Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1853-01-29
NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER.
NOTES OF NEW BOOKS.

NOTES OF NEW BOOKS.
Hnyu Edicoa, corregda CnnOtada. Ior Don Essenio
Dc 0choa. Nuera- York per d. appleton COmpaaia.
u $50.
We have here, as it will be perceived Ameri-
edition of Don Quxote in its original and mimi
table Spanish. We need not inform any reader of
this journal how much the cause of modern Gtera-
ture has been subserved by the enterprisng pub
tishers from whose press the present volume is NJ
tered II aving previously furnished the students of
modern languages with complete apparatus OF
Gramma RS, Dictionaries and elementary Reading
Books n French, Spanish, German, and Italian,
they IN We now commenced the publication of the
classic authors which illustrate and enrich the lite
ranref of these several peoples. In commencing
with a romance which is less European in its
popu arity than Spanish in It's spirit and diction,
they have, it must be admitted, made good begin
ninf A select collection of the chefs doaores
WI .ch adorn the teatures Of France and Spain, OF
LIZ ly and Germany, is we sure enc OF the warts
% American youth, among whom 4 is pleasing to
bserye growing taste for the acquisition OF the
modern, if not the ancient tongues This series of
authors should, q course comprise only those which,
lr the consent of cultivated men, are deem
I classical in their respective tcratures, and should
se edited with especial reference to the demands OF
alien students, by Attending them such compact and
yldcioEs annctations may suffice to elucdate diff
ffhe work before exemplifes what we deem to be
t1he desi0ereta of such recourse 1t is, We find, an
reprint, page for page; letter for letter and
fa- for accent, far discover, OF the
!eiition 90 carefully and correctly edited by Don
t-Gchoa, and originally published by Charles Hin
ssray, of Paris. The critical student will not per-
haps be easily persuaded to dispense with the more
'ouminous edition of Seor Ceu,encin and viii further
avail Himself of the learned abers and commentaries of
Fecr and the Spanish Academy but the general reader
viii fad in the weselected notes of 0choa nearly every
thing accessory for the calculation of author who
iny as his difficulties, especially for the foreign reader
We of any book, comprised in the iitera-
any tongue, which combines two qualities appa-
renty contradictory perfectly the immortal romance
Of Ceramics the national Of works ap
peaing all that is eninenly and disnctively Spanish
and pnsuar and yet lays its foundation in the
depth; human nature, and popularzes itself among all
nations naturally thought an indigenous pro-
duet so truly did Ceryantes succeed in mPressing his
work with the national character of the Spanish people
that lGutitudes of his counymen mistook the recital of
Don CKotcs life and adventures for veracious history
of Machegan hldalgo who actually lived in the village
La Maacha, antl the poer gentleman gave himself up
the reading Of books of chiyay and lost his wits Jar
Wis the English translat1rs of Don uixote informs
that intimate friend of his grayey assured by
spanard Of figure whom he met in London that
Cervantes wag his whole book fiction, nven
ton aud that there suca person the Of
La Mancha."
In order 10 understand how the is at once
the offspring Spain and the adopted child of a.
kind look into the genius Of the Spanish peo,e
which IS Colerdgs says, exqaisitely subtle without
being al all acute; hence there much humor and so
little wit in their literature Humor as it is shown in
books says Hazlitt is imitation Of the natural or
acquired absurdities mankind, Of the ludcrous in
incident situation, ami character = " 1t deals" says
Leigh Hunt incongruiti0 of character and circum-
stance does in those Of arbitrary IDEAS The more
the ncongrutes the better provided they all in one
nature And herein consists, we think the indehnabe
charm which has arrested and fixed the interest Of all
men Of all ages in the portraure Of the Spanish Don, SO
exqastey compounded in him all the comic elements
Of perfectly humorous character. As Mr. Hunt justly
argues il requires the conjunction of At least two incon
crues compose katlor, just two ideas are necess
~ 10 ri; as necessary indeed couples are TO mar
rages and the strikngy they differ yet harmonic
amusing the result. Such, he adds Is TIE melt
ing together Of the propensites love and WI IN the
person exquisite Uncle Toby; Of the gube and the
nny in Parson Adams; OF the profession and the in
divdaa the accidental and the perma96t IN the Can
terbury Pilgrims; Of the Objectionable d the agreeable
the fat and the sharp-witted in Fah Of honesty and
nayery in Gil Bas Of pretension td performance
in the DULLES Of dramatic poets And what pertains to
the subject in hand, Of folly an*sdom in Don Quixotc
Of shrewdness and doltishnein Sancho Panza and it
may be added in the dscohnt yet harmonious co-Ope-
ration Of Don Qaxoe and his attendant considered
pair charsters by presenting themselves
to the mind in combnaton nscnsby con.pre give
one compound idea 1.-THE whole abstract human being,
divided indeed by contradictions Of body and
SOUL but the time made and indvisible by
community Of and the necessities Of companionshp.
sancho considered not agent in the dramatic
cu;on Of Cervantess plot but excmpli6caton Of
humor is the flesh, looking after its homey ends; his
master who is also his dupe, is the spirit starving
sentiment Sancho himself being compound Of sense
AMI absurty, as the Dom Of folly and wisdom, thus
have duality heaped duality, contradiction on contra
dcon and the inmabe associates and reflect
one another We have but open any page of the peer
less romance which the knight and his squire figure
side oy side IN order perceive the different directions
Of thought and feeling into which their minds we're ncn
ed 10 run The reason sancho" said his master why
thou feeest that pain all down thy is that the stick
which gave it thee was Of length that extent" Gods
my lfe" exclaimed Sancho, impatently rs IL could
rot guess that Of my head The question H. how
10 get rid Of t."
!; Is not difficult, therefore in the Aow Of bu
which peryades the entire production Of Cervantes
that which gives such universal aud interest ma
king i book that charms not only the spanard but all
mankind wen, and revealing Also it does the qua
Ns-L =.