And the flood-tide began to run Breathless we watch'd its rise, as streak by streak 18. Her floatage-marks it reaches now, See! there's a tremble in her bow, Hoist the great anchors out! and strive and strain ! Row, gallant boatmen, row, the vessel heaves again! 19. Useless is all their strength-they fail And now the sea with many a sail (So quick the news has spread) Is dotted, as round Bembridge Point they crowd And bright shines forth the sun-the sky's without a cloud. 20. Oh, lovely from the upland height To watch the busy scene below! The ship embay'd, while, like a flight Of bright birds, to and fro Boats of white sail and devious course draw near, And on the monster gaze, and pause in their career. 21. So might the wondering birds draw nigh Doom'd on some lonely rock to lie, Turning despairing eyes, grown faint and dim, 22. But see! where eager in its haste, Like vulture hurrying to the fray, On steam sped wings, (whose might is traced By flashing foam and spray,) A strong bark hither comes; - within an hour The flood will reach its height, the ship will feel its power! 23. The water rose-the giant urged His fiery strength, and shook the sea With ominous shrieks, and onward surg'd Like wild steed, rushing free Strain'd are the cables huge, the vessel reels She moves! she moves! new life in every plank she feels! 24. Down from the rock in joy she glides, And follows in the giant's wake; And light she skims above the tides Upon her bows that break! What thoughts were yours, O sailors! when that night You heard the tempest rage, and saw the breakers white ? 1 GRIMM'S TEUTONIC GRAMMAR. SO THE name of James Grimm deserves to be dear to the lovers of antiquarian lore of every class: to critics and to philosophers, to the prattlers in the nursery and the wranglers at the bar. Whatever subjects he has handled, and they are not few, he has both exhausted and embellished. His collections of popular tales have given to juvenile Germany an alluring vision of that imaginary world which powerfully evolves the moral powers while it gratifies curiosity. His illustrations of the early poetry of his own country, are interesting to many beyond the class to which they are specially addressed: and his Mythology and Legal Antiquities have severally provided a treasure of improvement and delight to the most mature and the most profound understandings. But the noblest monument which he has erected to his genius, and the richest gift which literature has received from him, is to be found in the great, but as yet unfinished, work which we propose for the subject of our present observations. Under the simple title of a " Deutsche Grammatik," he has produced a philological treatise, which, reconciling the conflicting qualities of learning, judgment, and originality, has immeasurably elevated the standard of grammatical discussions, and is almost without a rival in any age or country. It is interesting to learn that we owe this amazing production in so abstruse a department of study to its author's love of refined literature, and to his partiality for the earlier poets of his native country. An admiration for the remarkable mass of poetry which Germany can boast of having produced during the middle age of her literary history, appears at an early period to have seduced Grimm from the weightier pursuits of the law, to which he was worthily brought up at the feet of Savigny. His favourite study, when cultivated in a spirit of accurate and enlightened criticism, led him forward to the examination of the oldest dialect of the High-German, which supplies an in dispensable explanation of the more modern forms: and from this point the transition was natural and necessary to the Gothic, which is the master-key to all the rest. The various other languages of the Teutonic family were successively the objects of his attention, as mutually illustrating each other, and as pointing to a general and primitive type of the whole race. Thus originating and thus expanding, the "Deutsche Grammatik" embraces the following circle of languages, comprising, indeed, the whole distinguishable divisions of the Teutonic tribe of which any memorable monuments remain. 1. The Gothic, or, as it has been laxly called, the Mœso-Gothic, the parent or the eldest sister of the Teutonic family, that venerable and, to us, invaluable language into which the Scriptures were translated by Ulphilas in the 4th century. 2. The Old High-German, a remarkable and peculiar dialect, or cluster of dialects, adopted and diffused by the writers of Upper or Southern Germany during the 7th, 11th, and intermediate centuries. 3. The Old Saxon, the language of the Lower or Northern parts of Germany, of which the chief monuments are referable to the 9th century. 4. The Anglo-Saxon, the language of Low Germany, as naturalized and cultivated in England. 5. The Old Friesic, the language which, in the 13th and 14th centuries, prevailed in Friesland, and some of the western portions of North Germany. 6. The Iceland Icelandic, the oldest form of the Scandinavian branch, and one of the richest and most valuable of the Teutonic stock. 7. The Middle High-German, the language of that abundant store of romantic poetry, including the Nibelungen-Lied, and other German productions of the chivalrous or heroic period, which are regarded with so much enthusiasm by their admirers, and of which the study deserves in every way to be further promoted, whether for its own sake, or for its value in illustrating the corre Deutsche Grammatik, von Jacob Grimm. Göttingen, 1822-1837. Not circumscribed even by these limits, the author of the Teutonic Grammar casts, at every stage of his progress, a glance beyond the fence of his proper boundary, to mark the corresponding features of the neighbouring or not far distant territories of the Greek, Latin, Sanscrit, Lithuanian, and Sclavonic languages. The more profound Orientalists have endeavoured to show, and have perhaps succeeded in showing, that many ofthe remarkable processes of Teutonic inflection which Grimm has pointed out, may be best illustrated by the rules of Sanscrit philology. But, as far as we can discover, nothing that they have advanced has detracted from the merit of the Teutonic grammarian's labours. On the contrary, the suggestion of new theories for arranging the materials which he has collected, confirms the unbiassed accuracy with which his enquiries have been prosecuted, and gives a double testimony to the correctness of his observations. To those, indeed, who consider the immense extent of the field which lay before him, and the absolute impracticability of embracing with a powerful grasp the whole of those divisions of speech that may serve as illustrations of each other, it will appear more remarkable that Grimm's conjectures should so often have been confirmed, than that they should sometimes have been contradicted, by a fuller prosecution of collateral researches. On this subject he has himself said, with a fitting mixture of modesty and pride, "that his attention has been too exclusively engrossed by the Teutonic languages, to admit of his bestowing more than a hasty consideration upon remoter objects; that his first aim is to attain perfection within his own department; and that he feels that his discoveries in that field will possess a more enduring value than if he had prematurely abandoned it to seek for higher or more universal principles. Those," he adds, "who now or hereafter may be prepared to take a wider range, can thus with the more fearless security avail themselves of the results of my investigations." We confess that we despair of seeing, even after many years, an English translation of the Teutonic Grammar. The number of scholars in England who can estimate and master its details may perhaps be increasing, but must still be inconsiderable; and even those are not numerous by whom its general bearings can be seen and appreciated; while all who feel an interest in its extensive illustrations of Teutonic literature must be capable of consulting it in its original shape. On the other hand, a selection of its principles and examples, adapted to merely English readers, would destroy the character and value of a work, of which the essence consists in the completeness of its comparative view of the whole Teutonic tongues. Insulated portions of it may be recast, expanded, and explained, so as partially to adapt it to the popular mind in this country; and its great principles may find their way into the works of native philologists, so as to produce more comprehensive or more cautious opinions than those which at present prevail. But, in every view, it is important to give additional currency to the conviction, that the study of even any portion of Teutonic philology cannot be successfully prosecuted beyond its simplest limits, without an acquaintance with those results to which the grammar of Grimm affords the best or the only access. Although, therefore, it has already been recommended to the attention of English readers by very able critics, we cannot think that any attempt to make the nature and merits of this work more familiarly known can be either idle or unacceptable. The Grammar of Grimm, so far as it has yet reached us, consists of four volumes, divided into the same number of Books. The First Book treats of the letters, a subject which, as it may be called the godmother of grammar, is also an essential guide and guardian to its progress in all its stages. The letters are minutely treated by Grimm with reference to their various powers, properties, and combinations throughout the different languages embraced in his plan: and comparative views are given of the different changes which they undergo, whether in the Teutonic forms of speech or in others of a cognate origin. This is one of the most important and elaborate portions of the work, and that, perhaps, of which the value could least be supplied from other sources. We shall, in a subsequent part of this paper, take occasion to notice some of its results in relation to the comparative structure of the classical and Teutonic languages. With respect to the Teutonic languages themselves, it may be observed that, except in the case of the High-German dialects, to be afterwards mentioned, the consonants, for the most part, exhibitcomparativelylittle change in passing from one language to another: but the vowels are on a different footing. This liquid and fluctuating element of speech seems to assume a new aspect in every new situation: and may be said to furnish the great feature of individual distinction between different dialects. The changes, however, to which the vowels are subjected, seem capable of being reduced to determinate rules, and these it is obviously of great moment to ascertain. We would not argue that the clear and certain principles of any language are to be controlled by mere theory derived from others: but it seems an indisputable proposition, that what is dark or doubtful in one of a family of dialects, may be illustrated and rendered plain by the light of a regular analogy obtained from kindred sources. An attention to this enquiry is also necessary, if we wish to trace the connexion between the words of one language and those of another, as the disguises assumed in the process of transition are often such as to elude or deceive a superficial observer. The following are examples of the changes which the vowels undergo in passing through some of the chief Teutonic tongues. The convertible sounds are given in the same horizontal line. Gothic. O. High-Germ. A. Saxon. eor Icelandic. iar ject, which must be afterwards advert. ed to. The Second Book treats of the inflexion of words. A short experience enables us to see, that the modern forms of inflexion, limited as they are, cannot be understood without an acquaintance with the earlier types on which they have been moulded, but of which the features are now often greatly, and somewhat unequally obliterated. We presume it will be universally agreed, that in this part of his subject, and in so far, particularly, as concerns the declensions and conjugations of the Gothic language, the Grammar of Grimm has rendered a great service to philology. As compared with any former grammar, and especially with any of English production, the progress in sound and systematic arrangement is incalculable. Particular importance is here due to the formulæ of the twelve strong or primitive conjugations; that is, of those conjugations which are effected by a reduplicative prefix, or by an internal change of vowel, instead of receiving the addition of an element sponding to the ed of the preterite and past-participle in English. corre It was long ago observed by Ben Jonson, in his Grammar, that, while that conjugation in English which takes place by means of the suffix ed, was "the most useful forming of a verb, and thereby also the common inn to lodge every strange and foreign guest," the other mode of conjugation, by means of an internal change of vowel, as fall, fell; break, broke; sing, sang, sung, &c., "entertaineth none but natural and home-born words, which, though in number they be not many, a hundred and twenty or thereabouts, yet, in variation, are so divers and uncertain, that they need much the stamp of some good logic to beat them into proportion. We have set down," he continues, "that that in our judgment agreeth best with reason and good order, which, notwithstanding, if it seem to any to be too rough-hewed, let him plane it out more smoothly, and I shall not only not envy it, but, in the behalf of my country, most heartily thank him for so great a benefit, hoping that I shall be thought sufficiently to have done my part, if, in tolling this bell, I may draw others to a deeper consideration of the matter; for, touching myself, I must needs confess that, after much painful churning, this only would come which here we have devised." The bell was indeed long tolled before the summons was fully answered; but we may now say that the thanks which Jonson promised have at last been earned, and that a full elucidation has been finally given of the apparent jumble of irregularities at which our excellent dramatist had "churned" so vigorously with so slender a result. The English strong conjugations have generally been called irregular, and in one sense are well deserving of the name, as, when viewed by themselves, or even with the aid of the Anglo-Saxon, they appear a mass of confusion: while their Gothic prototypes present a remarkable model of clearness and precision, not surpassed in any other language; and, by the aid of the comparative rules established in the transition of vowels, afford a solution to all the anomalies in the modern forms of inflexion. It would be out of place to enter here into the details of the subject: as it can only be mastered by a consultation of the original authorities. Grimm's Grammar is, of course, the basis of any such study; but it ought to be accompanied by a constant reference to the writings of his fellow-labourers and followers in the same field. Bopp's Review of Grimm, republished under the title of his Vocalismus,* is a highly valuable guide; and useful assistance may also, we think, be got from the explanation of the conjugations given by the ingenious but somewhat speculative Schmithenner in his little work on Etymology.t The concluding discussions in * Vocalismus, &c., von Franz Bopp. Berlin, 1836. † Deutsche Etymologie von Friedrich Schmithenner. also the Introduction to his Kurzes Deutsches Wörterbuch. 1837. Darmstadt, 1833. See We may be allowed, in a note, to shadow out some of the principles that appear to us to regulate the conjugation of the Gothic verb, though they are, in some points, borrowed rather from the theory of Bopp than from that of Grimm. We omit the reduplicative conjugations, which stand on a peculiar footing, and have left but faint, though important, vestiges of their character on modern grammar. The simplest of the other forms is that which is effected by converting the radical short a vowel of the present tense, into its corresponding long vowel in the preterite; on a principle similar to what we see in some Latin conjugations, as in căpio, cēpi, captum; but it is to be observed that the long a is in Gothic expressed by o rather than by ê: Thus, to take a cognate word with capio, we have hafyan, hôf, hafans. In English, we have awake, awoke. Another form of conjugation is made by interchanging the vowel a with the weaker sound of i, somewhat in the same way as in Latin conjugation and composition, where we have tango, tetigi; tango, contingo. But the Gothic has this peculiarity in contrast with the Latin, that the i occurs in the present tense, and the a in the preterite, as in sing, sang; give, gave. With this form there is combined sometimes a lengthening of the a into é in some parts of the verb, and sometimes in others, particularly before liquids, a subsiding of the a into u; as in the English sing, sang, sung; swim, swam, swum, &c. A similar range of mutations may be found in the conjugation and in the composition of some Latin verbs, as in colo, cultum; vello, vulsum; salio, exsilio, exsulto. Another mode of conjugation exhibits what in Sanscrit grammar is called Guna; the interpolation, namely, in some parts of the verb, of an a vowel before a radical i or u, accompanied in other parts by the weakening of that interpolated a into an e ori. The formulæ in these cases are, ei, present tense, ai, preterite, i, past-participle; iu, present, au, preterite, and u past-participle. Something similar to these processes occurs in the flexion of certain Greek verbs, as πειθω, πεποιθα, ε-πιθον; φευγω, εφυγον, where the roots are considered to be w. and φύγ. Our worthy mother, the Anglo-Saxon, was rather less particular about her vowels than our grandam the Gothic. Under the laws of vowel-change, which we have already partly explained, the Anglo-Saxon gave an undue ascendancy to the vowel a in the preterite; and her daughter, the modern English, has further embroiled matters by frequently changing the a into o. Thus, in English, the preterites awoke, shone, chose, stole, would all in Gothic have had different forms belonging to four different conjugations, the vowel-sound in the first example being expressed by 6, in the second by ai, in the third by au, and in the fourth by a. No wonder that it now puzzles us to understand the English strong conjugations, when we have not studied their original principles, and traced their progressive modifications. |