6 or with which she saw Radcliffe murdered, whose corpse was stretched beneath the oak in the distance. It was a Dutch translation. The bookseller told us that only the first volume had yet appeared, and that it would be completed in two. He said that such of her works as had been translated, and had already appeared in Holland, were in great request. I understood that these were De Foix,' The Protestant,' The Talba,' under the title of Ines de Castro,' and the work in question. Indeed, this was changed to Warleigh, England in 1647.' What was still more remarkable, they had altered the name of the author (at least I presume so in regard to pronunciation), for they have printed it with a couple of dots over the y, by which I suppose they would indicate that it is pronounced like that of Tycho Brahe,' with whom I had never before the least suspicion that I had the honour of any affinity or relationship. This is the more remarkable, as I observed at Amsterdam that the name of one of the painters contained in the catalogue there was exactly similar to my own; and I concluded, therefore, that it was Dutch as well as French. We wished not to have an incomplete work, and inquired if they had any of her others. They had none left, they said, excepting the dirty copies retained in their library department. "But finding from our commissionnaire that there was another bookseller of still greater eminence, we went to the shop with the view of inquiring whether he had any copy of the other works translated into Dutch, and were gratified to find that he had received the second volume of Warleigh,' which, he said, was just come out. He agreed with the other bookseller that her works were in great request among the Dutch. We bought the work out of curiosity; but, little as we knew of the language, soon found that it was not a correct translation. The introduction was entirely omitted, as was the account of the Eddystone lighthouse, which, as the Dutch are so renowned for their constructions of a nautical nature, would, one would think, be particularly interesting to them. They (for I know not whether to call him translator, editor, or publisher; and he cannot be offended if I apply to him that style of sovereignty which even critics, who live like vermin upon authors, assume to themselves) they, I say, have omitted also all the quotations (and they were principally from Shakspeare) which served as mottoes to the chapters; and, alas! worst of all, a song of mine which Eliza had transferred to the lips of one of her female characters. I am afraid, therefore, that the poetical spirit (if the Dutch have any — and yet I think that I have heard that Grotius originally wrote his celebrated treatise on the truth of the Christian religion in Dutch rhyme but, be it recollected, for Dutch sailors) must have evaporated; and that the translation must decidedly be pronounced prosy, notwithstanding such omissions, though the term itself is generally used where pleonasm is complained of; but (it may be proved by the golden mean' in morals, and perhaps by the plusquam perfectum' in grammar) there is a happy medium between too much and too little; and I fain must think that Eliza has cause to com plain that the Dutch have put her off with the latter. Indeed, I do not think that, though stated to be so in the title-page, it is translated from the English at all, but from a spurious German translation, of which we received some information from Professor Petri, who complained that after he had announced his intention of presenting the German public with 'Warleigh,' another translation was very hastily got up, in order to anticipate his, and accelerate the work through the press." I will not add more to the extracts given above than the assurance that I am, My dear Brother, Ever most affectionately yours, ANNA ELIZA BRAY. LETTER XL. TO A. J. KEMPE, ESQ., F.S. A. - The Dutch great as a Nation. — Their Claims to Greatness considered.-Their Poets.-Historians. - Learned Men. Painters. Universities. — Warriors.-Political Eminence. -- Their Heroes. Their Heroines. - Anecdotes of the latter.— Siege of Haarlem. — Legends. · Winter Scenes in Holland. Great Splendour of the Ice Fairs.Public Rejoicings. My dear Brother, THOUGH I have laughed at the Dutch for some of their peculiarities, their smoking so perpetually, their taste for sitting in summerhouses suspended over stinking canals, and some other customs and fashions of a similar nature, yet I am very far from being one of those who think them at all worthy derision as a people. On the contrary, from what I have seen of Holland (and I have seen enough to make me regret it is not more), from what I have observed |