[Footnote 24: The _Ranz des Vaches_ has also four metrical versions:
1833--_The Lady's Book_, VI-164. 1833--_The Juvenile Rambler_, II-84. 1835--_Amer. Mo. Mag._, V-424. 1809--_The Visitor_, I-72 (entitled _Cow Boy's Chant_).]
Another group of poems calling for some attention includes those translated from the French. These are of two kinds. In the first place there are poems written in French by Germans or Swiss, such as the poems of Frederick the Great, and also the _Ranz des Vaches_. As to the latter, the French verses are given in two instances together with the translation,[25] so that it is certain what the original was. In other instances no mention is made of the source. Since part of the population of Switzerland has always been German, a German form of the song very likely existed. It is difficult, therefore, to say whether this or the French version was used by the translator. The title is French but this might have been retained for the German stanzas.
[Footnote 25: _Boston Weekly Mag._, III-60, Feb. 2, 1805, Boston.
_The Visitor_, I-72, June 3, 1809, Richmond. ]
The second class of translations from the French comprehends those from authors who usually wrote in German; thus, _Navigation_, "From the French of Gessner" (1803), and _The Usurer_, "From the French of Gellert" (_Port Folio_, XVI-245, 1823). Either these may have been taken from French translations of the German,[26] or the word "French" may be a mistake.[27] This second group has been classed with the translations of German poetry (Part II); while the first group from the French belongs to Part III.
[Footnote 26: The British Museum catalogue mentions "_Fables et Contes_ [trans. principally from the German of C. F. Gellert, etc.], 1754."]
[Footnote 27: Cf. _The Earth's Division_, "Trans. from Goethe [sic], by L. E. L." _Waldie's Port Folio_, Part I-123, Apr. 11, 1835, Phila.
Also, _Benevolence_, "A Fable from the German of Galleret" [sic], 1802.]
No attempt is here made to discuss the critical estimate that the Americans of this period placed upon German literature. This would require a consideration of all the prose articles, whereas the present study has been devoted entirely to the poetry. It is hoped that, from the list given in Part IV, such information may be obtained. Besides the several paragraphs on German literati, the individual poems are often preceded by an introductory note praising the original of the translation. Even back in the eighteenth century, people were considering the utility of the modern languages as opposed to the classics. The _American Museum_, for example, published a _Speech on the learned languages_, by the Hon. Francis Hopkinson, which concludes with the remark that the "languages most in use are, in truth, the most useful to be known."[28]