Reviews.

And how much is left to cheer thee ; And the world is still as fan ! All that now delightest thee , Thou may ' st love , so do not fear thee . We have given hut a very few specimens of Heine ' s poems , but such as they are they may lead some of our readers to study him for themselves .

We have not touched , for obvious reasons , on his more political or sarcastic verses , and , of course , not at all on his prose ! We think that any who want to understand what Heme is , ancl what under more favourable circumstances he might have been , should carefully read Heine in ' the original ! We took up Heine with mistrust—we laid him down with admiration . It is -with him as if you are visiting a strange country , against which you have been prejudiced ; after a little you will rub your eyes , as if awaking from a dream—you find you have been misinformed and mystified . Your previous doubts become abiding interest , your unfavourable prepossessions hearty applause .

So it is with Heine—the more you know of him the more you feel with him , the more you appreciate , the more you like , the more you pity him ! As Lord Houghton so truly says : — " The humour which abounded within him flowed over the whole surface of nature , and left no place for arid ridicule and barren scorn ; it fertilized all it touched with its inherent poetry , and the productive sympathy of mankind manifests'itself in the large crop of his imitators who have sprung up not only in Germany hut other

countries . Many a page of modern political satire rests upon a phrase of Heine ; many a stanza , many a poem germinates from a single line of his verses . The forms of wit which he invented are used by those who never heard his name , and yet that name already belongs to the literature of Europe . The personal tragedy of his last years adds a solemn chapter to the chronicle of the disasters of genius ,. and the recollection of the afflictions of ' the living shade of the Champs El ' will mitigate the judgment

ysees of censorious criticism , and tinge with melancholy associations the brightest and liveliest of his works . " If these unpolished words of ours will induce any one to study Heine for themselves our task will be achieved . We wish them all enjoyment in their pleasant labour , ancl we can almost with a certaint y predict the result . '

Ancient Libraries.

ANCIENT LIBRARIES .

THE true history of ancient libraries has probably yet to be written . We look on all such works as these , as well as other similar productions , as tentative experiments towards a truer consummation—a " magnum opus , " indeed , For it is quite clear that , despite the prejudices and perverted traditions of political antipathy or religious ardour , the libraries of the past played a much more conspicuous part in the history of earl y civilisation and the maintenance of learning , the development of science , the progress of the arts , than has been yet generally realized or sufficiently acknowledged , ¦ tune , which , though it may be indeed , and is , " edax rerum , " is yet lifting up gradually , so to say , the veil which interest or ignorance has cast over the facts and features of the