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behind and lost sight of. The sinful love of the page, which drew upon him such dire punish- ment, cannot, in our opinion, be an objection to reading the story such as it is related by the hero himself when an old man.

Beautiful passages may be selected from Childe Harold ¹²), descriptive and meditative, and as they generally reflect, with the author's mind, the general bent and bias of his epoch, they may go a long way to make our pupils understand the complexion of those years of brooding incubation which we tried to characterise above. But a good deal of comment and explanation may be required to insure such a result. ¹³)

Of Byron's dramatic or dramatised pieces, the metaphysical, if we may call them so, can scarcely be thought of as proper reading for our pupils. They all turn upon the eternal enigma of life and existence, time and eternity, guilt and retribution, but the problem is put in such a form and manner that a solution is impossible or can only be this: Right is wrong and good is bad, or: Was besteht, ist wert, dass es zu Grunde geht. Such saying is good in the mouth of Mephisto, but ought not to be the concluding lesson. His historical pieces, and more so his„tragedy“ Werner, are decidedly inferior productions; besides they offer nothing of his peculiar genius nor of the pervading spirit of his time.

It is true, Marino Faliero has been recommended and is, I suppose, sometimes read in our schools¹*). We cannot be persuaded to admit an exception in favour of this„historical“ tragedy.— The argument of the piece is as follows: Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice, whose youthful wife has been flippantly insulted by Steno, not receiving full satisfaction for this as- persion on the honour of his name and family, resolves on the overthrow of the constitution in

¹2²) In this sentiment concerning the fitness of„Childe Harold'“ for teaching purposes most school-men im Germany and in France seem to concur. V. Verhandlungen der Direktoren- Versammlungen ete. p. 492, 495, 528, 563.

¹3) Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. Erklärt von A. Mommsen. Berlin, Weidmannsche Buchhandlung— not calculated for schools.

———. Herausgegeben von Dr. P. Weeg.— not up to the requirements of the day.

———. Erklärt von Dr. R. Werner. Leipzig, Renger'sche Buchhandlung— in the press.

———. Im Auszuge mit Anmerkungen zum Schulgebrauch herausgegeben von Dr. M. Krummacher. Bielefeld und Leipzig. 1886. Velhagen und Klasing. The selection here made has, on the whole, our approval. Only the stanzas concerning Rousseau and Voltaire might be left out, as they suppose a knowledge of the literature and literary hystory of the last century which our pupils, even of the upper class, cannot be expected to possess.

„The castled crag of Drachenfels“ may stand by itself, as a beautiful lyrical effusion. In„Childe Harold“ it has a reference which cannot here be understood, as the preceding stanzas, to which it refers, are not given. However a simple remark, that those lines were addressed to the poet's sister Augusta, might suffice.

¹⁴) V. Verhandlungen der Direktoren- Versammlungen etc. p. 476, 529.— Englische Schüler- Bibliothek. Herausgegeben von Dr. Wiemann. 12. Bändchen: Marino Faliero. Gotha, Schloessmann 1882.