbed public attention; at present, we are occupied with the diffusion of general improvement.' This change, the result of the extension of knowlege and of the more general communication of countries with each other, took place on the continent at a much later date than in England. The pro

12

gress

gress of inquiry led men first to investigate the nature of existing institutions as a point of fact, and, in the second place, to discuss their propriety as a matter of reasoning.

Having arrived at this point, the face of things necessarily underwent a change. As it always happens, powerful minds appeared in this new arena and took possession of it; and their energy, which at another time they would have dissipated on questions of fact or pure abstraction, was employed to examine the original principles of law and government. These writers undertook to analyze every thing at its source, and established themselves firmly in their high stations.-The rest of mankind followed in their train. Opinions have been formed, have been extended, have circulated, have penetrated every where. The communication settled between all nations has served as a vehicle to the change. A new language has been introduced among all classes: the rights of mankind thus recovered have become the manual of rising generations: after more than five thousand years, the world has declared with a powerful voice that it has not always belonged to masters, and that it has not surrendered itself without conditions. Society has formed a new contract, and the nature of the antient sovereignties has undergone a change.

Let him who entertains a doubt of this general tendency in Europe examine what has been written for the last sixty years; let him observe the subjects which writers have discussed by preference, and in what department they have obtained reputation; and let him remember to what school Catherine and Frederick attached themselves, and whose suffrages they courted. These writings are not, indeed, all stamped in the same mould; they do not all bear the same character of grandeur, and are not all recommended by the same merit in the execution: but they all have the same tendency: not one of them has failed to add to the stock which existed before, or, like an instrument in a concert, to be heard even when it was not distinguished. The education of all nations has proceeded simultaneously. Formerly, they understood each other without speaking; now, they understand each other from having conversed for twenty-five years through the medium of the Revolution: a dreadful instrument, which may have alarmed, but has not separated them. On this as on other occasions, justice has eventually been done: all that was barbarous, or injurious to the rights of the people, has been viewed with horror, and rejected; while that which was good, and conducive to the welfare of the people, has been preserved with care, and now remains among the treasures of nations. The Revolution produced only despots to France: but civilization has levelled a death-blow at despotism throughout Europe. Every where it has given birth to Constitutions, or made the want of them be felt. Information extends its influence in every direction; and it can neither be stopped in its progress nor diverted from its course.'.

Once established, this formidable engine can never be destroyed; and we must endeavour only to give it a proper direcREV. AUG. 1816.

Bb

tion

tion. If there be men who are afflicted by this truth, let them console themselves by examining it more closely. They will then find that what suits others will also suit them; that it is by this diffusion of information, which they dread so much, that they have been saved, and will yet be preserved; and finally that it is only in straight and well-lighted roads that we are free from precipices or robbers. Patriotism, truth, publicity- these are the three standards under which the world claims the right of marching for the future; and woe to him who does not join the common banners! The people have acquired a sense of their rights and their dignity. They know that they are the beginning and the end of society; that its powers do not exist for a few individuals, but that these individuals exist for them.'-- Every thing ought, therefore, to have a reference to the good of the people: but how is this to be effected? by the people themselves, or by the medium of others? Shall nations resemble those indolent persons who commit the care of their property to other hands? Because they have done it once, shall they continue to do it always?-On this question depends the necessity of a government so constituted as to give the people a share in the management of their own affairs, and to enable them to take immediate cognizance of them. Let them regulate the forms by all the particular circumstances which distinguish different nations, but let the interference take place at all events: it is indispensable.

In what manner is the influence of the people to be maintained; -by truth, by publicity?—to demand these is only to demand what cannot be prevented, and what exists in every enlightened country, whether the government will or not. Besides, how can men be deceived after all that has happened? Deceive them! How long? Conceal! yes, for a moment: but, with the multitude of eyes which are always directed to public events, how can any one flatter himself that the mystery of to-day shall not be exposed to-morrow in the open streets? Europe is covered with a population of readers, of writers, of men accustomed to conduct affairs, or to anticipate them, so as to find the means of preserving their property at the time of their occurrence. Society may be called a forum that is never empty; and would you flatter yourselves with deceiving men who have so many means of knowing every thing that you do!-If you cannot deceive, still less can you conceal. That which is said in one country is said in another; and as long as a British parliament shall exist, there will be a tribunal for all Europe. Besides, what would be the consequence of this disguise? that which Napoleon experienced,—general incredulity. In the present state of the minds of men, whatever is not clear leads to distrust, and deception often repeated induces an excess of suspicion.'

If the force of these remarks be felt by an English reader, they are much more applicable to an inhabitant of the Continent, whose habits of discussion and sentiments of freedom have, in a degree, taken their origin in the present age. Fortunately