ANCIENT BOHEMIAN SONGS. 1. "O my rose, my fair red rose, II. "O, ye forests, dark green forests, Why in summer and in winter, O! I would not weep and cry, But now tell me, good folks, tell me, How should I not cry? Ah! where is my dear good father? Woe! he deep lies buried. Where my mother? O good mother! O'er her grows the grass! Brothers have I not, nor sisters, SERVIAN SONG. "O my fountain, so fresh and cool, Why art thou blown out so early? "No good luck to me my dream forebodes; We subjoin the following little songs, by way of comparisongs current at the present day among the Bohemians And first the Bohemian. son; and Slovaks. "THE AFFLICTED GIRL. "All the night with golden sparks LIBERAL PAY. "Flowing waters meet each other, "Do not stand so at the window, 66 THE LYING BIRD. "What chatters there the little bird, It sings, that every maid in love "My little bird, thou speak'st not true, For see, I am a maid in love, And am not pale, but red. "Take care, my bird; because thou liest, I now must punish thee; I take this gun, I load this gun, And shoot thee from the tree." The influence of the neighbouring nations is less evident in the popular poetry of the Slovaks. The following song of a loving and longing girl is certainly quite original. "MAN AND MOON. “Ah! if but this evening Would come my lover sweet, ART. V. Reminiscences of an Intercourse with Mr. Niebuhr the Historian, during a Residence with him in Rome, in the Years 1822 and 1823. By FRANCIS LIEBER, Professor of History and Political Economy in South Carolina College. Philadelphia. Carey, Lea, & Blanchard. 1835. 12mo. pp. 192. In the last Number of this journal some account was given of the principal facts in Mr. Niebuhr's life, together with an extended analysis of his great work on Roman History. It may not be uninteresting to the readers of that article to have some notice of Mr. Lieber's Reminiscences of the opinions, character, and appearance of so remarkable a man, laid before them. The author of this little volume has been well known in the United States, during several years past, for the variety and extent of his attainments, and his indefatigable literary activity. His edition of the "Conversations-Lexicon," is a proud monument of learning, enterprise, and industry. His "Stranger in America" contains a great variety of information on the United States, communicated in a style of uncommon liveliness and piquancy; and his volume on education, submitted to the trustees of the legacy of the late Mr. Girard for a college in Philadelphia, shows a familiarity with the details of the science of instruction, which justifies the confidence that the governors of South Carolina College have lately reposed in him, in calling him to one of the most important chairs in that institution. These "Reminiscences" are extremely interesting and instructive. They carry on their face marks of their entire fidelity; and being, as they are, records of the historian's opinions and feelings, expressed in the ease and familiarity of domestic life, they give us more insight into his real character, than could be obtained from many a volume of much higher pretensions. The value of such works does not consist wholly, or even mainly, in the importance of the opinions they record. A great man must be supposed to talk, in his moments of relaxation, about subjects which are not above the comprehension of small men; he probably says many things, which it would not severely task the intellect of a very ordinary personage to utter; and yet these subjects and these sayings, when connected with the daily life of an illustrious man, acquire an interest wholly aside from their intrinsic importance. When, during Dr. Johnson's Highland tour, the sooty blacksmith bounced out of bed for the accommodation of the sage aud his trusty squire, the event was by no means an extraordinary one; yet, when it came to be related afterwards, first in English, and secondly in Johnsonese, it became almost as renowned in literary history as any event in the life of the great lexicographer himself. Indeed it is unreasonable to insist upon a great inan's always playing the great man's part. A king cannot always wear his robes of state; he must have his hours of amusement, when he may chat with his friends, or ride a hobbyhorse with his children. And a great author must be allowed VOL. XLIII. - No. 92. 16 to talk sometimes as freely, as if he had never got into type. His sentences cannot always be rounded with rhetorical elegance and precision; his thoughts cannot always be thoroughly reasoned and oracularly delivered; and it is precisely these exhibitions of his mind, in this unbended state, which are most attractive. We know, from his elaborate works, the grasp and power of his intellect; the variety and depth of his learning; the purity, elegance, and eloquence of his style. But the minute shades of his intellectual character; the tenderness of his domestic feelings; his whims, prejudices, eccentricities, which all take delight in knowing, we can only know through the medium of correspondence and reminiscences like these before us. But yet the familiar conversation of a great man will display at times his superiority over other men. The conversational talents of the late Sir James Mackintosh and Mr. Coleridge have acquired a well-merited and universal celebrity. Who has not heard of Dr. Johnson's eulogy on Burke, that no man could step under a shed with him of a rainy day, and not find out that he was the greatest man in England? The scholar's daily discourse will have a tincture of learning, the philosopher's conversation will take a speculative turn, and the poet will adorn his most careless talk with the graces of imagery and sentiment. Sometimes, indeed, the excitement of conversation between congenial spirits draws out flashes of wit, of poetry, of wisdom, and of eloquence, which surpass in beauty the graver and more sustained productions of the closet. If these could all be transferred glowing with the warmth of excited feeling, and fresh from the talker's lips, to the printed page, they would form a far more interesting chapter in the history of the human mind, than the cautiously weighed, coolly expressed convictions of private study. But as this can never be wholly done, and not often partially, we must be content with such scattered notices of eminent men as the memory of friends, and the letters of cotemporaries, can furnish. Even Boswell's admirable records of Dr. Johnson's conversation extend over a very small portion of that great man's life, and his work is incomparably the best, the most minute, and the liveliest book in that branch of literature. But to return to our author. He had an excellent opportu nity of becoming familiarly acquainted with the moral and intellectual character of the great historian. It appears from the |