AN UNKNOWN STORY BY DE QUINCEY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1425, 27 April 1912, Page 9

AN UNKNOWN STORY BY DE QUINCEY.

It is of course well known I hut T)e Quincey was a contributor to "Kniglit's Quarterly Magazine l ." and two stories from that source are incJntlctl ill his cflllocted writings. The magazine was one of exceptional excellence, and both Jlscaulay and Mni-lnvortli Pracd furnished excellent material lo its papes. lint the public did lint 1-isc to the occasion, aiul the demise of the paner was announced wtih the end of the third volume in 1821. An n'temnt to revive it was made in 1525, but only one number appeared, and for iliis De Ouiucey translated Ticck's charming "Love Token." 'J'o the third vol nine lie sent "Tli!- Tnroinifo" wln'oh apueared in the part for July, 1R24. 'J'licse have Wn reprinted by T)o Ouiucey's editors, but i:her" is another article which, to my mind, shows the unmistakable mark of the hand of the Oniiiin "['inter. This story is entitled '"Hie Somnambulist." Tt appeared in "Knii'ht'.s Ouarterlv" for November. 1R24, and is translated, or rather adanled. frun n tale in Ihe first velume of the "fieifepl'laseii." of Friedi-icl; Li tin, which was published at Tubingen in 1810. Tie Ouiucey had n liking for l.aun's writinss, "A judicious selection (we-11 translated) frori the iin mouse body of his novels vnulil," wrote Be Quincey. "have a triple claim 011 nnljlic attention; first, as reflcctinst in a lively wav tho general asnect of German manner* in the domestic life of Hie middle ranks: secomllv,' : ( s prcity failhful evidences of the state of Herman taste amongst the mo't numerous class of readers, no wriler. evcent ICotzebue, perhaps, having dedicated his exertion' with more cucoe« lo Ihe singl" of meetim; Hie public l.i«te and ndnntiiiij himself to the immediate demands of tho

market; thirdly, as possessing considerable intrinsic merit in the lighter department of comic talcs. . . . The novels of Laun are mines of what is called Fun, which in its way is no bad tiling. To apply any more elaborate criticism to them would bo 'to break a fly upon the wheel.'"

FriedrichAugust Schulze, to give him his real__naine, was born in Dresden on Juno 1, 1770. His father was a banker who in tho course of the Spanish Succession War made some unfortunate speculations and fled the country. His widow struggled courageously to" continue the business, and, as no tidings came of her husband, married again. Friedrich's mother and stepfather intended him for a commercial life, but ho himself longed for an academic At the age of 27 he went to Leipzig University, which ho left in 1800. Next year appeared his "Mann auf Friersfuossen." After a short experience of ' ie returned to Dresden, edited an evening paper, and became acquainted with Tieck and Schlegel. His humorous sketches wore more popular with the public than bis dramatic pieces. In 1807 ho became an official in the Agriculture, Manufactures, aiul Commerce Deputation, but continued to write. "Die Rsise ins SehlarafTenland" is an evidence of his feelings in the struggle for national independence. In IS2O he was appointed Commissionsrath. When Tieck rcturnoA to Dresden in 18:29 ho founrt in Schulze the r-mne taste for <|uiet and retirement as before.' By strict adherence to temperate living he enjoyed almost unbroken good health. His'writings lill about two hundred volumes, mostly stories with backgrounds of history and phantasy. Jean J'aul is said to have advised him lo use more time and less paper in his literary work. Schulze issued his ".Memoiren" in 1837, and in 1543 a selection of his writings in six volumes, for which Tieck wrote an introduction. Schulze died September 4, ISI9, in Dresden. He wrote mostly under the name of Friedrich J.aun, but also used tho pseudonyms oi Jeremias, Felix Wohlgemuth,' Helldunkel, and Christian Heinrich Spiess.

The story of "The Somnambulist" is sufficiently farcical. A young lady has a lover who is unjustly considered objectionable by her elderly guardian and his sister. Whilst the lovers are going through a balcony scene the lady accidentally falls from the balcony into her lover's arms. 'Hie guardian and'his sister, who are both afraid of ghosts, hear tho lady's shriek, but on examining the rooms find only the open window. .When this is closed the lady's ingress to the house is barred. The heroine and her lover go to seek a ladder nt the gardener's house, but his wife, on the look for thieves, purposely leaves a door' open, and when tlicy enter locks them in and rushes off to apprise the guardian of her capture of felons. The lovers, however, cscapo with the ladder, and as the young lady reaches the window she startles her guardian, whij rushes oft in the belief that he has seen a ghost. Slio has been followed by a police spy named Slippery Dick, whose appearance frightens lier, and lie in turn is confronted by the lover. As the two last are already ill confederation a story is concocted to baffle the guardian. Tho gardener's wife cannot, of course, • produce her captives, and is accused of hoaxing. Slippery Dick persuades the guardian that the young lady is a somnambulist, and' that the young officer has protected both her life and her good name, and so all ends happily, "The Somnambulist" has all the mark, T repeat, of Do Quincey's workmanship. It is almost impossible to suppose that when Gorman was so little known as in tho year 1824 Charles Knight should have had two friends both of whom were acquainted with the writing of Friedrich Laun, for whom no one claims first rank or importance, and both of whom wero willing to undergo tho fatigue of transforming his German into whimsically, .humorous English. The digressions, the •odd, turns of humorous phrase, tho 'quotation from Coleridge, the footnoto as to the- opinions of tho Bishop of C—(meaning no' doubt Blomfield, then at the height of his classical reputation) on the Grecian ejaculation in comedy and tragedy, all point to the Opium Eater as tho transformer of this'trifle of German comedy into n piece of English humour. —William E. A. Axon, in tho "Maachcster Guardian."