CAPTAIN.

Wild despair

Inspired the troops with frenzy when they saw
Their leader perish; every thought of rescue
Was spurned; they fought like wounded tigers; their
Frantic resistance roused our soldiery;

A murderous fight took place, nor was the contest
Finished before their last man fell.

THEKLA [faltering].

And where

Where is-You have not told me all.

CAPTAIN [after a pause].

This morning

We buried him. Twelve youths of noblest birth
Did bear him to interment; the whole army
Followed the bier. A laurel decked his coffin;
The sword of the deceased was placed upon it,
In mark of honor, by the Rhinegrave's self.
Nor tears were wanting; for there are among us
Many, who had themselves experienced
The greatness of his mind, and gentle manners;
All were affected at his fate. The Rhinegrave
Would willingly have saved him; but himself
Made vain th' attempt-'tis said he wish'd to die.

NEUBRUNN [to THEKLA, who has hidden her countenance]. Look up, my dearest lady

THEKLA.

Where is his grave?

CAPTAIN.

At Neustadt, lady; in a cloister church

Are his remains deposited, until

We can receive directions from his father.

THEKLA.

What is the cloister's name?

CAPTAIN.

Saint Catherine's.

You go by Tirschenreit

And Falkenberg, through our advanced posts.

Is their commander?

THEKLA.

Who

CAPTAIN.

Colonel Seckendorf.

[THEKLA steps to the table, and takes a ring from a casket.

THEKLA.

You have beheld me in my agony,

And shown a feeling heart. Please you, accept

[giving him the ring.

A small memorial of this hour.

Now go!

CAPTAIN [confused].

Princess

[THEKLA silently makes signs to him to go, and turns from him. The CAPTAIN lingers, and is about to speak. LADY NEUBRUNN repeats the signal, and he retires.

Here we have no studied lamentations-not a superfluous word is spoken; and yet those few short questions wring the heart of the reader. A more touching scene can hardly be imagined than these simple words produce; and why? Because they are the very words of nature. Let him who would write finely remember it.

The present age has to contend with two faults in style: -on the one hand, there is an inclination, in graver works, to imitate the inversions and rounded periods of the Latin, which are quite foreign to the genius and cha

racter of the English language: on the other, our poets and dramatists have set up the age of Elizabeth as a pattern of excellence, and filled their pages with antiquated expressions which are no longer familiar to us, and therefore sound quaint and odd, and thus impair the effect they were intended to produce. The exact middle way is not often taken; and it is generally allowed, though few set about to explain the reason why, that a good idiomatic English style is rare in these days, and that rivals to Shakspeare, to Bacon, or to Jeremy Taylor are not to be found.

Before closing this part of the subject, it may be well to give some proof that my observations on the use of our forefather's language are well founded, and that our best writers make such large use of it, that the goodness of a style may almost be measured by the proportion of words of Teutonic derivation which it contains. In the following examples all the words not belonging to the Teutonic family are marked in italics.

TRANSLATORS OF THE BIBLE.

“And they made ready the present against Joseph came at noon; for they heard that they should eat bread there. And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves to him to the earth. And he asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? Is he yet alive? And they answered, Thy servant our father is in good health; he is yet alive. And they bowed down their heads, and made obeisance."-Genesis.

"The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth. The whole earth is at rest and is quiet, they break forth into singing. Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon; saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us. Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming. It stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall speak, and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we?-art thou become like unto us?"-Isaiah.

SHAKSPEARE.

"This is the air, that is the glorious sun,

This pearl she gave me; I do feel't and see't;
And though 'tis wonder that enwraps me thus,
Yet 'tis not madness. Where's Antonio then?
I could not find him at the Elephant;

Yet there he was; and there I found this credit,
That he did range the town to seek me out."

Twelfth Night.
"Take thy face hence.-Seyton! I am sick at heart
When I behold-Seyton, I say!—this push
Will cheer me ever, or disease me now.
I have lived long enough: my way of life
Is fallen into the sere, the yellow leaf,
And that which should accompany old age,
As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,
I must not look to have, but in their stead,
Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath,
Which the poor heart would fain deny and dare not."
Macbeth.

MILTON.

"With thee conversing, I forget all time,

All seasons, and their change; all please alike.
Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet,
With chant of earliest birds; pleasant the sun
When first on this delightful land he spreads
His orient beams on herb, tree, fruit, and flower,
Glistening with dew-"

"Satan, I know thy strength, and thou know'st mine;
Neither our own, but given; what folly then

To boast what arms can do! since thine no more
Than Heaven permits, nor mine; though doubled now,
To trample thee as mire."-

BISHOP JER. TAYLOR.

"And after all this add a continual, a fervent, a hearty, a never-ceasing prayer for thy children; ever remembering, when they beg a blessing, that God hath put much of their fortune into your hands, and a transient, formal 'God bless you,' will not outweigh the load of a great vice, and the curse that scatters from thee by virtual contact, and by the channels of relation,

if thou be a vicious person. Nothing can issue from thy fountain but bitter waters."-Sermon on the entail of curses cut off.

"But there are a great many despisers; all they that live in their sins, they that have more blessings than they can reckon hours in their lives, that are courted by the Divine favor, and wooed to salvation, as if mankind were to give and not to receive so great a blessing; all they that answer not to so friendly summons, they are despisers of God's mercies."

Serm. God's method in curing sinners.

SWIFT.

"Wisdom is a fox, who after long hunting will at last cost you the pains to dig out. 'Tis a cheese, which by how much the richer, has the thicker, the homelier, and the coarser coat, and whereof to a judicious palate, the maggots are the best. 'Tis a sack posset, wherein the deeper you go, you will find it the sweeter. But then, lastly, 'tis a nut, which, unless you choose with judgment, may cost you a tooth, and pay you with nothing but a worm."

ADDISON.

"It is the great art and secret of Christianity, if I may use the phrase, to manage our actions so to the best advantage, and direct them in such a manner, that everything we do may turn to account at that great Day when everything we have done will be set before us. In order to give this consideration its full weight, we may cast all our actions under the division of such as are in themselves either good, evil, or indifferent. If we divide our intentions after the same manner, and consider them with regard to our actions, we may discover that great art and secret of religion which I have here mentioned."*—Spectator.

POPE.

"Shut, shut the door, good John! fatigued, I said,
Tie up the knocker, say I'm sick, I'm dead.
The dogstar rages; nay, 'tis past a doubt-
All Bedlam or Parnassus is let out.

* It may be noticed here, that almost all of the words of this extract which are not Teutonic are Norman-French. The use of this class of words will be found characteristic of Addison. They form an elegant, but not a forcible style.