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some piece that could be understood without such reference, without being placed in the precise light of the period; but then we should have only a highly gifted poet, pithy and vigorous diction together with many incongruities of style and composition,— not the Byron that stirred up, dazzled and astounded his contemporaries.

An argument in favour of Byron as proper reading for our pupils has been found in his relation to German literature and the influence which he certainly has exercised on it.*)

As a foreign language is not studied chiefly with a view to the better understanding onée's own mother-tongue— though this no doubt will be an accessory advantage—: no more ought an author to be chosen or preferred on account of the influence he may have exercised on others in his time, or on account of his personal connections. Besides, is there any work of Goethe's, proper for our pupils to read, which has been influenced by Byron?(Cf. concerning the intercourse between the two poets: Elae, Lord Byron, p 437). Lenau, as far as he is the poet of Weltschmerz, and particularly Heine, are scarcely proper food for the young.— The choice of foreign authors or works to be read by our pupils cannot be chiefly determined or even greatly influénced by considerations of literary history: in this, I believe, all competent school-men will agree. If in Byron our pupils are to study the moral nihilism of the period, perhaps be inoculated with it, then we ought certainly to make a similar use of Werthers Leiden with regard to that sickly sentimentality of the age to which this work belongs and of which it is so masterly an expression. Who has ever recommended it for that purpose or on such grounds?

It would be necessary here to review the several works of our author in order to point out what might recommend the one to our preference or exclude the other from our choice. But the limits of this essay will not allow of so vast a plan. We must be contented, with offering a few desultory remarks on such of Byron'’s compositions as might be more likely to be hit upon for reading at School.

Herrig, in his„British Authors“, first gives the„Prisoner of Chillon“w.«)) We avow that we cannot quite concur in this choice. Certainly this poem is rich in exquisite beauty. The horrors of imprisonment, being shut out from the„goodly earth and air“, debarred from the„range of the steep mountain side“, are effectfully brought home to our feeling; the cha-

¹) V. Verhandlungen der Direktoren-Versammlungen etc., p. 539:„Was Byron betrifft, so ist es wünschens- wert, dass unsere Primaner bei dem gewaltigen Einfluss, den er auf die ganze moderne Weltanschauung ausgeübt, und bei den mannigfachsten Beziehungen, die er zur vaterländischen Literatur, zu Lenau und Goethe gehabt hat, Einiges von ihm kennen lernen.“

8) The Prisoner of Chillon erklärt von Dr. F. Fischer. Berlin, Weidmannsche Buchhandlung 18862.— The Prisoner of Chillon and Mazeppa. Mit Anmerkungen zum Schulgebrauch herausgegeben von Dr. Bandowo. Bielefeld und Leipzig. Velhagen und Klasing 1886. The Prisoner of Chillon, by L. B. Von Dr. Meurer. Leipzig, Bredt 1881.