description of Oriental scenery. In several of his poems, of which the scenes are lain in Africa and in Arabia, he shows the taste of a painter who cares nothing for the sentiment of a subject, if it only affords scope for strong colouring and makes an effective picture. Goethe, Tom Moore, Rückert and others, had written Eastern Poems before him, but none of these can compare with his in the reality of the feeling, in the verisimilitude, in the genuine spirit and soul of the East which belongs to them. Freiligrath is thoroughly original, at times even to extravagance, in his peculiar love of nature. The lion-land, the desert sands, the palm-tree, the jungle, the cane-swamp, the lair of the panther, the Sahara caravan-these are the objects which animate him to a full enthusiasm. Oriental passion has been said to be the most ardent, the most unfeigned and the most vivid in its expression of any poet or prose writer of the day. It is not the language of mere poetic affectation when he declares at the close of one of his songs

"I linger on a northern strand,

The North is crafty, cold, and slow;

I would I sang in the desert sand
Leaning on my saddle-bow!

His

Indeed he is never weak but where he attempts something of Northern sentiment and German balladist emotion, Poets do not succeed best, notwithstanding Waller's ingenious compliment, in what they do not believe. Freiligrath's Orientalism is not an affectation, but an emotion, an idiosyncrasy. His verse has the great, though not the highest merit, of being eminently picturesque. In one of his African poems, The Lion's Ride, he describes with graphic power the attack of a lion on a giraffe. In a finer poem of the same class he brings before us a vision of the Spectral Caravan seen by travellers in the Arabian desert. He has always an inclination towards the fantastic, and at times a repulsive tendency towards the extravagant and the horrible, only matched by Victor Hugo in his worst flights. Between poems such as Amphitrite and The Flower's Revenge, perfect for melody, purity, and simple sweetness of colour, we come upon the extravagance and horror of Anno Domini, and the revolting hideousness of Scipio. But among all these highly coloured and somewhat sensational sketches of Eastern and Desert life, with all his craving for vivid and picturesque detail, at no time does he transgress Lessing's famous law which assigns space to the painter and time to the poet as their respective domains. Yet all Freiligrath's poems do not breathe a tropic air. He loves the sea and its shore almost as much as he loves the East. At no time does he write lines of such happy colour and of such perfect cadence as when he sings of "the ribbed sea-sand." His Sand Songs afford an instance of his peculiar pathos, gleaming in stray flashes and full of exquisite poetic glimpses..

But some of his ballads have more distinct and living themes. His genius has found its more simple and intense expression in a subject that might well animate the heart of a poet and an earnest lover of liberty, the resistance of the Dutch to the oppression of the Spanish Regency. Three or four of his most picturesque and striking ballads were written in honour of that brave Beggar-band, the Gueux: Lieve Heere and the Water-Gueux are well known instances.

All that he has written bears trace of the masterly workmanship of a potent and resolute hand, and in all his identity is kept wholly out of sight. He is par éminence an "objective" poet, a describer of life from the outside. But his later poems show that there is no want of true feeling, no lack of human interest in his work. The German Emigrants, the Leviathan, the Death of the Leader, Odysseus, the Picture Bible, and lastly the best of Freiligrath's lyric poems Nebo, which nobly describes the death of the great leader of the Israelites-all these are favourable specimens of the poet's more pleasing strain of sentiment. The Dead in the Sea, the Dweller in the Forest, the Swordcutter of Damascus, among the least assuming, are also among the best of his lyrical poems.

Brought up in the very midst of the modern school of poetry in Germany, he yet owes nothing to any of its members; but stands alone, unique and unapproachable. Tieck, Matthison, Salis, and Lenau had preceded him, Chamisso, Schwab and Körner were his contemporaries, Arndt and Schenkendorf are his nearest friends, but there is no trace in any part of his work of the influence of any of them. We have seen the twofold direction in which his artistic power has wrought. Above all he is a picturesque poet though not at all times gifted with well controlled and equally sustained power. Not an Orientalist merely, though his genius takes its boldest sweep in that direction, he has also sung the joys and sorrows of German life and adventure. The writer of the Mirage has also written Nebo. The bright fiery energy and vigour of ambitious aspiration of the one, and the choice simplicity and earnest sweetness of fancy of the other, may fairly stand as representative types of his different styles. But his Eastern poems are the most inimitable part of his work. Dashed off with all the ardour of a fervid spirit and the light of a subtle fancy, they express the supreme aim and supreme limit of his art. They have more of poetic illustration and imaginative colour, even if they lack the sweet and genuine note of fancy of his later lyrics, in which every word is harmonius, appropriate and noble. His narrative style is remarkable. Nothing can match the close and clear sequence of varying incident and interest, or the splendour and harmony of pure conception fitted with perfect words.

Of his political ballads it may be asked "Where be his polemics and politics now ?" If not already dead they cannot live long, while

the phenomenon, and their observations were attended on the whole with great success. Though it will be some time before the final results of their observations can be made known, we may be sure that with the perfection to which our modern modes of observation have reached we shall have obtained a measure of the Sun's distance infinitely more reliable than any hitherto found.

We will next consider the second method, viz.:-observations of Mars when in opposition. At this time Mars is sufficiently near to the Earth for its distance to be measured with considerable accuracy by other means, similar to those by which the Moon's distance is measured; the distance of Mars being known, and also the periods in which the Earth and Mars complete their orbit, it only requires an application of one of Kepler's laws to find the distance between the Sun and Earth. This method, which was employed with great success in 1862, gave a value of the Sun's distance which was undoubtedly a nearer approximation to the truth than any that had hitherto been found.

The next method, and the last which we shall notice, gives results which though not to be compared with the two former for accuracy are yet of considerable value. The times of the Eclipses of Jupiter's Moons have been accurately calculated, and it is found that if observations of these near Jupiter's Opposition (when he is nearest to us,) and Conjunction, (when he is farthest from us) be made, the times will generally differ from those obtained by calculation; and the sum of these differences is about 16 minutes: but Jupiter is farther from us in the latter case than in the former by a distance equal to the diameter of the Earth's orbit, that is twice the Earth's distance from the Sun, and this period of 16 minutes represents the time which light takes to traverse that distance. Now it has been calculated that light travels at the enormous rate of 186,000 miles a second, and this value of the velocity of light, which was found by two totally independent methods, gives about 92 millions of miles as the Sun's distance, the same or nearly so as that found by the observations of Mars.

The value of the Sun's distance obtained from the Transit of Venus in 1769, was 95 millions of miles, and this has been the accepted distance ever since, until the value 92 millions was found from the observations of Mars before mentioned, this value being corroborated by the results of the observations of Jupiter's Moons; these numbers were unexpectedly confirmed by the researches of Mr. Stone, the Astronomer Royal at the Cape, who found an error in the calculations of the 1769 Transit which just accounted for the extra three millions of miles. "The superficial reader may think it strange and discreditable to science to have erred by more than three millions of

miles in estimating the Sun's distance. But such may be reminded that the error on which the correction turns corresponds to the apparent breadth of a human hair at 125 feet, or of a sovereign at 8 miles off, and that moreover this error has been detected and the correction applied; and that the detection and correction have originated with the friends and not with the enemies of science."

King Christian's Death. (NORSE NATIONAL SONG.)

ING Christian sailed to the Evening land

Kid smoke and mist.

Rang out the battle-axe and clashed the brand
Mid smoke and mist.

The hardy Norsemen westward flew,
Each Viking brave his falchion drew,
The sea-wolves' shout swelled from the crew
Mid smoke and mist.

King Christian stood by the lofty mast
Mid smoke and mist.

His warrior glaive thrust home so fast
Through Gothic helm and brain it brast,
The sea-kings' galleys whirled and crashed
Mid smoke and mist.

Rose high the shout, fly ye who can!
Who faces Denmark's Christian

"MAGS & & TAGS."

We beg to acknowledge with our best thanks the receipt of the following Magazines:-Etonian, Wellingtonian, Epsomian, Elizabethan, Shirburnian, King Edward's School Chronicle, Hurst Johnian, Monaghan School Times, Magdalen College School Journal, Bloxhamist, Norvicensian, Uppingham School Magazine, Malvernian, Reading School Magazine, Tonbridgian, Haileyburian.

MAGS:

The ETONIAN has the usual articles on the Athletics, Literary Society, University Intelligence, and Nugae Murales. The very clever jeu d'esprit "Nova Castellana" is completed in the March number.

The EPSOMIAN opens a very good number with a continuation of "A Voyage to the East," some poetry, "Vana Somnia," and a good leader on "Athletics and Gymnastics.'

The ELIZABETHAN, opening with a good article on "Love of Sport," has also a smart "Concert of Correspondents," and some interesting "School Notes."

The SHIRBURNIAN begins with a short sketch called "Westward Ho!" followed by a translation from Virgil. It has also the usual Correspondence, and a full Football report.

The KING EDWARD'S SCHOOL CHRONICLE-Articles on "Fabulous Animals," "The Origin of Chemistry," and a poetical effusion entitled "The Nondescript" make up most of the last issue.

The MAGDALEN COLLEGE SCHOOL JOURNAL-The pièce de resistance is a sketch of sea-going adventure called "The South-West Wind." There are also articles on "Swaggerers," and a "Mythical Vision" (poetry).

The WELLINGTONIAN opens with a careful review of the Football season and subjoins characters of the team. A cheering omen for the continued success of this Mag. is the general interest taken by the fellows in school matters, as evinced by the copious correspondence to the Editor. Perhaps the best article in a thoroughly good number, is an "Echo from Versailles."

The UPPINGHAM SCHOOL MAGAZINE has some interesting "Notes from Cambridge." There are also articles on Photographs, Football, Natural History Society, and the School Library.