Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

"THE GREAT MINDS THAT SOAR TO HEIGHTS SUBLIME, AND WIN IN PERIL ALL THE WORLD'S APPLAUSE,

66 A NEW LIGHT HATH DAWNED ON THE DARKNESS OF YORE,—(MACKAY)

[blocks in formation]

AND MEN SHALL BE SLAVES AND OPPRESSORS NO MORE."-DR. MACKAY.

ARE AYE THE SAME,-IN A CALMER TIME, CONFORM THEM TO THE SWEET DOMESTIC LAWS."-MACKAY.

"BE WISE, OH, YE NATIONS! AND HEAR WHAT YESTERDAY TELLETH TO-DAY,-(CHARLES MACKAY)

[ocr errors]

THE DAY HAS A TONGUE, THE HOURS UTTER SPEECH;-(MACKAY)

[blocks in formation]

WISE WILL YE BE IF YE LEARN WHAT THEY TEACH!"-DR. MACKAY.

A CHANGE COMETH OVER OUR SPHERE, AND THE OLD GOETH DOWN TO DECAY."-CHARLES MACKAY.

"THE VOICE OF OPINION HAS GROWN: 'TWAS YESTERDAY CHANGEFUL AND WEAK;-(MACKAY)

286

66

THE MIST, THE CLOUD FROM THEIR PATHWAY ARE CURLED;

DR. CHARLES MACKAY.

The torrent on the
hill

Moans to the mid

night chill,

In vain, in vain!

[graphic]
[blocks in formation]

TO-DAY IT HAS TAKEN THE TONE OF AN ORATOR WORTHY TO SPEAK."-CHARLES MACKAY.

["The torrent on the hill moans to the midnight chill."]

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

AND GLIMPSES OF GLORY ILLUMINE THE WORLD.

MACKAY.

"THE HEART RUNS BACK O'er life's bewILDERED MAZE, AND PANGS LONG LAID TO SLEEP AWAKE ANEW;-(GOETHE)

"WHAT I POSSESS seems far, FAR OFF TO BE,-(MARTIN's Goethe)

THE NOTHINGNESS OF LIFE.

287

One-but the type of all

Rolling the dreadful ball

In vain, in vain!

[From "Studies from the Antique,” edit. 1864.]

Theodore Martin.

[THIS Successful translator and graceful writer was born at Edinburgh in 1816, and educated at the High School. He practised as a solicitor in his native city until his removal to London in 1846. His first literary essays were made under the nom de plume of "Ben Gualtier;" and conjointly with Professor Aytoun he produced the "Book of Ballads," and the "Poems and Ballads of Goethe" (1858). He has also translated "King Rene's Daughter," from the Danish of Henrik Hartz; and the dramas of "Corregio" and "Aladdin” from Oehlenschläger; the "Odes" and "Satires" of Horace, the "Vita Nuova" of Dante, the "Faust" of Goethe, and the poems of Catullus. As a translator, he is singularly felicitous; rendering both the form and spirit of his original with equal grace and accuracy.]

AND NAME THE LOVED ONES LOST, BEFORE THEIR DAY SWEPT, WHILST LIFE WAS BEAUTIFUL, AWAY."-MARTIN'S GOETHE.

TRANSLATIONS FROM GOETHE.
[Johann Wolfgang Goethe. Born 1749; died 1832.]

I.

THE NOTHINGNESS OF LIFE.
ROUND our spirit's dreams, our noblest, best,
Some base alloy for ever clings and grows;
Once of the good things of this world possessed,
We call a better wealth but lying shows.

The glorious feelings, those that most we prized,
That made indeed our very life of life,
In the world's turmoil and ignoble strife

Are seared and paralyzed.

AND WHAT HATH PASSED AWAY BECOMES REALITY."-MARTIN'S GOETHE.

"HOW HARD IT IS, ALMOST BEYOND belief, TO GET AT KNOWLEDGE IN ITS FOUNTAIN HEAD!-MARTIN'S GOETHE)

[ocr errors]

288

AY, BUT THE WORLD! THE HEART AND SOUL OF MAN,-(Goethe)

THEODORE MARTIN.

If Fancy, for a season flushed with hope,

Through boundless ether soars with wing unchecked,
A little space for her is ample scope,

When in Time's quicksands joy to joy lies wrecked.
Anon great care creeps into our nether heart,
And there of secret sorrows breeds great store;
Uneasily she sits, and mopes apart,

Marring our joy and peace; and evermore
Fresh masks she dons, to work us bitter dole;
Turn where we will, she haunts our life,
As house and land, as child and wife,

As fire and flood, as knife and poisoned bowl.
I am not like the gods, too well I feel!

No! Like the worm that writhes in dust am I,
Which, as it feeds on dust, the passer by
Stamps into nothingness beneath his heel,

For what but dust, mere dust, is all
Which, piled in endless shelf and press,
From floor to roof, contracts this lofty wall?
The trash, all frippery and emptiness,
Which here in this moth-swarming hole
Cramps, cabins, and confines my soul?
How shall I e'er discover here

The light and love for which I yearn?
Is all my poring year by year

On books by thousands, but to learn
That mortals have been wretched everywhere,

And only one been happy here and there?

"

[From 'Faust," a metaphysical and lyrical drama, founded on the popular legend which also suggested Christopher Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus," and Philip James Bailey's "Festus."]

SOMETHING OF THESE MAY BE LEARNED BY ALL."-MARTIN'S GOETHE.

AND ERE A MAN IS HALF-WAY ON THE ROAD, HE'S VERY SURE, POOR FELLOW, TO BE DEAD."-MARTIN'S GOETHE.

« ZurückWeiter »