Page:German Stories (Volumes 1–2).djvu/12

vi extended intercourse with the Continent is one obvious reason. Critics, who before talked glibly of the German school, (as if there were but one,) begin to perceive, that in this neglected language, which hitherto rarely formed a branch of what is called liberal education, every possible variety of composition and style may be discovered. Such prejudices being cleared away, versions, therefore, of minor German novels, without alteration, may prove acceptable now, as those from Italian sources were popular and current two centuries ago.

The first narrative in this collection, “Mademoiselle de Scuderi,” is one of the few examples afforded by Hoffmann of a plain historical style, in opposition to the wildness and bizarrerie in which he usually indulged. The repulsive crimes of Brinvilliers are well known; but probably Cardillac’s character is altogether of his own invention; and it is so well supported, that, as a good story may bear to be twice told, there is the less