Produced by Brendan O'Connor, Jonathan Ingram, Louise Pryor and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Library of Early Journals.) {Transcriber's note: Spellings are sometimes erratic. A few obvious misprints have been corrected, but in general the original spelling has been retained. Accents in the French phrases are inconsistent, and have not been standardised. Greek phrases have been transliterated, and are enclosed in + signs +anekdotoi+.} BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. No. CCCXLVIII. OCTOBER, 1844. VOL. LVI. CONTENTS. THE LIFE OF A DIPLOMATIST, 401 POEMS AND BALLADS OF GOETHE. NO. II., 417 THE GREAT DROUGHT, 433 A TENDER CONSCIENCE, 454 THIERRY'S HISTORY OF THE GAULS, 466 THE WITCHFINDER. CONCLUSION, 487 MY LAST COURTSHIP; OR, LIFE IN LOUISIANA, 507 GREECE UNDER THE ROMANS. 524 * * * * * EDINBURGH: WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET; AND 22, PALL-MALL, LONDON. _To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed._ SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND HUGHES, EDINBURGH. BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. NO. CCCXLVIII. OCTOBER, 1844. VOL. LVI. THE LIFE OF A DIPLOMATIST.{A} This is one of those curious memoirs which, from time to time, start forth from the family archives of public men, for the illustration of the past and the wisdom of the future. Nothing can be more important to either the man of office or the man of reflection. Avoiding all the theoretical portion of history, on which all men may be mistaken, they give us its facts, on which no one can be deceived; detailing the course of personal events, they supply us with the views of the most intelligent minds directly employed in the transactions, exhibit the portraits of those minds, and point out to those who are to follow, the effect of vigour, intrepidity, and knowledge, in overcoming the difficulties of nations.