till 1798. His only wish was, in his eightieth year, that he might read them ere he died in peace, for every line, that Klopstock had written, was engraven on his soul. Three years previously, after many anxious inquiries, he had learned that the Odes were intended for publication, but that Nikolovius had refused Klopstock his price. What is that price,' he inquired, let me know; and if it exceed not the measure of my fortune, I engage to advance the stipulated sum, and shall think myself amply repaid by seeing the Odes on this side the grave.' Nikolovius, however, had offered Klopstock one thousand dollars, with which he was not dissatisfied.

"The Omnipresent' is the only Ode written in 1758-the year in which Meta Klopstock died. It may, perhaps, be con-sidered as her husband's tribute to her memory; for he wrote no poem expressly on that event. He gives his reasons in his Introduction to her posthumous writings, but we are not able to find room for the extract.

6

We cannot dismiss the present article without adding a brief notice of this interesting woman, whom Cramer justly calls Klopstock in feminine beauty. They became acquainted at the time when the indifference of her, who had first engaged his affections weighed so heavily on Klopstock's too sensitive spirit, that it began to rebel somewhat indignantly against the intolerable burthen. In one happy night, Margaret Moller, of Hamburgh, read the Messias.' The next day, she asked one of his friends who was its author? Then, for the first time, she heard his name. From that moment her thoughts were filled with him. Unexpectedly she heard that he was to pass through Hamburgh; she immediately wrote to the same friend to procure her the means of introduction. Klopstock was told that a certain girl in Hamburgh wished to see him, and was shewn some letters in which she had criticised his verses. The Poet passed four days with her. He found her so lovely, so amiable, so full of attractions, that he could at times scarcely forbear to give her the name which was to him the dearest in existence. He was often with her alone; and, in those moments of unreserved intercourse, was insensibly led to communicate his melancholy story, like another Othello-only his perilous adventures were of the heart. The sympathy expressed by this noble minded maiden touched the chords of all his former feelings; every painful circumstance was recalled, every keen sensation renewed, and he was more than ever conscious of his present wretchedness and desolation. It was a strong hour,' says Meta, *. -the hour of his departure.' He wrote soon after, and

* Meta' was an abridgment of Margaret, by which Klopstock by-named his wife. VOL. III. NO. VI, 2 c their

their correspondence became diligent. Her friends rallied her, and said she was in love: she replied, that they must have a very friendshipless heart, if they had no idea of friendship to a man as well as a woman.'

Thus things continued for eight months. In the mean while, the estrangement of the Schmidt family from Klopstock proceeded; and his father, and all his friends, were desirous of disabusing Klopstock of the enchantment which still bound him to misery and humiliation. He was at length released from all obligation, and he was no longer an outcast from happiness.

The poet having been invited to Copenhagen, to be presented to the king, he had been obliged to leave Meta and Hamburgh. They had on other accounts to wait two years for their wedding. Her mother was not willing that she should marry a stranger. She might have married without her consent, as, by the death of her father, her fortune depended not on her mother's concurrence; but that for her was an horrible idea, and she thanked Heaven that she prevailed by her prayers. The mother was afterwards strongly attached to Klopstock, and the daughter became the happiest wife in the world. This is the history of their love, told almost in their own words.

They were married four years, and had no child. She proudly anticipated that in the November of 1758 she should be the mother of a child of Klopstock's; but on the 28th of that month she died. The letters of this charming woman, as given in Richardson's Correspondence,' must make her dear to every feeling bosom.

6

Her widowed husband, as we have seen, edited her posthumous writings. They consist, first, of their correspondencethen follows a correspondence of a peculiar nature. Klopstock was very partial to the writings of Mrs. Rowe. In imitation of her, his beloved Meta wrote a series of letters from the Dead to the Living.' They are exceedingly beautiful, and excel their model. Among them is one supposed to be addressed from Klopstock to herself, under the name of Cidli, by which he distinguished her in the poems addressed to her, in which she seizes her husband's manner admirably. This is succeeded by her answer. There is also a serious drama on the Death of Abel,' sweetly written by her in the pure language of the affections.

Of this we would have given a specimen, did not the want of space oblige us to conclude. A mere perusal, however, will, we think, be sufficient to justify Cramer's saying, that Meta was 'Klopstock in feminine beauty.'

Thus have we fulfilled our present purpose, which was to

represent,

represent, from his lyrical productions, Klopstock in the several relations of his character. There yet remain his Bardits, and sacred Dramas, which are very little, if at all, known to the English reader. The Messiah also awaits examination. But justice could not be done to these great works without drawing out this already lengthy paper to an unseemly extent-at a more fitting occasion we may resume our task.

ART. IV.-F. G. L. KOSEGARTENII Chrestomathia Arabica ex codicibus manuscriptis Parisiensibus, Gothanis et Berolinensibus collecta. XXIV. & 547 pp. 8vo. Lipsiae, 1828.

THE

HE publication of the work, at the head of this article, was, several years since, announced in the catalogue of the literary fair at Leipzig. Its appearance has, since that period, been eagerly expected, at all the German universities, by those who were in any way conversant with Arabian literature; and it may now be said to supply a want generally felt, in that country, since the revival of oriental learning.

The study of Eastern languages does not enjoy those political advantages in Germany, which so essentially contribute to excite its cultivation in France, Russia, and Great Britain. The intercourse with Eastern nations is, there, extremely limited. Austria is, in fact, the only German country, for which the knowledge of oriental languages is of practical importance; and Vienna the only place, where an oriental academy exists for the education of interpreters and diplomatic agents, to be employed in the transaction of affairs with the Sublime Porte. In all other parts of Germany the oriental languages are studied for the sole purpose of literary inquiries; and these were for a long time almost exclusively limited to the elucidation of the Old Testament. The number of those scholars, who attained any proficiency in eastern literature generally, was very scanty till the end of the last century. Reiske alone makes a brilliant exception to this remark. His works are still unexhausted stores of information, to which the linguist as well as the historical inquirer must constantly refer.

A new period in the study of the Arabic language and literature in Germany, commences with the time when Baron Silvester de Sacy took the Arabic chair at the Oriental School of Paris. While the literary world at large is indebted to this eminent philologist for so many learned works of the greatest importance, and for the light which he has shed over so many dark passages in history and science, Germany owes him parti

2c2

cular

cular obligations for those distinguished Arabic scholars, who, guided for a time by his instructions, and assisted by his advice, are now among the chief ornaments of her national universities. Of these, M. Freytag at Bonn, and M. Kosegarten at Greifswald, stand foremost; each having largely contributed to the cultivation of oriental study. M. Freytag published his Selecta ex Historiá Halebi at Paris (1819. 8vo.) He continued publishing extracts from Arabic historians on the same subject, (the History of the Town of Aleppo) in his Regierung des Saahd-Aldaula, (Bonn, 1822. 4to.) and in a choice collection of easy texts for beginners, under the title of Locmani fabulae et plura loca ex codicibus maximam partem historicis selecta. (Bonn, 1823. 8vo.) Besides this he gave a critical edition of the Kasidah of Caab ben Soheir. (Bonn, 1823. 4to.) Of late years Professor Freytag was occupied with preparing a new edition of Golius. But under his superintendence M. Horst published a valuable edition of a poem of Motenabbi; M. von Bohlen, now Professor at Königsberg, a Dissertation on the Life and Genius of that Poet (1824. 8vo.); M. Hengstenberg, now Professor of Divinity at Berlin, the Moallakah of Amrulkeis; and M. Vullers the Moallakah of Hareth. (1827. 4to.) Whilst Professor Freytag exclusively directed his attention to the language of the Arabs, different branches of Eastern literature enjoyed the cultivating care of Professor Kosegarten. He at first introduced himself to the learned world by his Triga carminum Orientalium. (Stralsund, 1815. 8vo.) He afterwards published interesting extracts of the Journal of an Arabian traveller,* and an excellent edition of the Moallakah of Amru ben Kelthum.(Jena, 1819. 4to.) About the same time appeared his German translation of the Sanscrit poem Nalas, published by Professor Bopp. Besides this, M. Kosegarten is the author of several valuable papers, printed in the Mines de l'Orient, published at Vienna, in the great Encyclopædia of Ersch and Gruber, and in the Hermes, a periodical publication, which appears quarterly at Leipzig. He is moreover one of the few German scholars who have directed their attention to the remnants of ancient Egyptian literature. His observations on the Demotic text of a papyrus preserved in the Royal Library at Berlin, appeared in 1824; and he has just published the first part of a more exten

* De Mohammede Ebn Batuta ejusque itineribus Commentatio. Jenae, 1818. 4to. The subject was continued by M. H. Apetz, a disciple of Kosegarten, in his Descriptio terræ Malabar ex Arabico Ebn Batutae itinerario. Jenae, 1819. A complete English translation of an Abridgment from Ebn Batuta's work, by Professor Lee, of Cambridge, is about to be published, being the first work which appears under the auspices of the Oriental Translation Fund, in connexion with the Royal Asiatic Society of London.

sive work on this subject: De Priscá Aegyptiorum Litteraturá. (Weimar, 1828. 4to.)

This short account of the exertions of two German professors of oriental literature cannot fail to justify the high regard in which they are both held by the whole literary public in Germany. We have to add, that each of them is at present engaged in a new and more important undertaking for Arabic literature: Professor Freytag, with a complete edition of the Hamāsah, a collection of ancient Arabic songs, with the original commentary of Tebrizi; Professor Kosegarten with an edition of the great Arabic historian Tabari.

Undertakings of such extent were for a long time scarcely thought of in Germany. Reiske himself did not live to see his Abulfeda published. Even in our present days the printing of an oriental work requires a considerable sacrifice on the part of the editor; and instances of disinterestedness, such as these given by Professors Freytag and Kosegarten, are of very rare

occurrence.

But while the progress of Germans in oriental literature is thus checked by external difficulties, we must joyfully hail the rise of a new constellation in our own country, which seems to portend a more successful period to the cultivation of Eastern learning. Our readers, no doubt, are already aware of the existence of the Oriental Translation Committee, formed under the auspices of the Royal Asiatic Society of London. The rapidity with which, through the zeal of its enlightened founders, the resources of this committee daily increase, as well as the number of illustrious names by which the list of its members is adorned, furnishes a gratifying proof of the general interest now prevailing for oriental literature. The principles, according to which the proceedings of the committee are regulated, are the soundest and most liberal. The original text and translation of any oriental work, of which no translation yet exists, will be printed at the expense of the managing body: the scholars of this, as well as of other countries, are invited to avail themselves of the opportunity, which the committee affords for the publication of their works; and prizes and medals are proposed as encouragements to further exertion.

The committee published last Spring a Report of the proceedings at its first general meeting, and this report has recently been reprinted in the Appendix to Vol. II. Part 1. of the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society. We are very happy to inform our readers, that there is good ground for hoping for the fulfilment of those expectations which were excited by the Prospectus of the Committee. The translation of the Travels

of