in places the German text has been handled with extreme freedom, to the manifest gain of every English reader; and this, we presume, is why Mrs. Wister has spoken of the book as being "After the German." Contrasted with the haste of recent translations, Mrs. Vister's work is singular in the freedom and force of its English. As to a translator's right to give the spirit rather than the letter of a foreign author, few will be found to complain where at least prose alone is dealt with, and even in regard to poetry we have high authority for this method of treatment, and one memorable example in Coleridge's Wallenstein.
We are severely of opinion that a reviewer has no business to spoil the future reader's interest by relating the plot of a story, and, so shall honestly refrain in this present instance, especially as the book before us is what a novel should be—a tale of character and incident. The characters lie chiefly in German middle life, and are drawn with great skill, with the exceptions, perhaps, of Frau Hellwig and the Baron Von Hirschsprung, both of which are overdrawn—the first in her utter brutality, the last in his aristocratic pride. On the other hand Felicitas is charmingly etched, and the Old Mam'selle Cordula is a masterpiece of tender and suggestive delineation. Perhaps the character of Professor Hellwig may, on first thought, seem open to comment for the suddenness of its variations; but this personage, as a whole, is not unnatural. Such a man must have been unpopular, and, in fact, you quarrel with and hate him on every page, and even grudge him the good luck he gets, with an anger made quite real by the naturalness of the drawing. Such men, however, are sure to fascinate certain women. As an attempt to depict a doctor it is wonderfully successful, and this is the more remarkable, because it is just here that almost all novelists have failed conspicuously. This doctor comes into the story with his art in use so naturally as to surprise one; and this is high praise, because here even Thackeray has had but a partial success.
We hope soon to see a translation of Miss Marlitt's other book from the same clever hand. Meanwhile we commend this present volume as one which, to our knowledge, has fascinated young and old.
Books Received.
