,

    192

   ,

    piccadilly

   .

   Adelung said to me one day at Petersburg—“Have you read Peter Schlemihl?”—“No.”—“If you read it, you will translate it.”—I have translated it.

   The story is a moral one. I leave its development to my readers. It would be little flattering to them to suspect they required my assistance, in order to discover the obvious lessons it conveys.

   I have not scrupled to introduce a few verbal alterations; but the deviations from the original are very trifling.

    The Translator

   .

   Come to the land of shadows for awhile,

   And seek for truth and wisdom! Here below,

   In the dark misty paths of fear and woe,

   We weary out our souls and waste our toil;

   But if we harvest in the richer soil

   Of towering thoughts—where holy breezes blow,

   And everlasting flowers in beauty smile—

   No disappointment shall the labourer know.

   Methought I saw a fair and sparkling gem

   In this rude casket—but thy shrewder eye,

 Prev. P 2/56 next