gs whatever of the 'extensive close-printed,
close-meditated volume,' which forms the subject of this pretended
commentary. Again, we would respectfully inquire of the 'present Editor'
upon what part of the map of Germany we are to look for the city of
_Weissnichtwo_--'Know-not-where'--at which place the work is supposed
to have been printed, and the Author to have resided. It has been
our fortune to visit several portions of the German territory, and to
examine pretty carefully, at different times and for various purposes,
maps of the whole; but we have no recollection of any such place. We
suspect that the city of _Know-not-where_ might be called, with at
least as much propriety, _Nobody-knows-where_, and is to be
found in the kingdom of _Nowhere_. Again, the village of
_Entepfuhl_--'Duck-pond'--where the supposed Author of the work is said
to have passed his youth, and that of _Hinterschlag_, where he had his
education, are equally foreign to our geography. Duck-ponds enough there
undoubtedly are in almost every village in Germany, as the traveller
in that country knows too well to his cost, but any particular village
denominated Duck-pond is to us altogether _terra incognita_. The names
of the personages are not less singular than those of the places.
Who can refrain from a smile at the yoking together of such a pair of
appellatives as Diogenes Teufelsdrockh? The supposed bearer of
this strange title is represented as admitting, in his pretended
autobiography, that 'he had searched to no purpose through all the
Heralds' books in and without the German empire, and through all manner
of Subscribers'-lists, Militia-rolls, and other Name-catalogues,'
but had nowhere been able to find 'the name Teufelsdrockh, except as
appended to his own person.' We can readily believe this, and we doubt
very much whether any Christian parent would think of condemning a
son to carry through life the burden of so unpleasant a title. That of
Counsellor Heuschrecke--'Grasshopper'--though not offensive, looks much
more like a piece of fancy-work than a 'fair business transaction.'
The same may be said of _Blumine_--'Flower-Goddess'--the heroine of the
fable; and so of the rest.

"In short, our private opinion is, as we have remarked, that the
whole story of a correspondence with Germany, a university of
Nobody-knows-where, a Professor of Things in General, a Counsellor
Grasshopper, a Flower-Goddess Blumine, and so forth, has about as
much