this act as the offspring of fanaticism, but the commencement of madness."

It is worthy of remark that when the body of Kotzebue was opened, every organ was observed to be perfectly sound, so that he would have probably lived to a much more advanced age, if this tragical event had not occurred. His remains, followed by four mourning coaches, were interred on the morning of the 25th, two days after the catastrophe. Augustus Von Kotzebue was born at Weimar, March the 3d, 1761, where his father, whom he lost at the early age of two months, was counsellor of legation. It was to his uncle, the celebrated Musæus, he owed his early advancement in literature, an occupation, or rather a trade, which he commenced at the age of eighteen; and continued with various success to the day of his death. As a dramatic writer, the fame of Kotzebue will no doubt long survive him; but we are justified in asserting that the more important and lasting celebrity of possessing an independent mind, and being attached to public liberty, had expired before him!*

*The praise thus bestowed on Kotzebue as a dramatic writer can only apply to the easy style and occasional wit of his numerous compositions in that department of literature; for it is notorious that generally speaking, like too many other dramatists of his country, this author also made the interests of morality subservient to those of his plot and story. All who are acquainted with the high sense of religion and comparative simplicity of manners

The many presentiments of an untimely end, experienced by M. Kotzebue, furnished his mys-. tical friends with the subject of a fine elegy to his memory, and will no doubt be alluded to on his monument; but were not these gloomy presages the warning monitors of that conscience, which, in the emphatic language of Shakespeare, "makes cowards of us all!"

In concluding our account of this extraordinary event, it is scarcely possible to avoid expressing an almost equal degree of regret for the fate of Kotzebue, and him who perpetrated the deed:

by which the people of Germany are distinguished, above many other nations of Europe, have good reason to be astonished at the ́false taste and pernicious tendency of its national theatre. However, like all that is calculated to flatter the vanities and amuse the curiosity of the public, this is also contagious, and without waiting for the most popular and perhaps least moral productions of the German dramas reaching us through a more circuitous route, they have been imported direct; accordingly, we find The Stranger, Lovers Vows, and numerous pieces of a lighter description, fairly naturalized. The two first have, in fact, been adopted as standard plays in the two national theatres, as they are styled by some people. But what reader of either sex requires to be informed that the heroine of one, who is made to excite the tenderest sympathies of British matrons and maids, has violated the most solemn of all earthly vows, while the hero consents to a reconciliation, which would stamp an English husband with never fading infamy and dishonour!

Why not endeavour to make our audiences relish the beauties of Schiller, Goethe and Lessing, instead of destroying all their remaining taste by melo-dramatic follies ?—ED.

both were the victims of delusion; the Counsellor in carrying on a systematic warfare against public bodies, whose resentment a little cool reflection must have led him to anticipate; Sand in not manifesting a timely resistance to those fatal chimeras which ultimately led to the commission of his crime: both, on the other hand, furnish society at large with a most useful lesson; and, we trust, that like so many others, it will not be lost either on present times or future generations. Although it is evident nothing but mental derangement could have led such an amiable and uniformly inoffensive character on to the performance of this horrible act, we earnestly hope that the Scriptural adage, "out of evil cometh good," may also be realized on the present occasion; and that the awful event may give rise to the most salutary consequences, particularly on the part of those who direct the press in Germany, setting themselves up at once as the censors of the age and the organs of government. While the experience

of history proves, that even the patronage and protection of the great is not always sufficient to guard us against popular revenge,* this event shews how possible it is to work up even the most virtuous to deeds of desperation. Let both the rulers and public writers of Germany, therefore, reflect on all the circumstances of this singular * Lord Bacon calls revenge a wild sort of justice.-ED.

4

case, and recollect, that the ardent frame of
mind which precipitated the youthful student into
the vortex of a dreadful crime, belonged to an
individual hitherto distinguished for the posses-
sion and practice of every virtue that can adorn
the human heart. Finally, let them keep in mind,
that had not such a writer as Augustus Von Kot-
zebue devoted his pen to the unjustifiable object
of vilifying the proudest institutions of his coun-
try, IT IS MORE THAN PROBABLE THE UNHAPPY

SAND HAD NEVER BEEN A MADMAN AND A MUR-
DERER !!!

ADDENDA.

THE Editor cannot conclude the foregoing brief statement of facts, in a more appropriate manner, than by presenting the reader with a literal copy of Sand's celebrated letter, in which he took leave of his family and friends; also with the extract of a letter from a celebrated German professor at Weimar, which serves to throw some additional light on the causes that gave rise to the catastrophe. The former is dated from Jena, but did not reach the family of Sand for some time after. Though so strongly tinctured with the malady of the writer, it evinces a strength of mind and nobleness of character, rarely to be met with in the ravings of insanity.

"To my beloved Family, and dearly cherished Friends.

"Why should I augment your sufferings yet? Thus have I thought and wavered about addressing you; but, though a sudden account of my