Originally published in Howitt's Journal (William Lovett) vol.1 #6 (06 Feb 1847).
Tales from the German of Heinrich Zschokke. By Parke Godwin. Wiley and Putnam, London.
This is an English edition of an American work, and forms one volume of Wiley and Putnam's Library of Choice Reading—a library which contain¢ American reprints of some of the choicest works of the age. This volume, which appears to be an experiment with the American public of the popularity of Zschokke's tales, contains only five out of the fifty—or a tithe of the whole—The Fool of the XIXth. Century, Harmonius, Jack Straw, Floretta, and the Adventures of New Year's Eve, one of the pleasantest stories ever told. They may be regarded as a very fair specimen of the manner of an author, who is deservedly the most popular writer of short stories in Germany, many of them having reached their fortieth edition. Zschokke's history is very interesting; and short as our space is, we will extract one little circumstance from the few words which the compiler very pleasantly writes "about the author."
"Zschokke was greatly troubled with religious misgivings. He tried to read and reason these down; he found a temporary support in the philosophy of Kant; but it was all in vain. Only after he had engaged earnestly in patriotic exertion; only after he gave himself to deeds of active benevolence, did these distressing feelings leave him, and the Gospel of Christ reveal itself to his mind as a Divine truth. He passed from the dark and tempestuous abyss in which he had floated, up into the serene heaven of a living faith, not through the narrow gateway of a wretched logic, but along the broad and beautiful road of actual work. When he ceased to wrestle with the grim spectres of the imagination, and addressed himself with true manly earnestness to the great business of life, he found peace."
The Jewish Faith. By Grace Aguilar. London: Groombridge and Sons. 1846.
No one could read this volume without advantage to his religious spirit and all its sincere emotions, however he might differ from it in religious doctrine. It is addressed to the youth of the Jewish faith, and to them will be a most valuable gift; but scarcely less so to all of us. It is strongly suggestive of the Divine hope which carries our imaginations onward to the period when there shall be "One fold and one Shepherd." We see in it how the grand, simple faith of the ancient people of God is unfolding itself in the light of advancing intelligence; how all that was understood by them in their first ages as temporal, is becoming spiritual; all that was exclusive, widening out into universality; how they are reading their Law and their Prophets in the spirit of Him who "revealed the Father" to us; and who in emphatic words declared that He came "not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it." While enlightened Judaism thus advances, we see in the progress of events the spirit of Christianity purifying the doctrines adopted by its professors, exterminating the dark errors of the times of persecution and hatred, and leading us to acknowledge in the Jew the original possessor of the truth on which our own faith is founded—the Unity of God, in contradistinction to the Polytheism of every other people. The Jew is the labourer "who has borne the burden and heat of the day;" we have known this long, but we are now beginning to feel it; and it leads us on to a perception of the poetry and pathos which surround that peculiar race, scattered over all the earth, yet preserving their nationality: acknowledging the hand of God and the fulfilment of prophecy in their temporary degradation; mourning it as they did in the days of old by the waters of Babylon, and looking forward with perfect faith to their final restoration to their ancient heritage.
The Student's Manual. By R. Harrison Black, LL.D. London: Longman.
This vocabulary of English words derived from the Greek, is an extremely useful and carefully compiled little volume. We recommend it to every intelligent student of the English tongue, who is not a classical scholar; and we would particularly bring it under the notice of such as form libraries for the people, where it cannot fail of a due appreciation.