CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FROM pAf E DUE APR o-i la/gjpr y GAVLORD PRINTEDIN USA. Cornell University Library PT 98.T44 1866 Literature of Germany : 3 1924 026 129 134 y. THE LITERATURE OF GERMANY, FROM ITS EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE f PRESENT TIME, '. *' . * HISTORICALLY DEVELOPED BY FRAFZ THIMM. SECOND EDITION. LONDON: FEANZ THIMM, FOREIGN BOOKSELLER AND PUBLISHER, 3 BROOK STREET, GROSVBNOE SQUARE. 1866. I • ■ • >:. CORNELL^ -C o Ay SEINE! HOCHVEREHRTEN LEHRER HEREN Dk. joh. gustav droysen, PEOFESSOK AN DER UNIVEESITAET IN BERLIN, HOCHACHTUNGSVOLL GEWIDMET YOM VERFASSER. Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 9240261 291 34 PREFACE. The present work is designed to exhibit a succinct view of the whole body of German Literature. This is effected by a series of biographical notices of the German authors, from the earliest period downward — separated into their respective classes — and by a general chronological arrangement, intended to mark the progress of the national mind in each department of letters, and to be used as an aid to reference by the inquiring reader.* This volume being, in fact, a commentary upon those Ger- man writers, who have figured in the literary history of their country , distinguishes , in every instance , those works of an author, which are the most worthy of attention for their artistic worth or moral excellence; and thus presents, at a glance, the principal efforts, whether of imagination or of severer thought, that have won repute or popularity. Every accredited authority has been consulted; andwhere- ever a bibliographical precedent was necessary to substantiate an assertion, or to point out to the student a desirable book of reference, a note, indicative thereof, has been supplied. No notice, however, has been taken of those writers, whose claims to be chronicled repose only upon doubtful foundations, and whose compositions have long since fallen into disuse. In addition to the above-mentioned biographical memoirs, and the other literary topics, the author has endeavoured to exhibit a concise estimate of the characteristics of each wri- ters genius, talents, and personal influence, and to discuss in- cidentally the manner and degree, in which his intellectual qualities were operated upon by external contemporaneous causes. PEEFACE. Many works upon the national literature have been pub- lished in Germany. Some among them are of high excellence and repute; but the majority are either too extended and too critical, or too limited in their professed design; so that but few of them would altogether satisfy the English scholar. Accordingly, it has been the aim of the author, to prepare his work upon a plan that should combine comprehensiveness with brevity ; and he ventures to hope, that this second edition, which is almost entirely re-written, will be found adapted to the present want. When the first edition was published in 1844, German Literature, was only known to a very limited ex- tent ; but during the last ten years it has become a branch of study in every good school and Institution, and the German Language being admitted for Government examinations, the study of its literature has become a necessity. COXTEXTS. PAGE Section I. — Ancient German Literature 3 II. — llodern German Literature . . . 17 f IKST Period, from noo to 1770. The second Saxonic School. — Eabener, Gellert, Kastner, etc. IS Die Anakreontiker : Gleim and TJz . . 23 Klopstoek ..... . 25 Lessing . . . .... 30 Wieland .... . . .37 Lessing's influence on art, criticism, philosophy and history 47 Philosophy: — Wolff, Crusius, Baumgarten, Mendelssohn, Engel, etc .47 Xovels and Tale-Writers .... .50 Art : Winkelmann, Bottiger . . . 55 History ......... 57 The Influence of Philosophy : — Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Jacobi, Krug, etc. . . . - . .63 Second Period, from 1770 to 1800. Die Sturm- und Drang-Periode . . . 75 Das Zeitalter der Classischen Poesie 7s Sect. I. Der GiJttinger Dichterbund - BUrger, Stolberg, Voss, Holty, Claudins , . . . 7S J. G. Herder ' . . .... 87 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe .... 93 Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller . 130 CONTENTS. PAGE Sect. II. 1. Lyric Poets . .' ... 147 2. Dramatic Writers ... . . 151 Die Schicksalstragiidie .... 165 3. Die Humoristen — Langbein, ThUmmel, Hip- pel, Jean Paul, Hoffmann, Benzel-Sternau, etc. is* Third Period, from 1800 to 18lS. I Die Eomantische Schule — A. W. and W. F. Schlegel, "Wackenroder, Tieck, Fouqu^, Arnim, Bientano, Cha- misso, Eichendorff, No-valis etc 16S 11. The War Poetry of 1813—1815 n9 KOrner, Schenk v. Schenkendorff, Staegmann, Arndt 180 III. Poets ... 195 IV. Dramatic Writers . . . 201 V. Novelists .207 Literary Women: Eahel, Bettina, Charlotte Stieglitz 211 PouRTH Period, from 1820 to 1847. The Era of Hegel's Philosophy . . .215 Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel . . . .219 I. Lyrical Poets (the Suabian School) . . . 223 II. Das junge Deutschland . . . . 231 III. Novelists . .237 IV. Biographers, Critics and Historians . . 239 Fifth Period. Die Eevolutions-Periode. 1848 to 1859 . 247 The Drama . . 260 The Novel ... ... 252. SECTION I. ANCIENT GERMAN LITERATURE. SECTION I. ANCIENT GERMAN LITERATURE. The early dawn of German lyrical poetry began to shew itself in the middle of the 12th century, at the time when the Hohenstaufen dynasty occupied the throne of the German empire. The chief seat of this poetry lay in the heart of Ger- many ; on the shores of the Rhine, in Suabia, Wirtemberg, Baden, and Bavaria; where the AUemanic, Suabian and Bavarian dialects were, and are still, spoken. The German tribes had sung of their "Lieb und Laid" enough in epic poetry; but it was not until the influence of the French lyric poets, lalready at its greatest height in Flanders and Champagne), began to affect them, that their lyrical powers were fully developed. For chivalry was at its highest point in those provinces through which the river Maas winds its way, — in Brabant, Flanders ; and North Lothringen, — and from thence its influence over fashion and taste, no less than over language and art, extended throughout Germany, moulding even the social life of large and busy cities, with extended trade and opulent communities of rich burghers. Poetry was in those days united with high breeding. The Troubadours of Provence, the Trou- veres of Normandy, and the Minnesanger of Germany were all, at the same period, singing lyric poetry; and when this more perfect construction of verse had once been mastered by the German Minnesingers, they raised it to a height far beyond that of their foreign prototypes. Uhland has well characterized the Minnesingers in the following Stanzas : — "Mit Degen und mit Speere Waren sie stets bereit, Den Frauen gaben sie Ehre, Und sangen Widerstreit 1* 4 ANCIENT GERMAN MTEEATtJEE. Sie sangen von Gottesminne Von kllhner Helden Muth, Von Under Liebesminne Von sUsser MaienblUth." The poets of these remote times sang principally their own compositions, generally accompanying them on the violin or the harp. The itinerant Troubadours, (who soon constituted themselves into a regular profession! committed these songs to memory; and, travelling from the rural castles of the kings and nobles to courts and cities, not only made a living by their recitations, but became the means of diffusing lyric poetry throughout the whole of Germany. Few of these songs were originally written down ; for even such great poets as Wolfram von Eschenbach could not write. The wandering minstrels were thus the first who collected them into written volumes: — it being impossible for the me- mory to retain so miscellaneous and rich a collection — and their manuscripts have been the means of preserving most of the poetry of the Minnesingers which we now possess. The most important of these ancient manuscripts was the "Manes- sische Handschrift," which van der Hagen brought out in 1S38'; and the best modern collection of them is contained in his large and valuable work "die deutschen Minnesanger," published in 4 volumes quartp. When writing came more into fashion, during the 13th century, the poets must have been both nu- merous and prolific ; for of tlie existence of at least 150 different poets proof is afforded by the various manuscripts of this period. The Landgi-ave Hermann of Thuringia was one of the great patrons of poetry, and his castle "Die Wartburg" near Eisenach, which a few centuries later became the retreat of the great Luther, was as widely celebrated, as a gathering place for great poets, in the 13th century, as Weimar became in the time of Goethe. The first rank amongst the Minnesanger must be granted to Walthek von dee Vogblweidb. It was during his time (about 1210) that the great German epic "Die Nibelungen," ("the Iliad of the Germans," as it has been styled), received its present shape. The "Nibelungen" was without doubt, ori- ginally, a series of ancient ballads, the productions of different ages, but forming a continuous plot, and ultimately connected and arranged by some unknown hand, whom a not improbable conjecture identifies with Heinrich von Ofterdingen. ANCIENT GERMAN LITEEATUKE. 5 The plot of this renowned epic runs thus: — Siegfried of the Netherlands comes with a splendid retinue to Worms, to win the hand of Krimhilde, the sister of Gunther, king of the Burgundians. At his entrance Hagen (one of Gunther's heroes) tells of the former deeds of Siegfried; how he has conquered the dwarf race of the Nibelungen, and taken their vast treasure (Hort), as well as an invisible cap (Tarnkappe) which gives him the strength of twelve men, and how he has slain a dragon in the fat and blood of which he has dipped himself, and thereby become invulnerable save in one place in the back, where a small leaf had stuck to him whilst taking his bath. The Ni- belungenlied opens thus : — "Uns ist ill alten Msoren, Wunders viel geseit Von Helden lobebisren, von grosser Kuhnheit Yon Freuden, Hochzeiten, von Weinen und von Klagen Von kuliner Eecken Streiten, mijgt ihr nun Wunder horen sagen. Es wuchs in Burgunden ein edles Magdelein Das in alien Landen nichts suhoneres mochte sein Krienihild war sie geheissen und war ein schones.Weib Darum wohl mussten viel Degen verlieren ihren Leib. Die Minnigliche lieben, brachte nimmer Scbam Den Jtuth der kilhnen Eccken, Niemand war ihr gram Ohne Massen schone so war ihr edler Leib Der Jungfraun Tugenden, verehrte jedes Weib."* etc. etc. , After some time ,Gunther is desirous of winning the hand of "Brunhilde," in Isenland; who, being endowed with extra- ordinary strength, meets her suitors in single combat ; and has hitherto overcome them all. In this undertaking Gunther is assisted by Siegfried, who' secures for him the hand of Brunhilde, by means of his "Tarn- kappe" and his strength. At Worms Brunhilde's temper again appears : she fights with Gunther on the wedding night, binds his hands and feet with her girdle, and suspends him to the ceiling. Siegfried again interposes in behalf of his friend, fol- lows them into the bridal apartment, and overpowers Brun- hilde; from whom he takes her ring and girdle. Once over- come, Brunhilde, whose great strength had depended on her remaining a virgin, loses it for ever. For these services Sieg- fried obtains Krimhilde for his wife, and returns home with * The Nibelungenlied has been translated into English by Lettsom. 6 ANCIENT GERMAN LITERATURE. her. In an evil hour he confides to Krimhilde his secret, and gives her Brunhilde's ring and girdle. A few years after, Sieg- fried and Krimhilde visit their relations at Worms: and the two Queens begin to quarrel, on a question of precedence. Krimhilde, irritated at Brunhilde's considering Siegfried a vassal of Gunther's, tells her adversary that she has only become Gunther's wife by Siegfried's aid. Enraged by this taunt, and still more by the treachery on Siegfried's part which it evinces, Brunhilde determines on vengeance, and excites Hagen to murder Siegfried. Hagen discovers the place where Siegfried is vulnerable, and stabs him whilst he is drinking at a spring (am Lindenbrunnen im Odenwalde) after hunting. Krimhilde mourns for many years the loss of her husband ; and after a time Hagen adds another injury to that already committed. Persuaded by her brothers, Krimhilde sends for the Nibelungen hoard ihort) of gold and jewels — a great treasure. Hagen, with the king's knowledge, carries it away, and sinks it in the Rhine. During thirteen years Krimhilde continues her mourning for Siegfried, and awaits the time for revenge; when at last king Etzel asks for her hand. Seeing that this union will give her the opportunity so long and ardently desired, she accepts the offer, and joins Etzel in Hungary. A few years after, she invites her relations there. It is in vain that Hagen, (whose evil conscience, perhaps, forebodes ill) warns them not to trust her; so he joins them himself with the pur- pose of counteracting her designs. Having arrived in Hungary, and being seated at king Etzel's table, news reaches the Bur- •gundian heroes of the treacherous destruction of their ten thou- sand unarmed yeomen, by Krimhilde's orders; upon hearing which, Hagen, in his indignation, taunts her with the death of Siegfried, whose sword he wears ; and acknowledges and glo- ries in his deed. The signal for battle being thus given, he begins the strife by slaying her infant son. Krimhilde, in her despair, now becomes a fury; and the fight grows fierce and general. "Irin," the valorous Danish prince, is slain by Hagen; the noble "Eiidiger" and King "Gemot," Gunther's brother, kill •each other ; and Krimhilde's wrath knows no bounds. At length •"Dietrich," the king of the "Amelungen," anally of Etzel's and Krimhilde's (after all the rest of the Burgundians have been slain) takes Hagen and Gunther prisoners, and brings them before her. She has her brother Gunther killed, exhibits his ANCIENT GERMAN UTERATUKE. 7 head in triumph to Hagen, and then decapitates him also, herself, with Siegfried's sword. This deed revolts Hildebrand the only survivor of Dietrich's hand of heroes ; who suddenly murders Krimhilde, and thus terminates this terrible tragedy. Only the three, — "Etzel," "Dietrich,'' and "Hildebrand," — survive this catastrophe, and mourn over the death of the heroes ; their grief being described in a supplement to the Nibelungen entitled "die Klage." Such, briefly, are the contents of that immortal epic which is the greatest treasure of poetic art that the German nation possesses. KiiDRUN or GuDRDN, the second great German epic — the Odyssey of the Germans — which von der Hagen has styled "die wunderbare Nebensonne der Nibelungen," dates from the 13th century. It is full of occurrences, partly romantic and partly historical, of which Gudrun, the daughter of king Hetel of Hegelingen (Friesland) is the heroine; on whose account wars with Normandy and other countries are undertaken. In these two works the principal remains of the old Teutonic Sagas are collected ; and the wonderful exploits which they describe may be regarded as a sort of counterpart to those heroic deeds of the ancient Greeks which the two great Ho- meric poems have immortalized. But the interest of poems of this kind is gradually lost in the 13th and 14th centuries and the national epos shares the decline of the Minnegesang. It is true the traditions of Ger- many were still collected; but foreign legends soon found fa- vour, and gradually diminished the interest taken in those purely national. Of these latter however, we have an important collection entitled "Das Heldenbuch," (the book of Heroes), of which the most perfect copy is the one transcribed by Kaspar von der Eoen (1472). The most important of these traditions are those of " Otnit," " Hug " and " Wolfdietrich," der " Eosen- garten " (the scene of which is laid on one of the islands in the Ehine near Worms), " Die Eabenschlacht," the legend of the "dwarf-king Luarin," and the "gehOrnte Siegfried." They are full of giant and dragon stories, which have been afterwards rewritten in prose, and form the " Volksbiicher " of the Germans to this day. The Crusaders transplanted many a foreign legend into Germany; such as "Konig Arthur's Tafelrunde," and the tra- ditions of the "Heihge Gral" (sang r6al). The "Holy Grail" was a goblet which our Lord had used at the Last Supper, » AXCIENT GERMAN LITEEATURE. and in which Joseph of Arimathea had collected His Precious Blood. To be elected a knight of the Holy Grail, was esteemed the highest honour possible; and was only bestowed on the most noble and virtuous knights.- The goblet itself was a relic of Paradise, and was gifted with the power of bestowing everlasting life upon all permitted to behold it. The round temple in which It was preserved was erected by the legendary king Titurel, and stood on the mountain called Montsalvage, in Spain. This temple has been described by the poets as a marvel of beauty, being built of gold, and ornamented with jewels and precious stones of all kinds. The most distinguished of the Minnesingers were: — "Haetmann von. debAue" (in Suabia) a man of a noble and religious mind, and an intensely poetic temperament. His great epic poem, " Iwein " (so called from the name of the hero ; who was one of King Arthur's knights of the round table) illustrates his style in a less degree than "der arme Heinrich," an idyllic legend which is full of domestic pathos and gentle feeling. " Wolfram von Eschenbach" (about 12001 a poor knight of Franconia, wrote the poem "Parzival," which belongs to the Grail legends. It contains the adventures of a pious and penitent knight. Eschenbach has also left us the fragments of a chival- rous poem entitled "Titurel," (the first priest king of the Grail). "Meister Gottfried von Stkassbxjrg," author of" Tristran nnd Isolde," a poem which forms a great contrast to Parzival. With the writings of these poets the great epics of chivalry ceased. The poets of the 13th Century were more or less imitators of the three last mentioned, and continued to take religious legends and tales for~ their subjects, until poetry sank into the " Reimchroniken," which Avere a mere jumble of fables and historical tales of no poetic merit. These "Chroniken'' show plainly that it was only the want of a German prose, which prompted their authors to rhyme. The "Karlssage" and the " Haimonskinder " belong to this series. A great change takes place in the 14th century; owing partly to the covetousness of the German emperors, and partly to the strife between the knights in their old castles, who turn robbers and highway men, and the burghers, who must protect their cities and property — a strife which, as might be expected, results in open war, and destroys the small remnants hitherto existing of chivalrous and poetic feeling . Under the Emperor Maximilian the last faint attempt was made to revive ANCIENT GEEMAN LITEKATUEE. 9 the once famous " Heldengedicht," by planning two allegorical works; the "Theuerdank," in verse, and the " Weisskunig," in prose. The first was written by Melchior Pflnzig, the last by Max Ttoi;^SAraRWEiN ; but both are dry and prosaic books, and more m)tiee*le fhr their typography than for their con- tents. The time of the troubadours and "Minne" had passed ; cities rose higher and higher in importance ; the arts and sciences progressed; and it was not long before Johann Guttenberg, (born 1397) who belonged to a patrician family at Mayence, made his wonderful invention public. The strife between the nobles and burghers of Mayence came to an outbreak in 1-120, when most of those who belonged to patrician families left the city. Among them was Guttenberg, who, in the year 1434, went to Strasburg; and returned, after experiencing many hardships, to Mayence, where he entered into partnership with a citizen named Johann Fust, i1450), for the purpose of bringing out his great invention, — the art of printing with moveable letters. The first great work, which he printed was the won- derful book "Biblia Latina Vulgata," in two volumes folio (1455). A new light burst upon civilization with this noble invention ; and a new era in letters began. The establishment of Univer- sities at Prague, Vienna, Heidelberg, Cologne, and Leipzig, in- fluenced still more the general character of German literature. DIE MEISTEfiSANGER. These societies, or guilds, of poets associated for the purpose of cultivating vocal music, sent forth a great quantity of so- called poetry; in which, however, nothing like real poetic feeling was visible. Their songs - at first of a legendary and religious character — after the bible had been circulated amongst the people, became altogether biblical. It was very wonderful that poetry — or at least verse — should have been thus preserved by the great bodies of working men, whose occupations could have scarcely left them time for poetic studies of any kind; and yet these "Liedertafeln" of the middle ages w^re the instruments of imbuing the German nation with that delightful " pleasure of song " which is to this day a characteristic feature of Germany. The most celebrated of these Meistersanger were Hans Rosenblut, Hass Folz, and Hans Sachs at Nurnberg. 10 ANCIENT GERMAN LITEEATUEJE. But besides the " Song," which became universal in this period, another species of literature was created, which gives us the best indication of the change which society had experienced. It was a time of commotion in every rank of life. The burgher stood up for his rights and his privileges against the old feudal aristocracy: the mendicant orders of friars against the rich prelates. Besides this, the works of classical antiquity had driven the heavy scholastic learning from the chairs of the Universities; and the "Komische Volksliteratur," created by the people, became the very opposite of the "Eitterminne." Poetry had descended into real life, and had planted itself in the lowest soil ; from which it could and did afterwards, safely rise. The wit and mirth of these productions was low; but yet their influence was so powerful that no class could withstand it. It even penetrated — represented by " der Hofnarr," (Court fool) — into the very presence of royalty. Some of the earliest Volksbiicher of this kind are " der Pfaffe Amis," written by the poet Stkicker; "Salomon and Morolf," an ancient Eastern tale, which was remodelled in the middle of the 15th century and "Der Pfaffe von Kalenberg," a "fool's book," which was only surpassed by the facetious "Till Eulenspiegel." The ad- ventures of " Doctor Johann Faust" also made their appearance at this time, as well as the ludicrous follies of " die Schildbiirger." In these tales every kind of wit is found. The humour of the people evinces itself in satire against the friars, in irony against mystic learning, and in the wild burlesque which laughs at magic and the devil ; all of which contribute to form the matter of these "peoples' tales." .This coarse wit was the necessary forerunner of a higher order of satire, the first example of which is Sebastian Brandt's (1458—1521) " Narrenschiff," in which he chastises, with much power and earnestness, all grades of men; and attacks with especial vehemence the literature "des heiligen Grobianus " ("of the Holy Ruffian"/ as he calls it, which sought to demolish the nice and elegant manners of the educated, and to introduce an unbounded' licence. The impression which this book created was so great and universal that Gbilbr von Kaisersbbeg, (1450—1510), one of the most talented pulpit orators of the time, used the various chapters of the Narrenschiff for texts. The celebrated "Eeinecke Fuchs," (1498) which had previously made its appearance in Holland took root also in the German ANCIENT GERMAN LITEEATUEE. 1 I soil. It contained a deep and important allegory — depicting, as it did, the tyranny and lawlessness of those rulers who set all order at defiance to attain their selfish ends. But one of themostprolifioand witty of the satirical authors of this period was Johann Fischakt, (1591i. An intimate ac- quaintance with ancient and modern languages, combined with a wonderful talent and fertility of resource for twisting the German language into the most ludicrous forms, made his writings the very Babel of style. Among his many productions is the novel "Gargantua," the title of which runs thus: — „AffentheurliclieRaupengeheurliclie Geschichtsklitterung von Thaten ,,und Rahten der vor kurtzen langen weilen volln woM beschreiten „HeIden und Herrn Grandgusier, Gargantua und Pantagruel, Kbni- „gen von TJtopien und Nienreich," etc. etc. Imitations of Aesop's Fables were made use of as vehicles of satire against the numerous abuses of the day, particularly of the religious sects then dominant — the chief of which was that of the Anabaptists. The unbounded and degrading licence of the Catholic Church had long called for reform. The monk Martin Luther (1483 — 1546) responded to the call. In a work like the present, we must confine ourselves to a passing remark on the great protest of which he was the originator, and consider more especially the impetus he gave to literature. Hitherto the Latin tongue alone had been in use among the learned. Martin Luther was the first, who introduced the Saxon, or high German dialect into the language of books. His nervous eloquence, the power with which he wielded his pen, the energy of his style, which was equally terse and pithy, and above all his intimate ac- quaintance with the resources of the language of the body of the people, carried conviction to all hearts, and tended more to the advancement of literature than anything that had yet been done. Apart from his own writings, his noble translation of the bible into the vulgar tongue will remain an enduring monument to Luthers' fame. His rehgious dissertations were written with the very marrow of the German language. His paper "Das Papstthum in Eom vom Teufel gestiftet" is especially remarkable, and his "Predigten", " Tischreden ", "Ti-ostschriften", and "Briefe" all show the great resources of manner and style which he possessed, as a German writer. But the great beauty of the language, no less than the command 12 ANCIENT GERMAN LITBKATUEE. which he possessed over it, came forth especially in his mag- nificent hymns; such as " Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her" — "Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott" (one of the most splendid hymns of the reformation) — " Gelobet seyst Du Jesii Christ " — "Herr Gott dich loben wir" — which are unsurpassed in grandeur and sublimity. From this time may be dated the beginning of a complete division between the " geistliche " and " weltliche Liederdichtung ". Among the former we may notice, besides Luther, Musculus (1497 — 1563) and Johann Arndt (1555 — 1621). The latter published a work of great mystic eminence entitled "Vier Biicher vom wahren Christenthum ", and another " das Paradiesgartlein ", both of which have remained in high repute among pious people and mystics to this day. Many protestant clergymen distinguished themselves in the composition of religious hymns; e. g. Paul Spbratus, who wrote "Es ist das Heil uns kommen her;" Nic. Decius, who composed the masterly hymn "Allein Gott in der Heh' sei Ehr"; and Paul Gerhard (1606- 1676) the pious and noble minded man, who, when his faith was attacked, packed up his worldly things and trusting in God, went cheerfully into exile, poverty and wretchedness. His life is one of the most touching biographies extant. He composed the remarkable hymns, "Befiehl du deine Wege" — "0 Haupt voU Blut und Wunden" — and "Wach auf mein Herz und singe". There is a perfect divine inspiration in these men who were the pillars of Protestantism ; the result of which is a grandeur in the hymns they composed which we do not appear to be able to match in our days. Dramatic Poetry went hand in hand with the reformation. The old Mysteries were originated by the Church herself; but the " Fastnachtsspiele " were in opposition to the religious drama; for here were mirth, satire, drollery and a stock of laughter in store for the people. The Nurnberg shoemaker, Hans Sachs, (1494—15761 was one of the most eminent and prolific authors of this school. He rhymed on himself thus : — Hans Sachs war ein Schuh- Macher und Poet dazu. He was born in Albrecht Diirer's town,, the very centre of quaint artistic beauty, and surrounded at that time by handicraft poets such as RoSENBLiJT and Folz, who were patronised by rich patricians — a town full of life and soul, where the drama AXCIENT GEEJIAN LITERATURE. 13 could take vigorous root and be healthily nurtured. Attached as Haks Sach.s was to the Reformation, we are not surprised at his saluting Luther, in 1.523, as "dieWittenbergerKachtigall". In his farces and "Fastnachtspiele" he hit very happil}- upon the right tone for the people, ^^ ith whom he succeeded so well as to be taken for a model by the authors of ^ the succeeding generation. It is with much wit and merriment that he depicts the frolics of the lower classes ; of handici-aftsmen and peasants, of soldiers and vagrants, of gypsies and quacks, whilst at the same time, and with equal firmness and honesty, he instructs and educates them. The variety of Hans Sachs' writings is perfectly amazing. The labours of Luther exerted a vast influence over the onward progress of his own language; and as one of the first fruits of those labours we greet the poetry of the FIRST SILESIAN SCHOOL the leading writer of which was Martin Opitz von Bobeefeld (1597 — 16391 who must be considered as the Reformer of German poetry. His merits are firstly, that he gave a considerable impulse to the poetry of his age ; secondly that he imjsarted to it a more artistic form, and one more accordant with the models of antiquity; and thirdly, that he brought the literature of Greece and Rome into notice, by translating Sophocles' "Antigone," and various other classical works. But although Opitz was a man of talent, he was utterly devoid of poetical imagination, and deserves notice more on account of the impulse he gave to poetry, than for any individual merits he possessed. But the thirty years war, which had desolated the whole surface of Germany, had also extended its enervating influence to the language, which had become iiiterlarded with foreign words of all kinds. The views of Opitz were now no longer considered correct, and the classical writers were discarded, as models, on account of the supposed harshness of their style. The authors of this date turned their eyes towards France, and copied the bad Italian models of Guarini and Marino. Thus the poetry of this period was full of bombast, exaggeration and pedantry. 14 ANCIENT GERMAN LITEKATORE. SECOND SILESIAN SCHOOL. Andreas Gryphius (1616—64) ranks as the first of this school ; but he had a leaning towards mysticism and superstition. His "Kirchhofsgedanken " exhibits some talent, and his tragedies " Carl Stuart " and " Leo der Armenier " are not without merit. His followers Hoffmann von Hopfmannswaldau 1I6I8 — 69), KaSPEB VON LOHENSTEIN (1635— 1683), LOGAC, KANITZ, GtJNTHEB and Wernicke were, at best, but bad rhymsters, and not worthy of the name of poets. Franz Horn describes these would-be poets admirably, in the following sentence: "Sie wollten die Farbe noch farbiger, den Ton noch t(5nender, das SchBne noch schSner haben als schijn. Darum entschwand ihnen das SchSne, und sie schrieben schlecht, well sie besser schreiben wollten als gut" The entire German nation, at this time, was so infected with French modes of expression and habits of thought, that even that illustrious founder of a new school of philosophy — Leibnitz (1646—17161 composed several of his works in that language. Great praise, however, is due to the philosopher Christian von Wolf, (1679 - 1754) who not only did much for the general improvement of his vernacular tongue but enriched the philosophical department of it in particular with many new technical expressions. Wolf was a man of enlightened ideas, and one who sensibly quickened the intellectual progress of his age. His doctrines were too free for the theologians; who intrigued with the pietist parties of Halle , until an edict banished him from the university. Frederic the second however recalled him ; and his teachings awakened thoughts to "das Wesen der Dinge". We arrive at last at the time when the poetry of Germany aroused itself from the state of servile imitation into which it had fallen; and two men appear, who do their utmost to effect a change. These men are Bodmer and Gottsched. SECTION U. MODERN GERMAN LITERATURE. SECTION II. MODERN GERMAN LITERATURE. FIRST PERIOD.— (From 1700 to 1770.) POETRY. AVe mentioned, in the preceding section, that Lohbnsteim and HoFMANNSWALDAU stood forth as leaders of German poetry. This sect, however inferior in point of poetical talent, were without a rival, until Gottsched arose at Leipzig and Bodmer at Zurich; and high time it was that these two should come forward, the poetry of Germany being then in a most deplorable state. We will only refer to those men who styled themselves "Hofpoeten"; who were miserable scribblers, whose highest aim was to celebrate the doings of the petty courts of Germany, which they did in the most bombastic form and in the dryest manner. German Literature was at this period at its lowest ebb ; and we gladly welcome GtJNTHER (1695 — 1723) and Liscov, who began to criticize the mean cringings of these miserable "Hofpoeten". Religion was in the hands of Mystics and "Ver- finsterer", as in the'- middle ages; though the philosophy of Wolff had raised up many worthy men , who were actuated by an earnest desire for improvement. The poetry of the age was as destitute of style as it was barren of invention , until those great masters of melody Handel (bom at Halle 1684) and Sebastian Bach (born at Eisenach 1658) arose, to give im- measurable impulse to the development of German life, both in poetry and in religioTi. However, a step was at last made in the right direction, and Germany became more intellectually active than it was before. Its great king, Frederick H, himself a philosopher, and french poet, at once developed the arts and 2 18 RAJBENEK. sciences, and raised the national mind and character, which was in a very feeble and prostrate condition. Gottsched of Leipzig and Bodmer of Zurich severally succeeded in establishing schools of their own, and a great literary war was fought between these writers. Gottsched and his school (The first Saxon School) were mere copyists of the French style of composition, whilst Bodmer (1698-1783) and, J. Beeitinger (1701—1776) turned more to the works of antiquity and the study of English authors , particularly Milton, for the formation of their literary taste and character. A paper war was carried on in their respective journals, which at length ended favourably to the Swiss school; which, although the smaller party , obtained a splendid victory over its antagonist. The chief characteristic of this period is its imitation of French literature. The vernacular tongue was cleared and sifted from the rubbish that had weighed it down, and grew gradually more and more refined, until at last the dialect known as the "Hochdeutsch" was the sole medium of books and of corres- pondence, all other idioms being banished from the stage of literature. OUT OP THE GOTTSCHED BCHOOI. AEISES THE POETRY OF THE SECOND SAXON SCHOOL. (1741). This school was developed by a body of men of a marked poetical talent. A periodical magazine, which they put forth under the title of "Beitrage zum Vergniigen des Verstandes nnd Witzes ", was at once the channel of their communications, and the point round which they centred. In this body of men, and in the school they founded, we find, individually and collectively, the type of another order of writing, tending to raise the literature, and language of Germany. Rabener under- takes the didactic, supplying prose - satire , Zachariae gives heroics and satires, Gellert is the fabulist, Gisbkb devotes his talents to song, Gaertner does his best in criticism, J. A. Schlbgel favours the ode, and the dramatic elements are ad- vocated by J. El. Schlegel. ^ GOTTLIEB WILHELM RABENER (1714—1771.) Was born the 17th of September 1714, at Wachau, near Leipzig. He studied the law at Leipzig, where he became intimately acquainted with Gellert. He died the 22nd of March, 1771, at Dresden. GELLEKT. 19 Kabener possessed considerable powers of satire, but instead of using them for chastising the errors and defects of his time, particularly those of the corrupt upper classes, he turned his rod against the middle classes, who could do him no harm, — and thus worked with worthless material. His "Satyren" — not without wit — are consequently tame and uninteresting reading. The following are the best to read : — " Das Schwiftsehe Testament", "Das Madchen vom Iten April",, "Das deutsche WtSrterbuch ", "Klims Todtenliste ", "Die Sprichworter des Pansa", "Die Chronik des DSrfleins Querlequitsch ", and the " Satyrischen Briefe ". ^ CHRISTIAN rUERCHTEGOTT GELLERT (1715—1769.) Was born on the 4th of July, 1715, at Haynichen, a little town in the Saxon mountains. He was the son of a vicar of small fortune, and in his youth was forced to earn a livelihood by copying, &c. He studied theology and philosophy at Leipzig, and became in 1751 Professor at the same University. He died on the 13th December, 1769. Gellert's fame is neither founded on his genius nor on his philosophical qualifications: it must be considered to depend upon the highly moral tone of his productions, and the grand religious fervour which prevails in his hymns and poems. Almost every thing that he wrote was more or less adapted for the body of the people. His language was so simple that no one could fail to understand him. Gellert's "Fabeln" in which he imitated Lafontaine, contain great moral truths combined with comments upon men and manners, and wise rules for their reformation. The "Fabeln und Erzahlungen" which have made him most celebrated are those of a humorous nature, in which he takes for subject the middle and lower classes. Most of them are amusing ; but the most popular are : " Die Geschichte vom Hute", "Der Blinde und der Lahme", "Die beiden Wiichter", "Der griine Esel", "DerKranke". Some of his hymns are remarkably fine, and have even become standard Kirchenlieder. Such as his morning hymn for instance, "Mein erst Gefiihl sei Preis und Dank", his Christmas hymn, "Dies ist der Tag den Gott gemacht", with "Herr der du mir das Leben" &c. &c. And his "Auf Gott und nicht auf meinen Eath", is quite a favourite hymn throughout the whole of Germany. But Gellert is powerless when his aim is to repre- sent the'high actions, or noble life of an individual: then he 20 KAESTXER. ZACHAEIAE. translates and transcribes, instead of creating like a poet. His : "Die beiden Schwarzen" — "Ehynsolt und Lucia" etc. are very weak. In the department of novel writing, Gellert cannot be said to have possessed any talent at all ; his " Schwedische Griifin,'' although translated into several languages, being a very inferior production.. Of even less value are the comedies of this writer, which, to say the truth, are absolute failures. His style is very faulty, on account of the frequent provincialisms he employs. yl ABRAHAM GOTTHELF KAESTNER (1719—1800). Was born at Leipzig, on the 27th of September, 1719, was Pro-' fessor of Mathematics at Gottingen, and died 20th June, 1800. Kabstnee was a celebrated and acute mathematician, besides being the author of a great many epigrams, never likely to grow out of date. Even those epigrams which refer to local and personal occasions, and are scarcely to be understood without a key, are as caustic than any.thing inthe whole circle of German literature. Nor are his elegies, odes, and songs without merit. JUST FEIEDRICH WILHELM ZACHARIAE. |1726— 1777.) Born the 1st of May, 1726, at Frankenhausen, where he studied the science of Jurisprudence. He is the last author we have to mention as a member of this school. Zacharia was endowed with a poetical invention and considerable powers of wit ; a union of qualities of which he made most advantageous use in his comic epopees of "Der Eenomist" or "The Roisterer," (which was a happy attempt to introduce the comic Epos into German literature) "Das Schmipf- tuch," "Murner in derHuUe," and particularly in his "Phaeton." His desciptive poems : " Die Tageszeiten," and " Die vier Stufen des weibhchen Alters" (the four ei'as of woman's life), were at the time much admired. In these descriptive poems he took Thomson as his model. Indeed he almost always copied English authors. He also translated into german, Milton's "Paradise Lost," in which, however, he may be considered to have failed. Goethe said of him : " er stempelte seine Werke zu schiitzbaren Dokumenten fiir die Folgezeit, worunter die damalige Lebens und Sinnesart ansohaulich hervortritt." Zacharia died at Bruns- wick, when holding the office of Professor of Poetry, on the 30th of January, 1777. HAGEDOKN. 2 [ A great number of minor minstrels now arose who achieved temporary fame ; and it is remarkable how little talent it re- quired at this time to become a leading man. A tolerable fabuUst or versifier was hailed with delight and spoken of with enthusiasm. But few of those who were then called poets would now be considered as such. The most prominent among the'm were the following: — FEIEDEICH VON HAGEDORN (HOS— 17.54.) Who was born at Hamburg, on the 23rd of April, 1708. Occupies rather a high place among the writers of this period ; and although not a poet of the first calibre, he wrote, never- theless, with considerable ease and grace. The language of Hagedorn is simple and correct. It is on this account that contemporary critics speak very highly of him ; thus Wieland styles him, — "the poet, who, in the single article of refinement of style, has no worthy successor in the literature of any country; the author, who has wrought up his productions to the highest degree of finish ; the man, whom few, if any, writers will ever equal in the matter of industry." The "Fables" (in which he took Lafontaine for his model) of Hagedorn are distinguished by their pleasant fancies, and witty ideas. They are told with a Hveliness and vigour truly characteristic. His " Seifensieder" (soap-boiler) is an excellent poem ; few of his works have been more successful and popular. Indeed we must, in historic justice, allow, that Hagedorn, acting in concert with Haller, did more for the amelioration of the style of this period, than all the other writers put together. Hagedorn is the poet of men and manners ; Haller, of nature and her scenes. Hagedorn's "Lehr- gedichte" are valuable fragments of moral truth; though be had more talent, certainly, for simple lyric poetry. His epigrams, are scrupulously correct ; so much so, as to have been accepted as models, in those times. In more extended metrical compo- sition, — the long ode, for example, — he was not so successful. Indeed, Hagedorn's talent was scarcely equal to this class of composition. But in smaller efforts, — in httle tales, for instance, — he works with great clearness and skill: and indeed, his chief merits are to be found here. Hagedorn died on the 28th of October, 1754. 22 HALLER. ALBRECHT VON HALLER (1708—1777.) "Was born on the 16th of October 1708, atBern. In the year 1736, he became professor of medicine at Goettingen. So great was his fame, that the emperor Francis I ennobled him. He died on the 12th of December 1777. Haller was one of the most accomplished and original men of this era. A poet, anatomist, physiologist, botanist, and man of letters, he seemed to be an adept in almost all the different branches of human enquiry. The epoch in which Haller first started as a poet, was a critical one for the resources of his genius ; for he had to steer clear, on the one hand, of the false taste in literature, introduced by Lohenstein, and to beware, on the other, of falling into the error of a bombastic versification, then so much in fashion. He therefore took Virgil, and modern writers of the English school, for his guidance. Haller's poetry is pervaded throughout by a didactic aim. The religious feelings and pious sentiments which animated him at all times , in his studies of nature , ^ave his descriptions an air of unstudied solemnity, and artless splendour. All his Ijoems abound with ideas, some are remarkable for the beauty of their rhythm; though the moral is so habitually predominant, as to take off, in no small degree, from the aesthetical beauty of the main design. "Die Alpen" is Haller's most celebrated production. Eleven editions of it were published during his life time. It was written during a progress over the Alps; so that nature herself must needs have suggested to our poet' the scenery he so eloquently describes. "The poetry of Haller," says Schiller, "is charac- terised by power, depth, and a simplicity of pathos. His soul is inspired by a love for the ideal, and his glowing apprecia- tion of whatever is true, assists him to portray, in the quiet valleys of the Alps, that primeval innocence, which has long since vanished from the busy, bustling world. Profound, yet touching, are his sorrows ; he sets forth the errors of the mind and heart in a strain of vigorous and almost bitter satire : but nature he copies with great zeal and with an unaffected grace. Haller is great, bold, impetuous, and sublime; but that which constitutes the essence and reality of heauty, it has not, in his poems, been his fortune to attain." This was Schiller's Criti- cism ; but Gervinus characterizes Haller much more accurately when he says. " Uberall empfindet man bei Haller, wo er ernst sein will, Malerei — wo er warm und riihrend sein mOchte, GLEIM. 23 Kalte und hochstens Schwermuth. Mit diesen Eigenscbaften konnte er kein Dichter sein." His elegiac poetry ranks liighest, — the funereal piece, en- titled, "Auf den Tod Marianens " " being very good." Haller's "Song to Doris" is a touching and beautiful poem. Haller himself considered his religious poem, "Vom Ursprung des Uebels" as his masterpiece, and Hked it better than any- thing he ever did. This poem , at any rate , may claim to be considered the forerunner of Klopstock's "Messias." Its sub- ject is that exalted theme, about which the philosophy of that ageperplexeditself in vain. His unfinished poem, "AndieEwig- keit" also contains some grand conceptions. In one of his letters to Bodmer, Haller volunteers the ad- mission, that, "in himself, he is no poet at all; but that great quickness of observation, when a youth, had, to a certain extent, made him one " : in the truth of which assertion we feel bound to coincide. " Die Alpen," though not without its faults, is cer- tainly a very meritorious production. The striking scenery that mountain regions afford, is given by him, while actually trar- Yersing their mighty steeps, with great fidelity and skill; and still more finely, and with even a larger measure of success, does he portray the manners and customs of those races, who dwell in the Alpine districts. This poem has , upon the whole, " made " the name of its author, and will always be read with pleasure. DIE ANAKREONTIKER. A number of poets of this time, more or less allied to Klopstock, adopted the more cheerful and worldly style of poetry which Hagedorn had introduced; and hence their name ■" Die Anakreontiker." The most distinguished of these were : — .^ JOHANN WILHELM LUDWIG GLEIM (1719—1803.) Who was torn on the 2nd of April 1719, at Emsleben, a small town near Halberstadt. He was educated at the Leipzig univer- sity; where, in conjunction with Goetz and Uz, he became a follower of the Muses. Gleim attended Prince Leopold of Dessau, in the second Silesian war, in the quality of his secretary. Shortly afterwards, he obtained the secretaryship of the cathedral of Halber- stadt, -which office he held for the space of fifty years, until his • death February 18, 1803. 24 UZ. KLOPSTOCK. Gleim was the man upon whom the German nation he- stowed, the appellation of "Vater." "Vater Gleim," he is gene- rally called; a title that shews, at once, how high he ranked, and how much he was esteemed and noticed by the general public. It used to be the fashion indeed, to extol the poetical gifts of Gleim far above the real standard of their merits. Gleim was a man who, like Gellert, earned and secured his reputation rather from his amiable private character than from anything he wrote. The best known of Gleim's literary pro- ductions are his "Fabeln," which are, nevertheless, of very various pretensions. Some of them may be fairly accounted elegant; while others are "weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable," on account of the political bias, or theological aims, with which they were written. We instance the best of his productions when we name his "PreussischeKriegslieder eines Grenadiers;" and amongst them, more particularly, "Siegeslied nach der Schlacht bei Lowositz ," " Siegeslied nach der Schlacht bei Prag ," and the celebrated "Siegeslied nach der Schlacht bei Eossbach;" for there is a vein of patriotism throughout the whole , which is quite unrivalled. Lessing gives these " Kriegsheder " the honorable title of " Bardengesang ; " — no mean proof, this, of the high value they had won in his eyes. JOHANN PETER UZ |1720— 1796.) Who was born on the 3rd of October 1720, at Anspach. He died • ■when chief justice, on the 12th of May, 1796. Uz produced a collection of odes and songs, which, although they rank among the higher compositions of his day, contain but little that would be satisfactory to us now. He took Horace for his model, and imitated the Roman lyrist as far as his abi- lities allowed him. That Uz was possessed of a certain degree of talent, no competent judge will ever think of disputing; for he evinced a turn for poetry, of which his "Theodicee" may be alleged as an indisputable sample; only he did not work up his powers to the point of even comparative perfection. Although German literature had' been gradually improving since the days of Opitz and Hallee it had not hitherto reached that high ground on which Kxop.stock, Lessing and WiELAND at last placed it. KLOPSTOCK. 25 Klopstock's Messias, of which the first cantos appeared in 174S, and Wieland's Agathon, took the Gennan public com- pletely by surprise and made it manifest, at once, that the national mind was awaking to a higher order of things. Though these two last named writers present so great a contrast to each other ; and though so little consideration is now given to them, theii' historical importance remains undiminished. They are the first beginnings of a chain in which Lessing, Herder, Goethe and Schiller became afterwards the chief links, and which raised and established the national literature. What Klopstock began, and Lessing and Herder continued, reached its maturity in the works of those two great geniuses, Goethe and Schiller. But Ellopstock's was the master-mind that began this new era. It was in his soul, says Fr. Schlegel, " ein erhabener Begriff von einer neueu und besonders deutschen Poesie." He it was who broke through the trammels of French taste — (a topic which Wieland handled for the first time, and with great advantage, in readable novels) — and who appeared as the first thoroughly German writer not only in choice of subjects, but in earnestness of national feehng. He struck the first note of that "ideale InnerUchkelt," as Hildebrandt* terms it, which is the charac- teristic feature of the Germans ; and, imbued with thorough German patriotism, he selected historic themes for his Muse. But with these principles he combined a talent without which his efforts would never have been as successful as they were. He endeavoured to give the German language a greater power of expression, and to infuse into it a stronger feeling of na- tionality : and in both he eminently succeeded. And, with regard to the character of poetiy itself, he observed " der Geist bilde fiir die Dichtkunst den eigentlichen Gehalt." And Schiller, speaking of Klopstock in his essay " on naive poetry," says of him "Seine Sphare ist immer das Ideenreich und in's Unendliche weiss er AUes was er bearbeitet hiniiberzuflihren. Manmochte sagen er ziehe Allem, was er behandelt, den Korper aus, um es zu Geist zu machen." Indeed, as a reformer of the language, Klopstock is second only to Luther. He occupied himself not only with the rules of grammar, like Gottsched ; but with that improved system of constructing sentences, that greater elasticity of phraseology that refined manner of diction, and that surprising combination * Hildebrandt, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur. 26 KLOPSTOCK. of new words, in which he so wonderfully displayed his genius. He endeavoured to combine, in his poetry, the picturesque and musical character of Haller's writings with the wisdom of those of Hagedorn. In addition to this, Klopstock was the original founder of German metrics. He distinguished and adapted the principles and rules of ancient metre with a master's hand, and with thfe tact of a true poet. ISo one, says Gervinus, in his masterly essay on Klopstock, no one up to that time had caught the simple grandeur of the old Hebrew poetry, or the genuine spirit of the Greeks and Romans, more success- fully than Klopstock, in some of his Odes; in which we seem to recognize the very strains of David, or Horace, or even Ossian, which latter poet was as yet unknown. This gift neither Lessing nor Wieland possessed ; and it was only Herder who could imitate it, until Goethe appropriated it to himself with the unmatched originality of genius, it was, moreover, Klop- stock who used the Hexameter for the first time with real power and success. In this metre, in which he wrote his "Messias," we possess only two other great classical productions, Voss' "Luise," and Goethe's "Hermann and Dorothea." Klopstock was himself endowed with a fine ear for music; and was an ardent admirer of the great masters of those days — of Handel, and Bach, and Gluck, — and hence it was that he studied with such enthnsiastic admiration the hymns of David and the Prophets. It was from the same sources whence Handel and Bach derived their musical renown, that Klopstock drew his poetical inspira- tion. These are the main characteristics of Klopstock's writings ; and to them chiefly must be attributed the high eminence he obtained in German literature, as a classical poet. ^ FRIEDEICH GOTTLIEB KLOPSTOCK (1724^1803.) ■who was born the 2nd of July 1724. His father was a "Kommls- sionsrath." After young Klopstock came of age, he entered upon the study of theology at Jena (1745), and it was here, it is said, that he conceiTed the grand idea of glorifying our Saviour, in a poem of suitable argument and tone. Accordingly, he left Jena for Leipzig, Avhere we find him making one in the metrical confederation organized by Zacharia, Rabener, and the two Schle- gels. Here he laid the foundation-stone of his high and sacred design — lit is worthy of observation, that the first masteipiece of modern German literature was a religious one), — the first three cantos of his " Messiad " appearing in 1748, in a Bremish perio- KLOPSTOOK. 27 dical. They were received with enthusiasm. Klopstock's "Messias" appears, indeed, to be the very baptism of our national poetry, — the greatest and worthiest of our men of letters attending as scholarly sponsors around the consecrating font of this new and beautiful style* Our poet, at the outset of his career, had no means of triumphing over the obstacle of narrow circumstances; but a great admirer KLOPSTOOK. of poetry, Count Bernstovf, made himself acquainted with the "Messiad," and hearing of Klopstock's poverty, recommended him very strongly to the notice of the king, Frederick V, who forth- with granted him an annual pension of four hundred dollars. His latter days were passed at Hamburg, where he died, when hold- ing the office of Councillor of Legation on the 14th of March 1803 * Gelzer. Die deutsche poetische Literatur seit Klopstock und Leasing. 1840. 28 KLOPSTOCK. The illustrious epic of Klopstock "Der Messias"* fixed the attention of the whole German public by its richness of fancy, as well as tenderness of feeling, and by the fine thoughts with which it abounded. The idea of this poem was evidently suggested to Klopstock by the Holy Scriptures, where indeed he found his whole scheme unfolded. All he had to do, was to surpass, as it were, the evangeUc records, so far at least, as to exhibit in his transcript a more starthng sequence of events, a greater diversity of characters, and more intricacy of plot; so that he might fashion the whole into one glorious and homogeneous epic. England can certainly boast, of a "Messiad" of another sort, yet no less sterling and valuable, in Milton's " Paradise Lost ; " but the subject is so differently treated, that a comparison of the two poems would be vain. To such as wish to form a due estimate of the " Messias ," we would recommend the perusal of those parts especially, wherein the distinctive quality of Klopstock's muse exhibits itself with pecuUar success, and where the great power of this writer is consequently most conspicuous. Such portions are : " The Convocation before the High Priest," in the 4th Canto; the description of the early Christians in the 10th; the death of Mary in the 12th; the miracle of the Resurrection in the 14th; and the period of forty days intervening between that and the Ascension, in the 19th Canto. The way in which Klopstock wrote, and what he himself thought of the "Messias," as well as the tone of mind at which he had arrived upon the completion of this wonderful performance, are all finely shown in the Ode entitled: "An den ErlSser," which he annexed to his poems. The language of this magnificent epic is eminently well chosen and select, and is gradually wrought up more and more to the highest point of literary finish. Our author worked at it long and assiduously; it was almost a life's labour; and from this reason it is that we find the second part (which was not completed until 1773) even more exquisite and elaborate than its predecessor, both in diction and style. Madame de StaeTs opinion of Klopstock's Mesias was that it is like a temple, the vaulted majesty of which strikes the imagination, and forces the mind to veneration and adoration of the Eternal Being." Klopstock was a devoted admii-er of the German language : he * Translated into English by the Dean Milman. KLOPSTOCK. 29 ■svas full}' conscious of its great and manifold beauties, and was , in fact , so proud of it , tliat we are indebted to him for many a fine Ode, which he has written in its behalf, replete with that warmth of feeling which he ever evinced towards his mother-tongue. He was also a great lyric poet, and at the same time clas- sical in his style, blending, in his first odes especially, the genius of antiquity with the spirit of modern times. In this description of literature, Klopstock is certainly without a rival: in fact, he is the greatest ode- writer that any age can show , and may be styled the Pindar of modern lyric verse ; whilst, in richness and depth of feeling he surpasses the har- monious Theban. Klopstock is so thoroughly German, so faithful to nature and yet so profound, that perhaps, no bard of our fatherland was ever, in these respects, his equal. Sulzer, one of the earliest of German critics, says of him with great truth: "Klopstock's serious ode, under whatever guise it may be found, is, of all orders of metrical composition, the one that admits of the most unusual inflections of phrase , the boldest tropes, and the most dazzling imagery." His odes, commencing, "Willkommen o silberner Mond," and "Am Zliricher See," are eminently accurate as portraitures of nature; and the hymn, •■ Auferstehn , ja auferstehn," is among the most touching and beautiful things he ever wrote. Other fine sacred pieces by him, such as his "Ach, wie hat mein Herz gerungen," "Wenn ich einst von jenem Schlummer," may also rank amon^ the best efforts of his pen. Klopstock's " Gelehrtenrepublik ," which came out in 1774, was considered by Goethe and his friends the only genuine asthetical work then extant. New ground was certainly broken by it in the department of criticism; but the work is now obsolete and forgotten ; which is also the case with Klopstock's dramatic compositions. They, indeed, are the least striking of all his productions. A dearth of incident, joined to a poverty of plot, and a hardness of diction, are very observable throughout the whole of them. The most momentous epoch in the history of German literature is that which is comprehended in the time between the first appearance of Lessing and the death of Goethe. Within this 30 LESSING. period, the national literature rises to its zenith ; and during its course the struggles, the labours, the dangers and at last the triumph of the German mind are successively brought before us. We must now therefore follow more minutely than hitherto the circumstances of its development, and the efforts of each of the great poets in that behalf We begin with LESSING. In strong contrast to Klopstock, stands Lessing, the second greatr eformer of German literature, and the reformer, no less of taste than of art, and of criticism. In Klopstock we find the lyrical element predominant almost to excess : in Lessing, on the contrary, we meet with a prose of the calmest and purest kind. Klopstock is imbued with an earnest belief in the truths of Christianity : Lessing, opposed to the supremacy of any religion. LESSING. 3 1 These two writers constitute tlierefore, so to speak, the trunks from which our modern classical authors of opposite schools, have branched off. But the critical acumen of Lessing, and his great knowledge of ancient classical literature, gave him a far superior position to that of Klopstock. In fact Lessing became the real leader oftheintellect of his age; and influenced alike theologians, philosophers, critics, poets and statesmen. The period of reform had already begun in the political world; and the wise laws and able government of Frederick the Great had roused Germany from the torpor into which it had fallen to a healthy national life. On the other hand we must acknowledge the impulse given to Germany from without, chiefly by the writings of Rousseau and Shakspeare. "La NouveUe Heloise" was a work which exerted no small degree of influence over the general public ; whilst the Berlin school of rationalism, headed by Nicolai and Mendelsohn, commenced its attack upon the old doctrines of orthodoxy ; and Winokelmann, through his antiquarian researches and his more correct per- ception of ancient art, led the German mind to a better and more accurate appreciation of the beautiful. In the very centre of this intellectual revolution, we iind Lessing, ever active, spreading his influence far and wide , directing taste, criticizing literature and art, making war upon theology and philosophy, and composing poetry and dramatic works. Indefatigable, in- deed, as he was in literary warfare — ever lighting the battles of truth and common sense, and never giving mediocrity or falsehood-s^ quarter— history has not misnamed Lessing "den Luther unserer national literarischen Reformation ;" nor is Frie- drich Schlegel's praise of him undeserved : — "Lessing hat in gewissem Sinne das beschlossen was durch Luther begonnen war, er hat den deutschen Protestantismus bis zu Ende durch- gefiihrt." ^ JOHANN GOTTHOLD EPHRAIM LESSING.* (1729—1781.) Was the son of a clergyman, and was born at Camenz, the 22nd of Januaiy, 1729. He studied theology at Leipzig, in 1746, but the theatre in that town awakening in him a leaning towards the drama, he forthwith addressed himself to this department of letters. Lessing when in Berlin, lived in intimate friendship with Nicolai and Mendelsohn. The date 1767 finds him estab- * Stahr, Lessing und seine "Werke. 2 Vols. 1859. Danzel, Lessing, sein Leben und seine Werke. 2 Vols. 18.50. 32 LESSING. lislaed as dramatic critic in Hamburg, but he became in 1769, librarian at Wolfifenbuttel. He died at Brunswick on the 15th of February 1781. Lessing was the first of modern authors who combined the poetical Ideal with the poetry of real life ; clearing his ground as he went on, and weeding out antiquated notions with a skilful hand. In this labour, whieb we can easily imagine was a very diificult one, his genius proved his best assistance: sometimes he effected his object by critiques, which were perfect models in their way; sometimes by his own writings, which were types of excellence, no less in poetry than in prose. AsLessing united in his own person the three leading qualifications of poet, philosopher, and critic, we shall be obliged to follow him in the influence he exercised on each of these departments of literature. Lessing began his literary career by trying liis hand here and there; to feel, as it were, his way into literature. He first wrote criticisms on books, and on Klopstock's "Mes- sias" in particular: he then composed "Eettungen," in which he defended the dead against the attacks of the living : and besides this, he was an industrious translator; and edited, in conjunction with Mylius, "Beitrage zur Historie des Theaters." He published also, in 1750, "Kleinigkeiten," and the comedies "der junge Gelehrte," "DieJuden" (1749), and "Der Freigeist" (17491. These, his own'comedies, he severely criticized in his "Dra- maturgic ;" and in that criticism we can read the vigorous cha- racter of the critic. He said of himself : " Ich bin weder Schau- spieler noch Dichter. Man erweiset mir zwar manchmal die Ehre, mich fur den Letzteren zu erkennen, aber nur weil man mich yerkennt. Aiis einigen dramatischen Versuchen, die ich gewagt habe, sollte man nicht so freigebig folgern. Nicht Jeder der den Pinsel in die Hand nimmt und Farben verquistet, ist ein Maler. Die altesten von jenen Versuchen sind in den Jahren hingeschrieben, in welchen man Lust und Leichtigkeit so gem fiir Genie halt. Was in den neuern Ertragliches ist, davon bin ich mir selber bewusst, dass ich es einzig und allein der Kritik zu verdanken habe. Ich fiihle die lebendige Quelle nicht in mir, die durcli eigene Kraft sich emporarbeitet, durch eigene Kraft in so reichen, so frischen, so reinen Strahlen aufschiesst ; ich muss Alles durch Druckwerk und Kohren aus mir heraus- pressen. Ich wiirde so arm, so kalt, so kurzsichtig sein, wenn ich nicht einigermassen gelernt hatte, fremde Schatze bescheiden LESSING. 33 zu borgen, an fremdem Feuer mich zu erwai-men und durch die Glaser der Kunst mein Auge zu starken." — Few authors have written thus on their own talents I Lessing felt deeply that his genius tended entirely towards criticism; and he early began to consider his original produc- tions as mere practical illustrations of what his criticism was. With this view he wrote his "Epigrams," and "Fables;" and accompanied them with original theories of his own. In con- junction with Mendelssohn he published the tract " Pope, ein Metaphysiker," in 1755 ; and in the same year appeared his tragedy "Miss Sarah Sampson," in which he broke through the rules of the French drama, and of French taste in general, (which he had imitated in his first comedies), and turned to- wards English literature for his models; Lillo's "Merchant of Loudon" having been his prototype for this tragedy. And, even in France itself, Diderot made common cause with Lessing against the classical French tragedies, and against Voltaire in particular. The " comedies lai-moyantes " of these writers became however the tj'pe of the sentimental drama of 1770; as exemplified in Schiller's " Kabale und Liebe," Goethe's " Clavigo," Kotzebue's and, more especially, Iffland's works; ^\ho exhausted this lachrymose style. His comedy of "Minna von Barnhelm," completed about 1763, is the most celebrated of that era. It is a most spirited and impressive production, no less characteristic than national, and, at its first appearance on the German stage, was reckoned a perfect phenomenon Lessing intended, by "Minna von Barn- helm," to illustrate his desire for vigorous action in dramatic composition ; and we must bear this in mind, in our estimate of the work. The false rhetoric which we find in " Miss Sarah Sampson ' has altogether disappeared, the dialogue is quick and vivid, and the characters personified are those of daily life. There is no false poetry in this drama ; no imaginative fiction ; it is thoroughly national, and identified with German customs and feeling. That Minna von Barnhelm does not possess those quaUtiea which the critics of our day demand of a comedy is true enough; for there are many characteristic deficiencies in it, and some coarse jests, which often mar the real pleasure of the piece : but we must look upon Lessing's dramatic productions with a his- torical eye, and they then stand out in a bold relief which raises them far beyond the other dramatic productions of his time. 3 34 LESSING. The character of Major Tellheim, in Minna, is generally supposed to be a portrait of the poet Kleist. Again, Lessing's tragedy of " Emilia Galotti," finished in the year 1772, charmed the public into general admiration. This work was the result of his " Dramaturgie ;" and afforded a practical illustration of Shakspeare's influence over him. It was all "ac- tion;" and Herder truly said of it: "es ist ein Theaterstuok was gesehen nicht gelesen werden muss." The human passions are exposed in this play with extraor- dinary sagacity: there is not a single scene that can be pointed out as uninteresting or sluggish; nor is there any tedious dia- logue to break the rapid progress of the dramatic action ; but the characters are thrown into masterly relief, and graced with the highest degree of artistic finish. Borne remarks of it: "How faithfully are the characters sketched, — with what force of natural feeling I with what keenness of observation I How much boldness as well as truth there is in all the descriptions; and how beautifully are the miilutest delicacies of shadowing com- bined with the charms of expression ! The next production of Lessing was the grand drama of " Nathan der Weise." This curious story of Bocaccio's (the story of the three rings), is adapted with wonderful ingenuity. ''Nathan der Weise" was the result of Lessing's warfare with the theologians. It is rather a poem in defence of toleration in religious matters, than a drama. It demonstrates to perfection how a Jew, a Mussulman, and a Christian, can and do equally perfonn their duty to humanity, and how toleration is the very first thing that ought to be ihtroduced into religion. Nathan is as Hildebrandt says : " sein Messias und sein Faust, es ist Lessing in all seinem Eifer flir die Wahrheit, in all seiner menschenfreundlichen Gesinnung , in all seiner Freiheit des Geistes." The sketches of character in Nathan, as well as its celebrated dialogue, are above all praise. Nor was it without its weight upon the general body of German literature ; becoming, in point of metrical form, the model on which an immense mass of iambic tragedies were subsequently based. Lessing's correct taste and profound artistic skill are mani- fested by his " Laokoon ;" a work which is remarkable for the beauty of its style, and the depth of its criticism. It is, indeed, a noble monument of Lessing's philosophy and erudition ; and is valuable alike to the aesthetic, to the antiquary, to the LESSING. 35 philosopher, and to the connoisseur of Art. The composition of this extraordinary disquisition arose out of a saying of Win- cltelmann's that the priest "Laokoon," in that celebrated group, cried aloud with pain, like the " Philoctetes " of Sophocles: in contradistinction to which, Lessing held that Laokoon ought to be taken for an idealisation of suppressed human agony; and that the sculptor works by rules altogether different from those regulating the poet. But the subject of the "Laokoon" was only selected by Lessing as a starting point from whence to determine the respective spheres of art and poetry; and the work is consequently more valuable for its minute disqui- sitions on sBsthetics in general, than as a mere criticism on the celebrated group. Thus Herder very pointedly called the Laokoon " ein Werk an welchem die drei TluldgSttinnen unter den mensch- lichen Wissenschaften, die Muse der Philosophic, der Poesie und der Kunst des Schonen, geschaftig gewesen sind." With the publication of this work, coupled with Herder's fragments and Winckelmann's distinguished works in the same school, there began to be diffused over Germany an entirely new theory of the Beautiful both in Poetry and in Art. But, after all, Lessing's true greatness lies in the fact of his having created an entirely new path of criticism. And this, his "Kritik," became the basis upon which was to be es- tablished the palladium of our national literature. Lessing had dethroned the authority of the French school in the definition of art, and replaced it by that more sterling investigation and those truer principles of criticism which prevailed among the ancients. For the purpose of illustration, he had for the first time drawn attention to the English, Italian and Spanish au- thors as models; and, since he had lived at Wolffenbiittel, he had pointed out the almost unknown treasures of ancient German literature. Eschenburg, Bertuch, Bodmer, and others were his assistants in this undertaking. The fruits of his labours appeared long afterwards, in the works of the romantic school. It is incredible what trouble Lessing took to cultivate the barren ground of German literature. He began with badly paid translations; sent articles to newspapers; wrote criticisms; made antiquarian researches ; and edited Journals and Eeviews, and the works of old and new writers; until at last he reached the pre-eminent position he still retains. The perfect piirity of his style is unrivalled to this day; 3* I 36 LESSING. and has been happily described by a _german writer in these words: — "Lessing's Ideengaug war i.iiuier eine Schlach*; mit einem leichten Vortreffen weiss er seinen Gegner von alien Seiten zu beschaftigen. Langsam aber'in furchtbare Spannung setzerid, riiekt er mit seinem m ohlgeordneten Heere heran. Noch ehe der Feind gehorig zur Besinnnng kommt, ist sein Mittelpunkt durchbrochen, sind seine Flanken uberflugelt und seine Streit- krafte der Vernichtung preisgegeben." Lessing's "Dramaturgie" is a mine of sterling criticism on the drama of his own day; and contains, moreover, excellent and valuable comparisons of dramatic compositions in general, which tended to refine the taste of the time, and, by promoting the formation of a competent judgment, to ameliorate the style of the national drama. In his epilogue to this work Lessing wrote " Wir sind noch immer die geschworenen Nachahmer alles Aus- liindischen, besonders noch immer die unterthanigen Bewunderer der nie genug bewunderten Franzosen." Corneille and Vol- taire were the writers whom he most severely criticised in his -"Dramaturgic." He exposed the ignorance of the French, and f their misunderstanding of Aristoteles' theory of the drama, to which they continually referred as their authority. He shewed I that they had altogether mistaken the rules of the Greek phi- losopher; and, for the purpose of displaying more efficiently the poverty of the French drama, contr asted it ^ itb-thcBJayg _of_Slialssp£aj«>^demolishing the oneTSlass of writings with his powerful pen, at the same time that he raised the other: and pointing out the true art of the English dramatist, whose works had laid the foundation for a just appreciation of all future dra^ matic composition. The influence which Lessing exercised on the German Theatre in general will be understood when we point out that all that was done afterwards by Engel and Ramler at Berlin, by Dalberg at Manheim, by Goethe at Weimar, by Gotter at Gotha, by Klingemann at Brunswick, by Tieck at Dresden, and by Immermann at Diisseldorf was the result of that powerful impetus which he originally gave. And now we have only to glance finally at one more of those powerful performances of Lessing which we find in his polemic writings. — He began by opposing three religious parties that were Very powerful at that time. The first wanted to reduce religion to its mere moral laws, apart from anj- emotional feeling: the second took great pains to prove that Christianity was iden- LESSING. WIELAND. 37 tical with pure deism and the religion of reason : the third ex- amined the Christian dogmas in a sort of philosophico-critical manner, for the purpose of creating an "Urchristenthum," as they styled it. To the last party belonged Semlbe, Gmbsbach, EiCHHORN, Paulus, Plank and Spittler, For the second Eberhardt fought, in his "Apologie desChristenthums.'' In the iirst were included Campe, Salzmann, Nicolai, and a host of pedagogues. Lessing wished to mediate between all these parties ; and thus Involved himself in war with all. It was at this time that the renowned " Wolfenbiittler Fragmente" made their appearance; which were, however, originally written by Eeimarus, who lived at Hamburg. These were answered by GoBTZ ; and a paper war was originated between him and Les- sing, such as Luther had carried on before with Eck and Emser — a war of light against darkness. The tracts against Goetz, deserve a high place among the most masterly works of their kind ; such as Demosthenes' Orations against Philip, Cicero's Oration against Catiline, Junius' Letters, and Rousseau's Letters to the Archbishop of Paris, Christophe de Beaumont. Lessing also crushed, in his " antiquarisohe Briefe," Klotz, a Professor at Halle ; one of those whose chief claim to notice was that he trifled with Horace and Anacreon in affected verses, but who had nevertheless the audacity to attack our author. Be- sides this, Lessing ridiculed Voltaire's Epigrams, and Pastor Lange's " Vademecum." These are the principal achievements of his immortal pen. WIELAND. "^)i CHRISTOPH MARTIN WIELAND (1733—1^13) Was born the 5th of September 1733, in the village of Oberholz- heim near Biberach; in which place his father was a clergyman. From him he received a very strict religious education, which was afterwards continued in an establishment strongly tinged with pietistic principles. Wieland showed considerable poetic talent, as early as nine years old; and at twelve he wrote both Latin and German verse with great facility. His studies were completed at Erfurt and Tubingen. In 1772 our poet responded to the invitation given him by the duchess Anna Amalia of Weimar, to fill the office of preceptor to the young Princes. Here he lived in intimate connexion with Goethe, Herder and Schiller. Wieland was more fortunate than other German authors; for he was enabled, by the publication of his works, to buy an estate — "Osmannstadt," near Weimar— where 38 WIELAND. he lived surrounded by a happy family circle of bo less than fourteen children. He died on the 20th of January 1813. Wieland was the very reverse of Klopstock in thought and style: the latter being a kind of religious prophet— a Plato; the former, a clever sensualist— an Aristippus. He was neither VTIELAND. a reformer, like Klopstock or Lessing, nor did he rise to the classical grandeur of Goethe and Schiller. But he materially furthered the progress of German literature; and became, in- deed, an indispensable link in its historical chain of worthies. The influence which Klopstock had obtained by his great poem " der Messias" Wieland achieved by his novels. Until his time German novels were barbarous productions — positively unreadable WIELAND. 39 and unnatural. Wieland made them both readable, and grace- ful; though not free from a slight tincture of the licentious- ness of the French school. His works were consequently read by the higher German public, who, at that time, despised German and patronized only French, literature. Wieland's novels were thus a public benefit; for, however lax their morals, they were amusing, and their style easy and graceful. His fancy too was luxuriant; and he told his story with great vivacity, wit, and humour. No wonder therefore that Goethe observed of him : " that the whole of northern Germany was indebted to Wieland for its literary style." That Wieland filled up this literary chasm in Germany, Is indeed one of his peculiar merits. He was " the right man at the right time ;" and hence his popu- larity, and the high position conceded to him. His claims do not however end here. We must not only consider him as a writer of romances, but as a man of consi- derable attainments, by which he raised the standard of German literature. To obtain a clear and unbiassed insight into Wie- land's position, we must remember the conventional tone which Voltaire had given to French society, and the widely spread influence which, that author had obtained over the whole con- tinent of Europe: — an influence which became especially powerful in Germany. It was therefore of considerable impor- tance that a man like Wieland should appear, qualified by his versatility of talent to express himself in the style then so much admired. He opposed that which was foreign to the German mind, whilst he retained the former elegance and lux- uriance of style and diction. Here, then, was a Voltaire on German soil, who not only accustomed the nation to read his ■works; but made them feel that their national literature was •capable of rivalling the French. He introduced by degrees the French, English, Italian, Spanish and old classical literature into Germany; and thus did more than any other writer of the period, to obtain currency for the German language, and to induce the upper classes to mate use of it, in the place of French; which had hitherto been the language in which they spoke, wrote and thought. Wieland's biographer, Gruber, has therefore said of him with no less emphasis than truth : " dass Wieland den Deutschen Deutschland eroberte und dass dies nur gerade der Mann, wie er war, vermochte." Wieland was moreover the first who translated Shakspeare and introduced him on the German stage. This version, 40 WIELAND. although it has no claim to he considered a classical production lilte those of Schlegel and Tieck, was, it must be remembered, a first attempt; and portions of it are, even now, used on the stage in preference to Schlegel's. Wieland followed the bad taste of the time which prevailed so much in England; and abridged and altered the text of Shakspeare; but yet what he did translate was creditable. He, further, introduced the litera- ture of ancient Greece and Eome to the German public, by translating the plays of Aristophanes, and Cicero's unrivalled letters. His translation of Horace was, however, the most ster- ling and successful. This outline will give an idea of the ex- traordinary versatility of Wieland's talents, of his never ceasing industry, (his works extend to 63 Volumes) and of the ascen- dency he obtained over the public. Klopstock greatly influenced Wieland at the outset of his literary career; but the religious element to which the former gave expression in his " Empfindungen eines Christen " was foreign to his nature ; and his intimate connection with Bodmer, and his stay at Zurich, where he first became acquainted with the new and rising generation of writers, gave his mind a dif- ferent tendency. It was not, however, until he had made deeper studies of the ancient Classics and of Shakspeare, nor until Lessing's and Nicolai's Criticisms had influenced his mind, that his powers developed themselves to any great extent. The impulse in this new direction he received during a lengthened stay with his friend the Count de Stadion, at whose house he first became acquainted with French literature and philosophy. Gervinus marks this period of Wieland's mental development with great precision: — "Klopstock," he says, "behielt daher nur enge Kreise ubrig, und Wieland ward der Schriftsteller der grossen Welt, seitdem er sich entschieden auf dlese Seite der Lebensphilosophie warf und, wie jener eine feinere Religion, seinerseits eine feinere Moral, gleichfalls im Gewande der Poesie, und einer bequeraer'en Poesie lehrte, als die Klopstocksche war. Unvennerkt war er aus alien Klopstock-bodmerischen Theo- rien zu denen der Berliner hiniibergesetzt. Er lernte, wie es Mendelssohn verlangt hatte, von jenen Deisten und Philo- sophen den Menschen selbst zum Gegenstand seines Nachden- kens zu machen ; er ward dadurch auf psychologische Betrach- tungen und Erfahrungen gefuhrt, die ihm Lessing gewUnscht hatte." The firtt effort of Wieland in his new style was the poe- WIELAXD. 41 tie tale "Nadine;'' which was followed, in 1764, by "Aben- teuer des Don Sylvio von Rosalva." Wieland's "Musarion," published in 1768, and "Die Grazien," (1770) are written (the former more particularly) with elegant simplicity. Our author has, perhaps, been most successful in this order of didactic poetry: his manner therein is easy; and his satire, by no means small in amount, is, nevertheless, always good-tempered. An almost unrivalled fluency is uniformly discernible in these compositions. His "Oberon," completed in 1780, is bh chef-d'oeuvre; there being in this poem a beauty that may be felt, rather than de- scribed. The whole poem is a perfect piece of poetic fancy; and is coloured with the most romantic hues. The Criticism of Goethe on Oberon is characteristic. He wrote to Lavater : "Wieland's Oberon wird, so lange Poesie Poesie, Gold Gold und Crystall Crystall bleiben wird, als ein Meisterstiiok poe- tischer Kunst geliebt und bewnndert werden." The chief work which he consulted and adopted in the framing of his plot, was an old novel, entitled, "Huon de Bordeaux." Of Wieland's "Komische Erzahlungen" the most celebrated are "Endymion," " Aurora und Cephalus," and " Der Kombabus:' though scarcely less entertaining are his "Schach Lolo," and "Der Vogelfang." His "Idris und Zenide" is an elaborate work in German literature. "Der neue Amadis" (1771) is certainly the most eccentric of all his productions. Gervinus characterises it thus: "Im neuen Amadis, wo Hamilton Vorbild ist, sucht der Held ein wirkliches Ideal, zusammengesetzt aus den Gestalten der Tugend und WoUust; in dem freien Gang seines capriccio fiihrt uns der iiberall her pliindernde Poet zu den gemeinsten Stellen, die durchaus werth waren, einem Blumauer und Heinse zum Ideal zu dienen, und durch ein ariostisches Geflecht von schliipf- rigen Scenen. " — His poem of " Clelia und Sinibald " may fairly be considered as a charming poetical novel and his fairy tales "Das Win- termarchen" and "Das Sommermarchen " as the two most amusing stories of their kind. In the list of Wieland's prose works we must first record his "Don Silvio von Rosalva," finished in 1764. This tale is an imitation of the " Don Quixote " of Cervantes, and one of its most amusing portions the story — introduced as an episode — of the "Prinz Biribinker." 42 WIELAND. "Die Geschichte des Agathon," which appeared in 1766, is Wieland's principal, and, at the same time, unquestionably his most successful, novel. In this work he determines, with the finesse of a Frenchman, the line of demarcation between wisdom and virtue. Tthe truth, however, of this novel of "Aga- thon" is, that it is Wielaud's own history in a Greek dress. This is, in point of style, one of his most polished, and iluent novels and it ranks as the best fiction of his time. Again his "Abderiten," a good natured satire on the ridiculous man- ners peculiar to small country towns, is a first rate production. He pointed it out himself, as "ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des menschlichen Verstandes." In his "Goldenen Spiegel," (1772) and " Geschichte des Danischmend," he has enunciated his ideas of the principles of poetry. "Der goldene Spiegel" appears in the form of an oriental tale, intended to illustrate certain views of our author on political philosophy. It touched on all the questions of the day, and reminds one of the " Lettres Persanes " of Montesquieu, and the writings of Rousseau and Voltaire, which served Wieland more or less as models. By these productions Wieland had placed himself in antagonism with the literary celebrities of his time. Opposed by Klopstock, Bodmer and the Anacreontists, no less than by the Berliners and Lessing, Wieland's " Grazienphilosophie " was further as- sailed in the "Goettinger Anzeiger;" and even his friends re- proached him on the subject of "Agathon," etc. and called him an Epicurean. Theological teachers in the University prohibited the reading of these poisonous writings ; preachers denounced them from the pulpits of Erfurt, during his stay there ; and to crown all, the Klopstock School at Goettingen, burned Wieland's works on Klopstock's birthday, 1773. Voss wrote cutting Epi- grams against his " Schandgesange ;" and Claudius, in his pious way, prayed for the fallen poet. It was only after the tone of Wieland began to change that Herder became his friend ; after which, Klopstock and Voss, being convinced of his per- sonal worth and morahty, as well as of his talents, became also more lenient and friendly towards him. Wieland edited a German periodical "der deutsche Merkur," through which he aimed at educating the German puWic. He afterwards changed its title to that of the " attische Museum " (1796 -1809); all the latter portion of his life being exclusively devoted to classical philology. HEINSE. KLEIST. 43 gL, JOHANN JACOB WILHELM HEINSE (1749—1803) "Was born on the 16th of February 1749, at Langewiesen, near II- menau. At Jena he prosecuted the study of jurisprudence, and subsequently became the librarian of the elector Friedrich Carl Joseph, at Mainz. He died on the 22nd of Juno 1803, at Aschaffenburg. Heinse was a disciple of the Wieland school, but he even- tually departed from the principles of his prototype. He affected the sensual mannerism of Wieland, which appears in his " Sinn- gedichte" (1791), as also in the translation of "Petron" (17941. His "Kunst Eoman," " Ardinghello," and "Hildegard von Ho- henthal" are works which follow the unrestricted promptings of a most voluptuous fancy. The sketches of character, and the delineations of nature, to be met with in these two works, are, however, most nervous and powerful ; though the various narratives have been left by their author in a fragmentary state. But we must, in justice to morality, say, that the voluptuous representations in which his novels abound, make them a dan- gerous kind of reading to weak minds and unformed characters. On the other hand, we cannot help admitting, that the novel of " Ardinghello " contains a multitude of original and charming descriptions of natural scenery; while his obsers'ations upon the remains of ancient art are written with the same winning and extraordinary force of language. ^ EWALD CHEISTJAX VON KLEIST (1715-1759) Was born on the 3vd of March at Zeblin, near Coslin, in Pomerania. He became an officer in the Danish army in 1736; which, how- ever, he left, when Frederick II recalled all his subjects from foreign service. Kleist fought in 1759 as a colonel under General Fink at the battle of Kunersdorf, where he stormed the last battery of the Bassians; in this sortie his right arm was disabled, so that he could only wield his sword with the left hand. The in- stant after a cannon-ball had shattered his leg, he shouted, sink- ing from his seat in the saddle : "Kinder verlasst euren Konig nicht!" The savage Cossacks threw him, maimed as he was, into a morass where he was found on the day following, and conveyed to Frank- fort on the Oder, at which town he died of his wounds on the 24th of August 1759. Kleist's works are characterised by pleasant portraitures. 44 KLEIST. KAMLER. great appearance of ease, and richness of thought combined with succinctness of expression, and a noble morality. Occasionally, however, we may observe a neglect of style, and hardness of versification. Nevertheless, Kleist's "Friihling" of which the first idea was probably suggested to him by " Thomson's seasons " is a very beautiful piece of poetry, and one which has called forth all his poetic powers. The poet takes his post upon a hill redolent with the perfume of spring flowers and describes from thence the beauties of the landscape which is spread be- fore him; giving us, in short, the history of a genial day in spring. Kleist's hexameters constitute, in Klopstock's opinion, a fine anapaestic verse; which would be even finer, if the iambus oftener interrupted the action of the anapaest. Kleist was also successful in other kinds of poetiy; the elegiac for example. His pieces, " An Doris," " Sehnsucht nach Euhe," "Amynt," " Grablied," will always retain their value. The most celebrated of his odes are: "An die preussische Armee," "Das Landleben," and "Der Vorsatz." Among his songs we ought to notice his " Phyllis an Damon," "Trinklied," and " Geburtslied." The first biography of our soldier-poet that can be con- sidered well written, is fromthe pen of Nicolai, entitled "Ehren- gediichtniss Kleist's." CARL WILHELM EAMLER (1725—1798) Was born on the ■25th of February 1725, at Colberg. In 1748, he accepted the oifice of professor of aesthetics at the Military Academy of Berlin, and subsequently he became the director of the national theatre. He died on the 11th of April 1798. Eamler was gifted with poetical talents and apprecia- tion of the Beautiful, — so far, at least, as the successful embodiment of thought in words and landscape sketches would seem to indicate it. Notwithstanding the constant polishings and corrections which his poems underwent, Ramler may be justly accounted stiff in some parts of his style. He was, after Klopstock, the greatest lyric poet of that age. Horace was his model ; and, accordingly, he wrote panegyrics upon Frederick the Great, his sovereign, exactly in the same way as Horace had done upon Augustus Caesar. Hence he has been styled "the German Horace;" though he was far from coming up to his great original in point of lyric power and liveliness of fancy. KAMI.EK. GESSNEK. 4 5 His best odes are: "An die Stadt Berlin,'' "An den Frieden," and " An die Konige." Eamler was also the author of several cantates; of which his "Tod Jesu," set to music by Graun, is the best known, from its classical composition. Ramler's trans- lation of fifteen of the odes of Horace was considered by liis contemporaries as a superior production. SALOMON GESSNER (1730— 17S7) Was born at Zurich, on the first of April 1730. His father being a bookseller, young Gessnev was sent to Berlin to learn the same trade. This occupation, however, was but little suited to his taste : in the end he broke ojT all connexion with commerce, and began to draw, to paint, and to write poems. Shortly after this, he left Beriin and returned to Zurich, where he was much be- loved and respected. He was a men;iber of the grand council, and died on the 2nd of March 1787. Gessner is one of the few Gei-mans who have obtained renown as idyllic writers : not that he can be called a great poet : ■but he had a pleasant knack of expressing his thoughts in a soft and elegant flow of language. We may therefore fitly apply to him that pithy French plirase, — " II est grand dans son gem-e, mais son genre est infiniment petit." One of his first attempts was his picture, "DieNacht," which came out in 1753; and in the following year he made another and a greater effort, in his poem, called " Daphnis," which was suggested to him by reading Amiot's translation of Longus. "Der erste Schiffer" is a charming piece of poetry. It de- .scribes, amongst other things, how Love was the original inven- tor of shipping. Gessner's first volume of "Idyllen" came out in 1756. This work won for its author European fame, and, though somewhat monotonous, is written in a genial spirit, with much grace and naivete, with refined v.\t, and with great elegance and appositeness of allusion. It abounds also in pic- tures4ue colouring; and the costume of all its characters is strictly appropriate. A companion-volume of "Idylls" came out in 1772, together with " Briefe fiber die Landschaftsmalerei." These latter "Idylls" possess, besides the poetical value which they share in common with the first volume, another and a peculiar advantage, viz. : that the groundwork of a gi-eat many of them is to be traced in the personal enjoyments and com- forts of the author's own domestic life, and in the incidents of 46 GESSNER. LICHTWER. his ovvn career. Gessner's "Tod Abel's" first appeared ia 1758; and was received with great favour by the religious world. The "Death ot Abel" is a beautifully executed little story, founded altogether upon the bible narrative. Its pre- dominant character is that of an epic poem which pleases u» by the delicacy which pervades it, no less than by the well conceived pictures it sets before us, which are coloured, so to speak, with taste and talent. A certain degree of monotony is discernible in it: but it acquired considerable reputation, and was translated into a variety of languages : into English (by Mrs. CoUyer), as well as into the French, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, Russian, and Hungari.an. MAGNUS GOTTFRIED LICHTWER (1719—1783) Was bom on the 30th of January 1719, at Wurzen. He be- came, in 1752, doctor of laws and counsellor of the Government, at the city of Leipzig. He died on the 7th of July 1783. The fables of this author secured him a great popularity in Germany, and are read even to the present day. Their chief recommendations are, excellent moral feeling and a powerful invention. Lessing said of them : " The inequality that strikes us in the compositions of Lichtwer, is of quite a peculiar kind. We cannot say that we detect in them genius without taste, for genius alone can create great, though disproportionate beau- ties ; and a noble work of art has " seldom proceeded from the brain of genius, which a masterly hand might not have altered or improved. But you will have observed," proceeds Lessing, "that many of Lichtwer's fables, as they come fresh from his hand, wear such a finished appearance, as to defy the most sagacious critic." They are not to be bettered in conception, arrangement, or portraiture. They would seem to bespeak a man in whom both the Ideal, and the best rules for realizing it, lie enshrined. Lichtwer, however, falls off in very many of his fables to such an extent that he is hardly to be recognized as the same writer. The most approved of his po- etical " Erzahlungen " are, undoubtedly, his "Der Vater und die drei Sohne," "Die sittsamen Menschen," "Der kleine Tiif- fel," "Der Kobold," etc. 47 LESSING'S INFLUENCE ON ART, CRITICISM, PHILOSOPHY AND HISTORY. FEIEDRICH CHIilSTOPH NICOLAI (1733—1811) Was born on the 18th of March 1733, at Berlin. He was a book- seller there. He was also a doctor of philosophy, and a member of the academies of Munich and Berlin. He died on the 8th of January 1811. Nicolai has undoubtedly acquired considerable fame in Ger- man literature. His critical Reviews, which he usually edited himself, from the "Bibliothek der schSnen Wissenschaften," down to the " Allgemeine Deutsche Bibliothek ;" had, for their principal object, the enfranchisement of human thought, com- bined with the advancement of theology and philosophy, and the promotion of a better taste in the " belles lettres." In him- self, Nicolai was possessed of good sound sense, a cultivated taste, and a fund of information; which he turned to ac- count in the production of several philosophical tracts, a Tour through Switzerland, and a number of clever critiques and pamphlets. His novels have no poetical value. The " Sebaldus Nothanker " of Nicolai is a tale in imitation of Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield; and by it, our author ranged himself under the standai;d of Lessing, declaring war against the orthodox party, and the Hamburger, Goetz. It is the his- tory of a philosopher named Sebaldus, who is persecuted by the Dean, Stauzius; and the theme gives him plenty of op- portunities of indulging in sarcasm on the hypocritical clergy, and ridiculing the ignorant sectarians who raged against Lessing. But Nicolai's chief merits lie less in his own writings than in the assistance he gave to literature by his Journals, in which he was assisted by the most talented writers of the day such as Lessing and Mendelssohn. PHILOSOPHY. Whilst Poetry and Criticism were making a progress that tended to exalt the standard of the national literature, and were fast towering to a height, whence they could influence and command by their own self-created strength. Philosophy also 48 PHILOSOPHY. appeared in greater power than it had ever done before. C. Wolf was very active in bringing into notice a mathematically constructed scheme, which aimed at demonstrating and defining synthetically, the entire circle of German learning. Wolfs doc- trine was chiefly promulgated from the University chairs; and was even advocated, in connexion with dogmatism, from the pulpit itself. At that day, our philosopher could boast of having only one opponent of any mark or consideration, — we mean Ch. a. ORusiufS (1715 — 1775) of Leipzig, — a man who rather leant towards the old Scholasticism. The brothers Baumgarten, both professors of philosophy, combined the two systems of Wolf and Leibnitz The one established himself as the expositor of this duplex scheme in the university of Halle, where he had Crusius for his antago- nist. The other Alex. G. Baum&arten. (1714—1762), an ex- cellent orator, occupied the post of professor of Aesthetics in the University of Frankfort on the Oder. He became the founder of aesthetic studies, in Germany ; putting forward his views in a Latin work which he wrote under the title " Aesthetica." This book was translated into German by G. F. Meier, Pro- fessor at Halle; and is the first work on a subject which was afterwards taken up by every German philosopher. For a time, Jacobi, Haman, and Herder essayed their ut- most to raise philosophy out of its then prostrate condition. Their system was called " die Glaubensphilosophie." They were seconded by the contributions of two such profound thinkers as Lessing and Mendelssohn; the latter of whom ventured, with his "Phsedon," within the precincts of religious inquiry. By Mendelssohn, the " Wolfianismus " was transferred into the popular philosophy, the representatives of which were himself and Engel; whilst J. G. Sulzer (1720—1779), justly deserves of attention as an orator and aesthetical philosopher. Mendelssohn endeavoured to simplify and make evident those great practical truths, the belief in God and immortality, and to render them acceptable to the community. He had, no doubt, the no- blest idea of philosophy; its highest aim was, in his eyes, to elevate the human mind, by raising it to the highest degree of culture. But Engel's "Philosoph fiir die Welt" character- izes this first educational epoch of philosophy in Germany more clearly, perhaps, than anything else. The form of this work is certainly one of high perfection ; and has, indeed, quite a Soeratic stamp. MENDELSSOHN. EN GEL. 49 We must also mention, as a popular philosopher, Th. Abbt (njs — 17661, a sagacious, learned inquirer, of great ingenuity, whose works, — particularly " Vom Tode fur das Vaterland," and " Vom Verdienst " — are full of fine thoughts, elegantly expressed. The first of these was written after the battle of Kunersdorf (fought before the gates of Frankfort on the Oder) in which the poet Klbist fell. It was the first work of the kind which ventured on the dangerous ground of politics; and was held at that time in very high repute. Gaeai;, Nicolai, and ZIMMEKMA^^v[, may be added to this class. ^ MOSES MENDELSSOHN (1729—1786) Was born on the 9th of September 1729, in the town of Dessau. He was in very narrow circumstances when he removed to Ber- lin in 1742; but succeeded in maintaining himself as a tutor, and studied very hard. Latterly he became very intimately con- nected with Lessing and Nicolai. He died on the 4th of Ja- nuary 1786. Mendelssohn, without being strictly original, may well be classed among the profoundest philosophers of his day. He knew how to combine, philosophy better than any one else, with aesthetics. His Eclecticism, which was the means of guarding his judgment from undue partialities, kept him also from af- fecting the manners of any of the different schools of philo- sophy. He was a great critic as well as a thoughtful writer. His "Phaedon, oder iiber die Unsterblichkeit der Seele," in which he established, by moral arguments, the indestructibility of the soul, — keeping in view chiefly the doctrine of Socrates on this head, — placed his reputation on a firm basis. »/ JOHANN JACOB ENGEL (1741—1802) "Was born at Parchim, in Mecklenburg, on the 11th of September 1741. By the particular request of Frederick "William III, king of Prussia, he removed in 1798 to Berlin, where he was made a member of the Academy of Science, and a considerable pension was gi-anted to him. Thus set at ease in his circumstances, En- gel was enabled to devote himself solely to philosophy and the muses. He died on the 28th of June 1802,. in the town in which he was born. Engbl was a writer of great penetration, and won reputa- tion in every class of composition which he attempted. Ger- many is much indebted to him for his introduction of popular philosophy. His "Philosoph fur die Welt," together with his 50 MUSAEUS. "Furstenspiegel" were the means of "making his name." His style is unaffected, witty, and correct. , "Herr Lorenz Stark" is a capital portraiture of the manners of the time, and is written in language at once dignified and simple. This, which was Engel's master-piece, is still highly prized. Engel likewise wrote comedies, ("Der Edelknabe " — " Eid und Pflioht")— which for a long while retained possession of the stage; but they are unimportant, and are now almost forgotten; which is also the case with his "Ideen zu einer Mimik." NOVELISTS AND TALE -WRITERS. Novel writing was at a very low level in Germany, com- pared to that at which it stood in France or England; though some of the earlier German writers were very prolific in spite of their utter want of talent. The novel "Arminius andThus- nelda" by Lohenstein, fills two large volumes in quarto, and novels of this description were by no means rare inflictions. The time, however, came, at last, when the novel was taken up more seriously; for w'hilst poetry and the drama were con- stantly on the rise, this department of literature had been quite neglected. Jung -Stilling, Lafontaine and Meissner, were fore- most in its amelioration. They derived their subjects chiefly from scenes in domestic life, and originated that class of fic- titious works, to which the name of " Familienromane " was given; which were, more or less, imitations of the then cele- brated (though somewhat verbose) English tales of Richardson. One imitation thus followed another, until Goethe's "Wer- ther," and Miller's " Siegward's Leiden," gave novel-writing a new direction, and created a school of sickly sentimentalists who were, fortunately, soon superseded and forgotten. , JOHANN KARL AUGUST MUSAEUS (17.35-1787) Was born at Jena, in 1735. He died whilst professor of the College at Weimar, on the 28th of October 1787. MuSAEUs was very successful in novels of a satirical strain MUSAEUS. NAUBEllT. 5 1 and in legendary tales. His association of ideas is happy, his delineations spirited, and his language choice and graphic. The design of Musaeus, in bringing out his " Physiogno- mische Keisen," was to ridicule the system of Lavater. His " Volksmahrehen der Deutschen" is his most popular produc- tion; it still occupies one of the highest positions in literature, and has, in fact , become quite a standard work. Even what seems, at first- sight, mere profitless gossip gathered from the current of popular tradition, grows up, under the nursing of Musaeus, into qharming and entertaining reading. How well told are his "Eolandsknappen," "Riibezahl," "Liebestreue," "Stumme Liebe," " Meleohsala," &c. &c! And there is a high degree of humour, mingled with deep thought in his " Freund Hains Erscheinungen." The satire of Musaeus is always life-like, and consequently the reader can always enter into and enjoy it; — nor has it any of that bitterness or malice, which so often mars the effect of this class of composition. BENEDICTE NAUBERT (1756—1819) Was born in the year 1756, at Leipzig, -where she died on the t2th of January 1S19. We mention this authoress in the same breath with Musaeus, as she has also written legends, or traditional compositions, which, owing to her fascinating vein of narrative, and descrip- tive powers, are very pleasant to read. The same lady-like and elegant tone of mind also pervades her " Volksmiihrohen," and historical novels. Her style is agree- able; and the tales she writes are attractive, from the refined sentiments with which they are garnished. The best and most successful of her novels is "Thekla von Thurn." ^ JOHANN HEINRICH JUNG (1740—1817) Generally known under the name of "Jung Stilling,'' was born on the 12th of September 1740, near Nassau. He 'was the son of a poor tailor, who had not the means of giving him a liberal education, and therefore brought him up to his own business. But the needle had naturally few charms for him ; and a person in a higher station, fortunately discovering the abilities of the youth, adopted him, and became answerable for the completion 4* 52 JUNG STILLING. LAFONTAINE. of Ms education. Jung Stilling studied medicine, and became a very famous oculist. He died at Karlsruhe, on the 23rd of March 1817. The amiable private character of Jung- may be easily in- ferred from his writings ; wherein, although showing himself rather a meagre thinker, he evinces a kind heart, and consi- derable powers of description. Jung Stilling wrote his own life, which he entitled " Jugend," " Jiinglingsjahre," "Wander- schaft," " Hausliches Leben," " Alter ;" and this autobiography is a very precious and rare composition. In the whole circle of German literature there is scarcely a book to be found, written in such simplicity of style, and in such a tone of real- ity and truth, as this same life. Jung Stilling was a very peculiar phenomenon to poets like Herder and Goethe. The manner in which this man contem- plated life, — the way in which he related his fortunes and misfortunes, — his ideas respecting the ways of Providence, — all this appeared to our poets of a very peculiar cast, more like poetry than like real life, and modelled on no previous examp- les, and pretending to no artistic form, and yet, from its very originality, possessing fascinations of its own. After Jung Stilling had written his life, he was incorporated among the learned professors of the university; he then founded a book-making establishment; and the manufactures he pro- duced were his mystical-religious novels, such as "Theobald," "Das Heimweh," "Geschichte des Herrn von Morgenthau," and a goodly number more of the same class. AUGUST HEINEICH JULIUS LAFONTAINE (1759—1831) Was born on the 10th of October 1759, at Brunswick. He was the son of an artist. He applied himself to the study of theo- logy, and became Doctor of Philosophy and "Canonicus" at Halle, where he died, on the 20th of April 1S31. All the novels of this writer are in the same strain, and turn either upon domestic happiness, or its reverse. For a number of years, theseworks were quite the fashion, and pleased by their simplicity and by their amusing style. Lafontaine was the author of an immense numberof works of fiction — (indeed he wrote more than a hundred volumes) — of which his " Rudolph von Werdenberg," "Die beiden Braute," "Sittengemalde," "Der MEISSNEK. KNIGGE. 53 Sonderling," "Die Pfarre an der See," may be considered the best. AUGUST GOTTLIEB MEISSNEE (1753--1807) "Was born on the 3rd of November 1753, at Bautzen; pursued his studies at Leipzig; and accepted, in 1785, the invitation to be- come professor of sesthetics and classical literature to the univer- sity of Prague. He expired on the 20th of February 1807, when master of the high school at Fulda. Meissner was the author of a long series of historical no- vels. The style he adopted was polished and ornate; while his language was correct, and for the most part solemn. Meiss- ner was not deficient in the imaginative faculty; yet his delineations of character were often aifected, and Improbable. His " Sklzzen " were, at the time, a favourite with the public. " Alclbiades," " Masanlello," "Bianca Capello," are among the most successful of his productions; the majority of which, how- ever, have, long since, been laid on the shelf. ADOLPH P. P. L. VON KNIGGE (1752—1796: Was born on the 16th of October 1752, at Bredenbeck, near Ha- nover. He studied at Gottingen, and died on the 6th of March 1796, when Hanoverian inspector of the Dom-Schule. Kkiggb ranks far higher in our literature than the two preceding authors, although now pretty well forgotten. He was endowed with talents for comic literature. "Die Eeise nach Braunschweig" is a humorous and racy narrative, and is the only one of his works which is still read. This " Reise " might certainly have been counted among the best comic- writings of Germany, if it had not been for the low style of its wit, and Its bad taste. Knlgge adopted, in nearly all his works, a quasi-philosophical tone which, when minutely examined, proves to be a mere plajring with words and senti- ments. His essay "TJeber den Umgang mit den Menschen" was once much admured; but, taken as a whole, we cannot praise it ; as it advocates a kind of social Machiavelism, which gives a pleasant and elegant garb to that which is, in truth, mere selfishness and egotism. The fact is that what the book de- sires to teach cannot be learned out of its pages. It is not written for healthy minds. Eosenkranz calls it "ein System 54 JACOBS. SEUME. kleinlicher, die herzliche Hingebung todtender Pfiffigkeit, eine Anweisung salbungsvoUer Heuchelei." ^ FRIEDRICH CHRISTIAN WILHELM JACOBS (1764—1847) Was born at Gotha, on the 6th of October 1764. Twenty years afterwards, we find him prosecuting his studies at Jena; though all his time, subsequent to 1810, was passed in his native-town, where he held the office of librarian-in- chief, and president of the numismatic cabinet of the Dnke. He died on the 30th of March 1847. Jacobs stands very high as a novel writer. He was gifted, at the same time with much sagacity as a philosopher, and with a correct taste as a connoisseur of antiquities. His novel entitled "Eosaliens Nachlass," is his principal worli of fiction; and " Die beiden Marien " is also one of his prominent pro- ductions. These efforts of his pen were speedily followed by "AUwin und Theodor," "Die Feierabende inMeinau," &c. &c., both of them very good. The action in these pieces is gene- rally rapid, and the descriptions are managed with skill. They are novels especially adapted for the perusal of the fair sex; — all the characters being conspicuous for depth of religious principle, combined with great warmth of feeUng and love of truth. ^ JOHANN GOTTLIEB SEUME (1763—18101 Was born the 29th of January 1763, at Poserna, near Weissenfels, in Saxony. He was the son of a poor farmer. Count Hohen- thal-Knaiithayn took a fancy to him when a boy, and had him educated. After having finished his studies at Leipzig, he de- termined upon walking to Paris ; but on the frontiers of Hesse he was seized by recruiting soldiers, and transported to Canada, to fight against the Americans. When he returned, he made two unsuccessful attempts to escape. Latterly he resided at Warsaw, serving as a Russian officer; — but eventually retired to Leip- zig. In 1801, he set out upon another great pedestrian tour, to Sicily ; the narrative of which he gives in his " Spaziergang." He then (in 1805) took a similar journey to Moscow and St. Petersburg, land thence into Finland and Sweden) which he de- scribes in his " Mein Sommer." He died atTiiplitz, on the 13th of June 1810. Seume was a man of blunt and energetic disposition, im- bued with an ardent love of truth and justice, but also with a prejudice respecting the corruption of human nature, which WINICEI.MANN. 55 gives an aspect of harshness and severity to his writings. Still, that very feature is indicative of such depth and sincerity of feeling, and such noble manliness of character, that we cannot help loving and venerating a man who thus eminently asserts by his temperament and qualities, his German origin and de- scent. Seume has written many very clever things in prose and poetry, which have procured him that high position in German literature, which he will, doubtless, always hold. His " Spazier- gang nach Syracus," projected and executed during a journey which he made on foot, in the year isoi, through Austria, Italy, and France, forms a most entertaining volume; and the same may be said of the narrative of his tour in Finland, which bears the title of "Main Sommer im Jahre 1S03." The intro- duction to this is a curious memorial of his ardent passion for freedom, and his deep patriotism. His tragedy of " Miltiades " is remarkable for the manly and exalted tone of its sentiments, and its vigour both of thought and language ; but it has little or no theatrical value, being utterly deficient in stage effect. His autobiography, "Mein Leben," is both a remarkable and an entertaining book. It is written with much simplicity and naivete; and is a vivid and accurate reflection of his personal character. His poetry is of the same tendency as all his other writings ; — simple, unassuming, and manly. Adversity had soured the temper of this high-minded man; who was nevertheless a firm friend of liberty and honesty, and never shrank from openly confessing his sentiments. ART. / JOHANN JOACHIM WINKELMANN (1717—1768) The son of a poor shoemaker, Tvas born on the 9tli of December 1717, at Stendal, and studied theology, with very limited means, in the university town of Halle. While filling the office of li- brarian in the family of the minister von Briinau, a most ardent love of the fine arts ajlpears to have taken possession of him, — excited, probably, in the first instance, by the treasure of ancient curiosities enshrined in the repository at Dresden. All his thoughts, therefore, now ran on Italy. Not very long afterwards, we find Winkelmann a convert to Roman Catholicism, and duly installed as keeper of antiquities, and secretary to the Vatican library. His end was tragical: while travelling to his native country, 56 WINKELMANN. chance threw him, at Trieste, into the company of an Italian, one Francesco Archangel! ; who affected to be seized with a nu- mismatic mania, deluded by which Winkelmann displayed to him very readily his whole store of gold coins. During this employ- ment, his seeming friend, under the hope, probably, of appro- priating the glittering hoard he saw before him, treacherously assassinated him, on the 8th of June 1768. WiNKBLMANN's labours in Rome contributed very largely indeed to the right appreciation of antiquities. He was imbued with the spirit of the olden times, practised in criticism, and conversant with the Greek and, Roman poets; and was thus, eminently fitted to discover and explain the treasures of an- cient art. His " Geschichte der Kunst und des Alterthums " is not only a sample of beautiful prose, but exhibits a really wonderful amount of archeological knowledge. Winkelmann may be regarded as one of the most remark- able instances of successful sesthetical study and research. He it was who first began to examine minutely those mag- nificent remains of ancient art, which have been handed down to us from the classical age, to serve the present generation as the most perfect models of artistic design and execution. His life and soul, we may truly say, were in the Vatican. He was to be seen, from morning till night, exploring and scru- tinizing the vast hoards of the productions of human genius there stored up, and often explaining, very graciously, to the aesthetical connoisseur, the genius and spirit of those sculptures, amongst which he may almost be said to have lived. By these means he was gradually laying up materials for the accom- plishment of his memorable "History of Art," wherein he ex- plains and comments upon the illustrious monuments of class- ical sculpture with deep feeling, profound enthusiasm, and, at the same time, with almost Platonic sagacity. His descrip- tions of the "Group of Laocoon," the "Torso in Belvedere," and other subjects, are perfect masterpieces of their kind ; and show at once his great enthusiasm, and the high view he took of the importance of classical art. The fidelity of research which distinguished Winkelmann and the astonishing depth of his classical learning have combined to bestow a high value on whatever he wrote; and have raised a lasting monument to his fame. Goethe said of him ; — " Winkelmann's Werke sind ein Lebendiges, fiir die Lebendigen geschrieben, ein Leben selbst I" bOttigee. 57 KAEL AUGUST BOTTIGEE (1760—1836) Was born at Reichenbach, on the ^th of January 1760. He became the director of the Dresden museum of ancient marbles, and of the celebrated stucco works of Mengs. He died in 1836. BoTTiGBR gave to the world several archaeological works. His "Vortrage iiber Archeeologie ," "Archseologie der Malerei," and "Amalthea, oder Museum der Kunstmythologie und bildl. Alterthumskunde," possess a great value in the artistic world. He also published a work called " Sabina , Morgenscenen im Putzzimmer einer Romerin;" which gave an account of the domestic life and manners of the Romans, and conduced, in some degree, to the better comprehension and appreciation of the Latin classics. BOtti'ger's sesthetical criticisms are well con- ceived and skilfully expressed. H I S T JR Y. The quality of historic prose had deteriorated as much as that of metrical composition before the epoch of the regene- ration of poetry ; and we have therefore (so far as the develop- ment of historiography is concerned) to look upon J. C. Gat- TEKER (1727 — 1799) as one of the first, who wrote with ade- quate learning and depth. He was the founder of the school of historians at GSttingen. Then arose L. T. Spittler^ (1752 — 1810), a very talented writer, whose works have the high praise of being composed in the liberal spirit of modern Europe. His language is concise, at the same time that its re- markable clearness reminds us of Tacitus and Thucydides, * whom he evidently adopted as models. Spittler enchanted his hearers at the University, by his deep insight into history no less than by the magic of his speech; but when he ceased being a free man, (he became a minister), he gave up writing. Whilst Jena took exclusively upon itself the ideal and sesthe- tic paths of science , GSttingen became the seat of real and materialistic inquiry, and produced niore historians than any other University. Some of them, certainly, —such as C. Mei- KERS (1747— 1810),— never rose above mediocrity. Meiners was a foe to liberty and to the civihzation of nations ; and dwarfed down at last into a mere bookmaker. His "Geschichte der 58 J. V. MiJLLEE. ARCHENHOLZ. Wissenschaften in Griechenland und Rom" will rank as his best work. Ch. W. DoHM (1751—1820) was of a superior cast. He was at first professor at the Karolinum at Cassel; but afterwards devoted himself to the diplomatic profession. His works on history and statistics are distinguished for their simplicity and absence of affectation, which adds greatly to their value. Amongst them we may particularly .mention his " Staatsgeschichte Preus- sens, Oesterreichs, &c." But at this time, Johanijes von Mtjii- ler's great talents, in this vein, were developed, and his- toriography became really classical. Feibdeich von Gentz (1764—18321, one of the most talented political writers, and cleverest diplomatists of his time , may also fitly find mention here. 4 JOHANNES VON MtJLLER (1752-1809) Was tlie son of a clergyman; and was born at Schaffhausen, on the 3d of June 1752. He applied himself to the study oftiistory, in the city of Gottingen ; and followed up that subject, in which he afterwards so much excelled, until his life's end. When he died, he was director-general of the public institutions at Cassel. The date of his, death is the 29th of May 1809. MDllee ranks among the classical historians of Germany. Thucydides and Tacitus were his models ; and, in dealing with his subject, he has, unquestionably, made the noble style of composition peculiar to the standard writers of old times altogether his own. His language is characterized by great sesthetical beauty; and his mode of working out his ideas is exceedingly fine. Even if he be now and then somewhat want- ing in urbanity, he is never without a certain degree of elegance and grace; and, if frequently obscure, is, nevertheless, always vigorous and energetic. Miiller's most celebrated works are : "Die Geschichte der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft ," and "Vierundzwanzig Bticher allgemeiner Weltgeschlchte." JOHANN WILHELM VON ARCHENHOLZ (1745^1812) Was born on the 3d of September 1745, at Langenfurth, near Danzig. He was an officer in the Prussian army , and served in the seven year's war. He died in his villa of Oyendorf, near Hamburg, on the 28th of February 1812. The " Siebenjahrige Krieg," by his author, is a work that MOBSER. 59 has never been surpassed by any one; whether we regard it as a copious and accurate exposition of facts, or as a specimen of masterly arrangement, and of an easy, natural style. Ar- chenholz wrote a great number of other political and historical tracts ; but they are not of much importance. JUSTUS MOSEE (1720—1794) Was born at Osnabrilck, on the 14th of December 1720, studied jurisprudence at Jena, and in 1747 became "Adrocatus patria;," and subsequently "Justizrath." MiJser died on the 8th of January 1794 MoSEK has justly been denominated " the German Franklin.'' His popular yet philosophical manner of writing ; his clear, un- assuming, and withal powerful and vigorous style; his genuine simplicity and elegance — characteristics, all of them, of the great American essayist — imperatively bespeak our admiration. A visit to England which Moser paid , in his official capa- city, towards the close of the seven years' war, (remaining there nearly eight months) would seem to have exercised no incon- siderable influence over his philosophical and political principles — the latter especially; — while it also did much for the en- largement and perfection of his views on assthetics. The " Patriotischen Phantasien," of his author, are fugitive papers (on subjects suggested by the features of the time) , which were furnished by him to certain periodical publications. These •"Phantasien" are evidently thrown off under the impulse of noble and patriotic ideas; and are well suited to the taste of the million. It was the design of Mciser to enlighten in this way the minds of his countrymen upon political questions : — a service, it must be confessed, of the last importance, at that era of political degradation. But, after all, his most sterling production, and that in which he manifested most clearly his pecuUar strength and felicity as a popular historian and didac- tic writer, must be allowed to be his " Osnabriicksche Ge- schichte." In this performance he casts many a lucid glance into the texture and progress, as well of German, as of general history. In short, Justus Moser, tried patriot as he was in all points, richly deserves the splendid monument which has been erected to his memory in Osnabruck, by his grateful and admir- ing fellow citizens. tjO NIEBUHE. STUKZ. KAESTEN NIEBUHR (1733—1815) Was born at Ludingworth im Land Hadeln, on the 17th ofMarch 1733, and died the 30th of April 1815. NiEBUHK was attached, in 1761, to an expedition to Arabia, projected by King Frederick V, for the purpose of making- discoveries in that country. 5ll his companions died within a year after they set out : yet he continued to go on fearlessly, and came home again in 1767. The result of this expedition was his "Beschreibung von Arabien;" a work of considerable value from its general correctness, and filled, moreover, with striking descriptions, and details of the clearest and most com- prehensive kind. J HELFRICH PETER STURZ (1736—1779) Was born on the 16th of February 1736, in the town of Dai-m- stadt. He studied law at Gbttingen, and was the private secre- tary of the minister Bernstorff. Sturz died at Bremen, on the 12th of November 1779. Storz ranks among the best and most elegant German prose writers of this time. His style is unaffected , inartificial, and stirring. "Die Erinnerungen aus dem Leben des Grafen von Bernstorf," is his most successful performance. Actuated by an earnest regard for this diplomatist, Sturz has portrayed him in fine colours, whilst his inexhaustible enthusiasm at once interests and impresses the reader. He excels both in the conception and in the treatment of his subject; and is worthy, as a biographer, of all imitation. With regard to Sturz's essays in poetry, "Die Konigswahl" shows that he was not without some talent for this description of epigrammatic writ- ing. His "Briefe aus England und Frankreich," notwithstanding that their local interest may be no more, are such lively pic- tures of manners and customs, that they may still be read with entertainment and advantage. The new ideas which Lessing had put forth in criticism, art, and language, had been occupying the learned circles of the continent; and their influence, as we have seen, had been of the utmost importance. It had carried its work of reform into adelunct. 61 every walk of life ; and it nbw began to give a new direction to the German language, regarded grammatically, as well as to education and its institutions. Joh.Beknaed Basedow (1723- 1790), originally of Hamburg, — a man of enlightenment and progress, — was led, by read- ing EoussEAu's "Emile," from theology to the educational question ; and was the first who endeavoured to free the school from the then predominating influence of the clergy and the church. With the assistance of the Duke of Dessau, he erected a Training School for teachers; and thus became the reformer of German education. His chief object was to promote the education of the lower classes; and, next, that of children generally. In all parts of Germany and Switzerland training institutions of a similar kind were founded; which brought about a thorough reform of Schools and Colleges. One of the most active men was the great humanist J.HeineichPbs- TALozzi (1746 — 1S27:; who — assisted by Basedovt's pupils, Campb, Salzmann, and others — gave so great an im- pulse to the education of all classes of the German people. A great number of children's books and popular tracts were written by these men; of which Campe's "Eobinson Crusoe" and "Entdeckung von Amerika," and Pestalozzi's "Lienhard and Gertrud," (a novel of charming simplicity) have become standard works. JOHAJSnsr CHEISTOPH ADELUNG (1732—1806) This illustrious character was born on the 8th of August 1732, near Anklam, in Pomerania. In 1787 he was appointed head- librarian in the city of Dresden^ where he died, on the 10th of September 1806. ADBLtrsTG was the first grammarian of his age. Provided with a sufficient store of philosophical and historical knowledge, he succeeded in erecting the first complete system of German grammar; and published a dictionary, which gave evidence of a zeal and an industry quite unsurpassed, and, perhaps, unsur- passable. Adelung's " WSrterbuch," is, in fact, the largest work of the kind that our country can show. It is, in its design, at once etymological, grammatical, and critical; and comprehends the various dialects of Germany. As the new dictionary, which the Gebriider Grimm are now publishing, excludes these dialects ; Adelung's work will maintain its old position. In his "Mithri- 62 CAMPE. dates , Oder die allgemeine Sprachenkimde," Adelung has de- veloped the results of all his linguistic research; giving us the Lord's Prayer in about five hundred different languages and dialects. This work was one of the first which gave that sti- mulus to the study of "comparative philology" which has. brought it to the high scientific rank it now holds. In his work , " UelDer den deutschen Styl ," Adelung has the merit of having laid • down the first theory of style. HEINRICH JOACHIM CAMPE (1746—1818) Was born on the 29tli of June 1746, at Deensen, in Brunswick. He was appointed to the, office of military chaplain in the city of Potsdam. After having conducted several private schools , he accepted the office of "Schulrath," at Brunswick; and undertook the complete reform of education in that principality. Opposed by the clergy, he established a " Schulbuchhandlung ," for the purpose of circulating good schoolbooks, written on a new and improved principle. He was assisted in these undertakings by the Duke, who was his' patron. In 1789 he went to Paris, to be an eye witness of the Revolution; and, on his return, the republic sent him an honorary " diplomen ," and made him a Citizen , in company with Pestalozzi , Klopstock and Schiller. Campe's great aim in life was to widen the basis of education. But, in thus opposing the old school, he made many enemies; attaking, as he did, the style then prevalent, and criticizing severely the foreign expressions so much in use among the authors of his day. Klopstock, "Wieland, and even Goethe and Schiller, wrote severe epigrams upon him. Campe died at the advanced age of seventy- two, on the 22d of October 1S18. The great German dictionary which Campe published is se- cond only to Adelung's in importance. It is of considerable value in itself, besides being a monument of his zeal and en- thusiasm for the improvement of the German language. As a writer for the young, however, Campe is much more known and liked. In that section of literature , our author possesses, in a very surprising degree, the faculty of descending to the level of the understanding of young people. His narratives are charmingly told; and amuse at the same time that they instruct: whilst his manner is always natural, attractive, and elegant. The following works from his pen have become quite standard children's books: "Die Entdeckung von Amerika," "Kleine Kinderbibliothek," "Reisebeschreibungen," "Theophron," and, last but not least, the imperishable "Robinson." PHILOSOPHY. 63 THE INFLUENCE OF PHILOSOPHY. Philosophical studies were going more and more to decay, and seemed on the point of becoming altogether extinct, when Immakuel Kant arose. Kant was professor of philosophy at Kcinigsberg; and, entering into the matter quite in the spirit of .the Greek savants, founded his school and completed his system, long before he wrote anything. Hippbl and Hajiann were among his followers. Hippel was in the regular practice of attending Kant's lec- tures, and being, moreover, personally acquainted with the philosopher himself, made the public first conversant with Kant's principles, in his curious and humorous novel, " Lebenslilufe," and his treatise, " Ueber die Ehe ; " yet ^vithout alluding to Kant in the least. In these works we not only find the reasoning of the new school, and the conclusions reached by it, judiciously intermingled with the author's own views, but also the sub- stance of whole passages, and sometimes even verbatim quo- tations, which we afterwards recognize in Kant's "Kritik der reinen Vernunft." But when Kant himself proposed the work just alluded to i wherein, as is well known, he attempts to exa- mine and determine the confines of the human understanding) to the world of learned speculatists , an impulse altogether novel was imparted to the German mind, which was followed by a brief period of conflict with the insignifioant critical jour- nals then extant, which Kant, soon silenced, by exposing their shallowness of thought and their ignorance of logic. But, the originality of Kant's ideas once admitted, scientific men from all parts entreated him to facilitate the acquirement of his theory ; and it was with this object in view that he wrote his "Prolegomena zn einer jeden kiinftigen Metaphysik und Logik, etc." Various controversies were raging, the whole force of which turned upon Kant and his fraternity, when K. L. Eeinhold (175S— tS23), the son-in-law of Wieland, at that time Professor of Philosophy at Jena, put forth an energetic defence of the doctrines of the new school, in his "Briefe liber die Kantische Philosophic." To this undertaking Eeinhold seems to have been more particularly invited by the vapid critiques set forth by the Berliner, "Nicolai," who still flattered himself that he had the power of guiding the speculative and scientific intellect 64 PHILOSOPHY. of the day. The labours of Eeinhold were crowned with signal success; and his lecture-room could boast of a large concourse of students : for the philosophy of Kant penetrated intimately into the German spirit. The old and venerated chieftains of German philosophy, professors at the diiferent universities, (such, for example, as: E. Platner i1744 — 1813) at Leipzig; Christian Garvb (1772—1798) at Breslau; Tibdbmann at Marburg; and T. G. H. Feder (1740- 1821) at Gottingen, all distinguished men in their way), lost, from the date of Kant's appearance, their long-stand- ing repute ; and exercised no more authority in the domains of philosophy. F. H. Jacobi was at that time diffusing his philosophy in popular novels ; which can only be understood if we know the precise character of his age. Although entirely gone by, as far as their contents are concerned, yet they are not valueless ; because they serve as proofs to show what then occupied the minds of the educated classes, and what seemed to them most necessary and important. Two questions, of universal interest, Jacobi is especially fond of discussing; — the depths of the human mind , and the secret emotions of the heart : and the recurrence of these two subjects we may detect in all his novels, as well as in his philosophical dissertations. The mediator between Kant and Jacobi is J. F. Fries (1773 — 1843), who was Professor of Philosophy at Jena. Fries was a man of great sagacity, and an easy and sound writer. His philosophical career has shewn that he possesses a virtuous and religious mind, with the highest idealistic tendencies. In fact he has always proved himself to be a consistent, convinced, and sincere character. In ethics especially, we may safely trust to his guidance ; and here , as also in the explanations and elucidations of his religious " Weltansicht ,'' he often reaches a height which makes him a worthy associate of our best di- dactic authors ; as a proof of which we may especially mention his philosophical novel "Julius und Evagoras." Friedrich BouTBRVirBK (1766 — 1828), Professor of Philosophy at Gottingen, was a poet, critic, and philosopher ; and has, in the last capa- city , and as an sesthetic writer , given many examples of his deeply speculative mind. He has embodied the latest remodi- fication of his philosophical system in his last and best pro- duction, " Die Eehgion der Vernunft." The last hundred years have been distinguished by unceasing KANT. 65 researches and philosophical speculations. What Germany had lost in former centuries, when philosophy found its chief re- presentatives in England and France, it has completely regained ; so that the mental speculations of G.ermany have now become preeminent in Europe. Grerman Philosophy embraces the highest problems in moral philosophy and metaphysics which have occupied the minds of men from Plato, and Aristotle, down to Bacon, Descartes, Spinosa, and Leibnitz. Metaphysics and psychology, the intellec- tual and moral constitution of men, religion, law, liberty, logic, and sesthetics are the subjects which have chiefly engaged the «ittention of German philosophers. IMMANTJEL KANT (1724-1804). This celebrated philosopher was born at Konigsberg, on the 22nd of April 1724. He was the son of a saddler. He received Ms early education in the "Collegium Fredericianum," and entered the XTniversity in 1740, where he studied theology, the natural sciences, mathematics and philosophy. It is a curious fact , that this great man never saw more of the world, than about forty miles of country round Konigsberg, at which place he died on the 12th of February 1804. "There is a notion," says Mr. Lewes*, "somewhat widely spread through England, that Kant was a 'dreamer'- He is regarded as a sort of Mystic; and the epithet 'transcendental' is made to express the superb contempt which common sense feels for the vagaries of philosophers. The 'dreams of the Kantian philosophy ', and 'transcendental nonsense', are phrases which once popular , now less so , are still occasionally to be met with in quarters where one little expects to find them. We are bound to say that, whatever the errors of Kantism, dreaminess or mysticism are the last qualities to be predicated of it. If its terminology render it somewhat obscure and re- pulsive, no sooner is the language comprehended, than all ob- scurity falls away, and a system of philosophy is revealed, which for vigour, clearness, and, above all, intelligibility, sur- passes, by many degrees, systems hitherto considered easy enough of comprehension." After having finished his University course, Kant was, for * G. H. Lewes, Biographical history of Philosophy. Article 'Kant". 5 66 KANT. nine years, tutor in various families ; and published, during this period, his fcst essay, "Gedanken von der wahren Schatzung der lebendigen Krafte,'' (1747). In 1755 he became Lecturer at the University of Konigsberg on logic, metaphysics, physics and mathematics. In 1770 he was made Professor of Logic and Metaphysics. He had already proved himself, by various articles and essays, both an erudite and an independent thinker. Of these productions the most note worthy are "Der einzig m5gUche Beweisgrund zu einer Demonstration des Daseins Gottes" (1763), and " Beobaehtungen uber das Gefiihl desSchS- nen und Erhabenen" (17641. But Kant's greatness began with the publication of his " Kritik der reinen Vernunft " (1781); from which time we must date the boundless Influence which his philosophy acquired over almost every branch of German science. Kant was the creator of what, by way of distinction, has been termed the critical branch of philosophical enquiiy ; and he, also, it was, who laid the foundation of correct aesthe- tical principles. The writings of Locke led to the conclusion that there was nothing in the understanding which had not arrived there through the senses. Leibnitz admitted this ; but replied, " there is the understanding itself". This observation Kant took for his text ; and the basis of his enquiry was this : — " dass, ehe etwas iiber die Objecte der Erkenntniss entschieden werden konne, das ErkenntnissvermSgen selbst und die in ihm liegende Quelle der Erkenntniss einer priifenden Kritik unterworfen werden miisse". His entire philosophy became, hence, a criti- cal enquiiy into the nature of the understanding, from various points of view. In 1783 Kant pubhshed his "Prolegomena zu einer jeden kunftigen Metaphysik;" in 1785, "die Grundlegung der Metaphysik derSitten;" in 1788, "die Kritik der praktischen Vernunft;" in 1790, "die Kritik der Urtheilskraft ;" in 1793, "die Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der blossen Vernunft;" in 1797, " die metaphysischen Anfangsgriinde der Tugendlehre," and " die Eechtslehre " : and his great labours, which extended over a period exceeding fifty years, ended in 1798, with his "Anthro- pologie in pragmatischer Hinsicht". Kant's Philosophy made a very great impression on his own time : partly because many of its elements were already estab- lished ; partly because his investigations were original, new, and startling. There was, besides, an amount of truth and ethical grandeur about Kant, combined with a deep feeling for the FICHTE. 67 highest interests of mankind, which placed him, at once, on a level with the great men of antiquity. The books which give the fullest and best account of Kant's philosophical system and writings, and which the scholar will do well to consult, are Lewes's " Biogr. History of Philosophy, " Chalybaeus's " Entwickelung der speculativen Philosophie bis Hegel," Rosenkranz's " Geschichte der Kantischen Philosophie," and Biedermann, "die deutsche Philosophie von Kant bis auf ' unsere Zeit ". — JOHANN GOTTLIEB FICHTE (1762—1814). This distinguished philosopher was the son of a poor weaver of Rammenau, in Upper Lusatia, and was born on the 19th of May 1762. He visited the Gymnasium at Schulpforte, and studied at the Universities of Jena, Leipzig and Wittenberg He lived as tutor for several years at Zurich; where he became the friend of Pestalozzi; and from Zurich, he went to Konigsberg. In 1793 he became Professor of Philosophy at Jena; in 1805 he held a chair in the University ofErlangen; and, from 1810, he was Pro- fessor of Philosophy at Berlin; where he died, on the 27th of January 1814. FiCHTE was one of the most distinguished of the German philosophers, and a man of extraordinary intellect and moral greatness. He was the founder of the remarkable philosophy "Des Ichs." Fichte's historical position is thus described by Mr. Lewes: — "Kant's 'Criticism,' although really leaving scepticism in possession of the field, was nevertheless believed to have in- dicated a new domain, in which a refuge might be found. Jacobi, for one, saw in the principles of the ' Criticism ' a path on which he could travel. He maintained , that just as sense was, according to Kant, a faculty whereby we perceived ma- terial things, so also was reason a faculty, whereby we perceived the supersensual. It was , indeed , soon evident that men would not content themselves with the mere negation to which Kant had reduced our knowledge of things per se. It was the positive part of his system that they accepted and endeavoured to extend. This attempt forms the matter of all the subsequent history of German philosophy till Hegel. The ground of all certitude being in the a priori ideas, an attempt was made to construct a priori the whole system of human knowledge. "The Ego 5* 68 FICHTE. was the necessary basis of the new edifice. Consciousness , as alone certain, mas proclaimed the ground upon which absolute science must rest" It became Fichte's sole object to construct a science out of consciousness, and thereon to found a system of Morals." * His " Versuch einer Kritik der Offenbarung," which appeared in 1792, anonymously, created a great sensation in the .philo- sophical world. It passed, for a long while, as a work of Kant's, until Kant gave up, at last, the name of its author; and this ' laid the cornerstone of his future reputation. Whilst at Jena, he founded a new philosophical system under the title of " Wissenschaftslehre ," in which he endeavoured to construct all knowledge », priori. His "Idealism" he based upon consciousness, which was the admitted basis of all cer- titude; and he not only laid the foundation of idealism, but reduced the "Ego" to an activity, and all knowledge to an act. ** He thus became the founder of the system which Schel- ling and Hegel developed after him. Fichte was not only a great thinker, but a noble and brave man. In 1808, whilst the French held possession of Berlin he delivered to the students his celebrated lectures "Eeden an die deutsche Nation," which had a wonderful effect on the German people and stimulated them to the heroic actions of 1813-15. Fichte's philosophical enquiries may be divided into two periods ; the first of which is the most important and original. In this period he published "Ueber den Begriff der Wissen- schaftslehre" (1794), "Vorlesungen iiber die Bestimmung des Gelehrten" (17941, "Grundlage des Naturrechts" (1796), his most distinguished and matured work " System der Sittenlehre " (1798), and his work "Die Bestimmung des Menschen" (1800). The second period is more devoted to popular and political writings. The best aids for the elucidation of Fichte's philosophical system and works are afforded by the "Charac- teristik der neuern Philosophie " of his son , J. H. Fichte , and by Brdmann's "Geschichte der neuern Philosophic". Fichte had many followers ; amongst whom the most noted are Schle- gel, Schleiermacher, and Novalis. * Lewes's "Philosophy", page 376. ** Lewes's "Philosophy". SCHELLING. 69 FEIEDR. WILHELM JOS. VON SCHELLING (1775—1854) Was born on the 27th of January 1775. He studied at Tubingen and Jena ; and in the latter university he took (1803) Fichte's chair. In 1808 he became Professor at Munich, and in 1841 he was called to the chair of philosophy at Berlin, which had be- come vacant by the great Hegel's death. Schelling died at Ber- lin on the 20th of August 1854. Schelling* began his tareer, by the publication of some essays, before he was twenty years of age. They were entitled " Ueber die MSglichkeit einer Form der Philosophie iiberhaupt," and " Vom leh als Princip der Philosophie " ; and were published iu 1795. These writings contained a very clever reproduction of the thoughts which Fichte had laid down in his "Wissen- schaftslehre" ; and it was this talent which Schelling possessed of assimilating the speculations of others and of giving them a wider circulation by his energetic and excellent writing, which brought him so early into fame. Under the influence of Spinosa's doctrine, Schelling soon declared Fichte's idealism to be merely a onesided representa- tion of truth, and to require considerable improvements. He maintained that the " Transcendentalphilosophie " must corres- pond to the " Naturphilosophie " : in other words, that the laws of nature must also be defined as laws of the intellect ; and that the starting-point of both must be sought for in the Infinite ; — in the absolute Identity of the ideal and real — of the material and intellectual world — of nature and mind. Hence the name of his philosophy: — " Identitatsphilosophie ". Schelling therefore occupied himself exclusively with nature, and published, in 1797, "Ideen zu einer Philosophie derNatur;" in 1798, "Von der Weltseele, eine Hypothese einer hoheren Physik, zur Erlauterung des allgemeinen Organismus;" and in 1799, "Erster Entwurf eines Systems der Naturphilosophie". These speculations were ingenious and startling; inca- pable of verification. They had a very powerful influence on the study of nature ; and although science has now exposed their utter fallacy, the fact remains that their author was the great instigator of the study of the natural sciences ; and hence his celebrity. The fruits of Schelling's study of the philosophy of the in- * Michelet, Entwickelungsgeschichte. — Rosenkranz, Vorlesungen tlber Schelling. 70 SCHELLING. tellect appeared in his work "System des transcendentalen Idealismus" (1800). But the expectations to which this work gave birth were doomed to be disappointed. Schelling was like a brilliant meteor. He dazzled, and disappeared. The only writings of his, which have a didactic character are his dialogue, "Bruno, oder liber das gOttliche und natiirliche Prinzip der Dinge" (1802), and his "Vorlesungen iiber die Methode des akademischen Studiums" (1803). The rest of his writings are polemical. He was chiefly anxious to refute those who charged him with being a pantheist ; and with this view wrote his essay "Philosophie und Keligion" (1804), and replied with great in- dignation to Jacobi's attack in his "Denkmal der Schrift von den gOttlichen Dingen," (1812). The enthusiasm for the " philosophy of nature," which Schel- ling called forth, enlisted men like Steffens, Oken, Baader, and Schubart under his standard; and no system of philosophy has had a greater influence in England than Schelling's; — an in- fluence, which is exercised, even in the present day, through the writings of Coleridge and Wordsworth. During a period of ten years, Schelling's writings followed each other in rapid succession ; bujt all at once (if we except a few essays) they ceased. This sudden silence dates from 1812, in which year the 1st Volume of Hegel's "Logik" appeared. A great diversity of writing is noticeable in Schelling's works. Sometimes he writes in the tone of empiric research, as in the ,' Weltseele"; and, in the "Ideen zu einer Philosophie der Na- tur ," he displays' a somewhat similar bent : though , here , he entrances us as it were, by the beauty of his ideas, and carries us, not unfrequently , into some new and splendid world of thought. In his "Erster Entwurf zu einer Naturphilosophie " we find a confusion of ideas which is somewhat perplexing. Mixed with much boldness of hypothesis, there is, in this work, considerable wildness of speculation: — whilst his "Bruno," on the other hand, is written with a dialectic beauty which is almost Platonic, and in language of such power and artistic finish as to have procured for it the name of "the poem Bruno ". Great things were expected of ScheUing when he came to Berlin in 1841. He proclaimed that a new philosophy — ("die positive" — "die geschichtUche ", — or "das System der Frei- heit ") — was to be the result of his long silence : but he lec- tured on the "Philosophie der Mythologie," and "Philosophie JACOBI. 7 1 ■der Oflfenbarung," and the public, who had listened to Hegel's wondrous discourses from the same chair, was disappointed. In fact Schelling's philosophy ended in 1812. His latter teach- ings have exercised no influence in the German mind. FEIEDRICH HEINEICH JACOBI (1743—1819) "Was bom at DUsseldorf, on the 25th of January 1743. He was president of the Academy of Science at Munich ; where he died on the 10th of March 1819. Jacobi was a man who blended great natural sagacity with a tone of the deepest feeling. He was the pliilosopher of the heart, and of the kindly affections; and was the author of a couple of tales, — "Woldemar" and "AUwUs Briefsammlung," • — which serve as a kind of popular exposition of his system of philosophy. W. T. Krug (17701, professor of philosophy at Leipzig, is one of the most celebrated of the popular philosophical authors; and has exercised a great influence over the public, not only by making them acquainted with the systems and theories of Kant, Fichte, and other thinkers, but also by ener- getically opposing every kind of obscurity. We must glance here at a few more men who distinguished themselves in this branch of thought. Such was J. B. Ancillon (1766 — 1837), a clever writer on history, politics, and philosophy. His German works, "Ueber wahre Grosse," and "Ueber Glau- ben und Wissen in der Philosophie " are well worthy of men- tion; though his most sterling productions have been written in French. Such also was W. G. Tbnnemann (1761 — 1819), professor at Marburg, whose "Geschichte der Philosophie" has always maintained its position in German literature, from its clear and convincing style of argument. Such, too, were J. G. BuHLE (1763-1821), professor at Gottingen, who distinguished himself by his " Geschichte der neuern Philosophie," and T. X. V. Baadek(1765 — 1841), a Professor at Munich, who was a follo- wer of the Schelling school, and a very spirited defender of a cer- tain "Glaubigen Naturphilosophie. " His works, "Begriindung der Ethik durch die Physik," and "Voriesungen tiber religiose Philosophie," are written with the genius of a poet, and the sagacity of a philosopher. Jon. Feiedr. Hbebart (1776), a professor at K5nigsberg should also be mentioned. He became. 72 LAVATER. through the instrumentality and influence of Fichte, the founder of a peculiar scheme, in opposition to existing philosophical systems, by which he natiffally became involved in polemical disputes. He was the author of "AUgemeineMetaphysik" and "NachgelasseneSchriften;" the latter of which gives a life and outline of his philosophical career and character. Karl Wil- HELM F. SoLGBR (1780—18191 had also great influence; par- ticularly upon the philosophy of the Beautiful ; and his works, " Erwin, Gesprache liber das SchSne und die Kunst," and "Vor- lesungen iiber Aesthetik," may be quoted in proof of it. Sol- ger was a " Naturphilosoph ;" though not an immediate imitator of Schelling. He held many sound, though curious, views ; and exercised a great influence over the romantic school; particu- larly over Tieck, whom, in fact, he introduced to philosophy. His correspondence with Eaumer, Tieck, and other distinguished writers, has been published under the title of " Solger's Brief- wechsel," and is an entertaining book. Besides the fore- going , we ought to name the son of Fichte , who has distin- guished himself in many ways; particularly by his "Beitrage zur Characteristik der Philosophie ;" and Heinrich Ritter, who has written one of the best histories of ancient and modern philosophy extant. JOHANN CASPAR LAVATER (1741—1801) Was born on the 15th of November 1741, at Zurich, where his father practised as a physician. He was a deacon in the same city. After the capture of Zurich by Massdna, Lavater was busy in the streets assisting the wonnded, when a french soldier shot Mm through the side; and he died (on the 2nH" of January 1801> after great suffering. Lavater was a very remarkable man. In him we see, as in a mirror , the reflection of the public mind of the period. He was very pious, as a clergyman; believing that the "times of the Prophets and Apostles" had come again, and that "won- ders" might be worked any day. In fact, he was a strange kind of poetic mystic ; and had persuaded himself that he saw prophetic visions. He wrote "pathetic Sermons," and epic and dramatic pieces on Christianity, philosophy and declamatory prophecy. These works — (e. g. "Pontius Pilatus," "Jesus Messias", "Abraham und Isaak, ein Drama," "Sermons on the existence of LAVATEK. 73 the Devil," and "Joseph von Arimathia, in 7 Gesangen,") — were, at that time, read by a very large pubUc; though they have now fallen into perfect oblivion. But they gave Lavater a position in the religious world of Germany, which was ex- tended into European fame, by his " Physiognomic discoveries ". In the middle of the last century an extraordinary hankering after the supernatural prevailed. Physiognomy, the magnetic deceptions of Mesmer, the conjuring up of spirits, and the im- postures of Cagliostro , swayed the mind of Europe ; and La- vater, in the very centre of all these excitements, was cheated by others, and deceived himself. This explains the extraordinary influence which Lavater's "Physiognomik" and " Physiognomische Fragmente," obtained. The former book was printed in four volumes quarto, and pub- lished at a high price. No German book , indeed , had ever been issued with so much typographical splendour. It was accompanied by an Atlas , with portraits of the most distin- guished men and women of the time, engraved by the first artists of the day, such as Chodowiecki, Lips and Sehellen- berg. Kings and Queens forwarded their portraits to Lavater, and that wise man knew well how to make use of them. "In einem schSnen Korper wohnt eine schcine Seele" was one of his distinguished pieces of flattery. He described every head like an oracle; with a prophetic tone, and in the most bom- bastic language. His friend Zimmermann — one of the me- dical celebrities of the time, but a very vain man, and a philo- sophical quack — pushed his friend Lavater into the upper cir- cles of society by means of his Reviews, which were full of false criticism and charlatanism. These two men came at last under the stinging lash of Lichtenberg, who described the physiognomy of dogs and pigtails in the same unctuous lan- guage and oracular tone which had been used so successfully by Lavater. Lichtenberg — who was a great mathematician and a clear headed man, with an inexhaustible fund of wit — — made, thus, a serious inroad into the prevailing worship of Lavater and Zimmermann. Lavater's Physiognomical theory has passed away as unscientific, and is at best but an interesting speculation: though some of his minor religious treatises — such as "Aussichten in die Ewigkeit," "Worte des Herzens," etc. — have still retained readers: nor are the "Schweizerheder," which he published in 1767, without some poetical merit. 74 LICHTENBEEG. ■4. GEORG CHRISTOPH LICHTENBERG 11742—1799) Was born at Ober-Ramstadt, in the vicinity of the town of Darm- stadt, on the 1st of July 1742. He enjoyed, at Gottingen, the twin titles of court-counsellor and professor of philosophy. He expired on the 24th of February 1799. LiCHTBNBERG was endowed with a most original mind, in which a manly and scientific tpne of thought was interwoven with a sense of whatever is poetically beautiful and true. In addition to this, he was gifted with a rich vein of humor and satire, of which he gave a notable specimen in his work en- titled, "Erkliirung der Hogarthschen Kupferstiche." It is ad- mitted on all hands, that the great English national-artist has never been better understood by any one of his expositors. Lichtenberg's descriptions and details are racy and delightful, on account of the exquisite drollery and caprice, with which he has illustrated the whimsical moods and eccentricities of Hogarth; Lichtenberg's commentary has often been considered even more witty than the pictures themselves, but we must not forget that the pictures of Hogarth are capable of speaking Volumes. Lichtenberg's " Vermischte Schriften " embrace a collection of the most witty, satirical, and humorous pieces, that have ever proceeded from his clever pen. His "Briefe aus England" are charged with some peculiarly interesting and valuable matter, including, amongst other topics, an elaborate criticism upon the powers and style of the great English actor David Garrick. But Lichtenberg has also greatly influenced the progress of the cultivation of the national mind, by saving the German nation, by his satires, from the servility and oppression of the soi-disant aristocrats. With a sharp vein he appeared against Lavater and his unscientific "Physiognomik," whilst he answered the rude attacks of Zimmermann in a masterly caustic style. The german language produced, at one and the same time, master- pieces in all manner of styles; such as Herder's "Ideen," Goethe's " Werther," Lessing's " eilf Antigotze," and Lichtenberg's pole- mical satires against Lavater's mannerism and Zimmermann's quakerism. The last-named productions , namely, Lessing con- tra Goetze, and Lichtenberg's satirical letters, are the most violent specimens of rhetorical and bitter invective against par- ticular persons, but exempt from vulgar insult. These two genres, ZIMMEKMANN. 75 and this cutting phraseolog}% which were respectively used by Lichtenberg and Leasing, are both of a distinguished character, Sand of finished excellence in their way. JOHANN GEORG RITTER VON ZIMMERMANN (1728—17951 Bom on the 8th of December 1728, at Brugg, in Switzerland. He became counsellor of the board of court physicians at Hanover, and died on the 7th of October 1795. ZiMMERMANN wrotc a popular philosophical work, bear- ing the title of "Ueber die Einsamkeit," a book of such note in its time, as to have passed into various languages and editions. It was one of the best treatises of popular philosophy, not badly written and full of striking pic- tures. But the hand of the physician was predominant, and the Emperess Catherine, wrote the pithy remark that in it "der Menschheit manche schone Eecepte verordnet seien". Perspicuity and unstudied elegance characterize his treatise, "Ueber den Nationalstolz." Zimmermann's private character was very detestable; he was a mean flatterer, and greedy after decorations. Schlosser, in the third volume of his "Geschichte des 18ten Jahrhun- derts," has given a masterly characteristic estimate of the period when Zimmermann and Lavater were looked upon as the Coryphaei of German literature, and Lichtenberg's Criti- cism, to which we have already refprred, completely demoUshed his arrogance. SECOND PERIOD. — (From 1770—1800). DIE STURM- UND D R A N G P E RI D E. STORM AND PRESSURE SCHOOL. This period, so styled by Goethe, after the title of one of the dramas of Klinger, " Sturm und Drang," may be characterized as follows: , In the latter half of the eighteenth century there did not exist in Germany even the remotest shadow of political free- dom ; there was no liberty of the press, no liberty of pef son, 76 STURM- UND DKANGPERIODE. in fact no liberty of any kind. There were certainly amongst the petty princes of Germany, some that were favourable to progress ; and a few of the better and bolder ministers wished' for that publicity which they could not bring about. Political papers there were scarcely any ; and those there were did not appear to be established for the purpose of speaking freely and openly, but to gossip about, and flatter the royal courts; and were kept under the strictest censorship. The political state of Germany was one of complete despotism; and the pressure on Uterature, no less than on social life, was most deplorable. But, at this very time, the productions ofLessing and Her- der roused the minds of the people ; whilst the French writers, Diderot, Eousseau, and Voltaire, exercised a surprising influence over the Germans. It must be borne in mind that another generation had grown up under the incubus of despotic power; while the vigorous intellectual life of France was operating upon Germany in divers ways. It was at this period that Lessing's "Antiquarische Briefe," Herder's "Fragmente," Wieland's "Mu- sarion," Gerstenberg's "Dgolino," Lavater's "Aussichten in die Ewigkeit," and Basedow's educational writings — which were the first step to the school-reform — were put forth; and they made a great stir, and promoted art, theology, and German en- lightenment in general. But it was when Goethe appeared as a leader, that the real revolution — the true reToiFmation of Ger- man literature — broke out. His "Goetz von Berlichingen," and his "Werther's Leiden" (1774), were intended to reform poetry, style, and the entire mechanism of the belles lettres. Herder had unveiled to him, at Strasburg, the poverty of German lite- rature, and made him acquainted with poetry in its true sense, and its proper application to nature, to the German nation, and to the world ; and had been, in fact, the resuscitator who eflfected so great a mental revolution in those younger circles at Stras- burg to which Goethe, Lenz, Jung-Stilhng, etc., belonged. This movement of modem German literature was, however, in strict unison with the mental development of the 18th century else- where. "Enlightenment in religion, philosophy, and art!" was the cry of the reformers. These was a "storm and pressur e "' — a revolutionary tone — in letters and life, which impressed its name on the period. The movement began with the apear- ance of Goethe's Goetz, in 1773; and went on until the publi- cation of Schiller's Don Carlos in 1787. STURM- UND DRANGPEKIODE. 77 It was a singular timej^ Evfiiy_jtbiiig j[as to be refo rmed at_ once. Every work was to be thoroughly national and^German. Poetry was to be written noTTorTlielearnM~almre, buLforthe" entire nation. Pedantic rule j_ and m odels of al l kinds were discarded. There was to be butjme rul e , — " n"a ture ;" — bu l_ <) W"Ei6d e],"-— ^'genius "i TFe^ following were the productions, (Kit create3~tBe~most sensation in this stormy period : Klinger's "Zwillinge," Lenz's "Hoflfmeister," and "Neuer Mendoza," and Wagner's "KindesmSrderin." But whilst this commotion was entering the heart of poetry, a great man appeared, in Hanover, who threw Ught upon the darkness of politics. This man was A. L. Schlozer (1735 — 1809). He created a literary tribunal; and by its judgments shamed the innumernble petty tyrants and their servants — at any rate, all those amongst them who had still honour and virtue enough left to be able to blush. Schlozer published, in 1775, a journal with the title of "Briefwechsel," in which he censured and re- buked the mal-administration of the governments of the states, and the system of tyranny on which they were based. As early as the second year of this journal we find articles by which Schlijzer became the detestation of all the old prejudiced officers of state who served the petty despots of Germany. Schlosser depicts this very cleverly in his "Geschichte des ISten Jahrhunderts," thus: "Alle die^ welche in den Ritzen und Lo- chern unserer verfallenen Eeichsburg im Dunkeln hausten, die Tyrannen in MOnchskutten, in Stiftern undKlSstern, die wohl- weisen Beherrscher oder Magistrate der Eeichsstadte, die hoch- gebornen Eeichsritter, welche die DOrfer beherrschten , die durchlauchtigen fiirsthchen Herrn, die im Dunkel kleiner Eesi- denzen und leicht von den Thiirmen derselben zu iibersehender Lander mit koniglichem Stolze ihr Wesen trieben, erhoben bald ihr vereinigtes Zetergeschrei." But a review, very similar to Schlozer's "Briefwechsel," came out at this time, which was started by Dohm and Boje, under the title of " Deutsches Museum ;" unquestionably one of the best journals Germany ever produced. This "Museum" became at once the instrument and the arena of the intellectual warfare which followed its appearance. A style was in vogue at this epoch which had been unheard of before, and which had for its design the overthrow of all the old forms of poetry and rules of criticism. New principles started up in every mind. Thfi-elftssical-aathorities were no longer sanctioned asjnodela^ 78 STUKM- UND DBANGPERIODE. I Every one wished to give forth the individual perception and the feeling of his "Ich," and to represent nature in her strict- ness. Men of genius no longer desired to stick slavishly to the Greeks, as they had done before the detested imitation of French works became so prevalent. They only honoured and valued the works of masters for their own excellence. The old Parnassus was ignominiously stormed. Such men as Gleim, Gellert, Kabener, Nicolai, and even young Wiblamd, were* to a certain extent, unrecognized. Geniuses were wanted who were real and original in themselves ; as original as nature : for it was thought that true genius must be weakened by an imi- tative education. Nevertheless, the new generation took for their authorities — Homer, Shakspeare, Ossian, and the old ballads collected by Percy, under the title of "Reliques." Klopstock, Lessing and Herder had opened a new path which became gradually more and more understood and followed by the writers of this period, and tended to exalt German litersi- ture into the "Zeitalter der classischen Poesie." In this period we find those great German authors who are termed "the clas- sical writers." Prose and poetry both arrived at their maturity; the drama was made of national importance; and historical writing mounted to the greatest eminence. German philosophy began to govern the mind of the nation. In Philology, in classical learning, and in theology, the authority of the German savants was recognized throughout Europe. This then is the important period in German literature, to which we have now to turn. We will first, however, take under our consideration the more immediate predecessors of the two great writers Goethe and Schiller. DAS ZEITALTER DER CLASSISCHEN POESIE. FIRST SECTION. DER GOETl'INGEE DICHTER-BUND.* The progress made by poetry in its first period was great, as we have ah-eady seen ; and the discrimination of that age, although defective, was the means of calUng forth life, new * K. E. Prutz, Der GiJttinger Dichter-Bund. 1848. bCrgek. 79 vigour, and a yearning after higher attainments in the metrical art. In the year 1772, a number of talented young men formed a Poetical Union at Goettingen, one of the originators of which was J. Heinr. Voss, whom Bojb had induced to assist in the editorship of the "Musenalmanach," which he had established in connection with Gotter and Kastner (the celebrated professor of Mathematics). The best known members of this "Dichter- bund" were HBlty, the two brothers Stolberg, Cramer, Miller, (author of Sigwarti, and the poets Bijrgbr and Clau- dius. These young men were poetical enthusiasts. Their motto was "Friendship, religion, patriotism, and noble endeavours". They looked upon Klopstock as the king of poets, and branded Wieland's works as unworthy, degrading productions. Klop- stock's " Gelehrtenrepublik ," in which patriotism, ancient art, and the Christian religion were so prominent, became the foun- dation of their sesthetical code. GOTTFRIED AUGUST BUERGER* (174S— 1794) Was born on the 1st of January 1748, at Wolmerswende, near Halberstadt, and may be styled a "born poet" ; as he evinced de- cided poetical talents, even before the completion of his school education. When only ten years old, he began to compose rhymes; though without displaying any (taste for study. Upon leaving school, he studied Jurisprudence, which he afterwards practised; though with indififerent success, for it was neither con- genial nor pleasant to his poetical temperament. Still, turn lawyer he must, were it but to earn his daily bread , for he was not richer than many of the poets in Germany, who, for the most part, were so desp|irately poor, as to have great difficulty in earning sufficient to buy pens, ink, and paper, wherewith to convey their thoughts. As examples of this condition, we need only mention Wieland; and, in a less degree, Schiller. BUrger was married three times ; his second marriage being the happiest. The name of this wife was " Molly " ; in whose honour he com- posed several poems. His third wife was Eliza Hahn , who sent him a poetical epistle , in which she offered herself to him as a companion for life. He married her; but the union ended in a divorce; and she became afterwards a strolling actress, and recited Burger's poems from the stage. After all his labours, Burger died as poor as he was born, on the 8th of June 1794. According to Schiller's onesided criticism, Biirger has never attained the beau iddal of poetry. Schiller was too severe ; for * Dr. H. Prohle, G. A. Biirger, sein Leben und seine Dichtun- gen. 1856. 80 BURGER. Germany is indebted to BUrgeir for the reintroduction of the powerful ballad style of old into her poetry. The position which Biirger occupied as a poet was very enviable; for he gained, as Volksdichter, a pre-eminence to which none of his contemporaries attained. The possession of those very talents of which Schiller thought so lighthy was the main cause of his success. Blirger's poems were the first which went straight to the heart of the German nation. He had studied " Percy's Eeliques", with great industry, and he composed many poems in the style of these old ballads. "Der Bruder Graurock", and "Graf Walther", were among the earhest of them. The truth and simplicity which pervade all his ballads — have procured Biirger an extensive reputation. In some of Ms BtlEGEE. 8 1 metrical performances (such as: " Jungfernraub ," and "Frau Schiiips") we may notice an occasional coarseness of expres- sion, and a tendency to the common-place and vulgar. But setting aside these defects, we find him working in a manner no less masterly than original. The greatest masterpiece of this poet is his ballad called "Leonore" (1773), the origin of which (as confided by Burger to his friendsl was the following : — One fine moonlight night, he happened to overhear a peasant girl singing the following three lines , — which bear , in their structure , the marks of a remote original: — " Der Mond, der scheint so helle, Die Todten reiten bo schnelle, Fein Liebchen, graut dir nicht?" These verses echoed and re-echoed so constantly in his ears, that he sat down and sketched the first rough draft of his own composition. The favourable reception and popularity "Leonore" experienced were almost unprecedented. It created, in its way, as great sensation as Goethe's "Goetz," and " Wer- ther," which had been published a year previously; and has deservedly gained for its author an immortal renown. But Burger has also produced many other fine poems. We would especially mention "Leonardo und Blandine," and that startling and graphic performance "Der wilde Jager" (1785). There is a finish in this poem, which is rarely met with in Biirger's compositions. "Das Lied vom braven Manne" is a truly German romance; and that not so much because it is founded on fact, (the circumstances occurred in 1776, at Verona, beyond the Adige) as on account of the beauty and finish of its execution. The description of the inundation, the breaking up and drifting of the ice, and the ever increas- ing terror and distress, is unsurpassed. The poem of "Des Pfarrers Tochter von Taubenheim" is a startling metrical tale, of rather a licentious tendency, but boldly and skilfully worked out. "Der Kaiser und der Abt" (which was written after the model of "King John and the Abbot of Canterbury," in Percy's Eeliques— 1785,) is a very pleasing effort of Burger's muse; nor should "Die Kuh" (1785) be passed without some notice: it is well worth a perusal. "Die Wfeiber von Weinsberg," the story of which is founded upon an ancient chronicle, is an established favourite. Biirger's "Feldjager-Lied," commencing, "Mit Horner- 6 82 BiJKGEE. C. STOLBERG. schall und Lustgesang'" is a fine military canzonet, set off by a beautiful melody. Besides these, we have many romances by Biirger, which are all masterpieces of their kind : such as "des armen Suszchens Traum ," " Der Eitter und sein Liebchen," "Eobert," "Sch(5n Suszchen," and "Untreue iiber AUes." His love songs are particularly charming ; but his passionate sensuality often seriously damaged that which , otherwise, might have been beautiful. He attempted two poetical tales in Wie- land's manner : ^ " Veit Ehrenwort " and "DieKSnigin vonGol- konda" — but this French style was altogether opposed to his genius. Biirger has, however, great claims to be ranked among the improvers of the German language; for not only is his style correct, but there is great melody in his verse; and he was the first who reintroduced the "Sonnet" into German literature. He also made some creditable translations of Homer's Iliad, and a version of Shakspeare's Macbeth in prose. "The following," says A. W. v. Schlegel, "is the result of our critical inquiry into the genius of Burger : — Biirger is a poet of original rather than enlarged ideas : his turn of mind is truthful and confiding; not tender or impassioned: his exe- cution is generally finished ; Avhilst his plot is shallow and de- fective; he is more at home in romance, and in poetry of a light and unpretending character, than in that of a higher or- der. In some of his compositions he is a genuine "Volks- dichter." The clearness and novelty of his style — were not its effect in some degree marred by unpleasant peculiarities and mannerisms — would alone suffice to give him greatness and distinction." CHRISTIAN GEAF ZV STOLBEEG (1748—1821) Was born at Hamburg, on the 15th of October 1748. He studied at Gottingen, where he joined the " Bardenbund.". Upon leav- ing the university of this city, he was raised to the post of Danish chamberlain. His time, subsequent to the year 1800, was passed in complete retirement at his country-seat of "Windebye," near Eckernfbrde, in the south of Jutland, where he died on the 18th of January 1821. In spirit and fire, delicacy of imagery and pungency of crea- tive wit , our author can hardly be said to equal his brother Friedrich Leopold. Yet his verses are by no means deficient either in warmth of feeling, or in original and striking thoughts. F. STOLBERG. 83 He published two dramas — one of them entitled "Belsazer," the other " Otanes ;" — both evincing great originahty in their dramatic design , and containing many striking situations. He also' wrote some ballads; the best of which is "Die weisse Frau." Stolberg's translations from the Greek include some " Homeric Hymns ," the " Idylls " of Theocritus , and several of the poems of Bion, Moschus, and others. They are well done. His German version of " Sophocles " was looked upon , in his own day, as a very meritorious performance; and is still read. FEIEDEICH LEOPOLD GRAF ZU STOLBEEG (1750—1819) Was born on the 7th of NoTember 1750, at Bramstadt, in the duchy of Holstein. Like bis brother, he began his studies by matriculating at the then famous university of Gottingen ; and •when he retired from it, in 1777, he became minister for Lubeok, in the capital of Denmark. In 1789, he was tbe Danish ambas- sador at Berlin. In the year 1800 he, in concert with the whole of his family, went over to the Roman Catholic faith. He died on the 6tb of December 1819, at Sondermilhlen, in the province of Osnabriick. Fkiedeich Stolbeeg had more genius than his brother; but imagination carried him, eventually, too far, and did serious damage to his poetical reputation. He wrote some very creditable hymns; such as "Auf die Sonne und auf die Erde," the dithyrambic ode, "Die Meere," and the deUghtful "Abendlied eines Madchens;" and was suc- cessful also in many other kinds of poetry; odes, elegies, ro- mances, etc. etc. F. Stolberg's drama of "Theseus" abounds with lyrical beau- ties. The characters of Aegeus , Theseus, and of the "Seher's Sophron" are creations which all shew great poetical ability. Another of his dramas, "Der Saugling," is a charming dramatic fiction upon the infancy of Homer. His "Timoleon" scarcely ranks so high. The sacred chorus it contains was however something new. Most of the dramas of the brothers Stolberg, are furnished with lyric choruses which are a tind of imita- tion (though with a diiference) of those of the Greek tragedies. These works constitute quite a new species of dramatic litera^ ture. F. Stolberg also wrote very creditable translations of Aeschylus, and Homer's Diad. His enthusiasm was nourished by Klopstock's writings; and his patriotic songs "MeinArm wird stark," "Sohn, da hast 6* 84 voss. du meinen Speer," and "In der Vater Hallen ruhte," made him quite popular. But the Fi-ench Eevolution irritated him and turned his mind against freedom; and he took a haughty- aristocratic tone which he soon carried to excess. The abhor- rence of religious and politifcal freedom became so great in him that he went over to the Roman catholic church; and, in the circle of the Countess Gallitzin, wrote those religious works, which were poor remnants of the talent he had once evinced for high poetic art. The " Geschichte der Religion JesuChristi" a voluminous work , of no value , was the chief production of his declining talent and intellect. The idyllic novel "Dielnsel" in which Stolberg's rich fancy and poetic nature displayed themselves for the last time , marks the period when he sacri- ficed his poetical talent for the doctrine of Rome. JOHANN HEINRICH VOSS (1751—1826) Was born on the 20th of Febraary 1751, at Sommersdoif, in the duchy of Mecklenburg. The narrow circumstances of his father I who was a small farmer) obliged Voss to go out as a tutor, be- fore he could think of visiting any uniTCrsity on his own ac- count. But in 1762 he was enabled to proceed to Gijttingen; where he forthwith entered upon a course of philology under the learned and celebrated Heyne. The talent for poetry which Voss displayed about this time , denoted him a fit subject for the "Gbttinger Bardenbund," and it was not long before he rose to be one of its most esteemed and successful members. At Gol- tingen he married Boje's sister. The latter years of his life were passed as schoolmaster and tutor. At length a pension allowed Ixim to retire to the neighbourhood of Jena, no great distance from Schiller and the city of Weimar. Voss died at his "Wein- berg," on the 30th of March 1826. As a pupil of the philologer Heyne , of Gottingen , Voss's taste was entirely directed to classical Greece; and he became one of the first translators of the great masterpieces of anti- quity. His entire life was spent in the study of Greek and Latin literature and the Bible ; and from these sources it was that the original poems which he afterwards wrote derived the exquisite finish of metre, the perfection of rhythm, and the musical flow of language, which distinguished them. He be- came great only in Idyllic poetry ; and even here it was the reproduction of the charming simplicity of the ancients which constituted his charm. His celebrated work ia his "Luise," published in 1783. In this piece he sets forth the taste that VOSS. HOLTY. 85 simple habits inspire for the beauties of nature, in words of much truth and feeling. ~ His descriptions of woodland and pasture scenery, and of country life in general, are given with the hand of a master. Every word is natural, and, consequently, pleasing. The poem is written in easy and mellifluous hexameters, and is a simple and beautiful work. Voss's Idyls and Songs are, preferable to his other lesser poems; for in his "Songs, Odes and Elegies" there is an evident want of poetical power and genius. Amongst the former, the one entitled "Der siebzigste Geburtstag" is perhaps the most striking and beautiful. As a translator Voss has hitherto had no rival. His "Homer" and "Virgil" afford examples of his great accuracy and precision, and of the eminently happy manner with which he could transfer ideas from one lan- guage to another. The translation of Homer in particular, is a master-piece. Schlosser , with his usual acumen , observes : — "Voss's 'Homer,' like Luther's Bible, is likely to remain for ever in the hands of the German youth; for Voss achieved by this translation, in point of poetical language, and metre, a counter- part of what Luther accomplished for prose by his version of the Scriptures. Voss's mind was capable of entering just as fully into the Homeric feeling, as Luther's into the idiosyn- cracies of the prophets and apostles." In addition to these, Voss likewise attempted "Hesiod" and " Shakspeare ;" but with scarcely the same measure of success. LUBWIG HEINKICH CHEISTOPH HOELTY (1748—1776) Was born on the 21st December 1748, atMariensee, near Hanover. He was the son of a clergyman. He commenced his education at the gymnasium at Halle , and finished it at the university of Gbttingen ; where he was associated with the " Dichterbund. " After Holty had gone through the usual theological course , he returned to his home; when unfortunately a consumption termi- nated at once his life and his promising career. He died at Hanover, on the 1st September 1776. This writer seems to have been stamped by nature as the poet of rural scenery. He had much tenderness of feeling, and a heart which was gifted with extreme susceptibility to the influences of beauty and holiness. HOlty's songs and odes are full of a soft and touching harmony, which occasionally moves the reader almost to tears. For the high lyrical order of 86 HOLTY. CLAUDIUS. composition he discovered very little inclination. His most powerful odes 'are too much overlaid by descriptions, and too luxuriant in style. His strong point lay in his delineation of nature, animate and inanimate. He was eminently the poet of the affections; and his eloquent advocacy of love, friend- ship, and benevolence, has seldom been surpassed in ele- giac poetry. . The musical rhythm and graceful flow of his language add to its charms. As sterling and standard per- formances, we ought to particularize his poem, "Ueb' immer Treu und Eedlichkeit," which is in the mouth of every German, the idyll, "Das Feuer im Walde," and the elegy beginning, "SchwermuthsvoU und dumpfig hallt Gelaute." The Grave- digger's ditty of "Grabe Spaten , grabe," the song beginning "Wer wollte sich mit Grillen plageni" and many other social songs of this strain, are standing favourites in Germany. As samples of another style , take the following eclogues : Mailied : — " Der Schnee zerrinnt." Friihlingslied : — "Die Luft ist blau." Mailied: — "Willkommen lieber schOnerMail" in all of which nature is cleverly and sweetly portrayed. MATTHIAS CLAUDIUS (1743-1815) Was born at Eeinfeld im Holsteinschen , on the 15th of August 1740. He commenced his academical studies in the town of Jena, and subsequently returned to Wandsbeck. Here. he became the editor of a review, to which he gave the title of "Asmus, Oder der Wandsbecker Bote." In 1788, he was the manager of the Holstenish bank of Altona. Claudius died on the 21st of January 1815, at Hamburgh, whilst with his son-in-law Perthes, the noted bookseller of that city. Claudius is a pleasant and entertaining writer. He writes for "the million;" and varies his style accordingly: taking, sometimes, a witty and humorous tone, and using the weapon of satire; sometimes displaying a philosophical mood; some- times a religious one. Menzel, in his "Deutsche Literatur," observes:— "Der beriihmte 'Wandsbecker Bote' macht, wenn man ihn heute liest, einen seltsamen, mehr riihrenden als ge- falligen Eindruck. Nicht als ob seine SchOnheiten nicht noch immer schon, sein derber Hausverstand nicht noch immer ver- standig ware, aber die Form, die Sprache gehOren einer Zeit an, die langst gewesen ist." Claudius always writes for the people; and in the loftiness CLAUDIUS. HERDER. 87 of the end he has in view, no less than in the simplicity of the means to attain that end, and the successful appeals he makes to the heart, ■will hardly ever be equalled, much less surpassed. In his "Asmus," Claudius wrote very much in the style of Goethe. No one has as yet attempted to write German so clearly and popularly, and yet so wittily and earnestly. His poetical productions include songs, elegies, romances, and fables ; and he has also written prose papers of various characters upon miscellaneous subjects (" Das Schatzkastlein " — a selection of his works). They all espouse current opinions, and are some- times witty arid droll, sometimes solemn, naive, and, what Ger- mans call, "volksthumlich;" as if they were narrated by the "merry country messenger," whose chief object is to recom- mend the sentiments of honesty, charity, patriotism , etc. , and to visit folly and vice with satire and dishonour. Claudius's " Eheinweinlied : Bekranzt mit Laub den lieben voUen Becher," will always be popular. The first two lines of a piece by him, entitled, "Urian's Reise": — "Wenn jemand eine Eeise thut, So kann er was erzahleo," have grown into a proverb; and his "Eiese Goliath," "Wie ist die Welt so stille," "Der Mond ist aufgegangen ," and many other pieces, are very popular. JOHANN GOTTFEIED VON HEKDER * (1744—1803) Was bom on the 25th of August 1744, at Mohrungen, in East Prussia, where his father was a schoolmaster. Though circum- stances were against him, — for his parents were very poor, — Herder developed his talents single handed. His stern and un- educated father permitted the boy to read nothing but his bible and hymnbook: all his other studies were, therefore, conducted in secret. A clergyman , named Frescho , had engaged young Herder as amanuensis; but, perceiving his mental capacities, he permitted him to take part in the studies of the Greek and La- tin languages, in which he soon became proficient. An ophthal- mic disease brought Herder into contact with a Eussian sur- geon, who offered to take him first to Konigsberg and then to St. Petersburg, for the purpose of studying surgery. He accor- dingly left his native town, in 1762. Fainting away however at the first operation he wittnessed at Kbnigsberg, he gave up medicine and studied theology instead. He soon became a great admirer * Herder's Lebensbild. Sein chronolog. geordneter Briefwechsel, berausgeg. von seinem Sohne. 3 Vols. 1847. 88 HEEDEE. of Kant, who was reading philosophy in the university of Konigs- betg, and with whom he became intimately acquainted. After having finished his academical studies, he became a tutor at the College of Eiga (1764); and it was here that he wrote his first work. Anxious to see the world, he accompanied the prince of Holstein Eutin on a tour through France and Germany. He HEEDEE, was obliged, however, after his return from Paris , to remain at Strassburg; as his eye complaint became more dangerous ; and during this stay the young Goethe was introduced to him, on whom Herder afterwards exercised so powerful an influence. In 1770 Herder accepted the situation of Court Chaplain at BUcke- burg, where he lived a studious and happy life. Here he wrote the essay "tlber den Ursprung der Sprachen," to which a prize was awarded by the Berlin Academy. This work, together with the celebrated theological essay "Aelteste Urkunde des Menschen- HERDER. 89 geschlechtes," was the means of his receiving a call, in 1775, to the theological chair of Gottingen ; but, doubts of his orthodoxy being entertained, he preferred the post of superintendent-general and court-preacher at Weimar, which was offered to him through Goethe's interest with the Grand Duke. In 1801, Herder was "geadelt." He died on the 18th of December 1803, in the six- tieth year of his age. Herder ranks, undoubtedly, among the greatest geniuses of which Germany can boast. Deeply versed in almost all the scien- ces, he exercised considerable influence, as a poet, no less than as a theologian, philosopher, sesthetician, antiquary, and historian. Herder's mind was of so thoroughly poetical a cast that he always wrote like a poet, even in his prose; which is full of graphic expressions, and bold and brilliant metaphor. Herder is the true follower of Lessing*; for, as Gervinus observes, "er macht alle Aufgaben Lessing's zu den seinigen": but there is, at the same time, a great difference between them. Herder is essentially a subjective writer ; Lessing an objec- tive: Herder endowed art with his own romantic views, which he carried even into theology; Lessing, on the other hand, — with his clear intellect, and true perceptions of art, — a pro- foundly critical writer. Lessing's whole life was occupied in correcting errors and establishing truth ; whilst Herder sought only after poetry ; on which account Friedrich Schlegel calls him "den Mythologen unserer Literatur." The influence of these two ' authors on German writers is therefore quite of a different kind. Lessing, with his pure classicality , influenced Goethe in his "Iphigenie"- Herder on the other hand is the god father (so to speak) of Jean Paul, and the ancestor of the romantic school. Schiller, again, combines the powers of both these men. He reminds us of Herder in his human sym- pathies, and of Lessing in his dramatic energy. But Herder had a thoroughly national mind, and it is not the least of his great qualities that he never ceased to draw attention to the old German literature, to praise the "Minne- sanger" as the real fathers of German poetry, whilst he strongly recommended the imitation of Luther's powerful prose. Few authors have been so multiform or prolific in their writings, or have exercised so powerful an influence, as Herder. When quite a youth he wrote his "Fragmente zur deutsehen Litera- tur" (1767J; and from that period his literary activity was un- * Hillebrand's Literaturgeschichte. Vol. 1. 90 HERDEK. ceasing. In his numerous and varied works we see a reflection of the Uterature of almost all civilized nations. He takes us back, at one moment, into antiquity, and transports us, at an- other, to modern times : again, with backward steps, he leads us into the middle ages; then once more onward, to the period of the Reformation. From Eastern he carries us to Western, — from Spanish to English, — from French to Italian literature until at last we have, in his "Stimmen der VWker," the poetical voices of all people and nations of the globe! Herder composed every kind of poetry, and wrote on every question of science, philosophy, history and art ; and whilst at every step he raised- the tone of the German language, he adapted it also, as he went, to the subject of which he treated. Herder's own poems, legends, and dramatic attempts are how- ever the weakest of his productions. He was born to be a poe- tical prose writer ; but not a poet. In his "Kritische Walder, oder Wissenschaft und Kunst des Schonen," by which he acquired con- siderable reputation, he criticized Lessing's "Laokoon" in a somewhat hostile spirit. In 1773 he edited; together with Goethe andMSSEK, "die Blatter ftirdeutsche Art und Kunst;" and these "Blatter," edited by three such great men, were, as might be ex- pected, very remarkable. It was in this periodical that Herder wrote his powerful essays on Ossian and Shakspeare, the latter had never yet been brought forward in Germany so prominently ; nor had any one, Lessing excepted, hitherto, dived, as it were, into the very soul of the great dramatist with so much genius and intelligence. It was through the criticisms of Lessing and Herder that Shakspeare became the oracle of dramatic art, and that all modern writers began to study and to appreciate him. Herder's interesting collection of the poetry of all na- tions, "Die Stimmen der Vijlker," appeared in 1778. It is a fine collection of traditional poetry, translated in an impressive and masterly manner. We find in it the national ballads of the Greeks, Romans, Italians, Spaniards, French, Greenlanders, Wends, Tartars, etc. ; and these songs, thus collected by Her- der, have exercised a very great influence on German poets and linguists ; an influence, indeed, which is powerfully felt to this day. Through every department of literature on which Herder entered, he flashed with the brilliance of a meteor; and in such wise especially was it that he illumined the obscure sky of German theology. The thinking world was at that time divided under the two great standards of "dogmatic or- HEEDEK. 9 1 thodoxy" and "prosaic rationalism.'' Herder threw himself into the midst of the controversy, and propounded Lessing's views; and it was at this juncture that he uttered Ihose me- morable words, "Man soil es — wie die Pest fliehen — iiber Re- ligion zu streiten, denn iiber das, was Religion ist, lasst sich nicht streiten. Weder wegstreiten, noch erstreiten lasst sich's; so. wenig man den Geist malen, das Licht horen kann." Out of Herder's theological studies arose his work "Vom Geist der hebraischen Poesie," in which poetry and religion were wonder- fully blended. Schlosser thus designates the book : — " Das Buch lehrte Ueberspannung, es fiihrte an die Granze eines Ge- biets, wo aller Verstand verstummt und die Schwannerei re- giert, dort nahmen Lavater und Jung-Stilling die Seelen in Em- pfang und fiihrten sie in den Mond." The impression, however, which this book made was very great; and the consequences to which it led, can not be charged upon Herder. It was at last made thoroughly harmless by Kant's philosophy. In philosophy Herder was a poetic follower of Haman and Kant, until he went over to eclecticism ; in which department his most celebrated production was "Ideen zu einer Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit" (17S4). In this book we can trace the mental development of its author. It is both an his- torical and philosophical work; though jejune as regards listory, and with more poetic fancy than sound philosophy. Herder passes in review the gradual development of the entire buman race; writing in a style of marvellous vigour, and with the most bewitching brilliancy of language; and throwing out on all sides, as he proceeds, fresh and startling ideas, and new historical theories : — putting forth (it may truly be said) — ■"volumes of thought." With reference, however, to its nume- rous historical and scientiiic errors, which indeed were only what might have been expected — Schlosser says : — "Von dem Isten Buche sagte ein beriihmter Naturforscher ; die Kiihnheit, Tnit welcher Herder den Anatomen und Naturforschern vor- schreibt, was und wie sie untersuchen sollen, nSthigt dem ruhi- gen Leser ein Lacheln ab. Im 3ten und 4ten Buche schaltet er gebietend auf dem Felde des Naturforschers in Dingen, de- nen dieser oft ein ganzes Leben widmet, ohne aufs Klare zu kommen, macht dabei den Naturphilosophen und geht dann auf -eine Art Theologie iiber, die er selbst schafft." But Herder was much more "anregend," in his philosophi- ■cal works, than a deep and erudite philosopher himself. His 92 HEKDEK. polemic writings put him frequently out of humour ; and in such moods he attacked Kant, and even took up an antago- nistic position towards Groethe and Schiller. His "Metakritik," (1799) and "Kalligone," (1800), written against Kant's trans- cendental speculations, brought him no praise; and in his "Adrastea," (1801), which Schiller called "ein bitterboses Buch," he made quite an ostentation of his sympathy with by gone literature, for the purpose of ignoring, or condemning by con- trast, the authors of the rising generation, who had already be- gun to outstep and overpower him. The poetry of Herder's latter years is almost all of a philo- sophic and speculative kind, and arrayed in an allegorical dress. His religous poems are even, at times, mystical; and sink, oc- casionally, into mere vague and melancholy dreams. It is pleasant, however, to recollect that so great a man as Herder, and one of such unusual mental powers, retrieved his position, at last, by the publication of his "Old," (1801); which ended his literary labours. " Der Cid " is one of his most suc- cessful poetical efforts. It consists of a series of seventy ro- mances , in various styles of metre and verse , and of some- what heterogeneous character. Herder turned the old Spanish romances to account, and constructed out of them an original poem. The style he assumes, bears, indeed, the genuine stamp of the old Spanish romance writers ; and , taken as a whole, this is a most wonderful production , and one which has esta^ Wished him as a classical German poet. Herder's influence on the German mind has been of the most extensive kind ; and, even now, we reap the fruits of his widely spread labours. The "Sturm- und Drangperiode ," of which we have already spoken, was more or less of his crea- tion; and he became at once its prophet and the oracle of the "Romantic School," which followed it. Herder was the first who drew attention to Oriental literature ; and the writings of Eiickert, Hammer, Goethe, (Westostlicher Divan), and Platen^ (Ghaselen) , were all results of Herder's continued urgency in this department of Letters. The impulse given by Herder ap- pears to have acted even so recently that we can trace it in the great work of Gervinus, " Shakspeare " ; and it is not too much to say that we have probably to thank Herder for the labours of the brothers Grimm in the rich mine of old German literature and language. GOETHE. S3 GOETHE. JOHAXN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE* Was born at Frankfort on the Maine, on the 28th of August 1749. He died, at Weimar, on the 22nd of March 1832. His grandfather, Feiedeich Georg, was the proprietor of the hotel "Zum Weidenhof." But his maternal grandfather, JoHAKS Wolfgang Tbxtoe, occupied, as imperial magistrate, " Kaiserlicher Schultheiss ," a considerably higher social posi- tion. Goethe's father, Johann Caspar, had studied Jurispru- dence at Leipzig , and acquired at Giessen the title of Doctor at Law, by defending his dissertation, " Electra de ditione here- ditatis." He travelled in Germany and Italy, collecting paint- ings and works of art, which he was afterwards proud of show- ing. Being of independent fortune , he obtained the title of "Kaiserlicher Eath." Thomas Carlyle has sketched him thus: — " In Goethe's father, a prosperous citizen of Frankfort, skilled in many things; improved by travel, by studies both practical and ornamental ; decorated with some diplomatic title, but pass- ing, among his books, paintings, collections and household possessions, social or intellectual, spiritual or material, a quite undiplomatic independent life, we become acquainted with a German, not country- hut dty-c/enlleman of the last century; a character scarcely ever familiar in our Islands; now perhaps almost absolete among the Germans too. A positive, metho- dical man, sound-headed, honest-hearted, sharp-tempered; with an uncommon share of volition, among other things, so that scarcely any obstacle would turn him back, but whatsoever he * It is fortunate for Germany that the literature of England possesses two meritorious works on the two greatest of German authors — Goethe and Schiller — written, respectively, by G. H. Lewes, and Thomas Carlyle. Both these books are excellent guides to a deeper study of Goethe abd Schiller; and he who wishes tho- roughly to understand them will find Lewes's "Life and works of Goethe," and Carlyle's "Essays on Goethe," as well as his "Life of Schiller," most valuable assistants. Goethe's biography, more particularly, requires careful study; as almost all his works are in- terwoven with his early impressions and experiences; and his writ- ings become realities to those only, who are intimately acquainted with his life. Hence the importance of Mr. Lewes's spirited and masterly written biography, and criticisms on Goethe's works. 94 GOETHE. could not mount over, he would struggle round, and in any case he at the end of hisjoumey: many or all of whose good qualities passed also over by inheritance; and, in fairer com- bination, on nobler objects, to the whole world's profit, were seen a second time in action." A ll^^^k^ M ■U^^ '~^%k UH^HSk ^ '^^m ^^BmT ^^ \ ) <^ fjjSHBtt^B^B HQwi J .i^ SL ^ (Bw^^imW u ^\ ^i^Ql^mj^^^j^ ■-^ \ ^^9^H 1^^^ \ V ^SB S ^^^^^^^^H^H hH^ 4 ^v^^^^^^H ^MWji i ', liflB wSS^m\} V HlHH ) WMB W ^\ ;iP ^ ^v ^/ V GOETHE ALS JUNGLING. Of his children, to whose early education he devoted himself, most died at an early age; and only our poet and -his sister Cornelia, a year younger than himself, remained. The father died on the 27th of May 1782, at Frankfort. Goethe's mother, Cathauina Elisabeth, the daughter of the chief magistrate Textor, who appears to have been the more gifted of his pa- rents, was a woman of genial character, great mental powers. GOETHE. 95 and real worth. She was one of those women who , without much education, have all their gifts given them by nature. An excellent house-wife, a matchless mother, being much younger than her husband she was doubly fond of her son , who grew up as her companion. She died at Frankfort on the 13th of September 1808. These were Goethe's parents; and his own childhood was "throughout* of vivant, joyful character; kind plenty in every sense, security, affection, manifold excitement, instruction encircles him, wholly an element of sun and azure, wherein the young spirit, awakening and attaining, can on all hands richly unfold itself. A beautiful boy, of earnest, lucid, serenely deep nature, with the peaceful completeness yet in- finite incessant expansiveness of a boy, has, in the fittest en- vironment, began to be: beautiful he looks and moves; rapid, graceful, prompt, like the son of Maia; wise, noble, like La- tona'sson: nay (as all men may now see) he is, in very truth, a miniature incipient World -Poet; of all heavenly figures the beautifuUest we know of that can visit this lower earth." The natural advantages which Goethe derived from his pa- rents he afterwards described in these expressive lines : — "Vom Vater hab' ich die Statur, Des Lebens ernstes Filhren ; Vom Mutterchen die Frohnatur Und Lust zu fabuliren. TJrahnherr war der Schonsten hold, Das spukt so tin und wieder; TJrahnfrau liebte Sohmucfc und Gold, Das zuckt wohl durch die Glieder. Sind nun die Elemente nicht Aus dem Complex 211 trennen, Was ist dann an dem ganzen Wicht Original za nennen?" "The father," saysCarlyle, "with occasional subsidiary pri- vate tutors, is his son's schoolmaster ; a somewhat pedantic pe- dagogue, with ambition enough and faithful good will, but more of rigour than of insight; who, however, works on a sub- ject that he cannot spoil. Languages, to the number of six or seven; histories, syllabuses, knowledges -made -easy; not to speak of dancing, drawing, music, or, in due time, riding and fencing: all is taken in with boundless appetite and aptitude." * Carlyle's Essays. Vol. 3. page 121. 96 GOETHE. — "The paternal grandmother, recollected as a 'pale, thin, ever white and clean-dressed figure' provides the children many a satisfaction ; and at length, on some festive nights, the crown- ing one of a puppet-show: whereupon ensues a long course of theatrical speculatings and practisings, somewhat as deli- neated, for another party, in the first book of Meister's Ap- prenticeship." The education of Goethe became, however, better regulated, when he entered the Stadtschule. He was made acquainted with the antiquities of his native town and neighbourhood, by wanderings with his school fellows. He often stood on the Maine bridge , interested in the busy life of trade and ship- ping, and he spent many a Kreuzer in ferrying over to Sachsen- hausen , the history of which occupied his youthful mind and gave us afterwards his "GOtz von Berlichingen " as its fruit. But the townhouse of Frankfort, — "derRSmer" as it is called, — with its large vaulted halls, and the throne rooms in which the German Emperors were elected and crowned, embellished with the large paintings of Charlemagne, Eudolph of Habsburg, Karl IV., and other great men, early excited young Goethe's imagination. Moreover his father's collection of paintings was a great source of delight to the boy, and awoke in him, even thus early, that power of artistic appreciation which distin- guished him through life. But in the library of a relative, a clergyman , he found a prose translation of Homer and Virgil, the reading of which made a deep and lasting impression on him. The seven years' war broke out in 1756, when Goethe was eight years old. All the accounts he had received of Fre- derick the Great , made him an enthusiastic admirer of this king. He copied the war songs of Gleim, and became hence- forth an ardent defender of Frederick. The war being now carried near to Frankfort, he was kept more at home ; and the old puppet - show was hunted up again , for which the boy wrote little plays: besides which he already gave evidence of future talent, by telling stories to his sister and her little circle of friends for which his youthful imagination invented the most fantastic forms. One of these fairy tales — " der neue Paris " he wrote down ; and it has been preserved in his works. Klop- stock's "Messias" occupied the boy much at this time (1757). He read this Epic secretly ; for his father, who was accustomed to the rhyijiing compositions of Hagedorn, Gellert, and the other older poets, evinced a great dislike to .the hexa- GOETHE. 97 meter, or "the verses," to use his own words, "which were no verses." Goethe and his sister Cornelia learned the most striking passages of theMessias by heart; and they both often amused themselves by reciting them. Goethe's artistic taste was much improved after the taking of Frankfort by the French troops ; when the French General, Count Thorane, a great connoisseur of paintings, was quartered in his father's house. - The youth had to give up his own " Mansardenzimmer," which was fitted up as a studio, in which distinguished artists executed the commissions of the Count; and Goethe spent most of his time in this studio. The pre- sence of the French in the town and in his house enabled him to improve his French, and procured him the opportunity of see- ing french tragedies and comedies. This was the right ele- ment for such a boy; and he availed himself of all the means open to bim to gratify his taste. He could soon recite many passages from Kacine; in which he imitated the declamation of the French actors; and he also became acquainted with the comedies of Destouches, Marivaux, and la Chaussie ; which were at that time the favourites of the stage. By desultory studies of all sorts, — including Greek, Latin, Hebrew, English, and French, — young Goethe was at last so far advanced that his father began to think seriously about his future course of life. It was his desire to see his son study Jurisprudence; and though the future poet had little taste for so dry a subject, it was nevertheless resolved that he should follow these studies: and the father selected the University of Leipzig for his further education. I. LEIPZia. In October 1765 Goethe left Frankfort for Leipzig, in com- pany with the bookseller Fleischer, with whom he lived. He soon became tired of the lectures on law; and with those on philosophy he was deeply disappointed; not finding in them what he had expected. He often went into Gellert's collegium; but, even here, he was dissatisfied; for the professor warned his young students against attempting poetrj^, and urged them to study and write prose. Goethe was therefore very uncom- fortable at Leipzig. The University offered him little; but he was surrounded by talented men, \vith whom he became per- sonally acquainted , and he could read the works of Lessing and Wieland. Studying life as he did, and involving himself. 98 GOETHE. in amours and jealousies, he was driven to give words to his experiences; which he did by writing lin 1767) "DieLaune des Verliebten," a work curious and interesting enough. Not long after this appeared "Die Mitschuldigen " (1768). Both these dramas were merely first attempts in literature; and the latter offers us a picture of city manners not of the purest kind. They show the mental restlessness and discomfort in which (roethe found himself at that time ; and in this perhaps lies their chief value. The desire for art-knowledge prompted Goethe to take les- sons in drawing of the celebrated professor Oeser — a man of talent and refinement, who improved his taste, and became his guide in the appreciation of the beautiful. Goethe confessed, latterly, that in this department of artistic knowledge "fand er die grosste Zufriedenheit seines Lebens." His study of Winckelmann's works, and Lessing's "Laokoon,"' influenced him still more; and a visit to Dresden, and an examination of the celebrated picture gallery there, extended his views and knowledge of art. The acquaintance of the bookseller Bkeit- KOPP was also very beneficial to him. Breitkopfs eldest son was a good musician , and set to music several of his poems, which were published in 1768. Goethe also met here the engraver Stock, under whose guidance he etched several drawings. A serious illness which now seized him — (he broke a bloodvessel) — hastened his departure from the Uni- versity town; which he left in September 1768. The expectations of the elder Goethe were disappointed; for the son, as we have seen, had given himself up to studies altogether foreign to his father's wishes ; and was therefore far from being prepared for the examinations : added to which the young man came home mentally as well as physically disabled. But Goethe himself was not dissatisfied with his self-chosen path ; and he never forgot to thank the man who had first led him into the right road. On the 9th of November 1768 he wrote to Oeser "Was bin ich Ihnen nicht alles schuldig, dass Sie mir den Weg zum Wahren und SohSnen gezeigt, dass Sie mein Herz fur den Eeiz fiihlbar gemacht haben. Ich bin Ihnen mehr schuldig, als ich Ihnen danken konnte. Der Geschmack, den ich am SchSnen habe, meine Kenntnisse, meineEinsichten, hab' ich die nicht alle durch Sie? Wie gewiss, wie einleuch- tend wahr ist mir der seltsame, fast unbegreifliche Satz ge- worden, dass die Werkstatt eines grossen Kunstlers mehr den GOETHE. 99 keimenden Philosophen, den keimenden Dichter entwiekele, als der HBrsaal des Weisen und Kritikers. Lehre thut viel , aber Aufmunterung thut AUes. Aufmunterang nach dem Tadel ist Sonne nach dem Kegen, fruchtbares Gedeihen. Wenn Sie mei- ner Liebe zu den Musen nicht nachgeholfen hiitten, ich ware verzweifelt. Sie wissen, was ich war, als ich zu Ihnen kam, und was ich war, als ich von Ihnen ging. Der Unterschied ist Ihr Werk." This important letter tells us, better than any thing else, what Goethe had acquired at Leipzig : how he had been saved from throwing himself away on uncongenial pursuits and led to understand his real genius. The opinions here expressed by that youthful mind remained the permanent ideas of Goethe's life. When he wrote this letter , he had only just recovered from another dangerous attack of illness, through which the loving kindness of his fond mother and his sister Cornelia, had safely nursed him. Removed as he was, by this suffering, from the outer world, he had turned his mind to religion and the study of the New Testament. It was at this time that a friend of his mother, Fraulein von Klettenbeeg, was introduced to him , whose conversations and correspondence were the basis of the "Bekenntnisse einer schSnen Seele", which he afterwards published in "WilhelmMeister." This lady's acquaintance, (who — estranged from all earthly ideas — had devoted herself en- tirely to the contemplation of the soul's everlasting life) has left many traces on Goethe's moral character. But the treat- ment he had undergone at the hands of his physician, and his mystic conversations with Fraulein voN Klettenbeeg, led him to the study of " Theophrastus Paracelsus," "van Hel- mont," and other alchemists. He also made chemical experi- ments ; and thus, unwilUn^, laid the foundation of his future great work, "Faust/'^everal of his letters of this date, adressed to friends at Leipzig, show the turn of his mind, at this period. In one, he said, — "Meine gegenwartige Lebensart ist derPhi- losophie gewidmet. Eingesperrt, allein, Zirkel, Papier, Feder und Tinte und zweiBiicher ist meln ganzes Riistzeug; und auf diesem einfachen Wege komme ich der Erkenntniss der Wahr- heit oft so nah und welter, . als Andere mit ihrer Bibliothek- wissenschaft." And in another,— "Nach Oeser und Shakspeare ist Wieland der Einzige, den ich ftir meinen achten Lehrer er- kenne. — Andere hatten mir gezeigt, dass ich fehlte; diese zeigten mir, wie ich's besser machen soUte." The little value 7* 100 GOETHE. A\hich Goethe attached to the poems and dramatic attempts he had committed to paper at Leipzig he evinced by burning- the greater part of them. Indeed he only saved the two pieces we have mentioned. U. STEASBURG. On the second of April 1770 Goethe arrived at Strasburg, to complete his studies, and to obtain his Doctor's diploma; for his father could not relinquish the idea of making a lawyer of him. '•He was now turned twenty," says Mr. Lewes*, "and a more magnificent youth never, perhaps, entered the Strasburg gates. Long before he was celebrated, he was likened to an Apollo: and when he entered a restaurant the people laid down their knives and forks to stare at him. Pictures and busts give a very feeble indication of that which was most striking in his appearance ; they only give the cut of feature, not the play of feature; nor are they verj' accurate even in mere form. The features were large and liberally cut; as in the fine sweep- ing lines of Greek art; the brow lofty and massive, — from beneath which shone large lustrous brown eyes of marvellous beauty, their pupils being of almost unexampled size. The slightly aquiline nose was large and finely cut; the mouth full, with a short arched upper lip, and very expressive; the chin and jaw boldly proportioned ; and the head resting in a fine muscular neck." — This period of Goethe's life is one of the most important ; for it brought him into connexion with a number of talented men, and threw him into circumstances which gave a definite direction to his genius. Most of the students studied medicine at Strasburg; and Goethe was immediately interested in their science. He attended lectures on chemistry and anatomy; and diversified his studies in the same way as at Leipzig, only that he did not altogether neglect the law. The circle of friends ^\'ho surrounded him included Salz- mann, Jung-Stilling, Lerse, and Herder. The acquaintance of the latter was of the greatest advantage to Goethe. Herder, who had travelled with the prince ofHolsteinEutin, was obliged to stop at Strasburg in consequence of an ophthalmic disease, which kept him during the winter in that town. At the time * I.ewes's life of Goethe. Vol. I. GOETHE. 1 I when Goethe made Herder's acquaintance, German literature was beginning to recover from its depression. Herder was the man, of all others, who conld impart to Goethe the exact position of aifairs ; and he probably did so in substance, though not in words, as Thomas Carlyle* so pithily puts it: — "To a man (like Herder) standing in the midst of German literature, and looking out thither for his highest good, the view was troubled perhaps with various peculiar perplexities. For two centuries German literature had lain in the sere leaf. The Luther 'whose words were half battles,' and such half battles as conld shake and overset half Europe with their cannona- ding, had long since gone to sleep; and all other words were but the miserable bickering of theological camp - sutlers in quarrel over the stripping of the slain. Ulrich Hutten slept silent, in the little island of the -Zurich Lake; the weary and heavy-laden had wiped the sweat from his brow, and laid him down to rest there: the valiant, fire-tempered heart, with all its woes and loves and loving indignations, mouldered, cold, forgotten ; vith such a pulse no new heart rose to beat. The tamer Opitzes and Flemmings of a succeeding era had, in like manner, long fallen obsolete. One unhappy generation after another of pedants, " rhizophagous," living on roots, Greek or Hebrew; of farce-writers, galant-verse writers, journalists and other jugglers of nondescript sort, wandered in nomadic wise, whither pi'ovender was to be had; among whom, if a passionate Giinther go with some emphasis to ruin; if an illuminated Tho- masius, earlier than the general herd, deny witchcraft, we are to esteem it a felicity. This too, however, has passed; and now, in manifold enigmatical signs, a new Time announces itself. Wellborn Hagedorns, munificent Gleims have again rendered the character of its Author honorable ; the polish of correct, assiduous Rabeners and R.amlers have smoothed away the old impurities; a pious Klopstock, to the general enthusiasm, rises anew into something of seraphic music, though by me- thods wherein he can have no follower; the brave spirit of a Lessing pierces, in many a life - giving way, through the dark inertness : Germany has risen to a level with Europe, is hence- forth participant of all European influences; nay it is now ap- pointed, though not yet ascertained, that Germany is to be the leader of spiritual Europe." * Carlyle's Essays. Vol.111, page 140. " Goethe's works.' 102 GOETHE. Although Herder was only five years older than Goethe, his experience was far in advance of the young student, who had but just won his spurs in the field of German literature. The intercourse with Herder consequently gave Goethe a con- siderable stock of new ideas. Mr. Lewes describes this period with great force, * thus : — "One thing very noticeable in this Strasburg period is the thoroughly German culture it gave him. In those days culture was mostly classical and French. Classical studies had never exercised much influence over him ; and indeed, throughout his career, he approached antiquity more through art than through the Greek and Roman writers. To the French, on the other hand, he owed a great deal, both of direction and material. A revival of the old German nationality was, however, actively agitated at this epoch. Klopstock, Lessing, Herder, Shakspeare, and Ossian were the rivals opposed to France. A feeling of national pride gave its momentum to this change in taste. Gothic art began to be considered the true art of modern times. The band of young friends and students, all Germans, not only banished the French language, but made a point of being in every way unlike the French. French literature was ridiculed, as affected, insincere, unnatural. The truth, homely strength, and simpUcity of the German character were set against this literature of courtiers. Goethe had been dabbling in mediaeval studies, had been awe-struck by the cathedral, had been inspired by Shakspeare, and had seen Lessing's icono- clastic wit scattering the pretensions of French poetry. The acquaintance of Herder was of great importance to him. Herder was five years his senior, and had already created a name for himself. He came to Strasburg with an ophthalmic disease, which obhged him to remain there the whole winter, during its cure. Goethe, charmed with this new vigorous intellect, attended on him during the operation he had to untergo, and sat with him morning and evening during his convalescence , listening to the wisdom which fell from those lips, as a pupil listens to a much-loved master. Great was the contrast between the two men, yet the difference did not separate them. Herder was decided, clear, pedagogic; knowing his own aims, and fond of communicating his ideas : Goethe was sceptical and inquiring. Herder was rude, sarcastic, and bitter; Goethe * Goethe's life. Vol.1, page 114. GOETHE. 103 amiable and infinitely tolerant. The bitterness wliicli repelled so many friends from Herder, could not repel Goethe; for it was a peculiarity of his to be at all times able to learn from antagonistic natures. Meeting them on the common ground of sympathy, he avoided those subjects on which, inevitably, they must clash. It is somewhat curious that, although Herder took a great liking to his young friend, and was grateful for his kind attentions , he seems to have had no suspicion of his genius." Through the instrumentality of Weyland, a fellow student, Goethe was introduced to the family of the country clergyman Beiox; who, with his family, lived in the village of Sesenheim, a few miles from Strasburg. It was here that Goethe first felt himself able to realize the scenes described in the "Vicar of Wakefield;" which he had, only lately, been reading with de- light. Of the eldest of Brion's daughters, "Friederike," Goethe soon felt himself deeply enamoured; and it ended in a mutual and sincere attachment. He has confessed, himself, that the brightest and happiest days of his life, were passed here. It was in this sweet retreat that his poetical mind found the nu- triment of which it stood so greatly in need. His attachment to Friederike was pure and beautiful. The tenderest verses which Goethe ever wrote , and the loveliest of his delineations of female character, are all, more or less, the result of the im- pressions Friederike made upon his mind and heart. But it was impossible to think of a union , the idea of which Friederike herself appears never to have entertained; for the}' were both too young, and Goethe was only beginning his career: so the attachment was broken off when he left Strasburg. During the latter part of Goethe's stay at Strasburg he became acquainted with Lenz (who died afterwards, in 1792, at Moscow). Lenz was a Shakspearian enthusiast; whose whole soul was devoted to the great dramatist; and meetings were formed, in which lectures were given and orations made on Shak- speare. Lenz, who wanted to rival Shakspeare, outstepped every rule of art, and wrote plays of a most extravagant character; such, indeed, as to forebode that his mind would give way; as it afterwards did. But on Goethe all this told to advantage. He had only recently been reading the biography of Goetz von Berhchingen; and he now began to turn his whole mind to dramatic composition. Here was one theme! "Faust" was already disturbing him. The characters were all 104 GOETHE. complete. He had found them in real life. He also began a Drama — "Julius Caesar" — which, however, he never followed up. "He had been sent to Strasburg *, to gain a doctor's degree. His Dissertation had been commenced just before this Sesen- heim episode. But Shakspeare, Ossian, Faust, Goetz, and, above all, Friederike, scattered his plans ; and he followed the advice of friends, to xshoose, instead of a Dissertation, a number of Theses, upon which to hold a disputation. His father would not hear of such a thing; but demanded a regular "Disserta- tion." He chose, therefore, this theme, "That it is the duty of every lawmaker to establish a certain religious worship, bind- ing upon clergy and laity" — a theory which he supported by historical and philosophical arguments. The "Dissertation " was written in Latin, and sent to his father, who received it with pleasure. But the Dean of the Faculty would not receive it: — either because its contents were paradoxical , or because it was not sufficiently erudite. In lieu thereof he was permitted to choose Theses for disputation. The "Disputation" was held on the 6th of August 1771; his oponent being Franz Lebsb, who pressed him hard. A jovial "Schmauss " — a real students banquet — crowned this promotion of Dr. Goethe." On the 25th of August 1771, Goethe quitted Strasburg, and (with a heavy heart) "Friederike." He brought his doctor's diploma in his pocket, and "Rath Goethe" was pleased with his son's distinction. Goethe began now to arrange the verses and essays he had written at Strasburg; but he had great reluctance to commit them to print. When he arrived at his home, the first thing he dijfd, was to throw himself zealously into new studies, for the purpose of calming his agitated heart. Goetz von Berlichingen was written in the winter of 1771 , but it was not published until 1773. It was written during his leisure time at Frankfort; and Goethe , stimulated by his sister Cornelia , finished the first sketch of the drama, in prose, in six weeks. The beneficial influence of Goethe's sister, who was also his intimate friend, was very great — particularly during this early part of his life. Goethe found at Frankfort his Leipzig friend, Schlosser, who married Corneha in 1773; and the acquaintance with Merk, at that time "Kriegszahlmeister" at Darmstadt, was of great im- portance to him. Merk was no genius, but a man of character. Goethe's Life. Vol.1, p. 125. GOETHE. 105 of universal education , and a good practical counsellor. He was much interested in Goethe, and urged him not to waste his talents on trifles , but to concentrate them. He censured him severely, if he left oif a work once begun ; and condemned the idea of furnishing only sketches and fragments. Under these instigations, he began the iirst sketches of "Faust" and "Goetz". The "Sturm- und Drangperiode" of German literar- ture had commenced; and Merk, in connexion with Schlosser, established a periodical entitled the "Frankfurter Gelehrten- Anzeiger," for which Goethe was pressed to write. He accord- ingly furnished thirty-five articles for this journal, which were written in clear language, and with moderate, but decided, judg- ment. III. ■WETZLAR. STUEM UND DRANG. For the purpose of obtaining a practical knowledge of law, Goethe went in the spring of 1772, toWetzlar; in which town the "Reichskammergericht" gave many opportunities for legal practice. He was introduced here to a large , aristocratic society , in- eluding many young men of rank and fortune. The latter formed, amongst themselves, a " Rittersehaft ; " in which each appeared under the name of a distinguished knight; Goethe under that of "Goetz von Berlichingen. " Frolics ^nd good cheer were the feats of these gallant young knights. On Goethe this mix- ture of seiiousness and folly was not lost ; for it stimulated him to finish his Drama. Thus " Goetz von Berlichingen " was finished ; and was printed and published at Goethe's owp ex- penoes. It was a marvellous work, for that pedantic arid in- sipid age ; and created a universal sensation. The youthful poet shone, in this work, with all that vigour and fre.«hness of genius for which he afterwards grew so remarkable. "Goetz" depicts the downfall of individual freedom in Germany; for which consummation the way had been paved by the priests; who sacrificed both the power of the German Emperor and the freedom of Gei-man people. Goethe brings before us , in this play, a historical epoch of the greatest moment in German history : — the time when the influence of the Reformation be- gan to break up the feudal system with its knightly virtue and valour, as represented in Goetz and his followers; and when the dawn_^f the new period commenced, with its sensual enjoyments and courtly hypocrisy, as represented in the play 106 GOETHE. by the Court of Bamberg. In "Lerse" Goethe has portrayed his Strasburg friend, who has died early. Goethe's sentiments of political freedom — sentiments which began, about this time, to develope themselves throughout Germany — found unlimited scope in this play. There is, indeed, an exceedingly healthy tone pervading it, most unlike anything we find in the con- temporary productions. It was called Shakspearian , but most unjustly so; for the only resemblance is, that Goethe drama- tized an old chronicle: otherwise it is most unlike Shakspeare and Hegel very justly remarked: "Man sieht diesem Jugend- werke noch die Armuth eigenen Stoflfes an, so dass nun viele Ziige. und ganze Scenen , statt aus dem grossen Inhalte selber herausgearbeitet zu sein, hier und dort aus den Interessen der Zeit, in der es verfasst ist, zusammengerafft und ausserlich ein- gefiigt erscheinen," though certainly the influence and study of the great dramatist is visible. There is a want of action and character in the piece; though the dialogue is fresh, vivid and "volksthiimlich." There is an irresistible charm in the language of Goetz, wliich is already " Goethean ; " and something of the spirit of the olden time is visible in the ditties and songs of this drama, which is throughout thoroughly German. "It cannot," says Lewes, "be judged by any standard. It is a dramatic poem , which created a revolution by teaching that " for each nation the true classical spirit must be found in the genius of its own romance." It was the first born of the "Romantic School;" and its influence has been wide-spread." It was on the 9th of June 1772 that Goethe met, at a fete champetre, Charlotte, daughter of the Amtmann Burr. His entire attention was at once fixed on her; for he was unaware that she was already engaged to J. Christian Kestner, Secre- tary of the Hanoverian legation, — a good man , but cold and pedantic. Goethe soon heard of the engagment between "Lotte" and Kestner; but he could not master his passion. Lotte, an excellent and cheerful girl, neither encouraged nor discouraged Goethe; looking upon herself as protected by her sacred en- gagement with another. Goethe, however, could not long en- dure this painful position; and he left Wetzlar on the 11th of September 1772. He now began, to pour out in verse his feel- ings towards Lotte, under these unhappy circumstances. This heart-soiTOW it was that pervaded one half of his "Wer- ther's Leiden " , and gave to the book so deep a character of reality. But this disappointment, however painful to Goethe's GOETHE. 107 feelings, was really only created by his passionate imagination, and had nothing of that tragical element in it which was fur- nished to him by an event at Wetzlar, of which a young man Tvas the hero, whom our author had personally known. The young Jerusalem, from Brunswick — being a civilian — -was not admitted by Count Bassenheim into the aristocratic circles ; which keenly mortified him, and at last made him shun society altogether. An infatuated passion for the M-ife of Se- cretary Heldt, (which was not in the least shared by the lady) •drove him to distraction ; and he shot himself, on the 29th of October 1772, with a pistol which he had borrowed from Kest- ner. This incident furnished Goethe with the requisite tragic ■denouement for his novel. He combined therefore Jeru.salem's emotions with his own, in the one person of "Werther." In "Werther's Leiden" Goethe has thus represented a youth thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the "Storm and pressure" period ; who , loathing life's reahties , escapes into the solitude of nature ; falls into poetical reveries ; sighs away his life in Ossian's melancholy verses ; and , becoming thus victim of his own feelings, destroys his life. Carlyle describes "Werther" in his masterly manner, as "the poetic and prophetic utterance «/■ the world's despair!'' That Goethe underwent great suffering we know from his own confessions to Zelter: "Ich wejss recht gut, was es mich fiir Entschlusse und Anstrengungen kostete, damals den Wellen des Todes zu entkommen;" and the composition of the "Sor- rows" gave him the opportunity of relieving his oppressed heart. The letters ot Goethe to Kestner and Lotte are a proof of his moral worth , and have contributed greatly to raise him in the general esteem. It was a purely platonic love ; in which Ooethe behaved with the utmost refinement both of manner and feeling. "Werther's Leiden" came out in 1774, and our author, on the 24th of September, sent the first copy to Kestner, who was much offended that he and his wife should have been mixed up with this tragedy; but Goethe's letters and exquisite ex- planations — in which his true poet's nature is visible through- out — soon reestabUshed their friendship. It is quite impossible, at the present time, to understand the enthusiasm which this book called forth. No prose work had ever been published in Germany, so overflowing with poetry and sentiment as the "Sorrows of Werther", — constituting, as 108 GOETHE. it did, a kind of "personal history" of the author — the deep feeling and natural tone of the book had a powerful effect upon the public. Goethe himself spoke to Eckermann about Werther thus : "Der Werther ist ein Geschopf, das, gleich dem Pelican, ich mit dem eigenenBlute meines eigenen Herzens ge- fiittert habe. Es ist darin so viel Innerliches aus meiner eige- nen Brust, so viel von Empfindungen und Gedanken, um damit wohl einen Roman von zehn solchen Bandchen auszustatten. Uebrigens habe ich das Bueh seit seinem Erscheinen nur ein- mal wieder gelesen, und mich gehutet, es abermals zu thun — es sind lauter Brandraketen ! ich hatte gelebt, geliebt und sehr viel gelitten — das war es. l)ie vielbesproehene Wertherzeit gehSrt nicht dem Ganzen der Weltcultur an, sondern dem Le- bensgange jedes Einzelnen, der mit angebornem freiemNatur- sinn- sich in die beschrankten Formen einer veralteten Welt fin- den und schicken lernen soil. Gehindertes Gliick, gehemmte Thatigkeit, unbefriedigte Wilnsche sind nicht Gebrechen einer besonderen Zeit, sondern jedes einzelnen Mensehen, und es miisste schlimm sein, wenn nicht jeder einmal eine Epoche sei- nes Lebens hatte, wo ihm der Werther kame, als ware er bloss fiir ihn geschrieben." "Werther's Leiden" was the agent of a literary revolution. The leading idea of the story was plagiarized on all sides. A thousand hands produced sentimental and sickly romances, written upon the model of Werther. Of these only one de- serves notice; viz "Miller's Siegwart, eine Klostergeschichte; " which had a great run, simply because it contained the essence of this sentimental period. On the other hand, Nicolai attacked "Werther", and ridiculed it in his trite and vulgar parody: " Freuden und Leiden des jungen Werther." Goethe, however,^ exposed Nicolai's incapacity of judging a poetical production, in his article "Berliner Laternenlicht ; " which he wrote, with Lutheric power, in the "Frankfurter Anzeiger." And the verse : "Was schiert mich der Berliner Bann, (jeschmacklerpfaifenwesen ! Und wer mich nicht verstfihen kann, Der lerne besser lesen." destroyed Nicolai's influence as a critic for ever. Goethe was also provoked by an unfavourable criticism of "Goetz" in "Wie- land's Mercur;" and he returned the compliment by pointing out the milk-and-water representation of Grecian life which GOETHE. 109 AVieland had shxa to the public, in his ^^■i^tJ- farce, . " Goetter, Kelden und Wieland." "Suicides a la iVcrthcr", says Wolff, "became quite fashion- able; and young men were eager to achieve for themselves so tragic an end : whilst Goethe, who had raided this tempest, was leading a very agreeable life. Too young to share the fame of Klopstock and Wieland, but known by his singular and, in the opinion of some critics, incomparable works, he appeared to his contemporaries a dazzling meteor, rushing through the literary sky on a different career from that of all its other luminaries." After leaving Wetzlar, Goethe stayed for some time at Giessen, and made the acquaintance of a very interesting family on the Rhine, at whose house he met- the authoress "Sophie la Roche." It was here that he wrote "Pater Brey" and the "Sa- tyros, Oder der vergStterte Waldteufel" (1774', in which he in- corporated most of the characters he met. He was now roving about, and constantly writing fugitive works which very few DOW read; such as "das Jahrmarktsfest in Plundersweilern " (1774). Writing had become to Goethe a recreation from so- ciety and travel; and, accordingly, we soon find him busy with the tragedy "Clavigo." The incidents of this play he took from an oocurenoe which was related by Beaumaechais in his ^'M^moires;" and which made some noise at the time. Goethe promised Anna Munch, at Frankfort, to dramatize it in a week^ and consequently it was done. "Olavigo" is, really, only a dramatized anecdote; but, from the simple and homely nature of its plot, it awakens a deep interest. The piece both works upon the feelings, and astonishes, as Tieck says, "durch die tiefen Geheimnisse." The tragic interest is great, the plot ra- pidly evolved, and the dialogue warm and energetic. It has moreover this advantage, — that it is a "good stage piece," after Lessing's own heart ; and it has consequently never ceased to be represented. More intimate acquaintances with Lavater, Basedow, and Jung-Stilling, were now formed by our author. He also met Heinse, at Dtisseldorf ; who has left an interesting description of Goethe's personal appearance and the impression he made in society. Four weeks after making his acquaintance, he praised Goethe to Gleim in such terms as these : — " den schOnen Jungen von 25 Jahren, der vom Wirbel bis zur Zehe Genie und Kraft und Starke sei, ein Herz voll Gefiihl, ein Geist voU Feuer mit Adlerfliigeln, "qui ruit immensus ore prof undo." Erkenne," he wrote, "keinen Menschen in der ganzen gelehrteu 110 GOETHE. Geschichte, der in solcher Jagend so rund und voll von eignem Genie sei, wie er." It was at this time (1774), during Goethe's stay at Frankfort, that he became deeply enamoured of Anna Elisabeth Schone- MANN, the daughter of a rich banker; whom he immortahzed as "Lili" in his poems and songs. They were formally betrothed ;; but the engagement met with objections from both families; and, being urged to forego it, Goethe tried the affect of absence; 'by joining the two Counts Stolberg, in a journey to Switzer- land. It was on this journey that he met the Duke Carl Au- gust of Weimar, at Carlsruhe; who pressingly invited him to Weimar. After Goethe's return the engagement was broken off" by Lili, and Carl August who passed through Frankfort again in October 1775, pressed Goethe once more to come to Weimar , and, this time, the poet acceded to his wish. IV. WEIMAB. The German Courts had taken but little interest in the pro- gress which was being made by the national poetry. Manners and thoughts were imported by the German sovereigns from France: the French language was the language of their Courts ; and French hterature exercised its full influence over style. Frederick the Great, and his sister the Margravine ofBayreuth, wrote their works and Memoirs in French; and the king pa- tronized Voltaire, who lived with him at Sanssouci. But whilst the principal Courts of Germany refused to acknowledge the rising spirit of German hterature, the smaller courts became its patrons and amongst these Weimar was preeminent. Wie- land, Goethe, Herder, Schiller and many others, were from time to time assembled here. The Dowager Duchess, Anna Amalia, was Regent; and conducted the education of her two sons. Wipland had be- come the tutor of the eldest son, Carl August, and Knbbel, of the younger. Wieland formed, at Weimar, a circle of great attraction, by estabhshing there his periodical "der deutsche Merkur," in 1773. The Duchess, regardless of etiquette, Uved on friendly terms with the artists and poets who surrounded her. Her little theatre was continually supplied with new pieces, chiefly operatic works, by Musaeus, Wieland, Brandes and Gotter; and Seydler's company of actors did their best to im- prove the representation. When, in 1774, her palace and theatre were burnt down, these actors went to Dresden; and Weimar GOETHE. I 1 I lost one of its chief attractions. The Duke, Carl August, now came of age; and, shortly after his marriage with the princess Louise of Hesse Darmstadt, Goethe arrived. What Weimar was in the ISth Century we must leave our readers to gather from the excellent narrative of Mr. Lewes in whose work he will also find full descriptions of the genial characters of the Duke and Duchess, and of the general society of Weimar: — all very important in the study of Goethe, but beside our pre- sent purpose. Goethe arrived at Weimar on the 7th of No- vember 1775. Here are Thomas Carlyle's observations on him:* — " To Goethe himself this connexion with Weimar opened the happiest com'se of life which, probably, the age he lived in could have yielded him. Moderation, yet abundance; elegance without luxury or sumptuosity : Art enough to give a heavenly firmament to his existence ; Business enough to give it a solid earth. In his multifarious duties he comes in contact with all manner of men ; gains experience and tolerance of all men's ways. — The greatest of Poets is also the skilfuUest of Mana^- gers : the little terrestrial Weimar trust committed to him pros- pers; and one sees with a sort of smile, in which may lie a deep seriousness, how the Jena Museums, University arrange- ments, Weimar Art - exhibitions and Palace — buildings, are guided smoothly on, by a hand which could have worthily swayed imperial sceptres. The world, could it entrust its im- perial sceptres to such hands, were blessed: nay to this man, without the world's consent given or asked, a still higher func- tion had been committed. But on the whole, we name his ex- ternal life happy, among the happiest, in this, that a noble prin- cely courtesy only dwell in it, based on the worship, by speech and practice, of Truth only , and the worldly could praise him as the most agi-eeable of men, and the spiritual as the highest and clearest; but happy above all, in this, that it forwarded him, as no other could have done, in his inward life, the good or evil hap of which was alone of permanent importance." The frivolities of youth, and the uncongenial occupations (court adventures and amusements) which now occupied much of his leisure, disturbed for Goethe's muse some time; but they augmented, on the other hand, his capability for future great works. Little operas were acted by the ladies and gentleman of the Court, in the pleasant woods near Weimar, * Carlyle's Essays — ("Goethe's works") — vol. 3. p. 144. 1 1 2 GOETHE. at night and by torchlight ; and for this purpose Goethe wrote "Die Fischerin," "Erwin and Elmire," and "Claudina von Villa Bella." Meanwhile he had taken a deep interest in the success of the Weimar theatre, which had been rebuilt by the Duke, and the management of which Goethe eventually superintended in person. He, at last, succeeded in establishing a kind of na- tional theatre in this congenial little city ; his own leading plays and the fashionable pieces of Kotzebue and Iffland being often performed upon the same stage. One great ornament of the Weimar stage was the talented actress Corona Schrotee. Goethe himself also acted on these amateur boards. He appeared as "Alcest," in the "Mitschuldigen ;" and, afterwards, as "Orest," in his "Iphigenia." His acting in tragedy is said to have been too passionate; but he was brilliant in humorous charac- ters ; particularly in that of Haman , the market crier , in his "Jahrmarkt in Plundersweilern." Shortly after the accession of the young duke to the government of the principality (in 1779), our poet was raised to the dignity of "wirklieher Geheimrath," and on the Uth of June 1782, he was ennobled. The piece entitled "Der Triumph der Empfindsamkeit" is a spirited satire upon Goethe's imitators, rising, as it does, into the wit and fantastic imagery of an Aristophanes. But Goethe himself figures here as a refined Aristophanes; being in noble society and at court. This production appeared in the year 1777. The character given it by its author was that of "eine dramatische Grille;" from the circumstance that it contains allusions to different events that had actually taken place at Weimar. This piece was quickly succeeded by "Die Vogel," an imitation at once witty and ingenious , of the well-known "birds" of the great Athenian poet already referred to. Neither ought yfe to pass over without mention here, the idyllic melo- drama called " Jery und Bately," a genuine and eminently at- tractive portraiture of natural scenes and characters, mth a superstratum of Swiss manners, and written in the form and spu-it of the best Fi-ench operettas. His duties as Counsellor, and the study of Natural history, both occupied Goethe much at this time. But in the winter of 1781 we find him again seriously occupied with poetry and en- gaged upon his "Iphigenie" and "Tasso." Still, there was a want of repose in his life, vifhich he well describes, himself, in a letter to Lavater : — " Die Unruhe, in der ich lebe," (he writes,) GOETHE. 1 1 3 "lasst mich nicht iiber dorgleicUen \ crgniigliche Arboiten blei- ben, und so sehe ich audi noch nicht den Raum vor mir, die Ubrigen Acte zu enden. Es geht mir, wie es den Verschwen- dern geht, die in dem Augenblicke, wenn Uber Mangel an Ein- nahme, uberspannte Schulden und Ausgaben geklagt wird, gleichsam von einem Geiste des Widerspruchs ausser sich ge- setzt, sich in neue Yerbindungen und Unkosten zu stiirzen pflegen." But at last Goethe \^as enabled to break off from this mo- notonous and unprofitable life. He had received leave of ab- sence from his friend the Duke; and, in 1786, he set out for Italy. "Iphigenie auf Tauris" was his companion. He had written the first prose edition of this play as early as 1779; and it had been acted on the amateur stage of the Duke: but Herder urged liim strongly to re-write it in poetry; and for this purpose he took it with him to Italy. The beautiful south- ern climate of Italy, its richness in art, and ancient remains, and his life of ease and repose there, called forth again in Goethe that poetic genius, which had so long been slumbering. The artistic grandeur of the ancients, and the classic perfec- tion of poetic form, with which he was surrounded in Italy, gradually relieved his mind from the cold influences of our heavy Northern skj^ and gave it some of the warmth and brightness of the South — that land of harmonious beauty both in poetry and art. Ossian and Shakspeare were consequently thrown asside; and Homer and Sophocles began to take their places. In such a mental ti-ansfiguration , "Iphigenia" T)ecame the work in which he could best give expression to his thoughts and feelings; and, on the 10th of January 1787, it was finished and forwarded to Weimar. "Iphigenie auf Tauris" has derived nothing from classical antiquity save the costume and draperies proper to its charac- ters ; and , however much it may remind one of the liighest dramatic efforts of Greece or Rome, yet in all essential points, it is thoroughly and intrinsically Goethe's own. Schiller said that "apart from its dramatic form, Iphigenia was a marvellous production, which must for ever remain the delight and admi- ration of mankind." "This," says Lewes, "is striking the right chord. A drama it is not: it is a marvellous dramatic poem. The grand and solemn movement of its evolution responds to the large and simple ideas which it unfolds. Its calmuess is majesty. In the limpid clearness of its language , the in- 114 GOETHE. volved mental processes of the characters are as transparent as the operations of bees within a crystal hive ; while the con- stant strain of high and lofty music which sounds through the poem makes the reader feel as if in a holy temple. And above all witcheries of detail there is the one capital witchery — belonging to Greek statues more than to any other works of human cunning — the perfect unity of impression produced by the whole, so that nothing in it seems made, but all to grow, nothing is superfluous, but all is in organic dependence, nothing is there for detached, effect, but the whole is effect. The poem fills the mind; but beautiful as these parate passag- es are, admirers seldom think of passages, they think of the wondrous whole." Besides the great works which Goethe completed in Italy, he also kept a "Diary," published under the title of "Italie- nische Eeise." At Eome he lived in a circle of German ar- tists. Here were Angelica Kaufmann, Tischbeist, Moritz, and others. "If in Eome* one must study, he writes, here in Naples one can only live." And he lived a manifold life : "on the seashore, among the fishermen, among the people, among the nobles, under Vesuvius, on the moonlit waters, on the buried causeway of Pompeii, in Pausilippe : — everywhere drink- ing in fresh delight; everywhere feeding his fancy and ex- perience with new pictures. At Paestum he was in raptures with the glorious antique temples, the remains of which still speak so eloquently of what Grecian Art must have been. In Italy, his conversion from Christianism to Hellenism was com- pleted." The truth of this last sentence will be discovered in all the writings of Goethe after his return from Italy. The journey had taught him to look more into himself; and self- scrutiny had convinced him that his true calling was "Poetry,'' When he came back, his friends were astonished to find him a "changed man." During his stay at Eome, he had talked much with Moritz about the true theory of art; which he had never yet realized. He now found what he wanted in Kant's "Kritik derUrtheilskraft;" and hence his great predilection for this book. His friendship with Herder had cooled, since the latter had begun his violent opposition to Kant; for, although Goethe never cared much for philosophical systems, yet the ideas of Kant coincided with his. Goethe, now reinstated at * Lewes's Life. Vol, II. page 58, GOETHE. 1 1 5 Weiroar, occupied himself eagerly in scientific persuits; and, surrounded as he was by the celebrities of the Jena University, he became more than any one the promoter of imprbvements there. The establishment of the Museum , the botanical Gar- dens , and almost all the scientific institutions of Weimar and Jena, are mainly attributable to his exertions. At the same time, he was constantly occupied in poetical labours. "Tasso" and "Egmont" were both in course of completion. Italy, and the study of Tasso and Ariosto, had made a deep impression on Goethe's mind; and had indeed been the origin of his "Torquato Tasso." In this masterpiece of poetry, Goethe had depicted, with deep knowledge of the human soul, the dissention between poetry and real life; and it is in this more than in any other of his productions that he has imbo- died his innermost thoughts and feelings. There is little action in this poem — for it is, in reality, more a poem than a play — but German poetry was exalted by this coiiJposition into Art: — -it became poetry in action. We read "Tasso" with delight ; for it is a repository of noble thoughts, and its beau- ties are great and manifold. " Egmont " had been sketched many years previous ; but was not finished until after our author's return from Italy. — A mixture of his old and new modes of thinking is therefore very apparent in this piece ; in which he has depicted one of the most tragic episodes of history. The Duke of Alva is sent by the King of Spain to punish his rebellious Dutch subjects with the sword. History has acquainted us with the cruel manner in which the Duke did this. Among the historic personages of this period Goethe has introduced one character of his own creation, — "Clarchen," — to which the deep beauty of this tragedy is mainly owing. Egmont is in love with Clarchen; and when he dies on the scaflfold, she poissons herself. This constitutes the tragic de- noument of the piece. As a dramatic composition, Egmont is weak and declamatory, and wants action ; but the natural scenes in which "Clarchen" appears are so exquisite that the play always pleases an audience. In "Egmont" Goethe gave vent to his thoughts on freedom and despotism; and tnily calm and dignified are Egmont's views of the duties of rulers and people. Egmont's own cha- racter stands out boldly in the play; but his rather extravagant 8* 1 1 6 GOETHE. belief in the magnanimity and virtues of Philippe 11 leads him into the snares of Alva , and ultimately to the scaifold. The Dutch people are well portrayed; and Egmont's love for the burg-her's daughter, Clarchen, gives a romantic tint to the whole story. This tragedy is beautifully written; but, as an stage piece, it wants relief and by-play. The scene with Clar- chen is the truest and most beautiful, that with Alva the grea- test iu its moral and political tone; whilst the scene in which Clarchen takes poison is very tender and eifective. One of the best, however, is the prison scene, containing the dialogue with Alva's son, and (when acted) Egmont's dream. Here the beautiful music of Beethoven tells powerfully on the audience. In the year 1790 Goethe paid another visit to Italy. After the first visit, he brought back with him "die romisohen Ele- gien ; " and now the " venetianisohen Epigramme." When he was reinstated in his old quarters at Weimar, he found that Schiller's dfematic works were gaining great fame ; and this stimulated him to complete his own wonderful drama of "Faust". This work "Die Tragodie der Seele" as Bunsen has termed it, was begun as early as 1774, at which date several portions of it were sketched out : — the scene with Wagner, for instance ; those in the street and Gretchen's bedchamber; and the ballad "Der Konig in Thule." In 1790, our author remodelled the entire tragedy, and published the first separate edition, entitled "Faust, ein Fragment." The complete work, as we possess it now, was not, however, given to the world until 1806. The old puppet show of "Faust the sorcerer," which Goethe, when a boy, had frequently seen at Frankfort during the fairs, had made so deep an impression on him that he soon after was eagerly reading the " Volkssage vom Doctor Faustus." Nothing being ever lost on him, this legend soon became a sort of repository , in which he locked up as it were , from time to time, new ideas, and descriptions, and ballads, and mysteries. He soon comprehended what this work was capable of containing; and thus he incorporated in it the entire ex- perience of liis early days: — his poetic day-dreams, his ex- perience of love , and the sum-total of his worldly knowledge. He culled, too, with equal force and freedom, the topics alike of the past and of the present time; and interwove them with the story of this great tragedy, according as the occasion, or his own humour, prompted him. GOETHE. 1 1 7 The time of the Reformation, from which the original "Saga" of Faust was derived, was in many respects similar to the "Stunn- und Drangperiode" of German literature. Both were passionate storm-periods; and, during both, the advancing en- lightenment of the time was surrounded by superstition and magic awe, priestcraft, mysticism and infidehty; —a perfect chaos, in short ; — out of which real knowledge and truth had to rise. Goethe therefore, taking the old legend as his subject, wrote upon it, as upon a text, this most wonderful of all his productions. Such a manifestation of intellect occurs so rarely in the world, that, when it does happen, it stamps its authors as "master-minds" to all generations; and gives them the un- dying fame of "representative men." Only Dante, Shakspeare and Goethe have raised themselves, in the world of letters, to this gigantic height; and (strange to say) their subjects were akin, though their compositions were so widely different. The lirst part of Goethe's "Faust" is by no means so ob- scure as is generally supposed: on the contrary it is very in- telligible. Faust is one of those men of genius who, having fathomed all human knowledge and research, is disappointed by the result; for he cannot grasp infinity. He wants there- fore to free himself from the burden of the body, by self- destruction; that he may be able to comprehend that which is reserved for the Creator alone. But the powerful notes of the organ on Easter morn, which strike his ear at the moment he is raising the poisoned goblet to his lips, recall to his mind the sweet remembrances of his happy youth, when his soul found satisfaction in belief, and his aspirations were gratified by the beautiful creations of nature. To strengthen anew his I belief in the divine revelation, is his first desire. Having tasted however the fruit of knowledge, he loses himself in metaphysi- cal and magical studies; and becomes the prey of the spirit of evil (Mephistopheles) , who has already ensnared him. He now represses all the better impulses of his mind , sacrifices the future for present satisfaction, and (like a second Don Juan) gives himself up to every sensual enjoyment. The human hap- piness which he had hoped to obtain, in the possession of the pure and beautiful maiden "Gretchen," the demon Mephisto- pheles has taken care to destroy. This is, in a few words, the outline of that mighty work into which Goethe has infused all the strength of his poetic power , his wonderfnl imagination and knowledge of man , the 118 GOETHE. experiences of his life, and the treasures of his mind. No won- der that , the tragedy is full of matter of the gravest thought, and that it is called a "divina tragedia ;" for it contains heaven and earth, man and his entire development. Faust, as Mr. Lewes observes, "has every element: wit, pathos, wisdom, buffoon- ery, mystery, melody, reverence, doubt, magic and irony; not a chord of the lyre is unstrung, not a fibre of the heart un- touched. Students earnestly wrestling with doubt, striving to solve the solemn riddles of life, feel their pulses strangely agi- tated by this poem. In Faust we see, as in a mirror, the eter- nal problem of our intellectual existence ; and , beside it , the varied lineaments of our social existence. It is at once a prob- lem and a picture. Therein lies its fascination. The problem embraces all questions of vital importance : the picture repre- sents all opinions, all sentiments, all classes, moving on the stage of life. The great problem is stated in all its nudity; ' the picture is painted in all its variety." The effect which Goethe's Faust produced on his own nation, and its continued importance, can only be sufficiently understood by stud3ring the history of the German mind; but Schelling, in one of his lectures, gives some idea of the influence of Faust, by styling it "Einen ewig frischen Quell der Begeisterung, der allein zu- reichend war, die Wissenschaft zu dieser Zeit zu verjungen und den Hauch eines neuen Lebens iiber sie zu verbreiten; er hat alle, die in das Heiligthum der Natur eindringen wollen, aufgef ordert , sich mit diesen TOnen einer hohern Welt zu nahren, und in friiher Jugend die Kraft in sich zu saugen, die wie in dichten Lichtstrahlen aus diesem eigenthiimlichsten Ge- dicht der Deutschen ausgeht und das Innerste der Welt be- wegt." That "Faust," so endowed as he was, could not end as he does in the tragedy was, a priori, certain. The tragedy closed; the work of art was finished; but not the character of the man. This every reader feels ; and it was felt by Goethe. He had, in the first part of Faust, only depicted the first part of a man's existence. For the higher individual quahties of man consist in subduing his sensual nature, in maturing his spiritual freedom, in embodying in action all his noble qualities, in com- prehending his duties as an individual, and in practising them on the field of life. The harmonious identity of the highest faculties of his mind with the true and pure nature of his hu- man qualities, in which the inner, higher and nobler life is GOETKE. 119 blended with the life of action and duty, and in which evil ceases to appear as a necessity, constitutes the Ideal of an in- dividual. The Second part of Faust, or " der TragOdie zweiter Theil," may be said to comprehend these ideas, and work them out in most minute detail. On this "Second part" Goethe vcas occu- pied, more or less, for full forty years ; and Emerson describes it thus: — "The 'Helena,' or the second part of Faust, is a philo- sophy of literature set in poetry ; the work of one who found himself "the master of histories, m3rthologies , philosophies, sciences, and national literatures, in the encyclopaedical manner of modern erudition, with its international intercourse of the whole earth's population, researches into Indian, Etruscan and all Cyclopean arts, geology, chemistry, astronomy, and every one of these kingdoms assuming a certain aerial and poetic cha- racter, by reason of the multitude. One looks at a king with reverence ; but , if one should chance to be at a congress of kings, the eye would take liberties with the peculiarities of each. These are not wild miraculous songs ; but elaborate forms, to which the poet has confided the results of eighty years of observation. This reflective and critical wisdom makes the poem more truly the flower of this time. It dates itself. Still he is a poet ; poet of a prouder laurel than any contem- porary; and under this plague of microscopes (for he seems to see out of every pore of his skin), strikes the harp with a hero's strength and grace. The wonder of the book is its superior intelligence. In the menstruum of this man's wit, the past and the present ages, and their religions, politics, and modes of thinking, are dissolved into archetypes and ideas. What new mythologies sail through bis head! The Greeks said that Alexander went as far as Chaos: Goethe went, only the other day, as far; and one step farther he hazarded, and brought himself safe back. There is a heart-cheering freedom in his speculations. The immense horizon which journeys with us lends its majesty to trifles, and to matters of convenience and necessity, as to solemn and festal performances." The extraordinary beauty of Goethe's poetry, in this second part of Faust, frequently rivals the first; but the charm of passion , of love , of youth , is gone. Colossal art is here sur- rounded, like the cyclopean temples of Egypt, with mysterious revelations. An infinity of thought, the experience of a long and healthy life, is here stored up ; but few, indeed, are those who 120 GOETHE. can completely unravel this gigantic mystery of poetry and art. It was at tliis time that the French Revolution shook Eu- rope to its centre ; and it is not uninteresting to trace the effect which this event produced upon the two leading poets of Germany. "The French Eevolution," observes Gervinus, "was inexpli- cable to the mind of Goethe ; who had never at any period taken a conspicuous share in the chances and changes of politi- cal life : but the philosophy of Kant was the means of divert- ing Schiller, for a time, from his poetical labours. Kant's metaphysical system had no effect whatever upon Goethe, who took httle interest in any subject of speculative philosophy, — while political revolution just a little alarmed Schiller, for the reason that the studies in which he had been engaged, and the thoughts which had occupied his mind during the composi- tion of certain of his works, had already induced him to anti- cipate such manifestations. Ever since Goethe produced his vigorous drama of "Goetz von Berlichingen ," up to the time of his writing the tragedy of "Egmont," he had been gradually losing his taste for histoiy and politics; while, on the other hand, Schiller, from the date of the appearance of "Fiesco" to that of "Don Carlos," had nourished his predilection for both these studies. To Schiller, therefore, the outbreak of the French Eevolution afforded a sujjject of congenial meditation, — while it served to confirm Goethe in all his ascetic views, and went far towards estranging him almost entirely from the concerns of public life." Goethe's own ideas on the French Eevolution are exceed- ingly interesting.. They have been presei-ved by Eckermann; to whom Goethe said: "Es ist wahr, ich konnte kein Freund der franzosischen Eevolution sein, denn ihre Grauel standen mir zu nahe und emporten mich taglich und stiindlich, wahrend ihre wohlthatigen Folgen damals noch nicht zu ersehen waren. Auch konnte ich nicht gleichgiiltig dabei sein, dass man in Deutschland kiinstlicher Weise iihnliche Scenen herbeizufuhren trachtete, die in Frankreich Folge einer grossen Nothwendig- keit waren. — Eben so wenig aber war ich ein Freund herri- scher Willkur, auch war ich voUkommen iiberzeugt, dass irgend eine grosse Eevolution nie Schuld desVolkes ist, sondern der Eegierung. Eevolutionen sind ganz unmoglich, sobald dieEe- gierungen fortwahrend gerecht und fortwahrend wach sind, so gOeth]!;. 1 2 1 dass sie ihnen durcli zeitgeinasse Verbessevungen entgegen- kommen, und sich nicht so lange strauben, bis das Nothwendige von unten her erzwungen wird." V. GOETHE AND SCHILLER. When Goethe returned the second time from Italy, he was disagreeably surprised by the great popularity which Schiller's genial productions had obtained ; but this antipathy to tlje poet of the day soon gave way on a personal acquaintance with him ; — an acquaintance which was soon cemented into the most intimate friendship. They allied themselves for the pur- pose of publishing a literary periodical entitled "Die Horen" (1794 — 97), combined with a " Musenalmanach." This friendship of the two greatest poets of Germany, of natures altogether antagonistic, is one of the most charming features of literary history. Schiller's idealistic , and Goethe's realistic, nature stimulated each other to the achievement of those classical productions which their combined efforts brought forth. Goethe was by such companionship urged into still grand- er action : Schiller left his philosophical studies, and returned to poetry. Goethe said, of this friendship, "Ftir mich war es ein neuer Fruhling, in welchem AUes froh nebeneinander keimte, und aus aufgeschlossenen Samen und Zweigen hervorging." The first fruits of their combined action were the "Xenien" (1797), published in the "Musenalmanach;" in which they stig- matized the literature of the day as it deserved. The mediocre character of its performances, as well as its bad taste; its would-be humorous novels; the antiquated models to which, alone, it aspired ; — all these things were exposed in the "Xenien" with uniiinching determination. It was high time this should be done; for the public delighted in Lafontaine's tedious sen- timental novels, Kotzebue and Iffland were the divinities of the stage ; the "Menschenhass und Eeue" (the Stranger) of the former, and the lacrimose plays of the latter, being high fa- vourites. The "Horen" once more set criticism on a sound basis; for all the great men of the time were its contributors: Goethe, Schiller, Klopstock, the Humboldt's, Kant, Fichte, and others. The "Xenien" handled the separate authors, one by one; and the combined forces of the great men we have named, thus skilfully employed , exercised a most purifying influence over literature and art. It is therefore from this era that we must date the true 122 GOETHE. sublimity of our poet's life at Weimar. Goethe had, as we have said , undertaken the management of the theatre of this city ; and being seconded by the exertions of Schiller and other leading poetical minds, he produced expressly for this stage the comedy of "Der Grosscophta" (1792), which betrays, how- ever, a deficiency of fire and energy; and shortly afterwards, in 1793, his " Burgergeneral " appeared; a piece written in a truly Aristophanic vein of humour. Hitherto we have only reviewed Goethe's dramatic compo- sitions; and this in a somewhat cursory manner; — though suffi- ciently to convince us that in the author of "Faust," "Goetz von Berlichingen ," and "Torquato Tasso," we have found a poet of the very highest order, — a master genius, whom Thalia and Melpomene inspire alike. Goethe evinces, indeed, in every production of his pen, some new and yet perfect phase of lite- rary talent; and this versatility of composition, treatment, and style, is exactly the quality which so powerfully bespeaks our admiration. But if we now bestow a glance upon the results of his labours in the field of lyric poetry, works of a different kind, yet not less classical, will meet our view. "Eeihecke Fuchs" was a successful metamorphosis of the old-fashioned "Volksbuch;" and was given to the world in 1794. Our author, indeed, had not as yet tried his skill in epic poetry; still, when he did give his attention to it, so marvel- lous was his power, that he fairly eclipsed every one else : wit- ness his "Hermann und Dorothea," (1797). Stimulated by Vos- ses "Luise," he wanted to write an Idyl; but under the hand of the master it became a grand epic. Goethe's contemporaries, one and all, have characterized this poem as "great in a Ho- meric sense," and the present generation has not questioned this criticism. " Hermann und Dorothea " is indeed a delicious poem ; the counterpart of which, is nowhere to be found, through- out the whole circle of German literature. The epic had stricken its roots deeply into the popular taste of the German people, and had become their .favourite study ; the plain mode of do- mestic life, natural to the middle classes of society, which it depicted, combined with the charms of its design to strike the heart and elevate the mind. "Hermann und Dorothea "is a per- fect master-piece of the hexameter fonn of poetry. It is, more- over, as patriotic as it is popular: — a book, in short, full of the golden sayings of wisdom and virtue. Goethe was a comprehensive lyric writer. In his minor GOETHE. 123 pieces, there is a youthful enthusiasm, or "Bliithenhauch," which is in itself an eternal spring of poetry. To translate these is perfectly impossible; and the "Athe- naeum," in one of its criticisms, points out with much felicity the true characteristics of their beauty, thus: — "Parts of ■Goethe's poetry were very objectionable — other parts beau- tiful, yet only if left alone (not translated). Who can string together dewdrops, imprison zephyrs, or convey the momentary sunbeams? Half of the beauty of Goethe lies in his consu- mate simphcity and stillness, in a Greek distinctness and clearness, in the linking of fair words to fair thoughts, not by a marriage de convenance, for the sake of so many syllables or rhymes or images, but from inward necessity and affinity of beauty. Each poem breathes, so to say, in its own hypaethral chamber, "a perfect form in perfect rest." Transpose a word or alter a metre, exchange a loud for a low tone, a bright for a neutral tint, and the charm of the poem — symetry and keeping — is gone." In ballad composition Goethe is masterly and easy. To this class of works we must refer the following masterly poems: "Der Sanger," "Das Veilchen," "Der Fischer,'' "Erlkonig," "Der Kijnig inThule," "Blumlein Wunderschon," "Hochzeitlied," "Der Todtentanz," "Der Zauberlehrling ,'' "Die Braut von Corinth," &c. &c. Again, how significant and beautiful are the lays of the "West-ostlichen Divan." Heine cleverly characterizes them in lis peculiar way, as follows: — "Der Divan enthalt die Denk- und Gefuhlsweise des Orients in bliihenden Liedern und kerni- gen Sprtichen, und das duftet und gliiht darin, wie ein Harem vol! Odalisken. Manchmal ist dem Leser auch zu Muthe, als lage er behaglich ausgestreckt auf einem persischen Teppich und rauche aus einer langrShrigen Wasserpfeife den gelben Tabak von Turkestan, wahrend eine schwarze Sclavin ihm mit einem bunten Pfauenwedel Kiihlung zuweht und ein schouer Knabe ihm eine Schale mit achtem Mokka-Kaifee darreicht. Den berauschendsten Lebensgenuss hat hier Goethe in Verse gebracht, und diese slnd so leicht, so gliicklich, so hingehaucht, so atherisch, als es nur immer mogUch war." And the other great branch of literary labour, — prose com- position, — Goethe will be found to have wrought up to an equal point of excellence and finish. "His style," says Carlyle, "is perhaps to be reckoned the 1 24 GOETHE. most excellent that our modem world , in any language , cau exhibit." "Even to a foreigner," says one, "it is full of character and secondary meanings ; polished , yet vernacular and cordial , it sounds like the dialect of wise, antique-minded, true-hearted men: in poetry, brief, sharp, simple and expressive: in prose, perhaps, still more pleasing; for it is at once concise and fulU rich, clear, unpretending and melodious; and the sense, not presented in alternating flashes, piece after piece revealed and withdrawn, rises before us as in continuous dawning, and stands at last simultaneously complete, and bathed in the mellow- est and ruddiest sunshine. It brings to mind what the prose of Hooker, Bacon, Milton, Browne, would have been, had they written under the good, without the bad, influences of that Trench precision, which has polished and attenuated, trimmed and impoverished all modern languages; made our meaning clear, and too often shallow as well as clear."* "Wilh'elm Meister's Lehrjahre," (1794), will at once prove the greatness of Goethe's prose. It was the paraphrase of the incidents and adventures of Goethe's own hfe ; being almost as redolent of poetry and truth, and as nervous and energetic, as "Faust" itself We find in this work a succession of light and agreeable narratives offered to us in a richly-composite style ; such, indeed, as - prior to the appearance of this effort — had never been known. Emmerson characterizes it thus: "'Wilhelm Meister' is a novel in* every sense, the first of its kind, called by its admir- ers the only delineation of modern society, as if other novels, those of Scott for example, dealt with costume and condition, this with the spirit of life. It is read by very intelligent per- sons with wonder and delight. It is preferred by some such to Hamlet , as a work of genius. I suppose no book of this century can compare with in its delicious sweetness, so new, so provoking to the mind , gratifying it with so many and so solid thoughts, just insights into life and manners, and characters ;~ so many good hints for the conduct of life , so many unexpected glimpses into a higher sphere, and never a trace of rhetoric or dulness, a very provoking book to the curiosity of young men of genius, but a very unsatisfactory one. Lovers of light reading, those who look in it for tha * Carlyle's Essays (Goethe's works) vol. 3. page 154. GOETHE. 125 entertainment they find in a romance, are disappointed. On the otlier hand, those who begin it with the higher hope to read in it a worth}' history of genius, and the just award of the laurel to its toils and denials, have also reason to complain Goethe's hero, has so many wealoiesses and impurities, and keeps such bad company, that the sober Enghsh public, when the book was translated, were disgusted. And yet it is so crammed with wisdom, with knowledge of the woi'ld, and with knowledge of laws, the persons so truly and subtily drawn, and with such few strokes, and not a word too much, the book remains 'ever so new and unexhausted, that we must even let it go its way, and be willing to get what good from it we can, assured that it has only begun its office, and has millions of readers yet to serve." — " Wilhelm Meister ," taken as a whole , is one of the most masterly and striking fictions that has ever proceeded from a German pen. The scheme, arrangement, and execution of the work are characteristic and peculiar. The individual sketch- es it contains are first-rate; and surpass indeed, all other specimens of the same kind extant. ("Mignon," in particular, is very beautiful.) And more excellent still, is the spirit of profound reflection, the clearness and solidity of judgment, the genius-structured thoughts, and bold aphorisms which charac- terize it. Those little poetical interweavings , for example, as: — "Kennst du das Land, wo dieCitronen bliihn," "Werniesein Brod mitThranen ass," — are exquisitely beautiful compositions; and the criticism of Shakspeare's "Hamlet" is perfect, in its way. The "Wanderjahre" published many years after in 1821, has the traces of Goethe's age impressed on it. It is myste- rious ; and often (like the second part of Faust) incomprehen- sible especially in its allegories. — VI. AGE. The Weimar Theatre had been rebuilt since 1790; and Goethe has taken the resolution of raising its histrionic cha- racter, by introducing only a high class of dramatic composi- tions for representation. For this purpose Schiller gave up his position at Jena, which was little to his taste; domiciled himself, in 1800, at Weimar; directing all his powers to dra- matic composition. New actors were engaged and drilled. Be- sides Goethe's, Schiller's, and Lessing's dramas, others by Klop- stock and Stolberg, were represented, although not, originally. 126 GOETHE. intended for the stage. But even this repertoire was soon found to be too limited; and translations were introduced. Goethe translated Voltaire's "Tancred" and "Mahomet;" whilst Racine's "Phadra," Gozzi's "Turandot," and Picard's "Neffe als Onkel" and "der Parasit," as well as Shakspeare's "Mac- beth," were translated and adapted for the stage by Schiller. RADCH's BIJSTE. Besides these Schiller produced his great works "Maria Stuart," "Die Jungfrau von Orleans," and "Wilhelm Tell." But with the close of Schiller's life in 1805, and the troubled times of war, things began to change at Weimar. Goethe had lost his great friend. The battle of Jena, on the 14th of Oc- tober 1806, disturbed Goethe considerably. The spring of life was- gone and Goethe prepared to put his house in order. He GOETHE. 127 made, first of all, Christine Vulpius, (by whom he had one son) his wife; and he than began to complete his materials for works already commenced. Amongst these was his novel "Die Wahl- verwandtschaften" (1809); in point of style and execution per- haps one of the most artistic works he ever produced. Eosen- kranz styles it " classic." The ethical tendency of the novel, has met with antagonistic criticisms. By some it has been styled moral : by others the reverse. Those however who know Goethe's life thoroughly will find, on mature reflection, a road which leads through both these criticisms. It describes simply life as it is, not as moralists think it ought to be ; for Goethe, in the strict sense of the word , could write nothing immoral. He examined life, and unfolded it with truth; without any set design of depicting either virtue or vice. "Das Leben Benvenuto Cellini's" (1803). Into the interest- ing and fascinating details of " Benvenuto " we cannot enter at length here. The book is a remarkable production. Let us only glance at the peculiar style and manner in which Goethe has translated it from its native Italian. One circumstance worthy of note is the following: that in "Benvenuto Cellini," its great translator employs a most remarkable dialect, he hav- ing actually written this biography in italianized German. We find here all the prominent and distinctive characteristics of the old Italian original, reproduced in a way that is most un- usual and astonishing. When Goethe was sixty two years old, he began to write his autobiography; and gave it the title of "Dichtung und Wahrheit" (truth and fiction); deeply convinced that man involuntarily colours and fashions even present things, and still more incidents long past, according to his own pecu- liarities. EmtQcrson truly states that his work "is the expres- sion of the idea, now familiar to the world through the Ger- man mind, that a man exists for culture; not for what he can accomplish, but for what can be accomplished in him. The reaction of things on the man is the only noteworthy result. An intellectual man can see himself as a third person therefore his faults and delusions interest him equally with his successes. Though he wishes to prosper in affairs, he wishes more to know the history and destiny of man; whilst the clouds of egotists drifting about him are only interested in a low success. "This idea reigns in the "Dichtung und Wahrheit," and di- rects the selection of the incidents; and nowise the external importance of events, the rank of the personages, or the bulk 128 GOETHE. of incomes Of course, the book -affords sleuder materials for what would be reckoned as a " life of Goethe " : few dates ; no correspondence ; no details of offices or employments ; no light on his marriage; and a period of ten years, that should be the most active in his life, after his settlement at Weimar, is sunk in silence. Meantime, certain love-affairs, that 'come to nothing', as people say, have the strangest importance; he crowds us A^ith details : certain whimsical opinions, cosmogonies, and religions of his own invention, and especially his relations to remarkable minds, and to critical epochs of thought — these he magnifies. — Goethe, in addition to all his various and vast literary achievements, has also contributed a great deal to the king- dom of art. Not only has he developed in his works the fun- damental principles of the."Aesthetik" in an imperishable example, but he has also composed distinct works, in its recommendation and behalf. What, for instance, are "Winkelmann und sein Jahrhundert" 1I8O6), and "UeberKunst und Alterthum" (I8I61, but evidences of our poet's deep attachment to this subject? Then there is his " Farbenlehre ; " which , however defective it may be in cei'tain points, is, nevertheless, a work in which we cannot but recognize and admire a profound inquirer, and na- tural philosopher. Indeed, although Goethe was looked upon as a dilettante in science, his scientific views have had immense influence. In his "Metamorphose derPflanzen", his idea "die Pflanzenwelt in ihrer unendUchen Mannigfaltigkeit als entstehend zu erfassen" has been, as Carus says, the greatest importance to botany generally. And his treatise "Ueber Skelett," although less scientific, shews that he was, (as the above named distinguished natural philosopher said), "the first human being" who saw that "vom Wirbelbau des Hauptes, dessen Schadelgebilde als ent- schiedene Fortsetzung der Gebilde der Ruckenwirbelsaule an- zusehen seien." Wherever we turn Goethe's mind is great. "His spiritual endowments,'' sayd Carlyle, "looked at on the in- tellectual side, we have las indeed Mes in the nature of things, for moral and intellectual are fundamentally one the same) to pronounce great among the very greatest. As the first gift of all, may be discerned here utmost clearness, all -piercing faculty of vision; whereto, as we ever find it, all other gifts are superadded; nay, properly, they are but other forms of the same gift. A nobler power of insight than this of Goethe GOETHE. 1 29 you in vain looli for, since Shakspeare passed away. In fact, there is much every way, here in particular, that these two minds have in common. — We have not yet said a word on the subject of the exceed- ingly varied and interesting correspondence which Goethe had been in the habit of -carrying on. The correspondence of great men has always something in- trinsically noble in it, and casts a peculiar spell over the reader, inasmuch as it enables him to see into the hearts of those who lead the world. In the case of Goethe, who was one of the most prolific letter writers that ever lived, it is of very great value; for it gives an insight into many important lite- rary points which, without it, might have been somewhat ob- scure. Goethe's correspondence with Schiller is full of grand thoughts. A mass of literature is passed under review ; master- pieces of poetry are transmitted from the one to the other; and a mutual flow of ideas takes place between them in all the freedom of strict friendship; first one giving advice, and then the other ; each helping each in word and deed ; - so that the whole presents, necessarily, a vast body of epistolary matter of extraordinary interest. But these letters to Schiller are not the only subjects of attraction in this branch of composition. There is also (at least from and after the year 1774 to 17S3) Goethe's correspondence with Lavater, to say nothing of his communications with the widowed Countess Augusta von Berns- dorflf. Then there are Goethe's letters to Zelter, a highly interest- ing collection, which may be described as a historical re- view of the manner in which some of our grandest poems and our finest ballads have been united with sterling and sym- pathetic music. These letters awaken an interest that surpasses all description ; and supply, moreover, a fund of the most im- portant information. The letters, too, that passed between Goethe and Schulz are not without an especial value. The letters to Kestner — of Wertherian celebrity — and those adressed to "Frau von Stein "— afford pictures of Goethe's innermost heart. Then , again , the correspondence ■svith "Bettina von Arnim" forms a thoroughly romantic and poetic series. Indeed, in Ggjhe's letters we may trace, with- out fear of mistake, the whole strain of the author's life; and may gain a real and deep insight into the various poetic yearnings of a mind rich and comprehensive in its aspirations 130 SCHILLEK. to the highest degree. The second point of interest which they discuss is the study of literature ; of the various branches of which they take a general survey: and this, again, leads us hack into a consideration of the poet's own inner life. In November 1830 Goethe had to sustain a great loss in the death of his only son, which occurred at Rome, on the 28th of October. It was but a short time before his own death, which happened on the 22nd of March 1832. The last words that he uttered were, "Dass mehr Licht hereinkomme." We will conclude with Carlyle's noble words: — "We can call Goethe 'a clear and universal man'; we can say that, in his universality, as thinker, as singer, as worker, he lived a life of antique nobleness under new conditions ; and in so liv- ing, is alone in all Europe; the foremost, whom others are to learn from and follow." * JOHANN CHRISTOPH FRIEDRICH VON SCHILLER.** There is no author in Germany whose works have taken so firm a hold upon the people — none who is so thoroughly liked and loved by all classes — as Schiller. For fame and for popularity he stands unrivalled amidst a host of the most ta- lented and brilliant writers. Schiller obtained this wonderful pre-eminence by a com- bination of the utmost simplicity with that elevated tone which is invariably found in his poetry. The ideal at which he aimed was the purest and noblest that had ever been put forward on German soil; and his influence was so much the more felt in every German bosom. Germany possesses no poet, in fact, (Goethe excepted) who is worthy to be placed on a parallel with Schiller ; or who has written with such purely national * Carlyle's Essays. Vol. 3. p. 155. ** The life of Schiller by Thomas Carlyle is well known fdr its excellent criticisms; but what is almost unknown is that re- markable life of the same poet which Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton. has prefixed to his translation of Schiller's poems. It is written, with great artistic skill ; and , with those feelings of admiration which are but natural, is mingled a criticism so just and pure that, whilst it is a fitting tribute to Schiller's greatness, it is no less noble a monument of the genius of its author. SCHILLER. 131 feeling. His sensibilities, are so delicately attuned, and he is, at the same time, so enthusiastically honest, that he commands the admiration and delight of all. And the harmony which exists between the tone of his writings and the bent of the German mind, has given him a popularity which will endure for ever. SCHILLEB. Schiller's compositions, one and all, are conceived in the purest spirit, and matured with the most critical care; while the charity and benevolence which they display are no less conspicuous than the strength and delicacy of their diction, and the grandeur of their poetical figures. He not only knows well how to appreciate the innocence of childhood, the anxious scepticism of melancholy, and the rapture of love ; but neither 9* 132 SCHILLEE. pain nor woe are strangers to his mind. Consolation under all circumstances may be found in that deep sympathy with human nature which is inherent in the man, and which his own noble verses so grandly shadow forth. The productions of Schiller are nothing more than a reflec- tion of the tone of sentiment and feeling predominant in Ger- many: they form, in fact, a repository of virtue, of truth, and of tenderness; and must be reckoned among the choicest lite- rary treasures Germany has the privilege of possessing. Goethe and Schiller are equally great; and yet are different in their greatness. Both can boast, alike, of a large circle of disciples and admirers ; though the more popular writer of the two is the easily understood but sagacious Schiller, not the profound and abstruse Goethe. Gutzkow, in his treatise "Goethe im Weudepunkte zweier Jahrhunderte ," contrasts Schiller and Goethe in the following manner: "Schiller represents humanity in the gross, and his- tory ; Goethe , the individual and nature. Again , Schiller ex- hibits his characters individualized and elaborated in the style of a refined portrait ; whilst Goethe depicts universal humanity, in its strength and its weakness, its virtues and its vices. Schiller conceived his characters with his mind acting reflec- tively on itself; Goethe, with his intellect at work on his own experience. Looking also at their respective dramatic action, we find that Schiller is inclined to portray the outer, Goethe the inner life ; Goethe is exalting, Schiller tender and affecting ; Goethe is more dramatic, and Schiller more theatrical; Goethe is a lyric dramatist, Schiller an epic one; Schiller unrolls a large picture of dramatic action ; whilst Goethe exhibits merely the prominent points of a subject, in groups, with hints for their treatment." Schiller is unsurpassable in the combination and denouement of a dramatic action; Goethe on the other hand effects the same object more delicately and harmoniously: Schiller constructs his web clearly and palpably ; Goethe softly and imperceptibly. I. schillee's youth. Schiller was born at Marbach, a town of Wiirtemberg, on the river Neckar, on the 10th of November 1759. Johann Cas- par Schiller, his father, had been a surgeon in the Bavarian army; and had served in the Netherlands during the War of SCHILLEK. 133- the Succession. After his return to Wiirtemberg; , he obtained a commission as adjutant under the Duke of Wiirtemberg. "After* the Peace of Paris, the Duke retained him in his service. The laying out of various nurseries and plantations in the pleasure grounds of Ludwigsburg and Solitude was en- trusted to the retired soldier, now advanced to the rank of captain : he removed from one establishment to another , from time to time; and continued in the Duke's pay till death." "Schiller's mother was a woman of many household virtues ; to a warm affection for her children and husband, she joined a degree of taste and intelligence which is of much rarer oc- curence. She is said to have been a lover of poetry ; in par- ticular an admiring reader of Uz and Gellert." Young Schiller received his first regular lessons in reading, writing and Latin from the deacon Moser, a friend of the Schiller's, whom he afterwards introduced, as the Pastor Moser, into "the Robbers." In 1768 Schiller's parents removed to Ludwigsburg , and as the youth had determined, at the desire of his parents, to be- come a clergyman, he was sent for this purpose (at nine years of age) to the Latin school. The Duke of Wiirtemberg had established meanwhile a new Military School called the "Carls- schule," to which he pressed Schiller's father to send the boy; and Schiller (now in his fourteenth year) entered this Academy on the 17th January 1773. Schiller made choice of law as his study. The academy was governed altogether upon military principles; and to such an extent was its discipline carried, that, without an express warrant, no member dared purchase or read a single book! This rigorous military discipline became loathsome to him. Neither law nor medicine, which latter he studied when the Academy was removed to Carlsruhe, satisfied his mind; and he turned with pleasure from such studies to the prohibited literature for which he was yearning. He and some other young men of similar tastes, formed a literary "Bund," and procured books in secret. They read Klopstock, Goethe's "Werther" and "Goetz von Berlichingen ," Leisewitz's celebrated tragedy of "Julius von Tarent," Gerstenberg's "Ugolino," and whatever else they could get. The reading of these works aroused Schil- ler's poetic spirit; and he began to write smaller pieces of * Carlyle's life of Schiller. 134 SCHILLEK. poetry, which were published in the "Schwabische Magazin." They were mostly of an extravagant and bombastic character; —defects caused by the very tyranny which surrounded him; — yet the Editor of this Magazine ("Haug") prophesied, from these specimens, that "the young poet, would one day do ho- nour to his fatherland." The pupils of the "Carlsschule," which owed its establishment to the Duke, belonged naturally (so to speak) to the Court. They were, on festive occasions, commanded to attend as pages at Court dinners and baJls; and the Duke also permitted them occasionally to perform French and Ger- man dramatic pieces. On the 11th of February 1780, being the birth-day of the Duke, Schiller, already secretly working at his "Robbers," could not resist the temptation of acting. He had to choose the piece, and to divide the parts. He selected Goethe's " Clavigo," and acted the hero. His acting is described by Hoffmeister, his biographer, as "abscheulich " ; and he de- scribes it more particularly ; thus : — "Was riihrend und feier- lich sein soUte, war kreischend, oder strotzend und pochend; Innigkeit und Leidenschaft druckte er durch Briillen, Schnau- ben und Stampfen aus ; kurz, sein Spiel war die vollkommenste Ungeberdigkeit, bald zuriickstossend, bald Lachen erregend." Goethe had long been the divinity of the " Carlsschulasso- ciation," who shared the general entjausiasm for ''Werther" and "Goetz." In 1779 Goethe , with his friend the Duke of Wei- mar, visited the Academy ; and the pupils looked on this magni- ficent young man with great admiration. Since 1777, Schiller had been secretly writing hi3"Eauber;" and when he had completed his studies and had been appointed Surgeon to a Regiment, he published it (1781) at his own cost; for he could not find a publisher for it. FIRST PERIOD (1781—1789). "At this time there was published at Mannheim, a strange, rugged, fierce melodrama, in which, — amidst uncouth masses of extravagant diction, —flashed a spirit true to all the turbu- lent and unsettled philosophy of the hour — and which seemed destined to announce and to animate the Revolution of a World: "The Robbers" appeared; and the sensation it excited spread through the mind of Germany like fire through flax ; - nor through Germany alone — it produced in France the liveliest enthusiasm: it even stirred to its depths the calm intellect of SCHILLER. 135 England. It was, in fact, the most earnest Revolutionary fic- tion that had yet revealed what lay hid in the History of the Age." "Die Eauber" is a work bearing strong evidence of its author's youthful, ungovernable thoughts. Its characters are wild and terrible in the extreme. "It* is one sweeping un- compromising defiance of the sober proprieties in which the mature see decorum, and the young, dissimulation. It is the baseness of the world that' makes Carl Moor a criminal. It is in proportion to his exaggerated nobleness that he is unfitted for Society. It is because he is a giant that he cannot live amongst the dwarfs. He commences life with many Virtues, and it is the mediocrity of life that turns every Virtue into Sin.'' Schiller himself subsequently said of the play "that be thanked God that such a monster as he had imagined, had no real existence in the world." It is also understood that Schil- ler was instigated by two motives, while composing the Robbers ; ^ first, by a pique against his military academy; secondly, by a boyish impulse to give the fullest licence to his imagination. The play is, in fact (despite all defects in construction), an en- during monument of Schiller's great talents as an author; no less than of his promising genius, and poetical enthusiasm. Mundt well denominates the language of the Robbers — "Eine kolossale Kraftprosa." On the 13th of January 1782, Schiller's "Rauber" was performed for the first time at the Mannheim theatre ; and , since the author could not obtain leave to be present at the representation, he set out privately, and unknown to the authorities. An arrest of twenty -four hours' duration was the punishment for this breach of discipline. The "Rau- ber '' now became widely known ; and was most eagerly read. But, as people thought they saw a great many personal allu- sions in the work, the Duke of Wiirtemberg interdicted Schil- ler from writing anything unconnected with his medical stu- dies. This fresh piece of tyranny he could not put up with ; and so, without any present means of subsistence, he, in the October of the same year, absconded from Stuttgart. "Die Rauber" created, on its first appearance, a similar sensation to that made by Goethe's drama of "Goetz von Ber- lichingen." As a succession of chivalrous romances date their, origin and suggestion from "Goetz,"' so, a long series of ban- * "Life of Schiller," by Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton. 136 SCHILLEK. ditti-stories — a new and distinct order of literature — in like manner sprang from "Die Eauber.", "Die Versciiworung des Fiesco" came out in the following year (1783); and was the first of those historical dramas for which Schiller is so famous. This tragedy, which he had plan- ned during the "arrest," and on which he set all his hopes of future fame, did not succeed, at first; and Schiller, in conse- quence , found himself in the greatest pecuniary distress : for Dalberg, the manager of the Manheim theatre, treated him very unhandsomely. Had not aid come to him from an unex- pected quarter, he must literally have starved. "In Fiesco," says Thomas Carlyle, "we have to admire not only the energetic animation which the author has infused into all his characters, but the distinctness with which he has discriminated, without aggravating them; and the vividness with which he has contrived to depict the scene where they act and move. The political and personal relations of the Genoese nobility ; the luxurious splendour , the intrigues , the feuds , and jarring interests, which occupy them, are made visible before us: we understand and may appreciate the complexities of the con- spiracy; we mingle, as among realities, in the pompous and imposing movements which lead to the catastrophe."* "The characters, on the whole, are imagined and portrayed with great impressiveness and vigour." ** " Kabale und Liebe ," a tragedy of domestic life, was also one of the productions of Schiller's youth ; and , like the last work, was planned during the arrest. In Mai 1784, "Kabale und Liebe" was produced upon the stage at Mannheim. In this tragedy we behold a display of art which shews that the author had begun to regard the rules of dramatic writing more attentively than formerly. It may be noticed here, that Schiller, since his flight from Stuttgart, had taken up his abode with Madame von Woltzogen, at Bauer- bach, (with whose sons he had been educated at the Academy), and that he had conceived a tender partiality for the daughter of this lady (Charlotte); and so, it may be assumed, had na- ture and reality for his model, while engaged in composing "Kabale und Liebe." He is further said to have embodied in this work certain circumstances that occurred in the university * Carlyle's "Life of Schiller." page 38. ** Id. page 39. SCHILLER. 137 of Stuttgart ; and so to have given vent to his dislike to the "Adelstand," with which dislike he was known to be very deeply imbued. Gervinus says : "In this tragedy Schiller adopts, for the most part, the style of Klinger and his school; while, in that of ' Die VerschwSrung des Fiesco ', he reminds us of Lessing's 'Emilia Galotti.' In the play of 'Die RSuber' we have Goethe and Leisewitz; and in 'Don Carlos,' Lessing's 'Nathan derWeise.'" In fact, Schiller has contrived to exhibit, within the limits of these two or three pieces, the various styles and mannerisms that were characteristic of the principal dra- matic writers. Schiller was soon recalled by Dalberg to Mannheim , to fill the post of " Theaterdichter ; " but he found the mean manager enter so little into his views, that he resolved to abandon the position, and iby the publication of his periodical " Thalia ") to throw himself entirely on the public for support. He was hot disappointed: the public hailed him with enthusiasm; friendly invitations to Leipzig, (to Huber , and to Dresden, (to Kiiruer), followed; and he was, everywhere, received with distinction. " The production of three such pieces ," says Thomas Oarlyle, "as the 'Robbers,' 'Fiesco' and 'Kabale und Liebe,' already announced to the world that another great and original mind had appeared, from whose maturity, when such was the pro- mise of youth, the highest expectations might be formed. These three plays stand related to each other in regard to their na- ture and form , as well as date : they exhibit the progressive state of Schiller's education : shew us the fiery enthusiasm of youth, exasperated into wildness, astonishing in its movements rather than sublime ; and the same enthusiasm gradually yield- ing to the sway of reason, gradually using itself to the con- traints prescribed by sound judgment and more extensive knowledge. Of the three , the 'Eobbers' is doubtless the most singular, and likely perhaps to be the most widely popular; but the latter two are of more real worth in the eye of taste, and will better bear a careful and rigorous study." * "Don Carlos," which belongs to the year 1784, shews more maturity of style , and belongs to quite another class. " The story of 'Don Carlos'** seems peculiarly adapted for drama- tists. The spectacle of a royal youth condemned to death by * "Life of Schiller," page 47. ** Carlyle's "Life of Schiller," page 78. 138 8CHILLEK. his father, of which happily our European annals furnish but another example, is among the most tragical that can be figured ; the character of that youth , the intermixture of bigotry and jealousy, and love, with the other strong passions, which brought on his fate, afford a combination of circumstances, affecting in themselves, and well calculated for the basis of deeply interest- ing fiction." The characters are profoundly conceived, and the situations are effective , while there is a colouring of poe- tical sentiment throughout. It is, perhaps, only in its terrible denouement that we recognize the Schiller of former works. Wilhelm von Humboldt remarks, — "that in no other theatrical piece with which he is acquainted , is the fine operation and subtle action of the feelings so beautifully and tenderly dis- closed, as in 'Don Carlos.'" "This * was the first drama, com- menced in the retirement of Bauerbach, which he had at- tempted in verse; and herein he first ascended, though with an uncertain step, towards the higher and purer realm of Ideal Fiction, in which his genius finally fixed its home. A marked change, indeed, was now visible in his modes of thought. He took loftier conceptions of the aims and duties of the Poet." "Der Menschenfeind," a fragment, was written in 1786. To this date also belong several small philosophical treatises, and, among others, the story entitled, "Der Verbreeher aus verlo- rener Ehre." The character of this event in real life was con- genial to Schiller's youthful ideas; and, it must be confessed, he has told it with great beauty and power. In a psycholo- gical point of view, this tale is deserving of the commendation it has met with. Schiller's preparation for "Don Carlos" had been the means of directing him to the study of history, and other fruits of this study were: "Die Geschichte des Abfalls der vereinigten Niederlande" (1788); a work to be admired less for its his- torical, than its poetical power. His thoughts were too much taken up with the exalted characters of his individuals, to per- mit his narrating gravely a sequence of dry historical events. "Der Geisterseher " (pubhshed in 1789), which exists only as a fragment, was an effort that betrayed great genius; and had its composition been continued, it might have formed, as a whole work, a valuable specimen of the psychological novel. Thp fame of the celebrated CagUostro, who was at tljis time * Life, by Sir Bulwer Lytton. SCI-IILLEK. 139 practising his deceptions at Paris, appears to have furnished Schiller with the leading idea of this work. Among the best poems of Schiller, which belong to this section of -his literary life, we may name the following pieces: •"Die Kindesmorderin , " "Die Schlacht," "Resignation," and -"Die Kfinstler." SECOND PERIOD (1789-1805). With the settlement of Schiller in the city of Jena, and his consequent intimacy with Goethe, commences the grandest epoch in the literature of Germany. In Jena, Schiller enjoyed the good fortune of being nominated, (through Goethe's in- fluence), to the professorship of history, and of living upon terms of the strictest friendship with Goethe, Wieland, Herder, and other great men. His domestic happiness, too, seemed to be based on a durable foundation by his marriage with Frau- lein Charlotte von Lengefeld, which happened in February 1790. By these means Schiller's outward circumstances were rendered secure ; and he was enabled to live peaceably and quietly. His talents as a poet were universally acknowledged ; and his mind had been gradually enlightened and improved by experience. His poetry at this time was lucid and plain, whilst it had lost nothing of its original enthusiasm. In 1794 Schiller established the celebrated Journal " Die Horen ;" in which those powerful leading articles and epigrams were published, which we mentioned under "Goethe." "Wallenstein." — This dramatic poem — another result of Schiller's historical studies — appeared in 1799, and is written in fluent iambics. It may be divided into three portions. First,— "Wallenstein's Lager." — The prologue to the piece is ex- cellent, and the entire "Camp" is without a parallel. "All in the 'Lager,'" says Tieck, "is alive and stirring: — it is no- where exaggerated, nowhere defective ; whilst it is full of such genuine military spirit, and is so graphic in its descriptions, that we could almost persuade ourselves we were witnessing the scenes themselves." The sermon of the Capuchin friar, be- ginning, — "Heisa, Juchheisa! Dudeldumdei ! Das geht ja hoch her. Bin auch dabei!" 140 SCHILLER. is founded upon a similar one of Abraham a Santa Clara, and is particularly characteristic. The scenes are full of life , and hustling incident. The song — "Wohl auf, Kameraden, aufs Pferd, aufs Pferd! In's Feld, in die Freiheit gezogen ! " etc. etc. is to this day a national favourite with soldiers and camp- followers. "Die Piccolomini ," with all their magnanimous exploits, is the second part of the drama. The opening scenes in the council-house at Pilsen , as well as those in a chamber of the Duke of Friedland's palace, are masterly efforts in their way. " Wallenstein's Tod," forms the concluding part of the drama --"The colloquy between Wallenstein and Wrangel," observes Tieck, "ranks, in my judgment, as something so exalted and peculiar, that I could willingly pronounce it as the crown of the whole piece. Every word, and every allusion, falls grandly and powerfully on the soul The last scene, in which the hero appears, is truly absorbing. Wallenstein's gloomy forebodings, the unsettled state, and ultimate ruin of hi» mind, — are points treated in a most masterly style." "If on the boards," says Sir Bulwer Lytton, "the interest of these several parts of the great whole was not so intens& as Schiller's earlier dramas, he was fortunate in the cordial support of the few who ultimately decide the judgment of the many : the perusal of the work, subsequently published entire, served to deepen and to widen general admiration: the more "Wallenstein" was examined and discussed, the more its pro- found beauties grew upon the world. Long after its publica- tion, Goethe compared it to a wine, which wins the taste in proportion to its age." "This work," says Tieck, "at once rich and profound, is a monument for all times, of which Germany may be proud : and a national feeling — a native sentiment — is reflected from this time mirror, which gives a stronger and a clearer sense both what we are, and of what we were." Indeed " Wallenstein" must be regarded as an historical monument of bygone manners and customs. Schiller took up the annals of his native land: he gathered together into one literary whole the action and thought characteristic of Germany in the time of the Thirty Years' War, and depicted his various scenes with such extreme vigour and truth, that the reader SCHILLER. 1 4 1 feels, whenever he opens either part of this dramatic poem, tlie greatest possible satisfaction and delight. How full and significant in all respects is "Wallenstein's Lager!" And yet how heterogenous are the incidents! Sol- diers of all regiments, with suttlers and peasants, minghng their ranks : then again the capuchin's enthusiastic sermon, ■with his redoubt — what can be more lively and dramatic! ^' Wallenstein , " as Schiller himself observes, "was not great; and the poetic sketch of the character was never intended to be so. Schiller has, however, by his masterly touches, rendered the pride and ambition of that singular personage very natu- rally. The character of Octavio Piccolomini is that of a sen- sible, circumspect person. Princess Thekla is capitally drawn. Her pure and gentle spirit , and her native strength of mind, are represented with remarkable power. After the publication of "Wallenstein," Schiller became the national poet of Germany. " Maria Stuart." (1800.) This tragedy is contrived with un- usual skill, and is worked out with great closeness not only to probability but to historical fact. Tieck styles the heroine, ■"Maria Stuart," as the most successful female character that Schiller ever drew. The whole must be esteemed a highly poetical and nobly executed specimen of tragic dramatic ge- nius ; masterly in both structure and design, and impressive in its theatrical character; which is enhanced still further by the sterling force of its language. Some of the last scenes are truly noble. Goethe, echoing the opinion of Tieck, reckoned "Maria Stuart" as decidedly the best of all Schiller's historical plays. "Die Jungfrau von Orleans." (1801.) The new theatre built by Schinkel in Berlin , erected by Frederic William III , pro- duced this tragedy on its opening night, in January 1801. Schiller has elaborated this piece with the greatest nicety and care; and it may be said with truth to have been a "labour of love" to him; so great were his zeal and delight in the work. The dehneation of the "inspired" and courageous pea- sant ofDomremy may fairly rank among the most beautiful of Schiller's conceptions. It abounds with single passages, which may be tested by thehighest standard of excellence. The scene in which the Maid of Orleans makes known to king Charles VII ^ her "mission from above," has been highly extolled; as also that in which she incites the Duke of Burgundy to return to France, and resume friendly relations with the king. 142 SCHILLEK. No one of Schiller's later dramatic works equals the "Jung'- frau von Orleans" in genius and poetical brilliancy. In what a strain of child-like innocence, for example, does Jean d'Are disclose her apostleship to the startled yet attentive monarch! And those two sohloquies of the "Holy Maid," the one (act I. scene 4) beginning: "Lebt wohl, ihr Berge, ihr geliebten Triften, Ihr traulioh stillen Thaler, lebet wohl! Johanna wird nun nicht mehr auf euch wandeln ! Johanna sagt euch ewig Lebewohl," etc. etc. and the other (act IV. scene 1): "Die Waffen ruhn, des Krieges Stiirme schweigen, Auf blut'ge Schlachten folgt ftesaug und Tanz, Durch alle Strassen tSnt der muutre Reigen, Altar und Klrche prangt in Festes-Glanz," etc. are poetical chef-d'muvres of no ordinary kind. Carlyle says,, of this piece, "After all objections have been urged, the Maid of Orleans will remain one of the very finest of modern dra- mas. Perhaps, among all Schiller's plays, it is the one which evinces most of that quality denominated genius , in the strictest meaning of the word. Wallenstein embodies more thought, more knowledge, more conception; but it is only in parts illuminated by that ethereal brightness which shines over every part of this. The spirit of the romantic ages is here imaged forth; but the whole is exalted, embellished, ennobled. It is what the critics call idealized. The heart must be cold, the imagination dull, which the 'Jungfrau von Orleans' will not move." * "Die Braut von Messina'' came out in 1803. It is antique in form , but romantic in the cast of its poetry. Wilhelm von Humboldt has pronounced the introduction to be excellent ;^ although he could not approve of the idea of introducing choruses. The beautiful parts in this drama — unequalled as a lyrical tragedy, — are manifold; and, amongst them, the soli- loquy of Beatrice in the garden is worthy of especial exami- nation. The scene wherein Don Caesar ends his life, and his last speeches to the lady Beatrice, are great and remarkable specimens of literary power. "Wilhelm Tell." (1804.)— A. W. von Schlegel makes, the- Carlyle's "Life of Schiller," p. 209. SCHILLEK. 143 following observation upon this play: "Wilhelm Tell is, in my judgment, the most excellent of all the dramatie works of Schiller." In the present instance, Schiller has quite come back to his early vein, — that of poetizing history. "Schiller," says Sir B. Lytton, "nearing the close of his career, returned to the inspirations with which it had commenced. His first rude drama had burned with the wild and half-delirious fever of Liberty , — liberty , purified and made rational , gave theme and substance to his last. The euthanasia of the genius which had composed the Bobbers , was the ' Wilhelm Tell' " Tell himself is drawn with great natural dignity ; and his wife Hed- wig, and his son Walther are also portrayed admirably. The entire of the first act of this drama, parts of the third act. and the scene where Tell shoots the apple, are the most brilliant passages in this work. Besides the foregoing dramatic works of Schiller, he also composed several others; but they are either fragmentary or unfinished. Several translations also appeared from his pen. Of the former, we may mention "Demetrius;" and of the latter, "Iphigenie," "Macbeth," "Turandot," two French comedies, "Der Neffe als Onkel," and "Der Parasit ; " — but most of these are, for Schiller, of indifferent merit. This second section of Schiller's literary history is eminently rich in lyrical compositions, and likewise in poetry of a general character; the fact being, that Goethe and Schiller were at this time rival candidates for public applause as ballad- writers, and produced, under the prompting of this friendly emulation, poems, which will last as long as the German lan- guage itself Of these the best are : " Das Siegesfest , " " Das eleusische Fest," "Kassandra," "Der Kampf mit dem Drachen," "Der Handschuh," "Das Madchen aus der Fremde," "DieMacht des Gesanges," "Wiirde der Frauen," "Pegasus im Joche," etc. In the department of ballad poetry Schiller has written works, which have given him high and permanent rank among the classical poets of Germany : for example ; — "Der Ring des Polycrates ," "Die Kraniche des Ibycus ," "Hero und Leander," "Der Gang nach dem Eisenhammer," "Der Graf von Habsburg," "Die Burgschaft," and "Der Taucher," (which Sir Bulwer Lyt- ton calls "the sublimest ballad in the world.) And "Der Spa- ziergang" may be adduced as an evidence how deeply enamoured Schiller was of the charms of nature. But , of all the poems of Schiller, none is so well known to the British public as that 144 SCHILLER. entitled, "Das Lied von der Glocke," (Tlie Song of the Bell), which has been frequently translated into English. What a deep insight does the poet give us, in this composition, into the "ills," as well as the "boons," that flesh is heir to ; and how grand is the simplicity with which he mirrors them forth in his wonderful verses, — so teeming with thought — so Protean in metre "Das Lied von der Glocke" contains many passages of the most finished loveliness. There is, indeed, matter for deep contemplation in this poem — the commentary of a man no less wise than benevolent, on humanity — its feelings, passions, and desires. If Schiller had written nothing else, it would have rendered his name immortal. In 1789, our author was very comfortably settled in the city of Jena; although his fortunate and easy state was not of long duration; being interrupted, in the year 1791, by a se- vere attack of asthma. When he had partially succeeded in removing this troublesome complaint, we find him busily engaged in preparing for the press his "Gesohichte des 30jah- rigen Krieges." Two years after this, he made a tour into Suabia, and took up his abode, by turns, at Ludwigsburg and at Heilbronn. He had, for some time, been gradually inclining more and more to philosophical studies: indeed the "Kritik der reinen Vernunft" of Kant seems, at this period, to have engaged his closest attention ; and the first fruit of this new study was a treatise entitled, "Briefe iiber die iisthetische Erziehung des Menschen, " the, first edition of which bears date 1795. In this work, Schiller will be found to have wrought out "das objec- tive Princip der Kunst ; " — an achievement of which Kant him- self had despaired, — as never likely to be accomplished. In Schiller's treatise, "Ueber na'ive und sentimentale Dichtung" (1795) he develops the pure, abstract idea of art. In this series of papers, the foundation was laid for an entirely new theoiy of aesthetics, as well asof poetical science; which scheme, being readily adopted and diffused by the romantic school of writer?, overturned all existing hypotheses, and became the means of an entire revolution in the fabric of artistic criticism. German literature has scarcely anything more perfect, in its particular way, than the "Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und Schiller," the correspondence between Wilhelm von Humboldt and Schiller, and the interesting letters to Korner; though the most memorable collection, and that which shows Schiller in SCHILLER. 145 Ills highest moral excellence is that entitled "Schiller und Lotte"