igures, but they are arbitrarily put
together, and every scene has the character of an episode; the action does
not go forward in a true and consistent course. Now-a-days the evil is
worse, because it is the fashion to substitute reflection for natural
feeling. Taylor is like those portrait painters who paint the features so
carefully as to destroy the general character of the face. His men and
women are not alive and genuine. Still their language is grave and noble,
their thoughts comprehensive, often striking, and their emotions, though
artificial, are elaborated with great insight and knowledge of the world.
Compared with the wretched creations of the French romanticists, they are
worthy of all praise. The critic then proceeds to analyze Isaac Comnenus,
Philip Van Atevelde, and Fair Edwin, setting forth with great fairness the
excellencies and faults of each.

A new contribution to an obscure but most interesting part of European
history is _Deutschland in der Revolutions periode von_ 1522-26, (Germany,
in the Revolutionary Period from 1522 to 26,) by JOSEPH EDMUND JOeRG. The
author has had access to a great mass of original and hitherto unused
materials, especially diplomatic correspondence and other documents in the
Bavarian archives. His view of the subject is very different from that
taken by ZIMMERMANN, in his _Peasants' War_, or by any other writer. He
mocks at the idea that this revolution grew out of the evils and
oppressions suffered by the people, and finds its most powerful impulse in
the passion for innovation that sprung up along with the revival of
classical studies in the middle ages.

The antique fashion of presenting poetic works to the public, is revived
in Germany with great success. Professor GRIEPENKERL of Brunswick, whose
tragedy of Robespierre made a great sensation a year or more since, is now
reading his new play of the Girondists to large audiences in the principal
cities. He has already been heard at Brunswick, Leipzig, Dresden, and
Bremen, and proposes to visit other places on the same errand. The play,
which is a tragedy of course, is much admired, though it is not thought to
be adapted to the stage. The Girondists were not men of action, but
orators and thinkers. The final scene in the play is the famous banquet
before they were taken to execution. Charlotte Corday is among the
characters; the women are said not to be drawn as truly and powerfully as
the men.

C