As in his poems so also in his sketches are found extraordinary visions, which have, moreover, frequently witty turnings. All these have something of Jewish Talmudism about them, and are in the true Rabbinic vein. Similar visions, fancies, and witticisms are common in that section of the Talmud which is generally called the _Agada_, wherein the grave Rabbis often enlivened their learned discussions with curious and fantastic tales, love-songs, and sometimes even with facetious and satirical digressions. From them, therefore, Heine seems to have inherited much of the humour and incisive satire, which he now and again employs as a weapon against his own detractors and the enemies of the Jewish race. Invested with something of a Jewish colouring are also some of his epigrams, _bons mots_, and witty descriptions of persons and things. Of these the following example may serve as a specimen. Speaking of Fortune and Misfortune, Heine offers the following amusing definitions: “Fortune, or Good Luck,” he says, “is like a young and lively girl, a relative of ours, who is staying with us on a visit. By her unaffected merriment, sweet singing, and airy gossip she makes her surroundings extremely happy, and her presence is therefore hailed by us with much delight. But, alas, she is, like a golden butterfly, flighty and restless, and cares not much to abide in one place for any length of time. Quite different, however, is Dame Misfortune, who may be likened to an aged relative, and a spinster to boot, that has a bitter look about her, and a sour temper. When _she_ is paying us a visit, she considers herself quite at home, and would thus sit, and knit, and chatter, and moan, from morning till night. Oh, how ardently we all long for her speedy departure from among us; but she, for her part, is fully determined to stay on and on, for ever and ever.” Even on his death-bed Heine could not refrain from a jest. Reviewing his by no means irreproachable past, he said he hoped that his heavenly Father would readily overlook his peccadillos, for _c'est son métier_. This remark is typically Jewish, and it recalls a similar one once made by a dying Rabbi, who had been all his lifetime extremely religious, but had likewise always suffered much want and misery. “Do you know,” he said to those in the sick room, “if, after all the sad experiences I have had in the past, there is no future life, I shall be greatly amused.” There is still one further remark to be made in conclusion. While there is much that is fine, much that is genuinely charming in Heine's work, it must be admitted that there is also much in which he might be said to rival Rabelais and Swift for licence. If any excuse for this be possible it may, perhaps, be regarded as an extenuating circumstance that he merely reproduced in his own language some faint reminiscences from the contents of certain parts of the Book of Ezekiel, of the Talmud, and the Midrash. Footnotes: