ten. 1814-1818. ship of the Druzes, in conversation with them, | 2. Erdélyi Museum. Kolosváratt és Pesand that they have not denied the facts. A nobleman in this country was in possession of 3. A'Magyar Literatura esmérete. Irta PA PAY SAMUEL. Westprim. 1808. 4. Biblioteca Hungarica. Pesth. 1792. 5. Hungary and Transylvania. By JOHN PAGET. 1839. 6. The City of the Magyar; or Hungary and her Institutions in 1839-40. By Miss PARDOE. Virtue. 1840. 7. Bowring's Biographies of the Magyar Poets. THERE is probably no other country of the same extent throughout Europe, of which so little is known beyond its own frontiers as Hungary. Past centuries of internal feud and Turkish subjugation, lethargized in a great degree that moral vitality which would have flung it more thoroughly into the vortex of national communication and intercourse; while in the present day, its political dependence on a neighbouring state, undeniably jealous of its local and natural advantages, and anxious to crush the progression alike of its mental and physical energies, is without doubt one great and leading cause of this continued anonymy; while it must, at the same time, be conceded, that its imperfect internal economy has hitherto contributed in no small degree to assist the evil. one of the calves, which, unlike that given in Adler, exhibits no inscriptions; but a somewhat singular anecdote which has been told us, seems darkly to indicate that this symbol conveys very peculiar associations to the Druzes. A friend of this nobleman borrowed this image from him, and placing it on his coat, told a Druzi prince, then in this country, that it was taken from one of his countrymen. The feeling exhibited by the Druzi prince was of the most vivid character; and he stated, that had the insult been offered to him in Syria, he would have shot the person on the spot. The analogy of form between the Druzi calf and the Apis and Mnevis, the reading of the singular inscriptions, and various other points connected with this remarkable people, will form matter for future communication, as further materials reach our hands. At present the Druzes are offering a steady opposition to the domination of the Sultan; and their emir, we are informed, is now in chains at Constantinople; probably our informants mean their sheik.-The height of sin into which they are plunged, if the dim conjectures we have exhibited have any foundation in fact, realizes the vivid description of the Prophet. "They sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their The geographical position of Hungary, her silver, and idols according to their own under- varied and valuable natural productions, and standing, all of it the work of the craftsman. above all, the magnificent river which traThey say of them, Let the men that sacrifice, verses the country from one extremity to the kiss the calves." On examining also the other, would, under ordinary circumstances, Catechism, it exhibits a mass of mental reser- have sufficed to make it an important and vation and abominable practices, probably populous highway; but war and policy have nearly unmatched in any period. It clearly each contributed in their turn to negative resembles, with respect to the food of the these legitimate sources of national prosperiinitiated, the Thug system, and it developes ty; and thus her career has been one struggle an under current of foul atrocities, that escape against retrogression, when her energies detection in the fatal secrecy of this union of should have been rather exerted in the arena crime and misery. Recent reports state further, that the new bishop of Jerusalem has been assailed by this nation. In discharge of his solemn duties, we firmly trust that the Druzi Creed and Practice will be rigidly investigated. And having now discharged the office of introducing the first notices of this singular people to the British public, we shall await those further discoveries that now must be made with an interest not diminished by having anticipated, probably in many points, the issue of future discovery. ART. VII.-1. Magyarische Gedichte, ubersetzt von JOHANN GRAFEN MAILATII. Stuttgard und Tübingen. 1825. of European emulation; and this without fault or supineness of her own. It is consequently not surprising that, until very recently, the subject of Hungarian literature should have been a sealed book, save to the learned, of other countries; and that it has failed to excite the general attention to which it is fairly entitled, reflecting as it does the character of the nation, with their peculiar views of life and the world; and revealing the genius of a people at once chivalric and gentle full of courage and generosity, and replete with enthusiasm and imagination. But it is not alone the interest excited by those of whom it is the natural idiom, that should induce an appreciation of the Magyar language and writers; for, as regards the former, it is well known to all who are conver sant with its genius and organization, to be | admit that his task must have been as difficult not only rich in expletives, and susceptible of as that of an artist required to imitate the great variety and beauty, but also so unusually colouring of the old masters from engravings melodious, that it takes rank, in the feature of of their works, without having seen the picsound, between the Italian and the Turkish, tures. and is consequently one of the sweetest dialects in the known world; while its grammar affords valuable hints on the philosophy of language in general; its literature is by no means deficient in those attributes essential to scholarship; its lyrical poetry is not only abundant, but, in many cases, excellent; and much advantage might be derived by the general student from its works on history, Roman and Grecian archæology, philosophy, and national and international law. the popular acquaintance with the mental resources and progression of their Magyar neighbours is being limited, for the censor has sharp scissors in the Austrian empire, and is unsparing in their clipping and crippling use. And yet we by no means desire to withhold the avowal that we are under considerable obligations to Dr. Bowring, whose per sonal sacrifices must have been considerable; for, although we have permitted ourselves to regret that he should have performed his undertaking in so crude and unpopular a manner, we are at the same time equally ready to admit that it was both a difficult and an onerous one: and that it must have been com pleted, moreover, with a moral certainty of Recent writers have, indeed, partially suc- no gain from a want of due appreciation. ceeded in awakening a more lively interest Subsequent travellers, save in one or two infor Hungarian literature; but the subject is stances, have done nothing to assist our one which requires to be treated in a more knowledge of the subject, but have, on the popular manner than has yet been adopted contrary, carefully eschewed it; a safe, but before it can command the attention that by no means satisfactory measure; and we is its due. Dry dissertations on science may are consequently indebted to a few articles in enchain the minds of the studious, but the some of the leading periodicals for all our mere reader requires that his taste shall be additional intimacy with it, through the megratified while his stock of knowledge is en-dium of our own writers. Even in Austria larged; and even the scholar is not displeased to find that a few roses may struggle into life amid the brambles which beset his path. It would seem to have been the aim of the few English writers who have hitherto treated the subject of Hungarian literature at any length, to strip all the flesh from the intellectual Paget's Hungary was an admirable book as far as it went; remarkable for the correctmummy, and to present to their readers a mere crude mass of bone and muscle. Look, ness of its nominal orthography, and graphic for instance, at Dr. Bowring's Biographies of and truthful in its descriptions; but save a the Magyar Poets. Surely the lives of men rather diffuse account of the works of Count who had striven not only to sustain but to Stephen Széchenyi, and a few pages on Maembellish their native tongue, which unfa-gyar lyrics, the subject of the national literavourable influences were linked together to destroy, gave promise of deep and exciting interest-of the very chivalry of literature but how was the pledge redeemed by the work in question? We very much doubt whether a score of general readers, who did not take up the book as a matter of study, ever succeeded in toiling through its hard, harsh, uninteresting sketches of individuals whom it professes to introduce to their notice and sympathies. In ourselves we frankly confess that they failed to excite any; and since we have become personally acquainted with several of the most distinguished of the living Hungarian writers, we can in no way account for the cold and dry handling which the Doctor has bestowed upon his portraits, save by believing that the work was principally compiled from hearsay, and without personal opportunities of observation and judgment, of which the Servian songs furnish another lamentable example; in which case we at once VOL. XXIX. 15 ture is treated merely allusively. He, how ever, could have given us no positive view of the present state of letters in Hungary, as his work was retrospective; and a few years produce great and important changes in a country rife with awakening energies and moral vigour. The work of the Rev. Mr. Gleig,† in so far as it relates to Hungary, is much less worthy of mention; and since it is evident that he altogether mistook the morale of the people among whom he travelled-for only in this way can we come to any charitable conclusion, when we look at the misrepresentations with which the volume abounds, and remember, that neither the few weeks that he devoted to his survey, nor the manner in which it was accomplished, could afford him • Hungary and Transylvania. By John Paget, Esq. Murray, 1839. f Germany, Bohemia, and Hungary. the slightest chance of comprehending the | sion to Christianity. The determined efforts nature of a country in the progression state which have been made in less remote years of Hungary-we are by no means disposed to suppress the national dialect, have greatly to regret that he did not attempt to meddle with their literature. tended towards perpetuating that spirit of saddened defiance which breathes out in the poems of their present most patriotic writers. Look, for instance, at the Odes of Berszenyi, and some of the lyrics of Döbrentei; they are like the bold throes of the worsted war In Miss Pardoe's "City of the Magyar,"* a book which merited a more judicious name, and a subsequent work to either of those which we have just mentioned-no less than four chapters are dedicated to this most im-rior, who, when his weapon is shivered in portant subject; and considerable industry and research are apparent in their compilation; but she has treated it rather as an abstract question than in detail; and we have consequently in her pages an account of the rise, progress, impediments, and struggles of the literature of a nation, and not the record of individual talent or peculiar genius. Nevertheless, here again, as in the case of Dr. Bowring, we have much to thank her for; and are glad that she deemed it expedient, in a work professing to afford correct views of a particular portion of Europe, to give an insight into its intellectual position; and to allow us to understand and to appreciate the efforts of some of its most able and distinguished families in the cause of their national language, and their national litera ture. his hand, and he sinks down, half conquered in the flesh, but unconquerable in the spirit, still utters his war-cry in a failing voice, and braves the fate that threatens him with anuihilation. Minnesingers and jesters were common in the olden times among them; as may be gathered from consulting the chronicles which still exist (principally in Latin) and which prove that the Joculatores were considered to be so indispensable a feature of regal state, that they frequently received grants of land which were registered as terra joculatorum. Although it is not our purpose to trace the history of the Magyars from their emigration to Europe, in order to show the varying fortunes of the nation, but merely in so far as it may enable us effectively to work out our peculiar object, we are nevertheless compelled to revert briefly to the reign of their first Christian king, Stephen, who followed up with more zeal than judgment the efforts of his predecessor, Duke Geysa, and his Amazonian wife Sarolta, to compel the conversion of the people to Christianity; and who, in order to repay the courtesy of the Pope, (when, in return for the voluntary acknowledgment of his supremacy, he bestowed upon him the title of sovereignty,) invited to Hungary not only foreign priests and foreign knights, but promoted the clergy to the first ranks in the state; and in thus introdu. cing the Latin, and causing the neglect of the national language, by authorizing its suppression, not only in the churches, but also in judicial proceedings, legal documents, and official transactions, wilfully laid the first axe to the root of the native idiom. There is no country in the world where home-history is so thoroughly and universally cultivated as among the Magyars; their libraries teem with chronicles in Latin, Hungarian, and German; and it would be difficult to question any intelligent person on a particular event in the annals of the land, who could not, as he related the episode, supply alike dates and names, however remote, without the hesitation of a moment. Their dramatic fertility is also exceedingly remarkable; and they may be said to be poets intuitively; while all their imaginative literature is more or less strongly imbued with the national characteristics, and is of a cast half warlike and half melancholy; a fact peculiarly perceptible in their lyrics, and which may in a great degree be accounted for by the custom that was observed among them, from their earliest location in It was not, however, possible to suppress Europe (their own historians assert even it among the people; and we are moreover from the time of Attila), of singing the feats bound to hope that such was never the intenand praises of their heroes, at all their ban- tion of the king, whose error arose rather quets and other ceremonious assemblies. Be from bad judgment, than from a desire to this as it may, however, it is certain that these remote poesies (if indeed they ever existed) have now totally disappeared; and but very few fragments exist of that minstrelsy which immediately succeeded their conver The City of the Magyar; or Hungary and her Institutions in 1839-40. Virtue. 1840. destroy the nationality of the people; for although the Latin became the language of the court, the altar, and the council-chamber, the native dialect was still that of the camp, the family-circle, and the market, and the legitimate medium of intercourse in the chambers of the Diet, and the county meetings. At the allocutions of foreign priests and missionaries, an interpreter was always ments were all either pronounced, or at least present to translate their speeches into the signed and witnessed in the native dialect; national idiom; and there are still extant and the will of Queen Elizabeth is still in exfragments of war-songs, lyrics, and ecclesias- istence, which is also drawn up in Hungatical discourses, in the mother-tongue; while rian. Charles Robert, moreover, caused the the preface to the decree of Coloman, in bride of his son, and his two selected sons-inCorpus Juris Hungar, expressly states that law, to be educated at his court, in order to it was translated from the Hungarian. make them familiar with the language and manners of the Magyars; thus proving that he was not unworthy of the crown for which he had so strenuously struggled. Deeds and Thus it will be seen, that even while discouraged by the sovereign, and rejected by his foreign courtiers and churchmen, the legitimate dialect of the country was fostered letters were now commonly drawn up in the and preserved by the people themselves; but it was nevertheless not until the fourteenth century, under the princes of Anjou, that it was enabled to rebound in any degree from the crushing pressure beneath which it had so long been bowed. national idiom; and from this epoch dates the original Hungarian form of oath, still existing in the Corpus Juris Hungar. The index of a translation of the Holy Scriptures, and bearing date 1382, still exists in the im perial library, at Vienna; after which several translations of the Bible were made; among others, one by Ladislaus Báthori, a monk of the order of St. Paul, in 1450, who separated himself from the brotherhood, and retired to a cavern in the mountains, whence he excluded every human being, and where he spent twenty years in translating the Scriptures, and compiling an epitome of the lives of the principal saints; and another by Bertolan, in 1508; while, as early as the year 1465, one Janus Pannonius wrote an Hungarian grammar, which is unfortunately no longer in existence. In the eleventh century, many episcopal and monastic schools were founded, which tended to increase the spread of the exotic idiom; and in that which followed, numbers of the most distinguished of the Hungarian youth studied at the High School of the University of Paris: and this fashion neces sarily deepened the evil, although it afforded opportunities of more general information. At the commencement of the thirteenth century, the first Studium Generale was established at Wesz prim, which had not only chairs for all the liberal arts, but also for theology and jurisprudence. It was restored and em- The commencement of the fifteenth cenbellished by Stanislaus IV., in 1287, and tury brings us to the reign of Matthias Corendowed with an extensive library and rich vinus, the Lorenzo the Magnificent of Hunfunds. In 1367, Lewis I., who was a great gary; who, when called upon by the nation patron of the muses, founded a second Uni- to wield its abandoned sceptre, collected versity at Fünfkirchen; and, in 1388, Sigis- around him, in the halls of his palace, the mund established a third at Buda. literary treasures of distant nations, and the Thus it will be seen that educational insti- | learned men of other lands. This may be tutions were not wanting in Hungary, even truly termed the Augustan Age of Magyar at the remote period of which we are speak- literature; or, as we should more properly ing; and that exotic literature met with ex- express it, of letters in Hungary; for their tensive encouragement; but meanwhile, the scholarship was principally exotic; and the legitimate language was languishing; and greater number of the writers both foreign although, in the succeeding century, the prin- and domestic, who at that period enriched ces of Anjou did much to effect its progress, the field of philosophical and mathematical it still remained subservient to the Latin in science, shrouded their discoveries in a dead all affairs both of church and state. It be- language, perfectly unintelligible save to the gan, however, at this time, to be adopted at student. It is true that even amid his zeal court, where the suite of the queen was prin- for the lore of the Latins, Matthias never cipally composed of Hungarian ladies; the suffered his love for the national language to Magyar Barons having compelled Charles abate; but that, on the contrary, the strangerRobert to dismiss his Neapolitan courtiers, savants who were attracted to his court, and and to surround himself by natives of the who shared in his munificent hospitality, country over which he was about to rule. were encouraged to mingle freely with the Two of his queens, Mary and Elizabeth, also learned Magyars who were his constant studied the language with much success: as guests; by which means an external (alwell as his son and successor, Lewis, (to though, as it unfortunately proved, ephemewhom the Hungarians were so devoted that ral) interest was created for Hungarian literathey gave him the surname of "Great,") and ture; and marginal notes in almost every his brother Andrew. Their official docu- European language enrich the few Corvinian In alluding to this subject, Mr. Paget says, "The library of MSS. containing fifty thousand volumes, which he collected at an enormous expense, was a monument of his liberality, of which few princes can boast an equal. These MSS., the greater part transcribed in the most beautiful manner by the copyists he maintained at Florence and in other parts of Europe, were richly gilt, and uniformly bound, and may still be considered as gems of biblical taste. During the period the Turks occupied Buda, the barbarians used this library to light the stoves of their baths; and in 1666, when Lambécius obtained permission to search there, he found only three or four hundred dusty volumes hidden in a dirty cellar: the bibliomane secured three of them; and a few years afterwards, when the Turks finally evacuated the place, some more were recovered, most of which have been presented to public libraries or foreign courts." Magyar MSS. still extant. Nor did the fact mained to Hungary of the treasure she had that Matthias was himself a poet, and wrote once possessed save its memory. verses in the Magyar dialect, tend to counteract the pernicious influence of the exotic literature beyond a certain point; for, although sovereigns have occasionally condescended to meddle with composition, they have found it so unfortunately easy to win the bays from those about them, that there have been but few whose productions have survived themselves; and those of Corvinus shared the common fate. We indeed find a learned bishop, in a letter to Pope Sixtus IV., speaking of the poetry of the monarch as "superior to any he had seen;" but it is nevertheless certain that in the historical poem of Ambrose Gerciani, of which Matthias is the hero, he alludes to the verses of the royal poet as things forgotten; while his Latin correspondence with Marsilius Ficinus and other learned men, still partially exists; as if to Yet it is not to the munificent patronage of convince posterity that the vanity of extra- Matthias, nor to his celebrated library,-alncous knowledge was even at that period though it was matter of learned controversy more powerful than the love of home-talent all over Europe, and that he kept thirty secamong the native students. The efforts of retaries constantly employed in copying every Matthias are, nevertheless, entitled to all the MS. of which he could possess himself, until it praise which can be lavished on them, for grew to so enormous an extent, that Brassican, the cause was in his heart, although, in in describing it, loses himself in hyperbole in his zeal, he allowed his judgment to be per- one of his works, and declares that when he verted. He enlarged, and endowed with a stood in the midst of the treasures that it concostly library, the college founded by Sigis- tained, he believed himself to be "in the bomund, and he also established the Istropoli- som of Jupiter,"-neither is it to the estabtan Academy at Presburg, (1467); the print- lishment of a printing-press, nor to the presing-press worked at Buda in 1473, only twen- ence of the Venetian printer, that the Hunty-three years after the art of printing was garians of the present day are indebted for discovered, was under his direct patronage their progress in literature and the sciences; and he it was who invited to Hungary the for all this evanescent glory passed away printer Andrew Hess, and the famous book- under the supine and unworthy rule of his seller, Theobald Fegar von Kirchheim. But successors; and despite all the exotic schol. all his other attempts to literalize the king- arship of his reign, the mental retrogression dom over which he ruled, must yield in mag- which succeeded was so great, that many of nificence, both of conception and execution, the high dignitaries of the state under Wlad. to the formation of the glorious, and at that islaw II. could neither read nor write. The period unapproachable library, which, al- intellect and sympathies of the nation had been though it is now scattered to the four winds engaged rather in the preservation of its idiom of heaven, is still remembered as the Corvi- than in the extraneous studies of the courtiers, nian Library; and of which rare but precious or the progress of the Istropolitan Academy; relics still exist to attest the luxury and and hence we arrive at the conclusion that value. It may afford some idea of the ex- the circumstances, which seem at the first tent of this celebrated library, to those who glance to have been advantageous to the growfeel an interest in the subject, to learn that it ing faculties of the Magyars, did not, in point was maintained at a yearly outlay of 33,000 of fact, further the good work half so much as florins in gold, an immense sum in those days: their own pertinacity. In the Diet the naand that, independently of the number of tional dialect was universally used; and it is MSS. carried away, or destroyed by the an error to believe that because the revised Turks, those stolen by Marsiglia, and conveyed to Bologna after the siege, and the few which still remain in the libraries of Vienna and Pesth, hundreds and thousands were disposed of either by sale or gift, until little re : annals and registers of the period, still in existence, are drawn up in the language of Horace and Cicero, the business of the chambers was carried on in Latin. The Hungarian was indeed little written, but extensively |