ds,
My frailties no to see;
My blessing on them, ane and a'--
I 've naething else to gie.
For I 'm weary,
I 'm weary,
I 'm weary and worn--
To the friens o' my youth
I maun soon, soon return.

JOHN STUART BLACKIE.[11]

John Stuart Blackie, Professor of Greek in the University of Edinburgh,
was born at Glasgow in the year 1809. His father, who had originally
come from Kelso, removed from Glasgow to Aberdeen, as agent for the
Commercial Bank in that city, while his son was still very young. At the
grammar school of Aberdeen, then under the rectorship of Dr Melvin, the
boy began his classical education, and subsequently, according to the
ridiculous Scottish custom, the folly of which he has done his best to
expose, he became, in his twelfth year, a student in Marischal College.
He was a student of arts for five years in Aberdeen and Edinburgh--and
then he attended theological classes for three years. In 1829 he
proceeded to the Continent, and studied at Gottingen and Berlin, where
he mastered the German language, and dived deep into the treasures of
German literature. From Germany he went to Rome, where he spent fifteen
months, devoting himself to the Italian language and literature, and to
the study of archaeology. His first publication testifies to his success
in both studies. It is entitled, "Osservazioni sopra un antico
sarcophago." It was written in Italian, and published in the _Annali del
Instituto Archaeologico, Roma_, 1831.

Mr Blackie had given up the idea of entering the Church, and on his
return to Scotland he studied law, and passed advocate in 1834. The
study of law was never very congenial to him, and the practice of the
profession was still less so. Accordingly, at this period he occupied
himself with literary work, principally writing for Reviews. It was at
this time that his translation of "Faust" appeared. It is entitled,
"Faust: a Tragedy, by J. W. Goethe. Translated into English Verse, with
Notes, and Preliminary Remarks, by John S. Blackie, Fellow of the
Society for Archaeological Correspondence, Rome." Mr Blackie had taken
upon him a very difficult task in attempting to translate the great work
of the great German, and we need not wonder that he did not succeed
entirely. We believe, with Mr Lewes, that the perfect accomplishment of
this task is impossible, and that Goethe's work is fully intelligible
only to the German schol