The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-25 00:00:00

LITERATURE

LE CHEVALIER DE CHATELAIN.
Le Fond du Sac. Bvo., pp. 499. Rolandi.
Epis et Bluets. 12m0., pp. 354. Roland.

The Chevalier de Chatelain is, indeed, indefati-
gable. Already he has written with his own hand
a small library. Volume after volume he has for
years been penning and publishing, and still his in-
dustry appears to be unflagging. Whenever a new
volume from his hand is issued from the press, it is
noticeable that there is invariably an intimation at
the close of it of some other literary performance
(the name of which is given in attestation of the
fact) being " sous presse" or " pour paraitre !"
As, par exemple; in the present instance, upon
which the Chevalier not only gives us (after
another dip into his " Lucky Bag" of MSS.)
what he pleasantly terms Le Fond du Sac : nay,
he not only follows up this new book of his
with another and a very charming one, by present-
ing to us a bunch of Epis et Bluets, but in addition
to this, he announces as forthcoming, in succession,
Les Fleurs des Bords du Rhin, being the beauties of
the Poetry of Germany—Ronces et Chardons—
Ligendes et Chroniques du Moyen age—and—Le
Testament d'Eumolpe ! Have we not reason therefore
to dub the Chevalier deChatelain—as we have just now
taken occasion to dub him—indefatigable ? Already,
both as an original writer and as a translator, he has
been wonderfully industrious and wonderfully ad-
venturous. Regarding him for a moment simply as
a translator from English into French, what has he
not done ? He has translated the whole of Chaucer's.
masterpiece, " The Canterbury Pilgrim's !" He has
translated two of the most marvellous tragedies of
Shakspere, to wit, Macbeth and Hamlet ! He has
translated all the fables of Gay—into the tongue of
Lafontaine. He has translated the choicest morgeaux
(selected by him with admirable taste) from the
writings, we might almost venture to say of all the
other poets of England, living or dead, from the very
greatest down to those of the very smallest reputa-
tion. It is, in fact, as the final gathering together of
his metrical translations in this way from the works
of very various cultivators of Poetic Literature in
England that "Le Fond du Sac" has come into
existence as another of the Chevalier de Chatelain's
literary performances. An amusing vindication of
the book from the ill-considered sneers directed
against it by one of our weekly contempo-
raries, meaning Public Opinion—a sort of London
double of the Paris Galignani appears, we
obserN e, on one of the flyleaves of the Chevalier's
last volume, " Epis et Bleuts." As a vindication
—playfully, even carelessly, though it is written—
this little good-humoured comment npon a com-
ment, review of a review, criticism upon a criticism,
is complete and triumphant. Taunted by our con-
temporary with having translated in a volume of
nearly 500 pages, the effusions of a gathering of
" obscure bards," the Chevalier reminds his
critic that his catalogue of " obscure bards"
includes within it the names of such obscu-
rities as Burns and Campbell, Coleridge and
Congreve, Darwin and Gray, Hemans and Her-
rick, Leigh Hunt and Tom Moore, Pope and
Milton, Sir Walter Scott and Sir Philip Sidney,
cum cateris paribus among the dead and gone
illustrious ! While—not unnaturally—in regard to
living writers, from whose effusions some of the
choicest passages have been here also selected for
illustrative translation, the Chevalier, in proof of
their not being, after all, so very " obsure," deems
it sufficient, as he says—" titer parmi les
poetes modernes entr'autres, W. C. Bryant,
Barry Cornwall, H. W. Longfellow, Charles
Mackay, Charles Swain." The volume, however,
is its own completest vindication. In testimony of
which, we need only point to the translator's ren-
dering of such difficult subjects for translation as
Horace Smith's " Address to an Egyptian Mummy,"
or as Gray's " Elegy in a Country Churchyard." The
other volume, here gracefully presented to us as
though it were, so to speak, a bunch of poetic corn-
ears and corn-flowers, is thus prettily entitled from
the first poem in the collection—one of the briefest,
yet, it should be said, also one of the sweetest and
gracefullest effusions we have ever yet had
from the pen of the Chevalier de Chatelain. That
this elegant little volume is one of the nearest and
dearest to the heart of its accomplished author, is
sufficiently well indicated, we take it, from the cir-
cumstance of its being inscribed in terms of fervent
affection, " A Madame Clara de Chatelain. "—the
dedicatory address, so inscribing it, beginning with
the lyrical apostrophe—

" Plaisir des yeux, baume du cceur,
A toi ma Clara, ma charmante
Qui, chaque jour, Epouse Amante,
• A, par ton esprit enchanteur,
Par ta grace et par ta douceur

Sous mon toit rive le bonheur," &c.
After the initial poem (giving the book its title) a
poem followed up by two "poesies intimes,"
we have a dozen fables, eight chansons, eight
le'gendes, six and twenty poems of a miscellaneous
character, a wreath of sonnets to Shakspere, two
poetic literary criticisms, or rather it should be said
rhymed panegyrics. And, to crown all, thelast leaves
are a handful of Feuilles des Bois—leaves variously
tinctured by the fluctuating emotions and moods
under the influence of which they have been written
—like the autumnal leaves of Shelley—
" Yellow,•and black, and pale, and hectic red."

Again we congratulate the Chevalier de Chatelain
upon the continuance of the skill of his accomplished
hand, of the power of his melodious voice, of the
mastery won for himself, by long practice, over
every string of the lyre of Erato. Many of the
stanzas in this little volume of his, entitled " Epis et
Bluets," are, if not exactly " musical as is Apollo's
lute," musical at least as are the warblings of an
2E olian harp, upon a summer's evening, when the
zephyrs are out and about.

HERR WILHELM KUHE, the celebrated Pianist and
Composer (equally popular in the musical world of
London and of Brighton), has very recently, we are glad
to learn, received from his Majesty the King of Prussia a
distinguished mark of the consideration in which his
talents as a musician are held in his native land. Mr.
Kuhe, in effect, has, within these last few days, been
created a Chevalier by the King, who has conferred upon
him (what is but very rarely bestowed upon any one) the
Order of the Crown of Prussia, a decoration giving to the
possessor of it, in that country, the rank of nobility.
GREAT CONFLAGRATION IN GLASGOW.—On Mon-
day the Port Dundas Sugar Refinery, belonging to
Messrs. Murdoch and Doddrell, sugar refiners, was destroyed
by fire, the property and stock which were consumed amount-
ing in value to between £40,000 and £50,000. The exten-
sive works are situated on the north side of the canal bank,
the sugar refinery which has been destroyed forming the
centre block of a long range of buildings belenging to the
company. The fire broke out shortly after noon in the se-
cond flat of the refinery, near some pans at the back part of
the building, and, although every effort was made by the
workmen present to extinguish the flames, they were un-
successful, and before the lapse of 40 minutes the refinery
was on fire from top to bottom. The building is about 200
feet long, by between 50 and GO broad, and six stories in
height, and at the north end are situated the char-kilns,
boiler-house, and engine-house, while at the south side of
the refinery are situated the extensive stares belonging to
the firm. Fortunately the firemen were successful in
preventing the flames from spreading to the north and
south wings in connexion with the refinery. No fewer
than ten branches of hose were brought to play upon the
burning mass, but the contents of the structure being of
such an inflammable character, the fire obtained such a mas-
tery that all efforts to subdue the flames proved futile, and
they continued to rage with unabated fury for several
hours. The building contained some valuable new plant,
which had only been a short time in use, all of which has
been rendered totally useless. The sugar liquor in course of
preparation ran like a small burn across the canal bank into
the canal. It was fortunate, indeed, that the day was quite
calm, otherwise the destruction of property must have been
much more extensive. The damage, as is stated above,
amounts to between £40,000 and £50,000, but this large sum
is spread over some 10 or 12 insurance offices. The insurance
will cover the whole damage. Tho origin of the fire is un-
known.

ZA Warsaw letter states that Dr. Rouczwiez has
just died in that town, leaving a sum of 310,000
Polish florins for philanthropic works, of which 150,000
are to be laid out in the purchase of a plot of ground for
the construction of a house for the Medical Society. A cer-
tain annual sum has been set apart for two students, and
another sum to provide for the wants of five widows of
those who may have died without fortune. A third sum is
for the benefit of the deaf and dumb establishment.
An inquest on the body of Thomas Pears, who
lost his life by the fall of a cornice in Winchester-build-
ings, was opened at St. Bartholomew's Hospital yesterday.
Several witnesses were called, and the jury returned a ver-
dict that the deceased was killed by the fall of the cornice,
and that the cornice had not been properly fastened.