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Pe Jf*^ ^C^iZl^ ^ MADAME DE STAEL AND THE SPREAD OF GERMAN LITERATURE BY EMMA GERTRUDE JAECK THESIS Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in German in the Graduate School of the University of Illinois NEW YORK OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS AMERICAN BRANCH: 35 West 32nd Strebt LONDON, TORONTO, MELBOURNE, AND BOMBAY HUMPHREY MILFORD 1915 ALL BIGHTS EESERYEV Copyright, igis BY Oxford University Press AMERICAN BRANCH PREFACE Ever since the French Revolution the name of Anne Germaine Necker, Baronne de Stael-Holstein (1766-1817), has been known to students of history and literature. From time to time sketches of her life and writings have ap- peared in magazines, memoirs, and books, but no really adequate and extended treatment of the genius of this great Frenchwoman was offered to the public until Dr. Abel Stevens, an American scholar, published his Madame de Sta'el; a Study of her Life and Times, the First Revolution and the First Empire, 2 vols., New York, 1881. His ap- preciative narrative was followed soon after by Lady Blen- nerhassett's extensive and critical work in three volumes, Frau von Sta'el, ihre Freunde und ihre Bedeutung in Politik und Liter atur, Berlin, 1887-89. This monumental work, so suggestive in its material, was soon translated into French and English, and widely read and reviewed. It opened up a new field of discussion to scholars. A Madame de Stael revival was inaugurated. Since 1890 have appeared various critical works dealing with one phase or another of her life and writings. All testify to the genius of this extraor- dinary woman and especially to the influence of her De I'Allemagne. The year 1913 marked the one-hundredth anniversary of the appearance of this book. But though a century has passed, the work has a peculiar significance to-day, exhibiting, as it does, the dominant traits of German genius and culture. The Germany of the present is the product of the spirit of her great poets and thinkers,, and VI Preface the prophecy of Madame de Stael, that the independence of the German mind, which she saw represented by Prussia, " the country of thought," would lay the foundation of the political independence of the German nation, has been fulfilled. In the preface to her Germany from 1^60 to 1814, a series of sketches on German life and history, Mrs. Austin excuses a multiplicity of quotations on the pretext that she has secured herself behind their welcome defense. " It is," she adds, " very probable that by putting all these bits of ore into the crucible, and casting them into one symmetrical mold, I might have made a more readable book, and one which I might with justice call my own. But I have an unconquerable prejudice in favor of the genuine and au- thentic. I have no ambition to call original what must in fact be borrowed." I must plead the same excuse in justi- fication of numerous quotations, the more necessary as many of the books used in the preparation of this work are out of print and inaccessible to the ordinary reader. The following treatise was undertaken at the suggestion of Professor Julius Goebel, Head of the Department of Germanic Languages of the State University of Illinois. To him the writer is greatly indebted for generous help and advice, as also to Professors O. E. Lessing and T. E. Oliver, to Drs. Josef Wiehr, Margaret Bailey, and Alexander Green, and to Marie Goebel-Kimball, for their encouraging interest and stimulating criticism. She also desires to express her gratitude to the custodians of the Library of the University of Illinois, of the Chicago Public Library, and especially, of the Library of Congress for their courtesy in assisting her to find the requisite material for this work. E. G. J. CONTENTS PART ONE MADAME DE STAEL'S "DE L'ALLEMAGNE" CHAPTER PAGE Preface v I. Introduction 3 Knowledge of German Literature in France, England, and America at the close of the Eighteenth Century. II. Mme. DE Stael's Interest in German Litera- ture 26 a. Her knowledge of German before 1803. b. Early works and Germany. c. Visits to Germany: 1803-04, 1807-08. III. " De l'Allemagne " IN the Making . . 60 IV. Classicism and Romanticism in " De l'Alle- magne " .... ■ ■ ■ 77 V. Essentials of German Culture in " De l'Allemagne " 91 PART TWO EFFECT OF THE MESSAGE OF "DE L'ALLEMAGNE" UPON THE WORLD I. Germany and France 115 II. German Literature in the English-Speak- ing Lands 141 a. England. b. America. III. Conclusion 343 Index 347 PART I MADAME DE STAEL'S DE L'ALLEMAGNE CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Knowledge of German Literature in France, Eng- land, AND America at the Close of the Eighteenth Century " The sciences have always owed their origin to some great spirit. Smith created political economy ; Linnaeus, bot- any; Lavoisier, chemistry; and Mme. de Stael has, in like manner, created the art of analyzing the spirit of nations and the springs which move them." ^ This task she accom- phshed by her De I'Allemagne (1810-13), through which German literature became an active force in the world. Before discussing the merits of this work, it may be wise to consider first of all the true status of German literature when this book made its appearance. In the earlier part of the eighteenth century, Germany was a country without a national literature. Renowned for its discoveries and inventions, admired for its power of abstract speculation and of concentrated, detailed knowl- edge, hailed as a force in unfettered theological discussion, it was nevertheless regarded, in Pere Bouhours' words, as deficient in " esprit." This criticism was to a certain ex- tent fitting, as long as pedants of the type of Gottsched ruled supreme and literature was lacking in " the true and higher standard of life." This exalted criterion came, according to Goethe,^ with Frederick the Great and his heroic deeds during the Seven Years' ' War. But though this monarch ' Blackw., IV, p. 278, Dec, 1818. ' Dichtung und Wahrheit, bk. vii. 3 4 Madame de Stael's "De l'Allemagne" raised Germany's dominant principality, Prussia, to po- litical power in Europe, he yet remained a Frenchman in his tastes.^ The conventional language of his court was still French; his own literary work was written in that tongue, and through his association with Voltaire and other Frenchmen of letters he tried to transform the native Ger- manic stock into a French cultural power. What was true of the Prussian court was true also of the courts of the lesser states, with the result that the vernacular language was restricted to the intercourse of common everyday life, while in polite literature ^ the French language reigned without a rival. Gradually, however, a revolution in taste and ideas took place in Germany. The nation's inherent love for the mother tongue began to assert itself; a new conception of man and his destiny arose; individual development opposed universal mediocrity; imagination and sensibility chafed at the restraints of convention, of reason and " bon goiit," and maintained their right to traverse the realms of infinity ; a Lessing, Klopstock, Herder, Goethe, and Schiller brushed aside the prevalent imitation of the French and asserted the grand inherent qualities of German nation- ality. Then was bom a national literature, rich, bold, and original; a literature so different in style and thought from the polite literature of France and England as to shock the advocates of reason and good taste. They could not understand its singular enthusiasm, its fearless specu- lations, and its exaggeration, hence they could not appre- ciate it. Consequently this new national literature, instead of cementing a bond of mutual helpfulness between Ger- many and the other European countries, but served to widen ' De l'Allemagne, I, pt. i, chap, xvi : La Prusse. ' Cf. De l'Allemagne, I, chap. ix. Introduction 5 the chasm of prejudice until it became a gulf of contempt for Germany and all things German. Various attempts are on record to alter this misconcep- tion of Germany. Thus among the first, Friedrich Melchior Grimm (Baron de Grimm), a German who had settled in Paris, wrote two letters in the Mercure de France (Oct. 1750 and Feb. 1751), giving an outline of German literary history in five periods of development, the first of its kind in France.^ This was followed by similar ventures on the part of the Germans. An international magazine was soon founded, the Journal Stranger, having as its object the dissemination of international culture. The first native Frenchman to note the wealth of German literature was Boulenger de Rivery, who published in 1754 his Fables et Contes, in avowed imitation of Gellert.^ Rivery's work attracted serious attention to German literature and trans- lations of German works followed, with reviews and dis- cussions.^ Gessner, Wieland, Lessing, and several minor writers thus became known in translation. By 1768 this new Germanic spirit was felt so strongly that Dorat ex- claimed in dismay : " O Germania, our day of fortune has passed away, thine is now dawning. Thou enclosest in thy bosom all that which exalts one nation above other ' Supfle : Zeitsch. fur vergl. Lit.-Gesch., new ser., I, pp. 223-24, 1887-88. In reference to the hopes in the new poetic life as represented by Gellert, Hagedorn, and Haller, Grimm adds : " Thus about thirty years ago Germany became an aviary of songsters, that are only waiting for an opportune season to sing. Perhaps this glorious time for the muses of my country is not far distant." ' He declared : " It is time for us to study not only the science, but the literature of the Germans, and to abandon the prejudice that they lack grace of expression." — Ihid., p. 230. ' Siipfle : Gesch. des deut. KultureinAusses auf Frankreich, 2 vols. Gotha, 1880-90. 6 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " natidfts, and our disdainful frivolity is forced to render homage to the great men whom thou produces* ! " ^ The wave of German influence, however, reached its height with the appearance of Goethe's Werther, translated 1776, a work which came into universal favor in France.^ Napoleon carried it with him in his Egyptian campaign, and later declared that he had read it seven times. ^ Then followed the turbulent times of the French Revo- Itttioa. Its early excesses forced many of the wealthy and Hterary classes to seek safety in exile. These " Emi- grants " became an effective power in spreading the knowledge of other lands among their own countrymen. Ihey studied foreign languages and literatures, wrote articles about them, made translations of standard works, and founded international magazines for the discussion of cultural questions.* Despite this apparent interest in Germany and its litera- ture, however, a real understanding of its worth was pre- vented by the great temperamental difference between the Gallic and Teutonic races.^ This fact Mme. de Stael ~ ' Idee de la Poesie allemande, p. 133. Cf. Texte : Jean Jacques Rousseau et les Origines de cosmop. Litt. Cf. Supfle, I, p. 219. ' Goethe Jahrbuch, VIII, pp. 207-08, 1887. Supfle says : " It became the favorite book of the French ; it found a second home with them. The readers shed tears over it, they raved, wrote, philosophized, they even preached on it. For fully fifty years it was imitated in every variety of tune ; for almost a hundred years it was the popular subject of numerous translations." ' J. W. Appell : Werther und seine Zeit, Oldenburg, i8g6, p. 48. Cf. F. Baldensperger : Goethe en France, Paris, 1904. Cf. Virgile Rossel : Histoire des relations litteraires entre la France et l'Allemagne, Paris, 1897. * Cf. G. Brandes : Hauptstromungen, I : Die Emigrantenliteratur. ' Cf. Humboldt's letter to Goethe from Paris, 1800. Cf. Lady Blennerhassett, II, p. 457. Cf. De l'Allemagne, I, pt. i : Observations generales, and pt. ii, chap. i. Cf. a similar statement by Charles de Villers : " Upon the small Introduction 7 most clearly recognized in the introduction to her De la Litterature; anticipating Taine's theory of race, milieu, and moment, she declared that the political and religious institutions of the various lands exerted a decisive influ- ence in the production of the continual diversities observ- able in their literatures. This lack of appreciation for German literature was accompanied, moreover, by a cor- responding dearth of good contemporary French Utera- ture.^ In addition to the general literary decline, France was surrounded by a triple wall of vanity, self-interest, and national prejudice. The glory of her arms abroad had beguiled the nation into a conceited sense of supe- riority that was destructive to real progress. Such was the outlook there when Mme. de Stael's book appeared in 1813. Of its influence A. R. Staaff writes : " In revealing literary and philosophical Germany to France, Mme. de Stael accomplished one of those great international mis- sions which leave ineffaceable prints upon the history of civilization." ^ surface of our Iktle Europe, nature, in one of her caprices, has taken pleasure in bringing together by the boundaries of their terri- tory two nations, which she has placed by their genius and char- acter at the two extremities of the intellectual line which it is given to man to traverse. These are the French and the Germans. Though some shades of resemblance are common to both in the present modification of the European character, they offer in their general ideas and the views which they take of life such contra^c- tions and such total opposition, that it appears as if all means ojf understanding one another were impracticable, and aU efforts to do so superfluous." Cf. A'^. Amer. R., I, p. 13, July, 1833. * Cf. De la Litterature, pt. ii, chap, v, p. 313. Cf. De I'Allemagne, II, pt. i, p. 7. Cf. preface to Delphine, CEuvres completes, I, p. 336. Cf. P. Albert: La Litterature frangaise au XIX^ Sihle, 7th ed., I, p. 226. ' La Litterature frangaise, Paris, 1875, Sth ed., II, p. 165. 8 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " What has been said in regard to the French lack of comprehension for German literature is true in great measure of the English, for, even though England dis- claimed any inferiority,^ France at this time set the fashion for the whole of Europe in literary taste and criticism, as well as in dress and furniture. As early as 1801 the British poet, William Sotheby, sounded a note of warn- ing to his countrymen against the baneful effects of French culture.^ One good feature of this otherwise objectionable influence was, however, the introduction of French trans- lations and imitations of German works. In speaking of the spread of German culture into Great Britain, Professor Alois Brandl writes : " Up to the appearance of the Sor- rows of Werther, German had only been learned for com- mercial purposes, as some people learn Persian now- adays." ^ It was with the French version of this early ' The American Review (Walsh), Jan., 181 1, I, p. 145. = Cf. Brit. Critic, XVIII, pp. 78-81, 1801. Poem by Wm. Sotheby, entitled Epistle to Sir George Beaumont on the Encouragement of the British School of Painting. Cf. De I'Allefnagne, I, pt. i, chap, ix, p. 83. Cf. Prince Piickler-Muskau : Tour in Germany, Holland, and England in the Years 1826, i827j and 1828, in a Series of Letters by a German Prince. 4 vols. London, 1832. Cf. N. Amer. R., XXXVI, pp. 3-5. Jan., 1833. ' Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the English Romantic School, London, 1887, pp. 122-23. Cf. Edinb. R., XXIi; p. 168 (Sir Jas. Mackintosh) : " Thirty years ago there were probably in London as many Persian as German scholars." (1813.) Cf. Macaulay : Essay on Addison, July, 1843 ; Works, VII, p. 65 : " Very few, we suspect, of the accomplished men who, sixty or seventy years ago, used to dine in Leicester Square with Sir Joshua, or at Streatham with Mrs. Thrale, had the slightest notion that Wieland was one of the first wits and poets, and Lessing, beyond all' dispute, the first critic in Europe." Cf. Ger. Amer. Annals, new ser.. Ill, Nos. 3-4. Cf. Goethe: Epigramme aus Venedig, No. 35. Introduction 9 masterpiece of Goethe that interest began to be aroused in England in the permanent values of German literature.^ Werther itself did not find a welcome reception. In reviewing an imitative poem entitled Werther to Charlotte, the Monthly Review, of London, June 1785 makes the following comment: "The subject of this poem is taken from the Sorrows of Werther, a sentimental novel,^ which though not ill written, would probably have been little read, had it inculcated any valuable moral. To its per- nicious tendency it is, perhaps, indebted for a greater por- tion of its celebrity." ^ Through the efforts of Sir Walter Scott, Matthew G. Lewis, Samuel T. Coleridge, Wordsworth, Southey, William Taylor of Norwich, and others, however, public opinion in England gradually turned more favorable, and Scott could allude to Goethe in the preface to his transla- tion of Gbtz, 1799, as "the elegant author of the Sorrows of Werther." * Similarly in 1801 the British Critic, despite a disagreement as to basic principles, declared, "We are, nevertheless, not reluctant to acknowledge his [Goethe's] claims to great abilities, and in the present instance confess that he has produced a simple and interesting story, which ^ It is curious that up to 1785 the authorship of Werther was ascribed to Wieland, probably because, in Mme. de Stael's words, he was the only German author who wrote in the French manner and whose works still showed genius. (De V Allemagne , I, pt. ii, chap, iv, p. 158. Cf. H. C. Robinson's Diary, Reminiscences, and Correspondence, London, 1869, I, p. 182.) Furthermore, Wieland had been influenced by Sterne, another factor that made him acceptable to English taste. Der gepriifte Abraham was translated in 1764; Nachlass des Diogenes von Sinope, 1771 ; Agathon and Don Sylvio von Rosalva, 1773. ^ Note to the article : " Said to have been written by Wieland, a German writer of excellent abihties." ' LXXII, p. 468. * Appell, p. ID. 10 Madame de Stael's "De l'Allemagne" many will read with delight; particularly those who pre- fer the unvarnished incidents of humble and domestic life to the more elevated and gaudy scenes, where the imagina- tion is constantly on the rack to produce characters and circumstances far above the reach of human manners, and existing only in the rapturous visions of poetic fancy." ^ The first knowledge of Goethe's dramas came in like manner through the medium of French redactions. In 1782-85 appeared the Nouveau Theatre allemand (12 vols.), a compilation of the best German plays, translated into French by Friedel and De Bonneville.^ This was read by the Scotchman, Henry Mackenzie, the author of the Man of Feeling and the Man of the World. Inspired even by this imperfect translation, he gave an enthusiastic paper, entitled An Account of the German Theatre, be- fore the Royal Society of Edinburgh, April 21, 1788. This memoir the critic of the Monthly Review declared to be worthy of being " read with satisfaction by the lovers of light literature." ^ Mackenzie's review was widely read and discussed; attention for German literature, heretofore sporadic and individual, became general.* An enthusiasm for German literature followed, which was fostered by the existing political conditions in France. In proportion as the Revolution hindered English intercourse with France, it helped communication with Germany. " The French Revolution," says a writer, " having hermetically ' VIII, p. S9I. ' Siipfle, II, p. II. ' 1st ser., LXXXV; 2nd ser., IV, pp. 415-16, Apr., 1791. Cf. Brand] : Goethe Jahrhuch, III, p. 39, 1882. * Cf. Isaac Disraeli : Curiosities of Literature, 1791 ; Amer. re- print of the 14th London ed., New York, 1871, II, pp. 73-76: Literary Dutch. This article confuses the terms Dutch and German and insinuates that this literature contains " no works above mediocrity." Introduction ii sealed the three Gauls against the English, the travels and literary researches of our countrymen were in a manner forced into Germany and made us better acquainted with her literature." ^ Opposition to this influence began to assert itself almost immediately. Of the various reasons for it none is more interesting than the argument implied that German litera- ture might endanger the literary autonomy of Old Eng- land.^ In 1809 the Quarterly Review, a magazine always rather antagonistic to German literature, in a review of Curran's speeches, makes this characteristic comment: " The whole of his speeches are framed on the model of the German school, where nature is pushed beyond her- self. His sentences, though often very striking, are sel- dom natural. They have also a propensity to find their termination in a clinch, a point or antithesis ; in something calculated to excite that species of wonder which has no manner of alliance with pleasure." ^ And the very next year the author of a biographical sketch of Thomas Camp- bell declares : " The English are in literature what the Israelites of yore were in religion, a wayward, erring race, ever ready to stray from the paths of truth and follow after strange idols and monstrous doctrines ... no nation is more prone to turn from this wholesome aliment of the mind, this manna sent down from heaven, and languish after foreign and pernicious crudities." * But in fact this lack of mutual understanding between the German and the Englishman, was due largely to the ' Monthly Review, 3rd ser., VI, p. 262 ; old ser., CXCV ; Oct., ,1827 : History of German Literature. ' Grenzboten, I, p. 189, 1869. " I, p. 93, Feb. ' Poetical Works of Thos. Campbell, Baltimore, 1810, p. xix ff. Cf. Zeiger : Studien 2ur vergl. Lit.-Gesch., I, pp. 242-43. 12 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " essential differences in their character and education. Henry Crabb Robinson writes in 1836 to the German phi- losopher, Friedrich Benecke : " The result of your various remarks on our English theologians is the renewal of a very old impression of the inherent and essential diversity of our English and your German modes of contemplating the great matters of religious philosophy. ... I do not at all wonder that you do not relish any of our writers, even of the highest reputation. It is ascribable to the same cause that renders the great masters of German thought unenjoyable by English readers." And he continues later, " To return to the great difference between our English and your German habits of thought. I am most deeply , impressed with the conviction, that your profound thinkers are beyond the comprehension of us, because the thinking faculty is left with us in a half uncultivated state. What- ever lies deeper than ordinary logic is out of our reach. Where we even concur in the result, the intellectual process is very different. And I never meet with a German book of the highest order in which I do not find a something at which I stand at a loss — a thought I cannot be sure I thoroughly comprehend. It was so in the study of your preface, in which there was at the same time so much that I heartily relished because I fancied I understood it." ^ And if Robinson with his knowledge of the German life, language, and literature had difficulty in interpreting the German meaning, surely one can be lenient toward minds of inferior caliber, if they totally misunderstood the ideas which a German author intended to convey to his readers.^ It is interesting to note that this gap between German and English was not so great as between the French and * Diary, III, p. 91. ' Cf . Emerson : English Traits, chap, xiv : Literature. Introduction 13 the Germans. This was naturally due to the larger Teu- tonic element in the English character. Says the London Quarterly Review of 1814: "More active and more ener- getic than the one, more studious and contemplative than the other, England may be said to form an intermediate link in the chain of which France and Germany are ex- tremities." ^ If this newly awakened interest in German literature had been fostered by translations of the best productions, it would undoubtedly have suffered no interruption in its constant growth; unfortunately, however, it was the senti- mental dramas of Kotzebue and Iffland that found special and sensational favor on the English stage. Even as late as 1821 the Monthly Review declared: "It will probably be admitted that Kotzebue is the greatest dramatist of the Germans and one of the ornaments of Europe." ^ A reaction against this very mediocre playwright un- fortunately included the whole of German literature. The bitter feeling of the dissatisfaction found expression in the Anti-Jacobin or Weekly Examiner, a magazine founded November 1797, to combat liberalism in politics and literature and to oppose the " pernicious individual- ism " of the German Romantic School as compared with classic French and English ideals. In 1802 an Irish poet, William Preston, in a paper read before the Royal Irish Academy declaimed loudly against the style of Kotzebue, Goethe, and Schiller, and curiously blamed Goethe as the source of all evil. " The peculiarities," he said, " which Goethe united with his great name and poetic rank, have ^ X, p. 355, Jan. Cf. Mme. de Stael's words to Robinson : Diary, I, P- 175- Cf. Carl FoUen's Works, V, p. 150, Boston, 1841-42. = XCV, p. 460. Cf. Follen, V, pp. 130-31. 14 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " done great injury to the German taste. Goethe can be especially called the dramatic father of Schiller and the great patriarch of the school of terror and ferocity. One can say that the cannibalism of the theater, the rule of terror and blood, was established in the drama by his Goss (sic!) with the iron hand." ^ Then came the Napoleonic era with its concomitant ces- sation of easy communication between the island and the Continent, — and brought with it an almost complete de- struction of all interest in German literature. In Car- lyle's vigorous language, " after a period of not too ju- dicious cordiality, the acquaintance on our part was wholly dropped." ^ This, then, was the status'^of German litera- ture in England when Mme. de Stael succeeded (1813) in having printed her famous book, De l'Allemagne, " from whose pages," says the English essayist Greg, " we first imbibed a longing to make the riches of that mighty literature our own." " The condition of German literature in the United States of America, a country naturally subject to both French and English influence by reason of its geographical and political relations, bears striking resemblance to the early condition in France and England; German literature was unknown. Before the American Revolution, educa- tion and literature were English in spirit and tradition, for the colonies naturally followed the leadership of the mother-country. Inasmuch as French influence was pre- dominant in England and a knowledge of the French language was regarded essential to a " finished " education, those Americans who went abroad or followed the English ' Brand! : Goethe Jahrbuch, III, p. S9- ' Preface to the translation of Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, 1824. ' N. Brit. R., XX, p. I, Nov., 1853. Introduction > 15 fashion, learned French also. In an address before the Modern Language Association (1890)^ James Russell Lowell said : " For nearly two hundred years no modem language was continuously and systematically taught here. In the latter part of the last century a stray Frenchman was caught now and then and kept as long as he could en- dure the baiting of his pupils. After failing as a teacher of his mother-tongue, he commonly turned dancing-mas- ter, a calling which public opinion seems to have put on the same intellectual level with the other." ^ During the war the assistance of France brought us into nearer relations with that country, and the presence of many distinguished foreigners as Lafayette, Quesnay, Chastellux, Talleyrand, Montmorency, Vanderbourg, and Rochefoucauld strengthened the bond of interest and friendship. Likewise, our American diplomats abroad, Jefferson, Franklin, J. Q. Adams, Livingston, Monroe, Chas. Pinckney, and Gouverneur Morris, brought back for- eign, and especially French ideas. In Randall's Life of Jefferson ' one finds numerous instances of Jefferson's predilection for French culture. Versed in the Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, and Italian languages, he knew all the masterpieces in those literatures as well as in the English.* When the Chevalier Quesnay de Beaurepaire formed the plan of establishing a " French Academy of the Arts and ' Publications, V, p. 5. 'I> PP- 394-95. Boston, i860. Cf. Hinsdale: Report of Comn of Edu'c, I, p. S99, 1897-98. In his History of Harvard University Josiah Quincy records that in 1735 a Frenchman was engaged to teach his native language at Harvard, but because of heretical doc- trines he was soon dismissed, whereupon French was dropped from the university until the period of the Revolution. ' 3 vols., Philadelphia, 1871. * I, pp. 24-25, 390. 437- Cf. Ill, p. 346. i6 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " Sciences " in Richmond, with branches in New York, Phil- adelphia, and Baltimore, and then cherished the scheme " of moving bodily to Virginia the entire faculty of the Swiss College of Geneva, whjch was thoroughly French in its form of culture," Jefiferson gave his hearty endorse- ment to both projects. Luckily for America both schemes failed, for their success would have meant a greater sep- aration of North and South. " If French ideas had really penetrated Virginian society, they would have become as dominant in the South as German ideas are now becoming in the state universities and school systems of the North- west." ^ Jefferson was even accused of unrelenting hos- tility to England and of correspondingly strong prejudices in favor of France.^ He thus became known as head of the " French party " (just as Adams was considered leader of the "English party") and played a vital role in the introduction of French manners in a movement of such rapid extension that Jefferson himself expressed his sur- prise in 1790 at finding it " extended to more serious things." ' The immense influence exerted by France on American life and taste was in great contrast to the opinion enter- tained in regard to Germans and their literary culture. The little known of the people of Germany was derived mostly from the observation of the emigrants who came to this country. As citizens, they were well liked by the older American stock, because they were peaceable, in- dustrious, and orderly.* And on the other hand, the Ger- ' Thos. Jefferson and the University of Virginia, Washington, D. C, 1888. Cf . Viereck : Report of Comr. of Educ, I, p. 549, 1900-01. ' Randall, II, p. 59. 'Ibid., I, p. 560. *Cf. McMaster, II, p. 556. Cf. N. Amer. R.. LII, p. 217 ff.; Introduction 17 mans were delighted with the opportunity granted them to hve quietly and unmolested by grievous taxes, arbitrary and despotic laws, and by slavish and abject vassalage. So they came to America in increasing numbers. Finally the petty sovereigns of the German states began to be alarmed at the loss of their subjects to the New World. A special ambassador, Von Fiirstenwarther, was accord- ingly sent to America to inquire into the subject of German emigration to the United States, and to present as gloomy a picture as possible of his investigations. In his work, Der Deutsche in Nord Amerika,^ he declared that though personally the German was esteemed in his new coun- try, like others, without reference to descent or nation, when he was rich or distinguished for public services, esteemed moreover for his industry, frugality, love of home, for his honesty and his peaceable temper, neverthe- less, he could detect a great undervaluing of the German name and nation in America. " The Americans, them- selves, too young to deserve the name of nation, possess nevertheless a national pride beyond that of any people of the Old World, and look down with disdain on those from whom the first germ of their improvement came. Of none, however, have the Americans a poorer opinion than of the Germans. The main reason for this is, per- haps, the political insignificance of the German nation, and the consequent want of conscious importance and of arro- gance of its individuals; to which cause also it is to be ascribed that so little justice is done to the Germans by the other European nations." ^ Jan., 1841 : The Irish in America; and XL, pp. 466 ff., Apr., 183s ; Immigration. '■ 1818, Review in N. Amer. R., XI, pp. 1-18, July, 1820. ' Pp. 68-69. Cf. N. Amer. R., XI, pp. 11-12. i8 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " When one remembers that the American public had seemingly forgotten that Frederick the Great was the first sovereign of Europe to acknowledge the new republic, that Baron von Steuben, General de Kalb, and General Nicholas Herkimer trained our undisciplined troops, that many German-Americans gave up their lives on the battle- field, one cannot but confess that Von Fiirstenwarther had ' just cause to reproach the nation's ingratitude. But too often a grain of ignominy annihilates a pound of glory. Even to-day no school child hears the name of " Hessian " without a feeling of contempt, little thinking that these poor soldiers were virtually slaves of degenerate petty despots, sold' against their will as mercenaries to England. Both in England and in America the cost of printing foreign books and the heavy import duties prevented the circulation of foreign literature. Before the Revolution the commercial restrictions imposed by England limited the publishers to the mere retailing of English books. Whatever printing was done was confined mostly to issuing editions of English works, which could be done without paying any copyright. In a letter to Francis Eppes April 9, 1822, Jefferson makes the following comment regarding lawbooks : " They will come twenty-five per cent cheaper from England than bought here, and some indeed can only be had there." ^ Nor did he hesitate to have his Notes of Virginia printed in France at one-fourth of the American price.^ These hindrances to the dissemination of German litera- ture in America were offset, however, to a certain degree. The question of the progress of German culture among us has been treated in detail by L. Viereck and Burke 'Randall, III, p. 484. ' Ibid., I, p. 413. Introduction 19 Hinsdale in the Reports of the Commissioner of Educa- tion ^ and also by A. B. Faust.^ Their work shows by contrast the early preponderance of French ideals, in America just as in England.' To the part played by our diplomats in the diflEusion of foreign ideas I have already referred, and especially to Jeflferson's predilection for French culture. Another diplomat who studied German was John Quincy Adams. In 1800 he made a trip through Silesia and wrote his observations in a series of letters to his brother, which were afterward published in book form under the title Journey to Silesia (Lond., 1804; German translation, Bres- lau, 1805; French translation, Paris, 1807). As a result of his interest in German literature is recorded his translation of Wieland's Oberon, which, however, was never printed, for William Sotheby's version had just appeared (1798). So Adams contented himself by sending a copy of his work to Wieland for criticism, and the German poet replied, ' igoo-oi, I, chap, xiv, and 1897-98, I, chap. xiii. Cf. Eugene Oswald : Goethe in England and America, London, 1899; in Die neueren Sprachen, VII, pp. 313-47, 404-18, 1899- 1900. ' The German Element in the United States. 2 vols. Boston and New York, 1909. ° For the discussion of German literature in America, see Fred- erick H. Wilkens : Early Influence of German Literature in America, Philadelphia, 1899; Amer.-Ger., Ill, No. 2, pp. 103-205. Edward Z.' Davis: Translations of Ger. Poetry in Amer. Maga- zines, Philadelphia, 1905. Horatio S. White: Goethe in America, Goethe Jahrbuch, V, pp. 219-56, 1884. Ellwood Parry: Schiller in America, Philadelphia, 1905; Amer.- Ger., VII, Nos. 3-4. Gustav Korner : Das deutsche Element in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika (1818-48), Cincinnati, 1880. Leonard Mackall : Brief e zwischen Goethe und Amerikanern, Goethe Jahrbuch, XXV, pp. 3-37, 1904. 20 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " that though Sotheby's translation was more poetic, Adams's was more literal. With Adams in Russia was associated Alexander H. Everett, as private secretary (1809-12). As German in- fluence was strong in St. Petersburg, Everett had favor- able opportunities for becoming acquainted with German literature. His observations of European life are stated in his Europe (1822). Later he became secretary to the legation and then minister at The Hague (1815-16, 1818-24), and after his return contributed many important articles to the North American Review, of which he was chief editor from 1829 to 1835. What Jefferson tried to do for the spread of French cul- ture, Benjamin Franklin sought to do for German litera- ture. As a business man and a resident of Philadelphia, he came in contact with a numerous German element and learned to appreciate the sturdy Germanic qualities. He was undoubtedly the first American to print German works in this country, publishing German hymn-books (one as early as 1730), prayer-books, text-books, records, and a German catechism. He was likewise a journalist, and edited the Philadelphia Zeitung (1732) and another newspaper in 1755. Through his efforts and those of the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, the Public Academy of the City of Philadelphia was established in 1749. This institution bears the renown of being the first American school to have German in its curriculum. Five years later it became a college, and after Franklin's return from ^Europe it was raised to the dignity of a university, and is now our University of Pennsylvania. Then, too, Frank- lin was the first American to visit a German university. In the Gottingen Anseiger of Sept. 13, 1766, there is a record of his attendance at the meeting of the Royal Introduction 21 Society of Science held the preceding July.^ When in 1787 a number of German citizens decided to found a German College and Charity School at Lancaster, they agreed to call it after their benefactor Franklin College (now Franklin-Marshall College). To its endowment Franklin gave a thousand dollars, a large sum for those days, and journeyed to Lancaster to lay the cornerstone of the new institution.^ Despite the active cooperation of Franklin and the zeal of a few German-Americans, these attempts to extend the knowledge of the German language and literature were little short of failure. In New England, where the English spirit was particularly strong, the German language was practically unknown, and no facilities for acquiring it were available. Whatever knowledge of German literature was current came entirely through English and French sources, in reprints of English books or in the periodicals. Hence there is found the same general view of Germany and its literature as in France and in England. Even at Harvard, the center of learning for the United States, no instruc- tion in German was offered until the advent of Dr. Follen. Lowell, in referring to this period, said in 1890: " By hook or crook some enthusiasts managed to learn German, but there was no official teacher before Doctor Follen about sixty years ago," and adds in a note, " Mr. George Ban- croft told me that he learned German of Professor Sydney Willard, who, himself self-taught, had no notion of its pro- nunciation." ^ ' Cf. Hinsdale : Report, 1897-98, I, chap. xiii. ' Cf. Viereck : Report, 1900-01, I, chap. xiv. Cf. Faust, II, chap. v. ' Pub. of Mod. Lang. Assoc, V, ,p. S- Sidney Willard, speaking of his own efforts in that line, says: " A German Jew by name of Howitz came to Cambridge and 22 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " Dr. A. P. Peabody gives the following account of the introduction of German at Harvard : " German had never been taught in college before; and it was' with no little difficulty that a volunteer class of eight was found desirous, or at least willing to avail themselves of his [Dr. Pollen's] services. I was one of that claSs. We were looked upon with very much the amazement with which a class in some obscure tribal dialect of the remot- est Orient would now be regarded. We knew of but two or three persons in New England who could read German, though there were probably many more of whom we did not know. There were no German books in the book- stores. A friend gave me a copy of Schiller's Wallenstein, which I read as soon as I was able to do so, and then passed it from hand to hand among those who could obtain nothing else to read. There was no attainable class- book that could be used as Reader. A few copies of Noehden's Grammar were imported, and a few copies of I forget whose Pocket Dictionary, fortunately too copious for an Anglo-Saxon pocket, and suggesting the generous amplitude of the Low Dutch costume, as described in Irving's mythical History of New York. The German Reader for Beginners, compiled by our teacher, was fur- nished to the class in single sheets as it was needed, and was printed in Roman type, there being no German type within reach." ^ remained a year or more. He found some encouragement as a teacher of German. I studied German with his aid. He was some- what arrogant in his pretensions, but could justly claim to con- siderable learning in the language of his religion and of the coun- try from which he emigrated." Memories of Youth and Manhood, I8SS. n, p. 145. Cf. Wilkens, HI, p. 159. ^ Harvard' Reminiscences. Cf. Report, 1897-98, I, p. 614. Cf. Follen, V, p. 132. Cf. Cogswell's letter in Goethe Jahrbuch, XXV, p. 11. Introduction 23 Professor Moses Stuart who brought German theology and philology to Andover, writes thus of his early at- tempts : ^ " Time was, when" for years together, I was almost alone in the study of German in our country. There were, indeed, and always have been, native Germans in some places, who, of course, pursued reading of this kind. Thiere was here and there a solitary individual, who had been prompted by accident, or moved by curiosity, or led by peculiar circumstances to the study of German. There were some at Boston and Cambridge who had begun to make inquiries respecting it. But among all our clergy the deed was undone, and even the bare attempt to do it was regarded as a matter of idle curiosity, or as a kind of excrescence or monstrosity in respect to the body of sound and healthy literature. Of course, I had no weight of examination to plead in my favor, no experi- ence to which I could appeal, as a proof that German study was not necessarily connected with heresy. ... I believe the late J. S. Buckminster of Brattle Street Church was the only man among the Literati of this region who at that time had any other knowledge of German than what belonged to a mere tyro." George Ticknor's impulse to study German came through a French medium, through a book in which opened up a new world to him. This is his recital of his early efforts : " The first intimation I ever had on the subject was from Mme. de Stael's work on Germany, then just pubHshed. My next came from a pamphlet, published by Villers, — to defend the University of Gottingen from the ill intentions of Jerome Bonaparte, then King of Westphalia, — in which he gave a sketch of the university and its courses of study. ' Chris. Review, VI, pp. 454, 456, Sept., 1841. 24 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " My astonishment at these revelations was increased by an account of its Ubrary, given by an Englishman who had been at Gottingen, to my friend, the Reverend Samuel C. Thacher. I was sure that I should like to study at such a university, but it was in vain that I endeavored to get further knowledge upon the subject. I would gladly have prepared for it by learning the language I should have to use there, but there was no one in Boston who could teach me. At Jamaica Plain there wap a Dr. Brosius, a native of Strassburg, who gave instruction in mathematics. He was willing to do what he could for me in German, but he warned me that his pronunciation was very bad, as was that of all Alsace, which had become a part of France. Nor was it possible to get books. I borrowed a Meidin- ger's Grammar, French and German, from my friend, Mr. Everett, and sent to New Hampshire, where I knew there was a German dictionary, and procured it. I also obtained a copy of Goethe's Werther in German (through Mr. William Shaw's connivance) from among Mr. J. G. Adams' books, deposited by him on going to Europe in the Athenseum, under Mr. Shaw's care, but without giving him permission to lend them. I got as far as to write a translation of Werther, but no further." ^ The foregoing facts show the literary poverty of the time. As Henry Adams pertinently remarks in reference to New England : " Possibly a few Bostonians could read and speak French, but Germany was nearly as unknown as China, until Mme. de Stael published her famous work in 1814." Likewise, in discussing the Intellect of the Mid- dle States (chap, iv) he notes a similar condition. " Pennsylvania was largely German and the Moravians ^ Life, Letters, and Journals, Boston, I, pp. 11-12. Edited by Ferris Greenslet. 2 vols., new ed., 1909. Introduction 25 were not without learning, yet no trace of German in- fluence showed itself in the educated and literary class. . . . The Western nations knew no more of German thought than of Egyptian hieroglyphics." ^ '■ History of the United States, 9 vols., New York, 1890, I, pp. 94, 123- CHAPTER II MME. DE STAEL'S INTEREST IN GERMAN LITERATURE (a) Her Knowledge of German before 1803 Anne Louise Germaine Necker (1766-1817), as the name indicates, was of Teutonic stock. Her father, Jacques Necker (1732-1804), was the son of a Prussian from Kiis- trin.Karl Friedrich Necker, who emigrated to Geneva (1724) and became Professor of Law in the university and a writer on religious and economic questions. There his two sons, Louis and Jacques, were reared in the Calvinistic faith. This younger son, Jacques, was early destined for a mercantile career. At the age of eighteen he went to Paris, where he soon became head of the greatest banking- house of the time. In 1773 the Republic of Geneva ap- pointed him resident minister at the French court; three years later he became director of the French treasury, and then Minister of Finance to Louis XVI. Necker was a man of the highest integrity, a hater of imitation and affectation, a lover of truth and generosity. Of him his daughter said : " I owe to the incredible penetration of my father the frankness of my character and the candor of my spirit. He unmasked every affectation, and when with him I was wont to believe that he could see clearly into my soul." ^ '■ Mme. Necker de Saussure : Notice sur le Caractere et les Merits de Mme. de Sta'el, CEuvres computes, III, p. 6, Paris, 1844. 26 Interest in German Literature 2"] Her mother, Mme. Susanne Necker, nee Curchod (1739- 94), was a woman of personal beauty, of great erudition, and of exemplary conduct. The only daughter of a Huguenot pastor at Grassier, a hamlet in the Jura Moun- tains in Vaud, Mile. Gurchod was thoroughly versed, not only in Latin, English, and French, but also in German. The English historian Gibbon, who met her in his visits to Lausanne, said : " I found her learned without pedantry, lively in conversation, pure in sentiment, and elegant in manners." ^ In her own character Germaine Necker exemplifies the peculiar traits of both father and mother. With an in- tellect of masculine scope and breadth, an independence not intimidated by power, an unbounded energy, and great common sense, a passionate love for truth, liberty, and glory, a large and expansive range of vision, she com- bined the tender warmth, the ardent zeal, the enthusiastic imagination, the intuitive insight, the naive sensibility, and the poetic fancy of a woman. Like Goethe, she hated all negative virtues ; the deadly indifference which poisons all progress, the sullen apathy which corrupts individual en- deavor, the stolid mediocrity which ridicules the flights of genius. In versatility her few rivals were men like Goethe and Voltaire. She was poet, critic, novelist, musician, dramatist, actress, patriot, statesman, diplomatist, meta- physician, philosopher, moralist, salonniere, educator, yet withal a loyal friend, a generous patron, an affectionate daughter, and a loving mother. Ghief, however, among her varied roles was that of interpreter for German litera- ture and culture before the tribunal of an apathetic world. ' Memoirs of My Life and Writings, chap. iv. Cf. Abel Stevens: Madame de Stael, New York, 1881, I, p. 11. 28 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " One important fact in Mme. de Stael's interest in Ger- many was her Protestant faith. Her firm belief that Protestantism was intimately associated with education, morality, freedom, individuality, and progress finds ex- pression in her critical essay, De la Litterature consideree dans ses Rapports avec les Institutions sociales (1800). " That which gives in general to the modern peoples of the North a more philosophical spirit than to the inhabi- tants of the South is the Protestant religion which nearly all these peoples have adopted. The Reformation is that epoch of history which has most effectively promoted the ' perfectibility ' of the human race. ... In those coun- tries where Protestantism is professed, philosophical re- searches are in nowise retarded, while the purity of morals is most effectively maintained." ^ Accordingly, when the First Consul was debating what form of religion was best for state purposes, it was she, together with Benjamin Con- stant and Baron Cuvier, who -urged and aided Charles de Villers to make known in France the Protestant religion of Germany. Villers responded with his Essai sur la Reformation de Luther (1804), a work that defended the conception of " perfectibility," and pointed to the fact that whereas Spain had only eight universities, Italy six, and , France but three, Germany, the country of Protestantism, supported twenty such institutions.^ Mme. Necker's famous 'literary salon must also be reck- oned with. There were congregated in these gatherings many prominent writers, all interested in foreign literature, especially in German and English. M. Necker himself was * Pt. i, chap. xi. Cf. Delphine, pt. iv, lettre xvii. ' Cf. Joseph Texte : Les Origines de I'InAuence allemande dans la Litterature frangaise du XIX^ Siecle, Revue d'Histoire litteraire, Jan. IS, 1898, pp. I-S3. Interest in German Literature 29 an ardent student of English literature and a fervent ad- herent of the English constitution. His ideals were shared by the ihistorian, Edward Gibbon, Mme. Necker's erstwhile admirer and now the respected friend and ally of the Necker household. Carlyle presents a humorous picture of the " new young demoiselle . . . romping about the knees of the Decline and Fall." ^ But ardent friends of Germany numbered not a few. Denis Diderot, the encyclopedist and " I'homme de la nature," was an admirer of Klopstock, Gessner, Leibniz, Thomasius, but especially of Lessing, whose dramatic taste his own views and plays influenced, as evinced in the Hamburgische Dramaturgie. On his journey through Russia (1773, and return, 1774) Diderot had gained much insight into German institutions, and in his Essai sur les Etudes en Russie, he shows exact knowl- edge in reference to the German system of education. Of him Goethe wrote : " He was closely akin to us, just as in everything, for which the French criticise him, he is a true German." ^ In close friendship to this Teutonic Frenchman was a gallicized German, Friedrich Melchior Grimm,^ or Baron de Grimm, who, as a kind of private journalist for thirty- seven years, furnished many of the royal personages of Europe with Correspondance litteraire, philosophique et critique from Paris. In 1774 he visited his native land and was so enthusiastic over the new literature in Ger- many that he communicated his delight to his friend, Henri Meister. This one learns from a letter of Meister's father to Bodmer Dec. 26, 1776, which reads as follows : " My Parisian [son] writes me that Grimm has returned from ^ Macmillan, LXIX, pp. 435-42, 1894. ' Dichtung und Wahrheit, bk. ii. • Cf. p. S. 30 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " his fatherland, very enthusiastic over the genius of the young Goethe, who has written the Hofmeister, Clavigo, Alceste, Goiter und Wieland, and several other works." " Grimm's successor in the Correspondance was Henri Meister, the lifelong friend of the Necker family, a Swiss patrician, an ecclesiastic " defroque," the friend of Vol- taire and of Rousseau, and a preceptor in the home of Mme. Vermenoux, the former benefactor of Susanne Curchod and the godmother of Germaine Necker.^ Other prominent members of this circle were the littera- teur Marmontel, hostile in his Poetique frangaise to classic traditions; the Parisian journalist and "emigrant" Jean Suard, a most energetic worker for the dissemination of international culture; the Marquis de Pezay, in literary communication with Voltaire and Rousseau ; and the writer and philosopher Morellet, who, though a Jesuit and an abbe, was a devoted friend of the encyclopedists and an active agent in the study of foreign literature and philosophy. These were among the most frequent guests of Mme. Necker's salon — Anglomanes, gallicized Germans, and revolutionary Frenchmen — all dissatisfied with French traditions and seeking higher ideals of life and humanity in nature and in foreign literatures. A precocious child, who at the age of fifteen made annotations to Montesquieu's Esprit des Lois and produced little dramas and novelettes, mostly studies in passion, — all composed in the prevalent style of the time and under the joint influence of Richardson, Rousseau, and Wer- ' Goethe Jahrbuch, XXVI, p. 296. Note. — Either Grimm or Meister was imperfectly informed, as Gotz and Werther are not mentioned, while the Hofmeister was written by Lenz and Alceste by Wieland. ' Lettres inidites contains a memoir of Meister's life. Interest in German Literature 31 ther,^ Mile. Necker could not fail to assimilate much of this Germanophile atmosphere about her. Her own mar- riage in 1786 to the Swedish ambassador, Baron de Stael- Holstein, brought her even into closer relations with for- eign countries. In her own salon there assembled a younger generation — a throng of bright, eager souls, pul- sating with an ardent desire for nature, freedom, and hu- manity. An intense interest in the new Germanic life and literature became predominant in the minds of all Mme. de Stael's intimate friends. These are the men and women who figure later in the " emigrant literature." A prominent member of this circle was Jean M. de Gerando, the French philosopher and politician, who, exiled after the eighteenth Fructidor, studied German poetry and philosophy at Tiibingen, and furnished the first article in the Archives litteraires, entitled Les Communica- tions litteraires et philosophiques entre les Nations de I'Europe. To him Mme. de Stael is indebted for much literary and philosophical information, especially from his Histoire comparee des Systemes- de Philosophie (1803). Exiled at the same time with Gerando was Camille Jor- dan, likewise a student at Tiibingen and a friend of Goethe, Schiller, Wieland, Herder, Schelling, and of Mounier.^ Jordan's poetic and philosophical temperament inclined his attention especially to Klopstock and to Schiller. Con- cerning his translations from Klopstock, published in L'Abeille frangaise, Mme. de Stael wrote to him July 3, 1803 : " How shall I express to you the enthusiasm which your translation has made me feel? I trembled, I wept, ^ Cf. Erich Schmidt : Richardson, Rousseau und Goethe, Jena, 1875. 'A Frenchman who in 1795 had established a pensionnat at Weimar, the College de Belvedere. 32 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " when reading it, just as if I had heard suddenly after ten years of exile the language of my native country. Here is true talent, that of the soul." ^ Other members of this circle were Charles de Chene- dolle, the French poet and enthusiastic admirer of Klop- stock and one of the editors of the Spectateur du Nord; Martin de Vanderbourg, who wrote for the Puhliciste, Archives Utteraires, Mercure etranger, Journal des Savants, and other international magazines, and translated Jacobi's Woldemar (1792), Lessing's Laocoon (1802), and Wieland's Crates et Hipparque (1818) ; Adrien, Comte de Lezay, the friend of Burger, editor of the Journal de Paris and translator of Don Carlos (1799); Philippe Albert Stapfer, the Swiss diplomat and writer, and a journalist for the Archives Utteraires, and for its continuation, the Melanges de Litterature etrangere; Frangois de Neuf- chateau, Comte de I'Empire, who created the museum of the Louvre and wrote for the Conservateur litteraire and for the Decade. Many other noted Frenchmen engaged in the study of German literature might be named as asso- ciates in salon or literary life with Mme. de Stael. The man who held the highest place in Mme de Stael's affections was Benjamin Constant de Rebecque,^ by birth a Swiss, who, according to Sainte-Beuve,^ was " a descendant of Rousseau, tinged with Germanism." * Educated at Ger- man universities and at Edinburgh, this great cosmopolite made his home in Northern Europe — in France, Holland, ' Sainte-Beuve : Nouveaux Lundis, XII, p. 298 : Camille Jordan et Mme. de Stael. ' Josef Ettlingef : Benjamin Constant, Der Roman eines Lebens, Berlin, 1909. " Cf. Texte, p. 452. ' * Cf. Ludwig Borne's words : " He had a German head and a French heart." Cf. Ettlinger, p. 309. Interest in German Literature 33 Switzerland, and Germany. At Coppet, September 1793, he first met Mme. de Stael, and the handsome cynic and " blase moquer," the zealous anti- Romanist, and the keen fencer in argument was attracted to the earnest, eloquent, and enthusiastic woman. His extensive knowledge of for- eign countries, his wide experience as a philosophical jurist, his discriminating study of literature and religion enlarged Mme. de Stael's views in those lines. He figured also as the author of a novel, Adolphe (1815), a distant relative of Werther. As editor of the Mercure de France he gave evidence of his appreciation of the German char- acter and literature. Exiled in 1803 for his bold political speech in the Tribunate, he traveled in Germany, and lived for a time at Coppet, where he made a free translation of Schiller's Wallenstein.^ The one who, more than any other person, had the great- est influence upon Mme. de Stael in directing her attention to the field of German culture was Charles Dominique de Villers, a Catholic army officer. On account of his four political pamphlets, De la Liberie, Villers was obliged to leave the country. In Gottingen he became a great friend of Eichhorn, Heyne, Kastner, Spittler, and Schlozer.. From this time on he made it his life-work to explore the unknown territory of German literature and philosophy and to communicate his knowledge to his countrymen. In the Spectateur du Nord, of which he was an assistant editor, he wrote, in 1798, Idees sur la Destination des Hommes de Lettres sortis de France et qui sejournent en Allemagne. He also served on the editorial staff of the Archives litteraires and of the Melanges de Litterature ' WalUtein, tragedie en cinq actes et en vers, precedee de quelques reAexions sur le theatre allemand, et suivie de notes h'.s- toriques (1809). 34 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " etrangere. In 1801 he wrote his Philosophie de Kant, ou les Principes fondamentaux de la Philosophie transcenden- tale, the first French work on that subject. At that time he received permission to return to France and made a flying visit to Paris, partly for the purpose of seeing Mme. de Stael and urging her to visit Germany. As she was then at Coppet, he had to content himself by sending a copy of his Kant to her. It was also during this year that Villers, urged by Cuvier, Constant, and Mme. de Stael, started his great work on the German reformer, Essai siir la Reformation de Luther (1804).^ His next book, Les DoUances des Peuples du Continent de I'Europe au Sujet de I' Interruption de leur Commerce, won for him the free- dom of the city of Bremen and also new persecutions from the French. As professor of French literature at Gottingen, he defended the university, in a pamphlet describing its aims and courses of study, against the evil intentions of Jerome Bonaparte, King of Westphalia. This was the pamphlet that influenced George Ticknor.^ Later Villers pub- lished his Co^ip d'CEil sur I'Etat de la Litterature ancienne et de I'Histoire de l'Allemagne. When Hanover came into possession of the English crown (1813), George III., who hated the French, deprived Villers of his professorship. Though invited to return to France in 1814 and granted a pension of three thousand francs, Villers was so morally crushed by the unjust blow that he did not long survive. (b) Early Works and Germany Mme. de Stael's early literary attempts,^ as previously indicated, were studies portraying sensibility, modeled on Clarissa Harlowe, La nouvelle Helo'ise, and Werther. " Cf. p. 28. " Cf. p. 23. ' Cf. p. 30. Interest in German Literature 35 Following the publication of several political essays dur- ing the Revolution, Mme. de Stael prepared an edition of the works of her youth, Recueil, de Morceaux detaches} It was after reading this collection that Goethe began to consider her work seriously. To Schiller he writes, Oct. 6, 1795, that he is translating the book, and he finds it " harder work than he thought," and then adds : " In cer- tain places you will find many good things in it, but as she is one-sided, and yet again is honest and sensible, she can in nowise be in harmony with herself. As a text, how- ever, it will certainly prove excellent. I wish that you would take pains to be as clear and courteous as possible in your work, so that we may afterward send it to her and thereby begin to lead the dance of the ' Horen ' over into this transformed France." ^ As this letter indicates, Goethe recognized a kindred element in Mme. de Stael's nature and considered her a worthy mediator for extending the knowledge of German literature in France. After the establishment of the Directory, Mme. de Stael resumed her critical work in the Essai sur les Fictions (1795), which Goethe also translated for the Horen^ In this essay Mme. de Stael, entirely out of harmony with the prevalent principles of French literature, sounds that note which so often echoes and re-echoes in her succeed- ing works ; namely, that natural fiction contributes to man's welfare and happiness, inasmuch as it is based on imagination and emotion. " There is no faculty more precious to man than his imagination," she writes. " Hu- man life seems so little calculated for happiness, that it is ' Lausanne and Leipzig, 1795-96. ' Briefe, Weimar ed., X, p. 11, No. 3213. Cf. Nos. 1218-19, pp. 31S-16. ' Ibid., X, p. 348, No. 3241, Dec. 15, 1795. 2,6 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " only by the aid of illusions, of mental images, of the happy choice of our recollections, that we can assemble pleasures scattered over the earth and can struggle, not by philosophic force, but by the more effective power of distraction, against the sorrows of destiny." ^ Despite the fact that Mme. de Stael cites English writers chiefly as the best representa- tives of the domain of natural fiction — the novel — she refers to Werther as a work portraying " the eloquence of pas- sion," and calls attention to German literature, " the su- periority of which is daily increasing." Then appeared a more extensive treatise, De I'Iniiuence des Passions sur le Bonheur des Individus et des Nations (1796),^ a work which Napoleon read eagerly during his Egyptian campaign.^ Goethe wrote to Schiller of his in- terest in this work * and later advised the selection of pas- sages from it for the Horen.^ To J. W. Meyer he wrote at length in praise of it : " This book is extremely remark- able: one sees in it a very passionate nature, who, in con- stant contemplation of herself, of the contemporary events, in which she played so great a role, and of history, which she sees so vividly, is writing about the passions and is surveying most excellently the web of human views and feelings." " As types of profound sensibility in love Werther and some scenes from German tragedies are cited anew. Mme. de Stael's keen critical and philosophical sense ' (Euvres, I, pp. 62, 70-71. Cf. a like quotation from the same essay: "The great power of fiction is to move the soul: moral truths, when put into action, become self-evident." ^ Translated into German by Leonard Meister, the cousin of Henri Meister, Lettres inedites, p. 143. " Edinb. R., CCII, p. 87, July, 1905. * Brief e, XI, p. 270, No. 3438, Nov. 30, 1796. " No. 3443, Dec. 7, 1796. ° No. 3440, Dec. 5, 1796. Cf. also No. 3446, Dec. 8, 1796. Interest in German Literature 37 was better shown, however, in a more elaborate study, De la Litterature consideree dans ses Rapports avec les Institutions sociales (1800), the forerunner in general plan as well as in content of the work on Germany. It was written to counteract 'the general feeling of disappointment caused by the failure of the French Revolution, and to show that by the study of literature and philosophy a new future might arise from this chaos of shattered hopes and institutions. It is in this book that we recognize for the first her remarkable gift of penetrating into the inner secrets of her time, of understanding the general course of human culture, and of divining the true forces which were to bring about a regeneration of her nation and of humanity in general. Very important for our study is the fact that even in this book she discovers these forces in the philosophy and literature of Germany. Mme. de Stael was fully aware, not only of the sterility of the French literature and of the decay of French civilization, but also of the causes that had brought them about. She says : " We have arrived at a period in which the character of the people resembles in some respects that which prevailed at the time of the fall of the Roman Empire and the in- vasion of the peoples from the north. At that time the human race was in need of enthusiasm and austerity. . . . The epoch of the return to virtue is not far distant, and already the soul is eager for honest sentiments, even if reason has not yet insured their triumph." ^ In this critical study of 1800 the central idea is the " perfectibility " of humanity, the constant and increasing development of the race. But where dread of offending the relentless tribunal of fashion and ridicule reigns su- preme, as in France, it may be a solace to jealous medi- ' De la Litterature, pt. ii, chap. v. 38 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " ocrity, but only a blight to genius, to genuine goodness, to pure enthusiasm and to real superiority. This despotism of opinion Mme. de Stael attributes to the prevailing phi- losophy of her nation, founded solely upon reason, upon calculation from experience. Reason, then, must yield to impulse, to virtue and innate affection, as the noblest guar- antees of progress; for virtue and genius are no less closely related than vice and stupidity. A chapter of this book is devoted to the discussion of German literature. Despite the fact that she then knew but little of this literature, and that only through transla- tion, she had clearly comprehended its essential spirit and developed principles and conceptions that, curiously, co- incide with those of the German Romantic School, of whose existence she knew nothing at the time. Mme. de Stael is one of the first to point out how the division of Germany into small principalities had con- tributed to produce so many talents. With a feudal governmental system and the lack of a common center, German literature bears the distinctive marks of the work of a free people, for whose democracy such men as Her- der, Biirger, Goethe, and Schiller were striving. The Eng- lish have less independence than the Germans in their re- ligious and political opinions by reason of their deep re- spect for existing customs and traditions. German litera- ture, on the other hand, is based on feeling, imagination, and enthusiasm. Werther she compares with the master- pieces of other languages; in no language is there a pro- duction that displays a more striking and natural picture of the wanderings of enthusiasm, a deeper insight into mis- fortune, a keener search into that abyss of nature where truth is visible only to the eye capable of discerning it. Rousseau is inferior to Goethe, because although the Helo'ise Interest in German Literature 39 is an elegant and eloquent composition, 'it characterizes only the genius of one man, and not the manners of the nation.^ The enthusiasm which Werther aroused, especially in Ger- many, is due to the fact that it is written entirely in the national taste. Opposed to the spirit of cold reasoning and ironical eloquence so prevalent in her own country, it is enthusiasm that Mme. de Stael considers as the essential feature of the Germanic character. In contrast to French levity, the re- sult of one-sided intellectualism, she emphasizes the preva- lence of melancholy and earnestness in the German litera- ture. Although she has read Klopstock's Messias in trans- lation only, she is able to detect its marvelous beauty and the sweet melancholy pervading the whole poem. In the tragedies of Schiller she beholds beauties indicative of a great mind, recalling those impetuous emotions which por- tray the predominant affections of the soul, emotions that have been stifled or restrained by the ties or traditions of society. This is but the Storm and Stress idea, the spirit of the individual revolting against the narrow bans of social and political customs. Though Mme. de Stael appreciates the beauties of Ger- man literature, she is by no means blind to its defects, many of which she states are the result of imitation of foreign or native models. Only genius can depict en- thusiasm and still hold fast to truth; too often, however, mediocrity substitutes a factitious enthusiasm which leads only to absurdities. The Germans are too indulgent in allowing an abundance of trivial no- tions in their philosophy and in permitting the repetition of hackneyed thoughts. Sometimes, too, they are even deficient in taste, for their fondness for metaphysical senti- ' Pt. i, chap. XV. 40 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " ments leads them to insert in the most impassioned scenes abstract ideas and reasonings, so that all the characters talk like German philosophers. On the other hand, their genius frequently inspires them with the most simple expressions for the noblest passions. To the reproach that many German writers lack grace and sprightliness, and try to gain them by imitation of French models, she replies that the native Germanic stock has energetic and striking beauties of its own which fully atone for the want of grace and " esprit." Pleasantry, in- deed, is not consistent with abstract philosophical reason- ing, and such a combination of the serious and of the frivolous does not accord with that natural good taste which depends upon involuntary emotion. The great pro- vince of German literature, she says, is serious reason and eloquent sensibility. No nation is more peculiarly adapted to investigation in history, philosophy, and the sciences. Nevertheless a voluntary subjection prevents Germany from attaining the full enlightenment of which it is capable, a subjection to the spirit of sect, which often is as bitter as that of party. In Germany educated men are inspired by a knowledge that includes a love of the beautiful and a reverence for virtue ; in place of religious superstition, austere morality and natural reason form the foundation of their philosophical creeds. But of what use is knowl- edge, if it serve only as an annihilating force and furnish no constructive energy? With the eye of a seer Mme. de Stael beholds, as in a vision, the mission of Germany, and in glowing and eloquent words she prophesies its great future — the mission of the regeneration of her country and of the world.^ ' " If by any invincible misfortune, France should one day be destined to lose forever all hope of liberty, then Gertnany would Interest in German Literature 41 This work is indeed a forerunner of De I'Allemagne and as such I shall have occasion to refer to it in a subsequent chapter. Two novels followed this critical study, which attempted to carry out the principles embodied in the latter. Delphine (1802) is a sort of feminine Werther and based on Goethe and Germanic ideals. Condemned in England for im- morality,^ and in France made a pretext of its author's exile, it found ready welcome among kindred German spirits,^ the more so as it honored their deep-seated feeling of truth, bewailed the sterility of French literature, and advised the study of German literature as beneficial in opening up new lines of thought and of literary activity. The following are her remarkable utterances in the preface to the original edition : " Another nation, the Germans, who are as distinguished for their learning as the English are for their institutions, have novels of deep truth and sensi- bility; but we judge badly of the beauties of German litera- ture, or to speak more correctly, the small number of en- lightened persons who know anything at all about it do not become the seat of learning, and in its bosom would be established at some future epoch the principles of political philosophy, . . Ye enlightened people, ye inhabitants of Germany, who perhaps may be one day like us, enthusiasts in every republican idea, be invariably faithful to a single principle, which in itself alone is a sufficient safeguard against all irreparable errors. Never permit yourself any action of which morality can disapprove; never listen to those miserable reasoners who tell you of the difference that ought to be established between the morality of the private indi- vidual and that of the public citizen. This distinction proceeds from a perverted spirit and a narrow mind; and if we should ever perish, it will be because we have adopted this principle." ' Edinh. R., II, pp. 172-77, Apr., 1803, reviewed by Rev. Sydney Smith. ' Goethe contemplated reviewing it. Cf. Brief e, Nos. 4620 and 474ir ■ 42 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " take the trouble to answer those who know absolutely nothing about it. It is only since the time of Voltaire that France has rendered justice to the admirable literature of the English ; we need again a man of genius who will enrich his mind with the pregnant originality of certain German writers, in order that the French may be persuaded that there are works in Germany in which ideas are pro- found and sentiments expressed with new energy. " Without doubt present authors are right in recalling constantly the respect that is due the masterpieces of French literature. . . . But the great calamity which threatens our literature to-day is sterility, frigidity, and monotony. Now the study of the perfect, and in general well-known works which we possess teaches us indeed what ought to be avoided but never inspires any new creation; while in reading the writings of a nation, whose manner of looking upon life differs much from that of the French, the mind is excited by new combinations, the imagination is animated by the bold expressions that it condemns as well as by those that it approves ; and thus we might succeed in adapting to the French taste, per- haps the purest of all, original beauties which would give to the literature of the nineteenth century a character that would be appropriate to it. . . . It seems to me then that those national prejudices which hinder the French from studying anything but themselves, would be a great obstacle to their future success in a literary career." Mme. de Stael's second novel, Corinne, ou L'ltalie (1807), was likewise the sad history of a woman of genius, beauti- ful and generous, doomed to be misunderstood by cold un- sympathetic minds. For its fine rhapsodies on art the writer was undoubtedly indebted to the profound erudi- tion and keen critical sense of August Wilhelm Schlegel, Interest in German Literature 43 who acted as her mentor on her visit to Italy in 1805. For its inspiring apotheosis of liberty, however, the reader must thank the sublime eloquence, lively imagination, ardent sensibility, and fervent enthusiasm of the author. As such it is still regarded by Italy, and according to Lady Blenner- hassett, in the window of every Italian book-store is a copy of Corinne, " as an undying leaf in the garland of honor left by foreigners on classic soil." ^ This novel exalts " that power of enthusiasm without which the faculty of thought serves only to disgust one with life," ^ and declares that the imagination, character, and habits of a nation should form its theater.' When the Comte d'Erfeuil, a typical Frenchman, upholds the French classic writers as the most perfect model for for- eigners as well as for the French, Corinne answers : " I can hardly believe that it would be desirable for the entire world to lose all national color, all originality of wit and sentiment, and T venture to tell you, Count, that even in your country, that literary orthodoxy, which opposes every happy innovation, will in the long run render your literature very sterile.'' And Prince Castel-Forte, a cultured Italian, adds : " It seems to me that we all have need of each other; the literature of each country discloses to the one who knows it a new sphere of ideas. It was Charles V. indeed who said that a man who knew four languages was worth four men. If this great political genius made this remark in reference to business, how much truer is it in regard to literature! All foreigners know French, hence their point ^ Frau von Stael, ihre Freunde und ihre Bedeutung in PoUtik und Litteratur, 3 vols., Berlin, 1887-89, III, p. 158. ' Bk. X, chaj). iii, p. 743. ' Bk. vii, chap, ii, p. 714. 44 Madame de Stael's "De l'Allemagne ." of view is broader than that of the- French, who do not know any foreign languages. Why do they not oftener take the trouble to learn them? They preserve only that which distinguishes them, and thus they sometimes ex- pose what they lack." ^ From this account of Mme. de Stael's principal literary, critical, and philosophical work previous to 1810, exclusive of De l'Allemagne, one sees that she showed herself throughout as an advocate of imagination, feeling, en- thusiasm, morality, religion, simplicity, and philosophy, those very qualities which were the watchwords of the early Romantic School in Germany. Unquestionably Mme. de Stael was interested in Ger- man literature. But did she read it in the original? As- suredly, but not until about the year 1800. Although her father and her mother knew German and her uncle was a German subject, I can find no record that Mme. de Stael ever heard it spoken at home. Before 1800 she seems even to have had no desire to learn it, although she kept her- self informed of the trend of German thought, as it ap- peared in French translations in the international maga- zines. As late as 1796 Mme. de Stael was probably influenced by the theory of Pere Bouhours, that the Germans were deficient in " esprit." She ignored Meister's suggestion that she journey from Coppet to Ziirich to visit Wieland. Later in the year (Oct. 16) she states her intention of sending Wieland and Goethe each a copy of De I'lnUuence des Passions. This courtesy Goethe acknowledged by for- warding her a copy of his novel Wilhelm Meister, and April 22, 1797, she writes from Hervieux to Meister: " Goethe has sent me in the finest binding possible his ' Bk. vii, chap, i, p. 710. Interest in German Literature 45 novel Wilhelm Meister. As it was in German, I could admire only the binding. . . . But it is necessary that in your kindness of heart you write to Goethe a fine letter of thanks, which will throw a veil over my ignorance and will speak much of my gratitude and admiration for the author of Werther. ^ In a letter to Meister, dated July 28, 1800, Mme. de Stael uses the expression " Vergessen mich nicht," ^ show- ing that she had not yet mastered the rudiments of the German language. The following September she requests Meister to send her Agnes de Lilien, a novel written by Frau von Wolzogen, and also some German fairy tales or else Campe's Voyages in Germany for translation by her son. She informs him, too, that M. Gerlach, the tutor of her sons, has sent for the following books for her : Diction- naire des deux Nations, Goethe's dramatic works, and Schiller's Wallenstein.^ It was Charles de Villers ^ who really induced Mme. de Stael to go to Germany. In his letters he urged her per- sistently to visit that country, and even made in 1801 an unsuccessful trip to Paris for that purpose. In answer to his urgent invitations she writes from Coppet Nov. 16, 1802: "You ask me why I do not go to Germany. I do not know German, and so it seems to me that I would know less about it, than through books. What one says in a foreign language is usually mere form." But soon after she writes again : " I believe with you that the human spirit, which seems to travel from one country to another is at present in Germany. I am studying German dili- gently, for I am sure that it is there alone where I shall ' Lettres inedites, p. 146. ' Ibid., pp. i6g-7i, Sept. 10. . ' See chap, ii, p. 33. 46 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " § find new thoughts and profound sentiments,"^ By the middle of the following year she has quite decided to take the journey, and then she writes to Villers: "Do you know I have a great mind to take a trip to Germany and if you return, perhaps I might plan my journey with you?"i Such was the extent of Mme. de Stael's knowledge of the German tongue, when she was exiled from France Oct. 15, 1803. In this discussion of the influences directing Mme. de Stael's attention to the serious study of German life and literature, it has been shown that by virtue of her Swiss origin ; her natural tendencies of character ; her liberal Protestant faith; her broad cosmopolitan education; her association with Anglomanes, gallicized Germans, French emigrants, and distinguished foreigners in her salon at Paris, on her travels, and especially at her home in Coppet ; by virtue of her own literary, critical, and philosophical training, she was more Teutonic than French in spirit. This was also the opinion of the Germans. Jean Paul spoke of her poetic German heart and French taste.^ As early as Oct. 10, 1800, Humboldt wrote to Goethe from Paris : " It is a strange phenomenon, to find in the midst of a nation sometimes a human being, who bears a foreign ' Texte : Revue, pp. 35-36. ''Jean Paul said in 1814: "That which makes her a judge of our art as well as a poet is her emotional temperament; her heart is German and poetic, although her taste is sufficiently French." Werke, XIX, p. 166. Cf. Ludwig Borne's words in 1822, in his essay on the French language: "Rousseau, Mme. de Stael, and Benjamin Constant are not surpassed by any German ; but they are born Swiss, therefore more German than French, and the last two were a long time in Germany, and from German books and intercourse with Ger- mans they have imbibed the German spirit." Cf. Ettlinger, p. 308. Interest in German Literature 47 spirit in the bonds of nationality, and I would not like to decide whether there is not here a strife between the Ger- man peculiarities that have been inherited by Mme. de Stael and those that have been obtained by educa- tion." 1 Mme. de Stael recognized this characteristic herself. In her early work in 1800 she declared that all her ideas, all her impressions led her to prefer the literature of the North. ^ Later, in a letter to the German author, Friederike Brun, July 15, 1806, she confessed that she would have been able to accomplish more if she were not working under the disadvantage of the union of diametrically op- posed French and German traits of character.^ After her flight from Coppet she wrote to Schlegel from Stockholm, May 18, 1813: "I am much disturbed about Germany; it has become for me, through you and through the en- thusiasm that the people manifest, a kind of fatherland." * And four months later she declared her willingness to make that country her home, if it were free.° This peculiarity of character was also apparent to the Frenchmen of a later generation. Faguet says that she has " a European spirit in a French soul." " Paul Gautier discusses this question at length in his book, Madame de Stael et Napoleon, and affirms that " one side of her nature is profoundly Germanic. She is more at her ease with German feeling (Gemiit) than with French irony." ' Many other modern critics of Mme. de Stael refer to her ' Cf. Lady Blennerhassett, III, p. 9. ' De la Litterature, pt. i, chap, xi, p. 253. ' Lady Blennerhassett, III, p. I7i- * Lettres inedites, p. 255. " Ibid., p. 263. Letter to Schlegel from London, Sept. 26, 1813. ° Cf. Texte : /. /. Rousseau, p. 433. ' Paris, 1903, chap, xviii, p. 277. 48 Madame de Stael's "De l'Allemagne" cosmopolitan character, but not all appreciate the fact that the ideals and principles which she found established in Germany at the time of her first visit in 1803-04 perfectly coincided with her own views and sentiments and served but to broaden and strengthen them. To her Germany was not an alien land, but a " patria " in thought, and the German nation, not a nation of strangers, but of kinsmen in feeling and ideals. (c) Visits to Germany 180J-04, 180^-08 On the 15th day of October 1803 was issued the decree of Mme. de Stael's exile from Paris and its environs for forty leagues around. In vain did she seek to be per- mitted to remain in France; in vain did Joseph Bonaparte intercede; the Emperor was inexorable.^ It was then that her decision became crystallized to visit the land " d'Outre- Rhin." To a student of her life and works three motives stand out clearly for her first voyage to Germany. .Germany, in spite of its political humiliation, still preserved those ideals of education, morality, religion, individual worth, and intellectual freedom, which harmonized so well with her own conceptions and temperament. It was the " coun- try of thought," ^ the " heart of Europe," ^ and formed one of the two extremities of the moral chain, of which France was the other end. Yet the intellectual riches of this coun- try, despite the noble efforts of Villers, Gerando, Jordan, and other French emigrants, were generally unknown.^ ' Cf. Alcee Fortier : Histoire de la Litterature frangaise, New York, 1893, p. 298. ' De l'Allemagne, I, pp. 4-5, and pt. ii, chap. i. Cf. preface to Delphine. Cf. Corinne, bk. vii, chaps, i-ii. ' Preface, I, p. xvii. Interest in German Literature 49 Realizing the advantage to her own country and to the world at large in a knowledge of German life and litera- ture, Mme. de Stael decided to become an active agent in the extension of this culture. Furthermore, Germany was the home of the author of Werther, the book which marked a turning-point in her life.^ On Dec. 15, 1803, she wrote Goethe that she had come to Germany particularly to be- come acquainted with him and to gain from him the in- spiration which was to last the rest of her life.^ Finally, Germany was the land of the oppressed foe of Napoleon; naturally an interesting place for a visit by a political antagonist of the Emperor. In Dix Annies d'Exil, she speaks of her desire to recover through the kind reception promised her in Germany from the outrage inflicted upon her by the First Consul, and of her intention of contrasting the welcoming kindness of the ancient regime with the impertinence of the upstart about to subjugate France.* Oct. 19, 1803, Mme. de Stael left Paris with her chil- dren, accompanied by Benjamin Constant, who had also been exiled. They went by way of Chalons to Metz. There Villers met her, and she had a visit of fifteen days with " one of the wittiest and most agreeable men that '■ Goethe Jahrbuch, 1884, p. 112. Cf. also No. 113. ' "1 wrote you this morning, Sir, you must believe that my first desire in coming to Germany was to become acquainted with you, and to obtain the honor of your good-will. I shall remain here until the beginning of the year, and shall look forward to your coming to spend several days with me ; but if your health will not permit this, kindly write so to me, and I shall come to spend two days with you at Jena ; I need at least this much time to express my admiration for you and to gather up some of your thoughts which will germinate in ray spirit the rest of my life." Ibid., 1887, No. 5. " Pt. i, chap. xii. 50 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " France and Germany together could produce." ^ Mean- while, Constant journeyed elsewhere; and Mme. de Stael, following the itinerary provided by Villers, traveled to Frankfort, where she was delayed for some time by 'the serious illness of her little daughter. She then proceeded to Weimar, where, December 14, she received a most hearty reception from the Weimar court. Of the ex- hilarating effect this had upon her spirit she wrote later: " I arrived at Weimar, where I regained courage on seeing through the difficulties of language the immense intellectual riches outside of France; I learned to read German ; I listened to Goethe and to Wieland, who, for- tunately for me, spoke French very well. I comprehended the soul of Schiller in spite of his difficulty of expressing himself in a foreign language. I enjoyed immensely the society of the Duke and Duchess of Weimar, and I spent there three months, during which time the study of the German literature gave to my spirit all the animation which it needed to keep me from devouring myself." ^ According to M. Albert Sorel, " the effect that Mme. de Stael produced upon the court and the city of Weimar has been wittily compared to the incursion of a squirrel in an ant-hill." ^ Herder was on his deathbed (he died Dec. 18), Goethe was absent on business in Jena and was likewise ill. Schiller, though in poor health, was working hard on his Wilhelm Tell, and did not like to be disturbed; neverthe- less he did his best to aid the literary circle in entertain- ing the noted foreigner. Wieland, who saw her nearly ^Cf. her letter to Villers, Dec. 28, 1803, in Goethe Jahrbuch, II, p. 250, ' Dix Annies, pt. i, chap. xii. ' Mme. de Stael, Paris, 1890, chap, iv, p. 109. Interest in German Literature 5.1 every day, wrote of her animation, her great conversa- tional ability, her genius.^ To the absent Knebel the Grand Duchess Amalie wrote in great praise of Mme. de Stael, urging him to return to Weimar to meet her.^ The Grand Duchess Louise, quiet, great-hearted wife of Karl August, chose her as her only intimate friend; their constant cor- respondence thereafter was interrupted only by Mme. de Stael's death in 1817.^ Schiller, whom Jean Paul * considers a sort of kinsman of Mme. de Stael, furnishes a most interesting descrip- tion of her. To Goethe he writes Dec. 21, 1803: "Mme. de Stael will appear to you just as you have already con- ceived her; she is all of one piece, and there is not a false and alien trait in her. So despite the immense difference of our natures and manner of thought, I am completely at ease with her, and can bear to hear anything from her and may say anything in return. She represents perfectly the French intellectual culture in its most interesting phase. In all what we call philosophy, in its final and highest consequences, I disagree with her and continue to do so, in spite of all talk. But her nature and feelings are better than her metaphysics, and her fine intellect exalts itself into genius. . . . The only annoying thing about her is the uncommon volubility of her tongue; one must be all ears in order to be able to follow her. Yet inasmuch as I with my very poor French get on tolerably well with her, ^ " She has proved that a woman can have genius, despite what Rousseau has said." Lettres inedites, p. 238. ^ Goethe Jahrbuch, X, pp. 120-21, 1889. " Mme. Amelie Lenormant : Coppet et Weimar, Paris, 1862. * Cf. Kleine Bucherschau, Werke, XIX, p. 192 : " Mme. de Stael is not only his sister, but in his brilliancy of style he is himself at times a distant, though transfigured, relative of Corneille and Crebillon." Cf. De I'Allemagne, I, p. 322, pt. i, chap. xiii. 52 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " you because of your greater fluency in that tongue, will find it very easy to talk to her." ^ Schiller's judgment is delightfully frank but not perfect. In order to elicit the full truth in regard to this ideal phi- losophy, Mme. de Stael in their discussions probably made use of objections instead of concessions. Moreover, Schil- ler's very imperfect knowledge of the French language hin- dered him no doubt from gaining the full import of her remarks, thus laying the foundation of the slight misunder- standing. He perceived, however, wherein Mme. de Stael's real genius lay, as she likewise was charmed by the German poet's true greatness. In De l'Allemagne she records her first meeting with him on Dec. 14, 1803. " I saw Schiller for the first time in the salon of the Duke and Duchess of Weimar in the presence of a company as enhghtened as it was exalted. He read French very well, but he had never spoken it; I maintained with warmth the superiority of our dramatic system over those of other nations ; he did not refuse to differ from me, and without feeling any uneasiness from the slowness and difficulty with which he expressed himself in French, without dreading the opin- ion of his audience, which was contrary to his own, his inner conviction led him to speak. In order to refute him, at first I made use of French arms, of vivacity and pleas- antry ; but in what Schiller said I soon discovered so many ideas through the impediment of his words, I was so struck with that simplicity of character that induced a man of genius to engage thus in a struggle where words were lack- ing to express his thoughts, I found him so modest and so indifferent in all that concerned his own success, so proud ' Cf. his letters to Korner, Jan. 4, 1804, and to Humboldt, Apr. 2, 1805. Cf. Charlotte von Schiller's letter to Goethe, Dec. 21, 1803. Interest in German Literature 53 and so zealous in the defense of what he considered the truth, that from that very instant I vowed to him a friend- ship replete with admiration." ^ Goethe, absent at the time of Mme. de Stael's arrival, met her on Christmas Eve. His, first impression of her was by no means favorable. In the first place, Goethe was far more unapproachable than Schiller. This fact Henry Crabb Robinson records in his Diary: " While the admira- tion excited by Goethe was accompanied by awe, that which was felt toward Schiller was mixed with love and pity." ^ Although Goethe was more proficient in French than Schil- ler, he, too, seemed annoyed by the " uncommon volubility of her tongue." He, as well as Schiller, felt it a griev- ance that Mme. de Stael should not have learned Ger- man before coming to Germany, for she ought not to expecJP^ Germans in their native land to speak a foreign language. Also, in her first lengthy meeting with Goethe on the morn- ing of January 16, Mme. de Stael had very naively in- formed him that she intended later to print his words.' Not caring to have every chance remark recorded, Goethe shut himself up in his shell, from which he could be enticed only occasionally. Then he became very talkative and in- teresting. Mme. de Stael writes : " When Goethe is induced to talk, he is admirable ; his eloquence is enriched with thought; his pleasantry is at the same time replete with grace and philosophy; his imagination is impressed by ex- ternal objects as was that of ancient artists ; nevertheless his reason possesses in the highest possible degree the ma- turity of our own times. Nothing disturbs the strength of his mind, and even the defects of his character, — ill-humor, ' I, pp. 259-60, pt. ii, chap. viii. 'I, p. 186. 'Goethe's Brief e, No. 4812. Letter to Schiller. 54 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " constraint, embarrassment, — pass like clouds around the foot of that mountain upon the summit of which his genius is placed." 1 In tlie Annalen of 1804 Goethe treats Mme. de Stael's visit, at the same time giving an inkling of his own nature. He says : " To philosophize in society means to discuss with vivacity insolvable problems. This was her special delight and passion. Naturally she carried this on in dia- logue and conversation even in regard to those matters which ought to be the subject of conversation only between God and the individual. At the same time as a woman and as a Frenchwoman too, she had always the habit of insisting positively upon principal points and of not listen- ing attentively to what the other person said. On account of all this my evil genius was aroused, so that everything that came up for discussion, I treated as dialectic, contra- dictory, and problematic, and through my obstinate opposi- tion I brought her almost to the verge of despair, and then for the first time she was very charming, and ex- hibited most brilliantly her cleverness in conversation and repartee." It is clear that Goethe did not always show the better side of his nature. Critics talk about Mme. de Stael's inability to appreciate his genius. I am surprised that in the few days of their intercourse she succeeded so well in penetrating beneath this mask of taciturnity and ill-humor and in discovering many of the chief traits of his character. Among the other Weimaraner whom Mme. de Stael met were Knebel and Bottiger, and Fraulein von Gochhausen, the companion of the Duchess Amalie and the copyist of Goethe's first Faust. At the same time there were some noted Germans then visiting in Weimar: Professor Wolf ^De l'Allemagne, I, pp. 250-51, pt. ii, chap. vii. Interest in GermaIst Literature 55 of Halle,^ Johannes von Miiller, Swiss historian and BerHn counselor,^ and the poet Voss.^ Early in March Mme. de Stael left Weimar for Berlin. She was provided with letters of introduction to Schlegel and to Zelter from Goethe, and with one tp La Forest, the French ambassador, from Joseph Bonaparte. The Weimar court had secured a cordial reception for her there, for Duchess Louise of Saxe- Weimar was the aunt of the Prussian king, Friedrich Wilhelm IIL In Berlin she met the Prince and Princess of Orange, the Prince and Princess of Brunswick, the Prince and Princess Radziwill, the Duchess of Kurland, the Princes Augustus and Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, Baron Brinckmann, the Swedish am- bassador, the Schlegels, Fichte, Ancillon, Zelter, Rahel Levin, Frau Sarah Levy, Mme. de Berg, Kotzebue, Spald- ing, Nicolai, Mme. de Genlis, Comte de Tilly, Sir George Jackson, Drummond, Stevens, Miiller, and numerous ar- tists, diplomats, and professors. She did not, however, feel at home in the great German metropolis. Her admiration for the true German char- acter is shown in her delight in the little provincial city of Weimar, and she bases her conception of German life and character on the ideals displayed in the intellectual life there. To her Weimar was the one spot where the intel- lectual leaders of the race were gathered, the only place where the fine arts inspired a national interest which might serve as a bond of union among different ranks of society.* After a six weeks' stay at Berlin she traveled to Vienna. On account of the death of her father her project for a * Goethe's Brief e, XVII, p. 32, No. 4827, Jan. 25, 1804. 'ibid., XVII, p. SI, No. 4841, Feb. 4, 1804. = Ibid., XVII, p. 77, No. 4857, Feb. 27, 1804. ' Coppet et Weimar, pp. 50-56, Mar. 13, 1804; and cf. De VAllemagne, pt. i, chap. xv. 56 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " lengthy sojourn in Weimar was abandoned. With A. W. Schlegel, whom she had engaged as preceptor of her sons, and with her friend Constant, she returned in May to Coppet. I pass now to the circumstances of her second visit to Germany and to Austria in 1807-08. Her object was to study German Ufa from another point of view, and also to enroll her younger son in the Military Academy at Vienna. Dec. 3, 1807, she announced her departure to the prefect of Geneva. Accompanied by Schlegel she arrived in Munich on the fourteenth of the month. There she saw an old acquaintance, Jacobi, and met the philosopher Schelling, who had married Schlegel's divorced wife, the brilliant Caroline Michaelis, daughter of the Gottingen orientalist. In April 1808 she arrived in Vienna, and received a most hearty reception from Emperor Francis II. and the whole imperial family. Among the new acquaintances that she now formed were the Prince von Ligne, whose works she later edited, the orientalist Joseph von Hammer- Purgstall, the noted physician Baron von Tiirkheim, the poet H. J. von Collin, and Comte de la Marck, the friend of Mirabeau. She likewise attended Schlegel's lectures on dramatic art and literature, delivered before an elite gath- ering of about three hundred persons. These lectures were afterward translated into French by her cousin, Mme. Necker de Saussure (1814). ' After a sojourn of about three weeks in Vienna, Mme. de Stael, in company with Schlegel and Sismondi, decided to proceed to Weimar, where she hoped to see Goethe.'- Since May 12, Goethe had been at Carlsbad, and as soon ' Cf. Schlegel's letter to Goethe, Wien, Jan. 31, 1808, Schriften der Goethe Gesellschaft, XIII, No. 97, 1896. Interest in German Literature 57 as Mme. de Stael learned of the fact she sent him a most cordial invitation to be her guest at Dresden.' He refused the invitation apparently on the ground of the beautiful spring and solitude, though I am confident that he rather dreaded her conversational powers.^ He seemed, however, anxious to know her opinions of the Germans.' July 9, Mme. de Stael arrived in Weimar to find a changed city. In 1806, because of Karl August's patriotic maintenance of German nationality, the city had been plun- dered by the French, its ruler forced to enter the Con- federation of the Rhine, and to pay a war indemnity of 2,200,000 francs. Schiller had passed away, also the Duchess Amalie and her faithful companion, Fraulein von Gochhausen. Wieland was ill at Belvedere, but contrived to come later to Weimar. Bottiger was now in Dresden and Professor Wolf of Halle at Berlin. The Duchess Louise was preparing to journey to the Wilhelmstal. Con- sequently Mme. de Stael remained but ten days, during which time Lotte von Schiller, her sister, Frau von Wol- zogen, Falk, Knebel, and the members of the court did their best to provide entertainment for the illustrious guest To Goethe Lotte von Schiller wrote that while Mme. de Stael was as clever and brilliant as ever, her joyous, ani- mated nature seemed replaced by the seriousness of one who had suffered greatly.* Frankfort, the first German city that Mme. de Stael had ' Goethe Jahrbuch, X, p. 13, No. 6, Goethe's letter to his son, June 3, 1808 ; also Brief e, XX, p. 78, No. 5S44- ' Brief e, XX, p. io8, No. SSSS, July 2, 1808, Goethe's letter to Frau von Stein. ' Ibid., XX, pp. 67-68, No. 5542, May 26, 1808 : " Give us indeed soon your observations about us honest Germans. We deserve to be aroused and encouraged by the good-will of a friendly neighbor and half-kinswoman and to see ourselves in such a dear mirror." * Goethe Jahrbuch, IV, p. 257, No. 52, June 14, 1808. 58 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " visited, gave her likewise her last picture of German Hfe before her departure for Coppet in the early part of July. In 1803 Mme. de Stael had sought to see Goethe's mother, but the old lady steadfastly avoided her.^ Now, July i, 1808, the mother writes to her son: "Mme. de Stael, nee Necker, was here," ^ but the reference is probably to Frank- fort, for she says nothing about actually talking with the great Frenchwoman. Bettina von Arnim in her book, Goethes Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde, has written a most theatrical account of her own meeting with Mme. de Stael at Mainz and that of Frau Goethe in the home of Moritz Bethmann in Frankfort.- Investigation has proved, how- ever, that the whole is a figment of Bettina's most imagina- tive brain, and that Mme. de Stael met neither Frau Goethe nor Bettina in 1808.^ From this narrative one perceives that Mme. de Stael lived on German soil only about a year in all; six and one- half months on her first trip (Nov. 1803-May 1804) and seven months on her second journey (Dec. 1807-July 1808). But her mind was busy with the plan of a work on Ger- many and she was constantly seeking material. Even be- fore she left Weimar the first time (Mar. 1804), she made her first plan of composition and decided, according to Meister, on the name Lettres sur l'Allemagne in analogy to Voltaire's Lettres sur les Anglais* To Gerando she wrote : " When we meet, you will have to aid me in a part of a work that I purpose to write on Germany. I have studied, and shall still study, the new '■Schriften der Goethe Gesellschaft, IV, Nos. 154, 155, 156, 1888; Jan. 13, Jan. 24, Mar. g, 1804, Goethe's mother to her son. 'Ibid., IV, p. 347- ' Cf. Lady Blennerhassett, III, pp. 214-20, and Stevens, II, pp. 21-26. * Lettres inedites, p. 203. Interest in German Literature 59 philosophic and aesthetic systems of Kant, Schelling, Schlegel, etc., and I wish to give an analysis of them. I must first, however, read what you have written on them. I do not pretend to write metaphysics ; but to give an estimate of the Germans and of the spirit which character- izes their literature, it will be requisite to give a simple and popular view of their philosophic theories." ^ Of the composition of that work the following chapter treats. " Stevens, I, p. 329. CHAPTER III • DE L'ALLEMAGNE IN THE MAKING Heine in his clever and ironical way represents Mme. de Stael as the " sultana of thought " accompanied by her " loyal cicerone, August Wilhelm Schlegel," taking a jour- ney " through all the attic rooms of German literature," and says : " She had, as it were, our writers pass intel- lectually in review, and thus she parodied the great sultan of matter. Just as he approached his people with a ' How old are you ? how many children have you ? how many years of service ? etc.,' so she asked our writers : ' How old are you? what have you written? are you a follower of Kant or of Fichte ? ' and such things, whereupon the lady scarcely awaited the answer, which her loyal Mameluke, August Wilhelm Schlegel, her Rustan, hastily inscribed in his notebook." ^ This humorous burlesque has a grain of truth, for Mme. de Stael did try to see personally all the great men and women of Germany, and did question them about their par- ticular field of , investigation. When George Ticknor was in Berlin, the Prussian statesman, Ancillon, told him an amusing ^necdote of Mme. de Stael's first meeting with Fichte; she requested the metaphysician to give her a sur- vey of his philosophy in a quarter of an hour, and after- ward said that she understood him perfectly, and that his ^ Werke, Cotta ed., VIII, p. lO: Deutschland. Cf. Ticknor, I, p. 497- 60 " De l'AlLEMAGNE " IN THE MAKING 6l system was strikingly illustrated by one of Baron von Miinchhausen's stories.^ In fact, Mme. de Stael's purpose on her journey had been to absorb as much information as possible about Ger- many in a short space of time, to examine the people from all sides candidly and conscientiously, and then to give forth to the world the true spirit of the nation, as it had been revealed to her by study and observation. To this Schiller and Goethe both testify.^ To aid in accomplishing this purpose, Mme. de Stael , enlisted in her service not only the brilliant stars, but the lesser lights as well. In Weimar she found an eager assist- ant in the person of Karl August B5ttiger, an archaeologist, director of the gymnasium, and the author of Sabina and Griechische Vasengemdlde. He it was who introduced her to Henry Crabb Robinson, an English scholar well versed in German and one who could initiate her into the mysteries of German philosophy. Of their relations Robin- son took note in his Diary, from which I quote : " I re- ceived a note from Bottiger, the curious beginning of which is worth translating : ' Mme. de Stael, from whose lips flow spirit and honeyed speech (Geist und Honigrede), wishes to make your acquaintance, dearest Sir and Friend. She longs for a philosophical conversation with you, and is now busy with the Cahier (notes) on Schelling's Esthetics, which I possess through your kindness. She has in- deed translated some portions of them with admirable skill." ' ' Life, Letters, and Journals, I, pp. 497-98. ' Karoline von Wolzogen : Schiller's Lehen, Cotta ed., p. 258. Cf. Schiller's letter to Goethe, Dec. 21, 1803: "She has a veritable hunger for ideas." Cf. also Goethe's Werke, Cotta ed., VII, p. 656, Annalen of 1804. ' Diary, I, pp. 1 73-75, 178. 62 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " " I may say that she had a laudable anxiety to obtain a knowledge of the best German authors ; and for this reason she sought my society, and I was not unwilling to be made use of by her. She said, and the general remark is true, ' The English mind is in the middle between the German and the French, and is a medium of communication between them.' I understand you better than I do any German with whom I have ever spoken." Another writer to whom Bottiger applied for assistance on behalf of Mme. de Stael was Major Ludwig von Knebel. He was absent from Weimar on the occasion of Mme. de Stael's first visit there, but was a great admirer of her writings and genius, and joined in the enthusiasm of his sister Henriette, who kept him informed of the great lady's movements. Bottiger asked Knebel to write for Mme. de Stael a memoir on German literature and the Weimar circle. Knebel complied with this request, and Feb. 3, 1804, sent the article to his friend, suggesting, however, that since the work was necessarily incomplete, it was meant for Mme. de Stael's use alone. ^ But " Friend Ubique," as Goethe and Schiller nicknamed Bottiger, instead of delivering the essay to Mme. de Stael, incurred Knebel's reproach by reading it aloud at court. Karl Emil Franzos, who treats tliis subject exhaustively, includes in his essay a copy of this memoir. He decides ' " What I ought still to say concerning the article, in order to make myself clearly understood in regard to the merits of the German literary tendencies, is, that the French poetry is far more rhetorical than cultural and that it is the latter aim for which the Germans are striving. But the difference is infinite between mere talk and actual creation or production. Yet do not think by any means that I wish to extol the Germans too much. They are lacking in taste alone, and here Mme. de Stael was entirely right. ' The Germans are generally deficient in taste.' " Goethe Jahrbuch, X, pp. 123-24, 1889. " De l'AlLEMAGNE " IN THE MAKING 63 that there is no proof that Knebel's paper influenced Mme. de Stael in forming her judgment of German literature.^ In my opinion the judgment of Franzos is correct, for the criticisms offered by Knebel were common property at this time, and if Mme. de Stael did read the memoir, she probably learned nothing that was new to her. Heine, who, by the way, does not disdain to borrow the title of De I'Allemagne for the French version of his Romantische Schule and Gestdndnisse, maintains that the ideas and literary merit of De I'Allemagne were borrowed from the romanticist Schlegel, and writes : " Mme. de Stael, of glorious memory, has here in due form opened a salon in which she received German writers and gave them an opportunity to introduce themselves to the French civilized world; but in the uproar of the various voices, which scream from this book, may be heard most distinctly the fine treble of Mr. A. W. Schlegel. Where she is en- tirely herself, where the great-hearted woman expresses herself directly with her whole beaming heart, with all the fireworks of her intellectual rockets and brilliant frenzies, there her book is excellent. But as soon as she listens to the whisperings of others, as soon as she extols a school, the character of which is entirely foreign and incompre- hensible to her, as soon as she through her praise of this school furthers certain ultramontane tendencies, which are in direct contradiction to her Protestant clearness, then her book is miserable and unenjoyable. It happens therefore that besides her conscious favoritism, she practices a con- ' " It is possible that Bottiger read aloud to her the memoir; it is possible that she took notes from it and turned them into good account; but this cannot be answered any more definitely than can the contrary.'' Goethe Jahrbuch, X, pp. 137-38. 64 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " scious partiality, and by her praise of the intellectual life and idealism of Germany she really intends to censure the contemporary realism of the French and the material pomp of the imperial epoch. Her book De l'Allemagne resembles in this respect the Germania of Tacitus, who perhaps by his apology of the Germans intended to write an indirect satire against his countrymen." ^ And in Gestdndnisse he continues : " The good lady saw in our country only what she wanted to see; a misty land of spirits, where human beings without bodies, wholly virtuous, wander over snowy meadows and discourse of morals and metaphysics. . . . She sees everywhere German spiritualism ; she praises only our honesty, our virtue, our intellectual culture . . . she does not see our barracks, our brothels, our penitentiaries . . . one might believe that every German deserved the Monthyon prize." ^ In reading Heine's criticism, one must not forget his excessive admiration for Napoleon and his dislike of the Schlegels, which would naturally lead him to disparage the work of Napoleon's great poHtical antagonist. Further- more, we must remember that Heine belonged to a later period of Hterary activity, when social and political condi- tions were vastly different. When he declares that Mme. de Stael's picture of German Hfe is ideal and not true to actual conditions, one may find a grain of truth in the re- mark, but one must also maintain that inasmuch as her ideals were those of Goethe and of Schiller, who are considered the truest representatives of German character, her por- trayal of German life and culture is in accordance with the true Germanic spirit.^ Heine, intent on observing only the " Werke, VII, p. 122 : Deutschland, I. 'Ibid., VIII, p. II. ' Cf. Mme. de Stael's letter to the Grand Duchess Louise of " De l'AlLEMAGNE " IN THE MAKING 65 flaws of humanity,, failed to recognize the good in man. Goethe, Schiller, and Mme. de Stael, trusting to the good in humanity, ignored human frailties as insignificant factors in the constant evolutionary progress of mankind toward the Godhead. In view of the extraordinary effect of Mme. de Stael's book the question whether her portrayal of German life was correct in the photographic sense of the word seems immaterial. If it is true that Mme. de Stael did see the better side of Germanic civilization, then it was due to her optimistic temperament, rather than to the influence of the Schlegels. Niebuhr strongly opposed the idea that Schlegel could be considered in any way responsible for De I' Allemagne } Before the work was published in 1813 Goethe had read a portion of the manuscript lent him by C. F. von Rein- hard, who had probably received it from Villers or Con- stant. In a letter to Reinhard the poet acknowledges the favor and remarks upon Mme. de Stael's correct judgment of his shorter works. ^ After the appearance of the entire work he wrote to Heinrich Meyer, March 7, 1814, of his belief that the author had formed her judgments and opin- Saxe-Weimar, Mar. 13, 1804, in Lenormant: Coppet et Weimar, Paris, 1862. Cf. Gustave Lanson : Histoire de la Litterature frangaise, Paris, 1908, loth ed., p. 871 : " This Germany, which is not that of Heinrich Heine, was real at a certain date ; what interests us here is that, in spite of Heinrich Heine, it remained until 1870 the Germany of our writers and artists." ' " The chapters on Goethe, North Germany, and Vienna are especially excellent, and even the great mistakes and errors in a number of instances prove that the book bearing her name cannot possibly be the intellectual property of Schlegel. He cannot even have read it over before its publication.'' Cf. Lady Blennerhassett, HI, p. 388. = Brief e, XXH, p. 268, No. 6256, Feb. 13, 1812. 66 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " ions entirely independently.^ Such testimony should have weight, for if Mme. de Stael incorporated in her book views she had expressed before she met Schlegel, and which he probably would not have ratified, it does not look as though she were a blind reflector or imitator of anyone's opinions or sentiments. In a long and interesting article entitled Frau von Stael's Buck " De l'Allemagne " und Wilhelm Schlegel, a leading German critic, Dr. Oscar FeHx Walzel, has compared Mme. de Stael's book with the writings of the German Romantic School, and because there was some resemblance in con- tent, he has inferred that the work of the Frenchwoman more or less reflected the views of A. W. Schlegel, and formed the connecting link between French and German romanticism. " Mme. de Stael," he says, " has maintained her independence where she had to judge of poets and poetry. In almost all questions of culture, science, religion, and of plastic art she has gone over into the camp of the romanticists. When she propounds views that do not ac- cord with those of the romanticists, then these are pre- sented mostly as the acquisitions of older times, as the products of her relations with Villers and his circle." ^ In this discussion Walzel has entirely ignored the fact that two persons wholly independent of each other may arrive at similar conceptions of truth and philosophy. Because in many respects Mme. de Stael's views coincide with those of Schlegel, he has inferred that she must neces- sarily have been influenced by him. He has left wholly out of consideration her own Teutonic character and the ' " She has taken incredible pains to conceive a clear notion of us Germans." Goethe Jahrbuch, IV, p. 163, 1883. ' Forschungen zur neueren Liieraturgeschichte, Festgabe fur Richard Heinzel, Weimar, 1898, pp. 275-333. " De l'AlLEMAGNE " IN THE MAKING 67 sentiments she expressed in her earlier critical and philosophical works, especially in De la Litterature. As I have already pointed out in reference to Corinne, Mme. de Stael does owe her appreciation of art to the fine critical sense of Schlegel, but in literature, ethics, religion, and philosophy, she exhibited the same general views she had entertained, perhaps dimly, at the time she wrote De la Litterature, in which she stated her preference for the literature of the North. ^ Joseph Texte, in his studies of German influence in France,^ declares that Mme. de Stael's description of Ger- many is somewhat nebulous and ideal, not like the practical, matter-of-fact land of the present day, an assertion with which I agree. But this romantic tinge is, in my opinion, the result of her own temperament, education, and early associations. According to Stendhal, " romantic poetry is the poetry of Shakespeare, of Schiller, and of Lord Byron." ^ Mme. de Stael was well read in English litera- ture, and her essay on Shakespeare* was the first attempt in France to vindicate the dramatist against the prejudices of Voltaire. As far as I know, no modern author has given a truer characterization of the genius of this poet of the North. In fact, Schlegel's delineation of Shake- speare in his Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature ^ bears so many points of resemblance to Mme. de Stael's earlier essay that one might infer that he had borrowed ^ Pt. i, chap, ii, p. 253. ^ Les Origines de I'Influence allemande dans la Litterature fran- gaise du XIX^ Steele; L'Intluence allemande dans le Romanticisme frangaise; J. J. Rousseau et les Origines de Cosmopolitisme lit- teraire, ' Cf. Texte : /. /. Rousseau, p. 454. * De la Litterature, pt. i, chap. xiii. ° Bohn's translation, 1909; Lectures 22 to 37. 68 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " ideas from her; but, oil the contrary, we know that he was engaged on his translations from the English poet before he ever met Mme. de Stael. This apparent similarity in opinion, to use Schlegel's own words (in his discussion of Calderon and Shakespeare), was due to the "same or, at least, a kindred principle ... in the development of both." ^ This " principle common to both," again quoting from Schlegel (comparison of Gozzi with the foreign mas- ters of the romantic drama), "was founded in nature."^ " What they [Mme. de Stael and Schlegel as well as Shakespeare and Calderon] have in common with each other is the spirit of romantic poetry, giving utterance to itself in literary form." ^, The testimony of an eye-witness should have value. Adam Oehlenschlager, the Danish dramatist, who wrote his tragedy of Correggio under Mme. de Stael's roof, in recounting his visit to Coppet, tells how his hostess always spoke German to him. She was then writing her work on Germany, parts of which she read each day to her circle of admirers. " Mme. de Stael," he writes, " received me very kindly and asked me to remain several weeks at Coppet, all the while gracefully jesting with me about my faulty French. I started then to speak German to her ; she understood that language very well, and her two children also understood and spoke it very well. At her home I found Benjamin Constant, August Schlegel, the elderly Baron Voght of Altona, Bonstetten of Geneva, the celebrated Sismondi de Sismondi, and the Comte de Sabran, the only one of all this company who did not know German. ... At that ' Lecture 22, p. 341. ^Lecture 16, p. 227. ' Lecture 22, p. 342. " De l'AlLEMAGNE " IN THE MAKING 69 time she was writing her book on Germany, and every day she read a portion of it to us. She has been accused of not having studied herself the books of which she has spoken in this work and of having submitted completely to the judgment of Schlegel. It is false. She read German with the greatest facility. Schlegel probably did have some influence over her, but very often she differed from him in opinion, and she reproved his partiality." ^ This testimony by Oehlenschlager is also corroborated by a critic in the North American Review of July 1820. He writes : " We happen to know that Frederick Schlegel, who taught her German in Paris before she went to Ger- many, has declared that he read with her most of the books of which she has spoken in her De I'Allemagne, and that she was sufficiently acquainted with German litera- ture to have written the work without assistance from anyone ; and that August Wilhelm Schlegel equally dis- claims all participation in its opinions or its composition. Moreover, it was not for a mind like Mme. de Stael's to borrow tamely from anyone." ^ The opinion of so excellent a literary- critic as Wieland is of importance in this question. He says that Schlegel seems to have had very little influence on her judgment of German literature, whereas her influence upon the brothers Schlegel was very pronounced.^ Lady Blennerhassett, who likewise considers this ques- tion, says : " A connoisseur, such as Schlegel, enabled her to dispense with the unwieldy compendiums, the Kiittners and the Kochs, which had to take the place of histories of ^ Larousse : Grand Dictionnaire universel, XIV, p. 1047. Cf. Stevens, II, pp. 40-41. ' XI, pp. 138-39- ' Cf. Lady Blennerhassett, III, p. 213. Letter to J. F. Freiherr von Retzer, Weimar, June 20, 1808. 70 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " literature, and in which Mme. de Stael would probably never have found her way." ^ To this view I fully accede. Schlegel's profound erudition enabled Mme. de Stael to gain in a short time knowledge that might have required many years of deep research with the proper library facilities. According to Robinson, Schlegel also directed her reading to a certain extent. He writes in his Diary: " She confessed that in her selection of books she was guided by A. W. Schlegel; otherwise, she added, a whole life would not have been sufficient to collect such informa- tion." ^ In this way Schlegel opened up new lines of thought for her fertile mind. He polished the glass of her vision and enabled her to define in more distinct outlines those general notions which she had perceived but dimly before. It was Robinson who advised Mme. de Stael to cultivate Schlegel's acquaintance — Goethe furnished the letter of introduction ^— and his opinion, being an expres- sion of a deep and continued interest in her activities, should be final and decisive. " There are many opinions in the book which Schlegel probably would have protested against being thought to have suggested. . . . All that is best in that work, the section on life and manners in Ger- many, came from 'herself alone." * The actual work on De l'Allemagne was an affair of grand proportions and with the full connivance of the large circle of friends Mme. de Stael kept about her at Coppet. Just as Voltaire held court at Ferney, so Mme. de Stael, after her banishment from Paris, made the chateau of Coppet near Geneva one of the social and literary cen- ' Lady Blennerhassett, III, p. 386, chap. vi. ' I, p. 422. ^ Schriften der Goethe Gesellschaft, XIII, pp. 172-73, No. 96, 1898. ^ Diary, 1, pp. 182-83. " De l'AlLEMAGNE " IN THE MAKING 7I ters of Europe. Since she could not go to visit her Pari- sian friends, they came to see her. Of her salon Friederike Brun wrote : " The quintessence of the best company is found in her mansion. It is there by the law of affinity." ^ Charles Victor Bonstetten, the " Swiss Voltaire " and phi- losopher, said : " There is more intellect displayed at Coppet in one day than in many whole countries in a year." ^ To enumerate all the guests would be impossible. One can only wish that a register of names had been kept at Coppet for the benefit of posterity. In my investigation I kept a partial list of Mme. de Stael's personal acquaint- ances, and the mere enumeration of names would requ'.re several sheets of paper. Hence I shall content myself with naming but a few persons. Besides the regular members of the household who were cited by Oehlenschlager, and those who figure among the correspondents, there were Mme. Necker de Saussure, the cousin and friend of the hostess, a translator and author of merit ; Mme. Vigee le Brun, the celebrated artist who painted Mme. de Stael as " Corinne " ; Mme. Rilliet, nee Huber, the girlhood friend of the hostess; Johannes von Miiller, the Swiss historian and Prussian educator; Frau Emilie von Berlepsch, the German author of Caledonia; Lullin de Chateauvieux, the Swiss agriculturist and later the author of the Manuscrit de Saint-Helene, an apology of Napoleon; Christian Fried- rich Tieck, the German sculptor and brother of the roman- ticist; Adelbert von Chamisso, the creator of Peter Schlemihl; Prince Augustus of Prussia, the royal suitor of Mme. Recamier; Karl Ritter, the geographer and Berlin professor; Vincenzo Monti, the Italian poet and professor of eloquence at Pavia ; Lacretelle, the journalist and historian who wrote Histoire de France pendant le ' Land. Quar. R., CLII, p. 16, July, 1881. 72 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " XVIIP Siecle; Baron Cuvier, the famous French states- man and naturaHst, the founder of the science of com- parative botany; the Prince of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, brother-in-law of the Emperor Alexander I. ; Rosalie de Constant, the faithful cousin of Benjamin Constant; Zacharias Werner, the German dramatist, whose Schick- salstragodie, Der vierundswanzigste Februar, was acted at the theater of Coppet; Chateaubriand, author of Atala and of the Genie du Christianisme ; Claude, Baron de Barante, the French writer and the prefect of the Department of Leman; his son, Prosper, also a statesman and historian; Pictet de Sergy, editor of the Bibliotheque ; and a host of travelers and minor writers. What was the magnet that attracted men and women to Mme. de Stael? Certainly not beauty of face or form, for aside from her large soulful eyes she had no feature particularly pleasing. Was it her intellect alone? Others have had just as remarkable a mind. Perhaps her un- usual conversational powers? History records other bril- liant salonnieres. These qualities alone would not have produced her wonderful ascendency over others. Intel- lect and eloquence she had, but of far more value were her earnestness, love of truth, and confidence in humanity. Intellect is not contagious, nor is conversational talent in- fectious; but love begets love, confidence is the parent of confidence; and earnestness, like mirth, is catching. Her ardent enthusiasm and glowing eloquence aroused in her associates a kindred emotion, and for the time being the mind and heart of hostess and guests beat in unison of thought and feeling. According to Mme. Le Brun,^ the hostess reserved the * Gribble, p. 197. Cf. Stevens, II, chap, xxvi, and Appleton's Journal, May, 1881, XXV, p. 446. " De L'AlLEMAGNE " IN THE MAKING 73 morning for her literary work and the afternoon for her guests. Her method of work is interesting, as it indicates the intense desire she had to get at the truth of things and to be strictly impartial. Each morning she arranged a new chapter of De I'Allemagne and during the afternoon and dinner directed the conversation on that particular subject. The next day she wrote it out in full and corrected the proof; then the manuscript was copied by her secretary, after which she read passages to her friends, receiving their suggestions, approval or disapproval. After this the work was corrected again and recopied.^ The publication of a work of the scope and spirit of De I'Allemagne would, in the Europe of Napoleon, nat- urally present almost insurmountable difficulties. The censor, to be sure, to whom Mme. de Stael, in accordance with the imperial decree of Feb. lo, 1810, submitted the manuscript for approval, suppressed but a few minor passages ; the announcement of the book was duly recorded in the Mercure,^ and by September 23, ten thousand copies had been printed. Meanwhile, however. Napoleon had read the work. He felt that its spirit was antagonistic to his despotic policy; moreover, he was mortified that Mme. de Stael, as in her previous work, De la Litterature, entirely ignored the existence of the great Emperor. Accordingly he ordered his satellite, General Savary, Minister of the Police, to confiscate and destroy the whole edition, together with the manuscript; also to command the author to leave France within twenty-four hours. General Savary's reply to Mme. de Stael's request for an audience with Napoleon in order to ask the reason for this action and entreat a respite of eight days, stated that her exile was not a result '■ Cf. Liv. Age, CXX, p. 36, Jan., 1874- ' Cf. American Review (Walsh), I, p. 198, Jan., 1811. 74 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " of her silence regarding Napoleon but of her absolute lack of sympathy with France: her last work was not French.'^ After this outrage and a new order of exile, Mme. de Stael returned to Coppet, instead of going to America, as she had formerly planned to do. With her she had the precious manuscript, saved by the presence of mind of her son Auguste, who concealed the original and gave an im- perfect copy to the police. At Coppet she was virtually watched as a prisoner of war by Napoleon's agents.^ No friends were permitted to visit her; and Mme. Recamier, Montmorency, and the Chevalier St. Priest, who dared to violate this order, were also banished. Schlegel was ex- pelled from her home as a dangerous influence; all mail was opened and read; and Mme. de Stael was not allowed by the new imperial prefect of Geneva, Capelle, to journey any further than four leagues from her estate. At last, weary of this torture, she determined on flight. Her aim was to reach England by a roundabout way over the Continent, and there print her manuscript. May 22, 1812, with her daughter and elder son, she departed in a carriage, apparently only for a drive, and escaped to Vienna. As soon as the police discovered their flight, placards were posted everywhere for their detention or obstruction, and pursuit followed in hot haste. Through Moravia and Galicia- Mme. de Stael fled, dogged by spies, harassed by delays and hardships, and tortured by hair- breadth escapes, until July 14th she reached the Russian boundary, just a few days after the French had crossed the Niemen. In Moscow she was welcomed by the royal family, for Russia was now the enemy of Napoleon, since Czar Alexander had refused to carry out Napoleon's de- ^ Preface to De l'Allemagne. ' Cf. Eclectic Review, XXXIV, p. 418, Nov., 1821. " De l'AlLEMAGNE " IN THE MAKING 75 structive Continental System. But the French were ad- vancing; there was no safety for Mme. de Stael in Mos- cow ; accompanied by the Czar, she proceeded to St. Petersburg. In this city were congregated many of the enemies of Napoleon, among them the German poet Arndt, Dornberg, and the Freiherr vom Stein. One evening be- fore a small company she read some portions of her work on Germany, including the chapter on Enthusiasm. " It touched me deeply," the Freiherr wrote August i to his wife, " through the depth and nobility of thought and feeling, expressed with an eloquence that reaches the heart." ^ September 7th, the day of the French victory at Boro- dina, witnessed her departure for Stockholm. Here she saw her old-time friend, Jean Bernadotte, a former mar- shal of France and the brother-in-law of Joseph Bona- parte, and influenced him to become an active power in the defection of the German princes from the French allegiance. Mme. de .Stael remained all winter in Stock- holm, and her home there served as an organized secret service bureau for the European courts. February 1813 was issued a pamphlet, Sur le Systeme Continental et sur ses Rapports avec la Suede, which bore Schlegel's name on the second reprint, but was probably dictated by Mme. de Stael. Mme. de Chastenay could write with perfect truth in her Memoires: " In Europe there are three powers: Eng- land, Russia, and Mme. de Stael." ^ In June Mme. de Stael sailed with her children for Eng- land. Her reception everywhere in London was a con- tinual ovation. It is said that people mounted chairs to get a glimpse of her at receptions. Byron even journeyed " Cf. Lady Blennerhassett, III, p. 345. ° Ed. Review, CCII, p. 107, July, 1905. 76 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " sixty miles to Middleton, the home of Lord Jersey, to be presented to her, where, as he later wrote, " In common with many others I bowed not the knee, but the head and heart in homage to an extraordinary woman, driven from her own country by the most extraordinary man." ' In London she sold her manuscript to the publisher Murray for fifteen hundred guineas, and Robinson, who had assisted her in philosophy in Weimar, helped draw up the contract.- Murray himself attended to the issue of the French edition, and had another printer, S. Gosnell, prepare a similar edition of the English translation. As fate would have it, the French text appeared the same month that the decisive victory of Leipzig was won by the Allies (Oct. i6, i8, and 19, 1813) ; the former the vindication of German intellect, the latter of German freedom. The following year an American reprint from the English translation was published in New York, and, to quote Lamartine, its contents became not only " the sub- ject of the conversation of Europe," but of America as well.' ' Elisabeth de Nolde : Mine, de Stael and Benjamin Constant, New York and London, igo7, p. 128. ' Diary, I, p. 416. ' Cf. Blackwood's Mag., Oct., 1823. " Madame de Stael's Ger- many is in every hand." CHAPTER IV CLASSICISM AND ROMANTICISM IN DE L'ALLEMAGNE Since Mme. de Stael's De I'Allemagne stands, for a Frenchwoman at least, at the parting ways of traditional literary criticism, the question of her criteria of taste is an important one. Educated, as she was, in the traditions and atmosphere of French classicism, she quite naturally developed her aesthetic convictions along these classic lines, It is a fascinating study to trace thus, how she began to doubt the infallibility of the classical code, and how the new aesthetic principles embodied in the works of German literature gradually gained ascendency in her mind. It is most fascinating, too, to watch in her the struggle between the Romantic and the Germanic spirit, and to observe the process of liberation which the latter produces in her — a process symbolic of the liberation brought about by her book in the mind of Carlyle and many others. The French classical school, as is well known, was in- augurated by the Pleiade. It chose the Alexandrine as the French heroic measure, advised a special poetic diction, and advocated the imitation of the ancient classics and the substitution of their forms of poetic expression — the ode, epic, and satire — for the native national forms of poetry. This new French school was characterized by a spirit of intellectual aristocracy; and its less capable followers loaded the language with useless terms and ingenious peri- phrases. In this way the ancient grace and simplicity of movement were gradually lost. 77 78 Madame de Stael's "De l'Allemagne" " Finally Malherbe came," says Boileau. At first a fol- lower of Ronsard, Malherbe reformed the reformation started by his predecessor. He aimed at purity of lan- guage, placed reason above sensibility, and advocated gen- eral rather than individual sentiment. The task begun by Malherbe was completed by Boileau in his Art poetique. Granted that the poet possesses genius, his work is naught, unless it is founded upon truth and reason. Nature is, of course, the model, but it is nature discerned and corrected by reason. Only the literature that is true to this kind of nature will survive the test of time. Inasmuch as the ancient classics have been so tried and still have perma- nent value, they should be taken as guides in all literary production. Boileau's influence, like Pope's in England, was very salutary for his time ; but unfortunately his range of vision was too limited and his survey of literature too narrow to include the truths and splendors of mediaeval art and poetry. Of his work Mme. de Stael writes : " In perfect- ing the taste and language of his country, Boileau has given to French genius, it cannot be denied, a disposition very unfavorable for poetic composition. He has spoken only of what ought to be avoided; he has insisted only upon the precepts of reason and wisdom, which have in- troduced into literature a sort of pedantry, very prejudicial to the sublime soaring of the arts." ^ This reign of reason exerted, nevertheless, a firm and lasting influence in lit- erature. Even as late as 1859 J. J. Weiss, speaking of Regnard, pleads the ascendency of mind over heart and imagination. " Listen and tell me, if mind, pure mind, mind temperate and keen, mind which restrains and gov- erns itself, the most intimate essence of ourselves, in short, " De I'Allemagnet I, p. 281, pt. ii, chap. x. Classicism and Romanticism 79 people of Paris, of Gascony, and of Champagne, cannot be a source of poetry quite as well as exalted and dark imagination, furious passions, the. heart which gnaws itself and hypochondria." To what extent did Mme. de Stael share these views of French classicism ? We have already noted, in a preceding section,^ how ten years before the publication of De I' Allemagne , before even she had devoted herself to a per- sonal research of the motive forces of German literature and their outward manifestations, Mme. de Stael had grasped, almost as well as ever afterwards, the essence of German culture in her work De la Litterature. We have seen what primary stress she laid on the emotional element in literature as against a mere polish and delicacy of style coupled with a development of dazzling wit. Voltaire thus she would appraise as much inferior to Racine in that he lacks vital interest in active life from other than a rational standpoint.^ Rousseau — Mme. de Stael pursues this thought — discovered nothing, but he set everything ablaze by searching into the immutable nature of man : the senti- ment of equality produces more disturbance than that of liberty, conscious feeling is of superior worth to mental conviction.^ ^ Reason, to be sure, has value as a mentor to approve that which enthusiasm has exalted. It judges the other faculties, but does not take the place of soul. If man but studies himself, he will find that the love of virtue pre- cedes the faculty of reflection, that it is involuntary and connected with his physical nature. Moreover such in- nate love of virtue constitutes a basic element of religion, ' Cf. pp. 37-41- ' Pt. i, chap. xiii. ' Pt. i, chap. XX ; pt. ii, chap. i. 8o Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " for divinity is but the power of truth united to natural eloquence.^ This faculty of arousing all the emotions of the heart by the expression of simple truth and pure sentiments im- plies an acquaintance with the most useful secret of ele- gant style.^ But what is style? It is not an art that can be acquired by the understanding, it is the genuine out- pouring of the heart and is inspired by the conscience of an honest man.' If an author is to acquire eloquence, he must express his own natural impulses ; emotion, character must animate his writings.* Therefore good taste is not de- pendent upon rules, but upon the impression created in an unbiased mind. If a literary work makes one feel nobler and better, it has genius and beauty, though it violates all the so-called rules of taste. Far better is a drama full of great faults but with beauty of genius stamped upon it, than a writing of mediocre thought and sentiment though polished and correct in form. Intrinsic worth supersedes outward elegance. Moral nature is more energetic than the French tragedies have hitherto described it. The splendor derived from ex- alted rank has introduced into the French tragic drama a cer- tain frigidity in depicting the emotions of the soul. Veiled expressions, restrained sentiments, and guarded proceed- ings do indeed require great talent of representation, but the passions cannot be portrayed with that heart-rending energy, that deep penetration, which is inspired only by absolute independence.^ Although the classic works of antiquity exhibit such ^ Pt. ii, chaps, vi and viii. ' Pt. ii, chap. i. ' Pt. ii, chap. vii. ' Pt. i, chap. xvi. °Pt. ii, chap. V. Classicism and Romanticism 8i excellent qualities of form and subject-matter that we cannot but admire their simple and beautiful taste in the fine arts and their energy and enthusiasm for everything good and sublime, we should study them, not for the pur- pose of slavish imitation, but only for the sake of appie- ciation. They are not infallible criteria. Their peculiar characteristics harmonize with the individuality of their nation and are indigenous to classic soil; but they do not accord with modern civilization. Life is progressive and modern drama has advanced in that it displays not only the art of poetry, but a profound knowledge of the human passions. Not one of the great Greek tragedians can equal the perfection of the English writers in displaying human woe and that melancholy which is the genuine in- spiration of true genius, and so distinctive of the present age.^ The grand effects of the English and German drama- tists, especially in depicting terror, were not borrowed from Greek or mythological subjects, but from superstitions suitable to the credulity of their time.^ They have dis- covered the art of exciting by pictures of distress those sublime emotions that are felt by all energetic minds. Also in the representation of love by the author of Werther and by the English poets, we find a perfection that proves beyond a doubt the genius of the writer, and shows that in all literary works, the aim of which is suc- cess, we find par excellence the general spirit of the nation and of the century in which the author lived; in short, we find a popular element.^ Nay, more, in imitating the ancients, the natural genius of modern nations is impaired, for the beauties of a litera- ' Pt. i, chap, ii ; pt. ii, chap. v. ^ Pt. i, chaps, xi and xiv. ' Pt. i, chap. xi. 82 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " ture are dependent upon the imagination, language, climate, and a variety of circumstances which cannot be transported elsewhere, whereas defects are very contagious and this affectation checks the source of all truth, and renders truth, thus arrayed, a disgusting bauble.^ The models of an- tiquity should be studied in order to gain their secret of good taste, not to fill modern works with the ideas and inventions of the ancients; for the impression produced by the poet who first succeeded in imparting a certain idea will be stronger than all subsequent repetitions of the same theme.^ The French Revolution inaugurated a new era — a new ' condition of social, political, and intellectual life. Man is now the dbject of attention, and the dignity of common life and of current events is of more value than mere conventional ideals. Even the Greek metaphysicians, though justly renowned for their sensibility and melan- choly, have not the power to create emotion, as do the modern philosophers. Their virtue consisted merely in love of fame and stoicism — external rather than internal qualities.'* Modern philosophy is superior to theirs in that it represents ideas and sentiments as inseparably connected, and shows that emotion incites to reflection and gives to the mind a rapid and profound penetration.* From the peculiar nature of modern philosophy and from the melancholy, imaginative character of the present age, has arisen the new and powerful force of modern eloquence. Even among the ancients there is not a single writer nor a single orator that can equal Bossuet, Rous^ ' Pt. i, chap. X. ^ Pt. i, chap. xix. Cf. pt. ii, chap, v, and pt. i, chap. ii. " Pt. i, chaps, iv-v. ' Pt. i, chap. XX ; pt. ii, chap. ix. Classicism and Romanticism 83 seau, the English or the German in the sublime art of moving the heart.^ This then is the new ideal of modern civilization — power of heart, dignity of man, and mutual service. This new ideal is already well portrayed in the English and German literatures, and while the French should not imitate their mode of representation, yet their underlying sentiment merits close attention. Their philo- sophic spirit, making common property of the ideas and system of political equality, ought to give to French trage- dies a new character. There is no reason for rejecting historical subjects, but great men ought to be portrayed with those sentiments that arouse whole-hearted sympathy. Instead of trying to perfect the ideas of conventionality, the aim should be to ennoble nature, to confer dignity upon commonplace circumstance, and to paint with true simplicity the great events of life.^ From the foregoing statements it is evident that Mme. de Stael's criterion of literary criticism bore, in its theoretic and stimulating aspects, close relation to the ideals of the German writers — of Goethe and of Schiller, those early leaders of the German Romantic School. This new Ger- man literature was characterized by a synthetic and sub- jective spirit. Individualism and nationality were its watchwords ; feeling, imagination, and enthusiasm the underlying forces requiring expression ; the development of the highest human culture its goal. Religion was but a name for noble feelings and aspirations; morality was dependent upon action devoid of personal interest and upon the impulsive inclinations of the heart ; sim- plicity meant the natural outpourings of the soul and the involuntary gesture of character; philosophy be- " Pt. i, chap. ix. ' Pt. ii, chap. V, p. 310. 84 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " came the study of man and of nature in all their varied aspects. In the present work Mme. de Stael makes no mention of the word " romantique," and I do not know of any in- stance of its use in French literature at this time. How- ever, she does use the expression " romanesque " to desig- nate the poetry of chivalry in the literature of the North. Also in De l'Allemagne she states that " romantique " is a name given in Germany to the poetry born of chivalry and Christianity.^ Despite the difference of nomenclature, the underlying idea is the same ; and it is evident that she had the conception of the romantic prior to her acquaint- ance with SchlegelJ' If we now pass to Mme. de Stael's critical conceptions as evidenced by De l'Allemagne after a more careful study of the German authors in their native language, we shall find the same general approximation with German Ro- manticism, coupled with adherence to the formal elements of Classicism. The difference between the French and German theaters is again laid to the divergence in national taste,^ because between minds developed in solitude and those formed in society there must arise wholly different conceptions of art, literature, philosophy, and Hfe.' All that relates to action, intrigue, interest of events, external life, is better conceived by the French, but all that depends on the im- pressions of the heart, on the development of strong pas- sions, on the portrayal of character, is much better treated by the Germans. ' De la Litterature, pt. i, chap, x, p. 247 ; De l'Allemagne, I, p. 310, pt. ii, chap. V. ' Cf. also pp. 66-70. -f- * Pt. ii, chaps, i and xv. Classicism and Romanticism 85 Nature is not always grand and majestic in her various phases of thought and action. She unites the sublime with the ridiculous and thereby relieves the strained tension of mind and feeling. To mingle thus the comic and the pathetic, it is absolutely necessary to be perfectly natural, for anything artificial spoils the eflfect. Such is the art of a great but simple genius, one who understands the human heart, a genius as Shakespeare, who knows how to represent that union of opposing elements which resembles a smile in the midst of tears on a child's countenance. To be sure these contrasts in the foreign drama sometimes, seem rather unreal, and nature appears exaggerated, yet that assumed calmness of many French tragic characters is just as great an affectation, for it claims a superiority of soul that does not accord with true dramatic art. The French classical drama, this book reiterates, con- siders the three unities as indispensable to theatrical illu- sion, whereas only that of action is essential. For the true action of a character cannot be developed in simply twenty-four hours and in one place, but requires a long space of time and many different situations. Foreigners make the illusion consist in the painting of character, in the truth of language, and in the exact portrayal of the manners and customs of the country represented. Illusion is but the semblance of reality and is made possible only by the emotion it excites in us. And if change of place and extension of time add to this emotion, the illusion is more perfect. Hence rules are but the itinerary of genius, to show the way others have passed, but are not themselves its vade-mecum. " Nothing in life ought to be stationary, and art is petrified when it no longer changes." ^ Likewise the French drama borrows its material from ^ II, pt. ii, chap. XV, p. 16. 86 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " classical sources instead of from its own religious and historical recollections. Of the great tragic poets, only that " prince of jesters," Voltaire, has drawn any subjects from modern life and has depicted emotions th'at appeal to humanity.^ In regard then to these varieties of dramatic art only national taste can decide. Nothing would be more absurd than to try to impose upon all nations the same dramatic system. If foreigners have a different conception of the theater from the French, it is neither through ignorance nor barbarism, but because of profound reflections which are most worthy of examination. In England all classes admire Shakespeare, but in France only the cultured few appreciate the refined sublimity of the classical tragedies. As in the drama, so in lyric poetry, the despotism of alexandrines prevents one from expressing in verse thoughts of real poetic worth, for the alexandrine verse necessitates a general color and an established accent; and the most impassioned movements must rest on this pedestal as on an essential postulate of art. On the contrary the German hexameters, and especially the unrhymed iambic measures, portray " the harmony of nature inspired by emotion." The lyric verse of Voltaire, for example, though graceful, is but the expression of " the spirit of the most brilHant society," ^ whereas Goethe, by a few slight touches, awakens in the soul the most profound and sub- lime impressions. This is due to the fact that in poetry he is an absolute master of nature, for poetic taste is de- pendent upon nature and, like nature, is always creative. Likewise the German poet comprehends the physical world, not only as a poet but as a brother, and in his verse he ' Pt. ii, chap. vi. ' I, pt. ii, chap, xiii, p. 327. Classicism and Romanticism 87 depicts that inner sympathy existing between man and the universe.^ One of the great sources of poetic effect in Germany is terror — that relic of northern mythology — the fruit of those old popular errors and superstitions which, like shadows, accompany the realities of history and religion. Through the introduction of specters and magic Shake- speare has produced wonderful effects, and poetry cannot be popular, if it despises anything which spontaneously excites the imagination. Hence the French poets should not disdain to avail themselves of this potent factor, but rather should aim to treat it with taste and genius. A great advantage of the Germanic dialects in poetry is the variety and beauty of their epithets, a simple word is surrounded by a halo of countless forms which awaken numerous recollections; in the French language, on the other hand, one says only what one means to say, nothing less and nothing more. Because of this independent spirit of the German language there is no "poetry more impres- sive or more varied than that of Germany." ^ For this reason even Racine would be unable to, translate into French verse Pindar, Petrarch, Klopstock without denat- uralizing their original character.^ Then, again, a work should express the characteristics of modern times and not be an imitation of a spirit no longer existing among the people. Those writers who en- deavor to modify modern taste by that of the ancients, or vice versa, are almost always affected in style ; no writer of our time can succeed in composing the poetry of the ancients. It would be much better were our religion and customs to ' Pt. ii, chaps, xii, xiii, and xiv. ' I, pt. ii, chap, ix, p. 268. • I, pt. ii, chap. ix. 88 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " create for us a modern poetry, as beautiful in its own proper nature as that of the ancients.^ Moreover those customs and that rehgion, the effects of which have been almost effaced by time, present man too much as an ideal being hardly touching the earth; whereas in the historical events of modem times we feel the warmth af our own existence and of our own emotions.^ Literature, in a word, should be national. It should be indigenous to the soil and appeal to all classes. It should have a popular element. It is here that Mme. de Stael, thro.ugh a profound study of German literature, emphasizes more strongly the idea of the popularity (Volkstiimlichkeit) of literature which claims to be national, a conception to which she had al- ready referred in De la Litterature in connection with Shakespeare and Goethe.^ The French, the most classicistic of all modern literatures, is admired only by the educated in Europe and is practically unknown to the French peo- ple and bourgeoisie. This is due to the fact that it is an imitation and borrowed from another civilization, not native to the Gallic soil and temperament.* The literature that best fulfills the conditions of mo- dernity, nationality, popularity, individuality, and feeling, Mme. de Stael declares, is the so-called romantic literature of Germany, and its most worthy representatives are Goethe, Schiller, and Burger.^ The poems of Goethe and of Burger are set to music and sung by all classes in Ger- many from the Rhine to the Baltic, for they are the ex- pression of the genius of the people. This new Germanic Uterature, moreover, is by no means in its infancy. It is ' II, pt. ii, chap. XXV, p. 260. Cf. chap, xii, ' Pt. ii, chap. xxii. • Pt. i, chaps, xiii and xvii. * I, pt. ii, chap, xi, p. 289. " I, pt. ii, chap, xiii, p. 322, Classicism and Romanticism 89 the literature of a nation most learned in ■ the classics, a nation which, through its habits, character, and philosophy, has come to prefer the legends of modern chivalry to the antique pagan mythology of Greece and of Rome. It is a literature susceptible of continued growth and improvement because its roots are in its own soil. It ex- presses the religion, it repeats the history of its people. Its origin is ancient but not of the ancients. Romantic literature is, in fact, the true literature of the human soul,^ — the same conclusion Mme. de Stael reaches in her earlier work, De la Litterature. The French critics, who were steeped in traditional class- icism, reproached Mme. de Stael for cultivating the vague, confused expressions of the German taste, and for a*Dpt- ing a new manner, " the romantic." In answer to this Jean Paul, in his review of De V Allemagne , maintains that her German and English sympathies have affected but slightly her French taste and style.^ An enigma indeed ! To French eyes, a " romanticist " ; to German, a " classicist " ! In reality she was a combination of both. While her con- ception of form remained chiefly that of French classicism, her " romantic " ideals were largely those of the so-called German " classic " writers, of Goethe and of Schiller, es- pecially of the former, the idol of the early German ro- manticists. In fact, Mme. de Stael was a connecting link between the eighteenth and the nineteenth century : in her appreciation of the excellent features of French classicism she belongs to the eighteenth century; in her exaltation of romanticism (German classicism) she opens the new era. " I, pt. ii, chap, xi, p. 291. ^ " The Frenchman will be willing to pardon our author her German or British feeling when he finds in the chapters on classic and romantic art how little that feeling has prejudiced her taste against the Gallic art of writing." Werke, XIX, pp. 170-71. 90 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " A defender of the good in the former, she is the prophetess of the latter. One would prefer, however, to discard these much abused terms, classic and romantic, and say that Mme. de Stael's chief standard was popular and national individ- uality, a standard preached most efficiently by Herder. If a literary work expressed the peculiar genius of a people, it was a masterpiece ; if not, a failure. She admired Racine, Shakespeare, Goethe (Werther), Schiller, and Biirger be- cause their writings reflect the peculiar characteristics of their respective nations; she disliked Berlin, because it imitated French life; she considered Wieland a Frenchified German and hoped that he would have no followers. In all her writings she preached against affectation and imita- tion and advocated individualism and nationality. " French- men of sense, whenever they travel, do not like to find among foreigners the French spirit; rather do they seek those who unite national to individual originality. . . . The French value in foreign literature only its indigenous beauty. There is no nature, no life in imitation ; and, in general, to all these minds, may be applied the eulogy pro- nounced by Orlando in Ariosto upon ^ his mare which he is dragging after him. ' She possesses,* he said, ' all the good qualities imaginable; she has however one fault; she is dead.'"^ ' I, pt. i, chap, ii, pp. 89-90. CHAPTER V ESSENTIALS OF GERMAN CULTURE IN DE L'ALLEMAGNE Unknown to the rest of the world which was then under the sway of French civiHzation, there had developed in Germany during the eighteenth century a new culture, culminating in a new ideal of man and a new view and attitude toward the world. ^ While the development of the new culture was essentially an unconscious unfolding of the very soul of the German people, it took place at the same time in conscious opposition to the principal con- ceptions of French civilization as expressed in the life and literature of that nation. It was especially during the so- called Storm and Stress period that the new Germanic ideal of man broke forth in its radiant splendor. In the revolt against the false authority of arbitrary rules and conventional forms regulating art and life, the dormant Germanic love of freedom asserted itself, and became the ruling force of the new cultural development. An ardent desire for a new, original life seized the foremost exponents of the nation and led to the discovery of the " heart " as the only living spring of human life, and the imagination as the real creative faculty, the fountain of ideaHsm. The new conception of man found its expression in a literature that differed absolutely and radically both in ' Cf. Schiller's poem, Die deutsche Muse. " Riihtnend darf's der Deutsche sagen, Hoher darf das Herz ihm schlagen, Selbst erschuf er sich den Wert." 91 92 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " content and form from the long prevailing standards of French classicism. In his famous stanzas to Goethe on the occasion of the revival of Voltaire's Mahomet on the Weimar stage, Schiller proudly contrasts this new spirit of national German poetry with that of the French drama. It was Goethe himself, he says, who had led German art from the tyrannous captivity of rules back to truth knd nature. The noble spirit which German poetry breathed could not live and thrive, as French classicism did, under the despotism and in the presence of the false greatness of a Louis XIV. It could develop only from its own innate sources, and coupled with truth, it could be felt in all its force and freedom only by free souls. A faithful picture of nature had displaced the pomp of French poetical oratory, and human actions and human feelings had overcome the false rigorism of conventional customs and morality. It is the deep inner truth that is revealed in the ideal world created by the imagination. Mme. de Stael could not have known Schiller's poem, when she wrote her book De la Litterature. It is there- fore all the more remarkable and astonishing that she should have divined from her own fragmentary knowledge of German literature its innermost spirit and world- message. We have seen that in this book she had shown the appalling results of eighteenth century materialism upon the intellectual and social life in France, and had main- tained that a rejuvenation of character and culture would come about only if enthusiasm, imagination, feeling, morality, and religion were to become living forces in the French national character. To Germany she had pointed as a future model for France in this respect. In the preface Essential Ideas of German Culture ^3 to Delphine she had wished for a man of genius, like Vol- taire, to make known the beauties of German literature to her countrymen, and thus to do away with those national prejudices that held the French literature bound in the chains of " sterijit)?, frigidity, and monotony." As no author of merit ha'd taken this task upon himself, and her country's need was pressing, she considered it now her patriotic duty to give to France a clear insight into Ger- many and its new culture. To her, therefore, belongs the credit not only of having been the discoverer and first great interpreter of the spirit of the new German culture, but also of having been the bearer of its message 'to the rest of the civilized world, the inaugurator of a new cul- tural life. In the following discussion I shall omit as far as pos- sible all special data and critical comments and confine myself to the broad essential characteristics of Ger- manic life and literature, as she perceived them in De I'Allemagne. In the introduction. Observations generales, Mme. de Stael, as in her previous works, states that France does not know Germany.^ Inasmuch as the Teutonic character has produced beyond the barrier of the Rhine a civiliza- tion, the religion, philosophy, and Hterature of which are in total opposition to those of the French nation,^ she considers it advantageous to her fatherland to become ac- quainted with the true home of thought, and not to erect around French literature a Chinese wall in order to pre- vent the penetration of any ideas from outside.^ Even ' I, PP- 5. 6, 7. Cf. Corinne, bk. vii, chaps, i and ii. Cf. pt. ii, chap. i. ' Cf. I, pt. ii, chap, i, p. 206. • I, pp. S-7- Cf. Corinne, bk. vii, chaps, i and ii. Cf. pt. ii, chap. i. 9^ Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " works not conforming to French rules of good taste might contain new ideas capable of enriching a literature menaced with monotony, frigidity, and sterility and of lending aid in the rediscovery of the source of true literary beauty. It is true in literature as in philosophy that conceptions of life and thought should not be regulated by a certain standard, such as that of reason, but should be subject to that study and examination which alone gives a freedom of judgment without which it is impossible to acquire new light or even to conserve the old.* In all countries that hospitality which welcomes foreign thoughts and senti- ments brings good fortune; to the host.^ With that fine intellectual penetration so peculiar to her, Mme. de Stael shows that one of the most promi- nent characteristics of German literature is liberty — the inner freedom of the mind. Since Germany was only an aristocratic federation of states, with no common center of knowledge and public spirit, each individual had the opportunity of self-development, of maintaining his own anarchy of literature and of political opinions. At the same time she does not close her eyes to the dangers of exaggerated individualism to the political development of the nation. Thus the Germans, she says, have too little national prejudice. Self-denial and unselfishness are good for the individual, " but the patriotisrti of nations ought to be selfish." ' The pride of the English, French, and Spanish has contributed to their political ascendency, but the Germans have not felt the essential Germanic character as their basis. They have let it be divided among many ' I, pp. 7-8. ' Pt. ii, chap, xxxii. ' I, pt. i, chap, ii, p. 17. Cf. pt. ii, chap. xv. Cf. pt. i, chap, xi, p. 18. Essential Ideas of German Culture 95 masters, as the Saxon, Prussian, Bavarian, and Austrian. Hence, while each state is independent, and each science better cultivated, the whole nation is so subdivided that it can hardly be accorded that name. This individualism has also prevented the development of the love of national liberty, for the Germans know its value neither through enjoyment of political liberty nor through its privation. They have independence, therefore they are indifferent to liberty. The feudal codes which still govern them, though unequal in principle, are equal in practice; and justice, slow but sure, is meted out in the courts. For although the Germans are rather inclined to formulate systems for abandoning pohtics to arbitrary power, yet when questions of jurisprudence or adminis- tration arise, they insist on strict justice.^ Independence, however, is but a possession, whereas liberty is a guaran- tee, and the Germans should not neglect that great national power which it is so imperative for them to found among the states of Europe.^ Nevertheless she predicts that in- dependence of spirit and mind will establish independence of state, verifying Schiller's prophetic words : " Es ist der Geist, der sich den Korper baut," ^ words that were fulfilled by the establishment of the German Empire in 1871. In spite of the long-continued lack of national liberty, however, Germany deserves great credit for the early perfection of the individual Teutonic character in the midst of so many difficulties, and for daring to maintain that in every coun- try there exist a national taste and originality having their own peculiar rights and privileges.* ' Pt. i, chap. xvi. " I, pt. i, chap, ii, pp. 31-32. " Wallenstein's Tod, act iii, scene iii, line 1813. * Pt. ii, chap. vi. 96 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " The enlightened Germans, freed from all sorts of public cares and business, have formed a republic of letters that is animated and independent, a republic of ideas, where all have the same end in view, and their imagination multi- plies the beauties afforded them by art and nature. Here in soHtude, like miners in the midst of buried treasures, " they are silently unearthing the intellectual riches of the human race." ^ No more beautiful interpretation could have been given to the " tatenreiche ■ Stille," as Schiller called the atmosphere in which the new culture of Ger- many developed. What there is called study is really most admirable. Fifteen hours a day of solitary labor, year after year, is their natural mode of existence. Even the ennui of so- ciety gives animation to such a life, for, whereas in society monotony fatigues the mind, in retirement it ren- ders the soul tranquil.^ In France, on the other hand, because of the attraction of society, nobody has much time for labor and especially for attempting many forms of human activity. A French student confines his atten- tion wholly to his chosen pursuit, and never aims at that diversity of knowledge so common to literary and scien- tific men in Germany.^ This impartial universality has led the Germans to take an interest in the literature of foreign countries, and nearly all men above the common class are familiar with several languages. The education of the German university really begins where that of most European nations ends. Not only are the professors men of astonishing learning, but they are most scrupulous and conscientious in instruction. They have in everything a ' I, pt. i, chap, xiii, p. 126. ' Pt. i, chap, xiv ; pt. ii, chap, xxviii. ' Pt. iii, chap. x. Cf. chap. ii. Essential Ideas" of German Culture 97 conscience that is incapable of deception or of annihila- tion.^ Searching for the fountain of youth that might rejuve- nate the senile civilization of France, Mme. de Stael dis- covers it in the enthusiasm of the German soul. One of the truly distinctive traits of the German people, she says, is their enthusiasm.^ To arrive at truth one needs eleva- tion of soul, the impulse of ardor to direct the attention, enthusiasm in a word, without fanaticism. " Society de- velops wit, but it is contemplation that forms genius," ^ or in Goethe's beautiful words, " es bildfet ein Talent sich in der Stille." * Where the social spirit prevails, as it does in France, self-love is uppermost. Man laughs when he is commanded to laugh and is ashamed of showing his true feelings, just because his egoism fancies itself safer in irony than in emotion. To disclose sentiments which may be subjected to ridicule would require a strength of character that few Frenchmen possess.' Yet it is only in the child that levity has a charm ; in the adult it denotes deterioration, for when man is left to himself, it is in the seriousness of his soul alone that he can find ideas, thoughts, and sentiments.' Such critical pleasantry is the very arch-enemy of en- thusiasm. Of all forms of irony and of ridicule, that which is attached to ideas and*sentiments is the most fatal. Man rules his brother man, and the worst evil he can do is to ridicule a generous emotion and the action it would in- spire. Love, talent, and genius are too often the butt of ^ Pt. i, chap. xix. ' III, pt. iv, chap, xi, p. 394. ' HI, pt. iv, chap, xi, p. 396. * Tasso, act i, scene ii. ° Pt. iv, chap. xi. ' Pt. i, chap. xix. 98 Madame de Stael's "De l'Allemagne" irony and the sport of wit, and if the heart be not de- fended by enthusiasm, it becomes the prey of insolent gayety. With an indignation born from his deep ethical convictions, Schiller had struck at this same trait of frivo- lous superficiality in the French character in his famous lines directed against Voltaire's shameless burlesque on Joan of Arc, La Pucelle. " Krieg fuhrt der Wits auf ewig mit dem Schonen, Er glaubt nicht an den Engel und an den Gott; Dem Herzen will er seine Schatze rauben, Den Wahn bekriegt er und verletst den Glauben." ' Such, indeed, was the plight of France, — the land that Herder as early as 1771 called " das Trugverarmte Gallia." ^ From the overthrow of feudal government by Cardinal Richelieu until the time of the Revolution that country had been destitute of enthusiasm. " The spirit of fatuity," according to Lacretelle, held sway and the empire of so- ciety in the great world caused almost all the virtues of chivalry to disappear.® Inasmuch as enthusiasm is neces- sary to a nation to prevent its dissolution and disintegra- tion, it was this national need which turned men's minds toward the love of liberty which resulted in the French Revolution. But the Revolution had failed, and military despotism ruled. France had become a country of iron, unbending and immovable,* again dominated by the spirit of fatuity, alive only to habitual irony .^ Because of their peculiar keenness in tracing the ridicu- ' Das Madchen von Orleans. Cf. De l'Allemagne, pt. iv, chap. iv. ' Auf eine Sammlung Klopstockscher Oden. ' I, pt. i, chap, iv, p. 45. * Lettres inedites, p. 180. Letter to Meister, dated Coppet, Aug. 2, 1803. " III, pt. iii, chap, iii, p. 37. Cf. chap. iv. Essential Ideas of German Culture 99 lous, the French have been the dread of all Europe, par- ticularly of the Germans. The words " elegance " and " grace " had a magical effect in exciting selfish egoism. Every sentiment and action, even life itself, was gauged by this criterion of fashion, which was but a sort of treaty between the self-love of individuals and that of society, a treaty that ostracized everything strong, forcible, and original. Light and graceful in external appearance, in reality despotic, these forms of vanity have gradually undermined love, enthusiasm, religion, everything except that selfishness which alone is impregnable to the attacks of irony.^ In Germany ridicule would never become such a dangerous factor, for the German has too much regard for the truth and too great a desire to know the secret of things. Even when he adopts reprehensible opinions, a secret repentance retards his pace in spite of himself.^ It is here that Mme. de Stael recognizes the great educa- tional influence of German authors on their nation. A German writer, she says, can thus form his public, whereas in France the author is at the mercy of the public; he thinks not of his subject, but only of the effect he is pro- ducing.^ " Enthusiasm concentrates diverse sentiments in the same focus; it is the incense offered by earth to heaven, uniting the one to the other." * There could be no more eloquent defense and praise of the elevating force of ideal- ism as revealed in German literature. With deep psy- chological insight Mme. de Stael recognizes the intimate connection of German enthusiasm with imagination, the ' Pt. i, chap. ix. ' I, pt. ii, chap, iv, p. 224. ' I, pt. ii, chap, i, p. 202. * III, pt. iv, chap, xii, pp. 415-16. 100 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " dominant quality of artistic and literary Germany.^ Tlie Germans had the honor of being the first nation to realize the advantages that imagination might derive from learning, and by circumstantial details have endowed history with life and color.^ To imagination is united contemplation,* and together they form a very rare combination of char- acter, one that makes the German nation peculiarly adapted to the creation of lyric poetry. The basis of enthusiasm and imagination is necessarily the spirit (Fame), the word with which Mme. de Stael translates the German " Gemiit." This inner life, this pt)etry of soul, is also to be found as a chief characteristic of the German nation.* Their poetry does not consist of merely beautiful verses; inspiration, sensibility, is its fountain- source. " In order to conceive the true grandeur of lyric poetry, we must wander in thought in the ethereal regions, forget the tumult of earth in listening to celestial harmony, and consider the whole universe as a symbol of the emo- tions of the soul." ° Whatever is serious in life, dwells in this " ame." Super- ficiality comes from without, from the circumstances of society, from a false philosophy of hfe, which considers the worship of the beautiful as fit only for dupes and gives to careless levity the appearance of reflective reasoning. In all things, whatever is good and sublime is re- vealed to us only by the divine element in our own hearts.' " The soul is a fire which inflames all our senses; it is in this fire that existence consists; all the ' I, pt. i, chap, ii, p. 27. " Pt. ii, chap. xxix. ' I, pt. ii, chap. X, p. 279. ' I, pt. i, chap, ii, p. 21. " III, pt. ii, chap. X, p. 279. ' III, pt. iii, chap, xvi, p. 218. Essential Ideas of German Culture ioi efforts and observations of philosophy should turn toward this me, the center and motive force of our ideas and senti- ments. No doubt, the imperfection of language compels us to make use of erroneous expressions; we are obliged to repeat according to usage, such a person has reason, or imagination, or sensibiHty; but if we wish to be under- stood in a single word, it is sufficient to say, he has soul, he has abundance of soul. It is this divine spark that makes the whole man." ^ This new ideal of man revealed in German literature finds its most perfect expression in the conception of the genius, whose chief characteristics Mme. de Stael, like Schiller in his Naive und sentimentalische Dichtung, sees in his simplicity and naturalness. The German genius is born of this inner life.^ It makes the bounds of exist- ence disappear and transforms into brilliant images the vague hopes of man. Like love, it is felt as a strong emo- tion which penetrates the one endowed with it. Hence to poets, whose only guide should be nature, one should speak as to citizens and heroes : " Be virtuous, be faith- ful, be free : respect what you love, seek immortality in love and divinity in nature; in short, sanctify your soul as a tem'ple and the angel of noble thoughts will not disdain to enter therein." ^ Because genius is a manifestation of nature, or, in Schiller's words, of the Deity, Mme. de Stael finds a deep religious element in the writings of the Germans and in their new culture. She discovers what Schiller, in the sketch of a poem intended to celebrate the beginning of the nineteenth century, expressed thus : " Der Deutsche ver- * III, pt. iii, chap, ii, p. i6. ' II, pt. ii, chap, xxxi, p. 363. * III, pt, ii, chap. X, p. 283. 102 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " kehrt mit dem Weltgeist." For just as simplicity is in harmony with genius, so also religion is associated with it.^ The inexhaustible source of all talents and virtues is the sentiment of the Infinite which manifests itself in every generous action and in every profound thought. As the Germans are characterized by feeling, genius, and inde- pendence of thought, so also their religion is essentially one of heart and inner conviction.^ Religion is like life; we feel life but cannot explain it. Yet we recognize re- ligion as a sentiment intimately interwoven with all that is beautiful in nature and man, inviting in us the hope of" a sublime existence in eternity. The religion of a country generally determines its morality.^ Both spring from the heart; and as religion is a matter of inner conviction, so also is morality. It is entirely devoid of self-interest, for only when man over- comes his natural spirit of rebellion and selfish usurpation of privileges and puts himself in harmony with the divine and universal order, is he truly religious. Then he will have no aim but unselfish duty.* This moral attitude is especially characteristic of the German nation.^ Even their gayety and mirth are a certain satisfaction of conscience.^ Religion, moreover, is but a desire for the truth and therefore only its handmaid. Truth alone can make man free and serves as a bond of union between all thinkers. To quote Mme. de Stael : " It is not this religion, or that opinion, or such a kind of study; it is the veneration of truth that unites them. Sometimes, like miners, they dig ' III, pt. iv, chap, i, p. 274. ' I, pt, i, chap, ii, p. 89. " III, pt. iii, chap, xiv, p. 206. * III, pt. iii, chap, xii, p. 176. Cf. pt. ii, chap. xix. ° I, pt. i, chap, ii, p. 20. ° I, pt. i, chap, xi, p. 112. Essential Ideas of German Culture 103 into the foundations of the earth to penetrate the mys- teries of the darksome world in the bosom of eternal night ; sometimes they mount to the summit of Chimborazo to discover at the loftiest point of the globe some hitherto unknown phenomenon ; sometimes they study the languages of the East to find in them the primitive history of man; sometimes they journey to Jerusalem to call forth from the holy ruins a spark which re-animates religion and poetry; in a word, they are truly the people of God, these men who do not yet despair of the human race and wish to preserve to man the empire of thought." ^ It is in connection with the highest ideals concerning man that Mme. de Stael recognizes the important role which philosophy played in the creation of the new German culture. In fact, the genius of philosophy is much more advanced in Germany than anywhere else ; nothing impedes it, not even the want of a political career; for only the man who occupies himself with the problems of the uni- verse is really accomplishing anything.^ Mme. de Stael can very well say : " That which constitutes the glory and interest of this country is its literary and philosophical spirit." ^ This new metaphysical system, so different from the French philosophy then prevalent, has from the time of Leibniz exerted such a power over literature, that it is impossible to understand the latter without a knowledge of the former. Let us give a short resume of Mme. de Stael's view of the situation. In the study of the human mind, there are two varieties of philosophical research — speculation and experiment. * III, pt. iii, chap, xxi, pp. 261-62. ° Pt. i, chap, xviii. • III, pt. i, chap, xiii, p. 125. I04 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " The influence of the senses and that of the spirit share man's being between them. Among the people of the North there has always been a tendency to spiritual specu- lation. Just as the Greeks believed in external manifesta- tions of divinity, so the Teutons had faith in the miracles of the soul. In the South paganism deified the physical phenorriena; in the North man believed in a magic that gave him power over the material world. Bacon was the first one who created the art of experi- ment and announced that sensations were the origin of ideas. His doctrine, adopted in a most literal and posi- tive sense by Hobbes, who boldly maintained " that the soul was as much subjected to necessity as society to despotism," tended to annihilate both moral and civil liberty. Locke, acting upon the same theory of sensations, declared that there was nothing innate in the mind, but that everything there was but the result of sensation. Man has therefore no inner consciousness of good or evil ; only through experience does he acquire such knowledge. Re- ligion thus was not a primitive feeling in mankind, but merely an accidental acquisition. The influence of Hobbes in England was slight; that of Locke, more universal. Yet the majority of English- men in adopting his speculations have, like Locke himself, separated results from principles and lived moral and re- ligious lives. Hence upon practical eihics this abstract metaphysical system had really but very little influence. It remained for Hume and the French philosophers of the eighteenth century to develop this materialistic theory most logically in all its fatal consequences. The inaugurator of this selfish sensationalistic doctrine was De la Mettrie. To him man was but an ingenious ma- chine, and ideas the result of sensation. Morals were there- Essential Ideas of German Culture 105 fore only relative factors. Man's chief duty was to seek happiness for himself without interfering with the happiness of others. Condillac went a step further, and declared that ideas were but transformed sensations, and the ego a bun- dle of such sensations, experienced or transformed and held in recollection. Hence, if man were formed like a horse, he would have the sensations of a horse. From this theory Helvetius deduced the following moral code. The motive of man's actions is self-love, the desire for pleasure and the avoidance of pain. By proper education and legis- lation, however, self-love can be directed to harmonize with the public welfare. , This atheistic materialism reached its full significance in the Systeme de la Nature of Baron d'Holbach, a work aptly called the Bible of atheism. To it Denis Diderot contributed many declamatory pages. Holbach made morals a division of physiology; the soul meant merely the brain receiving and transmitting motions. Hence religion and government have error as their basis and serve only as a source of crime. From this selfish philosophy there was a temporary reaction in the writings of Rousseau. He restored the sentiment of religion, in- augurated a new conception of morality, interpreted the beauty of external nature, emancipated the passions from the control of the understanding, and preached the doctrine of individual right. His bold theory hastened the Revolu- tion with all its horrors. This anarchy in turn was re- placed by the absolutism of one man, and the selfish atheistic philosophy found new justification.^ In direct opposition to this materialistic philosophy of the French stands, Mme. de Stael continues, the new idealistic philosophy of the Germans, the most metaphysi- cal of all the nations of the North. They descend from ' ' Pt. iii, chaps, i, ii, iii. io6 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " theory to experience, while the materialists ascend from ex- perience to theory. Their philosophy, like the doctrines of Pythagoras and of Plato, considers feeling as a primary fact of mind, and religion as the center of ideas. " There is nothing but the genius of sentiment that rises above experimental as well as above speculative philosophy ; there is no other genius which can carry conviction beyond the limits of human reason." ^ Hence philosophy aims to investigate sentiment, to study the human intellect, and to interpret rationally all divine truths. This system of ^metaphysics, which substituted the ob- servation of internal feeling for external sensation, was inaugurated by Leibniz, who was in fact the natural suc- cessor of Descartes and of Malebranche ; for had the French but followed their own metaphysicians of the seventeenth century, they would have held practically the same philo- sophical opinions as the Germans, who had remained un- tainted by these English doctrines.^ Leibniz's system of monads was founded solely upon reason; for demonstration he substituted consciousness. With admirable skill he confuted Locke's system and showed that an argument based upon logical reasoning has not, as many affirm, greater value than a proof from senti- ment. He declared also that the intellect was wholly with- out the domain of the senses, and only through the medium of the soul could be felt the immortal and the infinite. To be sure, experimental philosophy had offered a species of evidence by rejecting everything that lay without the plane ' III, pt. iii, chap, v, p. 64. ' Pt. iii, chaps, iii, v, vi. Cf. also Mme. de Stael's statement : " The French authors of former times are in general more like the Germans than the writers of the age of Louis XIV., for it is since that time that French literature has taken a classical direction." II, pt. ii, chap, xxviii, p. 332. Essential Ideas of German Culture 107 of sensation. But does this exist the less, even though it be considered as naught? The imperfect truth of specu- lation is ever much nearer the real essence of things than that apparent lucidity which shuns all difficulties. From Leibniz's philosophy is derived the new ethical principle which maintains the power and independence of moral liberty against the annihilating force of sensual fatalism. The quahties of imagination and sensibility that were somewhat lacking in the system of Leibniz were supplied by his successor Kant, who assigned to sentiment the first rank in human nature, made conscience the innate prin- ciple of our moral existence, and the feeling of right and wrong the primitive law of the heart. The soul of man shows itself in the sciences, in ethics, and in the fine arts, for in all are found the infinite and the eternal. From this application of feeling to the fine arts arises the conception of the ideal or the beautiful. This is also an inner dis- position like the feeling of duty, and we recognize beauty only as the outward image of the ideal type existing in our intellect. T^ikewise, the sublime in man consists in the struggle of moral liberty with destiny, or with his own nature. The adversaries of Kant have accused him of lack of originality, of merely clothing the philosophical systems of the ancients in new language. Mme. de Stael admits that his metaphysical theory does savor in some instances of Plato, Descartes, and of Malebranche, but he has infused into his system such a multitude of new and brilliant con- ceptions and so impressed the whole with the stamp of his peculiar and wonderful personality that his doctrines can justly be called original. It was Kant's great merit to have elevated moral dignity by founding it upon immense scien- tific knowledge and upon a singularly abstract and logical io8 Madame de Stael's "De l'Allemagne " mode of reasoning.^ To Leibniz and to Kant, therefore, belongs the honor of having saved Germany from that cold doctrine which regarded enthusiasm as an error and sentiment as a prejudice. There was need of a philosophy of faith, of enthusiasm; a philosophy that confirmed by reason what feeling revealed to us.'' In Germany this philosophical spirit is by no means confined to a few thinkers; it is universal.^ Even the public takes an interest in such discussions, and every man of talent has his own peculiar system of philosophy. The public taste is moreover so highly developed that German writers of the second and third rank would, according to Mme. de Stael, be granted first place in other countries. In respect to form of discussion, the Germans are very indulgent and pardon defects, but in regard to thought, they are most merciless critics. To them ignorance and indifference in literature and in the fine arts are a great disgrace. Through this conception of culture many im- portant sentiments and principles * have been preserved to society by men who devote the most abstract philosophy to the defense of exalted thoughts and who hide a lively imagination under austere logic. ^ This new German philosophy promotes universality of knowledge and this in turn leads to the discovery of the laws of nature. The Germans predict from reflection what observation is bound to confirm.^ In their theorizing they believe that the universe is modeled after the human soul, and that the analogy of each part to the whole is so close ' Pt. , iii, chap. vi. ' III, pt. iii, chap, vi, p. 91. " III, pt. iii, chap, vi, p. 95. * Pt. iii, chap. xxi. °III, pt. iii, chap, vii, p. 100. ° III, pt. iii, chap, x, .p. 147. Essential Ideas of German Culture 109 that the same idea is reflected from the whole in every part, and from each part in the whole.^ Consequently, in order to study man in all his relations, it is necessary to know the laws and forces of the universe. Between the physical and the moral world there exists a great analogy and yet a diversity, so that it is impossible to be considered a learned man of the first rank without knowing speculative philosophy, nor a speculative philosopher without a knowl- edge of the positive sciences.^ In thus uniting experi- mental science with speculative philosophy the Germans tend toward the veritable perfection of the human spirit.' They are willing to concede that what we call errors and superstitions may depend perhaps upon laws of the uni- verse that are still unknown to man. The relations between the planets and the vegetable world may be subordinate to occult powers of which we have no conception. It is true that most of the great discoveries that have been made were at first considered absurd; regardless therefore of ridicule and of apparent obstacles, man should march on toward the truth and avail himself of every means to throw light on the nocturnal side of nature. That very subtility which enables one to unravel the minutest threads of thought is the best factor for developing genius ; it inspires man with the necessity of climbing to heights of thought unknown before. The new German philosophy not only develops univer- sality of knowledge ; it develops the moral faculties as well. Thought resides in the inner man, for on the surface there ' " Every portion of the universe appears to be a mirror in which all creation is represented; and we hardly know which inspires more admiration, thought always the same, or form always diverse." Ill, pt. iii, chap, x, p. 150. ' Pt. iii, chap. v. ' III, pt. iii, chap, x, p. 158. I lo Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " is nothing but folly and stupidity. Even if the mystery of the universe is beyond the reach of humanity, still the study of that mystery expands the human intellect and enables man to comprehend truths that w^ould otherwise have remained unknown to him.^ Moreover, when men are forced to examine their own souls and to meditate thereon, their reflections have an infallible power and sin- cerity of judgment. This examination of self is by far the most, admirable characteristic in German philosophy.^ To German philosophers belongs the credit of having been the first in the eighteenth century to place a strong spirit by the side of faith, genius by the side of morals, and char- acter by the side of duty.^ Of all nations, the Germans, accustomed as they are to keen and solitary meditation, probe so deeply into truth that anyone who despises their writings without due con- sideration, must be ignorant or conceited. For the study of philosophy is just as important as that of art, science, or literature ; the soul craves every form of beauty, dignity, and perfection.* Philosophy consists moreover in finding a reasonable interpretation of divine truth, of that noblest inspiration of the inner man, the feeling of the infinite.^ This religious feeling or exaltation, as we have seen before, is rooted in the love of ideal beauty, of celestial divinity. Hence it follows that " the idealistic type of philosophy among the Germans as among the Greeks has for its origin the cult of the beautiful that our soul (Gemiit) alone con- ceives and recognizes." " Furthermore, this idealistic doc- ' Pt. iii, chap. v. ' III, pt. iii, chap, vii, p. 117. ' III, pt. iii, chap, xx, p. 253. ' III, pt. iii, chap, vii, p. 123. " III, pt. iii, chap, iii, p. 31. ' I, pt. ii, chap, vi, p. 248. Essential Ideas of German Culture hi trine is the Only one that can now offer humanity new and ingenious conceptions or afford man the hope of ad- vancement. The notions of the materialists, which have in past time to a certain extent aided the cause of the positive sciences, no longer produce anything original or interesting; they restore nothing of that youth to the human race which philosophy is giving to religion, which reason is giving to the life of the emotions.^ In direct contradiction to this abstract metaphysical philosophy seems the taste that the Germans show for the naive; although it is in reality due to it. There is phi- losophy in everything, even in the imagination. Inasmuch as a chief characteristic of the simplicity of genius is the expression of immediate thought and feeling without re- flecting on the result, a distinguishing trait of popular poetry (Volkspoesie) as Herder had pointed out in 1775,^ Mme. de Stael maintains that in all arts the judgment of the public ought to be consulted, for the popular impres- sion is more philosophical than philosophy itself.' Hence the new philosophy of the Germans, the " dawn of a new life," * is in harmony with their literary theory of naivete in feeling and expression. But, as she says of Goethe, it is not the naivete of innocence but of power,^ the naivete born of profound erudition, deep meditation, and strong feeling, a force that was to bring to the despairing human race a new term of life.^ ' III, pt. iii, chap, vi, p. 95. ° Aussug aus einem Briefwechsel Uber Ossian und die Lieder alter Volker. ' III, pt. iii, chap, ix, p. 140. * III, pt. iii, chap, viii, p. 128. ° I, pt. ii, chap, xiii, p. 328. ' " It may be that the best time for poetry was during the age of ignorance and that the youth of the human race is gone forever ; 112 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne" This rejuvenation of humanity through the poetic and scientific efforts of the Germans, — this is the final message which German culture had revealed to Mme. de Stael, a message which she in turn proclaimed to the world at large. but in the writings of the Germans we seem to feel a new youth arising from the noble choice which may be made by those to whom everything is known. The age of light has its innocence as well as the golden age, and if man during his infancy believes only in his soul, he returns when he has learned everything to confide in nothing else." Ill, pt. iii, chap, ix, p. 142. PART II EFFECT OF THE MESSAGE OF DE L'ALLEMAGNE UPON THE WORLD CHAPTER I GERMANY AND FRANCE The foregoing chapter in Part I has shown the power- ful forces in De I'Allemagne that made especial impression upon the reading public. In the first place, the book in- troduced Germany to itself. A critic in the Edinburgh Review, in his discussion of the Lettres sur I' Angleterre by Mme. de Stael's oldest son, Baron Auguste de Stael- Holstein, writes : " The difficulty of giving an accurate de- scription of a foreign country is as obvious at the least as its usefulness is great, not merely to those ignorant of the subject, but to the inhabitants themselves, who must profit exceedingly by observing the light in which strangers re- gard their character and institutions." ^ This quotation ap- plies most aptly to De I'Allemagne. Jean Paul Richter, speaking of the influence of that work in France, adds : " And yet she can perform a far better service for still another nation, for the German people itself. For this service not only the art-critic will thank her, but the patriot as well. Not the outer but the inner man has need of a mirror. Only in the eye of a foreign observer a com- plete view of oneself can be obtained. . . . Through for- eign peculiarity one's own distinctive character is dis- cerned and ennobled." ^ Goethe in his letter to Mme. de Stael from Carlsbad May 26, 1808,^ refers to the same ' XLIII, pp. 225-42, Nov., 1825. ^ Werke, XIX, p. 180. • Brief e, XX, pp. 67-68, No. 5542. "5 ii6 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne" advantages, although after the appearance of the book during the Wars of Liberation, he writes to Frau Sara von Grotthus : " Among the noteworthy events of this age may- be cited the wonderful fate of this book. The French police, intelligent enough to see that such a work would increase the confidence of Germany in itself, wisely had it destroyed ; but while a few rescued copies slumber, the Germans are waking up and saving themselves without any such intellectual stimulus. At the present moment the book produces a strange impression. If it had appeared earlier, to it would have been attributed an influence upon the great events just past: now it lies here as a prophecy and challenge to destiny, that has been discovered too late; yes, it even reads as if it had been written many years ago. The Germans will hardly recognize themselves in it, but they will find therein the safest measure of the im- mense progress which they have made." ^ We have seeii that in 1810, Napoleon, through General Savary, had the book interdicted, because it " was not French." Mme. de Stael, in the introduction to the edition of 1813, from which I quote, thus explains her sympathetic attitude towards Germany : " From its geographical position Germany may perhaps be considered the heart of Europe, and the great association of the continent can never recover its independence but by the independence of this country. " The submission of one people to another is contrary to nature. Who would now believe in the possibility of subduing Spain, Russia, England, France? Why should it not be the same with Germany? If the Germans could be subjugated, their misfortune would rend the heart; but as Mile, de Mancini said to Louis XIV. : ' You are a king, ' Brief e, XXIV, pp. 160-61, No. 67'S3, Feb. 17, 1814. Gerrtany and France 117 sire, and weep,' so also we would be tempted to say to them : ' You are a nation and you weep ! ' " Posterity, indeed, has at all times had an opinion strongly dissenting from that of the arrogant General Savary. A host of critics in France herself bears sincere witness to the lasting qualities of De I' Allemagne and the profound influence which the book exerted. Thus Doumic writes: " Mme. de Stael is a power; and her power is that of opinion." ^ It is not too much to believe that in her interviews with royalty and with poli- ticians, in her many conversations with literary men, in her wide correspondence, in her literary works which breathe forth the dignity and independence of man and the power of action, in her hospitable salon, she should have made the lovers of liberty and the friends of progress realize what the conquest of Germany would mean to both nations." To these lines the words of Vapereau may fitly be joined : '' " In fact, the peculiar and original merit of De I' Allemagne was to make France comprehend for the first time a litera- ture, an art, a philosophy, a national character, which had been rendered inaccessible to her, not, as commonly said, by the barrier of the Rhine, but by the profound difference in language, history, and genius of the two peoples. The Germany that she presents to us is that of Weimar, the German Athens, it is the Germany of Goethe, Schiller, Wieland, Tieck, and the authors whom Mme. de Stael had personally known; it is the Germany of all those writers, who, after Klopstock, worked to free themselves from foreign semblance and imitation." Vinet says that " De I' Allemagne was an enterprise of * Homtnes et Idees de dix-neuvieme Siecle, Paris, 1903, p. 39. ' Dictionnaire universel des Litteratures, Paris, 1878, p. 1912. ii8 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " reaction against a triple despotism; of a man in politics, a sect in philosophy, and a tradition in literature." ^ The political and literary aspects of this statement are really subordinate to the metaphysical side of the ques- tion; for, according to Mme. de Stael, the philosophical system that is adopted in any country exerts a tremendous influence over the direction of man's mind, and is the model, conscious or unconscious, to which all persons con- form in belief and actions. For nearly a hundred years Europe had seen the growth of a scoffing skepticism founded on the philosophy of sensation, a philosophy, the first principle of which had been, not to believe a thing that could not be demonstrated by actual experience.^ Opposed to this materialistic philosophy of the French stood the idealistic theories of Kant and Fichte. Kant reduced reason to a mere regulative function of the mind, assumed the existence of God, immortality, and the free- dom of the will, insisted upon duty for duty's sake, and preached the eternal moral law, inherent in the soul of man. And although Fichte's philosophy was centered around the individual, yet his idealism was active and pro- ductive, and insisted that man must carve out his own destiny, and prove that " im Anfang war die Tat." Victor Hugo once expressed this complementary connec- tion between the two countries, " France and Germany are essentially Europe. Germany is the heart; France, the head. Germany feels, France thinks." ^ With this thought of balancing the two nations by mutual aid Mme. de Stael wrote her book, to show, in short, Ger- ^Cf. Abel Stevens: Madame de Stael, TSSew York, 1880, II, p. 218. Cf. Meth. Quar. Review, Oct., 1878, XXXVIII, p. 583. ' Cf. De l'Allemagne, pt. iii, chaps, iv and vi. ' Le Rhin. Germany and France 119 many to her countrymen, and " la belle France " to the Germans, through a comparative study of the character and customs of the people, their philosophy, religion, and ideals. In the mutual exchange of ideas she felt that the French would gain more from an understanding of German genius than the Germans would in subjecting themselves to the good taste of the French, because taste is inferior to genius.^ Besides, whenever a little foreign touch has been added to orthodox French models, the French themselves hav^ greeted the product with delight. J. J. Rousseau, Bernardin de St. Pierre, Chateaubriand, unknown to them- selves, were in some of their works akin to the German school, inasmuch as they drew their inspiration from the same innermost recesses of the soul. Thus, in Sorel's language, " De I'Allemagne is one of the most patriotic actions ever accomplished by a French writer. " ^ PelHssier says that Mme. de Stael, by giving renewed force to religious sentiment and to the life of the soul, by freeing art from narrow rules and sterile formulas, by reviving the spirit of literary criticism, deserves the name of being " a great initiator." " She has inaugurated in most diverse directions the moral and religious movement of our epoch. She has sown the age with pregnant ideas; she has given a new soul to our poetry." ^ '^ De I'Allemagne, pt. ii, chap, i, p. 206. ^ Mme. de Stael, chap, vii, p. 181. Cf. For. Quar. R., XIV, pp. 1-30, 1834: "We regard the critical writings of Mme. de Stael as the greatest boon she gave to France; and greatest among these, that for which she suffered the bitterest persecution, her celebrated work on Germany." " Mme. de Stael is the true leader of those who wanted a national literature." 'Le Mouvement litteraire de XIX" Siecle, Paris, 1903, p. 54. Cf. Ed. R., LVII, pp. 107-14, Apr., 1833, Art. : Hayward's Translation of Faust. Cf . Richter : Werke, X, p. 167. I20 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " It is not my intention to treat here in detail the influence on French thought of all the German writers whom Mme. de Stael had introduced to the French public in her De l'Allemagne. That has already been done very fully by such able scholars as Stipfle, Baldensperger, Texte, Meiss- ner, and Rossel.^ I shall restrict my discussion to the in- fluence on France of the greatest of all German writers, the world-poet Goethe. In his Confession d'un Enfant du Siecle (1836) Alfred de Musset writes thus of Goethe's conception in France: "At that time (during the Restoration) two poet^ the most brilliant geniuses of the century following Napoleon, devoted their lives to the task of uniting all the scattered trials and sorrows in the universe. Goethe, the patriarch of a new literature, after depicting in Werther that pas- sion which leads to suicide, had brought forward in his Faust the most gloomy human figure that ever repre- sented evil and misfortune. His writings were then be- ginning to come from Germany into France. From his study with its paintings and statuary he saw, silent and yet with a fatherly smile, his dismal work coming to us from over the Rhine. . . . (The other poet was Byron) . . . But tell me, noble Goethe, is there no longer a comforting voice in the reverent murmur of your ancient German forests? You, for whom poetry was the sister of science, ' Theodor Supfle : Geschichte des deutschen KultureinAusses auf Frankreich, 2 vols., Gotha, i886-go. Ferdinand Baldensperger: Goethe en France, Paris, 1904. Joseph Texte: Etudes de Litterature europeenne, Paris, 1898 ; Rousseau et les Origines du Cosmopolitisme litteraire, Paris, 1895 ; Les Origines de I'InAuence allemande dans la Litterature frangaise du XIX^ Steele in Revue d'Histoire litteraire, Jan. IS, 1898, V, pp. 1-53. Fritz Meissner: Der EinAuss deutschen Geistes auf die franzosische Literatur des neumehnten Jahr- hunderts, Leipzig, 1893. Virgile Rossel : Histoire des Relations litteraires entre la France et l'Allemagne, Paris, 1897. Germany and France 121 could not these two nurses find a healing herb for the heart of their favorite? You who were a pantheist, a poet of ancient Hellas, a friend of sacred forms, could you not pour into these beautiful vessels which you knew so well how to create, a little honey, you, who needed but to smile, and the bees would come to your lips ? " ^ Fourteen years before this the publisher Ladvocat be- gan the printing of a collection of foreign masterpieces,^ in which an important place was assigned to the German drama, while Shakespeare and Alfieri were omitted. Among the German dramas was Faust, translated by Sainte-Aulaire. In a critique of this work the Moniteur universel^ declared that the names of Schiller and Goethe have resounded in France. " Gbtz, Egmont, Clavigo, Iphi- genie, Tasso, and Faust have been devoured by a crowd of readers eager to know and to judge these original pro- ductions of foreign Muses." And a short time afterward the Journal des Debats * asserted that " of all foreign writers, Goethe and Morati'n were those who for the past two or three months had found the most imitators in comedy " ; for Comedy, rather than Tragedy, sought in Goethe's dramas situations capable of adaptation to French form. In 1825 Albert Stapfer edited a translation of Goethe's dramatic works.' According to the preface, he himself '■ Not having access to the French original, I translated from a German version. ' Chefs-d'xuvre des Theatres etrangers traduits en frangais, par Aignan, Andrieux, Chas. de Remusat, de Guizard, G. d: Baer, Auguste de Stael, at Sainte-Aulaire. ' Nov. 24, 1823. * Mar. 14, 1824. " CEuvres dramatiques de Goethe, traduites de I'Allemand, pre- cedees d'une notice biographique et litteraire sur Goethe. 4 vols. 122 Madame DE Stael's " De l'Allemagne" translated Gots, Egmont, and Faust; while his collabo- rators, Cavagnac and Marguere, did the others. For this task Stapfer was most warmly commended by Goethe and by the Globe, the official organ of the French Romantic School.^ Before this time, however, single German plays had been translated into French. Among the first was Gotz von Berlichingen.' To this work belongs the credit of calling into being many historical plays. Goethe appre- ciated its influence, as is indicated by his words to Ecker- mann.^ " The germ of the historical pieces, which are now something new in France, was found a half-century ago in my Gotz." Especially in the careful representation of char- acteristic customs, in the extensive use of local color, so apparent in the dramas of Dumas and Hugo, Gotz was the initiator. As the literary historian, A. Mezieres, says: " It is from Gotz von Berlichingen and from all this school, not from Shakespeare, let us not forget, that the historical drama comes to us, such as the Romanticists have rep- resented on the stage ... in France, with a use of local color wholly unknown to Shakespeare." In fact, through the medium of Dumas and Hugo, according to Siipfle, Gotz exerted a more potent influence upon the French theater than all of Goethe's other dramas, not excepting Faust.* Although in 1826 the Globe had recognized in Egmont a modern tragedy, yet as a drama this work had no imita- tions. In addition to the two general editions mentioned above, however, the piece was later used as the libretto ' See Kunst und Altertum, 1826, for Goethe's review of this translation, with quotation of J. J. Ampere's article in the Globe. ' Friedel et de Bonneville : Nouveau Theatre allemand, 1782, t 9. " Mar. 6, 1830. • Cf. bk. ii, pt. i, p. 126. Germany and France 123 of an opera,^ in which its poHtical and patriotic significance was almost lost. Nor must we ignore the fact that two of the greatest French dramatists have used motives found in Egmont. Alexandre Dumas in his Christine borrows Alba's monologue for his Corsican Sentinelli. In Hugo's Hernani Dofia Sol's exclamation : " Que sur ce velours noir ce collier d'or fait bien ! "^ recalls a similar expres- sion by Klarchen to Egmont : " Der Sammet ist gar zu herrlich und die Passamentarbeit ! und das Gestickte ! " ^ Traces of this drama and of Gotz may also be seen in De Musset's Lorensaccio. Goethe's Tasso, known in the translation, merits the distinction of having directly inspired a historical drama by Albert Duval, which was performed at the Theatre Franqaise, December 1826.* Likewise, Alfred de Vigny's drama Chatterton (1835) recalls many similarities to this tragedy. Iphigenie inaugurated a new species of drama founded upon- the inner life, which was not at first understood by the French people. Despite the warm admiration of Mme. de Stael and of the Globe, it did not find a place on the French stage until 1902. This neglect was probably due to a deficiency in external action. The Parnassians, how- ever, who were devotees of calm and classic form, lauded its merits; and after 1870, when the real import of its message began to be understood, it grew in popularity ' Egmont: Drame lynque en quatre actes, paroles de MM. Albert Wolff at Albert Millaud, musique de M. Gaston Salvayre, Dec. 6, 1886. " " How beautiful this gold collar looks on the black velvet ! " Act V, scene iii. ' " The velvet is so very fine and the passamenterie ! and the em- broidery ! " Act iii, sc. iii. * See Kunst und Altertum, 1827. 124 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " among such thinkers as Taine, who called it the " most beautiful masterpiece of modern art." ^ For the present I shall omit Goethe's drama Faust and consider briefly the influence of his lyric and epic poetry and of his novels upon French literature. In De l'Allemagne Mme. de Stael had directed the at- tention of her readers to Goethe's natural simplicity and naivete as a lyric poet and ballad writer. Moreover, as early as 1800, she had translated into French verse Der Fischer and Der Gott und die Bajadere. Several years later (1818) Latouche translated Erlkbnig and Emile Deschamps followed with his versions of, Der Konig von Thule and Die Braut von Korinth (1828). The lack of translations was due to that very naivete and simplicity which Mme. de Stael had commended. The great charm of melodious verse, closely interwoven with depth of feel- ing and breathing the mysteries of nature, is lost in trans- lation, and the French verse becomes weak, stilted, and insipid. Even such a gifted student of German literature as Deschamps could not transcribe the simple phrases of the German poet into corresponding colloquial expressions, but took refuge in rhetorical eloquence. Despite their in- adequacy, these translations had a stimulating effect upon French writers. They now exerted their talents to com- pose French ballads in the German style. In the French lyric poetry of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with the exception of the choruses of Esther and Athalie, little reference to nature is found. Goethe's intimate understanding of the varied phenomena of nature and his exquisite mastery in delineating its re- ' Among the translations of this drama may be mentioned those by E. Borel (1855), A. Legrelle (1870), and by Eugene d'Eichthal (igoo). Germany and France 125 lations to man made a deep impression upon the French and prepared the way for the natural symboUsm and pan- theistic mysticism of the early Romanticists. Another influence not to be disregarded was the enrich- ment of the French language by the introduction of new words and metaphors from the German. This tendency was especially noticeable in the Romanticists, who were constantly creating so many new words, expressions, and compounds, that Sainte-Beuve declared in 1825 : '■ " On rirait d'un auteur, dont les vers trop frangais Ni d'un mot colossal le hardi barbarisme, Au lecteur mecontent ne presentent jamais Ni d'un tour inconnu Telegant germanisme." ^ But the most important influence of the German lyric was not creating an incentive for imitation, but rather arousing an inspiration for original production.^ To Goethe, " the lyric poet par excellence,'' ^Idouard Alletz gives due credit as the great stimulator of this new French lyricism.^ He says : " The fourth school in the poetry of the nineteenth century is that which puts some- times the drama, sometimes philosophy into the ode, and which gives to the ballad the majesty of the epic, to the romance the movement of tragedy, and to the song the proportions of the dithyramb. Goethe is the founder of this species which has widened the bounds of lyric poetry." ' L'Art poetique a I'Usage du dix-neuvieme SUcle. ' One would laugh at an author whose too Frenchy verses did not present to the dissatisfied reader the bold barbarism of a colossal word or the elegant germanism of an unknown phrase. ' Cf. the words of a French critic : " When one reads the German lyrics one finds himself thrust into deep meditations upon man and nature. This poetry does not arouse in the reader a desire of imitation ; but, what is of more value, it excites thought, it can awaken original inspiration." Cf. Siipfle, II, p. 169. * Genie du XIX' Siecle, 1842-43. 126 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " As an epic writer, too, Goethe was greatly esteemed in France. His chosen classic poem, Hermann und Dorothea, which had been translated as early as 1800 by Bitaube, two years later by Boulard, and by Xavier Marmier in 1829,^ found sympathetic critics. It inspired likewise many domestic poems and idylls, mostly in prose form.^ When the Parnassians gained the literary leadership, Hermann und Dorothea grew steadily in popularity. To them Goethe was, in Gautier's language, " the Jupiter of Wei- mar, the marmorean poet, the great plastic," and his poem a true epic of the German bourgeoisie. From i860 to the present decade thirteen new translations of this epic, have appeared. Besides, it was used as the libretto of an opera ' and as the theme of innumerable reviews.* Renan admired it immensely, and Paul Stapfer declared in 1881 that Hermann und Dorothea and Iphigenie were Goethe's two classic masterpieces. To show the powerful influence of Goethe's first novel, Werther, on the world, J. W. Appell ^ has furnished ample evidence. For French literature Baldensperger "> has col- lected a similar bibliography of 416 titles, consisting of translations, adaptations, reviews, commentaries, and other works inspired by this book. As the quintessence of ' Marmier's version had eleven new editions in the following years: 1839, 1841, 1842, 1850, 1857, 1859, 1862, 1864, 1865, 1872, and 1881. '^ Lamartine, Jocelyn, 1836; George Sand, Andre, 1835; Augier, Gahrielle; Valery Vernier, Aline, 1856; Louise Colet, Poeme de la Femme: La Servante, 1854; Victor Laprade, Pernette, 1868. 'Hermann et Dorothee: Opera en trois actes et quatre tableaux, de J. Goujon, musique de Fred, le Rey, Dec. 6, 1894. * See Baldensperger : Bibliographie critique de Goethe en France, pp. 180-88. ° Werther und seine Zeit, Oldenburg, i8g6. " Bib. Crit., pp. 5-49. Germany and France 127 Weltschmerz or mal de siecle this novel has no equal. Of its great influence the aged Lamartine said in 1866: "The melancholy of great passion was inoculated in me by this book. I went in it to the bottom of the human abyss. . . . One must have ten souls to master thus the soul of a whole century." ^ When the first part of WUhelm Meister, Goethe's great- est novel, was translated in 1802 and also in 1803, it re- ceived a very cool reception. Perhaps this was due to the faulty and mediocre rendition of the original. A later translation of the Lehrjahre by Theodore Toussenel in 1829 was much better, as also the translations of both parts by the Baroness de Carlowitz (1843) ^^^ by Theo- phile Gautier, fils (1861).^ This novel, which Emile Montegiit calls the " gospel of useful action and effective resignation," never found many readers, despite its philo- sophical breadth and original character. This was due, no doubt, to its numerous details and digressions. Two of its characters, however, have left a deep and undying impression on French literature, the old harper and the weird little Mignon. Their songs have become naturalized on French soil. In poetry, Theophile Gautier has immor- talized Mignon in his Albertus (1831); in fiction, George Sand in Consuelo (1842-43); Gautier in Le Capitaine Fracasse (1863), and Victor Hugo in Notre-Dame de Paris ( 1830) ; ^ in painting, Ary Scheffer exhibited two ' Cf. Alfred de Musset : Confession d'un Enfant du Siecle. Among worthy imitations of Werther are Chateaubriand, Rene, 1802 ; Mme. de Stael, Delphine, 1802, and Corinne, 1807 ; Etienne de Senancour, Oberman, 1804; Benjamin Constant, Adolphe, 1816; Charles Nodier, Peintre de Salzbourg, 1803, and Adele, 1820; Mme. de Kriidener, Valerie, 1803. ' New editions in 1868 and 1874. " Character of Esmeralda. 128 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " pictures in the Salon in 1839 ;^ in music there is the melody by Duparc, "La Romance de Mignon " (1871-73); and in the drama, the two-act play of Gaston de Monteau (1851). Like Wilhelm Meisier, Die Wahlverwandtschaften found slight approval. It was translated twice in 1810, then in 1844 by Mme. de Carlowitz, and in 1872 by Camille Selden (Heine's friend). Nevertheless, as early as 1834, it had a descendant in a novel Henri Farel^ by Louis Lavater (Louis Spach) (1834). Later, however, when scientific fiction came into vogue, the psychological merit of this novel was acknowledged.. To Mme. de Stael belongs the credit of introducing Faust to the French nation. In De l'Allemagne she gave a criti- cal synopsis of Part I, interspersed with various transla- tions. To niodern readers her criticism seems a mixture of enthusiastic admiration for its poetic beauties combined with a slight horror at its utter disregard of classic tra- ditions. Although she considered Mephistopheles the hero of the drama and did not realize the import of the Lord's words : " Es irrt der Mensch so lang er strebt," she de- serves the greatest esteem for bringing this work in appre- ciative form to her countrymen. Ten years later (1823) appeared the first complete trans- lation of Part I, by Albert Stapfer, the son of the Swiss ambassador at Paris. A young man well versed in the language and hterature of both countries, he was pecu- liarly fitted for his task. His translation, in prose and poetry, was preceded by a short .sketch of the Faust legend, by a biographical and literary notice of Goethe and by ' " Mignon Lamenting for Her Country '' and " Mignon Longing for Heaven." Germany and France 129 numerous explanatory notes. Stapfer's work was so exact and conscientious that he won the approval of Goethe.^ He also planned a translation of the forthcoming second part, and communicated with Goethe on that subject. Un- fortunately, however, he gave up the plan and contented himself by issuing another edition in 1828, a revised and corrected one in 1838. The same year that saw the Stapfer translation wit- nessed another version — that by the statesman and his- torian, Comte de Sainte-Aulaire. It appeared as the last volume of Ladvocat's Chefs-d'csuvre des Theatres Hrangers. Sainte-Aulaire's translation is also in prose and poetry. It is preceded by a notice on Faust, at the end of which is a eulogy on Mme. de Stael for her appreciative criticism and translation in De I'Allemagne. Sainte-Aulaire's aim is, like in the famous parallel of Wieland's translation of Shakespeare, evidently " klar denken und klar sprechen," for he omits every passage that he does not clearly under- stand and even goes so far as to leave out whole scenes in which mysterious characters appear. Like Mme. de Stael, he retains some of his classical prejudices, but he lacks her genius and eloquence. The third translator, Gerard de Nerval, an intimate friend of Heine, follows the tradition of Stapfer. In his prefatory remarks he outlines the legend, gives a sketch of the historical Faust, and of the translations that have hitherto appeared, describes the characters, compares Faust with Manfred and Don Juan, and ends with the opinion that Faust will finally escape perdition, as through repent- ance he may regain Heaven. This hint at the possible re- demption of Faust indicates Gerard's keen critical ability. Eckermann in his Conversations with Goethe says the fol- ' See Kunst und AUertum, 1826. 130 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne" lowing concerning this translation : ^ " Goethe praised Gerard's translation, although mostly in prose, as very successful. ' I no longer like,' he said, ' to read Faust in German, but in this French translation everything is again new, fresh, and significant.' " In 1840 Gerard translated the second part with some omissions, and the entire version has seen eight editions, the last one in 1881.^ As transla- tor, Gerard possessed a high poetic talent. The rhythmic swing of his prose transcribes very well Goethe's graphic word-pictures. Unlike his predecessor, Sainte-Aulaire, his work marks a decided advance, and will undoubtedly re- main one of the best translations in the French language. Through these three translations as well as through the restless desire for originality among the younger French writers, Faust became a powerful and directive factor. The mighty struggle of the hero to fathom the secret of the universe was, of course, an effective force; but upon the enthusiastic yet sceptical Romanticists the forms of Gretchen and Mephistopheles were more powerful agencies. As a literary critic aptly wrote : " In Mephistopheles es- pecially behold a man of the new literary school, the great prototype of the various types that vie with one another, of the heroes of the poetic and romantic creations of to- day, and of the very authors of these productions. The Satanic philosophy of Mephistopheles has been enjoyed more in France than the doctrines of Kant or of Schelling, and the Devil has been a more eloquent professor than Cousin." ' This drama called into existence many works, especially from 1830 to 1840.* ' Eckermann, Jan. 3, 1830. 'See Baldensperger : Bib. Crit., pp. 91-92. " Bihliotheque universelle de Geneve, 1834, LV, p. 177. •Theophile Gautier, Albertus, 1831, and La Comedie de la Mart, 1838; Edgar Quinet, Ahasverus, 1833, and Promethee, 1838; George Germany and France 131 Aside from these more serious writings in which were exhibited the lofty strivings of a titanic nature, there arose many lyrical and musical imitations in which Faust appears as a commonplace lover who sells his soul to the devil for money whereby he may win Gretchen. An exception to these lighter operatic dramas is the " programme music " of Hector Berlioz, the Damnation of Faust (1829), and Gounod's opera in 1859. To art the Faust drama was an inspiration. In 1825 Eugene Delacroix went to England, where he saw Retzsch's outlines, and was especially attracted by his representation of Mephistopheles. On his return to France he made seventeen lithographs for a new edition of Stapfer's trans- lation. Of them Goethe said to Eckermann : ^ " Delacroix is a great genius, who has found just the right sort of nourishment in Faust. . . . He will, I hope, illustrate the whole of it and I anticipate much pleasure from the Hexen- kiiche and the Brockenscenen. . . . And, if I must con- fess that Delacroix has in many instances surpassed my own conception of the scenes that I myself have created, will not readers find them full of life and outreaching their own imaginations ? " Besides these plates, Delacroix ex- hibited eight other paintings and drawings on the same subject.^ Sand, Lelia, 1833, and Les Sept Cordes de la Lyre, 1839; Balzac, Louis Lambert, 1832; Charles Nodier, Le nouveau Faust et la nouvelle Marguerite, 1832; Eugene Sue, La Salamandre, 1832; Musset, La Coupe et les Levres; Blaze de Bury, Le Souper du Com- mandeur, 1834; Lamartine, Jocelyn, 1836; Eugene Robin, Livia, 1836; Jean Pecontal, Volberg, 1837; Albert Soumet, La Divine Epopee, 1840; Saint-Rene Taillandier, Beatrice, 1840; Auguste Barbier, ^.rostrate, 1837; and Gerard de Nerval, Leo Burckhard, 1839- ' Nov. 29, 1826. ' " Mephistopheles Appearing to Faust," 1827 ; " Faust and Mephis- 132 MAdame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " Another artist who vied with Delacroix in Faust pic- tures, but who preferred the gentler and more sentimental aspects of the drama, was Ary Scheffer, to whom we owe seven representations of Gretchen at different phases of her life, five of Faust, and three of Mignon. As an able critic writes : " Of all the writers who have inspired Schef- fer, Goethe is certainly the one who has made the liveliest impression upon his mind." ^ In 1840 appeared the first complete translation of Faust by Henri Blaze de Bury, a work that had twelve editions by 1869, and which will always rank among the most scholarly translations of tha:t drama. For three years Blaze worked on his version and aimed to combine exact- ness of rendition with genuine poetic feeling and expression. To him the " poem of Faust is the song of naturalism, the gospel of pantheism, but of an ideal pantheism, that exalts matter into spirit." That Blaze succeeded in his task is maintained by Lerminier,^ who asserted that now for the first time the French people had a " complete translation, poetic and scholarly, of the greatest monument of German Hterature." During the period following this translation there arose many critical essays on the philosophical and aesthetical significance of this drama, and the effort was made to correlate it with the poet's life. To further this study, many translations of autobiographical or semi-autobio- graphical works appeared. These did much to correct the topheles," 1828 ; " Margaret in the Church," 1846 ; " Death of Valen- tine," 1848 ; " Mephistopheles Soaring Through the Air " (pen and ink); "Margaret in Prison" (water color) ; "Faust in His Study" (water color) ; and " Faust and Wagner Discoursing in the Coun- try" (sepia). 'Larousse, XIV, p. 342. ' Revue des Deux Mondes, Jan. 15, 1846. Germany and France 133 false impression regarding the German poet, according to which Goethe, as tlje great " Talleyrand of art," ^ " a dried-up soul," '^ " the great Mephisto," ^ " whose thought was a universe," * sat, an Olympian Jupiter, on his Weimar throne, impassive, devoid of human sympathy, incapable of human affection, and most indifferent to the trials of the German fatherland. What is very characteristic of the high ethical and philo- sophical nature of Faust is that, although the uninitiated considered it an enigma, a confused mixture of extrava- gance, eccentricity, and ambiguity, of unworthy form and content, the thinkers and philosophers found it very intelli- gible and full of profound meaning. This was especially true of the second part. Lerminier called it " the lyric choir of German ontology," Willm declared (1849) it was the embodiment of Goethe's philosophy, and the following year Bazy ^ wrote : " Human activity is extolled ; . . . purged of its illusions, it comes forth from the abyss of misery into which fatalism and despair had plunged the Faust of Marlowe. . . . Guided by another Beatrice, by poetry that begins his purification, Goethe's hero finds life's fullness in religious faith. With science, that always trans- fers the most noble faculties of the heart and of intelligence into the presence of divinity, poetry gave to Faust that faculty of regeneration (se transhumaner) which in Dante comes from grace." When Albert Castelman wrote La Question religieuse in 1861, he devoted an entire chapter to Goethe, and declared ' Sainte-Beuve, 1835. ' Lamennais, 1841. ' Michelet, 1842. * De Banville, 1841. ° itudes historiques, litteraires, et philosophiques sur Marlowe et Faust, 1850. 134 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne" that Faust is " vast as a hymn to nature, f ataUstic and progressive at the same time. . . . Faust symboHzes well the thought of our age." ^ The year following Legrelle wrote : ^ " For him who is able to comprehend Faust, it is not a soul, unless it be Goethe's; it is not an age, e. g., the eighteenth century; it is man or humanity, whichever you like. What makes the action true in this dramatic poem is the moral destiny of all." As early as 1823, the first part of Dichtung und Wahr- heit had been translated into French by Aubert de Vitry, and read with much interest. Soret's Notices de Goethe, consisting of fragments of letters and conversations, had been published in the Bibliotheque universelle in 1832. In 1844 there appeared for the first time the complete trans- lation of Dichtung und Wahrheit by H. Richelet, and Goethe the man, as revealed in this work, began to be known to the French public. About the same time (1843) Bettina von Arnim's so-called Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde appeared in the translation of S. Albin (Mme. Cornu). However, it was not until after i860 that Mme. de Carlowitz translated the Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und Schiller (1863). Eckermann's Gesprache appeared in two translations, by J. N. Charles (1863) and by Emile Delerot (1863); H. Rochelet followed them with a new edition of Goethe's memoirs and a comprehensive life of the poet. Daniel Stern (Mme. d'Agoult), in an exhaustive study, Dante et Goethe (1866), declared that the French did not know Goethe, that the true lesson of his life was culture, development of personality, and a constant progres- sion toward a better and more noble existence. Renan, ' Chap, ix, p. 161. 'Revue de I' Instruction publique, Dec. 11, 1862. Germany and France 135 who had read Faust in 1845, contradicted the accusation that Goethe was not patriotic by asserting that the poet was in his own way a creator of the German fatherland. Already in 1845 Renan had said:^ "The philosopher is the thinker, whatever may be the object upon which he exercises his thought." To the French Goethe was the poetic interpreter of the spiritual philosophy of Schelling, Hegel, and of Spinoza. On him and on Byron, according to the clergyman Maret,^ rested the guilt of being the first to introduce pantheism into poetry. This statement alarmed the French clergy, for behind the pantheism of Schelling and Hegel was the biblical exegesis of Strauss, and they were most active in denouncing Goethe as a heretic. But thinkers like Remusat and Caro continued to write on German philosophy and to consider Goethe as an exponent of lofty thought, fit to rank beside the great philosophers who had definite metaphysical systems. As to the charge of irreligion, Montegut ^ replies most aptly : " If the proper attitude of man is to hold his head erect and to look toward heaven, I do not know of a poet that imposes more nat- urally this attitude upon his readers than Goethe. You smile, perhaps, at the religious character which I attribute to Goethe, to that Goethe who, because of those false prejudices which for some centuries have slandered the thought of great men, has been considered up to the present time among the arch-heretics of religion. . . . How Goethe is religious will not be understood before two or three generations, and then one will be surprised at the long duration of the error which transformed into a transcen- '■ L'Avenir de la Science. ' Essai sur le Pantheisme dans les Societes modernes, 1840. ' Moniteur universe!, July, 1866 136 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne" dent dilettante and into a vulgar agnostic and immoral man, the greatest sage that ever lived." Is not Montegut's prediction being fulfilled? The literary historian Taine, and the biblical scholar and archaeologist Renan, were both ardent students of German philosophy. Before 1852, Taine had studied German in order that he might read Goethe and Hegel in the original. While assisting at Nevers, he wrote March 1852: " I am trying to console myself at present by reading German authors. They are for us now what England was for France in the time of Voltaire. I find ideas enough to last a century." Like Goethe, Taine believed in a divine life and in creative nature ; to him Goethe and Hegel were the foremost thinkers of the century. In 184Q Renan went to the seminary at Issy to study philosophy. Reid and Malebranche first attracted him, but soon he turned to Hegel, Kant, and Herder. He saw the contrast between the superficial pseudo-scientific re- ligion of the day and the idealistic metaphysical systems of Germany. From his perplexity his sister Henriette helped him out. " If," she wrote him, " you continue your studies in the language of Kant, of Hegel, of Goethe, and of Schiller, you will find many sweet distractions in this literature, so rich and varied." And Renan was indeed surprised to discover in German literature his own ideas and convictions. As author, too, of La Vie de Jesus, he was ever grateful to Germany, the land of biblical exegesis. The war of 1870 broke for a time the charm by which German culture and Goethe influenced French literature; party hatred and patriotic zeal now decried him as " mediocre " ^ and " not a great man at all." ^ His per- ' Edmond Scherer, 1872. ' Dumas fits, 1893. An interesting parallel is furnished in the Germany and France 137 sonality and literary works were subjected to severe criti- cism by literary critics. At this time, however, there was begun a thorough research by historians of all the varied conditions that gave rise to Goethe's philosophical and scientific studies. In a work written before the war but not published until 1872, A. Mezieres ^ maintained that the very best commentary on Goethe's works was found in the details of his own life. This book was very effective in lessening the feeling of bitter hatred against the German Goethe. About 1880 a renaissance of Goethean study began. Many discriminating articles appeared in the magazines, and numerous excellent translations of his works were forthcoming. In his Bibliographie critique de Goethe en France Baldensperger gives the names of ten translations of Faust that appeared after 1880, besides the many adapta- tions, continuations, commentaries, and the like. To the French, Faust now becomes, in the words of Anatole France,^ " The glorification of the activity and of the genius of man, the exhortation to intelligent action." About 1893, when the reaction against realism began, Faust was studied most thoroughly by the younger poets of symbolism. An aid in this intense study was the new metrical translation by Francois Sabatier, according to Dr. Martha Langkavel,^ probably the best version yet produced in French. Sabatier was well fitted for his task. He knew Germany, understood fourteen languages, and through his marriage with the noted singer, Karoline linger, he had an intelli- present European crisis by the sudden depreciation of Wagner and German music in general in the lands of the Allies. ' W. Goethe, Les CEuvres expliquees par sa Vie. ' Revue politique et litteraire, Aug. 3, 1889. 'Die franzosischen Ubertragungen von Goethes Faust, Strass- burg, 1902. 138 Madame de Stael's "De l'Allemagne" gent critic to aid him in obtaining a perfect knowledge of the German idiom. Sabatier's meter is true to the original; he renders the octaves, iambics, Hans Sachs couplet, free rhythm, blank verse, and alexandrines of the original into corresponding verse forms in the French language. In fidelity to mean- ing he is unequaled by other translators; the few errors that arise are due to metrical exigencies. He even under- stood how to transcribe adequately the colloquial speech of such scenes as Auerbachs Keller. His success was due to the fact that he burst asunder the stiff classic tradition in which French versification had been enshrined so long. He gave back to French poetry the long-lost free- dom, the archaic words and expressions of the time of Marot.i Let us return now to the symbolists. Maeterlinck con- sidered the second part of Faust and the Mdrchen as " sym- bols of set purpose." Brunetiere even declared ^ that Racine or Moliere had not always attained that depth of thought which is found in a Shakespeare or in a Goethe. The German sage now became the liberator and bene- factor of mankind, teaching the employment of active wisdom and energy to the amelioration of individual mis- fortune. In Goethe en France, Professor Baldensperger has so well summarized the influence exerted at different epochs by the German poet on French thought, that I shall refer to his conclusion. From 1778 to 1804 Goethe was the "illustrious Goethe," in 1825 he became "the grand-priest of romantic literature," in 1849 he was considered "the ' Cf. Eckermann, Apr. 13, 1823. ' L'^volution des Genres dans I'Histoire de la Litterature, 4th ed., 1906. Germany and France 139 most universal genius of modern times," about 1862 he had the reputation of an impassible, indifferent, all-com- prehensive Jupiter, after the war he was a commonplace thinker, and from 1880 on he has been the subject of in- creasing interest and of discriminating research. In fact, the Goethean spirit is tending daily to spread farther and farther over France and the world itself. It may be that in France Goethe has never at any time been the rage, like Ossian and Hoffmann, but his fame has been far more enduring."^ Although he has not di- rectly influenced the great masses of the French people, through his great influence on the elite of French minds, on great writers like Chateaubriand, Mme. de Stael, Sainte- Hilaire, Taine, and Renan, he has indirectly molded French thought. As is always true, the devotees of narrow re- ligious creeds have been hostile to his broad and tolerant faith ; but for the advance guard of thinkers who wage the battle against narrowing traditions, for those men who have consecrated their talents and lives to the welfare of humanity, he stands for quiet and constant progress. In every onward phase of influence his works have presented a new aspect. In the theoretic campaign of romanticism against classicism, his dramas and ballads were invoked as authorities ; for the fall of romanticism, his classic works furnished arguments and illustrations ; when positivism was seeking precedents in scientific inquiry, Goethe and his works were cited as an example of methodical research and culture, and later, when symbolism was gaining a foot- hold in literature, it pointed to Goethe as its predecessor. In all these varied phases of literary endeavor Goethe has not only shown himself leader and educator, but also ' Cf. Eckermann, July 25, 1827. I40 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " mediator between the opposing forces in moral and philo- sophical thought. Of all the great French writers of the nineteenth cen- tury Victor Hugo, so popular among the masses, was the only one who in maturer life was a bitter opponent of Goethe and his works. This may be explained by their difference in temperament, in philosophy, and in mode of activity. In his life and writings Hugo represented the struggle for outward liberty against despotism; Goethe, the strife for inner freedom, for ideality and unfettered thought, for the liberation of the inner man from the gall- ing chains of habits, customs, prejudices, ignorance, and heredity. Goethe's ideal is inherent, not opposed to reality, but seeking- its expansion. Man must develop from within outward. Every epoch of human thought and endeavor has somehow and somewhere a spiritual vision of the ideal to be realized in the coming era. It is therefore the task of the poet and seer to visualize this fleeting image of ideal perfection and to embody it in incarnate form for coming generations.^ And this was Germany's mission, through her noblest offspring Goethe, to France and to the world at large.' ' Cf. Eckermann, Apr. 8 and lo, 1829. ' Cf. Taine: " From 1780 to 1830 Germany brought forth thejdeas of our age; and for one-half a century, perhaps for a whole cen- tury, it will be our duty to reflect on them." CHAPTER II GERMAN LITERATURE IN THE ENGLISH- SPEAKING LANDS It is but natural . to expect that the influence of Mme. de Stael's book as a cultural medium, so far-reaching in her own country, should in like manner manifest itself in England and the United States as well. It is a matter of historical record that soon after the appearance of De V Allemagne the attitude of the English-speaking countries, up to that time indififerent, if not outspokenly hostile to German letters and culture, began to undergo a gradual but thoroughgoing modification. Victor Hugo's dictum in Ninety-three is in this instance also exemplified to the full. " An invasion of armies can be resisted, an invasion of ideas cannot be resisted." German thought began to be appreciated and assimilated. In this traffic of thought, the magazines of the two countries under consideration were of inestimable value, because with their insistent dis- cussion of the newly-discovered land of literature they were able to reach a larger circle of interested readers than could the works of individual writers. It will not then be out of place to devote a few pages to this disseminating agency, before the indebtedness of men of letters to Ger- man culture is more fully treated. As soon as De I' Allemagne appeared in print, it was eagerly read and reviewed by no less able a critic than Sir James Mackintosh in the Edinburgh Review.^ This ' XXII, pp. 198-238, Oct., 1813. 141 142 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " English magazine ' was the first of its kind ; it had no antecedents or precedents in true literary criticism. It bounded into the arena of active thought " without the countenance of birth or station, without the imprimatur of the universities or literary clubs. Its avowed mission was to erect a higher standard of merit arid secure a bolder and purer taste in literature and to apply principles and the maxims of truth and humanity to politics, and to aim to be the manual of the scholar, the monitor of the states- man." 2 Founded in 1802 by Rev. Sydney Smith, Francis Jeffrey, and Henry Brougham, three of the greatest men of the day, through its able articles and learned and independ- ent spirit, it helped to change the current of national thought. Of this magazine (and of the Foreign Review and Foreign Quarterly Review) Goethe wrote, 1828:^ "These magazines as they gradually win for themselves a greater public, will contribute most effectively toward that uni- versal world-literature toward which we look forward ; only we repeat, there must be no talk about nations agreeing in thought (libereindenken), but about them helping and comprehending one another, at least bearing with one another." In 1808 the London Examiner, in 1809 the London Quarterly Review, were founded, an^ eight years later the official organ of the Scotch Tory party, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. Perhaps the journal that contributed most to the diffu- ' See Bibliographiana, No. 2, edited by Walter A. Copinger, Man- chester, England, 1895. The authorship of the first one hundred numbers of the Edinburgh Review. ' Bib. VIII. ' Kunst und Altertum. England 143 sion of German literature in this early period was the For- eign Quarterly Review, established July 1827, at the sug- gestion of Sir Walter Scott, published by the London firm of Treuttel and Wurtz, and edited by that earnest student of German literature, Robert Pearse Gillies. In October 1846 it was united with the Westminster Review, the name and volume number of the latter being assumed for Jan- uary 1847. Of its great work Goethe wrote, July 1827:^ " It is most inspiring, to see how in this magazine the moral and aesthetic strivings of the Germans are taken up and examined. The editor of this department is a re- markable man, to whom we owe many an explanation about ourselves and about others." Mention must also be made of the London Athenceum (founded 1828) and of Preiser's Magazine for Town and Country (1830). Among the American magazines, the first journal of literary merit was the Monthly Anthology and Boston Review,^ the official organ of the " Anthology Society," a club that met weekly for the study of literary questions, and aimed to create higher standards in literature. Its early members included J. S. Buckminster, David P. Adams, Savage, Field, Wm. Emerson, Sidney Willard, Wm. Tudor, Jr., Gorham, Kirkland, Wm. S. Shaw, Samuel C. Thatcher, Andrews Norton, George Ticknor, Bigelow, Gardener, and Alex. H. Everett. Another important periodical, edited by Wm. Tudor as a bi-monthly, the North American Review and Miscel- laneous Journal, appeared in May 1815. After the issue of eight volumes the magazine was made a quarterly ' Kunst und Altertum. ' See Memories of Youth and Manhood, by Sidney Willard, 2 vols., Cambridge, 1855. 144 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " ' — its title abridged to North American Review, and only reviews and book notices were accepted for its pages. From 1815 to 1900 the names of the editors included such men as Wm. Tudor, Jared Sparks, E. T. Channing, and Edw. Everett. All of the early editors were men of broad learning, prominent in public life and enthusiastic for the new culture. As the chief organ of the Gottingen students this magazine contained many stirring and epoch-making articles on German life and literature. In 1813, before the establishment of the North American Review, another magazine, of a distinctly religious char- acter, was formed under the auspices of Rev. W. E. Chan- ning. It was called the Christian Disciple. Merged in 1870 into the periodical Old and New, it admitted articles both for and against German culture ; but in it we find many stirring reviews by such enthusiastic German scholars as George Ripley and Frederick Hedge. During the transcendental movement two other periodi- cals played an important part in the dissemination of Ger- man culture, the Western Messenger, founded in 1835, with a view to present the problems of literature, philosophy, and religion in a clear and attractive manner, to create a sentiment for a higher and nobler way of thinking and living, and to preach against slavery, and the Dial (Boston, July 1840 to April 1844), founded by George Ripley, Margaret Fuller, and R. W. Emerson, with the following aim : " A perfectly free organ is to be offered for the ex- pression of individual thought and character. There are no party measures to be carried, no particular standard to be set up. A fair, calm tone, a recognition of universal principles, will, I hope, pervade the essays in every form." That the study of German was not confined wholly to the North is proved by the number of articles on German England 145 literature and of translations in Southern journals from 1835 to i860. Unfortunately most of these magazines, such as the Southern Rose, Orion, Southern Literary Messenger, Magnolia, Southern Quarterly Review, and Chicora, were so short-lived that their influence could not make the deep and lasting impression that generally accom- panies a well-known and long-established literary authority. In addition to the work of these periodicals, there were many other factors contributing to make De rAllemagne a success in England and in America. Mme. de Stael's literary genius became well known in both countries ; for several of her works had been reviewed in the leading maga- zines, and English translations of them had also appeared. During her sojourn in England and in her salons at Paris and Goppet she had met many distinguished English authors and statesmen. As the fearless opponent of Na- poleon and as the noted exile who had escaped his domi- nation, she was a welcome guest in English eyes. Notices of her work on Germany had appeared from time to time, and the public was eager to know its contents. The con- fiscation and destruction of the first edition by Napoleon and the fortunate rescue of the precious manuscript but increased the importance of the book in the eyes of the public. The general prevalence of French taste in Eng- land and the initiative attempts of Mackenzie, Ash, Wil- liam Taylor of Norwich, Monk Lewis, Scott, Goleridge, and De Quincey were likewise instrumental in bringing Mme. de Stael's work into general notice. It is now in order to consider these pioneers somewhat in detail. 146 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " England William Taylor of Norwich (1^6^-1836) Taylor's greatest service to the German cause was really before the appearance of De l'Allemagne; yet he deserves recognition here not only as a forerunner of Mme. de Stael, but as a stimulator of Scott, Monk Lewis, George Bar- row, Sotheby, Sarah Austin, Southey, Sayer, and Henry Crabb Robinson, and for his authorship of numerous lit- erary reviews. As a translator he produced versions of Biirger's Lenore (1790, published 1796) , and of Des Pfarrers Tochter von Taubenhain (1796), Lessing's Nathan (1791), Goethe's Iphigenie (1793), Schiller's Braut von Messina, and of Wieland's Gbttergesprdche (1795). His reviews and essays are on a great variety of subjects, many dealing with German literature. Among them may be noted his articles on Herder's Zerstreute Blatter and Brief e zur Beforderung der Humanitdt, Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre and Faust, Klopstock's and Wieland's Gesammelte Werke, Werner's Martin Luther, August Schlegel's Vorlesungen iiber dramatische Kunst und Lite- ratur, and Friedrich Schlegel's Vorlesungen iiber die Geschichte der alten und neuen Literatur. Not a few of these critiques and translations he incorporated in a larger work of three volumes under the title An Historic Survey of German Poetry (1828-30), the first history of German literature in the English language. " The hint to under- take this work,'' he says, " was given by the Abbe Bertola's Idea della bella Letteratura Alemanna} Then with frag- ments, long since hewn, as it were, and sculptured, I at- tempt to construct an English temple of fame to the ' Vol. Ill, p. 2. England 147 memory of those German poets, who were much the favor- ites of my youth, and remain the companions of my senescence." ^ Among the translations interspersed in this literary his- tory are selections from the Norse, Old High German, Middle High German, Haller, Gessner, Hagedorn, Klop- stock, Gleim, Ewald von Kleist, Lessing, Biirger, Voss, Jacobi, Matthisson, Denis, Wieland, Herder, Kotzebue, Arndt, and Korner. Schiller appears in original transla- tions from Die Rduber, Kabale und Liebe, from the Thalia, Fiesko, Die Braut von Messina, and Wilhelm Tell, also the poems Der Toucher, Hero und Leander, and Die Ideale. Of Goethe's works, he gives many selections from Clavigo, Iphigenie, Egmont, Faust (the cathedral scene), and Wil- helm Meister. Goethe's poems are represented by Erlkbnig, Der Wanderer, Mignon's song, Der Sanger, Der Zauber- lehrling, Mahomets Gesang, Die Braut von Korinth, and The Sea-Mark. He also quotes from other translators ; from Coleridge's Wallenstein, Mellish's Mary Stuart, Scott's Gbts, Holcroft's Hermann and Dorothea, and Shelley's Walpurgisnacht. In his reviews Taylor calls Herder " the Plato of the Christian world," and Schiller " the ^schylus of Germany, the loftiest of her tragic poets." ^ " To Goethe," he says, " must be awarded greater truth of nature than to either of his competitors " (Schiller and Kotzebue). "Kotzebue appeals to the sympathy, Schiller to the admiration, but Goethe to the experience." ^ When this work appeared Carlyle reviewed it most harshly in the Edinburgh Review of 1831,* especially the ' Preface to Vol. I, p. vi. ' III, pp. 40 and 167. • III, p. 377. * Misc. Essays, III, p. 283. 148 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " chapters on Goethe and Schiller, for whose writings Taylor had indeed but little understanding. The result was, there- fore, that the reception accorded the Historic Survey by the public was most unfavorable, for no critic arose to de- fend its good qualities as an initiative English work on German literary history.^ Despite his limited vision, Wil- liam Taylor must be termed " the father of German Htera- ture " in England.^ Henry Crabb Robinson (1^7^-1867) "A man famous for conversation " ^ and " the philoso- pher of the Unitarians," * was Henry Crabb Robinson. Be- cause of his religious faith Robinson was not permitted to attend the higher institutions of learning. Nevertheless he succeeded in obtaining a good knowledge of French, and from his Norwich friends some ideas on German litera- ture. In 1789 " a most eventful occurrence " happened in " an introduction to William Taylor of Norwich, who en- couraged in him a growing taste for German literature," ^ and advised him to go to Germany. In 1800, by means of a small inheritance, Robinson was able to go, and remain there more than five years, studying and traveling and coming " into contact with some of the most distinguished men of the age." According to his own statement ° this incident had great influence on his tastes, feelings, and character. He had the good fortune to meet the Brentano family, who were all fervent admirers of Goethe. In 1801, ' See Goethe's letter to Zelter, Weimar, Aug. 20, 1831, No. 358. ' Hayward: Notes to Faust, p. 279. " Ticknor, I, p. 411. ' Janet Ross, p. 8. " Diary, I, p. 27. ' Ibid., I, p. 44. England 149 with Seume and the painter Schnorr, he made a trip to Weimar and met Goethe personally for the first time.^ When Christian Brentano had finished his preparatory studies at Grimma and was ready for the University of Jena, Robinson went thither with him; from October 1802 until his return to England in the latter part of 1805, this was his home. While at Jena (January 1804) Robinson met Mme. de Stael, and proved an able assistant in helping her to com- prehend German philosophy.^ Soon after he was again presented to Goethe by Benjamin Constant, and from that time dates the close friendship between the two men. In a letter to his brother June 3, 1804, Robinson writes: " Goethe is a great man, not merely because he has pro- duced masterpieces of poetry, rivaling the best works of antiquity, but that he is distinguished by an habitual man- liness, consistency, vigor, truth, and health of opinion and sentiment. He is a man of practical wisdom, and though a Poet only as Artist, a critic in the plastic arts and a pro- found judge in matters of philosophy. One of his char- acteristic qualities, perhaps the most peculiar of all, is the Universality of his taste. He respects all things and de- spises nothing but Frivolity. In one of his Distiches '' he says : ' Do but go forward with Love and Earnestness, be it what it will, for this adorns so beautifully the German, who is deformed by so much.' I was therefore flattered enough by his saying to me : " I see you must have laid great stress on learning our language ! ' " In a letter to Zelter, Aug. 20, 1829, Goethe writes of ' Diary, I, p. 71. * ' See pt. i, chap, iii, pp. 61-62. ' " Freunde, treibet nur Alles 1 .it Ernst und Liebe ! Die beiden Stehen dem Deutschen so schon, den, ach, so vieles entstellt." Vier Jahresseiten. 150 Madame de Stael's "De l'Allemagne" his visit with Robinson: "We have just had with us an Englishman, who, at the beginning of the century studied in Jena, and who since then has followed up German litera- ture with a perseverance that is quite incredible. He was so well instructed in the merita causae of our circum- stances, that even had I wished to do so — and it is our usual way of treating foreigners — I could not have dared to try and humbug him with phrases." ^ When Robinson was asked why he did not write a great literary work on Goethe and German literature, he replied that he did not have talent enough. To his old friend Walter Bagehot, he would reiterate : " Sir, I have no lit- erary talent. I cannot write, I never could write anything, and never would write anything." ^ But his autobiography (35 vols.), journals (30 vols.), letters and reminiscences (36 vols.) contradict this modest statement. They are veritable mines of information in regard to German litera- ture and to the distinguished people of that day, who cherished in the " social narrator," and the rnan " of cheer- ful yesterdays," ^ a helpful, earnest friend and a tolerant apostle of German thought. After Robinson's return to England he tried by his brilliant conversation, by editorials and translations to create a sentiment for German literature, and especially for Goethe, who, in his opinion, was the greatest German writer. The wall of narrow prejudices and religious an- tagonism was too strong, however, to be shattered by his genial nature. It was reserved for a sturdier warrior, for ' See Diary, II, p. no. ' Literary Studies of the late Walter Bagehot, with a prefatory memoir, edited by Richard H. Hutton, 2 vols., London, 1879, II, P- 324- ' Wordsworth. England 151 the Scotchman Carlyle with his constant ramming blows, to burst the barriers asunder. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) To use James Stuart Mill's expression, Coleridge had a " seminal mind." His genius was eminently interpretative. He would no doubt have referred to himself with that newly- coined term of his, " esemplastic," the shaper-of-many-into- one. Though he originated nothing new in the domain of criticism, morality, and philosophy, his acute and sym- pathetic grasp of the conceptions of more systematic thinkers made him an excellent bearer of German thought to England and America. As early as 1794 he had read Schiller's Rduber in Lord Woodhouselee's translation, and in a letter to his brother-in-law Southey he describes the intense excitement aroused in him by the work of " this convulser of the heart," Schiller.^ Soon afterward he writes a sonnet " To the Author of the Robbers." " Schiller ! that hour I would have wished to die, If through the shudd'ring midnight I had sent From the dark Dungeon of the Tower time-rent That fearful voice, a famished Father's cry — That in no after moment aught less vast Might stamp me mortal ! A triumphant shout Black Horror screamed, and all her goblin rout, From the more with'ring scene diminished past. Ah ! Bard tremendous in sublimity. Could I behold thee in thy loftier mood Wand'ring at eve with finely frenzied eye Beneath some vast old tempest-swinging wood ! Awhile with mute awe gazing I would brood, Then weep aloud in a wild ecstasy ! " ^ ' Letters, edited by E. H. Coleridge, I, pp. 96-97. ' Note by Coleridge : " One night in winter on leaving a college friend's room, with whom I had supped, I carelessly took away 152 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " It was his admiration of Schiller that probably prompted him to begin the study of German. In May 1796 he writes to his friend Poole : " I am studying German and in about six weeks shall be able to read that language with tolerable fluency. Now I have some thoughts of making a proposal to Robinson, the great London bookseller, of translating all the works of Schiller, which would make a portly quarto, on condition that he should pay my journey and my wife's to and from Jena, a cheap German university town where Schiller resides, and allow me two guineas each quarto sheet, which would maintain me. If I could realize this scheme, I should there study chemistry and anatomy and bring over with me all the works of Semler and Michaelis, the German theologians, and of Kant, the great German metaphysician." ^ This plan came, however, to naught, until 1798. Then followed a literary trip,^ which included a visit to Klop- stock, who expressed the wish that Coleridge would " ren- der into English some select passages of the Messiah and revenge me of your countrymen " ; the study of Germanic literature and the elder poets ; a plan to write Lessing's life and what he called ^ a period when he was a most dili- gent worker, when the evidence of those who knew him there pointed to his being an idler who delighted in com- mitting to memory an ode of Klopstock — without much with me The Robbers, a drama, the very name of which I had never heard before : A winter midnight, the wind high, and The Robbers for the first time ! The readers of Schiller will conceive what I felt. Schiller introduces no supernatural beings, yet his human beings agitate and astonish more than all the goblin rout of Shakespeare." Poems, p. 63. ■ Works, edited by Shedd, III, pp. 638-39. ' See Satyrane's Letters, Biographia Literaria, chaps, x and xxii. • Works, III, p. 301. England 153 understanding of it — and thus mystifying his countrymen with his rapid progress in German.'^ Upon his return to England, 1799, he began his transla- tion of Wallenstein,^ which, according to Gillman, he fin- ished in six weeks. As it was made from a manuscript copy, it differs in some respects from the standard revised and printed edition. In his translation Coleridge rambles and amplifies at pleasure, and sometimes by imagery makes a passage three or four times as long as the original. For instance, the two verses in Wallenstein which read: ' Die alten Fabelwesen sind nicht mehr, Das reizende Geschlecht ist ausgewandert " become " The intelligible forms of ancient poets, The fair humanities of old religion, The Power, the Beauty, and the Majesty, That had their haunts in dale, or piny mount, Or forest, by slow stream or pebbly spring, Or chasms and watery depths ; all these have vanished — They live no longer in the faith of reason." From a few friends, Coleridge received the praise due his excellent work; but the Anti- Jacobin press of the day reviewed it so severely as a product of the detestable Ger- man school, that Coleridge felt it was necessary to explain his literary position. In a letter to the Monthly Review, 1800,^ he is at pains to disclaim German partisanship. " The mere circumstance of translating a manuscript play is not even evidence that I admired that one play, much less that I am a genuine admirer of the plays in that lan- guage." Not until after the appearance of De I'Allemagne ' Calvert : First Years in Europe, p. 104. " Die Piccolomini and Wallenstein' s Tod. ' Review for October. 154 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " and of Carlyle's early essays, did the public devote any special attention to this masterpiece of poetic translation, although, excepting Sotheby's Oberon (1798), it was, as Carlyle states, " the best, indeed, the only sufferable trans- lation from the German with which our literature has been enriched." In fact, the translation was considered superior to the original, and by such literary men as Scott, Lamb, Southey, and Allan Cunningham. Even that excellent German scholar, James F. Clarke, writes in the preface to his Exotics: " Coleridge in Wallenstein was able to in- troduce Schiller worthily to English readers. Some pas- sages in the version surpass the original. I think there is nothing in the German play quite so good as those lines in which Wallenstein laments the death of Max, which close thus : . " ' For O, he stood beside me like my youth, Trahsformed for me the Real into a dream Clothing the palpable and the familiar With golden exhalations of the dawn. Whatever fortunes wait my future toils, The Beautiful is vanished and returns not.' " In the remodeled edition of the Osorio (written at first in 1797 under the combined influence of the Rduber and Der Geisterseher), published under the title of Remorse, the influence of Wallenstein is very apparent. It was even commented upon by the reviewers. The London Times^- refers to the " exploded plagiarisms from the German school," and Leigh Hunt wrote in the Examiner: ^ " The skill, indeed, with which the situations are disposed, so as to create effect, would have done honor to a veteran dramatist; for this, we suppose, Mr. Coleridge is indebted to his acquaintance with the German drama, which in the 'Jan. IS, 1813. "Jan. 31, 1813. England 155 hands of Schiller at least redeems all its faults by its ex- cellence; and among its other striking beauties, abounds in the picturesque." It was as a dramatist rather than as a lyrist that Schiller appealed to Coleridge, and the influence of Wallenstein is also reflected in Zapolya (1817) ; yet he imitated a few of Schiller's lyrics. His Visit of the Gods was an acknowl- edged translation of Schiller's Dithyrambe, and was written, according to Henry Crabb Robinson, after Nov. 15, 1810,^ though Campbell would have it as early as 1799. Not until 1840, however, was it discovered that Coleridge's beautiful distiches on The Homeric Hexameter and The Ovidian Elegiac Metre were but an exact translation of Schiller's verses.^ From more obscure poets Coleridge's borrowings are numerous and generally unacknowledged. His poem Hymn Before Sunrise in the Vale of Chamouni (1802) is but a beautiful expansion of Friederike Brun's Chamouni vor Sonnenaufgang. To Matthisson's poem Milesisches Mdrchen, written in a Catullian measure, he is indebted for his Catullian Hendecasyllables. From Count Christian Stolberg came his Tell's Birthplace (Tells Geburtsort), The British Stripling's War-Song (Lied eines deutschen Knaben), and parts of the Hymn to the Earth (Hymne an die Erde), Fancy in Nubibus (An das Meer), and On a Cataract (Der Felsen Strom). The folksong, Wenn ich pin Voglein war\ becomes through Coleridge a poem of longing for his wife. Something Childish but Very Natural. " If I had but two little wings, And were a little feathery bird, ' Diary, 1, p. 196. = See Ed. R., LXVII, pp. 287-99. 156 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne" To you I'd fly, my dear: But thoughts like these are idle things And I stay here." For Goethe, Coleridge had very little understanding. He conceded to Goethe universal talent, but felt a want of moral life to be the defect of his poetry.^ In his Table Talk, Feb. 16, 1833, Coleridge says that before he had ever seen Goethe's Faust he had himself planned a Faust tragedy, the hero of which was Michael Scott. Later, when urged to translate Goethe's drama, he read the work carefully, and considered whether he should write his own drama or translate Faust. . Says the dubious-minded expropriator : " I debated with myself whether it became my moral character to render into English and so far, certainly, lend my countenance to language much of which I thought vulgar, licentious, and blasphemous. I need not tell you that I never put pen to paper as a translator of Faust." ^ This does not accord, howeyer, with his letter to John Murray from Bristol, Aug. 23, 1814, regarding the translation of " the justly-celebrated Faust of Goethe." ^ Through Charles Lamb he had heard that Murray wished to publish such a translation and that the latter considered him well-fitted for the task. He writes : " Among the volumes of praiseworthy German poems, the Louise of Voss and the Faust of Goethe are the two, if not the only ones, that are emphatically original in their conception, and their character is of a new and peculiar sort of think- ing and imagination." He desires to have all of Goethe's works for reading, so as to write a preliminary critical ' H. C. R. : Diary, I, p. 196. ^ Edited by T. Ashe, London, 1896, pp. 189-91, 193. ' Letters, edited by Ernest H. Coleridge, 2 vols., Boston and New York, 1895, II, pp. 624-27. England 157 essay, for Faust may not suit the general taste. Men of genius will admire it, of necessity. Those must, who think deepest and most imaginatively." For his service as critic and translator he desires iioo and agrees to complete the work in two or three months. This project, like many others, came to naught. Whether the meter of Christabel (a verse of seven to twelve syllables with four accents) was inspired by the measure of Faust or the Knittelvers of Hans Sachs, whom he studied in Germany, is still an open question. This poem and Kubla Khan, both motivated in the large after Burger's Lenore, were first printed in 1816, but in prefatory notes Coleridge states that he composed Kubla Khan and Part I of Christahel in 1797, Part II of the latter in the autumn of 1800, and adds : " The dates are mentioned for the exclusive purpose of precluding charges of plagiarism or servile imitation from myself." And in his Table Talk ^ he declares that he had conceived the whole plan of his Christabel from its first inception, that the execution of his idea was very subtle and difficult, and that his reason for not finishing was because he had heard that Part II of Faust was very poor, and he had not the courage to attempt a reversal of this prejudice against continuations. In the Edinburgh Review of April 1835 ^ appears an article on Coleridge's Table Talk, which contains this criticism of Christabel: " But the original of this form of versification, first introduced to English readers by that poem, seems a little more questionable, although contended for by the admirers of the writer. Whether the first edi- tion of Goethe's Faust, published in 1790, could have been known to the author of Christabel before his visit to Ger- ^ July, 1833, p. 241. ' LXI, pp. 129-53. 158 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne" many (the first part having been written, according to himself, in 1797), we do not know; probably the forth- coming account of his life will clear up all doubts on that point. If not, it is a curious coincidence that the two writers should have been each the first to produce in his respective country, that singular meter now so fashionable, in which the verse is measured, not by syllables, but by cadences, and that both should have applied it to similar objects of wild, unearthly interest. This would not be the only unacknowledged debt due from Coleridge to Goethe. There is in The Friend a splendid passage, de- scribing the temptations of Luther in his cell at the Wart- burg, which although more highly wrought, more varied and animated, is entirely borrowed, in substance, from that scene in Faust where the doctor is introduced, laboring on a translation of the New Testament." Similarly in Blackwood's Magazine,^ in an article on Faust, the critic writes : " Often, while engaged in our pres- ent task, we have thought of Kubla Khan and Christabel." Then after quoting the Zueignung, he writes in a note: " Can anything be more divine than the musical versifica- tion of these passages? And surely it is most appropriate. We could easily multiply such passages from Coleridge's works. See the incantation in the Remorse." As Campbell points out,^ Coleridge's Confessions of an Enquiring Spirit, a series of seven letters on Inspiration, owed their origin to Goethe's Confessions of a Fair Saint in Wilhelm Meister. These Confessions were probably written in the latter part of 1824, .though not published till 1840; for June 1824 Carlyle gave Coleridge a copy of his translation of Wilhelm Meister, and Coleridge declared ' VII, pp. 236-58. ' Life of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, p. 254. England 159 then that this novel was his favorite among Goethe's prose works.^ For Goethe the lyrist, Coleridge's admiration was un- bounded. In his Table Talk ^ he writes : " In his ballads : and lighter lyrics Goethe is most excellent. It is impos- sible to praise him too highly in this respect." As a proof of this admiration, we have Coleridge's fine version of the first stanza of Mignon's song. While in Ratzeburg Coleridge had become interested in Lessing, especially in his Hamburgische Dramaturgie. To him Lessing was a " master of style." In his Table Talk ^ he declares that neither Schiller's nor Goethe's prose style approaches Lessing's, whose " writings, for manner, are absolute perfection." To Lessing was due Coleridge's first recognition of Shakespeare's greatness as a dramatist. In his critique on Maturin's tragedy Bertram in the Biographia Literaria he wrote : " It was Lessing who first introduced the name and the works of Shakespeare to the admiration of the Germans ; and I should not perhaps go too far, if I add, that it was Lessing who first proved to all thinking men, even to Shakespeare's own countrymen, the true nature of his apparent regularities." * Later, how- ever, he ridiculed Wordsworth for " affirming in print that a German critic first taught us to think correctly concern- ing Shakespeare." ^ This newly awakened admiration for Shakespeare was expressed in a series of lectures given before the Royal Philosophical Institute at London in the spring of 1808. Our only knowledge of their content, besides Coleridge's ^ Table Talk, p. 193, Feb. 16, 1833. ' Feb. 16, 1833, p. 193. •P. 193. * Works, III, p. SS9- ' See Morley's edition of Wordsworth's Works, pp. 867-68. i6o Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " own affirmations, is from a few references in Henry Crabb Robinson's Diary ^ and from his two letters to Mrs. Clarkson. According to Brandl,^ Robinson affirms that ■" Coleridge's lectures adopted in all respects the German doctrines, clothed with original illustrations and adapted to an English audience." In the winter of 1811-12 Coleridge delivered a second course of seventeen lectures. From the notes taken by J. Payne Collier ^ and also from his diary we have a fair idea of their content. In scope and character of criticism these lectures bear a striking resemblance to August W. Schlegel's Vorlesungen uber dramatische Kunst und Lite- rafur which he delivered in Vienna in 1808, and which were afterwards published in 1 809-11. Coleridge's lec- tures were so popular that soon afterward he started an- other course, and from Robinson comes this report in a letter to Mrs. Clarkson, dated Nov. 29, 1811:* "I have not missed a lecture, and have each time left the room with the satisfaction which the hearkening to the display of truth in a beautiful form always gives. I have a Ger- man friend who attends also and who is delighted to find the logic and the rhetoric of his country delivered in a foreign language. There is no doubt that Coleridge's mind is much more German than English. My friend has pointed out striking analogies between Coleridge and German authors whom Coleridge has never seen." The next year Coleridge started a fourth series, and in 1813-14 repeated his lectures of 1811-12 to a Bristol audi- ence. These two courses are embodied in a long series ' I, p. 117, and II, chap. xii. " Pp. 296-97. 'Pub. 1856. ' Diary, I, pp. 225-26. England i6i of fourteen lectures delivered in 1818. Miss Anna Helm- holtz in an extended investigation on this subject shows by parallel citations ^ that " Coleridge, despite his denial, is in- debted to Schlegel for most of his principles of criticism and for other material amounting to no inconsiderable number of pages." ^ Besides his obligations to Lessing and Schlegel, Cole- ridge borrowed many of the philosophical sesthetical con- ceptions embodied in his Biographia Literaria from Jean Paul Richter, Schiller, Fichte, Kant, Schelling, and Maasz. Professor James F. Ferrier in the Edinburgh Review of March 1840 ^ declares that Coleridge at the age of forty- five succeeded in founding his great metaphysical reputa- tion upon " verbatim plagiarisms " of the works written by a German youth of twenty. By parallel citations he shows that Coleridge quoted from Schelling thirteen con- tinuous whole pages, six half pages, and twelve small pas- sages (about three pages),, or nineteen pages in all, without any acknowledgment whatever, and that, in a similar way, he gives frequent citations from Maasz.* As Ferrier points out, what is even worse than unacknowledged plagiarism, is that Coleridge is constantly trying to ward off such a charge by prefixing explanatory notes of these " genial coincidences " of thought and even of sameness of phrase. It is evident that one of his fortes was to concoct one book out of many without compunctions as to ac- knowledgment of debt. It is not my intention to discuss this question in detail. Coleridge's sin was one of frailty, of lack of will-power. ' Chap, iii, pp. 297-347. ' Pp. 361-62. ' XLVII, pp. 287-99 : The Plagiarisms of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. ' Versuch iiher die Einbildungskraft, Halle and Leipzig, 1797. i62 MadaMe de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " In his work on John Sterling, Carlyle gives a very graphic representation ^ of Coleridge as he shuffles along, stoop- ing, never even straightening out his knees, and says: " He mould do all with his heart, but he knows he dares not." Even while in Germany, he was a victim of the opium habit, though some critics, Professor Beers, for one, assert he started it in 1801 as a relief from rheuma- tism. Benecke, however, told Calvert that his practice was so well known in Gottingen that when De Quincey's Con- fessions of an Opium Eater appeared, the Germans thought its author was Coleridge.^ For this reason we should par- don his weakness, and be grateful to Coleridge for his great service as a transmitter of German thought to Eng- lish minds, and as an inspiring and suggestive personality to those eager students of German culture, among whom may be numbered our early American leaders — Stuart, Marsh, Calvert, Clarke, Emerson, Theodore Parker, and Margaret Fuller.' Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) Gillies says in his Memories of a Literary Veteran:^ " If Scott had not chanced to have a few German lessons and Lenore and the Wild Huntsman as exercises, we should never have had the Lay of the Last Minstrel and the Lady of the Lake." ' Chap, viii, p. 260. ' First Years in Europe, p. 104. ' Cf. E. E. Hale, Life of J. F. Clarke, p. 87 : " The great German authors swayed the minds of our young students with all their new power, and with the special seduction which accompanies a discovery, the study of German being wholly new. For students who did not read German, Coleridge was opening up the larger philosophy." ' I, p. 227. England 163 Scott's first interest in German thought dates from 1788. In that year William Mackenzie delivered a lecture on German literature in Edinburgh. Among his auditors was Scott, who then determined to study the German language. With "six other young people he had lessons under a Dr. Willich, and with his teacher read Gessner's Tod Abels. Then came the independent reading of Schiller's and of Goethe's dramas, especially of Die Rduber. In the autumn of 1794 Mrs. Barbauld, a friend of the Norwich Taylors, came to Edinburgh and recited Biirger's Lenore in William Taylor's version. Its " Tramp, tramp, across the land they speed, Splash, splash, across the sea ! " inspired Scott to try his skill at a poetical translation. Under the title of William and Helen, this poem was pub- lished in 1796, together with The Chase, a recasting of Der wilde Jager. This was the turning-point in Scott's career, as he later declared. A letter of Mrs. Barbauld's to William Taylor also substantiates this fact. She wrote : " Do you know that you made Walter Scott a poet ? So he told me the other day. It was, he says, your ballad of Lenore that inspired him." ^ Besides these translations from Biirger, traces of the German poet's influence are discernible in Eve of St. John (printed 1801 in Lewis's Tales of Wonder, and in the Lay of the Last Minstrel, 1805). The great success of the Lay was due in part to the meter in which it was written — the four-beat couplet (Knitteh'ers). In Kubla Khan and Christabel (written 1797) Coleridge had been the first Englishman to use the old German meter, but inasmuch as these poems were not printed until 1816, Scott did not ' Janet Ross, p. 2. 164 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " have direct access to them. Sir John Stoddart, however, had seen Coleridge in Malta in 1804, and had heard the poem recited. From his description Scott derived the idea of his rhythm. A proof of this is the line he borrowed from Christabel — " Jesu Maria shield thee well " — and also several rhythmic forms. ^ In spite of his scanty knowledge of German, Scott began the translation of Goethe's drama, Gotz von Berlichingen, in 1798 and finished it the following year. The work at- tracted little attention among the public, yet for Scott's own literary development it was of the greatest importance. Its influence is very apparent on the Lay (1805),^ Marmion (begun 1806, printed 1808), and on his first original drama, the House of Aspen (written 1800, published 1829). Just as Byron became the representative of Wertherism in England, in his poems and dramas, so Scott became the exponent of Gotzism, not only in his ballads but in that field so peculiarly his own — the novel of romantic chivalry.* Waverley, his first great novel, was begun in 1805, but upon the advice of a friend who considered the fragment inferior to the Lay, Scott laid aside the manuscript, and ' Cf. Tieck's remark to Mrs. Jameson : " Walter Scott and Lord Byron borrowed the first idea of the form and spirit of their narrative poems from Coleridge's Christabel." A Commonplace Book of Thoughts, Memories, and Fancies, London, 1855, PP- 71-72- ' Cf. Wm. Taylor of Norwich : Historic Survey, III, p. 333. ' Cf. Gesammelte Schriften von J. M. R. Lenz, hrsg. von L. Tieck, Berlin, 1828, I, Introduction, Ixxvi ff . ; also Nachschrift, CXXV. Cf . Blackwood, XV, p. 622, June, 1824 : " In the poetical revival of Gothic antiquity . . . Goethe's example inspired the youthful genius of the great poet of Scotland." Cf. A''. Y. Rev., V, p. II, July, 1839. The translation of Gotz was "the first literary labor of Sir Walter Scott, and of which the brilliant and at the same time entirely original pictures of feudal chivalry probably contributed to the inspiration of the Waverley novels." England 165 did not resume work on it until nine years later. In 1814 it was published anonymously, and its great success de- cided the future career of the Scotchman. He determined to gain eminence as a novelist, for he could no longer hope to compete with Lord Byron in poetic creations. Of this novel Goethe later said to Eckermann : ^ " Waverley may be set beside the best works that have ever been written in this world ... in that first published novel, Scott showed what he could do, and has never since sur- passed, or even equaled it." In addition to the appearance of De I' Allemagne in 1813, another event was very potent in strengthening Scott's interest in German literature. This was his association with his son-in-law J. G. Lockhart, who had been in Europe in 1817 and visited Goethe in Weimar.^ In a long letter to Goethe, July 9, 1827, Scott refers to this renewed in- terest ^ in very cordial terms. In Scott's novels may be noted many motives from his German reading. The siege in Ivanhoe (1820) and the secret tribunal in Anne of Geierstein (1829) are remi- niscences of his Gots translation.* The character of Fenella, in Peveril of the Peak (1822), is copied, accord- ing to the author's own introduction, after Mignon, " from an author, the honor of his own country and an example to the authors of other kingdoms, to whom all must be proud to own an obligation." ° Likewise the figure of the old ' Oct. 9, 1828. ^ This trip was due to the kindness of the publisher, Blackwood, who had advanced Lockhart the money for a promised translation of Schlegel's Lectures on the History of Literature, which did not, however, appear in print until 1838. " Eckermann, July 25, 1827. * See Eckermann, Mar. 11, 1831, on Ivanhoe. " See review by Dr. F. H. Hedge : Prose Writers of Germany, 2nd ed., Philadelphia, 1849, p. 290 ff. i66 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " harper in the Lay seems to be a suggestion from the same German novel. In Kenilworth (1821) is found a motive from Egmont. The scene in which Earl Leicester, clad in his magnificent court costume, visits his wife, Amy Robsart, calls to mind Egmont's visit to Klarchen. This loan was praised by Goethe " for the judicious manner in which he did it," ^ although he disapproved of Scott's manipulation of Mignon.^ Scott's drama also shows his study of Schiller. The scene in which Leicester inquires from his astrologer, Alasco, the portent of the stars for the future, is founded on a sim- ilar scene between Wallenstein and Seni.^ In The Characters of Schiller* Mrs. Ellet points out the similarities between Louis XL in Quentin Durward (1823) and Wallenstein. Like Wallenstein, Louis has a profound knowledge of men and penetration into indi- vidual character. His confidence in the honor and in- tegrity of others makes him venture into the power of his bitter enemy, the Duke of Burgundy.^ A dissembler, nat- urally cruel and vindictive, his excessive superiority seemed the result of education rather than of nature, and a compound of credulity and skepticism. His reasons for trusting the unknown Scottish youth resemble Wallenstein's source of confidence in Octavio. Just as Wallenstein re- lates to Illo and Terzky his peculiar vision before the bat- tle of Liitzen and how Octavio saved his life, so Louis relates to Oliver his vision of Saint Julian presenting the youth to him, and says that their destinies are guarded by the same planet. Each fancies he has a pledge from ' Eckerfnann, Jan. 18, 1825. "Jan. 31, 1827. ° Wallensteins Tod, act i, scene i. * Boston, 1839, pp. 142-4S. " Cf. also Egmont and the Duke of Alba. England 167 fate. The artful appeal of King Louis to the wounded pride of Philip des Comines, when he reminds the knight of the slander he has received from Charles of Burgundy, resembles Octavio's speech to Buttler, whom Wallenstein has secretly injured. Whether Goethe's Faust made a deep impression on Scott is very uncertain. In the autumn of 1818 he is said to have read it for the first time at Abbotsford. Accord- ing to Lockhart " he was full of the poem, dwelt with en- thusiasm on the airy beauty of its lyrics, the terrible pathos of the scene before the Mater Dolorosa, and the deep skill shown in the various subtle shadings of character between Mephistopheles and poor Margaret " ; '^ but later when he heard that Coleridge intended to translate the drama, he said : " I hope it is so ; Coleridge made Schiller's Wallen- stein far finer than he found it, and so he will do by this," ^ a remark that shows his lack of comprehension of the true meaning of Faust. In the Lay, however, occurs a stanza which shows that Scott must have had an earlier acquaintance with the poem. " And ever in the office close The hymn of intercession rose: And far the echoing aisles prolong The awful burthen of the song — Dies irae, Dies ilia, Solvet saeclum in favilla — While the pealing organ rung." ' In the introduction to Peveril of the Peak,* we have a public recognition of Goethe's genius, and in his diary, Feb. 20, 1827, Scott wrote: "Goethe is a wonderful fellow, the Aristotle at once, and almost the Voltaire, of ' IV, pp. 192 «. ' Lockhart, IV, p. 193. ' Stanza 30 of the last canto. Cf. Doniscene in Faust. * See also letter to Goethe, Eckermann, July 25, 1827. i68 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " Germany. Who could have told me thirty years ago that I should correspond and be on- something like an equal footing with the author of the Gotz? " ^ And what was Goethe's opinion of the English novelist? To Eckermann he said, March 8, 1831 : " Walter Scott is a great genius; he has not his equal; and we need not wonder at the extraordinary effect he has produced on the reading world. He gives me much to think of; and I dis- cover in him a wholly new art, with laws of its own. . . . His scenes and situations remind me of the pictures of Teniers; in plan they show the height of art. Individual figures have a speaking truth and the fine details show the pervading love of the artist for his work." ^ Just as Byron exerted great influence upon the younger writers of Europe, so did Walter Scott. In Germany this influence showed itself in historical fiction, especially in the novels of Wilhelm Hauflf and Willibald Alexis, who even went so far as to pass off his imitations as genuine translations of the Waverley novels. In France Scott's novels were at once translated, and became of great im- portance in creating a love of local color and of dramatic action and in introducing a semblance of historic reality. In these qualities Scott was but the mediator between the French and Goethe, for it was from Gotz he had learned his secret. Thomas de Quincey (i^S^-iS^p) Whether De Quincey has exerted a great positive influ- ence in the extension of German literature and philosophy ' Cf. Lockhart, VII, p. 26. " Oct. 3, 1828. Cf. also Eckermann, Oct. 3, 1828, and Jan. 22, 1830; also Goethe's review on Scott's Life of Napoleon, 9 vols., 1827, in Kunst und Altertum, Nov., 1827; also his letter to Scott, Jan. 12, 1827. England 169 is still a question, but because of his great renown as a literary critic and essayist, because of his many articles on German literature, interspersed with translations,^ he deserves recognition in this connection. That Mme. de Stael's De I' Allemagne was a probable agent in stimulating this literary criticism in essay form seems probable, inas- much as his first essay on German literature did not appear until 1821. Walter Durand in an article on De Quincey and Carlyle in their Relation to the Germans' points out the similarity of his style to Mme. de Stael's. He says: " Finally De Quincey has a way of using his general ideas on Germany and the Germans in contrast with France, and with England. Frequently in his essays not dealing with a subject which is especially German, as in the Essay on Style, or in the Letter to a Young Man whose Education has been Neglected, he will contrast German and French style, German and French manners, or the social life and conversational habits; all this a good deal after the. model of Mme. de Stael." In 1802, during his wanderings in Wales, De Quincey first made the acquaintance of German works. From that time on until 1812 he read German literature and philos- ophy, especially Kant, Schiller, and Jean Paul. For the positive, constructive character of Kant's metaphysics, De Quincey had little comprehension, as his eight essays on that philosopher prove. Similarly he did not understand the real significance of Schiller's work, and his criticism of " the moral king of authors " was largely influenced by his admiration of the man and of the Miltonic sublimity " He wrote ' 29 essays in all : Kant, 8 ; Schiller, i ; Goethe, 2 ; Lessing, l ; Herder, l ; German romance, 10 ; Richter, 3 ; Miscel- laneous, 3. ^ Publications of the Mod. Lang. Ass'n, XXH, pp. 521-30, Sept., 1907. 1^0 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " of his style. De Quincey devotes a great part of his essay on Schiller ^ to a sketch of German literature and to the details of the poet's life. But little criticism of his works is offered and that very general. For England Schiller is the " representative of the German intellect in its highest form " ; he stands " at the head of Trans-Rhenish litera- ture " and is renowned as a " great scenical poet.'' In Jean Paul Richter De Quincey found a more con- genial writer and companion. In fact, he was so much like the German in taste, temperament, and dreamy phantasy, that even the English critics declared his style was an imitation of Jean Paul's. His admiration he com- municated to Carlyle, who was thus induced to become acquainted with the German humorist and acquire much of his stylistic peculiarities. In regard to Goethe De Quincey's knowledge was very superficial and biased. Instead of studying German works at first hand he often relied on English reviews and trans- lations. To him Goethe was merely a " Gliickskind,'' a professional poet, immoral and irreligious. He says: " Goethe was not that religious creature which by nature he was intended to become ... he had so far corrupted and clouded his natural mind that he did not look up to God with the interest of reverence and awe, but with the interest of curiosity." ^ The reasons for his own interest in the German poet are threefold, he says. Goethe had been the patriarch of German literature for twenty years; as friend and minister of the duke, he occupied a high official position ; then because of " the quantity of enigmatical and unintelligible writing which he has designedly thrown into his later works by way of keeping up a system of discus- ' Biog. Essays, X, pp. 263-86, Works, Boston, 1853. ' Ibid., X, pp. 225-61. England 171 sion and strife upon his own meaning amongst the critics of his country," so " that his name should continue to agitate the world." He dismisses Faust with a paragraph, which reads thus : " The luster of all these performances, how- ever, is eclipsed by the unrivaled celebrity amongst Ger- man critics of the Faust. Upon this it' is better to say nothing than too little. How trifling an advance has been made towards clearing the ground for any sane criticism, may be understood from this fact, that as yet no two people have agreed about the meaning of any separate scene, or about the drift of the whole." He concludes his shallow remarks by prophesying " that the reputation of Goethe must decline for the next generation or two, until it reaches its just level." It is possible that by his numerous essays De Quincey did stimulate a curiosity and interest in German literature among those who were entirely ignorant of the subject. Among men versed in German thought, however, his superficial criticism had very little weight. Even his friend Carlyle refers to him as one who " passes for a mighty seer in such things," and yet is but a " poor little fellow." Henry Crabb Robinson, that modest connoisseur of Ger- man thought, in his diary rarely mentions his friend's opinions. Once, in noting De Quincey's pamphlet against Lord Brougham, he records this characteristic entry, Oct. 7, 1821:^ " All that De Quincey wrote or writes, is curious, if not valuable." As a stimulator of curiosity and an elegant rhetorician in the Jean Paul style, De Quincey will be remembered in this German cultural movement. ' Diary, I, p. 465, edition 1880. 172 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " Robert Pearse Gillies (1788-1858) A most zealous worker in the cause of German litera- ture was the Scotch barrister, Robert Pearse Gillies, the nephew of John Gillies, the renowned classical scholar, who was the first Briton to write a history of Frederick the Great.^ In his Memoirs of a Literary Veteran,^ the younger Gillies gives an interesting picture of the literary conditions of his day and of his efforts in the diffusion of German thought. In speaking of the slavish thralldom to French tradition, he writes: "I wished moreover to claim' for the Germans the palm they so justly deserve for hav- ing been the first to fling off the yoke of conventionalism and to establish an example for other nations." * In 1 80 1 Gillies went to Edinburgh to study for matricu- lation at the University, and there he carrie into contact with a small circle of young people interested in foreign literature, especially in the German. Among them were Dugald Stewart, Mackenzie, Walter Scott, Jeffrey, James Hogg, John Wilson, Dr. Brown, the Ballantynes, and Thomas Carlyle. Just when the turning-point in Gillies's literary activity came was uncertain even to Gillies him- self, for he says: " Before the year 1816 was done, I had begun my gropings in the dark after foreign literature, having, I know not how (unless it were by some hints from Sir Walter Scott), got a notion that the German language concealed from us an inexhaustible mine of the richest ore." * In the winter of 1815-16 Gillies's interest was kindled ^ A View of the Reign of Frederick II. of Prussia, with a Parallel between that Prince and Philip II. of Macedon; London, 1789. "3 vols., London, 1851, ' I, p. 225. ■* II, p. 217. England 173 into flame by De Quincey's visit at the Wilsons', when their friendship began. The description of "De Quincey and of the sensation he produced in Edinburgh is so vividly given by Gillies that I cannot refrain from quoting it in full : " His voice w^as extraordinary ; it came as if from dream- land ; but it was the most musical and impressive of voices. In convivial life, what then seemed to me the most re- markable trait of De Quincey's character was the power he possessed of easily changing the tone of ordinary thought and conversation into that of his own dreamland, till his auditors, with wonder, found themselves moving pleas- antly along with him in a sphere of which they might have heard and read, perhaps, but which had ever appeared to them inaccessible, and far, far away ! As he was always good-natured and social, he would take part, at commence- ment, in any sort of tattle or twaddle. The talk might be of ' beeves,' and he could grapple with them, if expected to do so, but his musical cadences were not in keeping with such work, and in a few minutes (not without some strictly logical sequence) he could escape at will from beeves to butterflies, and thence to the soul's immortality, to Milton, to Plato and Kant and Schelling and Fichte, to Milton's early years and Shakespeare's sonnets, to Words- worth and Coleridge, to Homer and ^Eschylus, to St. Thomas of Aquin, St. Basil, and St. Chrysostom. But he by no means excluded themes from real life, according to his own views of that life, but would recount profound mysteries of his own experience — visions that had come over him in his loneliest walks among the mountains, and passages within his own personal knowledge, illustrating, if not proving, the doctrines of dreams, of warnings, of second sight and mesmerism. And whatsoever the subject might be, every one of his sentences (or of his chapters I 174 Madame de Stael's "De l'Allemagne" might say) was woven into the most perfect logical texture and uttered in a tone of sustained melody. " Such powers and acquirements could not fail to excite wonder at Edinburgh. He had, indeed, studied ' all such books as are never read ' in that enlightened capital, and was the first friend I had ever met who could profess to have a command over the German language, and who con- sequently was able (ex cathedra) to corroborate my no- tions of the great stories that were contained therein." ^ To Walter Scott and to De Quincey probably belongs the credit of inspiring in Gillies an interest in German htera- ture. In his early life Gillies was more fortunate than Carlyle in not being hampered by poverty. He had a fine library and indulged his mania for collecting old and rare books and buying foreign ones. He was also generous in lending them to others less fortunate. When Carlyle was preparing his proposed History of German Literature, Gillies not only lent him books but even related his own experiences in Germany, many of which, according to Kraeger,^ were utilized in Sartor Resartus. It was in order to perfect himself in German and to be- come more efficient as a translator, that Gillies went to Germany in 182 1. As his aim was to gain a thorough knowledge of the German language,' he remained most of the time in Frankfurt-am-Main, where he could have the services of the famous linguist. Dr. C. F. Becker of Offen- bach. Here he made an entire transcript of Dr. Becker's German Grammar for English students, which was later published in London by Murray, and when he returned to Edinburgh he could say that " as a translator and * II, pp. 220-21. ' Carlyles Stellung zur deutschen Sprache und Litteratur, p. 14. ' Memories, II, p. 29. England 175 adapter of German literature he had scarcely one com- petitor to contest the field." ^ Before leaving Germany, Gillies had the pleasure of meeting Tieck and Goethe,^ and his interview with these great writers further strengthened his interest in German literature. After his return Gillies became a regular contributor to Blackwood's, furnishing a series of articles with transla- tions from German and Danish literature. Of these series, called HorcB Germanics and Horce Dankce, he writes : " From its commencement up to the year 1827, the chapters were all mine, with the exception of two, namely, on Goethe's Faust and on a tragedy of La Motte Fouque." ^ In the Hora Germanica from November 1819 to Septem- ber 1827 appear twenty-four articles with translations, dis- cussing works by the following German writers : Milliner, Grillparzer, Fouque, Goethe, Korner, Raupach, Schlen- kert, Houwald, Klingemann, Schiller, Lessing, Wieland, Uhland, and Werner. Of the four numbers of Horw DaniccB three treated Oehlenschlager and the fourth Inge- mann. This enumeration of names gives but a faint idea of German literature. He says : " For my own part, feeHng that when I translated any one of them, fifty more equally interesting were awaiting the same process, I looked upon the printed fragments only as stepping-stones to the deeper mines of German literature." * Concerning Gillies's great skill in translation, I quote a note appended by the editor of Blackwood's to the first number of the Horce Germanicce, a review of Milliner's ' Memories, II, p. 44. ^ June 21, 1821. - Memories, II, pp. 263-64. ^ Ibid., II, p. 265. 176 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " Schuld: ^ " Our readers may rest assured that the transla- tion is executed with astonishing closeness to the original." In addition to these two series Gillies published during this same period several original works and three volumes of translations from the German, entitled German Stories (1826). In the introduction Gillies says "that they form but a small portion of a series, long since accumulated on the Translator's shelves, from which specimens (mostly in verse) appeared occasionally in Blackwood's Magazine, and that they are now printed in consequence of that in- creasing interest which seems lately to have been excited in favor of German stories." Financial difficulties obliged him to escape in 1840 to Boulogne, France. There he sought consolation in work- ing over Kant. " Whilst in France," he wrote later, " I, had translated Kant's Critique three times over, and written an original commentary, without considering whether my labors would ever bring sixpence of pecuniary remunera- tion, though I intended that my work should one day be published, either at the author's risk or by subscription. It was therefore a matter of- agreeable surprise to hear, by the merest accident, that a new translation of this mis- understood and maltreated work was actually wanted and wished for; still more, that a respectable sum would be paid for my translation, provided I would finally revise it for the press, condensing, if possible, the commentary into such narrow limits that the whole might be comprised within one closely-written volume." ^ To see about the revision of the work and attend to the necessary business transaction. Gillies unwisely returned to London in 1847 and was at once sent to prison on the old charge of debt. ^ VI, pp. 121-36, Nov., 1819. ^ Memories, III, pp. 304-05. England 177 We have no knowledge of the fate of this Kant manu- script. While in prison he wrote his Memories,^ which give not only an account of his own life up to 1849, but also sketches and anecdotes of the most distinguished writers of his day, presenting a vivid picture of the social, literary, and political conditions of what he calls the Era of Shadowism, and showing at the same time his work and influence in creating a sentiment for German culture and in preparing the way for his countryman Carlyle.^ Lord Byron (1788-1824) Professor Alois Brandl in his essay on Goethes Verhdlinis su Byron ' makes the statement that Mme. de Stael's De V Allemagne , which contained extracts and trans- lations from Goethe, had contributed more than any other book to the circumstance " that the English, and especially Byron, had taken any notice of him." That Byron, whom Ticknor calls " the most brilliant man of letters in England," * was a great admirer of the Frenchwoman and her writings is unquestionable, and he frequently quoted her opinions in his works. ^ He even imitated her style. The portrayal of the ocean's destructive power in Childe Harold « recalls the description of Ancona ' In his Memories are found not only his poems and sonnets written in France, but his early translation (before 1821) of Goethe's Der Gott und die Bajadere, and an analysis of Tasso, with translations, III, pp. 19-25- = Cf. For. Q. R., XVI, pp. 1-20, 1835- " Goethe Jahrbuch, XX, pp. 3-37, 1899. ' Diary, I, p. 54. " See Dedication to Marino Faliero; Don Juan, III, p. 86; Bride of Abydos. First verse is from Mignon's song, through the medium of De I'Alleviagne, or of Corinne's song at the capitol. ' IV, pp. 179-82. 178 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " in Corinne^ When Mme. de Stael was in England in 1813 he was eager to meet her, and later he often enjoyed her hospitality at Coppet, where her brilliant, genial nature had great influence on his rather morose state of mind. To be sure, Byron had studied German in his youth, but it made no lasting impression on him, and he speedily forgot it. " Abel was," he notes, " one of the first books my German master read to me, and whilst he was crying his eyes out over its pages, I thought that any other than Cain had hardly committed a crime in ridding the world of so dull a fellow as Gessner made brother Abel." Somewhat dif- ferent is his criticism in the preface of Cain (1821), where he says : " The general impression of my recollection is delight." = That Schiller also played a part in Byron's development is clear from his own words: In Childe Harold,^ in speaking of his love for Venice, he says that " Otway, Rad- clifife, Schiller, Shakespeare's art, had stamped her image " in him. His early poem, Oscar of Alva: a Tale, * was sug- gested, according to a foot-note, by the story of Jeronyme and Lorenzo, in Schiller's Geisterseher (1787-89), that had been translated (179S) into English by Daniel Boileau. From a letter to Murray, April 2, 1817, we learn of the powerful impression it made on Byron. ..." Schiller's Armenian, a novel which took a great hold of me when a boy. It is also called The Ghost Seer, and I never walked down St. Mark's by moonlight without thinking of it, and ^ Bk. i, chap. iv. ' Medwin : Conversations, p. 150. ' IV, p. 18. * Hours of Idleness. England 179 ' at nine o'clock he died.' " In the Deformed Transformed and in Manfred are found motives from this tale, also in Lara and in the drama Werner. Of Schiller's other works, however, the one that had the most influence on Byron's lit- erary productions was Die R'duber. Many traits from Karl Moor appear in all of Byron's pirate heroes, especially in the Corsair. In the preface to Werner, he states his obli- gation to The German's Tale, Kruitzner by Harriet Lee, which, in turn, was an imitation of Schiller's Rduber and Geisterseher. From the other dramas of Schiller Byron gained less. Motives from Don Carlos are reflected in his poem, Parisina; in Manfred, Tell is mentioned three times ; the conspiracy in Eiesco finds a parallel in Marino Faliero; Wallenstein probably lent his demonic element to the Byronic hero ; and the scene in Jungfrau von Orleans, where Agnes de Sorel urges Charles VII. to recall Dunois, has a counterpart in Sardanapalns, where Myrrha pleads with the sultan on behalf of Salamenes. Of all German writers who influenced Byron's works, Goethe stands preeminent. In Manfred the influence of Faust is most apparent. When Goethe read the drama he wrote : " Byron's tragedy, Manfred, was to me a won- derful phenomenon, and one that closely touched me. This singularly intellectual poet has taken my Faust to himself, and has extracted from it the strongest nourish- ment for his hypochondriac humor. He has made use of the impelling principles in his own way, for his own pur- poses, so that no one of them remains the same, and it is particularly on this account that I cannot enough admire his genius. The whole is in this way so completely formed anew, that it would be an interesting task, for the critic to point out, not only the alterations he has made, but their degree of resemblance with, or dissimilarity to, the original. i8o Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " In the course of which I cannot deny, that the gloomy ardor of an unbounded and exuberant despair becomes at last oppressive to us. Yet is the dissatisfaction we feel always connected with esteem and admiration." This critique was copied in the English magazines, and active partisans ^ for both sides arose. When the news of Goethe's criticism reached. Byron at Ravenna, he felt both vexed and flattered. The follow- ing month he wrote to Murray : " Enclosed is something which will interest you ; to wit, the opinion of the greatest man in Germany, perhaps in Europe ... in short, a critique of Goethe's upon Manfred. There is the original, an English translation and an Italian one; keep them all in your archives, for the opinions of such a man as Goethe, whether favorable or not, are always interesting — and this is more so, as favorable. His Faust I never read, for I don't know German, but Matthew Monk Lewis, in 1816, at Coligny, translated most of it to me viva voce, and I was naturally much struck with it, but it was the Stein- bach and the Jungfrau, and something else, much more than Faustus that made me write Manfred. The first scene, however, and that of Faustus, are very similar." ' Cf. Carlyle in New Ed. Review, 1822 ; Gillies : Memories, I, p. 16 ; H. C. Robinson : Diary, II, p. 108 ; Dublin Review, IX, pp. 477-506, Nov., 1840; Jeffrey in Ed. Rev.; Blackwood, XV, pp. 619-32, June, 1824. Cf. Blackwood, I, pp. 236-58: "We cannot, indeed, avoid assent- ing to Goethe's supposition that Faustus suggested Lord Byron's wonderful drama, Manfred; Manfred, however, like the rest of Lord Byron's poems, soon becomes a personification of the author's own feelings, and he forgets Faustus and Goethe and everything but himself long before the dark termination of the story." Cf. Baldwin's London Magazine, May 20: "Goethe's remarks are curious, as showing his opinions of Lord Byron's obligations to Faustus, which, however, are not as great as he imagines." England i8i For a detailed comparison of the two works, the reader is referred to Professor Brandl's study/ In 1820 Byron wrote his tragedy Marino Faliero and dedicated it to the great Goethe, " by far the first Hterary character which has existed in Europe since the death of Voltaire." Unfortunately, the dedication sent Oct. 7, 1820, did not reach Goethe until 1831, long after the Eng- lish poet's death, when it was presented to him by the younger John Murray. Its first appearance in print was in Moore's Memoirs of Byron. The following year (1821) appeared Sardanapalus, a Tragedy, and its dedication read as follows : " To the Illustrious Goethe. A stranger pre- sumes to offer the homage of a literary vassal to his liege lord, the first of . existing writers, who has created the literature of his own country, and illustrates that of Europe." By some delay, too, this dedication did not reach Goethe until March 24, 1823, when it arrived with a copy of Werner, which bore the inscription, " To the illustrious Goethe by one of his humblest admirers." ^ According to Medwin,^, Byron was so enthusiastic over Goethe and Faust that he declared he would give iioo sterling to the one who would translate for him into Eng- lish Dichtung und Wahrheit. He said : " I have a great curiosity about everything relating to Goethe, and please myself with thinking there is some analogy between our characters and writings. So much interest do I take in him." * In his Diary Byron notes Jan. 12, 1821, in his discussion of Grillparzer's Sappho, which he much ad- ' Goethes Verh'dltnis su Byron, Goethe Jahrhuch, 1899, XX, pp. 3-37. ' Cf . Medwin, p. 329 : " I look upon Goethe as the greatest genius that the age has produced." ° Pp. 329-30. * Medwin, p. 267. i82 Madame de Stael's "De l'Allejjagne " mired and which influenced to some extent his Sardana- palus: " I must premise, however, that I have read nothing of Adolf Mullner's (the author of Guilt), and much less of Goethe and Schiller and Wieland, than I could wish. I only know them through the medium of English, French, and Italian translations." Besides Manfred, there are other Byronic poems and tragedies which show traces of the influence of Faust. In Cain: a- Mystery (1821), which Richard Ackermann calls " the song of scepticism," ^ Lucifer recalls not only Marlowe's devil but Goethe's Mephistopheles. Cain has traits of Faust, and Adah bears a slight resemblance to Gretchen. In the preface to the drama, The Deformed Trans- formed (1824), Byron confessed that his production was founded " partly on the Faust of the great Goethe." When Shelley was asked his opinion, he frankly declared it " a poor imitation of Faust." In The Dream (1816), Heaven and Earth, a Mystery (1821), and in The Two Foscari (1821) appear allusions, as in Faust, to the problems of human life and knowledge. Byron's Conrad {The Corsair, 1814), Lara (1814), Christian {The Island, 1823), and Don Juan (1817-19, 1821-22), all bear on their brows the stigma of the wanderer Cain, the doubts of a Faust, the unrest of an Ahasuerus, and the discord of a Tannhauser.^ While there are many traces of Goethe's influence on Byron, we can notice, on the other hand, a deep apprecia- tion of the personality and the genius of the English poet ' Lord Byron — sein Lehen, seine Werke, sein Einfluss auf die deutsche Literatur, p. 20. ' Cf . Blachw., XV, pp. 619-32, June, 1824, Art. : Carlyle's Trans- lation of Wilhelm Meister. Note, p. 624 : " By the way, it would seem as if Lord Byron had meant to give us a closer shadow of Mignon in his Don Juan." England 183 on the part of Goethe. " His genius is great ; he was born great ; no one has greater poetic power," he said of Byron. He was never weary of talking about his " incommensur- able " talent, as Eckermann's Gesprdche abundantly testify.^ And what are some of his opinions about the Englishman ? Byron " possesses the dsemonic quality in a very high degree," ^ is a person " of such eminence as has never existed before and probably will not again," ' he is related to Schiller * in spirit,^ though he has " too much empiri- cism," ® and is " one of the most productive geniuses who ever lived." '' " His dramas, especially Cain, show beauty and excellent motivation." * From the Deformed Trans- formed Goethe was fond of quoting the passage, "The devil speaks truth much oftener than 'tis deemed; He hath an ignorant audience," ' and said he considered it as good as any remark by his own Mephistopheles. Byron's demon, he thought, " was suggested by Mephistopheles. It is, however, no imitation, but a new and original creation of great merit. There are no weak passages, not a place where you could put the head of a pin, where you do not find invention and ' See Oct. 19, 1823 ;— Feb. 24, 25, and 26 ; May 18, Dec. 3 and 25 in 1824;— Jan. lo, Feb. 24, June 11, Dec. 25 in 1825;— Feb. 16, Nov. 8 and 29 in 1826;— Jan. 18, May IS, June 20, July S and 15 in 1827;— Mar. II, Dec. 16 in 1828;— Jan. 3, Mar. 3 in 1829;— Mar. 14, Sept. 14 in 1830; Feb. 11, Mar. 8 and 21 in 1831 ; Goethe's letter to Medwin, dated July 16, 1824. Conversations, p. 343. ' Mar. 8, 1831. ' Oct. 19, 1823. ' Cf. Bancroft : Miscellanies, p. 188. "Jan. 18, 1827. " Nov. 18, 1821. ' Mar. II, 1828. " June 20, 1827. " Nov. 29, 1826. 184 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " thought. But for his hypochondriac turn, he would have been as great as Shakespeare, as the ancients." ^ Henry Crabb Robinson, on his visit to Weimar in 1829, spent several evenings with Goethe. In his Diary he gives an interesting account of their conversations. He writes : " This, and indeed every evening, I believe. Lord Byron was the subject of his praise. He said: ' Es sind keine Flickworter im Gedichte.' (There is no padding in his poetry.)" Of Byron's serious poems Goethe preferred Heaven and Earth and Cain; saying that Byron should have lived to execute his vocation. ". . . ' And that was ? ' I asked. ' To dramatize the Old Testament. What a subject under his hands would the Tower of Babel have been ! ' " " Goethe praised Byron's views of nature as ' pro- found and poetical,' and admired ' the indomitable spirit of Manfred.' Even at the last he was not conquered. Power in all its forms Goethe had respect for. This he had in common with Carlyle. And the impudence of Byron's satire he felt and enjoyed." In the Vision of Judgment (1821) the "verses on George IV.," he said, " were the sublime of hatred," and " with one single line of Don Juan Byron could poison the whole of Jerusalem Delivered." ^ Besides this constant expression of admiration Goethe translated into German the incantation in Manfred ("When the moon is on the wave"), Manfred's mono- logue ("We are the fools of time and terror"), and the beginning of the first canto of Don Juan ("I want a hero "). Then, according to Brandl,^ he also rendered into German verse Fare thee well (1816) and from Heaven ' Nov. 8, 1826. ' Eckermann, May 18, 1824. Cf. Ticknor, I, p. 114. " Goethe Jahrbuch, XX, pp. 3-37, 1899. England 185 and Earth the first address of Anah to her angel lover Azaziel, beginning, "Seraph! From thy sphere!" These poems are now preserved in the Weimar archives. Soon after Byron's death at Missolonghi, Goethe com- posed his Lebensverhdltnis su Byron for Kunst und Altertum. This essay he concludes as follows : " But now the conviction arises in us, that his nation will awaken out of its vehement, censuring, and reviling intoxication into soberness, and will universally comprehend that all the husks and dross of time and of the individual, through which the best must work itself outward, have been only transient, temporary, and perishable, while, on the con- trary, the astonishing fame to which he is now exalting, and will exalt, his nation in the future, remains unlimited in its splendor and incalculable in its consequences. Surely this nation, which can boast of so many great names, will place him clarified among those, by whom it is ever hon- ored." ' To his admiration of Byron we are indebted for the Euphorion episode in the Helena scene, composed during this same period. When Eckermann told Goethe that he did right to erect an immortal monument to Byron in the Helena, Goethe answered, " I could not make any man the representative of the modern poetical era except him, who undoubtedly is to be regarded as the greatest genius of our century. He is neither classic nor romantic, but the reflection of our own day. He suited me in every respect, with his unsatisfied nature and his warlike tendency, which led to his death at Missolonghi. It were neither con- venient nor advisable to . write a treatise upon Byron ; but I shall not omit to pay him honor at proper times." ^ ' Cf. Eckermann, Feb. i6, 1826. "July 5, 1827. i86 Madame de Stael's "De l'Allemagne" That Goethe considered Byron a cultural force is shown by his words to Eckermann, who had hazarded the state- ment that he doubted whether the interests of human cul- ture had been furthered by Byron's writings : " I must contradict you here," said Goethe, " Byron's fearlessness, audacity, and grandeur, is not that cultural? We must be very careful not to confine ourselves to what is distinctively moral and decorous. All greatness is cultural, as soon as we can perceive it." ^ Carlyle, too, voices the same senti- ment : " Our Byron was in his youth but what Schiller and Goethe bad been in theirs ; yet the author of Werther wrote Iphigenie and Torquato Tasso; and he who began with the Robbers ended with Wilhelm Tell. With longer life all things were to have been hoped from Byron; for he loved truth in his inmost heart and would have dis- covered at last that his Corsairs and Harolds were not true." 2 Byron's influence was far-reaching. The French ro- mantic school, especially Hugo, Lamartine, and De Musset, may be mentioned; also the later German romanticists, Jung-Deutschland, of which Borne and Heine are noted examples; the Norwegians, Wergeland, Bjornson, and Ibsen; the Italians, Ugo Foscolo, Manzoni, and Leopardi, and especially Polish and Russian writers. To use Wed- dingen's words : * " Byron is the secret bond that unites the entire literature of the Slavs to that of the West, and we can even maintain, that, although among the nations of ' Dec. i6, 1828. ° Cf. preface to Faust II, translated by Archer Gurney, London, 1842. Cf. Karl Elze : Lord Byron, a Biography, and his Place in Literature, London, 1872 : " On his own territory, Byron was a moral monster, of which no one may speak." ' Lord Byrons EinUuss auf die europdischen Litteraturen der Neuzeit, Hanover, 1884. England 187 the West, the series of productions by great writers has been interrupted, yet at the same time, those types that were created by Byron continue to multiply under the pen of the Slavs and take on new forms." Through Byron, then, Goethe's influence has descended to the modern writ- ers of Europe.^ Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) Theodor Zeiger says '' that " probably Mme. de Stael's book De V Allemagne was the occasion for Shelley's, as well as Byron's, turning his attention again to German litera- ture." While a student at Eton, Shelley had begun the study of German works, and found delight in thrilling tales of horror, as exemplified in Monk Lewis's works and in Schiller's Rduber. In his first novel Zastrozzi (1810) are unmistakable traces of this influence. Wallenstein, read in Coleridge's translation, is the only one of all Schiller's greater dramas that influenced Shelley's poetic creations. With a natural predilection for the ghostly and super- natural it is clear that Biirger's Lenore would attract him. As in the case of Walter Scott, that ballad first made Shel- ley a poet, for his biographer, Chas. Middleton, declares that Biirger's Lenore " first awakened his poetic faculty." ^ In Sister Rosa (1808) and in St. Irvyne or the Rosicru- '- Cf. Blackw., XV, p. 621, June, 1824: " If anyone asks who are the three writers that have directly made the greatest impression on the literature of our time — out of Germany — there can be but one answer! Mme. de Stael among foreigners — Sir Walter Scott and Lord Byron among ourselves." ' Koch's Studien zur vergl. Litteraturgesch., I, pp. 238-58, 273- 319, 1901 ; Deutsche Litteraiur in England am Schlusse des 18. und im ersten Viertel des 19. Jahrhunderts. ' I, p. 47. 1 88 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " dan (iSio) are suggestions of the German ballad. The latter poem also contains a mixture of motives from Vul- pius, Zschokke, Goethe's Faust, and other German writers. The Spectral Horseman, furthermore, recalls Der wilde Jdger. Shelley had a decided preference for the figure of the Wandering Jew. In translation, he read Schubart's Ahas- verus, der ewige Jude, which inspired his poem, The Wan- dering Jew (1809), a work that also recalls Schiller's Geisterseher. The same figure appears again in Queen Mab, also in his unfinished novel, The Assassins, and in the poem Hellas. That Shelley read German literature to some extent is evident from the lists of works mentioned by Edward Dowden, his biographer. He read the works of Lessing, Wieland, and Schiller, but his favorite authors were Goethe, Kant, Plato, Spinoza, Calderon, and the classic Greek dramatists.^ Of all German authors Goethe made the deepest im- pression on Shelley, especially in his Faust. This is prob- ably because " Shelley is clearly modern, and shares with Wordsworth and Coleridge, Byron and Hemans, the feel- ing of the Infinite, which so labors for expression in their different genius." ^ In 1814 he lived for six weeks in Germany, studying the language. The next year he translated a portion of the beginning of Faust. At Byron's urgent request for an Eng- lish version, Shelley then proceeded to translate other selections, infusing into his fragments much poetic beauty and simplicity. While in Switzerland (i8i6)^Shelley made a translation ^ Cf. Dowden, pp. 176, 513, 523. ' Emerson : Journal, 1839, V, p. 344. England 189 from Faust and showed it to Byron. Later with Byron at Pisa,^ he again occupied himself with poHshing his frag- ment and adding translations of the Prolog im Himmel and Walpurgisnacht. Of this drama he writes : " I have been reading over and over again Faust and always with sensations which no other composition excites." According to, Shelley's friend, Thomas Love Peacock, " Brown's four novels, Schiller's Robbers, and Goethe's Faust were of all the works with which he was familiar those which took the deepest root in Shelley's mind and* had the strongest influence in the formation of his char- acter." ^ That Shelley succeeded to a great extent in his work is evinced. by a statement in an English edition of Faustus in 1832. " The scene is the first specimen, we believe, of a poetical English translation of that extraordinary pro- duction, to which no man was better able to do justice than our lamented friend. The poetic reader will feel with what vivacity he has encountered the ghastly bustle of the revellers, — with what apprehensiveness of tact, yet strength of security, he has carried us into the thick of the ' witch element.' . . . Mr. Shelley went to his work in a kindred spirit of genius." * Even that connoisseur of Ger- ' Dowden, p. 526. ' Ci. Edw. Dowden : Life of P. B. Shelley, London, 1896, I, p. 268. ' Ci. London Examiner, No. 1312, Mar. 24, 1833 : " Everyone knows the magnificent translations left by Shelley of the Prologue in Heaven and the May Day Night scene, fragments which of themselves have won many a young mind to the arduous task of the German language." Ci. Ed. R., LVII, p. 128, Apr., 1833. Art. : Hayward's Transla- tion of Faust: " In two fragments of Faust, especially in that of May Day night, Shelley has given a splendid proof that he, too, as well as Coleridge, was born to translate from the German." igo Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " man literature, Henry Crabb Robinson, who, despite his antagonism to Shelley, found " very much delightful poetry " ^ in his works, reminded Goethe in a letter, Jan. 31, 1829, that he had not perceived in Kunst und Altertum " any notice of the splendid fragments from Faust by Shelley, Lord Byron's friend, a man of un- questionable genius." ^ John Anster, LL.D. (i;^p3-i86/) It was Mme. de Stael's De l'Allemagne that first at- tracted John Anster, Irish barrister and Professor of Civil Law at Trinity College, Dublin, to Faust. This is attested by his numerous references to her in his article. The Faustus of Goethe, printed June 1820 in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.^ To him, therefore, belongs the credit of being the first Briton to translate into English selections from Faust. In this article, Anster gives an analysis of the first part of Faust, with copious translations from the drama. Despite his failure to grasp the full meaning of Faust, Anster's review was in general so sympathetic that it had considerable influence on the readers of the magazine. Thomas Moore, the poet, wrote in his Journal Oct. 16, 1820 : " I sat up to read the account of Dr. Faustus in the Edinburgh Magazine and, before I went to bed, experi- enced one of those bursts of devotion which, perhaps, are worth all the church-going forms in the world. Tears came fast from me as I knelt down to adore the one only God whom I acknowledge, and poured forth the aspira- tions of a soul deeply grateful for all his goodness." * " Diary, II, p. 221. • Ibid., II, p. 81. ' VII, pp. 235-38, No. S, of the Hora Germaniccs. * Memoirs, Journal, and Correspondence of Thos. Moore, edited England 191 Before this time, however, Anster had gained a certain amount of fame as a poet. As early as 1815 appeared a volume of short poems; two years later he received a prize for the best poem on the death of Princess Charlotte. In 1819 appeared another volume of poems with translations from the German, including Goethe's Braut von Korinth. Several years later (1837) he issued his Xeniola, a col- lection of original poems, with many translations from the German.'- Anster's crowning work is his poetical translation of Faust, which to-day is ranked by students as one of the best English versions of that drama. That it has been a " cherished favorite " ^ is attested by its many editions and by the different German reprints in the Tauchnitz Collec- tion of German Authors. " It will always be praised as classical in style and in fine understanding of the Ian- guage. ■* In 1835 appeared his version of Faust I, as well as the Bride of Corinth and the First Walpurgis Night, illustrated with copious notes. In the preface he mentions his early article in Blackwood's, and says that he had translated the Walpurgisnacht before Shelley made his version, but had not published it at once.* He then states his early inten- tion of translating the whole first part but that he had by the Right Hon. Lord John Russell, M.P., in 8 vols., London, 1853, ni, p. IS7- 'Hymn, Memory (S. E. Wilhelmina von Sassen) ; Ram des Vaches (from Wilhelm Tell, act i, scene i) ; The Pilgrimage (a drama by De la Motte Fouque) ; The Five Oaks of Dallwitz (Korner), and a Gypsy Song. ' Dub. R., IX, pp. 477-506, Art. : Faust — Its Sacred Poetry. 'Die Gegenwart, Bd. V, pt. i, Nr. 24-25, pp. 375-77. 394-95, Art.: Goethe's Faust in England, by Hermann Kindt, Berlin, June 13 and 20, 1874. * See Dublin Univ. R., No. 3. 192 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " delayed in the undertaking. By Hayward's sympathetic mention of his early efforts he was again incited to com- plete the task. Anster's translation at once found great favor among the reviewers. Whatever criticism arose was in reference to his amplifications and his use of blank verse. He was " essen- tially a poet ; perhaps too much so, to be a perfectly close translator." ^ The critic in Blackwood's ^ commended es- pecially this passage : ^ " Oh ! how the spell before my sight Brings nature's hidden ways to light: See all things with each other blending — Each to all its being lending, All on each in turn depending — Heavenly ministers descending. And to Heaven again uptending — Floating, mingling, interweaving. Rising, sinking, and receiving Each from each, while each is giving On to each and each relieving Each, the pails of gold, the living Current through the air is heaving: Breathing blessings see them bending Balanced worlds from change defending, While everywhere diffused is harmony unending.'' A very poetic passage indeed, but the original seven lines have been stretched out to sixteen. Still, Anster is not quite as bad as Coleridge, who makes seven English verses out of two German ones.* Another selection, much ' Dublin R., IX, pp. 477-506, Nov., 1840, Art. : Faust — Its Sacred Poetry. ' XLVn, pp. 223-40, Feb., 1840, Art. : Poetical Translations of Faust. " " Wie alles sich zum Ganzen webt ! " * Cf. Ed. R., LXn, pp. 36-45, Oct., 1833, and Westm. R., XXV, pp. 366-90, July, 1836. England 193 admired, was his rendition of the poet's longing for his youth, ^ which from fourteen original verses is extended to twenty-five Hnes. Nearly thirty years afterward Anster's version of the second part appeared. As stated in the preface, he had been translating passages from it day by day, without any thought of publication. Finally a member of his family became interested in the subject, and felt it was desirable that these portions should be given to the world. In a review of Anster's version ^ a critic writes that it is " not only the finest reflection of the work we possess, but the best poetic rendering of any of the great works of modern continental literature which has appeared. ... It is pleasant and hopeful to turn from the long array of in- different English poetic translations — in most of which a caput mortuum is all that remains of the foreign authors, and some of the best of which but resemble wax as com- pared to natural flowers, in which, though the meaning is represented, the spirit has flown — to those of Dr. Anster, who, to the secondary advantages of a thorough familiarity with the language of Goethe, superadds the rare and pri- mary one of being a poet himself." Although Anster's translation does not faithfully repro- duce the original, yet, through the ease, grace, and fluency of his versification, he succeeded in creating a vital arid enduring interest in Faust. For this service much grati- tude is due him. After Anster's death distinguished literary Germans re- siding in Ireland expressed their sympathy and desired " to place on record their profound sense of the important services rendered by Dr. Anster as an eminent scholar and ^ " So gieb mir auch die Zeiten wieder.'' ' Eel. Mag., old ser., LIV, pp. 97-102, Jan., 1865. 194 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " poet in the promotion of German literature " in that country.^ Mrs. Sarah Taylor Austin (i/ps-i86^) " If nations begin at last to understand each other's true interests, morally and politically, it will be through the agency of gifted men; but if ever they learn to love and sympathize with each other, it will be through the medium of you women," so says Medon to Alda in Mrs. Jameson's Visits and Sketches at Home and Abroad.^ Such was the international service rendered by three women writers, Mrs. Austin, Mrs. Jameson, and Mrs. Hemans. Reared at Norwich, the early home of Germanism in England, Mrs. Austin at an early age came in contact with such earnest students of German thought as Wm. Taylor, Mrs. Barbauld, Henry Crabb Robinson, Lucy Aikin, Mrs. Ameha Opie, the Gurneys, and Southey. Her first Ger- man instruction was given by a learned and excellent teacher, Mr. Heilner, the author of an admirable German grammar. Mrs. Austin was an ardent admirer of Mme. de Stael's writings, as we may judge from the numerous references in her works. In 1827 the Austins went to Germany so that Mr. Austin might study law at Bonn and thus fit himself for the chair of jurisprudence at the new London University. While there Mrs. Austin continued her own study of German and supervised that of her little daughter Lucie. After her return to London Mrs. Austin assisted her husband in his extensive correspondence, wrote for periodicals, and helped Lucie in her German. To Mrs. Reeve, the mother wrote " Cf. Gent. Mag., new ser., IV, p. 250, Aug., 1867. ' I, P- 17- England 195 in 1829: "German she keeps up, reading, writing, and speaking it constantly," and then added : " I am more and more convinced that en fait de language, German is the most important acquisition an Englishman can make. The characteristics of German literature are dispassionateness of inquiry and reality of knowledge, and these are singu- larly valuable to the native of a country where everything is impatiently pushed forward to answer the ends of imme- diate gain." ^ Carlyle, whose admiration for others was often tinged with sarcasm, had only good words to speak of this " ver- standige, herzhafte Frau." ^ After a visit there, he writes Sept. 4, 1831, to his wife: "The Frau Austin herself was as loving as ever — a true Germanized spiritual screamikin." ' In 1831 Mrs. Austin translated Prince Hermann von Piickler-Muskau's book, Tour in England, Ireland, and France, which was published the following year and which won for her the approbation of Carlyle. After reading the work, John Sterling, an English conservative, writes July 9, 1832, to her a letter praising her ability, but adds a warning note : " The most disgraceful part of the busi- ness is Goethe's praise of the Tourist. You do not admire or respect him, but the ablest German since Luther, or at least since Leibniz, does both." * Sterling's criticism, instead of deterring Mrs. Austin, served as a spur in urging her to try to remove this unjust prejudice toward her favorite author. In 1833 appeared her monumental work, the Characteristics of Goethe. Be- * Ross, p. 63. ' Journal, Dec. 18, 1832. ' Froude, II, pp. 189-90. 'Ross, p. 70. Cf. Ath., No. 286, p. 249, Apr. 30, 1833. Art: Goethe's Posthumous Works. 196 Madame de Stael's "De l'Allemagne " sides the memoirs of Falk and von Miiller, Mrs: Austin consulted Mme. de Stael's De l'Allemagne, Soret's Con- versations, Goethe's works, such as Kunst und Altertum, Tag- und Jahres-Hefte, and Dichtung und Wahrheit, and the Conversations-Lexikon. Friends were asked to contribute their quota; and Wm. Taylor, Scott, Coleridge, Henry Crabb Robinson, A. Heller, Carlyle, Varnhagen von Ense, and Prince Hermann von Piickler-Muskau furnished sug- gestions or material. To Mrs. Carlyle she wrote Dec. 25, 1832, about her work: "Meantime Falk is getting on. Falk eigentlich has long been done; but matter keeps con- gregating around him. Frau von Goethe sent me by Henry Reeve, Goethe in seiner praktischen Wirksamkeit by Von Miiller, Kanzler of Weimar. She sent it ' with her best love ' and with the assurance that He was just about to write to me when he died — that one of the last things he read was my translation, with which he kindly said he was much pleased. You will be able to estimate the value I set upon this faint shadow of a communication with him." ^ In the preface Mrs. Austin states that she had intended at first only to translate Falk; then, upon the suggestion that the persons mentioned by Falk were unknown to the English public, she had added explanatory notes. Next came the idea of appending illustrative specimens from Goethe's manifold works so that the reader might get a glimpse of the varied beauties of the original, and in lan- guage that does not make Goethe talk like an Englishman. According to Soret, " Goethe's life is in his works," and until a qualified biographer arises, Mrs. Austin hopes that her effort to make Goethe known to her countrymen will prove welcome to those who are prevented from studying his works. After outlining briefly some of Goethe's essen- ' Froude, II, p. 323. England 197 tial characteristics, she says that " he was not a partisan. He observed and described." That he was not indififerent to human improvement is attested by his numerous works, filled with maxims of most profound, earnest, and en- larged humanity, and with exhortations to labor for the good of mankind. Because he had a dread of violent po- litical convulsions is no just cause for accusing him of selfish apathy and want of patriotism.^ " His labors for human progress were unwearied, calm, and systematic." Goethe has been called the Artist, and justly so, for true art is the moral and beneficent exposition of the good and the beautiful. To those who do not understand Goethe, might be applied Coleridge's profound conclusion in regard to Plato. " Therefore, utterly baffled in all my attempts to understand the ignorance of Plato, / conclude myself ignorant of his understanding." ^ The appearance of this book constitutes a landmark in the development of Goethean ideals. It was, as the Dublin University Magazine declared, " the most valuable work on German literature ever published in England." ^ Like Mme. de Stael's De I'Allemagne, it serves as a reference book for quotation by all the translators of Goethe's works and by critics for the magazines. George Henry Lewes, who devoted nearly ten years to the composition of his Life and Works of Goethe,^ writes in his introduction : " Nor can I let this opportunity pass without recording my debts to Mrs. Austin's delightful work, Goethe and His Contemporaries, of which Falk's Reminiscences form the nucleus. The book was a loved ^ Cf. Eckermann, Mar. 4, 1830. ' Biog. Liter., p. 237. » VII, pp. I-2S, Jan., 1836. * 2 vols., London, 1855. 198 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " companion long before I could read German; and in com- mon with many readers, I felt very grateful to Mrs. Austin for the mass of details and occasional fine remark, with which she gave us glimpses of that distant world. The book has been of service to me in more than one chapter of this biography." ^ In the journals it was widely reviewed and discussed.^ The New Monthly Magazine wrote : ^ " We are indebted to the pen of Mrs. Austin for one of the most elegant and complete translations which ever enriched the stores of the English language. ... In Mrs. Austin's translations there is that singular felicity to which so few translators attain ; her words seem always at their ease. You see the genius of a foreign language, but it does not appear in a rough or abrupt guise — the stranger seems as much at home as if he had lived with us all his life." From Carlyle came, July 18, 1833, a most laudatory let- ter. He wrote: "A book more honestly put together I have not met with for many years. A discreet, gentle feminine tone runs through it, with quiet lockings neverthe- less into much that lies beyond the English horizon; no compromise with error, yet no over-loud assertion of the truth; unwearied inquiry, faithful elaboration; in a word, the thing done that is pretended to be done; what other praise could I wish to give you ? " After declaring that her work is better than Falk's he continues : " You have fairly and clearly (and in your case almost heroically) stated the true principle of translation; and what is more, acted on it; I hear the fine silver music of Goethe sound through your voice, through your heart; you can actually ' P. vii. = Cf. Amer. Meth. Mag., XXIII, p. 500, 1833; Selec. Jour., II, No. 4, pt. ii, p. 289; N. Y. Rev., Ill, p. 197, 1838; JVesttn. R., XXIV, pp. 197-231, Jan., 1836. ' XXXVIII, pp. 302-04, 1833, Art. signed A. England 199 translate Goethe, which (quietly I reckon) is what hardly three people in England can.'.' ^ In addition to her citations from Goethe's works and Mme. de Stael's De I'Allemagne, Mrs. Austin furnishes many translations of Goethe's lyrics, and quotes the German original. Mrs. Austin's next contribution to German thought was a translation of Carove's charming Story Without an End, which proved very popular, according to reviews and new editions.^ She had always been much interested in public and popular education. In order to better the condition of the English schools, she translated Victor Cousin's Report on the State of Public Instruction in Prussia and wrote an excellent preface, in which she stated her reasons for the translation.' Here she maintains the necessity of primary instruction; i.e., of education for the moral and intellectual well-being of the masses. " Society," she says, " is no longer a calm current, but a tossing sea, and reverence for tradition, for authority is gone." In such a state of change, who can deny the absolute necessity of national education? As to compulsory education, it is a duty, for persons of un- cultivated minds are not aware of the advantages of educa- tion to the happiness of the individual and to the welfare of society. Then she discusses the objections raised against this forced popular education, and shows that compulsory educa- ' Ross, pp. 77-78- " 1856, 1864, and 1868. ° This translation also appeared in an American reprint, but Mrs. Austin's name is not even mentioned. A digest of M. Victor Cousin's Report by J. Orville Taylor, Professor of Popular Educa- tion in New York University, Albany, N. Y., 1836, 177 pp. Preface dated Oct. 25, 1835. A comparison of the two works shows that this American "translation" is a mere condensation of Mrs. Aus- tin's version. 200 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " tion is not a new fad; as it already existed in the fifteenth century in Scotland for gentry, barons, and freeholders ; it is not distinctly a Prussian institution either; also it is not a tyrannical law, for parents have the right of selecting schools and masters. In replying to the objection that it is anti-religious, Mrs. Austin touches a point the impor- tance of which is even now not fully appreciated in America : " To this every page of the book is an answer. Indeed, were I to express a fear on this head, it is, that it is far too religious for this country; that the lofty, unworldly tone of feeling, the spirit of veneration, the blending of the love of God, and of the Good and the Beautiful with all the practical business and the amusements of life, is what will hardly be understood here, where religion is so much more disjoined both from the toils and from the gayeties of life." She also quotes Cousin's appeal against similar prejudices in France.^ " National rivalries or an- tipathies would here be greatly out of place. The true greatness of a people does not consist in borrowing nothing from others, but in borrowing from all whatever is good, and in perfecting whatever it appropriates." This transla- tion and preface aroused great attention in England, and Mrs. Austin was complimented by many distinguished men. During the winter of 1838-39, besides collecting facts for her work on National Education (1839), she completed her translation of Ranke's Ecclesiastical and- Political His- tory of the Popes (1840). A proof of its great excellence is that Macaulay, when asked to review the German edition, borrowed her translation as an aid in reading the German. And referring to her work he said in his article : " Of this translation we need only say that it is such as might be ' Report, p. 292. England 201 expected from the skill, the taste, and the scrupulous in- tegrity of the accomplished lady, who, as an interpreter between the mind of Germany and the mind of Britain, has already deserved so well of both countries." ^ Ranke him- self wrote her from Berlin, October 1839: "The great care with which you have translated my book gives me the greatest pleasure. I hear myself speak English much bet- ter than I could ever have learnt it." ^ In 1840, while in Carlsbad, Mrs. Austin collected the translations from German writers which she had previously made for the New Monthly Magazine, incorporating them, with biographical sketches, in a volume called Fragments from German Prose Writers. In the preface she states that the increasing interest in German literature is the reason for this undertaking, adding : " It has been fre- quently suggested to me that a reprint of them, with addi- tions, in a more convenient and durable form, would not be unacceptable to the English public, among whom a curiosity concerning the matter and form of German litera- ture is greatly increased and increasing." In this work it may be plainly seen that Mrs. Austin's preference is for Goethe, Richter, and Novalis. While she offers one or two selections from various authors, three from Humboldt, four each from Schiller, Zelter, Niebuhr, and Lessing, six from Tieck, seven each from Fichte and from Rahel von Varnhagen, she presents fifteen fragments from Novalis, twenty-three from Richter, and thirty-two from Goethe. In her biographical sketch of Goethe she writes that to many people he is only the author of " Faust, that untranslatable poem which every Englishman trans- lates." ^ ' Ed. R., LXXII, pp. 227-58, Oct., 1840. ' Ross, p. 137- " P. 275. 202 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " As soon as this work appeared in London, an American reprint followed in New York. Through the great number of favorable reviews/ new interest in German literature was aroused. Of these varied criticisms I quote from one, not only be- cause it shows Mrs. Austin's great skill. as a translator and the growing enthusiasm for Germanism, but also because it illustrates my introductory statement of woman's peculiar efficiency as an international mediator. " Perhaps no other prose literature but that of Greece could have furnished the material of a volume at once so wise, so bright, and so varied ; and those old Hellenic books, nearer than any modern can be to the age of primeval awe, and combining, as no other, childish loveliness with mature thought, yet want some of the nobler, the very noblest elements of our Christian world, and the clear complete knowledge of nature and history, which in our time we require, and which the Germans, beyond all other people, have , realized. In truth, resembling the Greeks far more than do the writers of any other nation as to eleva- tion and fullness, they have for us the incomparable merit that they are the children and teachers of our own time. At all events, whatever may or may not be the value of German literature, it is plain that Mrs. Austin is, of all English persons, the one who has best succeeded in making its worth clear and pleasant to merely English readers. Mr. Carlyle, with his deep spirit and prophetic originality, has been, and will remain, the great hierophant, disclosing to ^ Land. Ath., No. 709, pp. 424-26, May 29, 1841 ; For. Quar. R., XXIX, pp. 309-29, Apr., 1842; Chris. Exam., XXXI, pp. 279-80, Sept., 1841 ; Godey, XXIII, p~. 296, Dec, 1841 ; Mus. of For. Lit. and Science, XLIII, p. 483, 1841 ; Amer. Eel. Mag., IV, pp. 415-33, Nov., 1842; Arcturus, II, pp. 127-28, July, 1841 ; N. A. R., LIV, pp. 504-06, Apr., 1842. England 203 prepared minds the truly divine wisdom of that modern Holy Land. But it requires to have something of a ' fore- gone conclusion ' of Germanism within us, and much of the temper of a devout neophyte to receive the infinite benefit of his teaching. Mrs. Austin, with the unpretending ease and felicity of her soft, open, womanly nature, interprets to all like one of themselves, in familiar, though choice language, whatever can be so communicated of the Beliefs, Images, and Feelings, that the highest hearts and most creative geniuses and most sagacious inquirers of modern times have bestowed upon this world." ^ Mrs. Austin had a profound admiration for Goethe's Egmont. She began a translation of it, which was un- fortunately never finished. Of this plan she wrote later: " I had thought of attempting a translation of the whole play, and indeed have partly completed it, but better judges than I tell me it will not succeed." ^ When Mrs. Austin's translation of Ranke appeared in 1840, an intimate friend, Sir Geo. C. Lewis, wrote to her that the publisher Murray was very desirous of her under- taking some original work, and asked, " Do you feel a Beruf of this sort?"* Not only did the English express such a desire, but even the Germans themselves. From Dresden Mrs. Austin wrote March 22, 1842, to Mr. Murray : " I am much urged by the Germans to write on Germany. This is a high compli- ment from them, for they are much dissatisfied with all that has been written, especially in France — more per- haps with the praise than the censure."* And later the " For. Quar. R., XXIX, pp. 416-17. Apr., 1842. ' Fragments, p. 276. ' Leslie Stephen : Diet, of Natl. Biog., 11, p. 271. * Ross, p. i6„. 204 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " AthencEum voices its disappointment by saying that "We have felt that Mrs. Austin might, if she so pleased it, take up Germany at the point where Mme. de Stael left it, and do this without any risk of being shamed or proving un- equal to her task.^ The reason why Mrs. Austin did not comply with all the wishes expressed was due to a natural timidity, and also, perhaps, a fear of not being exactly just. She wrote to Gladstone on May 27, 1839 : " I have always shrunk from appearing before the public in my own person or behalf, as the author or champion of any opinions whatever." ^ In the preface to her Germany from 1760 to 1814 she states her preference for the " welcome defense of inverted commas," and her "unconquerable prejudice in favor of the genuine and authentic." To Mrs. Grote she wrote Oct. 25, 1843 : " You know my dislike to encounter the public in my own person, my distrust of myself, and my liking for steady respectable work." ^ Hence for " steady, respectable work," she selects another of Ranke's books, the History of the Reformation in Germany. In 1854 Mrs. Austin incorporated in book form many of the articles she had written since 1841, and called the volume Germany from iy6o to 1814, or Sketches of German Life. This work, consisting of four historical essays based on original researches in Bonn,* presents in a most lucid and ' Review of Germany from 1760 to 1814, No. 1393, pp. 840-43, July 8, 1845- ' Ross, p. 134. " Ibid., p. 189. * Germany at the Close of the Last Century, Dissolution of the, Holy Roman Empire, Germany from the Congress of Rastadt to the Battle of Jena, Germany from the Battle of Jena to the Expulsion of the French. England 205 forcible manner the causes and events that led to the awakening of German nationalism. At the conclusion of her last essay, Mrs. Austin quotes Perthes's remark that " a race which has so raised itself will not sink again, but will go from strength to strength," and she expresses her hope that this volume " will contribute to strengthen the sympathies of which it is an imperfect expression." ^ Mrs. Austin's last literary work was the editing of Let- ters from Egypt, by Lady Duff-Gordon. On Aug. 8, 1867, this great-hearted woman, who had labored so un- tiringly in the field of German literature, passed away, the last survivor of the illustrious family of Norwich Taylors. The Gentleman's Magazine,^ in reviewing her life, work, and influence, said : " The power she exercised in society was due to the sterling qualities of her judgment, her knowledge, her literary style — which was one of great purity and ex- cellence — and, above all, to her cordial readiness to promote all good objects, to maintain high principles of action, and to confer benefits on all who claimed her aid." Mrs. Anna Brownell Murphy Jameson (17^4-1860) According to the North American Review,^ " since Mme. de Stael no more brilliant female writer had appeared in European Hterature than Mrs. Jameson." To her great predecessor, Mrs. Jameson was indebted for her first in- terest in German literature, and in her various works she cites with love and admiration the opinions of Mme. de Stael in De I'Allemagne. In Visits and Sketches at Home and Abroad, called in a later edition Sketches of Art, ' Pp. 437-38. ' IV, pp. 395-96, Sept., 1867. ' LII, p. 489, Apr., 1841. 2o6 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " Literature, and Character/ the critic Medon and the woman writer Alda are discussing the Germans' opinion of Mme. de Stael's book. Alda says : " The Germans forget, or do not know, what we know, that her De l'Allemagne was the first book which awakened in France and England a lively and genuine interest in German art and literature." The content of these Sketches is most varied: descrip- tions of cities, Frankfurt-am-Main, Bonn, Coblenz, Ehren- breitstein, Stuttgart, Miinchen, Dresden, Weimar; legends of places; anecdotes of noted people, — the writer Johanna Schopenhauer, the critic Schlegel, the sculptor Dannecker, the romanticist Tieck, the architect Leo von Klenze; items of interest about art, fetes, music, drama, history, and lit- erature, translations from German works, quotations from Mme. de Stael, Mrs. Austin, and Abraham Hayward. Among the sketches is one of her friend for thirty years, Ottilie von Goethe, who, in Goethe's language, was " eine Natur," ^ or " ein verriickter Engel." ' Mrs. Jameson's next work. Memoirs of the Loves of the Poets (1829),* bears on its title page a quotation from Mme. de Stael. In the preface she writes in regard to her sub- ject : " I know, I feel that it required more extensive knowl- edge of languages, more matured judgment, more critical power, more eloquence ; only Mme. de Stael could have fulfilled my conception of the style in which it ought to have been treated." Among the writings is one on Klopstock and Meta, with translations from Klopstock's odes and cor- ^ London, 1826. With Tales and Miscellanies and Diary of En- nuyee, 2 vols., New York, 1834, I. PP- 36-37. ' I, p. 79- " H. C. R.: Diary, II, p. no. * Later called Romance of Biography. England 207 respondence, and quotations from Mme. de Stael.^ In just praise of this worls, the American Monthly Review '' wrote : " None but a woman and a woman of vigorous and culti- vated mind kindled by lively sensibility, could have written it. The style is remarkable for nervous eloquence and brilliancy." In his edition of Faust (1833), Hay ward had written: " I wish Mrs. Jameson would devote a chapter in her next work to Goethe's women. . . . Much as this lady has been admired, she has never yet been adequately spoken of, ex- cept perhaps by a writer in Blackwood's; nor has even he said all that I could wish to say or have said, of her earnest truth of feeling, her passionate intensity of thought, her fine discrimination of character and daring felicity of ex- pression." ^ This wish was to a slight extent fulfilled in her next work. In 1838 Mrs. Jameson published Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada. Dr. Channing wrote : " I do not know a writer whose works breathe more of the spontaneous, — the free. Beauty and truth seem to come to her unsought." The first volume of the Winter Studies was later published as Studies, Stories and Memoirs (Boston, 1864). In it are included twenty sketches on German Life and Literature, among which are German Actresses, Goethe's Tasso, Iphigenie, and Clavigo, Music and Musicians, Goethe and Eckermann, Goethe's Last Love, Goethe's Table-Talk, Schiller, Hoffmann, Riickert, Grill- parzer, Sappho, Medea, and Don Carlos. Nearly half of these sketches deal with Goethe. Of Goethe's dramas Mrs. Jameson writes: "Iphigenie is ' Pp. 369-88. This article inspired a similar one in the Dial, I, pp. 293-98, Jan., 1841. ' III, pp. 384-99, May, 1833- ' P. 268. 2o8 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " all repose, Tasso all emotion, Egmont all action and passion. Iphigenie rests upon the grace and grandeur of form — it is statuesque throughout. Tasso is the strife between the poetic and prosaic nature. Egmont is the working of the real ; all here is palpable, practical, even love itself." '■ " Goethe's portraits of individual women are true as truth itself ! His only heroic character is Iphigenie, who represents the triumph of unsullied, unflinching truth. It has been said that Goethe intended this character as a portrait of the Grand Duchess Louise of Weimar. The intention of the poet remains doubtful; but it should seem from the first moment the resemblance was generally admitted." ^ Referring to Mme. de Stael's work on Germany and to the great changes that had taken place in that country in such a brief time, Mrs. Jameson writes : " When in Ger- many, I was accustomed to hear Mme. de Stael's De I' Allemagne mentioned, if mentioned at all, with something worse than contempt, either as ' forgotten or out of date.' " But great changes in opinion have occurred since 1807 when Sir Jas. Mackintosh wrote of Germany as a " terra incognita." Speaking of the modern writers who might survive the test of time, she said : " I comprehend even Goethe and Schiller within the pale; though I know that few, either in France or England, agree with me, I have recourse to the usual consolation of singularity, that my opinion will be more prevalent when I am myself forgotten." And then Mrs. Jameson concludes : " Mme. de Stael first made a breach, through what Goethe himself called a ' Chinese wall of prejudices,' and we may pass through » P. 26. " Pp. 29-30. England 209 it surely without trampling upon her who had courage to open the way for us." ' Of the great Germans who have worked for human progress, she writes : " Great and worthy of all gratitude and fame were those men who have devoted their best faculties, poured out their best blood, for the cause of freedom, for the land they called their own, the principles they espoused ; but greater far, and more worthy of grati- tude, and of purer and more enduring fame, the very few, who lived not for an age, a country, but for all ages — for all mankind ; who did not live to preach this or that theory, to sustain this or that sect or party, to insist on this or that truth, but who lived to work out the intellectual and spiritual good, and promote the progress of the whole human race — to kindle within the individual mind the light which is true freedom, or leads to it. Such was the example left by Jesus Christ — such a man was Shakespeare — such a man was Goethe." ^ Up to this time Mrs. Jameson's work for the cause of Germanism had been somewhat desultory, in the form of short essays and sketches ; now she was to show her ability as a mediator between Germany and England. This task she achieved through her Social Life in Germany, as re- flected in the acted dramas of Her Royal Highness the Duchess Amelia of Saxony.^ From all critics this work received just praise and a sym- pathetic reception. A reviewer in the Living Age* wrote that the translations were " rendered with spirit and grace, " Pp. 84-85. = Pp. 96-97. ' Translated from the German, with an mtroductidn and notes, explanatory of the German language and manners. 2 vols., Lon- don, 1840. ♦ LX, p. 147- 2IO Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " and commented on with unfailing tact and intelligence." " Mrs. Jameson stands unsurpassed among the literary women of England for critical culture; for instinctive accuracy of taste and ability to give a reason for the faith that is in her, with elegance and precision of language." ^ As early as 1833 Hayward had written :'■ "It is to be regretted that little or nothing is known in England of the present state of painting, sculpture, and engraving in Germany. . . . Were I now called on to name the writer best qualified to supply the deficiency, I should name the author of the Diary of an Ennuyee, who has manifested the most singular power of making paintings and statues speak to the imagination and understanding through books." Hayward's wish was destined soon to be fulfilled. With Mrs. Jameson as an art critic, a new line of thought was opened to English minds. She was peculiarly fitted for this work. The daughter of Mr. Murphy, who made the ex- quisite set of miniatures, Beauties of the Court of Charles II., Mrs. Jameson inherited her father's talent. Well versed in the English, French, Italian, Spanish, and German lan- guages and literatures, Mrs. Jameson brought to her work a first-hand knowledge of facts and a broad cosmopolitan spirit. As early as 1834 Mrs. Jameson had written the introduc- tory sketch and descriptions in English, French, and Ger- man for Moritz Retzsch's series of engravings, called Fantasien. Two years later she furnished a similar preface for the Collection of Pictures of W. G. Coesvelt of London. Her last published work was A Commonplace Book of ' Cf. N. A. R., LII, p. 489, Apr., 1841, and Chris. Exam., XXIX, pp. 250-51, Nov., 1840. ^ Edition of Faust, note, p. 350. England 211 Thoughts, Memories, and Fanciest It is divided into two parts: "Ethics and Character; Literature and Art." As its title indicates, it is a series of fragments, full of pregnant thought and interest. Among them are criticisms on Wer- ther, Childe Harold, Tieck, Coleridge, Niebuhr, Goethe's Dichtung und Wahrheit, Mozart, and Chopin. As an eloquent and discriminating critic of art, morals, and literature, as a translator of German writings, and as a worker in social science, Mrs. Jameson's whole life was the active realization of the divinity and happiness of service to others — of the philosophy of Faust. Mrs. Felicia Dorothea Browne Hemans (1793-1835) The third member of this illustrious trio was Mrs. Hemans. Of Irish, German, and Italian descent,^ and reared amid the romantic scenery of Bronwylfa, Wales, Mrs. Hemans had a precocious mind and sensitive, ethereal purity of feeling. Endowed with a vivid perception, a correct eye, and a strong taste for drawing, Mrs. Hemans might have been an able artist. Her sketches from nature were executed with great skill and rapidity; and this talent was used in her poetical works in establishing a clear and harmonious relation between man and nature. To her and to Wordsworth belongs the credit of popularizing the inti- mate study of idyllic nature scenes. As early as 1809 Mrs. Hemans had read some German ; but it was not until several years later that she began the serious study of its literature and philosophy, and felt the full significance of its soul and ' London, 1854 ; New York, 1855. ' Her mother was a Wagner, the daughter of the Imperial Aus- trian and Tuscan consul at Liverpool; her father was an Irish merchant. 212 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " spirit. This increased interest was undoubtedly due to Mme. de Stael's De l'Allemagne, for according to W. M. Rossetti/ " Byron, Shelley, and Mme. de Stael were among the writers she was in the habit of quoting. Moreover, if the reader will examine the quotations prefixed to her poems, he will find that these writers, including Goethe and Schiller, have, more often than any other poet, inspired her lyrics. Then, too, Mrs. Hemans was a great admirer of Mme. de Stael's Corinne, and in her life and character she was a true British Corinne, or as Eric Robertson calls her, an " English Sappho." '^ It will be remembered, too, that Mme. de Stael wrote a drama Sappho and that Corinne, and perhaps this drama, influenced Grillparzer in his com- position of his Sappho " (1817). In Mrs. Hemans's National Lyrics and Songs for Music (1834) appears a lyric, Corinne at the Capitol. To a friend she wrote about the latter poem : " You will see that all the beauty and loftiness of the thoughts belong to Mme. de Stael. That book, in particular toward its close, has a power over me which is quite indescribable ; some passages seem to give me back my own thoughts and feelings, my whole inner being, with a mirror, more true than ever friend could hold up." * After Mrs. Hemans began the earnest study of German, a revolution took place in her manner of thinking and writing. One of her friends, Mrs. Howitt, wrote : " From the hour of Mrs. Hemans's acquaintance with the German ' Introduction to her Poems, p. xvi. ' English Poetesses, London, 1883, p. 182. ' Cf. Byron's Journal, Jan. 12, 1821 : " Grillparzer is grand- antique — not so simple as the ancients, but very simple for a modern — too Madame de Stael-ish now and then, — but altogether a great and goodly writer." ' Chorley, I, pp. 295-96. England 213 literature, you perceive that she has discovered her own forte, and a new life of tenderness and feeling was mani- fested in all she wrote. She became an almost constant writer in Blackwood's and Colburn's Magazines. Schiller, Goethe, Korner, and Tieck — how sensibly is the influence of their spirit felt in the Forest Sanctuary! how different was the tone of this to all which had gone before. The cold, classical model was abandoned; the heart and the fancy spoke out in every line, warm, free, solemn, and tenderly thoughtful." ^ Mrs. Hemans herself declared that it had " opened to her a new world of thought and feeling, so that even the music of the Eichepland, as Korner calls it, seemed to acquire a deeper tone, when she had gained a familiarity with its noble poetry." ^ Another circumstance facilitated Mrs. Hemans's ac- quaintance with German literature. Her eldest brother was connected with the embassy at Vienna, and he fur- nished her with ample supplies of new books in the German language.' At first she preferred Schiller to Goethe, but in later life Goethe's works were ever with her. Wallen- stein was a special favorite; Thekla and Max she con- sidered her great friends.* Through the inspiration of Herder's Stimmen der Vblker arose her Lays of Many Lands (1825). She delighted in Biirger, Richter, Tieck, ^ Homes and Haunts of the Most Eminent British Poets. Cf. Poetical Works, new ed., Boston, 1853. Memoir by Mrs. L. H. Sigourney, p. 30. Cf. Poetical Works of Mrs. Hemans, in one volume, with critical preface and biographical memoir, Philadelphia, 1854, p. 22. " Works, with memoir by her sister, Mrs. Hughes, and essay on her genius by Mrs. Lydia H. Sigourney, of Hartford, Conn. 7 vols., Philadelphia, 1844, I, p. 40. ' Cf. Chorley, I, p. 117. * See poems : Thekla's Song, Thekla at Her Lover's Grave. 214 Madame de Stael's "De l'Allemagne" and Novalis. Tieck's Phantasien and Sternbalds Wan- derungen, Oehlenschlager's Correggio, Goethe's Iphigenie, and Grillparzer's Sappho found in her a sympathetic reader. Korner was, perhaps, her ideal poet in life and writings. His love for his only sister seemed to her a sacred con- secration. It reminded her of her affection for her favorite brother and dear playmate, Claude Scott Browne, who died in 1821 in Kingston, Canada, where he held a govern- ment position. Her poem, Korner and his Sister, was sent to the poet's father, and later translated into German. When C. F. Richardson rendered Korner's Life into English (1827), he sent a copy with a dedicatory sonnet to Mrs. Hemans. In acknowledging it, she wrote, July 25 : " Kor- ner has ever been an object of peculiar enthusiasm to me; his character is one of which it is impossible to read with- out a feeling almost of pain that such a spirit has passed away, with all its high and holy thoughts, and is never to be known to us on this side of the grave." ' Through Richardson she received a message from Korner's father wherein he spoke of his son's " death-day." This idea struck her imagination very forcibly and gave rise to her poem. The Grave of Korner, which was also sent to the father. In return came a poetical message from " Theodor Korner's Father," which Mrs. Hemans prized for its " treuherzige simplicity." This poem was translated by W. B. Chorley in his volume, The Lyre and Sword (1834). Since 1823 Mrs. Hemans had contributed to the New Monthly Magazine, edited by the poet Campbell. In 1833 she contemplated for it a series of German studies, illus- trated by translations. The only paper, however, that was completed was the one on Goethe's Tasso.^ This essay ^ Chorley, I, pp. 119-20. 'New Mon. Mag., XL, pp. 1-8, Jan., 1834. England 215 shows her feeling of the high and sacred mission of the poet, and the analogy between the outer world of nature and the inner world of the heart. As an example of Mrs. Hemans's skill as a translator, I quote the reply of Princess Leonora d'Este to Tasso's wish for the return of the Golden Age. " When earth has men to reverence female hearts. To know the treasures of rich truth and love, Set deep within a high-soul'd woman's breast; When the remembrance of our summer prime, Keeps brightly in man's heart a holy place; When the keen glance that pierces through so much Looks also tenderly through that dim veil By time or sickness hung round drooping forms; When the possession, stifling every wish, Draws not desire away to other wealth — A brighter dayspring then for us may dawn. Then may we solemnize our golden age." Mrs. Hemans translated from Goethe Mignon's song and selections from Tasso and Iphigenie. That she was deeply interested also in Faust goes without saying. In 1823 she wrote to a friend from Bronwylfa: "I shall be curious to see Lord Gower's translation of Faust. It is a bold undertaking: that play has always appeared to me one of the most difficult in the German language; some of the scenes are so bewildering as to leave the author's views and intentions a complete mystery.^ When Hayward's version of Faust appeared, she declared that he had too much of a Mephistopheles spirit about himself to enter fully into the spirit of Faust, and that it was very un- gracious in him to heap up the blunders of others in order to raise himself.^ ' Chorley, I, p. loi. ' Ibid., II, p. 271. 2i6 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " While living at Dove Nest, near Wordsworth's home (1830-31), she wrote to a friend, asking for a copy of, Schiller : " Mr. Wordsworth wants to read a little of Schil- ler with me, and he is not to be had at Ambleside." ^ And a later letter reads : " Will you tell , with my best remembrance, that Mr. Wordsworth thinks he shall be quite able to read the small edition of Schiller: he is now gone for a few days to his friend Lord Lowther's, but I hope, on his return, to read with him some of my own first loves in Schiller, The Song of the Bell, Cassandra, or Thekla's Spirit-Voice, with none of which he is acquainted. Indeed, I think he is inclined to undervalue German literature from not knowing its best and purest masterpieces. ' Goethe's writings cannot live,' he one day said to me, ' because they are not holy.' I found that he had unfortunately adopted this opinion from an attempt to read Wilhelm Meister, which had inspired him with irrepressible disgust. How- ever, I shall try to bring him into a better way of thinking, if only out of my own deep love for what has been to me a source of intellectual joy so cheerful and elevating." ^ To show to Goethe her appreciation of his works, Mrs. Hemans some months before his death collected the best of her poems to send to him. Unfortunately, chance pre- vented them reaching their destination.* Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) While a student at Edinburgh, Carlyle was an eager reader of De I'Allemaffne. A critic in the Grens- boten * remarks : " That this very book inspired in him a re- * Chorley, II, 124. 'Ibid., II, pp. 129-30. 'Ibid., II, pp. 145-46. * C. F. L. : Leipzig, 1869, 28 Jahrgang, II Semester, Bd. i, p, 295, England 217 spectful curiosity to become acquainted with the literary treasures of the Germans, the same people who had so man- fully freed themselves from the French, that it was the cause of his studying German most diligently; this I knov/ from Carlyle's own mouth." Likewise Norton says : " For ten years he had been en- gaged in constant and, severe spiritual wrestlings ; his soul, begirt by doubts, was painfully struggling to be free. The predominant tendencies of contemporary English thought were hateful to him ; philosophy in its true sense was all but extinct in England, the standard of ideal aims was hardly held high by any one of the popular writers. Carlyle, who had laid aside the creed of his fathers, and depended for guidance only upon the strength of his own moral principles, was adrift without other chart or compass.^ " It was in this condition, perplexed and bafHed as to his true path, that Carlyle fell in with Mme. de Stael's famous book on Germany. His interest was aroused by it. From her .^ . . accounts of the speculations of the living German Poets and Philosophers, he learned to look towards Ger- many for a spiritual light that he had not found in the modern French and English writers. He became eager to study German, that he might investigate for himself." His first reading in German was a stupid play by Kotzebue, then the History of Frederick the Great, and Archenholz's Seven Years' War. The next year, 1820, while at home with his parents, he met a former friend, Robert Jardine, who had been at Gottingen. Carlyle, who was a good French scholar, gave Jardine French instruction in return for German lessons. Through a Mr. Swann he obtained copies of Schiller's works. Goethe's books he procured later from the library * Correspondence of Goethe with Carlyle, pp. 7-8. 2i8 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " of the University of Edinburgh. At first he was more attracted by Schiller than by Goethe, as Schiller seemed to him to possess in the highest degree all good qualities. He wanted to translate his works for his countrymen, but all correspondence to this purpose with London booksellers proved futile. After the perusal of Schiller he devoted all his energies to the study of Goethe. In his Reminiscences he acknowledges the great debt he owes him. From him he learned to conquer his scepticism and soul-rending doubts and to battle bravely with severe fate and a ma- terialistic age. As Robinson has it, " But for him, Carlyle says, he should not now be alive. He owes everything to him." 1 In 1820 there were printed in London twenty-six engrav- ings by Henry Moses, based on Moritz Retzsch's outlines to Faust. Accompanying them was an analysis of the tragedy. The next year appeared a new edition with a more careful abstract interspersed with short translations. In righteous indignation at the disfigurement of this great German drama, in the analysis, Carlyle determined to write a Faust article for the New Edinburgh Review. The essay was finished in the fall of 1821, but did not appear in print until the following April. As it is not included in the gen- eral edition of the Scotchman's works, I give a full synopsis, because it is of great value as showing his^ early feeling ^ Diary, II, p. 168. Cf. Carlyle's letter to Goethe, Apr. IS, 1827: " If I have been delivered from darkness into any measure of light, if I know aught of myself and my duties and my destination, it is to the study of your writings more than to any other circumstance that I should always thank and reverence with the feeling of a Disciple to his Master — nay, of a Son to his spiritual Father. This is no idle compliment, but a heartfelt truth." Cf. Carlyle's words : " I never cease to thank Heaven for such men as Richterj Schiller, Goethe. The latter especially was my evangelist.' Froude, 269. England 219 toward German literature, and is moreover a milestone in his philosophical development.^ " We have felt mortified at seeing the bright aerial crea- tions of Goethe metamorphosed into such a stagnant, vapid caput mortuum : and we cannot forbear to caution our readers against forming any judgment of that great for- eigner from his present representative; or imagining that Faustus affords even the faintest idea of the celebrated drama, the name of which it bears." " Goethe," he adds, " is likely to figure in after ages, as one of the most remarkable characters of this time; and posterity will derive from this tragedy their most lively impressions, both of his peculiar excellencies and defects. Faust was conceived while its author was passing from youth to settled manhood, — a period of inquietude in every life, — frequently, as in his case, of a darkness and despond- ency but too well suited to furnish ideas for such a work. It was executed when long culture and varied experience had ripened his powers ; and under a splendor of reputation which admitted the most confident, even careless execution of them : its object is to delineate whatever is wildest and most mysterious in the heart and the intellect of man, and its chief materials are drawn from the heart and the intel- lect of the writer. In perusing it, accordingly, we seem to behold the troubled chaos of his own early woes, and doubts and wanderings, — illuminated in part, and reduced to form by succeeding speculations of a calmer nature, — and portrayed by a finished master, in all its original vivid- ness, without its original disorder. In studying the scenes of Faust, we incessantly discover marks of that singular union of enthusiasm with derision; of volatility with * See Herrig's Archiv, XCVI, pp. 241-68, 1896; Thos. Carlyles Abhandlung uber den Goetheschen Faust, von Richard Schroder. 220 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " strength and fervor; of impetuous passion, now breaking out in fiery indignation, now in melting tenderness, now in withering sarcasm, with an overflowing gayety, not only sportive and full of the richest humor, but grotesque to the very borders of absurdity, or beyond them, — which appears to belong exclusively to Goethe. In Faust, too, we trace the subtle and restless undertaking, which, at one period or another of its history, has penetrated into almost every subject of human thought; the sparkling fancy, and as a necessary consequence, the boundless command of language and allusion, to clothe and illustrate, as if by enchantment, all the conceptions of a most capricious, though lofty and powerful imagination." On account of the exquisite qualities of his poetry, Goethe is placed at the head of German poets and possesses a literary aristocracy that cannot be compared to anything in England. Carlyle admits the lack of unity in his Faust, that it is not suitable for theatrical representation, for Goethe aims not only to depict the fortunes and the feelings of his characters, but also to give " a vague emblem of the great vortex of human life." After the analysis of the plot and characters, Carlyle calls the work " one of the most singular that have ever appeared in Europe," and declares he cannot classify it at all. As a drama, it has many faults and too little plot, though it has powerful scenes and tragic situations. The most striking peculiarity, however, is its wonderful versa- tility — the wicked and malignant scorn of Mephistopheles, the naive innocence of Margaret, the chaotic revelry of the Brocken, the impetuous enthusiasm of Faust, presuppose a union of poetic and philosophical powers rarely met with in human history. " It is to the character of Faust, however, as displayed ' ■ England 221 in the opening scenes of the play that we turn for the highest proof of Goethe's genius. They give us the most vivid picture we have ever seen of a species of mental con- vulsion, at once in the extreme degree, moving and diffi- cult to paint. It is the destruction of a noble spirit by the force of its own thoughts, a suicide of the mind far more tragic than that of the body. Faust interests us deeply at first ; he is at the utmost pitch of misery, and has no feeling of self-accusation; he possesses all the grandest attributes of our nature, and has meant to use them well. His fault seems but the want of worldly wisdom, and the lofty, though unhappy, constitution of his mind ; he has been born with the head of a sceptic and the heart of a devotee; in grasping at the sublime, he has lost even the useful ; when his earthly hopes are all blasted, no moral consolation is in store for him; he has not an object, and yet he has no rest. The sleepless agitation, the arid tearless wretchedness, natural to a human being so situated, have been delineated by Goethe with a beauty and verisimilitude, to which there are few parallels, even in easier subjects." Carlyle declares that Faust and Mephistopheles represent two propensities in human nature. Faust's criminality began when he allowed himself to doubt the existence of a Providence and the necessity of moral distinctions. In his conclusion, Carlyle refers to the controversy over Faust and Manfred^ and while acknowledging Byron's indebted- ness to Goethe, insists that the former is by no means a copyist. Perhaps it may not be amiss to mention in this connec- tion that some years later Carlyle was urged by Eckermann to translate Faust} After finishing his Sartor Resartus ' Letter of Dec. 6, 1830 : " To be sure it does not become me to suggest tp you, that were I in your place, I would surely be doing 222 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " Carlyle did actually think of translating this drama and also Dichtung und Wahrheit, but unfortunately he never carried out his intention. In 1822 Carlyle undertook to write for the London Magazine a series of essays on great men. His first selec- tion was Schiller. The following year these essays on Schiller's life appeared in several numbers of the maga- zine, and later were collected and published in book form (1825). This work, although the first biography of a German by a Briton, received little attention from the pub- lic. Carlyle, conscious of his difficulties, had, nevertheless, aimed to give a general representation of the main char- acters of his hero. And with such keen intuition does he speak of German conditions and German literature, of Schiller's position and significance, of his relation to Goethe, that the work bears the impression of independent investigation and judgment. Later, when a copy was sent to Goethe, the great German reviewed it in Kunst und Altertum. " It is indeed worthy of admiration," he says, " to see how the author has gained a sufficient insight into the character and great service of this man, an insight so clear and just, as was scarcely to be expected from a foreigner. " However, an old adage is verified here : A good-will helps to acquire perfect knowledge. For just this fact, that something worthy for -my nation by devoting for some years my best leisure hours to the faithful translation of Faust. The selec- tions of your Helena have shown sufBciently that you not only understand the German original perfectly, but have sufficient com- mand of your own language to express gracefully and pregnantly its sense and feeling. The translation by Lord Gower may content those persons who do not know the original, and it may be praised as the forerunner of a better one, both in insight and vigor." England 223 the Scotchman recognized the German with good-will and honors and loves him, enables him to perceive his excellent qualities most surely and to arise to that clear understand- ing of his subject, to which even ths countrymen of this noble poet had not attained in former days." ^ In 1830 this work, through the mediation of Goethe, appeared in a German translation at Frankfurt-am-Main. Tc it was prefixed a preface by Goethe, praising Carlyle for his excellent work and dedicating the book to the " Gesellschaft fiir auslandische Literatur zu Berlin." The result of this dedication was that Carlyle's service to Ger- man literature was honored by election into that worthy society. Carlyle was not yet satisfied. In 1823 the bookseller Boyd requested Carlyle to translate Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre; with joy he accepted the task. Like a ferocious " hyena," he grappled with his subject and " struggled toughly " with its problems. To him the plot seemed good, but the moral sometimes dubious. To Jane Welsh he wrote, Sept. 18, 1823 : " There are touches of the high- est, most ethereal, genius in it; but diluted with floods of insipidity, which even I would not have written for the world." And the same month he wrote to his friend, James Johnson : " Goethe is the greatest genius that has lived for a century, and the greatest ass that has lived for three. I could sometimes fall down and worship him; at other times I could kick him out of the room." But when he had finished his work, he declared that he had never read before a book of such unity of purpose, so compre- hensive and true in its application to Ufe. Again he wrote to Jane Welsh (April 15, 1824) : " I have not gotten as ' Cf. Eckermann, July 25, 1827. Cf. Goethe's letter to Zelter, Jul/ 17, 1827. 224 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " many ideas from any book for six years." In May the work appeared in print, and a copy sent to Goethe brought a return message as " from Fairyland." The next year he began the translation of stories by German writers with sketches of the lives of the authors. This work, entitled German Romance, appeared in 1827. It contained the following selections : Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre, three folk-tales by Musffius, Aslaugas Ritter by Fouque, Hoffmann's Goldener Topf, Tieck's Der blonde Eckbert, Der getreue Eckart, Der Runenberg, Die Elfen and Der Pokal, and Jean Paul's Quintus Fixlein and Schmelzles Abenteuer. In the translation of the Wanderjahre Carlyle was more successful than in the Lehrjahre. Goethe's simple, graphic speech was rendered into correspondingly picturesque lan- guage. In the finer shadings, he was not always able to make the exact distinctions, because the English language cannot by the use of a prefix, or a suffix, change the mean- ing, and also cannot form those varied compounds so com- mon in German. For Carlyle's own development, however, this work was most important. At last came the solution of his doubts and torments ; confidence came back to his soul and strength for his future work. From now on he determined to give to his countrymen the blessing he had received, and to be a mediator between England and Ger- many. Carlyle's translation was reviewed most favorably by Goethe,^ who said : " Here, as in the Schiller biography, Carlyle shows a calm, clear, intimate sympathy with the poetic and literary beginnings of Germany ; he devotes him- self to the characteristic tendency of the whole nation; he gives worth to the individual, each in his own place, and ' Kunst und Altertum. England 225 smooths thereby to a certain extent the conflict that is un- avoidable in the Hterature of any nation." ^ In October 1827, there appeared in the Edinburgh Re- view an essay on the State of German Literature, in which Carlyle showed himself a keen critic of aesthetic principles and of the prevailing literature in England and Germany. With fervor he exhorts his countrymen to look to Germany, where so much good is to be found and where truth is the goal of endeavor.^ The following year, besides essays on Zacharias Werner and on Heyne, he wrote two articles on Goethe's life and on his Helena. In the Helena he speaks in detail of the great significance of Faust and draws a parallel between it and Iphigenie.^ In the essay on Goethe, Carlyle calls the German an epoch-making poet, clear and universal in his thinking. In answer to the assertion that Wilhelm Meister was a vulgar and immoral book, unfit to be read by a lady, he states the fact that the late Queen of Prussia was familiar with it, and she was certainly a lady of first rank. After Goethe had read the article, he said (Oct. II, 1828) to Eckermann: "It is pleasant to see how the earlier pedantry of the Scotch has changed into earnest- ness and profundity. When I recollect how the Edinburgh Reviewers treated my works many years ago and when I now consider Carlyle's merits with respect to German literature, I am astonished at the important step for the better." In 1829 appeared Carlyle's interesting articles on German playwrights, on Voltaire, and on Novalis. For Novalis, * See Eckermann, July 15, 1827. = See Goethe's review in Kunst und Altertum and Carlyle's letter of Apr. 18, 1828, to Goethe. ' See Kunst und Altertum. 226 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " whom he considered the German Pascal, he had an intense sympathy. He acknowledged his too great passivity of character, however, and his lack of resolute manliness. As a type of decisive character and dauntless courage he cited Luther, who went to Worms with only his flute and Bible, and who dared to face the clergy, the peers of the land, and his imperial majesty, and to declare unflinchingly: " Hier steh' ich; ich kann nicht anders; Gott helfe mir." In all European history Carlyle sees no sublimer scene. So attracted was he by the German reformer that he planned to go to Weimar to see Goethe and also to gather materials from Thuringian sources for a life of Luther. " When I write that Book of the great German Lion, it shall be the best book I have ever written and go foirth, I think, on its own legs.'' Unfortunately the necessary means were lacking, and his plan fell through. But later in 1840, in his Heroes and Hero Worship,^ he honors the German whose mission was " to work an epic poem, not write one." To Carlyle's enthusiasm at this period we are indebted for his translation of that martial song of the Reformation " Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott." ^ About this time Carlyle planned an extensive history of German literature ; Goethe assisted him and provided him with excellent reference works. But as Carlyle could find no piublisher for the forthcoming book, he had to abandon this scheme. From a letter to Goethe, dated March 23, 1830, we learn the scope and main outline of his projected work. His studies were not wholly useless, however, for parts of them served as material for essays the next year. Among them was one on Schiller, a supplement to his former Life of Schiller. Its occasion was the reception of ' Lecture 4 : The Hero as Priest. ' Printed in Fraser's Mag., 1831. England 227 the Briefwechsel zwischen Schiller und Goethe, sent to him by the latter. In this essay Carlyle does not rate Schiller as high as formerly; the reason is probably his intensive study of Goethe. On August 28th of this year Goethe's eighty-second birthday occurred. With fourteen other friends, Carlyle sent Goethe a letter of congratulation with a beautiful seal in the form of a serpent, bearing the motto, " Ohne Hast — Ohne Rast," words that were an allusion to Goethe's poem : " Wie das Gestirn Ohne Hast, Aber ohne Rast, Drehe sich Jeder Um die eigne Last." ' Goethe, delighted with the gift and the letter, answered with this verse : " Worte, die der Dichter spricht, Treu< in heimischen Bezirken, Wirken gleich, doch weiss er nicht, Ob sie in die Feme wirken. Britten ! habt sie aufgef asst : Thatigen Sinn ! Das Thun geziigelt : Stetig Streben, ohne Hast! Und so wollt ihr es besiegelt ! " When Carlyle received the sad news of Goethe's death, he wrote a eulogy which appeared in Bulwer's New * Carlyle's translation : " Like as a star That maketh not haste, That taketh not rest, Be each one fulfilling His god-given Hest." 228 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " Monthly Magazine.'^ So true and so beautiful is it that I would like to quote it entire, but a few extracts must suffice : " So thus our greatest has departed. That melody of life, with its cunning tones, which took captive ear and heart, has gone silent; the heavenly force that dwelt here victorious over so much, is here no longer; thus far, not farther, by speech and by act, shall the wise man utter himself forth. The End! What solemn meaning lies in that sound, as it p^als mournfully through the soul, when a living friend has passed away! All now is closed, irrevocable; the changeful life-picture, growing daily into new coherence, under new touches and hues, has suddenly become completed and unchangeable; there as it lay, it is dipped, from this moment, in the aether of the heavens, and shines transfigured to endure even so — forever. Time and Time's Empire; stern, wide, devouring, yet not without their grandeur ! The week-day man, who was one of us, has put on the garment of Eternity, and become radiant and triumphant; the Present is all at once the Past; Hope is suddenly cut away, and only the backward vistas of Memory remain, shone on by a light that proceeds not from this earthly sun. " The death of Goethe, even for the many hearts that personally loved him, is not a thing to be lamented over ; is to be viewed, in his own spirit, as a thing full of greatness and sacredness. For all men it is appointed once to die. To this man the full measure of a man's life had been granted, and a course and task such as to only a few in the whole generations of the world : what else could we hope or require but that now he should be called hence and have leave to depart, having finished the work that was given 'XXXIV, p. S", June, 1832. England 229 him to do? If his course, as we may say of him more justly than of any other, was like the Sun's, so also was his going down. For indeed, as the material Sun is the eye and revealer of all things, so is Poetry, so is the World- Poet in a spiritual sense. Goethe's life too, if we examine it, is well represented in that emblem of a solar Day. Beautifully rose our Summer sun, gorgeous in the red fer- vid east, scattered the specters and sickly damps (of both of which there were enough to scatter), strong, benignant in his noonday clearness, walked triumphantly through the upper realms ; and now, mark also how he sets ! ' So stirbt ein Held, anbetungsvoll.' So dies a hero to be wor- shipped." . . And Carlyle's final conclusion is an exhortation to his countrymen to continue Goethe's work and in his spirit. " And now we turn back into the world, withdrawing from this new-made grave. The man whom we love lies there: but glorious, worthy; and his spirit yet lives in us with an authentic life. Could each here now vow to do his little task, even as the Departed did his great one ; in the manner of a true man, not for a day, but for Eternity ! To live, as he counselled and commanded, not commo- diously in the Reputable, the Plausible, the Half, but reso- lutely in the Whole, the Good, the True! " Im Ganzen, Guten, Wahren resolut zu leben ! " The same year also saw his essay on " Goethe's Works " and the translation of Goethe's Novelle and Mdrchen. In this essay he quotes Teufelsdrockh's homily on the " Great- ness of Great Men " and gives a sketch of Goethe's develop- ment. " Perennial, as a possession forever, Goethe's His- tory and Writings abide there ; a thousand-voiced ' Melody 230 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " of Wisdom,' which he that has ears may hear. What the experience of the most complexly-situated, deep-searching, every way far-experienced man has yielded him of insight, lies written for all men here. He who was of compass to know and feel more than any other man, this is the record of his knowledge and feeling. ' The deepest heart, the highest head to scan,' was not beyond his faculty ; thus, then, did he scan and interpret: let many generations listen, according to their want; let the generation which has no need of listening, and nothing new to learn there, esteem itself a happy one." " Colite talem virum ; learn of him, imitate, emulate him." And his final words are, " Of Goethe with a feeling such as can be due to no other man, we now take farewell. Vixit, vivit." With this work closes Carlyle's essays on German litera- ture. Toward the end of January 1827, some months after his marriage, Carlyle began a novel, Wotton Reinfred, but in his discouragement he burned up the manuscript. How- ever, from a fragment in Last Words,^ one can obtain an idea of its plan. An imitation of Wilhelm Meister, but full of reminiscences of his own life, this novel has as its theme " The end of man is an action, not a thought." ^ Weeping Wotton, after passing through many experiences, becomes a useful member of society. One of the characters intro- duced in this novel is an old man of sixty, Dalbrook by name, whose conversation savors strongly of the theories of Kant, Goethe, and Schiller. Just as in German romanti- cism, art, science, and literature are interwoven with life, so in this novel. The weird child Mignon in Wilhelm Meister had a great ' London, 1892. ^ 5". Resartus, bk. ii, chap, vi, p. 159. England 231 charm for Carlyle. In this novel, Jane Montagu, who has many traits of Jane Welsh, reflects in her life the fate of Mignon; for she turns out to be the long-lost child of the Herberts, who had been stolen from her parents at an early age. Just as Wilhelm Meister has a faithful friend, Werner, so Wotton is accompanied by the good Bernard Swane, whose prototype in life was Carlyle's friend, Edward Irving. A fundamental difference, however, between Goethe's novel and Carlyle's imitation is that Wilhelm Meister acts; Wotton only listens and thinks. Like Faust, Wilhelm Meister exemplifies in his life the Lord's declaration: " Ein guter Mensch in seinetn dunkeln Drange 1st sich des rechten Weges wohl bewusst," and the angels' jubilant chorus: " Wer immer strebend sich bemiiht, Den konnen wir erlosen." Instead of teaching the narrow Calvinistic idea of pre- destination either to heaven or hell, Goethe saw a steady progress of man toward divinity, a progress by means of constant work and struggle. It was this message which rang out in clear tones from Wilhelm Meister, a message that the Puritanic Scotchman received with joy, and, like the bhnd man who was healed by Christ, he hastened in turn to impart to his countrymen and to the world the new redemption song of man's divinity and the blessing of labor. What else did Carlyle learn from Goethe? In the first place he felt the awful seriousness and holy purpose of 232 Madame de Stael's "De l'Allemagne" life. With the chorus at Mignon's grave he could sing: " Der Ernst, das Heilige, macht allein das Leben zur Ewigkeit." And then came the lesson of limitation. Goethe had said : " Der Sinn erweitert, aber lahmt ; die Tat belebt, aber beschrankt," and also, " In der Beschrankung zeigt sich erst der Meister." To Carlyle, who had been wont to let his gloomy thoughts roam over the whole universe, this admonition was at first an enigma; but gradually he came to see that activity was the only safe cure of doubt, an activity that does the duty nearest at hand. How precious and important is this duty nearest us ! Words of Goethe which constantly recur in Wotton Reinfred and in Sartor Resartus! Not the Greek maxim, " Know thyself," but its Teutonic and Goethean substitute, " Know thy work and do it." The words of the Wanderjahre, which Goethe rep- resented as engraved on the marble statue of the sarcoph- agus in the tower, became the guiding rule of Carlyle's Vita Nuova — " Gedenke zu leben ! " At the close of his essay Goethe's Portrait (1832), he exhorts his readers in stirring phrase : " Reader ! to thee thyself, even now, he has one counsel to give, the secret of his whole poetic alchemy : Gedenke zu leben. Yes, ' think of living 1 ' Thy life, wert thou the ' pitifullest of all the sons of earth,' is no idle dream, but a solemn reality. It is thy own; it is all thou hast to front eternity with. Work, then, even as he has done and does — ' Like a star, unhasting, yet unrest- ing' — Sic valeas." Another Goethean motive emphasized in Carlyle's work is renunciation — " Entsagen." Not the passive negative renunciation of hfe and its dissolution in death or a Nirvana,^ but that positive creative conception, which is embodied in Christ's teachings — a giving up of selfish in- ' Cf. Schopenhauer and Wagner, England 233 dividual desires for the welfare of humanity. " Ye must be born again," or in Goethe's poetic phrase, " Und so lang du das nicht hast, Dieses; Stirb und werde! Bist du nur ein truber Gast Auf der dunklen Erde." ' Death of self is the spiritual re-birth of the individual for humanity.^ From Goethe Carlyle learned also the meaning of rever- ence — " Ehrfurcht." In Sartor Resartus he says : " Thought vpithout reverence is barren, perhaps poisonous," and " Happy is he who can look through the clothes of a man . . . and see an inscrutable venerable Mystery, in the mean- est Thinker that sees with eyes ! " ' Reverence for the divinity of man, for suffering and sorrow in all its seeming hideous aspects. This worship of sorrow, so apparent in the Wanderjahre, is a constantly recurring theme in Sartor Resartus and in the Hero-Worship. And when, an old man of seventy-one, Carlyle delivered his inaugural address as rector of the University of Edinburgh (1866), he exhorted the students to learn reverence. " Reverence ! Reverence ! Honor due to those who are greater and better than our- selves ; honor, distinct from fear. Ehrfurcht, the soul of all religion." * Besides the mighty influence of Goethe on Carlyle's ^ Selige Sehnsucht:West-()stlicher Divan. ' The anecdote is related that when somebody, on seeing Goethe's portrait, exclaimed : " Voila un homme qui a beaucoup de chagrin," Carlyle instantly replied : " No ! but of one rather who has turned his suffering into useful work." ' Bk. i, chap, x, pp. 68-6g. ' Lectures on the History of Literature by Thos. Carlyle, Apr. to June, 1838, ed. by Prof. J. B. Greene, London, 1892, p. 193. 234 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " development, that of Jean Paul Richter is by no means to be disregarded. Through De Quincey, who was an ardent admirer of the German humorist, Carlyle was first led to study him. Later he said ^ that it was De Quincey's re- ported admiration " that first put him upon trying to be orthodox and admire." As I have already pointed out, Carlyle's translations for his Specimens of German Ro- mance ( 1824) contained two tales from Jean Paul : Quin- tus Fixlein and Schmehles Abenteuer. At the conclusion of an essay on Jean Paul, written June 1827, he writes enthusiastically : " Germany has long loved him ; to Eng- land also he must one day become known; for a man of this magnitude belongs not to one people but to the world." ^ Two years later he writes another laudatory essay under the title of Jean Paul Returned Again, and says : " A Poet, and among the highest of his time, we must reckon him, though he wrote no verses; a Philosopher, though he promulgated no systems ; for, on the whole, that ' Divine idea of the world ' stood in clear ethereal light before his mind ; he recognized the Invisible, even under the mean forms of these days and with a high, strong, not uninspired heart, strove to represent it in the Visible, and published tidings of it to his fellow-men. This one virtue, the foun- dation of all the other virtues, and which a long study more and more clearly reveals to us in Jean Paul, will cover far greater sins than his were." In the preface to the Specimens, after a short sketch of Richter, the Western Oriental, whose " subject is life," Carlyle discusses his choice of material for translation. He had not found Schmelzle's Journey noticed by any of his ^ Froude, I, p. 296. ' Later he modified this opinion somewhat by declaring Jean Paul was far inferior to Goethe. Lectures, p. 211. England 235 German critics, but gave it on his own responsibility " as one of the most finished, as it is at least one of the simplest, among his smaller humorous performances." The Life of Fixlein was chosen " rather from necessity than prefer- ence," as it was Richter's shortest complete novel. The reader must accept it with allowances, because " Richter's is a mind peculiarly difficult to represent by specimen ; for its elements are complex and various, and it is not more by quality than by quantity that it impresses us." Then Carlyle discusses Richter's language, so rugged, hetero- geneous, perplexing, and declares that his " style may be pronounced the most untranslatable, not in German only, but in any modern literature," as he " exhausts all the powers of his own ductile language." Of all English writers, however, Carlyle was the best fitted by natural temperament and mode of expression to render Jean Paul's bizarre and picturesque style. In fact, he was even accused by his countrymen of being an imitator of the German's manner of writing; and such able critics as Francis Jefifrey, Charles Norton, Anthony Froude, Ed- mond Scherer, Leigh Hunt, and Wilhelm Streuli have dis- cussed both sides of the question. My opinion is that it was temperamental, the result of his own character, his early home life and reading; but that its peculiarities were enhanced by his intensive study of Jean Paul, and exag- gerated in Sartor Resartus. One of the chief characteristics of Jean Paul's style is his use of visions, sudden and awful apparitions rising up from the triviality of his tales. ^ These visions had a pow- erful effect on Carlyle. Like Dante's dream, they were profound expressions of dire destruction, unsurpassed ex- ' See 1st chap, of Siehenkas, translated by Carlyle at end of Jean Paul Returned Again. 236 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " cept by the prophecies of the Bible. They represented the throes of a dying world and the dawn of modernity.^ Another reason why Carlyle so admired Jean Paul was probably because his own life repeated many phases of the German's development. Like Jean Paul, he was a vora- cious reader and an encyclopedia of knowledge, Like him, too, he had to struggle with, poverty and adversity and was battling for destiny. In true democratic spirit, Carlyle could not refrain from scornfully asserting that in Eng- land " We have no men of letters now, but only literary Gentlemen." As'Carlyle learned from Schiller, courage; from Goethe, renunciation, the divinity of work, the worship of sorrow; from NovaHs, holiness of faith; so frorn Jean Paul he gained his ideal of humor. As he writes in his essay on that author : " True humor is sensibility, in the most catholic and deepest sense ; but it is this sport of sensibility ; whole- some and perfect therefore; as it were the playful teasing fondness of a mother to her child." As for Richter, " he alone exists in humor, lives, moves, and has his being in it." In this respect he is " Jean Paul der Einzige, Jean •Paul the Unique." In Sartor Resartus, the Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdrockh, written in 1830-31 and published 1838, the reader becomes acquainted with Carlyle's' creed, as the germ of his future life and as a critique of the age. Carlyle, as Herr Teufelsdrockh, treats religion, politics, literature, art, and social questions of the day. Herr Diogenes Teufelsdrockh is a German professor of " allerlei Wissen- schaft " in the university city of Weissnichtwo. He has written a book called Die Kleider, ihr Werden und Wirken," ' See motto to Past and Present. ' Clothes, their Origin and Influence. England 237 for clothes have a spirit, just as well as laws. Under the picture of a garde-robe Carlyle represents human customs and religions. Each garment contains an invisible and divine idea. With change of clothes comes change of in- stitutions. To the common eye man is an animal in clothes, but to the initiated, a spirit and a divine creation. The motto of the book is taken from Faust, which reads in Carlyle's translation ■} " In Being's floods, in Action's storm, I walk and work, above, beneath, Work and weave in endless motion! Birth and Death, An infinite ocean ; A seizing and giving The fire of Living: 'Tis thus at the roaring Loom of Time I ply, And weave for God the Garment thou seest Him by.'' Not only as a critic and essayist of German literature was Carlyle active, but also as a lecturer. In the summer of 1837 he gave six lectures on German literature; the next year came a series on the history of European literature, and a course on religious problems and reforms. In 184a he delivered a last series on Hero and Hero-Worship, in which the ideas of Sartor Resartus were amplified. In the lecture on Goethe he says : " I consider that, for the last one hundred years, by far the notablest of all Literary Men is Goethe." As far as material was concerned, the lectures contained nothing new ; in fact, they were only a compilation of his former studies. Yet the enthusiasm with which he delivered them drew large crowds. As he wrote humorously to his sister : ^ "I had bonnie braw dames, Ladies this, * 5". R., bk. i, chap, viii, p. 56, " June 12, 1838. 238 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " Ladies that, though I dared not look at them for fear they should put me out. I had only men of four-score; men middle-aged, with fine steel-gray beards ; young men of the Universities, of the law-profession, all sitting quite mum there, and the Annandale voice gollying at them." And Robinson, who attended some of them, reports of his lec- ture on " The Prophetic Character illustrated by Mahomet,'' that " it gave great satisfaction, for it had uncommon thoughts and was delivered with great animation." ^ The period from 1819 to 1840 was the one in Carlyle's life in which the influence of German literature was most apparent. Henceforth, other questions, of a social or his- torical nature, occupy his attention. We enter now on the epoch in which he distinguishes himself as an historian and philosopher, as the author of The History of Frederick, called Frederick the Great.'' After the death of Frederick the Great, Schiller had conceived the plan of writing his life in the style of Plutarch, but appalled by the gigantic task of representing adequately this great eighteenth century with its commerce, culture, religion, and philosophy, he had abandoned the idea. More- over he probably felt that he had not enough love and en- thusiasm for the great Prussian to warrant him in undertaking such a complex work. The task the Ger- man master did not even attempt, his Scotch pupil accom- plished. As I have already stated, Carlyle's first reading in Ger- man was Archenholz's Seven Years' War. Later in the retirement of his Scottish home he read Preuss's two books ' Diary, 11, p. 287. ' 6 vols., first 4 vols, translated into German by Neuberg and Ahhaus. England 239 on Frederick the Great,^ which awakened in him a lively impulse to learn more about this hero. To Carlyle the King represented an ideal type for a genuine epic. Year by year this interest grew, until in 1852 he commenced a thorough study of such histories as he was able to obtain. Preuss, Ranke, Voltaire, Jomini, Archenholz, Lloyd, Retzow, Zimmermann, Nicolai, and Denina were all examined and found wanting. He studied maps and plans, traveled to Germany in 1852, and again in 1858, to gather material and to visit the battlefields of the Seven Years' War. The more he progressed in his study, the greater his apparent difficulties. The first volume of the history appeared in 1858, the last and sixth volume in 1865 — a work to which he had devoted fourteen years of untiring labor. That it was considered a reliable authority is confirmed by the fact that it was immediately translated into German and used as reading in the Prussian military schools. This work is not merely the glorification of a great man, general and administrator, but also of the state he represented, of Prussia, which was to become the leading state of Ger- many and the representative of culture. For Carlyle's services to German thought, the German nation has not been ungrateful. In 1872 when the German Empress was in England, she brought personally to Carlyle the greet- ings of the Emperor, and in the latter's name she thanked him for his' Life of Frederick and for his great services to German literature. In 1873 he received the Prussian Order of Merit, on account of his great sympathy with Germany during the Franco-Prussian War. On his eightieth birth- day, there came from Berlin a telegram of congratulations signed by ten of the most noted writers, historians, and ' Friedrich der Grosse: Eine Lebensgeschichfe, Bd. 1-4, Berlin, 1832-34, and Friedrich der Grosse als Schriftsteller, Berlin, 1838. 240 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " philosophers. In it Carlyle was heralded as the " fighter for German freedom of thought and moral integrity." Of the many letters he received on this worthy occasion was one from Bismarck. It reads as follows : " The celebration of your seventieth [really eightieth] birthday is a matter of concern also for Germany, and I may confirm [ja sagen] it to you in my native language. As you introduced Schiller to your countrymen, so you have rep- resented to the Germans our great Prussian king in his com- plete form, as a living statue. What many years ago you said about the ' heroic writer,' that he stands under the noble obligation, of being forced to be true, has been fulfilled in yourself; but more fortunate than those, of whom you spoke at that time, may you rejoice in the work you have accomplished, and will accomplish in the rich power, that we hope God will long grant to you. Receive with my heartiest congratulations the assurance of my sincere esteem. (Signed) " Prince von Bismarck." The British point of view in regard to Carlyle is ex- pressed by a critic who writes in the Foreign Quarterly Review: ^ " We all remember how Mr. Carlyle, ' the old man eloquent,' who in his younger days, fifty years ago, betook himself to Goethe for light and help, and found what he sought, and declaimed his gratitude so powerfully and well, and did so much to make Goethe's name a name of might for other Englishmen also, a strong tower unto which the doubter and the despairer might run and be safe — we all remember how Mr. Carlyle has taught us to see in Gots and in Werther the double source from which have flowed those two mighty streams — the literature of feudal- ism and romance, represented for us by Scott, and the ' CXLV, p. 147- England 241 literature of emotion and passion, represented for us by Byron." In the Arc turns of April 1841 ^ an American critic, who is rather hostile to the new German culture, writes.: " The English critic and expositor of the great German is Carlyle, whom Goethe speaks of in Eckermann's Conversations ^ as having a finer insight into German authors and as possess- ing higher aesthetic culture than any man in Germany, ques- tionless a compliment to the admiring critic of Faust and Wilhelm Meister. Still with all his crudity, his quaintness and affectation, Carlyle is a powerful thinker and a bold writer. Often absurd, as often picturesque; frequently fantastic, and yet sometimes really profound." James F. Clarke, the earnest student of German culture, expresses the desire that some publisher would edit Car- lyle's essays on German literature and biography and writes : " Mr. Carlyle has done a great deal by his writings, to make us acquainted with the modern literature of Germany. By his excellent translations, as well as by his spirited articles in various periodicals, he has nearly broken down the wall of division which rose between the two great and kindred literatures of England and Germany. When he began to write, eight or ten years ago, what did we know of German writers ? Wieland's Oberon, Klopstock's Messias, Kotze- bue's plays, Schiller's Robbers, Goethe's Werther, a dim notion of his Faust, and what we could learn from Mme. de Stael's De I'Allemagne, — this was about the substance of what well educated Englishmen understood as constitut- ing the modern masterpieces of German genius. Of the massive and splendid structure of philosophy which Kant had founded, and men of like talent built up, we had only ' I, pp. 278-84, Art. : R. W. Emerson by J. ' Cf. Eckermann, Oct. ii, 1828. 242 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " to say, ' mystical,' ' transcendental ' ; and having pro- nounced these two pregnant words, we judged ourselves excused from all further examination. And yet, this very time, there existed a literature unsurpassed in the history of the world for genius, variety, and extent. Goethe's Werther had been forgotten in his splendid series of dra- matic; aesthetic, and philosophical writings. His Egmont, Tasso, and Iphigenie, his Hermann and Dorothea; his ex- quisite lyrics ; his philosophical romances ; and his pro- found treatises on art and science, had quite eclipsed the dazzling products of his youthful pen. Schiller's Robbers was looked upon as an indiscretion and pardoned for the sake of the Joan of Arc, the Maria Stuart, the Wilhelm Tell, the Wallenstein — ripe fruits of his maturer taste and more developed genius. Richter, Novalis, Tieck, and a whole crowd of master-spirits had carved out for them- selves a home in the intellectual community. But of all this we knew little. Much praise, then, to Mr. Carlyle for having introduced us to this fair circle of gifted minds." ^ Abraham Hayward (1801-1884) There is no doubt that Hayward owed his first interest in German literature to De l'Allemagne and to his associa- tion with Mrs. Jameson. As a pupil in Bath (1809-11) he lived with her friends, and the many references to Mme. de Stael in the introduction to his translation of Faust show that he was a discriminating reader of De r Allemagne. After he had studied Latin and Greek for six years at Teverton, the " Eton " of West England, he acquired a thorough mastery of French and German under ' West. Mess., lY, pp. 417-23, Feb., 1838. England 243 a private tutor. He then took up the study of law and of English literature. With Macaulay he enjoyed the reputa- tion of being one of the best read men in all England. As. a student of the Inner Temple, he came into close association with other progressive young barristers, such as George Cornwall Lewis and John Austin, the husband of Mrs. Sarah Austin, and a devotee of German literature. As member of the " London Debating Society " and editor of the Law Magazine (1824-44), he was in touch with noted German jurists and acquired more than a European reputa- tion. His first great work, a translation of Savigny's tract on natural right as the basis of law,^ was such a great success, that he decided to go to Gottingen to see Savigny. The jurist was absent from the city at that time, but Hay- ward met many of Goethe's friends. Then came the de- termination to translate Faust. His work, a prose version of Part I, appeared in February 1833. Of it the New Monthly Magazine ^ wrote : " It is the only one that con- veys to us a literal and precise notion of the original." From all sides came letters of congratulation. In Germany the work was called " true to word and spirit." Carlyle wrote that it was " done in a manly style," even though he did not admit the argument for prose translations. Later, after nineteen different versions were in existence, he still declared " Hayward's was the best." To this translation was prefixed a very lengthy intro- duction, in which Hayward discusses all the previous ver- sions in English and in French. As to the charge that Faust was immoral, he wrote : " With regard to the accusa- tion of indecency, I have only to say that when Mrs. ' Of the Vocation of Our Age for Legislation and Jurisprudence, June, 1831. ' XXXVIII, pp. 302-04, 1833. 244 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " Austin's Selections ^ shall have superseded the Old Testa- ment — which, if any selections could produce such a catas- trophe, they would — and Mr. Bowdler's Shakespeare shall be the only Shakespeare on our shelves, I shall be quite ready to admit that Faust deserves to be excluded from general perusal for indecency. But not till then; for the whole poem does not contain a fifth part of the condemned expressions or allusions to be found in any two books of the Pentateuch or any two acts of Othello, Hamlet, or Lear; and (confining this observation to Shakespeare) I am sure the purpose is equally pure." ^ Encouraged by the success of his Faust Hayward again went to Germany to talk over parts of the drama with Goethe's friends, and to prepare a new and enlarged edi- tion. Everywhere he received a cordial welcome. From now on, according to Bernal Osborne, he becomes " the connecting link between the political and literary mag- nates." To the new edition of January 1834 were added extensive notes, which show careful thought and dis- criminating judgment, and which served as aids to all the later translators. During the same period Hayward wrote a long article on Goethe's Posthumous Works (Vols. I-V) for the For- eign Quarterly Review.^ With the exception of a few comments on Goethe's other works, the most of the article is devoted to a careful analysis of the second part of Faust, with quotations from Mme. de Stael and from Mrs. ^ Selections from the Old Testament arranged under heads to illustrate the religion, morality, and poetry of the Hebrew Scriptures. ' Pp. Ixxvi-lxxvii. " XII, pp. 81-109, Apr.-July, 1833 ; also reprinted in the Select Journal of Foreign and Periodical Literature, Boston, Jan., 1834, III, No. 5, pt. ii, pp. 16-43. England 245 Austin's Characteristics. The greatest value of this article, however, is the number of translations, which rank among the first English versions of the second part. In a later issue of the Foreign Quarterly Review,^ ap- peared a further discussion of Goethe's Posthumous Works (Vols. VI-XV), which, from the character of the contents, seems the work of Hayward, but I have not yet been able to verify that fact. Some time later he wrote a long article on Germany and the Germans for the Quarterly Review.'' In September 1840 there appeared in the same magazine an essay en- titled Prince George of Hanover on Music, at which the royal family expressed their delight.^ His excellent article on General von Radozvitz in the Morning Chronicle * helped to establish the reputation of the German as a statesman. Other essays reminiscent of German thought are the fol- lowing: Frederic von Gentz,^ Harriet Martineai/s Auto- biography,^ Thomas Carlyle and His Reminiscences,'' Prince Bismarck,^ and Ticknor's Memoirs.^ For Mrs. Oliphant's series of Foreign Classics for Eng- lish Readers, Hayward wrote a life of Goethe,'" which won much praise for him. Gladstone wrote him, June 6, 1878 : " I wanted . . . first of all to thank you for your delight- ful volume on Goethe, an admirable specimen of combined . ' XIV, pp. 131-62, Aug.-Dec, 1834. "No. 116. See letter to his sister Jan. 23, 1837, where he men- tions that he received £50 for it. ' Letter of Oct. 3, 1840, by John Murray. * Jan. 2, 1851. " N. Brit. R., 1864. ° Quar. R., Apr., 1877. 'Ibid., Apr., 1881. " Ibid., Jan., 1879. " Ibid., July, 1876. "London, 1878; Amer. ed., Philadelphia, 1878; new ed., 1889. 246 Madaiije de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " information and criticism without the waste of a word." From Mrs. Grote, Sept. i, 1878, came this letter : "It was gratifying to me to see how justly your Goethe was noticed by the critic of the Times in Saturday's paper, August 31. He seized your point of view and points out its value — the absorbing element of the artist nature bent upon ' producing effect ' by any and every device within its reach. The total nakedness of the ' morale ' in Goethe never came out so forcibly as in your dissection of the man; whilst by no writer has his greatness been more reverently acknowledged, on the theater of his creations." The dominant trait of Hayward's character was a " fierce love of truth " and a desire " to whip hypocrisy " in all its varied forms. Sincerity, combined with a logical mind, accurate knowledge, and prodigious energy, made a deep and lasting impression on his generation. In the words of Mr. Escott : ^ " Few English-men, indeed, have had a larger personal acquaintance on the Continent. Few knew the character of France and Germany better, or had a juster appreciation and a deeper insight into the spirit of their literature." Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) In a most interesting lecture '' Dr. L. A. Willoughby has traced the influence of German thought upon Rossetti's poetic and artistic composition. In the Hst of books men- tioned by Rossetti's brother, the one work that he read oVer and over was Faust in Filmore's translation, supple- mented by Retzsch's sketches. This and Carlyle's transla- ' London Fortnightly R., old ser., XLI, pp. 414-32 ; new set., XXXV, Mar., 1884 ^ Dante Gabriel Rossetti and German Literature, London, 1912. England 247 tion of Wilhelm Meister were the only two German works in his library. His first original composition, a fragment of a novel, Sorentino (1843), was inspired by his Ger- man reading. During this same period (1832-48), Ros- setti learned German from an excellent teacher, Dr. Adolf Heimann, Professor of German at University College, London. His first translation, a version of Lenore (1844), ranks as one of the best on this subject. The next year came a poetic rendition of several hundred lines from the Nihelungenlied. This, in turn, was followed by a version of Hartmann's Der arme Heinrich. His Gretchen in the Temple was based upon Faust, and his picture of Lady Lilith was inspired by Goethe's quatrain in the Walpurgis- nacht. The Blessed Damosel, written in 1847, affords an in- teresting comparison with Faust. In the Prologue in Heaven the archangel Gabriel sings : " With speed, thought baffling, unabating. Earth's splendor whirls in cirding flight; Its Eden-brightness ahernating With solemn awe-inspiring night." ' The sixth stanza of Rossetti's poem reads: " It [the sun] lies in heaven, across the flood Of ether, as a bridge ! Beneath the tides of day and night With flame and darkness ridge The void, as low as where this earth Spins like a fretful midge." At the end of the second part of Faust, in the Chorus Mysticus, Gretchen intercedes for Faust and begs ' Swanwick's translation. 248 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " " To guide him, be it given to me ; Still dazzles him the new-born day ; " whereupon the Mater Dolorosa answers : " Ascend, thine influence f eeleth he, He'll follow on thine upward way." ' In Rossetti's poem, the Blessed Damozel, a chorister of God, leans out of heaven and says: " ' I wish that he were come to me. For he will come,' she said. ' Have I not prayed in Heaven ? — on earth, Lord, Lord, has he not pray'd? I'll take his hand and go with him To the deep wells of light; And I myself will teach to him, I myself, lying so, The songs I sing here.' " As a painter Rossetti was also indebted to German art. The English Pre-Raphaelite Movement and the German Nazarenes had common ideals. Their aims were threefold : to free painting from all pseudo-classical conventions, to select models among the early Italian painters, and to have a more intimate relation with nature. In Overbeck and Cornelius the religious tendency of romanticism had found expression ; in the younger generation, led by Fiihrich and Schnorr von Carolsfeld, the poetry and chivalry of the mediaeval ages were exalted. Rossetti and his circle were followers of the latter. According to their own state- ments, the Pre-Raphaelite Movement had its origin in 1848, when one evening at Millais's home, the friends ' Swanwick's version. England 249 were looking at the engravings of the Campo' Santo and the illustrations of Tieck's Genoveva by the Austrian painter Joseph Fiihrich. In his summary, Dr. Willoughby states that German literature had a deep influence upon Rossetti's development. In it he found the mysticism, romantic coloring, sensuous- ness, supernaturalism, and deep reHgious feeling that har- monized so well with his own nature. German poetry was, in short, the mighty stimulus that incited him to search for beauty in all things, in art, life, nature, and literature. Minor English Writers The list of German enthusiasts who were directly or in- directly influenced by De I'Allemagne in their study of German culture, might be prolonged to great length ; let it suffice here to mention but a few of the important imitators. George Eliot, translator of Strauss's Life of Jesus, of Feuerbach's Essence of Christianity, and of Spinoza's Ethics; George Henry Lewes, philosopher and literary critic, who devoted ten years of untiring labor to the com- position of the first great Life of Goethe in the English language ; Sir Theodore Martin, translator of Faust, of Goethe's ballads, Heine's lyrics, Schiller's poems, and of dramas from Danish writers, as Oehlenschlager and Henrik Hertz ;. William Jerdan, editor, a pppular writer for numerous periodicals, and founder of many clubs and societies, as the " Royal Society of Literature," " Royal Geographical . Society," " Garrick Club," "Camden So- ciety " ; John A. Heraud, who tried to popularize Schelling's philosophy in England, and author of Foreign Aids to Self-Intelligence;'^ John Wilson (Christopher North), ' 3 vols. 250 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Edin- burgh, author of Nodes Ambrosiance in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, and of the Isle of Palms; George Moir, translator of Schiller's Piccolomini, W allenstein, and of the Thirty Years!' War; John G. Lockhart, Scott's son- in-law, translator of Schlegel's Lectures on History of Literature', author of Memoirs of Scott, and for twenty- eight years editor of the Quarterly Review; Dr. William Whewell, scholar, President of the " Cambridge Philosophi- cal Society," translator of German lyrics, of Hermann and Dorothea, Auerbach's The Professor's Wife, and gf Architectural Notes on German Churches; John Stuart Blackie, Professor of Greek at Edinburgh, contributor to Blackwood's and to the Foreign Quarterly Review, trans- lator of Faust, and of War Songs of the Germans, and author of the Wisdom of Goethe; William and Mary Howitt, authors of many works on German life and litera- ture; George Soane, first translator of parts of Faust, also a prolific translator of German romances ; Thomas B. Macaulay, who contributed many important reviews on German literature ; Francis L. Gower, translator of Faust and of Schiller's Song of the Bell and other lyrics ; Edgar B. Lytton, translator of Schiller's poems and ballads; Edgar A. Bowring, translator of Goethe's The Wayzvard Lover, the Fellow Culprit, Hermann and Dorothea, and of his poems; William Hazlitt, Jr., writer, barrister, translator of Luther's Table Talk ; Anna Swanwick, the gifted lyrical translator of several Goethean works, Faust, Iphigenie, Tasso, and Egmont. With this we turn our attention to the American men of letters who have been influenced by the culture of Germany. America 251 America George Ticknor (i^pi-i8yi) In Part I, chapter I, it was stated that Ticknor's first interest in German literature came through the perusal of De I' Allemagne , and his account of his early efforts in ac- quiring some knowledge of German and of his determina- tion to study at Gottingen was quoted. This was in 1813-14. In order to prepare himself better for this European study, the young lawyer first traveled through his own country. In 1815, in company with his young friend Edward Everett, he sailed for Germany, arriving in Gottingen August 4. At that time the University of Gottingen was one of the leading institutions in Germany, renowned for its many distinguished teachers and scholars. Under them Ticknor learned the distinction between mere formal recitation and inspiring and thorough teaching. Of Dr. Schulze he wrote to his father, Nov. 10, 1815: "Every day I feel anew, under the oppressive weight of his admirable acquirements, what a mortifying distance there is between a European and an American scholar." ^ While a student at Gottingen, Ticknor with Everett made . a trip through North Germany, visiting Goethe at Weimar.^ In Paris he was a frequent guest at the home of Mme. de Stael and her daughter, the Duchesse de Broglie, and was the close friend and correspondent of Auguste de Stael, Mme. de Stael's eldest son.' On the occasion of General Lafayette's visit to the United States in August 1824, Ticknor, then Professor of French ' Life, Letters, and Journals, I, p. 73. ^I, pp. 1 14-16. ' I, pp. 127-33. 252 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " and Spanish at Harvard, wrote a long article on the illus- trious hero for the North American Review. It was after- ward translated into French and found a wide circulation. Through Lafayette, Ticknor's attention was directed to two German refugees, scholarly men, who were seeking employ- ment. Through his influence, one of these men. Dr. Beck, obtained a position at the Round Hill School, and later was appointed Professor of Latin at Harvard. The other, Dr. Follen, was made teacher of German in Ticknor's own de- partment. Five years later he became Professor of the German Language and Literature, where, through his mod- est, yet zealous efforts, he inspired a love for German scholarship. Very soon after Ticknor had entered on his professorial work, he felt himself hampered by the general conditions of instruction and discipline at Cambridge. To remove the deficiencies of the system, he advocated the introduction of a number of reforms after the model of the free uni- versities of Germany. The proposed changes were vital and far-reaching, for they were the lever that started to raise Harvard College from a mere school to university rank. In a pamphlet entitled Remarks on the Changes Lately Proposed or Adopted in Harvard College,^ Ticknor expresses his aims and views. The time of study was too short,, too many vacations and holidays allowed; in fact, four and one-half months, or over two-fifths of the time at college, was an " inevitable vacation." From twenty ,weeks and two days, Ticknor succeeded in having the vacation reduced to fifteen and one-half weeks ; but even that, in his opinion, afforded too much dissipation of mind. Then the modes of instruction were very imperfect. Instead of grading students according to ability, they were put into ' Boston, 1825, 48 pp. America 253 classes in an alphabetical system, according to their sur- names. Through Ticknor, the division of classes for reci- tation was made according to proficiency. ' A student could now work as fast as his talents and industry allowed. By this means the standard of instruction was raised, and the discipline improved, " for the best moral discipline of stu- dents is that which is laid in the careful and wise occupa- tion of all their time and powers." ^ In class recitation a reform was also instituted. In three-fourths of an hour an instructor could examine but superficially a class of sixty. Hence the students learned a given book and not the subject. Ticknor urged departmental work as a remedy. The college instruction was divided into departments ; at the head of each was a supervising teacher responsible for the character and work of his instructors and for the progress of his students. Each student had now to learn a subject, not merely a book, and to work according to his capacity. Thus he took more interest in his work and aimed to obtain knowledge suitable for his future life. Especially was this true, when he had the election of his studies. Ticknor's desire for " unlimited " election has certainly been fulfilled. Another subject discussed was the means of discipline. For tardiness or for absence from prayers a system of petty fines was imposed, a punishment for the parent rather than the student. In extreme cases expulsion, rustication, dismissal, or suspension was used. In seventeen years with less than fourteen hundred pupils, the college had resorted to such punishment in three hun- dred sixty-four cases, about one-fifth of its total num- ber of students. Instead of so much punishment Ticknor advocated more prevention. He succeeded in abolishing the system of petty fines, in making use of parental influ- ' P. 40. 254 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " ence, and in introducing a quiet dismissal of incorrigible students. According to Professor Norton the annual ex- aminations had been a " nugatory show." Now, through Ticknor's influence, the board of examiners was paid by the college and required to make a thorough examination and send in a signed and detailed report, which was to be published for public perusal. But the greatest reform was the necessity of thorough teaching, of which Ticknor was himself a living example. The instructor was not merely to hear lessons, but to teach them, to explain, comment, and illustrate the subject and to encourage and inspire his students in learning. Ticknor declared that not one of the best colleges did one-half of what it should do " to encourage, enable, and compel the students to learn what they ought to learn, and what they easily might learn." In America it cost more money to get an imperfect education than in Europe to enjoy the best advantages of the best institutions. To become a good Greek or Latin scholar, a student would need to go abroad, for he could not obtain at home the thorough instruction that would enable him to acquire distinction later in his department. As far as the small colleges were concerned they were excusable in this respect, because of lack of means. Harvard, however, with abundant resources had no excuse. " The young men," says Ticknor, " may be taught as well as examined." Its apparatus, libraries, instruments, collections, professors, and tutors can be turned to better account, and produce more valuable results. The increasing demands of the country must be met, the educational institutions must ful- fill the wants and spirit of the age, must grow, otherwise " when the period for more important alterations has come, and free universities are demanded and called forth . . . instead of being able to place themselves at the head of the America 255 coming changes, and directing their course, they will only be the first victims of the spirit of improvement." ^ Har- vard wisely listened to the voice of the seer, and, casting away ancient traditions, it kept pace with the trend of the times and maintained its educational leadership. Thomas W. Higginson could truly say that Ticknor was one of the four young men who " laid the foundation of non-English training not only in Boston, but in America " by " taking the whole American educational system away from the English tradition and substituting the German methods." ^ In the summer of 1832 Ticknor delivered a lecture on teaching the living languages, before the " American In- stitute." The methods he advocated then are now growing in favor. He maintained that the aim in teaching a living language was a speaking knowledge, for " he will always be found best able to read and enjoy the great writers in a for- eign language, who, in studying it, — whether his progress has been little or much, — has never ceased to remember that it is a living and a spoken tongue." ^ When in 1835 he resigned his professorship, he wrote a letter to Chas. Davies, wherein he reviews the history of the college and shows how the reforms he had advocated had been adopted with success in the modern language departments.* Until his death Ticknor was most active in service to others. In him America lost a great cosmopolitan scholar, a clear-sighted philanthropist, an inspiring educator, and ^ P. 46. ''Atlantic Monthly, LXXIX, p. 490, Apr., 1897. Cf. Ticknor, I, p. 7, and Faust : The German Element in the U. S., II, pp. 209 and 3S8. ' Life, I, pp. 393-94- * I, p. 400. 256 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " an earnest patriot; a man who dared to take the first step in the onward march of American culture. Edward Everett (1794-1865) With George Ticknor at Gottingen was his great friend Edward Everett, who had been for two years a Unitarian pastor at Brattle Street Church in Boston, was the author of a Defence of Christianity and the newly-appointed Professor of Greek at Harvard (1814). After Everett had traveled in Great Britain (1818), he wrote home that America had little to learn from the English universities, but much from the German institutions of learning. For a time he traveled with Victor Cousin in Germany, and that classical Frenchman did homage to his companion's learn- ing by declaring " he was the best Grecian he ever knew." On Everett's return to America he brought with him many German books, which formed the nucleus of a German library at Harvard. About the same time the library of the great German geographer. Professor Ebeling of Ham- burg, was purchased by Mr. Thorndike of Boston, against the competition of the King of Prussia. As Eliot Professor of Greek at Harvard (1819-24), Everett translated from the German Buttmann's Greek Grammar, and wrote a Greek reader based on that of Jacob's. Emerson in his Historic Notes '■ has given us a graphic picture of the inspiration he exerted on his classes. He says : " Germany had created criticism in vain for us until 1820, when Ed- ward Everett returned from his five years in Europe, and brought to Cambridge his rich results, which no one was so fitted by natural grace and the splendor of his rhetoric to introduce and recommend. He made us for the first time ' Lectures and Biographical Sketches, X, pp. 312-16. America 257 acquainted with Wolff's theory of the Homeric writings, with the criticism of Heyne. The novehy of the learning lost nothing in the skill and genius of the relater, and the rudest undergraduate found a new morning opened to him in the lecture-room of Harvard Hall." In addition to his work as a teacher Everett gave many lectures of a popular nature in which he set forth the help he had received from Goethe, Schelling, Oken, and Hegel. Of these Emerson again says : " By a series of lec- tures largely and fashionably attended for two winters in Boston, he made a beginning of popular literary and mis- cellaneous lectures which in that region at least had im- portant results. It is acquiring greater importance every day, and becoming a national institution. I am quite cer- tain that this purely literary influence was of the first importance to the American mind." On Aug. 26, 1824, Everett delivered an address on American Literature before the " Phi Beta Kappa So- ciety " of Harvard. It is highly important, as it shows his keen grasp of the situation of his day, his firm belief in the higher education of the people and in the responsibility rest- ing upon the scholar as a leader of the people, a belief which seems to have been inspired by his study of Fichte's ideal of the scholar and his national mission. " It is by the intellect of the country," is his slogan, " that the mighty mass is to be inspired ; that its parts are to com- municate and sympathize with each other, its natural prog- ress to be adorned with becoming refinements ; its prin- ciples asserted and its feelings interpreted to its own chil- dren, to other regions, and to after ages." From 1846 to 1849 Everett was president of Harvard and helped to pave the way for modern methods of study and educational reforms. At his inauguration he delivered 258 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne '' an address on the Objects of a University Education, which shows the influence of the German university idea as developed by W. von Humboldt, Fichte, and Schleier- macher. Everett defines these objects as follows: "The acquisition of knowledge in the various branches of science and literature, as a general preparation for the learned professions and the other liberal pursuits of life; in the process of acquiring this knowledge, the exercise and de- velopment of the intellectual faculties, as a still more im- portant part of the great business of preparation; the for- mation of a pure and manly character, exhibiting that union of moral and intellectual qualities which most com- mands confidence, respect, and love." In 1824 Everett entered political life as a member of Congress, and his distinguished accomplishments as a statesman almost overshadowed his literary and scientific work. As minister, educator, lecturer, statesman, and orator Everett's life and work were a glorious example of unremitting service to the people. George Bancroft (i8oo-i8pi) While a freshman at Harvard, Bancroft met Edward Everett, then tutor in Latin. Later, after Everett had been made Professor of Greek, a strong friendship arose between the teacher and student. Inspired by Everett, Bancroft read many works upon German literature, philosophy, and theology. Upon Everett's recommendation, a traveling scholarship of seven hundred dollars per annum for three years was awarded Bancroft for the purpose of theological study at Gottingen. On June 27, 1818, he left Boston, arriving in Gottingen the early part of October. Equipped with many letters of introduction from Everett and Ticknor, America 259 Bancroft was welcomed most heartily in the German uni- versity town. Here he studied under many distinguished men,^ making use of every opportunity to acquire fluency in German expression as well as knowledge of facts. On June 27 of the following year he delivered a sermon in the German language, the manuscript of which is still in existence. About the same time religious doubts arose in his mind, and he wrote to Everett, asking whether it would not be well to study history in connection with his philology, church history, and theology, adding : " Several gentlemen in Boston are desirous, I should become acquainted with the German Schulwesen, and on coming home set up a high school on the European plan." ^ Upon Everett's reply Bancroft devoted himself almost exclusively to the pursuit of history, which was of the utmost importance for his future career. After his arrival in Gottingen Bancroft studied very dili- gently the works of Schiller and of Goethe, even translating some of their poems into English verse. For Schiller Ban- croft has nothing but words of commendation for his love of humanity, zeal for freedom, and social progress, search for truth and purity of life and character. With Goethe's classic and aesthetic outlook on life and broad tolerant views of progressive religion, Bancroft's narrow and provincial Puritanic ideas and rearing came into violent clash. He writes in his diary : " I am only more and more astonished at the indecency and immorality of the latter. He appears to prefer to represent vice as lovely and to excite sympathy rather than virtue, and would rather take for his heroine ' See letter of Oct. 3, 1818, to his father. Rev. Aaron Bancroft, in Life and Letters, edited by M. A. DeWolfe Howe, I, pp. 46-47, 2 vols., New York, 1908. ' Life, I, p. 65. 26o Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " a prostitute or a profligate, than give birth to that purity of thought and loftiness of soul, which it is the peculiar duty of the poet to raise, by connecting his inventions with the actions of heroes and embodying in verse the merits of the benefactors of mankind." ^ This condemnatory opinion was greatly changed, however, in his essay on the Life and Genius of Goethe for the North American Review of October 1824.^ In it he says : " But the works of Goethe are not without lessons of practical morality. Though he makes no boasts of being himself a religious man, he ac- knowledges religion to be essentially the best foundation of a good character and considers cooperation with others in works of practical utility, and in the execution of just and righteous designs, the safest and the happiest course. He has also drawn many exquisite and elevating pictures of female excellence, has illustrated the superiority of domestic life, and has given the noblest encomiums to that sex, which knows how to establish order and economy, to feel, and to endure. ' Ye call woman fickle,' says he, ' ye err ; she but roams in search of a steadfast man.' " Goethe, to whom George Calvert ' had given a copy, sent his thanks to the author and declared : " This essay has a good effect upon everybody: so much intellect and insight, joined with a youthfully cheerful enjoyment in writing, excites a certain sympathetic, pleasant feeling." * In common with all American students Bancroft utilized his vacations in making trips to different parts of Germany, ^ Life, I, p. 38. ' XIX, pp. 303-25- ' Life, I, p. 182. * Ihid,, I, p. 182. Cf. also his letter to Andrews Norton from Paris, July 18, 1821, in regard to Weimar, where Goethe's influence was paramount. " Weimar is the only place I know of worthy of commemoration for its staid morality." Life, I, p. iii. America 261 and in meeting the great men of the time. In Jena he first met Goethe, Oct. 12, 1819, and found him very talkative and affable. The following day he went to Weimar and visited Goethe's home and family.^ Before his final de- parture he visited Goethe twice in Weimar, March 7 and May 5, 1821.^ After receiving his doctor's degree on Sept. 19, 1820, Bancroft went to Berlin for the winter semester, studying under Boeckh, Wolf, Hegel, and Buttmann. In November he wrote a letter to President Kirkland con- trasting the two universities and describing the Prussian school system. " I have already been here about six weeks, and find abundant cause of joy for having come here. The char- acter of the men of letters is quite the reverse of the char- acter of the Gottingen professors. There an abhorrence is felt for all innovations; here the new, that is good or promises to lead to good, cannot be too soon adopted. At Gottingen the whole tendency of the courses is, to make the students learned, to fill their memories with matters of fact ; here the great aim is to make themi think. At Got- tingen experience stands in good repute, and men are most fond of listening to her voice; but at Berlin experience is a word not to be pronounced too often ; speculation is looked on as the prime source of truth. At Gottingen the men are engaged in growing learned and writing useful books, which demonstrate their erudition; at Berlin the professors are perhaps quite as learned, but more accus- tomed to reflection, and you may find many of their books, to have written which a prodigious degree of erudition was required, and which yet do not contain a single citation. ' Life, I, pp. 67-69. ' Ibid., I, pp. 97-99. 262 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " Certainly Gottingen is the best place to gather genuine learning, but I hardly think a man would learn there how to use it properly. . . ." Before returning to America Bancroft visited Paris and London. A letter to President Kirkland dated London, Aug. 17, 1 82 1, in which he describes Parisian life, is of highest value, as it shows the feelings entertained by Europeans toward these early American scholars, and how much they contributed to a foreign appreciation of Ameri- can culture. Soon afterward Bancroft made a tour through the Alps to Milan. While there he wrote in his Diary a little essay on schools, which is of utmost impor- tance as showing the effect of the new educational ideas which he had found in Germany. It reads thus: i. In reflecting on establishing a school on a large foundation; it appears to me that something new might be undertaken with usefulness and advantage. Greek should be the first language taught ; it would be easy to procure or to make the necessary works for that. A translation of French's small grammar; and of Jacob's Handbook would be suffi- cient for a commencement. 2. Natural History should be taught; it quickens all the powers and creates the faculty of accurate observation. Even in the town schools so much of natural history as relates to the plants of husbandry and weeds which torment the farmer, ought to be taught simply and thoroughly to every boy, and most of all to the poorest whose lot it is to till the earth. 3. Emulation must be most carefully avoided, excepting the general and mutual desire of excellence in virtue. No one ought to be awarded at the expense of another, and even where there is nothing but prizes, they who fail of gaining them, may have been impeded by the nature of their talents and not by their America 263 own want of exertion. 4. Corporal punishments must be abolished as degrading the individual, who receives them, and as encouraging the base passions of fear and deception. 5. Classes must be formed according to the characters and capacities of each individual boy. 6. Country school- masters might be formed with little expense by annexing to the school an institution for orphans, to be educated for schoolmasters. Of these the best might be chosen for a learned discipline and be fitted for taking care of academies. 7. Eventually a vast printing establishment might be an- nexed to the school." ^ After his return from Europe Bancroft was tutor in Greek for a year at Harvard, where he aided in reorganizing the methods of teaching Greek in that institution. He also preached occasionally. His sermons show a decided ethical and philosophical bent. But the Germanized student, who had not read an English book during his life abroad, did not feel satisfied in his narrow theological surround- ings. In 1819 Bancroft met Joseph Cogswell in Dresden. Like Bancroft, Cogswell, who was librarian and professor of mineralogy and geology, was discontented in his position. Together the two determined to found a preparatory school for boys. This plan was warmly approved of by Everett, Ticknor, and President Kirkland. In fact as early as 1819 Everett had suggested it in a letter to Bancroft. " Could you have a liberal and proper support, I know no better place for you than a learned school, and the College would be indebted to you for the most important aid in carrying into execution the projecting reforms in educa- tion. We can do nothing at Cambridge till we contrive the means of having the boys sent to us far better fitted than ' Life, I, p. 129. 264 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " they are now." ^ As has already been noted this idea had been constantly before Bancroft's mind in his European study and travel. In a letter to Eliot, dated Cambridge, Dec. 3, 1822, Bancroft discusses his plan and says: "I have consulted the nature of high schools, grammar schools, gymnasia, classical schools, and the like ; I have consulted the books which treat of education; I have re- flected on the means and end of education. Now I am going to turn schoolmaster. I long to become an inde- pendent man, namely a man, who lives by his own labors. Mr. Cogswell ^ has seen so much of the world, that he knows its folly: he will join me in my scheme: we will together establish a school, the end of which is to be the moral and intellectual maturity of the mind of each boy we take charge of; and the means are to be first and fore- most instruction in the classics.^ The prospectus issued by the two educators June 20, 1820, shows the influence of the educational ideas of Germany. This school was to be established at Round Hill, near the Connecticut River, and one-half mile from the village of Northampton. It thus offered the advantage of country life. " We need retire- ment," says Bancroft, " if we would educate boys to be scholars." As in a French college or a German gymnasium, the boy would begin at the age of nine to learn his modern language, so as to attain purity of pronunciation. No pupil over twelve would be accepted in the institution, for the habits of study which the educators would form, differed essentially from prevailing ones. The aim was to produce mental activity by other motives than fear or emulation. By parental government, persuasion, and persevering kind- ' Life, I, p. 166. See I, pp. 54, 65, 91, 128. ' Cogswell was fourteen years older than Bancroft. " Life, I, p. 162, America 265 ness, by strong moral discipline, the character of each youth would be developed. If such means failed, then the youth was dismissed. To insure personal attention to each boy, the school was at first limited to twenty pupils. There were but two vacations, of three weeks each, at the winter and the summer solstice. All other recreations were provided for by the instructors ; such as short journeys by foot or wagon, for study and observation. The studies to be pursued were those considered essential to a liberal education, and to a practical training for the world — studies necessary to make loyal and useful citizens. They were English, litera- ture, history, science, mathematics, geography, Latin, Greek (elective), and modern languages — French, German, Ital- ian, and Spanish. To the man of business, the traveler, the student of modern history and politics, these languages were perhaps " the most valuable." In addition, gym- nastic work was given daily, as in the Swiss and German schools. The principles of natural ethics and religion were taught in daily devotional exercises and in the constant study of the poets, often better moralists than many so- called ethical writers. The creation of a taste for reading and for reflection was fostered by the use of a large and well-selected library and by informal talks and discussion. In short, the purpose of the institution was to help the rising generation to be more virtuous, intellectual, and happy than it otherwise would have been. In this enterprise Bancroft did much of the teaching and directing the work of the assistant instructors, while Cogswell was father of the community and the general manager. The instruction was by no means confined to books ; there were sketching and riding classes ; the boys farmed and built small houses ; they had an annual camp- ing trip ; every possible means was employed to develop the 266 ' Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " boy's outer and inner life; and the new theories of Pesta- lozzi and Fellenberg found realization on American soil. By 1830 Bancroft's ardor as schoolmaster had abated some- what; he sold out his interest to Cogswell, who paid him a salary for his seven years' service as teacher.^ He re- mained at Round Hill a year longer as a paid instructor. The institution was continued for a few years by Cogs- well alone, and then abandoned because of his failing health and financial losses. It was, however, the first serious effort in the United States to elevate secondary education to a higher plane. In the history of American intellectual progress it stands out as the embodiment of idealism and modernity in culture, as a great initiative force in diffus- ing German educational ideas of discipline, of stimulating interest, and of attention to the individual.^ While Bancroft was at Round Hill, he found time to write many articles for the North American Review,^ the Boston Quarterly Review, and for Walsh's American Quarterly. Many of them were on German life and litera- ture, as the article already mentioned, Life and Genius of Goethe.'^ His poetic talent found expression in transla- tions and in a volume of poems (1823) which in after life he zealously sought to destroy. In 1824 appeared his ver- sion of Buttmann's Greek Grammar " and of Heeren's Re- flections on the Politics of Ancient Greece.^ Edward ' See Life, I, p. 65, where he says in 1819 he would not care to be associated many years with a school. ^ See Bancroft's letter to Pres. Eliot of Harvard, July 4, 1871. " He wrote seventeen in 1823-24. * See also Miscellanies : Studies in German Literature, pp. 103- 205. ° 2nd ed. in 1826. ° 2nd ed. in 1843 ; 3rd ed. in 1847. America 267 Everett wrote concerning this in the North American Re- view: ' " Mr. Bancroft deserves the public thanks for trans- lating this volume. He has observed, in the preface, that the translator's task is an humble one. It may be made so ; but it is not necessarily so. This translation implies a command, not only of the German language, such as few possess, but an accomplishment of still greater value, a good knowledge of the English tongue. Nor could it have been executed but by a person conversant with the large range of classical learning, which the work embraces. To make a translation of such a work, and as this is made, is no humble exploit. We should be much rejoiced, and think it auspicious of good to the literature of the coun- try, if Mr. Bancroft should be induced by the reception of this volume, to translate the rest." The wish expressed by Everett found realization; Ban- croft translated Heeren's States of Antiquity (1828), and his Political System of Europe and Its Colonies from i^gs to 1776 (1828).^ In a review of the States of Antiquity^ a critic writes that to Bancroft " the lovers of learning have long felt under obligations, for the various exertions he has made to introduce the knowledge of German literature among us. Of this literature we have never entertained but one opinion, and that is, that the hours, which the scholar devotes to it are among the most delightful and profitable of his life.'' Besides Heeren's works, Bancroft aided Latin instruction by translating Ch. F. W. Jacob's Latin Reader (1825) * and Zumpt's Latin Grammar (1829), ' XVIII, pp. 290-406, Apr., 1824. ' 2nd ed. in 1829. ' N. A. R., XXVIII, pp. 186-203, Jan., 1829. * New editions in 1832, 1833, and 1835. 268 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " and by adapting from the German edition Cornelius Nepos (1835) for American pupils. Bancroft's crowning achievement, of course, is his monu- mental History of the United States in ten volumes, a work to which he devoted nearly sixty years of his life. The first volume appeared in print in 1834, the tenth in 1875. For this task he was peculiarly fitted, thoroughly versed in the histories of different nations, of broad scholar- ship, careful and systematic, free from prejudices, a patriotic American but not narrow and bigoted, he was scholar, explorer, philosopher, and rhetorician. He firmly believed in the sequence of causes and effects, that the problems of politics cannot be solved without passing behind transient forms to efficient causes. Thus the American Revolution could be traced back to the Reforma- tion under Luther and Calvin ; for the emancipation of thought is the foundation of the love of freedom. Even in such devious ways did his early German training, evident in almost all of his undertakings, manifest itself.^ Joseph G. Cogswell (1786-1871) Dr. Joseph G. Cogswell studied at Gottingen from November 1816 until 1819. It was here where he received his doctor's degree. Ticknor and Edward Everett were also at Gottingen during this period. Although studying the necessary history, politics, and philosophy for his doc- torate, Cogswell found time, by spending ten hours in the lecture-room and eight in study, to acquire an immense amount of information on all subjects, and, as he said, to " lay the groundwork for more thorough geological, ' A few lines might be subjoined on Bancroft's partner in the Round Hill School enterprise. America 269 mineralogical, and botanical knowledge." Under Benecke he also attained practical instruction in literary organiza- tion, which was later of vast help to him as librarian at Harvard, and as organizer and superintendent of the Astor library. His friends, Ticknor and Everett, had visited Goethe on Oct. 25, 1816, before Cogswell's arrival in Gottingen. Prepared to dislike the proud and haughty German, as he conceived Goethe to be, Cogswell visited the poet the fol- lowing April at Jena. He very quickly changed his mind; in mineralogy the two men found a subject of mutual interest. Their conversation turned on America; Cogs- well declared later that Goethe made juster and more pro- found observations than he had ever heard from any other man in Europe. From that time until his return to America Cogswell corresponded with Goethe, especially on mineralogical matters. Then before his return to America two more visits were recorded. On May 10, 1819, on his way from Gottingen to Dresden, he stopped in Weimar and spent most of the time with Goethe. Again in August he went to bid Goethe farewell; but finding that he was in Jena, journeyed thither. Through Cogswell's mediation, Goethe presented Harvard College with thirty volumes of his own works. During the vacation period Cogswell traveled through- out Europe, meeting scientific men and visiting noted in- stitutions. Among the latter were his visits to Fellenberg's school at Hofwyl (May and August 1818) and to Pesta- lozzi's school at Yverdun (May 1818 and Oct. 28, 1819). In recognition of his scientific attainments he was made a member of the " Academy of Munich " and of the " Helvetic Society of Natural History." After his return to America in 1820, he was appointed 270 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " librarian and professor of mineralogy and geology at Har- vard. During this time he arranged the library on the same plan as that of Gottingen, which won the applause of his friend Ticknor. In 1823 he and Bancroft established the Round Hill school. Dr. Cogswell was the leading fac- tor, and put into practice some of the ideas he had gained from Pestalozzi and Fellenberg, and it is upon this under- taking, already discussed in detail, that his merit as a me- diator between German and American civilization is to be based. Alexander H. Everett (1790-1847) Alexander Everett possessed the versatility of his brother Edward. While secretary of the American lega- tion at St. Petersburg (1809-12), he had favorable oppor- tunities for becoming acquainted with German literature. Later as United States Minister at The Hague (181 5-16, 1818-24), he continued his study and observations of Eu- ropean life, which are recorded in his Europe,^ soon trans- lated into German, French, and Spanish. In this work he devotes a chapter to " Germany, including Austria and Prussia," giving a highly suggestive comparison of the Ger- many of that period with the United States. After serving five years as Minister to Spain, Everett became a member of the Massachusetts legislature, also editor and proprietor of the North American Review (1829-35). During his own editorship, as well as that of his brother (1820-24), he contributed numerous articles to the magazine, many of which dealt with German litera- ' Europe, or a General Survey of the Situation of the Principal Powers; with Conjectures of the Future Prospects, by a Citizen of the United States. Boston, 1822. Cf. Part I, chap, i, p. 20. America 271 ture, either directly or incidentally. Among these articles may be cited those on Mme. de Stael and Schiller. In a review of Heinrich Doering's life of Schiller (April 1823), Everett commends especially the " pure morality " of his writings, and declares it is " a great happiness for a nation, when a writer like Schiller, whose talents secure him an unbounded popularity and influence, has the grace to exert them uniformly in the great cause of virtue and human happiness. No compensation in the power of subjects or sovereigns to bestow can be too great for such deserts : ' Quae tibi, quae tali reddam pro carmine dona ? ' " ^ Later, as confidential agent of the United States to Cuba, as president of Jefferson College, Louisiana, and as Min- ister to China, he continued his work as an essayist. Among the magazines where his articles appeared were the Boston Quarterly Review, United States Democratic Review, the Boston Miscellany, and the Southern Quar- terly Review. Among the translations from, and articles on German literature appearing in the Democratic Review, may be cited The Spectre Bridegroom (Burger), The Worth of Woman (Schiller), The Water-King, a Norse Legend, Harro Harring, a Biography, and The Funeral of Goethe from Harro Harring. In a note to Harro's poem on the " bard of the lofty rhyme and little soul," Everett says it is very curious to contrast the bitterness and censure of the German poet with Carlyle's excessive admira- tion of Goethe as the first poet and great moral and re- ligious regenerator of modern times. He thinks the friends of Germany have cause for complaint against Goethe's indifference in the War of Liberation.^ ' Cf. Critical and Miscellaneous Essays, I, pp. 137-38, Boston, 1845. ' Cf. Miscellanies, I, p. 55. 272 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " These translations show that Everett possessed the poetic instinct. As an illustration of his ability I quote a stanza from his version of the Dedication to Faust} " And o'er me steals a long unfelt desire To search the silent, solemn spirit-land ; Low, lisping notes, as of the vElian lyre, Breathe from the strings beneath my wavering hand; Tears follow fast on tears ; the soul of fire Grows faint and weak, by softness all unmann'd; And the fair scenes, in which my lot is cast. Appear like dreams ; — I live but in the past." In addition to articles and shorter translations, Everett also rendered into English the History of the World ^ of Johannes von Miiller, the historian to whom Mme. de Stael had called especial attention. He also showed original ability as a historian in his lives of Patrick Henry an^ Joseph Warren. Like his brother, Everett enjoyed considerable fame as an orator. An address to the Phi Beta Kappa society of Bowdoin College on the Present State of Polite Learning in England and America, delivered Sept. 3, 1834, is very significant of his profound understanding of causes and eflfects and of the literary conditions of the age. He says that English literature is distinguished by a healthy vigor, a fresh and natural expression of feeling, by force and independence of thought, and by a comparative care- lessness of style. The popularity of learning, the im- portance of novel and newspaper, the triumph of woman in literature, have contributed to this result. Of the most brilliant group Lord Byron is " decidedly the most remark- able individual and the one who may be considered as ' Boston Miscellany, Oct., 1842. ' 4 vols., Boston, 1840. America 273 personifying and representing, more perfectly than any other, the spirit which prevails in the literature of the day." Scott's mind is wholly poetical and his inspiration came originally from German poetry and romance. Then Everett refers to the work of the American forefathers in securing religious freedom and popular education to all men. Formerly England, superior in wealth and popula- tion, had been the literary leader, but now all is changing. America's rapid progress will soon give to her the ascend- ency in arts, letters, and science, as in policy. The New World will dictate " the tone to the literature of the lan- guage." Let it be, therefore, the care^of American scholars to be ready for this high calling, and to vindicate the honor of the New World in friendly competition with the Old. Moses Stuart (1780-1852) The father of exegetical science in America was a farmer's son, Moses Stuart. A prodigy in mental power, he read a book of ballads at the age of four. When fourteen years old he mastered Latin grammar in less than a week, in order that he might enter Norfolk Academy. After graduating from Yale in 1799 he taught a while, studying law at the same time. Though admitted to the bar (1802) he never practiced. His legal studies, how- ever, had much influence on the tenor of his thought. In- fluenced by a religious revival in New Haven, he deter- mined to enter the ministry. A tutorship at Yale for two years enabled him to continue his studies there. In 1804 he was licensed to preach, and two years later he accepted a regular pastorate in New Haven, where he remained for four years. In 1810, when a professor of sacred literature was needed at the theological academy at Andover, the 274 Madame de Stael's "De l'Allemagne" choice fell upon Stuart, not because he was a Hebrew scholar, but because of his intrinsic and sterling traits of character. Stuart's own words are the best cojnmentary on the state of American scholarship at that time : " I came here," he says, " with little more than a knowledge of the Hebrew alphabet and the power of making out, after a poor fashion, too, the bare translation of some five or six chap- ters in Genesis, and a few Psalms. I had not, and never had had, the aid of any teacher in my biblical studies. Alas! for our country at that time; there was scarcely a man in it, unless by accident someone who had been edu- cated abroad, that had such a knowledge of Hebrew as was requisite in order to be an instructor." When he began teaching Hebrew he used to consult Schleussner's Lexicon. The many German terms troubled him and his curiosity was aroused. No teacher of that lan- guage was available, however. At an exorbitant price he purchased the necessary equipment for German study, and within a fortnight was reading the entire Gospel of John in German. Then, through a friend, he obtained Seller's Biblische Hermeneutik. This work introduced him to Ger- man literature. From the references and suggestions in this one volume he collected for the seminary the best library of German biblical literature in America. " Before I obtained Seller," he said, " I did not know enough to believe that I yet knew nothing in sacred criticism." ^ These German studies soon brought upon him, as they did upon other con- temporary scholars, the enmity and suspicion of his col- leagues. " It was whispered," he said, " that I was not only secretly gone over to the Germans, but was leading the Seminary over with me, and bringing up, or at least encouraging our young men to the study of deistical ' Ra- ' Chris. Exam., VI, p. 449. America 275 tionalism ' ; and besides this, it was also whispered about, in a very significant way, that it was as much as the other professors could do to keep the Seminary from going over to Unitarianism." At this time the idea was prevalent that the study of German was bad, " because the Unitarians of Boston and Cambridge favored it." That this study of German did not materially alter his Calvinistic faith and religious convictions is shown by his words : " I was indeed but slightly afifected with a charge of leaning, in this affair of German study, toward Uni- tarianism, for heaven knows, that the Unitarians of that day were, as a mass, as guiltless in respect to the sin of German study, as Jerome was in respect to imitating Cicero's Latinity, when the angel charged him with such a sin and administered castigation therefor." Stuart then goes on to defend the study of German as a necessity for thorough scholarship by writing a letter on the Study of the German Language to the Editor of the Christian Review.^ He says in part : " The greater free- dom of England and America has produced more bold and open attacks upon the Scriptures, and upon evangelical religion, than would have been tolerated in Germany until quite recently. Those who declaim most against the study of the German, are usually the persons who have little or no acquaintance with it. . . . Is this partiality for German productions purchased favor, courted favor, solicited favor ? Not at all. The Germans have hitherto showed very little concern about their reputation in foreign countries. They have a world of their own. What then brought their pro- ductions into notice? Nothing but the value of them, no other earthly reason can be given. In fact, it has come, or is coming, to this, that a knowledge of the German is no ' VI, pp. 446-71, Sept., 1841. 276 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " longer an evidence of peculiar and distinguishing acquisi- tion. What Cicero said of a knowledge of Greek in his day, we may now say of the German : ' It is not so much a matter of praise to be acquainted with it, as of shame to be ignorant of it.' Nothing short of the most prepos- terous vanity can lead us, at present, to claim equal emi- nence in literature with Germany. Let the man who seeks instruction make himself acquainted with the German language and thus possess the key to unlock all their re- sources. If he does not find himself richly repaid, then I am content to be put down for an ignoramus."' Instead of defending Unitarianism, however, Stuart was the zealous champion of Trinitarianism. When Dr. Chan- ning attacked the doctrine of the Trinity in a sermon at Baltimore, Stuart replied in a pamphlet which aroused so much attention that the first edition was exhausted in a week. It took three editions to supply the demand In America and two in England. Stuart himself acknowledged that he could not have written that pamphlet, if it had not been for his German studies. The result of this discus- sion was that his friends and his enemies both saw their error in resisting the invasion of German thought. They even began to welcome its advance. German study now became general. " To Andover," then, " under the leader- ship of the veteran Stuart, belongs the honor of having opened the rich treasures of German literature and theology to the American, if not to the English world." ^ To facilitate the study of exegetical science, Stuart, with Edward Robinson's occasional assistance, began a series of translations from noted German theologians.^ In addition ' Evangel. Rev., July, 1862, p. 151. " Winer : Greek Grammar of the New Testament, 1825 (with Robinson) ; Ernesti : Elementary Principles of Interpretation, 1842 America 277 he wrote many original works on biblical criticism. His commentary on the Epistles to the Hebrews (1827-28), one of the earliest in the English language, was said by Dr. J. P. Smith to be " the most important contribution to the cause of sound biblical interpretation that had ever been made in the English language." A similar opinion was voiced in Germany. Just as his Hebrew grammar had been republished in England and was used as a text-book at Oxford, so his Hebrew Chrestomathy (1829) found a wel- come in that- institution.^ So great was his reputation as a German scholar and biblical critic that the London Eclectic Review, which through thirty volumes had never deviated from its practice of selecting and publishing only original matter, printed two articles entire from his magazine, the Spirit of the Pilgrims (1828). Stuart thus must be commended for his wisdom in dis- covering that the German literature of the day offered him the best weapons for defending his faith and for his cor- responding moral courage, like that of another Luther, to champion the cause of that literature and of the language wherein it was written. (with notes and an appendix containing extracts from Keil, Beck, and Morus). Schleiermacher : On the Discrepancies between the Sahellian and Athanasian Methods of Representing the Doctrine of a Trinity in the Godhead, 1835 (with notes and illustrations). Jahn and others : Dissertations on the Importance and Best Method of Studying the Original Languages of the Bible (with notes). Ewald: The Hebrew Tenses, 1838 (with remarks). Dorner: Doc- trine Respecting the Person of Christ, 1850 (with remarks). De Wette : Commentary on Romans, 1848. Roediger : Gesenius's Hebrew Grammar, 1846 (with additions and a Hebrew chres- tomathy). ^ Hebrew Grammar, by Prof. Lee, at Cambridge, was published six years later than Stuart's in 1830. 278 Madame de Stael's "De l'Allemagne" lames Marsh (1794- 18 42) After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1817, James Marsh decided to enter the Theological School at Andover in preparation for the ministry. Here he came into touch with Moses Stuart. Later, while serving as tutor at Dartmouth, he found time to continue his literary studies. In the autumn of 1820 Marsh returned to Andover to complete his theological studies. In his Journal he records his aim to pursue the critical study of the Old and New Testaments under Professor Stuart's direction, and to study modern literature an hour each day.^ On Feb. 21, 1821, he writes: "Of my progress in the German lan- guage, I have been more conscious than ever before and begin to feel as if I had conquered it. On Saturday, in the forenoon, I read in the regular course of my studies about fifty pages, and read it well. . . . Read forty pages of Heeren's Ideen. . . . Read thirty pages of Hallam's dis- sertation on the state of society in the Middle Ages. He does not seem to be acquainted with the opinions of De Stael and Schlegel ; or if he is, he does not, in my opinion, give them the right influence in forming his notions of the human mind in the decline of the Roman Empire. ... In addition to what I have already mentioned ... I read ten or twelve pages of Muenscher." ^ " At this time," so writes his biographer Torrey, " he was in the habit of studying a good deal the work of Cole- ridge, particularly the Sketches of His Literary Life and Opinions. With the aid of Coleridge and Mme. de Stael, he began, moreover, to consult Kant's Critique of Pure ' Memoir, pp. 36-37. ' Ibid , p. 40. America 279 Reason, then a perfect terra incognita to American scholars." While at Andover he wrote an article on Ancient and Modern Poetry,^ in which he characterized the distin- guishing features of ancient and modern genius and showed the great influence of Christianity in giving a more spiritual direction to the powers of mind. With a friend he trans- lated from the German Bellermann's Geography of the Scriptures. This work he finished in December 1823. As professor at Hampden-Sidney College in Virginia (1823- 26) Marsh commenced the translation of Herder's Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, the first parts of which were . published in several successive numbers of the Christian Repository. From his student days Marsh had found much delight in the study of philosophy. Having a clear knowledge of all its important questions and principles, he found the chief problem was in fixing definitely the true and only legitimate method of scientific inquiry. It was he who introduced Coleridge the thinker in America, by publishing his Aids to Reflection with an introductory essay.^ In 1830 the Selections from the Old English Writers on Practical Theology appeared. His aim in this publication was clearly defined in a letter to Coleridge the preceding March. He writes : " The German philosophers, Kant and his followers, are very little known in this country; and our young men who have visited Germany have paid little attention to that department of study while there. I cannot boast of being wiser than others in this respect ; for though I have read a part of the works of Kant, it was under many ' N. A. R., July, 1822. ' This essay was later prefixed by Coleridge's nephew and execu- tor, H. N. Coleridge, to the London edition of the Aids to Reflection in 1839. 28o Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " disadvantages, so that I am indebted to your own writings for the abiUty to understand what I have read of his works, and am waiting with some impatience for that part of your works which will aid more directly in the study of those subjects of which he treats. The same views are generally entertained in this country as in Great Britain, respecting German literature; and Stewart's History of Philosophy especially has had an extensive influence in deterring students from the study of their philosophy. Whether any change in this respect is to take place remains to be seen. To me it seems a point of great importance, to awaken among our scholars a taste for more manly and efificient mental discipline, and to recall into use those old writers, whose minds were formed by a higher standard." ^ After Dr. Follen had read the work, he wrote, April 14, 1832, to Marsh : " Your edition of Coleridge, with the excellent prefatory aids, has done and will do much to introduce and naturalize a better philosophy in this country, and particu- larly to make men perceive that there is much in the philosophy of other nations, and that there is still more in the depths of their own minds that is worth exploring, and which cannot be had cheap and handy in the works of the Scotch and English dealers in philosophy." ^ Feeling the need of more time for his studies, Marsh resigned the presidency in 1833, and accepted the chair of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy. He now finished his translation of Herder's Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, which he ' Memoir, p. 137. ' Ibid., p. isi. Cf. Rufus Griswold, Prose Writers of America, p. 440 : " The first shock to the orthodox philosophical creed of New England [philosophy of Locke, Stewart, and Reid] was Prof. Marsh's calm, profound, and luminous exposition of the doctrines of Coleridge in his preface to the American edition of The Friend and of the Aids to Reflection." America 281 had begun at Hampden- Sidney College, and rendered into English Hegewisch's work on the elements of chronology. He also outlined a system of logic, following in its general divisions and arrangement of matter the German work of Fries on the same subject. Unfortunately he left nothing in manuscript on this plan except a free translation of Fries's work. Another book contemplated was a treatise on psychology, of which only a few chapters were written. His most serious thoughts were constantly directed toward the study of man's moral and religious nature. To him the science of sciences was the knowledge of self and of man's relations to the higher spiritual world. The perfec- tion of human intelligence was the Christian faith. As Griswold writes, Marsh " deserves particular and honora- ble mention in every survey of our intellectual advance- ment and condition. He was a calm, chaste scholar, an earnest and profound thinker, and a powerful and elo- quent advocate of the highest principles of religion and philosophy, whose life had that simplicity and grandeur which are constituted by a combination of the rarest and noblest of human virtues. His principal published writings are devoted to those elevating and spiritual principles of philosophy of which Coleridge and Kant were the most celebrated European asserters. Though nearly agreeing with these great men, he was not less original than they, and before the works of the Englishman or the Prussian were known on this continent, by the independent action of his own mind, he had formed theories similar to theirs and taught them to his classes." ^ ' Prose Writers, p. 18. 282 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " Charles T. Brooks (1813-83) Charles T. Brooks early distinguished himself as a poet, but it was as a translator from the German that he was most widely known. His first interest in German litera- ture was undoubtedly due to W. E. Channing, and it was later increased through the inspiring influence of Karl Follen and Dr. Beck. His first attempts at translation were from Schiller, the Jungfrau von Orleans, Maria Stuart, and Wilhelm Tell (1838). The Christian Examiner "^ praises Brooks's unconscious imitation of the "characteristic Naive of German writing, in which no words representing pure thoughts are ever considered homely. And it is just here that an infusion of German literature may very much benefit our own. We have come to look upon all fresh and childlike utterance as ballad-like and antiquated. It is refreshing to have modern thoughts come to us so clad. If this treatment of the German writers can be fairly presented to our young authors, and win them to truthfulness, it will be doing more than all criticism." In 1847, with the trans- lation of Schiller's Homage to the Arts, closes Brooks's study of the poet's greater works. When George Ripley was arranging for his edition of Specimens of Foreign Literature, he requested Brooks to prepare a translation of the most popular songs and bal- lads from Uhland, Korner, Biirger, and other lyrists. This work, with copious notes, appeared in 1842.^ It contained 27 lyrics from Uhland, 18 from Korner, 10 from Schiller, 6 each from Biirger, Goethe, and Holty, 5 from Riickert, 3 from Klopstock, and 2 from A. L. Follen, a total of 83 " XXV, pp. 385-91, Jan., 1839. ' Second volume of the Specimens. America 283 poems in all. Of these translations 60 were by Brooks and the remaining 23 by his friends. Dwight furnished 8; Frothingham, 7; Mrs. Sarah Whitman, 4; C. P. Cranch, 2; Longfellow, i, and Karl Follen, i. Some years later Brooks issued another volume of poetic translations from many German authors, some of whom are unimportant to-day. Among these poets are Anastasius Griin, Riickert, Uhland, Platen, Freiligrath, Chamisso, Lenau, Herwegh, Wiirkert, Gellert, Claudius, Nicolai, and Kopisch. This work was praised by a London critic for its fidelity and easy grace. He said that Brooks " fully maintained by this publication the credit he won for himself by his former labors as a translator of German poetry." ^ As a specimen of his skill I quote his rendition of Herwegh's Ich mochte hingehn wie das Abendrot. " Be mine to vanish like the gale's last breath. Like the red gleam of evening's fading fire! O gentle, peaceful, all-unconscious death ! In the Eternal's bosom thus to expire! Be mine to vanish like the brilliant star. Beaming with brightness unimpaired, unclouded, So placidly, so painlessly afar In Heaven's blue depths of endless glory shrouded. Be mine to vanish like the perfume fair That rises lightly from the cup of flowers. And on the wing of incense-laden air Curl from God's altar in the summer hours. Be mine to vanish like the early dew When morning's thirsty eye of fire is blinking. Would God that so my weary spirit, too. The sunbeam of the eternal morn were drinking! ' London Athenaum, No. 1476, pt. i, pp. 166-67, Feb. 9, 1856. 284 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " Be mine to vanish like the plaintive tone That swells from harp-strings touched by flying fingers. And from the earthly metal scarcely flown, In the creator's breast harmonious lingers! Thou wilt not vanish like the gale's last breath Nor like the star, in placid beauty sinking. Thou wilt not die the flower's unconscious death, No morning beam shall thy last breath be drinking. Yea, thou shalt vanish, vanish without trace, Yet first shall failing strength give many a token; In Nature only, painless death finds place, But man's poor heart must be by pieces broken ! " In 1845 had appeared the Life of Jean Paul Richter, compiled from various sources, together with the transla- tion of his autobiography, by Mrs. Eliza Buckminster Lee.* Through this work Brooks became deeply interested in the German humorist; he therefore determined to translate his works into English. For this task he was peculiarly fitted by nature, inasmuch as he possessed the romantic imagina- tion, the tender sentiment, the grotesque humor, and moral enthusiasm of the German. In the preface to his version of the Titan,^ Brooks says : " The translator (or trans- planter, for he aspires to the title) of this huge production, in his solicitude to preserve the true German aroma of its native earth, may have brought away some part of the soil and even stones, clinging to the roots (stones of offense they may prove to many, stones of stumbling to many more). He can only say, that if he had made Jean Paul ' 2 vols., Boston, new ed., 1852 ; in i vol.. New York and Phila- delphia, 1850. Mrs. Thos. Lee also translated Richter's Walt und Vult, from the Flegeljahre. ' 2 vols., 1862 ; 2nd ed. in 1863. America 285 always talk in ordinary, conventional, straightforward, instantly intelligible prose, the reader would not have had Jean Paul the Only. " And yet it is confidently claimed that, under all the ex- uberance of metaphor and simile, and learned technical illustrations and odd digressions, and gorgeous episodes, and witching interludes, that characterizes Richter, every attentive and thoughtful reader will find a broad and solid ground of real good sense and good feeling, and that in this extraordinary man whom, at times, his best friends were almost tempted to call a crazy giant, will be found one whose heart (to use the homely phrase) is ever in the right place." The next work to appear in translation was Hesperus (2 vols., 1865), with many explanatory notes, to which Brooks's friends Hedge, Furness, and Knorr con- tributed suggestions. In the introduction Brooks makes the statement that " he seems to see signs that Jean Paul is to be better and better understood and appreciated among us in this free and forming Western world." In conclusion he quotes the benediction pronounced by Jean Paul in his second preface on the " evening and morning star of his heart." Other translations made from Richter were Selina, The History of Fibel, and The Invisible Lodge ( 1883), the proofs of which he finished correcting just before his death. Besides these versions of Jean Paul, Brooks translated the works of lesser authors: Leopold Schefer's Laien- hrevier; Carl Kortum's Jobsiade, a grotesco-comico-heroic poem ; ^ Riickert's Weisheit des Brahmanen; ^ Wilhelm Busch's Max und Moritz (1871), and Auerbach's Aloys, 'Philadelphia, 1863. ' Only one volume published ; vols. 2 and 3 remain in manu- script. 286 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " The Convicts and their Children, Lorley and Reinhard, and Poet and Merchant. Brooks's crowning achievement in translation is his ver- sion of the first part of Faust (1856). This translation straightway became very popular, and before 1880 had passed through fifteen editions. The critic of the Literary World ^ regarded it as one of the five best English transla- tions,^ and as " the one which has been, and probably still is, most widely read in this country." According to George Calvert,-'' the two best translations of Faust are by the Amer- icans, C. T. Brooks and Bayard Taylor. Dr. Lina Baumann- in her dissertation on Die englischen Ubersetzungen von Goethes Faust * points out in many instances Bayard Tay- lor's debt to Brooks, and writes : " Brooks is the one who tried to imitate the changing meter and at the same time the mixture of masculine and feminine rimes. Even if he has not always succeeded, yet he has very often regarded the artistic effect of this change in meter. This attempt is sometimes detrimental to the poetic value of his work, be- cause he had been led thereby to paddings, which are not suitable to the mood concerned. He succeeded best in his humorous and popular scenes." A very characteristic rendition is the dedication to Faust in ottava rima, of which I quote a part: " These latter songs of mine, alas ! will never Sound in their ears to whom they first were sung! Scattered like dust the friendly throng forever! Mute the first echo that so grateful rung. ' XII, pp. 272-74. ' The others are by Bayard Taylor, Theodore Martin, Abraham Hayward, and John Blackie. ' Brief Essays and Brevities, Boston, 1874, Essay 18, p. 136, • Halle, 1907, pp, 15 and 98, America 287 To the strange crowd I sing, whose very favor Like chilling sadness on my heart is flung; And all that kindled at those earlier numbers Roams the wide earth or in its bosom slumbers. And now I feel a long-unwonted yearning For that calm, pensive spirit-realm, to-day; Like an ^olian lyre (the breeze returning) Floats in uncertain tones my lisping lay. Strange awe comes o'er me, tear on tear falls burning. The rigid heart to milder mood gives way; What I possess I see afar off lying, And what I lost is real and undying.'' In a letter to Dwight, Oct. 30, 1883, E. P. Whipple recognizes Brooks's high calling. He says : " I can hardly express to you how much I was delighted by your poem on Brooks, published in the Transcript. Every trait of his charming mind, every feature of his gentle and beneficent face, rise before me as I read your tribute to his moral and intellectual worth. What good that man has done, consid- ered simply as a translator of Goethe and Richter ! Yet his patriotism in making us familiar with great works of the German mind is hardly yet appreciated — except by men like _you. How good the man was. Nobody could believe in original sin in his presence. He radiated his own stainless heart and soul and character through every company where he appeared." ^ George H. Calvert (1803-88) The first Southerner to study in Germany was George H. Calvert, an ardent admirer of Carlyle. In an essay on the Scotchman '^ he says : " Well do I remember the thirst wherewith, more than thirty years ago, I seized the monthly ' Cooke : John S. Dwight, p. 288. ' Essays JEsthetical, Essay 6, pp. 198-220. 288 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " Fraser, to drink of the spiritual waters of Sartor Resartus. Here was a new spring; with what stimulating, exhilarat- ing, purifying draughts did it bubble and sparkle! That picture in the beginning of the ' doing and driving ' (Tun und Treiben) of a city as beheld by Professor Teufels- drockh from his attic — would one have been surprised to read that on a page of Shakespeare ? " While at Harvard College, this descendant of Rubens and of Lord Baltimore was so aroused by the new zeal for German culture that, after his graduation in 1823, he de- cided to study at the University of Gottingen. In his work. First Years in Europe,'^ he describes his life at Gottingen and his travels in Germany. On Jan. 21, 1824, he ar- rived in Gottingen. At that time the university had the best library in Europe, about 400,000 volumes. As Calvert was not well versed enough in German to attend the university lectures with profit, he took private lessons for three months. He also studied German lit- erature privately under Benecke, the friend of Henry Crabb Robinson. After reading Nathan der Weise and Faust with his teacher, he was introduced to the beauties of the Nibe- lungenlied. Besides acquiring knowledge, Calvert was im-- pressed by the thorough spirit, wise impartiality, manly search for truth, and the thoughtful treatment of scientific subjects by the German scholars. Before leaving for America Calvert traveled through Europe and, of course, made a pilgrimage to Weimar. There he was cordially received by Goethe, who had just read about John Quincy Adams's election to the presidency and was eager to know more of the details.^ * Boston, 1866. Chapters : Gottingen in 1824 and Weimar in 1825, first published in Putnam's Magazine, 1856. ' Chap, viii, pp. 165-71. America 289 .Just before leaving Gottingen Calvert had received from a Harvard friend a copy of the North American Review, containing Bancroft's article on The Life and Genius of Goethe.^ Thinking it would please the poet, he sent it to him. To his delight he received an invitation to visit Goethe again on the follovvring evening. Unfortunately Goethe was ill, so Calvert could not see him, but Frau Ottilie, " sprightly, intellectual, and graceful, did the honors with tact and cor- diality." Of Goethe, Calvert wrote : " Goethe was one of the most richly endowed of the sons of men, many-sided and broad-sided and bright-sided. Having the supreme gift of imaginative transfiguration, he gives to truth winged bodies of beauty, wherewith to hover over and attract, and delight awhile, instructing the more capable of his fellows; he having first, through this high power of imagination, gained insights that purged his nature and his knowledge and gave a symmetry to his thought while it stimulated its vast fertility. Goethe's thought is not for Germans only but for men." ^ On his return to Riverdale, Maryland, Calvert became editor of the Baltimore American, a neutral paper, which served for the propaganda of the new thoughts and ideas he learned in Europe.^ In 1834 Calvert's first contribution to the German cause appeared, a metrical version of Schiller's Don Carlos. For the Jungfrau von Orleans he had a great and lasting admira- tion. Among his original compositions are a historical tragedy, The Maid of Orleans (1873), and a narrative poem in four books, Joan of Arc (1883). In 1836 Calvert deliv- ' XIX, p. 303, Oct., 1824. ^ First Years in Europe, pp. 205-06. ' Cf. Scenes and Thoughts in Europe, a series of letters from July, 1840, to Apr., 1843, pp. 40-54- 290 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " ered his celebrated lecture before the " Athenaeum Society." of Baltimore, wherein he said that " the Germans, endowed by nature with mental capabilities inferior to those of no people of the earth, and enjoying for the last half-century a more general as well as a higher degree of education than any other, and thus combining talent and genius with wide learning and laborious labor, possess a vast and various accumulation of productions, wherein are to be found in every province of letters works of highest excellence, which, to the literary or scientific student, whatever be his native tongue, are inexhaustible sources of mental enjoy- ment and improvement." In 1843 Calvert moved to Newport, R. I., where he re- sided until his death. Here he came into closer relations with Brooks and Channing, and through them with the Boston transcendentalists. From now on his pen is very prolific, especially in works on German literature. When George Ripley was selecting his collaborators for his For- eign Specimens, he sought Calvert's assistance. Calvert chose for translation The Correspondence of Goethe and Schiller. He translated, however, only about half of the letters, through the year 1797. The first volume of this version did not appear until 1845, after the discontinuance of the series. To this fact Calvert alludes in his preface, and then adds : " Goethe is the most complete man of his time. He is the richest specimen of humanity since Shake- speare. In him the manifold capacities of our nature were centered in uncommon individual strength and rare aptness to refinement. With the spontaneous development inherent in such fertility was early associated a monarchial power of will over this afflyence of resources. From youth to old age his daily endeavor was to cultivate and purify his being." America 291 Then referring to the Phi Beta Kappa oration at Cam- bridge in 1844, in which the orator had said that Goethe " was a great, an unequaled Artist, ... a term of dis- paragement used to indicate a writer whose inspiration passes not through the heart, and whose lofty sentiments have no home in his soul, and no expression in his life," Calvert says that art is a marriage of soul and intellect. It ascends from the finite to the infinite. It does not copy nature but co-operates, interprets, and reveals the spiritual source of the corporeal by the perfection of its incarna- tions. In Newport Calvert served on the Board of Education for several years ; being for a time its chairman. Filled with the new ideals of education which he had imbibed in Germany, he devoted much attention to his duties. From his influence the public school system of Newport derived much profit and benefit. In recognition of his services to that cause, a new schoolhouse, built by the city and dedi- cated Dec. 3, 1890, was called the Calvert School. In his inaugural address as mayor, Calvert had said : " Of the public school system I cannot speak in too high praise. Its schools are the very citadel of a Republic. The better instructed are the youth, the firmer are the republic's foundations. Education cannot be overdone. That com- munity is the highest in which the scientific, moral, literary, and practical education is the best." ^ Calvert's masterpiece is undoubtedly his Goethe (1872),^ in which he gives an elaborate and artistic appreciation of the poet. Interspersed are many original translations from Goethe's poems, his correspondence with Schiller, Zelter, and Frau von Stein, his conversations with Miiller and '■ Calvert Bibliog., pp. 3-4- = 2nd ed., 1886. 292 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " Eckermann, and selections from Dichtung und Wahrheit. This work discusses the following subjects : Weimar and Italy, Friendships, Loves, Faust, Conclusion. Calvert con- tends that Goethe's aim was ever growth and improvement. From every experience he drew nutriment, but all were subservient to culture. In his manifold duties he neglected nothing; each was undertaken with a whole-hearted zeal. As Herder said, he was ever a child ; though a man of the world, he was never blase. He " lived by principles and for principles." Hating superficiality and indifference, he sought the law and essence of things. " Wisdom," says Calvert, " may be described as the transfusion of spiritual principles into daily practice. A knowing man is one who cleverly accommodates his doings to the demands of ex- pediency ; a wise man is one who makes his bearing towards his fellow-men adjust itself to the sweep of the broadest eternal principles. In discerning and baffling the designs and petty aims of expediency in others, Goethe was a know- ing man ; in his own ends and means he was a wise man." ^ " Faust," so Calvert writes, is " the poetical reverberation of Goethe's individual life, an artistic transfiguration through a many-toned song— by one who had a genius for such singing — of the passions, thoughts, strivings, doubts, conflicts, acquisitions, upreachings of a great poet and a great man, a deep-thoughted, warm-souled, well-poised man, whose profuse gifts were crowned with a rare literary gift of fullest, finest, most perspicuous expression." ^ The second part of Faust Calvert considered a commen- tary on civilized life in all its varied forms. If the first part was a bright-hued rainbow, the second part was its reflex. Feeling gave place to intellect. The result was ' P. s6. ' P. 196. America 293 therefore abstract symbolism. In the first part the scenes and characters were passionately real; in the second part they were only intellectually real. Among the poetical translations Calvert included in this work/ I quote the following: " Every day and every night Thus I gauge of man the fate. Does he ever aim at right, He is ever fair and great." While writing his Goethe, Calvert had become interested in the character of Frau von Stein, who gave Goethe the feminine sympathy he needed and aroused the noblest and purest traits of his nature to poetic activity. Other causes, too, contributed to intensify this initial interest. In 1848-56 Goethe's letters to Frau von Stein had been published ; then in 1874 appeared Diintzer's work on the subject. Calvert decided to write a memoir on Charlotte von Stein.^ This life was full of laudatory references to Goethe ; for Calvert wrote : " Goethe was a great man, a man of truth and heart, a good man, one of the most moral, most rehgious men that ever lived. In his life there was a daily beauty, created and kept ever fresh by his uprightness and his active, inex- haustible kindness." ^ Some years afterward Calvert wrote his Coleridge; ^ Kldrchen's Song: The Faithless Boy; Der du von dem Himmel hist; Stanza from Ilmenan; Charade; Gefunden; Parable (Love of Truth) ; Selections from prologue of Faust; Archangel's Song; parts of the Prolog in Heaven, scene between Faust and the Erdgeist, between Faust and Wagner, the Easter song, Vor dem Thor; and between Mephistopheles and the Student; Meine Ruh ist hin; Wer darf ihn nennen; end of part one, Scene between the Chancellor and Mephistopheles; The God and the Bajadere. ' 1877 ; 2nd ed. in 1886. ° P. 193- 294 Madame de Staei/s " De l'Allemagne " Shelley; Goethe (1880). The essay on Goethe contained the translation of three distiches and two quatrains. As a final proof of his admiration he wrote this sonnet to Goethe : " Teutonic leader, — in the foremost file Of that picked corps, whose rapture 'tis to feel With suljtler closer sense all woe and weal, And forge the feeling into rhythmic pile Of words, so tuned they sing the sigh and smile Of all humanity, — meek didst thou kneel At Nature's pious altars, midst the peal Of prophet-organs, thy great self the while All ear and eye, thou greatest of the band. Whose voices waked their brooding Luther-land,— At last left lone in Weimar, famed through thee, Wearing with stately grace thy triple crown Of science, statesmanship, and poesy. Enrobed in age and love and rare renown." ' Besides these studies on German literature, Calvert wrote many other biographical works which show his versatility as a critic of art, literature, philosophy, and social science. His original dramas and poems, of which he wrote many, have not the same value as his aesthetic studies. His genius was reproductive; not creative. He was, in the language of the Literary World, "a scholar of refined tastes and sensibilities, educated in the school of Goethe, who looks upon the world at home and abroad in the light not merely of genial and ingenious reflection, but with an eye of philo- sophical practical improvement." Frederick Henry Hedge (1805-po) " It was," says Chadwick, " in Frederick H. Hedge that the first-hand knowledge of German thought reached its ' Pp. 286-87. America 295 high tide in the Transcendental Period." ^ In 1818 when George Bancroft went to Germany, he had under his care Frederick Hedge, the son of Professor Levi Hedge of Har- vard. He was to study at the Gymnasium of Schulpforta under the celebrated teacher, David Ilgen. Five years later Hedge returned to study theology at Cambridge and in 1829 was ordained. If Hedge had been a more aggressive spirit he would undoubtedly have played a more prominent part in the transcendental movement. As it was, because of a sound scholarship and accurate knowledge of German, he was one of its earliest and most influential disciples. His article on Coleridge and German philosophy in the Christian Ex- aminer ^ was really a forerunner of the new thought. Hedge wrote innumerable articles for the Examiner. Among them was a review of Brooks's translation of Faust? In it he declares that the drama is " the consummate flower of a Gothic mind, as Sakontala is of the Aryan, — a work which the final judgment of mankind will rank with the supreme products of genius, with the Divina Commedia, with Hamlet and Macbeth, and the old masterpieces of the Greek stage." The poem is also a " philosophem," for it is a symbolical representation of the problem and solution of human life. Faust bears the same relation to the modem world as the Prometheus Bound of ^Eschylus did to the ancient. Each is not a single tragedy, but, in A. W. Schlegel's words, " tragedy itself." In each there is the conflict with human destiny; Prometheus resists the arbi- trary rule of Zeus. Faust will transcend the bounds of the impossible ; he wars against morality ; he scales its heights, ' Life of Th. Parker, p. 82. ' March, 1833. ' Lxni, pp. 1-18, July, 1857. 296 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " but driven back, is chained to the rock of Necessity, and there devours his own heart in unsatisfied longing. Mephis- topheles is merely a personification of Faust's baser nature. Whereas Prometheus is unbound by Hercules, Faust is saved by his own merit, aided by divine grace and love. Gretchen, the symbol of Faust's better soul, of his upward tendency, is his guide. " It is only when the ascending love of the finite subject is met and accepted and consummated by the condescending love of the infinite, that the indi- vidual can be saved." Its moral is stated in the Chorus Mysticus : " Body that perishes Shows the ideal ; All that faith cherishes Here becomes real. Here superhumanly Is the prize won ; The ever-womanly Draweth us on." ' " In Goethe's Faust we possess, in a higher sense than Italy in her Dante, a Divina Commedia, which, amid all the diversity of human endeavors and emotions, directs the presentient mind to the higher home, where that which was here unattainable shall fulfill itself." In 1848 appeared Hedge's Prose Writers of Germany, of which Andrew P. Peabody wrote : ^ " There is no book accessible to the English or American reader which can furnish so comprehensive and symmetrical a view of Ger- man literature to the uninitiated; and those already con- versant with some of the German classics will find here valuable and edifying extracts from works to which very ' Brooks's translation. • N. A. R.. LXVn, pp. 464-85, Oct., 1848. America 297 few of this country can gain access." In this work were treated twenty-eight authors, from Luther through Cha- misso. To the sketch of each author's hfe was prefixed a portrait. Then followed selected translations from his works. In the introduction Hedge frankly stated his obligations in this respect to his friends. From Carlyle came The Tale and the selections from Wilhelm Meister; J. Elliot Cabot furnished those from Kant and Schelling; J. Weiss translated the ones from Schiller ; to C. J. Brooks Hedge was indebted for the portions from Richter's Titans- George Bradford rendered into English the passages from Die Wahlverwandtschaften, and from George Ripley Hedge received the translation from Schleiermacher. Hedge made likewise copious use of Mrs. Austin's Characteristics of Goethe and of Margaret Fuller's articles in the Dial. It is in this book that Hedge quotes Fichte's opinion of Goethe as a true character. " In him the noblest blossom in humanity which nature had put forth but once beneath the Grecian sky, by one of her miracles was re- peated here in the North. To him it was given to measure two different epochs of human culture, with all their grada- tions. And if our race is destined to ascend to higher degrees of excellence, it will not be without his co-opera- tion." With Rev. Fr. D. Huntington Hedge edited a volume of Hymns for the Church of Christ (1853), many poems of which were his own. As an illustration of his poetical abil- ity, I quote two stanzas of a poem printed in the Dial. It is called Questionings, or The Idealists, and reflects Kant and Schelling. According to a note, it was suggested while Hedge was watching the stars during a night journey on a Bangor mail coach, and was written down after reaching home. 298 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " " Thought ! that in me works and lives, — Life to all things living gives, — Art thou not thyself, perchance, But the universe in trance? A reflection inly flung By that world thou fanciedst sprung From thyself — thyself a dream — Of the world's thinking thou the theme. " Be it thus, or be thy birth From a source above the earth — Be thou matter, be thou mind. In thee alone myself I find, And through thee alone, for me Hath this world reality. Therefore, in thee will I live. To thee all myself will give, Losing still, that I may find This bounded self in boundless Mind." ' In 1857 Hedge became professor of ecclesiastical history in the Divinity School at Cambridge. About the same time, with Rev. E. E. Hale, he assumed charge of the Examiner, the ofificial organ of the American Unitarian Society (1858- 60). Two years later he was elected president of that association. During the same year he was invited by the Germans of Boston to deliver an oration for the Schiller anniversary. In 1866 he addressed the Alumni of Harvard College, proposing several changes in the system of study then in vogue, some of which were later adopted. Four years afterward there appeared in print his Primeval World of Hebrew Tradition, which was soon translated into Ger- man (1873). In 1872 he accepted the professorship of German at Harvard. During his six years' service in that capacity he wrote a helpful little work on German Preposi- tions (1875). Besides, he was constantly finding time to 'Cooke: Poets of Transcendentalism, pp. 114-16. America 299 write essays and books on literature, politics, philosophy, and religion/ In order to devote himself to the composition of another great work on German literature, Hedge resigned his pro- fessorship in 1878. This work, Hours with German Classics (1886), follows the same general plan as the Prose Writers. It was not a book designed for the specialist, but for the learner. It shows, therefore, Hedge's power as a philosophical critic rather than a philologist. In this lit- erary history Hedge discusses German literature from its beginnings through Heine and Hoffmann. As in the earlier works Goethe is treated con amore, 90 pages, or over one- sixth of the work, being devoted to him. Schiller is al- lowed 50 pages, and the remaining 397 pages suffice for all the others. Hedge's next work on German thought was a collection of literary essays entitled Martin Luther and Other Essays (1888). The following year there appeared his translation of Chamisso's Peter Schlemihl. Throughout his whole career Hedge's talents were employed in interpreting German thought for the American mind. George Ripley (1802-80) While at Harvard, Ripley came into contact with some of the " Gottingen students," notably with Edward Everett. He wrote his mother April 20, 1820, of a change in student life introduced by that professor, by which a student boarded in his room instead of at the commons. He says : " This custom is recently introduced by Professor Everett, who ' Conservatism and Reform, 1843; The Leaven of the Word, 1849; Reason in Religion, i86s ; The Sick Woman, 1863; Ways of the Spirit and Other Essays, 1877. 300 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " sets the example in imitation of the German universities, whose manners and custom they endeavor to adopt as much as possible." ^ Then, too, Hedge's article on Coleridge, in which Kant, Fichte, and Schelling were praised, was " of potent influence in determining the bent of his mind." ^ As student and as Unitarian pastor Ripley had accumu- lated a very fine library of books, especially of French and German works. Some had been imported, but many of them he had purchased from a former divinity student who had studied abroad, and who had died after his return to America. While he " studied his books faithfully and made them enrich his mind," ^ he was very generous in loaning them to friends. Ripley was one of the foremost disciples of tran- scendentalism, and it was at his home on Sept. 19, 1836, that the first meeting of the new " Transcendental Club " was held. The charter members were Ripley, Emer- son, Hedge, Clarke, Convers Francis, and A. B. Alcott. The next year its membership was increased by many other friends, among whom were Parker, Dwight, Margaret Fuller, and Elizabeth Peabody. From this time dates the famous friendship of Ripley and Parker. During these years Ripley's theological views were grad- ually changing from the narrow Unitarian faith of his fathers to a broad and tolerant religious spirit. When in an article. The Latest Form of Infidelity (1839), Andrews Norton brought charges of atheism against De Wette, Spinoza, Schleiermacher, and this new intuitional philos- ophy, it was Ripley (later Parker and Emerson) who first vindicated its truth in a spirited rejoinder, The Latest Form " Frothingham : Life of G. Ripley, p. 9. ' Ibid., p. 97. 'Ibid., p. 47. America 301 of Infidelity Examined; a letter to Andrews Norton (1839). The next year Ripley resigned his pastorate. In his letter of resignation he stated his abhorrence of war and slavery and also his belief in transcendentalism. While pastor, Ripley had been engaged in active journal- istic and educational work. For a short time he edited the Christian Register. From 1830 to 1837 he wrote ten articles for the Christian Examiner on such subjects as Pestalozsi and Neuhof, Life of Herder, Pollen's Inaugural Address, Schleiermacher as a Theologian, Herder's Theological Opinions and Services, and Martineau's Rational Religious Inquiry. The last article caused a stir in conservative Uni- tarian circles, and elicited a sharp reply from Andrews Nor- ton in the Boston Advertiser. In his article on Herder, Ripley protested against the indiscriminating charge of mysticism, obscurity, and irreligion brought against German philosophy. He declared also that through such thinkers as Herder, Tholuck, Baumgarten, Semler, Ernesti, and Michaelis had come the new reformation in Germany. Ripley was editor of a series of translations from the French and German, Specimens of Foreign Literature. This work in fourteen volumes ^ was the result of the co- laboration of noteworthy scholars : Ripley, Dwight, Mar- garet Fuller, Wm. H. Channing, C. C. Felton, Clarke, Sam'l Osgood, and Brooks. The first two volumes. Philosophical Miscellanies, translated from the French of Cousin, Jouf- froy, and Benjamin Constant, with notices, appeared in 1832 and was the work of Ripley. " These volumes," says Frothingham, " had a marked influence on the educational men of that day, especially in New England." ^ In a long introduction Ripley states a list of subjects and authors ' 1832-42, new ed., Edinburgh, 1853. " P. 98. 302 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " under consideration for this work. Then, quoting an emi- nent authority, he says : " We earnestly recommend to our educational men a more extensive acquaintance with the intellectual labors of continental Europe. Our reading is confined too much to English books, and especially to the more recent pubHcations of Great Britain. In this we err. We ought to know the different modes of view and discuss great subjects in different nations." With Margaret Fuller and Emerson, Ripley founded the Dial in July 1840. He assisted in the editorship until his removal to Brook Farm the following April. He contrib- uted two articles : A Review of the Writings of Orestes A. Brownson and A Letter to a Theological Student, recom- mending the study of Herder's Letters on the Study of Theology. Concerning their influence he wrote : " In Eu- rope (i.e., Germany) a new life has sprung up from the ashes of a departed faith; a hag-like, scholastic theology has given up the ghost, upon being brought out of darkness into daylight; and a virgin form appears, radiant with beauty, and already uttering the same words with which angel voices heralded the birth of Christ. It is for our young men to welcome this glorious visitant to their bosoms." ^ As his article on Pestalozzi and Neuhof in the Examiner indicates, Ripley was much interested in the communistic and educational experiments then prevalent in Europe. In the early part of 1841, with a few friends of like views and ideals, he purchased two hundred acres of land in West Roxbury, nine miles from, Boston, in order to try the experi- ment of a social and industrial life guided by rational aims, a life in which all members should have a particular duty and yet have " leisure to live in all the faculties of the ' Life, p. 106. America 303 soul." ^ On September ^g the Articles of the Association were drawn up and officers elected. Two days later the " Brook Farm Institute of Agriculture and Education " was organized with Ripley as leader and chairman, Chas. A. Dana as secretary, and Mrs. Sophia Ripley as head of the educational department. The aims of this association were well stated by its leader. " Our objects," he wrote, " are to insure a more natural union between intellect and manual labor than now exists; to combine the thinker and the worker, as far as possible, in the same individual ; to guarantee the highest mental free- dom by providing all with labor adapted to their tastes and talents, and securing to them the fruits of their industry ; to do away with the necessity of menial services by opening the benefits of education and the profits of labor to all ; and thus to prepare a society of liberal, intelligent, and cultivated persons, whose relations with each other would permit a more simple and wholesome life than can be led amid the pressure of our competitive institutions." The high ambitious designs and subsequent vicissitudes of this undertaking are too well known to need enlargement. Suffice it that it regis- ters another manifestation of the now potent German cultural influence in America. John Sullivan Dwight (1813-ps) John Sullivan Dwight was one of our earliest critics of music and most ardent apostles of German literature. His interest in these subjects was aroused by Carlyle and by the • See Frothingham's Life of Ripley; Cooke's Life of Dwight, chap, iv; Emerson's Works, X, pp. 338-47; Atlantic Monthly, Sept., 1870, and Nov., 1878; Dial, Jan., 1842; New Eng. Mag., May, 1894; Lindsay Smith: Brook Farm, for descriptions of the life at Brook Farm. 304 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " group of American writers just discussed. In 1838 Dwight published in translation Select Minor Poems of Goethe and Schiller. Through this work he aimed to bring the German poets " near us in some living way," so that " it would give a new impulse to our literature and inspire worthier aims and methods of culture than now prevail." " Literary brotherhood with the Germans alone se.ems to have been something more than a name," he writes. "It shows that those thinkers and poets must have opened upon some deeper, richer well of life, in the fullness of whose inspiring draughts all narrow competition is forgotten. The living moment, which commenced with them, has been for some time making itself felt through other conventional and life- less literatures. It has reached us here, and it is welcome. Its influences cannot but be fruitful. It speaks always to the young life of the people. It tells the reader that he too is something; it salutes with quickening emphasis what origi- nal force and fire there may be in him. It is philanthropic in its spirit; it is earnest, natural, true, and truth-loving. It hallows, while it fertilizes and adorns the common walks of life. To the common interests of all as men it speaks; it explores that great common field, and tells us with the glow of ever-fresh discovery, how boundless are its riches; how life, and thought, and poetry and beauty, are the in- heritance of Man, and not of any class, or age, or nation; and how each, however humble, by fidelity to himself, shall find the natural current of his own being leading back into the very bosom of that ocean. More especially is this the poet's mission ; and the great poets of Germany in these days have been the foremost to have faith to try and prove its efficacy. From the poems and the lives of Goethe and Schiller many a young mind has caught the watch-word of self-culture, letting him speed onwards." America 305 In addition to this work, Dwight assisted Brooks in the preparation of his Songs and Ballads from the German. He wrote several reviews on English literature and poetry for the Christian Examiner, and in 1839 a critique of Schiller's Wilhelm Tell. He also contributed three articles to the Dial,'^ besides an original poem, Rest, that was sup- posed for a long time to be a translation from Goethe. While pastor he devoted much time to the study of Ger- man and to translation, and often deferred the composition of his sermon until Saturday night or Sunday morning. On his visits to his parish he carried with him German books and music, which he was only too glad to discuss with eager listeners. From this grew his habit of giving ad- dresses to associations on music, education, and literature. Dwight made for Ditson, the music publisher, a trans- lation of Matthisson's Adelaide, adapted . to Beethoven's music. He also gave lectures on music before the " Har- vard Musical Association " and other societies, and in 1847 a course of four lectures in New York.^ Then too, he di- rected the musical life of Brook Farm ^ and organized mass clubs there and in Boston for the study and practice of great masterpieces of music. A portion of the Harbinger was devoted to the furtherance of musical taste and knowledge. In these articles Dwight had in view a threefold aim : criticism of music as an art, its interpretation as an expres- sion of the literature of the age, and its development as a science with other sciences. By his efforts the Harbinger soon became one of the best musical journals of the country. During his later years Dwight was seriously considering ' Religion of Beauty, Concerts of the Past Winter in Boston, Ideals of Everyday Life, and a poem, Rest. ° Cf. Hach's Musical Mag., Sept., 1840, and Atlantic Man., Sept. and Dec, 1870. • Nov., 1841-47. 3o6 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " a removal to New York. His friends on the Tribune, Ripley, Dana, and Greeley, wanted him as a co-worker. Parke Godwin, too (Bryant's son-in-law), endeavored to secure him for the Evening Post. The reason probably why he did not accept such propositions was the fact that he was considering the editorship and publication of an inde- pendent journal, to be the " organ of what may be called the Musical Movement in our country, of the growing love of deep and genuine music." ^ This periodical, although insisting on the claims of " classical music, was to be im- partial and catholic, recognizing whatever was good in sim- ple, popular, or modern music, whether German or Italian." In this project Dwight had the warm support of the " Har- vard Musical Association." The first number of Dwight's Journal of Music, A Paper of Art and Literature, appeared April lo, 1852. Although Dwight's taste was for the German music of the older schools, he aimed to be impartial and to give every school an opportunit}' to speak for itself in his paper. Thus there appeared in translations of the editor a series of articles by Franz Liszt on Friedrich Chopin, a study of Weber's FreischUtz by Hector Berlioz, A. Oulibichefif's Life and Times of Mozart, as well as other translations from French, German, or Italian writers. In spite of the fact that Dwight did not personally care for Wagner's music and his theories, that composer found a welcome in his Journal, at a time when he was struggling for recogni- tion abroad. In 1859 Dwight was relieved from the drudgery of being his own publisher. The musical firm of Oliver Ditson & Co. undertook the publication of the Journal and gave him a salary as editor. In addition now to editorials, criticisms, ' Circular issued by Dwight, Feb., 1852, Cooke, p. 147. America 307 and translations he added to each number the new feature of a piece of music. In this way the subscribers obtained musical selections from Mendelssohn, Schubert, Bach, Bellini, Wagner, Gluck, Donizetti, Mozart, and Alfred Jaell; long compositions, as Don Giovanni and Der Freischiitz, appearing in parts. During this period Dwight devoted much time to trans- lation. In 1859 appeared his versions of Heinrich Wohl- fahrt's Guide to Musical Compositions and of the words to Bach's Saint Matthew Passion Music, published by Ditson. For the same publisher he also translated many German songs and poems. In 1865 occurred the adaptation of sev- eral of Heine's lyrics in the Buch der Lieder to selections from Schumann's Dichterliebe, and of many German songs for Ditson's edition of the song music of Robert Franz. His translation of The Piano Teacher by Louis Plaidy appeared later in 1875. On the death of Charles T. Perkins, the historian of the " Handel and Haydn Society," Dwight was requested by that body to finish his history. It appeared in 1887. Like- wise, for the New England Magazine ^ he prepared another sketch of the "Handel and Haydn Society"; this was, in fact, his last article on the history of music in Boston. In the summer of 1890, durinj the absence of the musical editor of the Boston Transcript, he took charge of that depart- ment with much success. In 1894 he published Famous Composers and their Works; it contained an article on Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Dwight's last contribution to that art to which he had consecrated his whole life and talent. 'Dec, 1889. 3o8 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " Sarah Margaret Fuller (1810-50) Margaret Fuller probably owed her first interest in Ger- man culture to Mme. de Stael. As early as May 14, 1826, she speaks of this " brilliant " woman, who is so " useful on a grand scale, on liberalizing, regenerating principles." ^ Be- fore this date, however, she had begun the study of German. In a letter dated Providence, Oct. 21, 1831, she says that she first took up the study of German in 1824, and her progress " was like the rebound of a string pressed almost to bursting." ^ In 1832, according to J. F. Clarke, she was attracted " by the wild bugle-call of Thomas Carlyle, in his romantic articles on Richter, Schiller, and Goethe, which appeared in the old Foreign Review, the Edinburgh Re- view, and afterward in the Foreign Quarterly." " I believe," says Clarke, " that in about three months from the time that Margaret commenced German, she was reading with ease the masterpieces of its literature. Her mind expanded under this influence, as the apple blossom at the end of a warm week in May. The thought and the beauty of this rich literature equally filled her mind and fascinated her imagination." ^ In his remarkable, though little known sketch of Margaret Fuller, Emerson, who first met her in 1835, speaks of her extensive knowledge of French, Italian, and German writers, and adds : " But what was of still more importance toher edu- ca'tion, — she had read German books, and for the three years before I knew her, almost exclusively, — Lessing, Schiller, ' Memoirs, Boston and New York, 1852, I, p. 55. For a de- tailed account of Margaret Fuller's indebtedness to German lit- erature and thought, see F. A. Braun : Margaret Puller and Goethe, New York, 1910. ' Woman in the Nineteenth Century, Boston, 1855, p. 359. ' Memoirs, I, p. 114. America 309 Richter, Tieck, Novalis, and above all, Goethe. It was very obvious, at the first intercourse with her, though her rich and busy mind never reproduced undigested reading, that the last writer, — food or poison, — the most powerful of all mental reagents, — the pivotal mind in modern literature, — for all before him are ancients, and all who have read him are moderns, — that this mind had been her teacher, and of course, the place was filled, nor was there room for any other." 1 From Goethe, Margaret Fuller imbibed her ethical con- ceptions, religious ideas, and philosophic principles. At first her narrow Puritanic conception of morality came into clash with the German's broad ethical principles, but ulti- mately she recognized the force and right of his humani- tarianism. Like Goethe, Margaret Fuller's whole life was devoted to self-culture, the natural development through experi- ence of the innermost powers of the soul in all their in- tuitive force, idealizing character, and harmonious beauty. " Very early," said she, " I perceived that the object of life is to Grow." From Nov. 6, 1839, to April 28, 1844, she gave in Boston a series of " Conversations " to a class of twenty- five young ladies. The meetings were held in the home of Dr. Nathaniel Peabody, whose three daughters, Elizabeth P. Peabody, Mrs. Horace Mann, and Mrs. Nathaniel Haw- thorne, were her friends, and like her, enthusiastic students of German. These conversations, consisting of talks, with questions and answers, were on a variety of subjects, and generally saturated with Goethean ideas, such as develop- ment of personality, study of man and character, of God and the universe, vital emphasis on life and activity. ' Memoirs, I, p. 242. 3IO Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " While teaching Latin and French in Mr. Alcott's school in Boston, at the same time giving private instruction in French, Italian, and German, Margaret Fuller found time to translate German authors, such as De Wette and Herder, one evening a week for Dr. W. E. Channing (1836-37). Her first great work, however, was her translation of Eckermann's Conversations with Goethe, which appeared in 1839, as the fourth volume of Ripley's Foreign Specimens. To her translation Margaret Fuller prefixed a long essay on Goethe, " containing many fine thoughts upon his moral and intellectual character." ^ In it she pleads for the his- torical viewpoint, and maintains that " the greatness of Goethe his nation has felt for more than half a century; the world is beginning to feel it, but time may not yet have ripened his criticism ; especially as the grand historical standing-point is the only one from which a comprehensive view could be taken of him." In thus exalting a historical viewpoint, Margaret Fuller deserves the honor of precedence over Carlyle and the German critics.^ Margaret Fuller's editorship of the Dial has been men- tioned in connection with Ripley. According to Higginson, " she was the organizer and the executive force of the first thoroughly American literary enterprise." ^ She edited this magazine practically without recompense for the sake of "dear New England"* (1840-42). By her inspiring ' N. Y. Review, pp. 233-34, July, 1839. '' Cf. Emerson's letter to Carlyle, Concord, July 4, 1839, Cor- respondence, I, p. 254 : " I shall send you presently a copy of a translation published here of Eckermann by Margaret Fuller, a friend of mine and of yours, for the sake of its preface mainly. She is a most accomplished lady, and her culture belongs rather to Europe than to America." Cf. Graham's Mag., XXIX, pp. 262-63, Nov., 1846, review of Fuller's Papers on Art and Literature. ' M. F. Ossoli, p. 130. * Memoirs, II, p. 26. America 311 articles she strove to create a native national literature, original, idealistic, and profound, a literature which ex- presses the innermost feelings of the heart and the personal experiences of life. She was, in Higginson's words, " the best literary critic whom America has yet seen." ^ Even Edgar Allan Poe, the fastidious connoisseur, referred to her " high genius " and the " graphicality " of her descrip- tions and declared her style was excellent, piquant, vivid, terse, bold, luminous, in spite of her " frequent unjustifiable Carlyle-isms." ^ As early as 1835-36 Margaret Fuller had planned to write a comprehensive life of Goethe and for this purpose had begun to collect materials from original sources. Un- fortunately she was prevented from finishing this task by circumstances and by her short life. One of the fruits of this intensive study, however, is her masterly essay, Men- zel's View of Goethe, which appeared in the Dial January 1841. It was probably due to the translation of Mensel's German Literature by Professor C. C. Felton of Harvard in 1840.^ In this article Margaret Fuller defends Goethe against all the charges brought by that zealous patriot and narrow philistine, Wolfgang Menzel. She shows that Goethe, even in those most criticised works, Faust, Die Wahlver- wandtschaften, and Wilhelm Meister, was a great ethical and religious teacher, the " great philosopher, who teaches what Christ did, to use without over- valuing the world." * She insists furthermore that Goethe was a liberator of thought and personality from mere pedantry and sophistry, and that his patriotism was evinced in his own peculiar field ' M. F. Ossoli, p. 290. ' International Mon. Mag., I, pp. 162-65, Aug. 5, 1850. ' Ripley's Foreign Specimens, VII, VIII, IX. * Memoirs, I, p. 161. 312 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne" of activity. To make such avowals was a proof of her keen intuitive vision, for at that time even such teachers as Long- fellow and Emerson we"re either attacking Goethe with severe criticism or accepting him with reservations and qualified admiration. For the second volume of the Dial she wrote an essay on Goethe which included the transla- tions of Faust's oath, Iphigenie's soliloquy, and other selec- tions from that drama. This critique, says Clarke, " is in my estimation, one of the best things she has written. And as far as it goes, is one of the best criticisms of Goethe extant." ^ Besides these studies and translations fnay be mentioned her versions of Goethe's Eins und Alles, Dauer im Wechsel, Prometheus, Eagles and Doves, The Consolers, the Epi-^ logue to the Tragedy of Essex, and Tasso. Then, too, she translated part of the letters of Fraulein Giinderode and Bettina von Arnim (1841),^ Schiller's To My Friends, Kor- ner's Dissatisfaction, and Uhland's Justification. Other ar- ticles dealing with German thought are her essays on Beethoven, Shelley's Poems, Bailey's Festus, Deutsche Schnellpost, Emerson's Essays, Klopstock and Meta, Mrs. Jameson's Memoirs and Essays, and her original poem on Richter. All these critical essays are unsurpassed in their kind, and bear witness to her superior mental en- dowments. James Freeman Clarke (1810-88) James Freemart Clarke was a leader in the study of com- parative religion and in the diffusion of German thought. His autobiography states that his first interest in German ' Memoirs, I, p. 96. » Remainder completed by Mrs. Minna Wesselhoeft, i860. America 313 culture was due to Marsh. A glimpse of Coleridge con- firmed his " longing for a higher philosophy than that of John Locke and David Hartley, the metaphysicians most in vogue with the Unitarians down to the time of Channing." While at Harvard Clarke was in constant association with the other German enthusiasts. Since his Latin school days, he had been on intimate terms with William Henry Channing, the nephew of Dr. Channing. His admiration for the famous preacher was unbounded. In his opinion he was one of the very few original theologians in America.'- At Divinity Hall, Cambridge, his great friendship with Frederick Hedge began. He also met Emerson there, but their close personal acquaintance did not start until 1832. In his Journal, Dec. 5, 1832, he writes that he had a conversation with Emerson on Goethe, German literature, and Carlyle.^ In 1829 Clarke first met Margaret Fuller, and until she went to Groton in 1833 he saw or heard from her every day.^ Together they read German, and in later life he would always speak with enthusiasm of the larger life which opened upon so many of them under Goethe's leader- ship." * In his diary he records. his aim, Oct. 16, 1832: " I wish to write a good deal, to get an individual style, and to read little, and that principally German." = Thus by 1833, when he went to Louisville as pastor of the Unitarian church, he had read the " largest part of the works of ' Cf. preface to Theodore, p. xii. ' Autobiography, Correspondence, and Diary, edited by E. E. Hale, p. 87. ' Ibid., p. 62. * Ibid., pp. 90-91. "Ibid., p. 91. 314 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " Goethe, Schiller, Tieck, Novalis, and other German writers." ^ Soon afterward the Western Messenger was established at Cincinnati by the Unitarian association. Clarke, who had been instrumental in its organization, became chief editor in November 1837, holding this position for two years until his return to the East. Before Clarke's return to the East he was translating from the German of De Wette a volume on theology for Ripley's Foreign Specimens. For this work, Theodore, or the Sceptic's Conversion,^ Clarke wrote a long preface in which he discussed the different systems of religious thought current in Germany. In it he draws a very in- teresting comparison between the realm of German theology and the land of Canaan. He says that the theologians of Andover, Amherst, Burlington, and Boston, considering the German scholars as men of erudition but as infidels, declare : " Go up at once and possess the land, for we are well able to overcome it." But the men who do go up to seek the land come back with the report : " There we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, and we were in our tfwn sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight." In German theology are often found, it is true, elements of infidelity, naturalism, and mysticism, but also deep faith, strong piety, and sound theology. The problem is, there- fore, to separate error from truth. Why do Americans study German theology? Because no profound and ac- curate works in critical philology exist in England and America. " The qualities in the German mind which give its theology this preeminence are its life, freedom, depth, ' Hale : p. 70. ' History of the Culture of a Protestant Clergyman, 2 vols., Boston; ist ed. in 1841 ; 2nd ed. in 1856. America 315 and comprehensiveness." The few original works on theology in America are generally by the adherents of obscure or heretical sects. In Germany the religious litera- ture is free from party or sectarian spirit. The Germans are free-minded and large-souled scholars, serving truth, not sect. A better state of religious feeling prevails there be- cause of the freedom from empirical philosophy, as in Eng- land. Religion is a living principle, and " profound thought supplies the medium which unites religious feeling and prac- tical life." Then too, in England there are only fragments and scraps of knowledge. The Germans on the other hand strive for totality and completeness, and build up a system from a doctrinal basis. Clarke then discusses De Wette and his work Theodore, a book which covers in scope the whole field of religious thought and criticism. In his work De Wette aimed to show that the best means of removing scepticism produced by narrow and shallow study were pro- found examination and deep meditation. Through the clear and concise representation of the various theological tend- encies of the time, one might arrive at a juster religious view. In translating this work Clarke's aim was similar to the German author's. He writes : " We send out physicians to investigate the symptoms of a disease which is traveling from country to country, that we may learn, before it reaches us, how it may best be treated. Just so, if we fear the Infidelity of France, the Socialism of England, or the Transcendentahsm of Germany, it is well to study them before they reach us. For, in the present age, no quarantine can keep out the mental epidemics, the seeds of which are carried from land to land in the subtile air. Thoughts float in the atmosphere, and healthy or diseased minds shed their influences through all lands." In an interesting account of his experiences during a trip 3i6 Madame de Stael's "De l'Allemagne" to Europe, Clarke states his conception of Goethe and his works. ^ He writes : " There is no great man of modern times concerning the character and measure of whose great- ness, opinion — out of Germany at least — is so much divided. From Thomas Carlyle, who regards him as a demi-god, to Andrews Norton, who looks upon him as little better than a demi-devil, there is space for a variety of opinions. For myself, having studied his writings more or less, for twenty years, it seems to me that a more profound and creative intellect has not visited the earth in these latter days. The basis of his mind is a healthy realism ; he is a matter-of- fact man, no mystic, but in the possession of a clear, sharp understanding, which draws accurate outlines around every thought and thing. His method is to take his de- parture always from actual experience. He received in his cradle the happy birth-gift of an insatiate curiosity and a firm belief in the significance of all things. He studies nature, therefore, to find its meaning, and with a sharpness of observation which makes him a modern Aristotle, he possesses a faith in the deeply marvelous character of the universe, which fits him for the companionship of Plato. There are no words which occur more frequently in his writings than those which express this feeling of the marvel- ous ; such as ' Wunderlich,' ' Wunderbar,' and so on. This healthy balance of faculty, this harmonious union of un- wearied powers of observation and large gifts of reflection, which led him ever from analysis to synthesis, which made his poetry philosophical and his philosophy poetry, gives to Goethe the seal of commanding greatness. The chief ad- vantage of studying his writings is to see in them what a wealth of thought he could find under the surface of our everyday existence, and how to an earnest mind common ' Eleven Weeks in Europe, Boston, 1852, pp. 128-33. America 317 life teems with wonders. Whatever other duties he may have neglected, one at least he faithfully fulfilled, that of thorough self-culture. Everything in his character was secondary to this; rank, reputation, and all outward ad- vantages, were to him merely opportunities for new ex- periences ; for new development of his own faculties. So to copy his own words, concerning Schiller, — ' So he went onward, ever onward, for eighty-three years; then indeed he had gone far enough.' In science he had done more than any other man to change the analytical tendency of the eighteenth century into the synthetic tendency of the nine- teenth ; to change science from an arbitrary to a natural system ; to make it dynamical rather than mechanical ; a growth out of a living germ, instead of a mere collection of facts and laws." In 1876 Clarke published a small volume of poetical trans- lations called Exotics. A large number of poems were from the German of Goethe, Heine, and Geibel. One of the finest contributions to the cause of education in any language is Clarke's Self -Culture, a series of twenty- one lectures given in 1880, from which I quote a few sen- tences showing his conception of " culture." " Let a person know all about the Bible, let him know all of Shakespeare, or let him be perfectly familiar with the best of Lord Bacon's writings, or of Leibniz, or of Swedenborg, or of Plato, or Dante, or Goethe, — any one of them, and he will be a highly cultured man." ^ " Select the great teachers of the race, the great masters, and read them. Read Bacon, Milton, Shakespeare, Dante, Homer, Herod- otus, Thucydides, Schiller, Goethe, Lessing. Do not read about these authors in magazines, but read the authors ' Essay z, p. 82, 3i8 Madame de Stael's "De l'Allemagne" themselves.'' ^ " Civilization is another name for thinking. Civilized man is thinking man." ^ " Truth spoken in love, truth acted in love, truth sought for lovingly, truth held lovingly, these make the complete man." ^ " The best work will be done when each does his own work, and lets every- one else do and be what God made him for." * Clarke has done an immense service to American culture by giving breadth to published discussions of ethics, litera- ture, and religious philosophy. His life is an example of constant growth and of truth to his inner self. Theodore Parker (1810-60) To George Ripley belongs the credit of having stimulated Theodore Parker's interest in German culture and theology. Ripley's books were like " manna from heaven " ^ for Parker, for even as late as 1843 the only German books to be ob- tained in Boston or Philadelphia were Goethe's and Schil- ler's works, the Bible and the Psalm book.® While pastor at West Roxbury, he read not only the Greek philosophers but Goethe, Schiller, Klopstock, Coleridge, Scott, Byron, De Wette, Jacobi, Fichte, and Spinoza. Goethe he read ex- pressly for the " deliberate exploration of his life and char- acter." ' Like Emerson, Parker was at first repelled by the German, but after reading Dichtung und Wahrheit he had a better opinion of the " Giant of Germany." ^ In his ' Essay 14, p. 317. ^ Essay 6, p. 132. 1 ' Essay 6, p. 152. / * Essay 20, p. 429. " Cf. E. E. Hale : Autobiography of Clarke, p. 87. ' Frothingham : Th. Parker, p. 148. ' Weiss, II, p. 20. ' Frothingham, p. 58. America 319 Journal he writes in 1838: "I shall not dare attempt a mecanique celeste of Goethe. The greatness of the sub- ject appalls me. My plummet will not fathom his depths, nor will my telescope reveal his far heights. He is so vast and so many-sided ; I am puzzled, lost in the labyrinth of the man. . . . Goethe is an artist, not a man. . . Goethe never seems to have looked on men as brothers." ^ One reason for this lack of appreciation o;f Goethe was the fact that in Parker the religious sentiment was supreme. His ethics was the outgrowth of the philosophy of intui- tion, of his great affection for humanity. Like Feuerbach, Parker believed in man's direct perception of God and his laws. Though not the creator of the new religious phi- losophy, he was the first to popularize it for the common people. Another reason was that Parker's aesthetic percep- tion was defective. His interest was in the useful and prac- tical crafts rather than in the fine arts. The only poetry he cared for was didactic verse or the ballads of the people. For music he had no love whatever. And this attitude remained unchanged all his life. While in Rome, that city of art, his interest was elsewhere, as his letter to Ripley shows.^ He writes : " I can't attend much to the fine arts, painting and sculpture, which require a man to be indoors. And, by the way, the fine arts do not interest me so much as the coarse arts which feed, clothe, house, and comfort a people. I should rather be such a great man as Franklin than a Michael Angelo; nay, if I had a son, I should rather see him a great mechanic, who organized use, like the late George Stephenson in England, than a great painter like Rubens, who only copied beauty. In short, I take more interest in a cattle-show than in a ' Frothingham, p. 109. " Weiss, II, p. 377, Oct. 29, 1859. 320 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " picture-show, and feel more sympathy with the Pope's bull than his bulluna. Men talk to me about the ' absence of art ' in America. ... I tell them we have cattle-shows, and mechanics' fairs, and plows and harrows, and saw-mills; sowing-machines and reaping-machines; thrashing-ma- chines, planing-machines, etc." A work that made a deep impression on Parker was Strauss's Life of Jesus, published in 1835. With Baur's Pastoral Epistles and Vatke's Religion of the New Testa- ment, it was one of the most significant theological works of the time. On his return to America in 1836-37, Rev. Henry A. Walker brought a copy with him arid lent it to Parker, then pastor at West Roxbury. He reviewed it for the Christian Examiner (1840).^ The next year, at the ordination of C. C. Shackford, appeared his theological declaration of war, his South Boston sermon on the Tran- sient and Permanent in Christianity. This challenge to his theological friends was further increased by the publication of a discourse entitled Matters Relating to Religion (1842). Deprived now of his church, excommunicated by the Uni- tarian Society, Parker remained undaunted. After traveling and studying in Europe and meeting such thinkers as Schel- ling and Hegel, he returned to Boston. Here he established an independent church, the Twenty-eighth Congregational Society, of which he was pastor until ill-health obliged him to give up the ministry (1859). He continued to preach the gospel of true religion, of a loving God, who is the " great Father and Mother of us all," ^ and earned the distinction of being the " most Christian minister in all our common- wealth." Parker's studies in the field of German theological criti- ' Weiss, I, p. 122. ^ Wendell Phillips : Tributes, pp. 41, 53, and 34. America 321 cism were very extensive. A notable contribution to that cause was his translation of De Wette's Critical and His- torical Introduction to the Canonical Scriptures of the Old Testament (1843). He also contributed to the Dial and the Examiner several articles on popular education and German literature.^ One of these articles ^ is most enter- taining and affords a view of Parker's liberal mind and quaint and characteristic style. Parker says that the Ger- man epidemic is constantly extending and has already com- mitted most frightful ravages in boarding-schools, colleges, and universities ; in fact, " no place is sacred, not the church is free," for it has even " attacked clergymen in silk and in lawn." " It is thought that ' Fever and ague, jaundice and catarrh, The grim-looked tyrant's heavy horse of war, And apoplexies, those light troops of death, That use small ceremony with our breath ' are all nothing to the German epidemic." The only remedy for this plague is to wear a copy of the Westminster Cate- chism or the Confession of Faith of the Council of Trent as an amulet around the neck and have " a strong infusion of Dullness." The class who oppose German literature wholesale, says Parker, are like the Turkish judge who con- demns the criminal before trying him ; it saves trouble and worry, and besides, it is vastly better that ninety-nine inno- cent persons should suffer outrageous torture than that one guilty creature should escape. As for himself and the other scholars who are" studying German, as they would Greek and Latin, they find that " German literature is the fairest, the ' These articles were later collected and published under the title of Critical and Miscellaneous Essays, 1849. 'German Literature: Dial, I, pp. 315-39, Jan., 1841. 322 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " richest, the most original, fresh and religious literature of all modern times." Then Parker discusses the cultural labors of the Germans; they are the collectors of facts, the editors of the classics, the authors of grammars arid lexicons; in physical geography, and history of all sorts — literary, civil, political, ancient, — they are the leaders; as theological critics and authors of ecclesiastical histories they have no rivals ; in poetry, literary criticism, and elegant let- ters they are superior to other nations ; and in modern ideal- istic philosophy they are supreme. " Silently these lights arose and went up the sky without noise, to take their place among the fixed stars of Genius, and shine with them, names that will not fade out of heaven until some ages shall have passed away. These ^en were thinkers all ; deep, mighty thinkers. They knelt reverently down before Nature, with religious hearts, and asked her questions. They sat on the brink of the well of Truth, and continued to draw for themselves and the world." The mantle of genius which was possessed by the earlier English poets, historians, divines, and philosophers has fallen on the Germans, not on the English, whose works are deficient in depth and purity of sentiment. To Parker " there -is one peculiar charm in this literature, quite un- equaled ... in modern days . . . the religious character of German works." This religious literature ." stands as an unconscious witness to the profound piety of the German heart." It may almost be said to be " the only Christian national literature the world has ever seen." Of course, German literature has some immoral and irreligious works, but they are rare. The highest ideal of Christian literature has not yet, in Parker's opinion, been reached, but the German literature approaches the nearest to the Christian ideal of literary art. Parker does not believe, however, in America 323 its imitation by foreign nations; for each nation has its defects. " If Transcendentahsm is bad, so is Paleyism and Materialism. Truth is possessed entire by no sect, German or English, It requires all schools to get at all Truth, as the whole church is needed to preach the whole Gospel." Much freedom in thought means more truth, but also more room for error. " We hope light from Germany ; but we expect shadows with it," he says. The best is to weigh German literature in an even balance and take it for what it is worth. As to Menzel's history, it is unmanly in its hostility to Goethe and in its personal abuse. Menzel is the " Berserker of modern critics." He tries the work by a moral, not a critical or artistic standard. Besides, his knowledge was very superficial, sometimes resulting in ludicrous mistakes. German literature cannot be justly surveyed by an amateur; so Menzel's work should be read with caution, for it does not give a true idea of the German mind and its workings. Although Parker received no recognition in America for his literary and cultural services his attainments were greatly appreciated abroad, as letters from many distinguished scholars attest. His complete works were translated into German in 1854-57. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82) Although Emerson was the friend of such German en- thusiasts as Ticknor and Everett, and the other men whom we have lately been discussing, it was not until he came into personal relations with Carlyle that he realized the true worth of Goethe's teachings.^ He thereupon became " the " Ci. Emerson's Works, IV, p. 295, note. Hedge wrote : " I tried to interest him in German literature, but he laughingly said that 324 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " American commentator on Goethe, or rather, perhaps, the disciple of Goethe through Carlyle — a sort of admirer and critic at second-hand." ^ While a student in the Cambridge Divinity School Emer- son became much interes'ted in German theology. In 1823 he wrote to a friend at Andover : " I am delighted to hear there is such a profound studying of German and Hebrew." During this same period he was reading Mme. de Stael's works, as the entries in his Journal show. In 1824 he read Leibniz, Mackintosh, and De Stael's French Revolution,^ the next year he read her Germany./ and continued in the following years to study her works.* In 183 1 began his study of Schiller, Schelling, and Muller ; later he read Jung- Stilling, Goethe (apud Carlyle), Schiller, Schlegel, and Hegel. as he was entirely ignorant of the subject, he should assume that it was not worth knowing. Later he studied German, mainly for the purpose of acquainting himself with Goethe, to whom his attention had been directed by Carlyle." In the Centenary edition (IV, p. 368) of Emerson's Works there is a note which explains this apparent dislike to Goethe. William Emerson, an elder brother, studied theology at Gottingen, where his traditional re- ligion was shaken by German philosophy and criticism. He went to Weimar to ask Goethe's advice whether it were not better to abandon his chosen profession. Goethe, according to the unwritten traditions of the Emerson family, received William kindly and counseled him to "persevere in his profession, complying with the usual forms, to preach as best he could, and not trouble his family and his hearers with his doubts." William, however, obeyed his inner convictions, gave up the ministry, and devoted himself to law. This advice' to follow expediency, instead of conscience, probably made a lasting impression on the young Ralph, and kept him from even reading Goethe's writings. ' Arcturus, I, p. 278, Apr., 1841. ' II, pp. 34-35- * II, pp. 225-26. ' II, pp. 225-26, 279-80, 442-43. America 325 According to the Centenary Edition,^ Emerson's first in- terest in German thought was due to Coleridge. That this is a pure misconception or misconstruction of the facts and that the honor belongs to Mme. de Stael, is obvious. His Journal.shows that he did not begin to read Coleridge until 1829, whereas the entries in 1824, 1825, 1826, 1827, 1829, and 1 83 1 prove that he was reading her works previous to his acquaintance with Coleridge. Emerson's study of German and of Goethe, constantly encouraged by his lively correspondence with Carlyle, dates from his trip to Europe in 1833. In his correspondence and in his journals may be traced his German reading and his " ascending regard " ^ for Goethe. After the appearance of Carlyle's version of Wilhelm Meister and his Sartor Resartus, Emerson wrote him, Nov. 20, 1834, expressing his admiration of Sartor, and adding : " With him [Goethe] I am becoming ac- quainted, but mine must be a qualified admiration. . . . The Puritan in me accepts no apology for bad morals in such as he." ^ Carlyle answered from London, Feb. 3, 1835 : * " Your objections to Goethe are very natural, and even bring you nearer me. Nevertheless I am by no means sure it were not your wisdom, at this moment, to set about learning the German language with a new view towards studying him mainly ! . . . On the whole, I suspect you yet know only Goethe the Heathen (Ethnic) ; but you will know 'V, p. 330. ° Correspondence of Grimm and Emerson, Jan. 6, 1871. ° Correspondence of Emerson and Carlyle, I, pp. 29-30. Emerson attended to the American edition of Sartor in 1836, and in 1838 collected Carlyle's articles on German literature from the reviews, editing them in book form, under the title of Critical and Mis- cellaneous Essays. * Ibid., I, pp. 39-40- 326 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " Goethe the Christian by and by and like that one far bet- ter." The next year this entry appears in Emerson's Jour- nal: " Goethe is the high priest of the age. He is the truest of all writers. His books are all records of what has been lived and his sentences and words seem to see."^- Emer- son was lavish in his praise for Goethe's universality and powers of observation. " A characteristic of Goethe is his choice of topics. What an eye for the measure of things. ... It is to me very plain that no recent genius can work with equal effect upon mankind as Goethe, for no intel- lectual young man can read without finding that his own compositions are immensely modified by his new knowl- edge." ^ And that this reading did modify Emerson's pro- ductions is apparent from a letter to Carlyle, dated Concord, Oct. 17, 1838 : ^ " The publication of my address to the Divinity College . . . has been the occasion of an outcry in all our leading local newspapers against my ' infidelity, pantheism, and atheism.' The writers warn all and sundry against me, and against whatever is supposed to be related to my connection of opinion, etc.; against Transcendental- ism, Goethe, and Carlyle." * In the first volume of the Dial appeared Emerson's lec- ture. Thoughts on Modern Literature,^ in which he limits his discussion principally to Goethe. He says : " This new love of the vast, always native in Germany, was imported into France by De Stael, appeared in England in Coleridge, Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, Felicia Hemans, and finds a ' Sept. 3. 1836, IV, p. 94- " Journal, 1837, IV, p. 218. ' I, pp. 183-85. * Cf. Lectures and Biog. Sketches, ed. of 1891, pp. 453-63 : Essay on Carlyle. ° Delivered in the winter of 1839. America 327 most genial climate in the American mind." Its great Ger- man representative is Goethe, the poet, naturalist, and philosopher, a student of infinite capacity. " He learned as readily as other men breathe." Goethe was also not afraid to live ; he was brave, knowing, possessing perfect taste and propriety, free from narrowness, a great observer, sagacious, a man who valued truth and nature. Notwithstanding these gifts, " he is an apology for the analytic spirit of the age." Feeling it was his duty to study and judge every fact in nature, he aimed to reconcile its purpose with his own being. What he could reconcile was good ; what not, false. The secret of his deep reason and realism was, therefore, the significance he attached to each fact. But alas, this " king of all scholars " was afflicted with the vicious subjectiveness of his age, with that ego that aims to astonish. He was true to his intellectual nature, but he lacked humanity and the moral sentiment. " No man was permitted to call Goethe brother." " He was the poet of the Actual, not of the Ideal ; the poet of limitation, not of possibility ; of this world, and not of religion and hope ; in short, if I may say so, the poet of prose, and not of poetry." With him poetry was " ex- ternal, the gilding of the chain, the mitigation of his fate." Because of this lack of moral perception, he failed to be a creator in the high sense of the word, " a Redeemer of the human mind," who should leave the world better than he found it. Humanity must, therefore, still wait for its physician. "After Carlyle had read this article he wrote to Emerson ; ^ " Even what you say of Goethe gratifies me ; it is one of the few things yet spoken of him from personal insight, the sole kind of things that should be spoken! You call ' London, Dec, 9, 1840 ; I, p. 314- 328 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " him actual, not ideal; there is truth in that too; and yet at bottom is not the whole truth rather this: The actual well seen.w the ideal? The actual, what really is and exists; the past, the present, the future, no less, do all lie there? Ah yes ! one day you will find that this sunny-looking courtly Goethe held veiled in him a Prophetic sorrow deep as Dante's, — all the nobler to me and to you that he could so hold it. I believe this ; no man can see as he sees, that has not suffered and striven as man seldom did." In 1844 there appeared in Emerson's Journal ^ an entry which shows his appreciation of Goethe, as the forerunner of the idealistic movement in America. It was- occasioned by a clergyman's criticism of Goethe's religious ideals. " P pleased the people of Boston by railing at Goethe in his Phi Beta Kappa oration, because Goethe was not a New England Calvinist. If our lovers of greatness and goodness after a local type and standard could expand their scope a little, they would see that a worshiper of truth, and a most subtle perceiver of truth, like Goethe, with his impatience of all falsehood and scorn of hypocrisy, was a far more useful man and incomparably more helpful ally to re- ligion than ten thousand lukewarm church members who keep all the traditions and leave a tithe of their estates to estab- lish them. But this clergyman should have known that the movement which in America created these Unitarian dis- senters, of which he is one, began in the mind of the great man he traduces; that he is precisely the individual in whom the new ideas appeared and opened to their greatest extent and with universal application, which more recently the active scholars in the different departments of science, of state, and of the church have carried in parcels and thimblefuls to their petty occasions." And in like manner, ' VI, pp. S44-4S. America 329 he tells another severe critic to be more charitable. In his Poem to J. W. ^ he says in the second stanza : " Set not thy foot on graves ; Nor seek to unwind the shroud Which charitable time And Nature have allowed To wrap the errors of a sage sublime." ^ In 1847-48 Emerson again traveled on the continent and visited Carlyle at Craigenputtock. While abroad he gave a series of seven lectures, entitled Representative Men} One of them deals with Goethe. In his criticism of the German, Emerson still retains some of the reserve of his puritanic training. Goethe is the philosopher of a multiplicity of facts and " the soul of his century." " What distinguishes him for French and English readers is a property which he shares with his nation, — a habitual reference to inner truth." He then discusses the wisdom of Wilhelm Meister, but condemns the immorality of the hero. Goethe is to him " incapable of a self-surrender to the moral sentiment " ; ' Works, IX, pp. 31-32. ' Cf. Journal, 1851, VIII, p. 249: "Goethe is the pivotal man of the old and new times with us. He shuts up the old, he opens the new. No matter that you were born since Goethe died, — if you have not read Goethe, or the Goetheans, you are an old fogy, and belong with the antediluvians." Cf. Journal, 1844, VI, p. 514: "Goethe with his extraordinary breadth of experience and culture, the security with which, like a great continental gentleman, he looks impartially over all litera- tures of the mountains, the provinces, and the sea, and avails him- self of the best of all, contrasts with the vigor of the English and the superciliousness and flippancy of the French. His perfect taste, the austere felicity of his style. It is delightful to find our own thought in so great a man." ' This work appeared in book form in 1850 and was translated into French in 1863. During the decade from i860 to 1870 it was of potent influence in France in creating an interest in Goethe. 330 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " he loves truth only for his own self-culture. His test for all men is selfish — What can you teach me ? " He is the type of culture, the amateur of all arts and sciences and events; artistic, but not artist; spiritual, but not spiritual- ist." Hence there is a higher poetry than his, a poetry that appeals to men and represents absolute, eternal truth. The profound significance of morality, as he conceived it, was constantly before Emerson's vision. In 1867 he said in his Phi Beta Kappa address at Cambridge, The Progress of Culture:^ "The foundation of culture, as of character, is at last the moral sentiment. This is the fountain of power, preserves its eternal newness, draws its own rent out of every novelty of science. Science corrects the old creeds. . . . Yet it does not surprise the moral sentiment. That was older and awaited expectant these larger in- sights." Emerson had little interest or appreciation for Faust — especially for the First Part. In 1851, he wrote in his Journal: ^ " I looked through the first part of Faust to-day and found it a little too modern and intelligible. We can make such a fabric at several mills, though a little inferior." (Referring to Bailey's Festus and Browning's Paracelsus.) In his essay The Man of Letters,^ he said : " Our pro- foundest philosophy (if it were not contradictory in terms) is scepticism. The great poem of the age is the disagreeable poem of Faust, of which the Festus of Bailey and the Paracelsus of Browning are English variations." Again in Historic Notes of Life and Letters in New England* he declared : " The age of arithmetic and of criticism has ' Letters and Social Aims, ed. of 1883, VIII, pp. 216-17. ' VIII, p. 245. " Lectures and Biog. Sketches, X, p. 234. * Works, X, pp. 305-47. America 331 ■ set in . . . the age of analysis and detachment. In Htera- ture the efifect appeared in the decided tendency of criticism. The most remarkable literary work of the age has for its hero and subject precisely this introversion! I mean the poem of Faust." The second part fared better at his hands. " In Helena, Faust is sincere and represents actual, culti*- vated, strong-natured man. The book would be farrago without the sincerity of Faust. I think the second part of Faust the grandest enterprise of literature that has been attempted since the Paradise Lost. It is a philosophy of history set in poetry." ^ On the whole, it must be said that Emerson never penetrated into the secret of Goethe's genius. It is interesting, however, to see how, despite his reservations, Emerson has embodied the leading ideas of Goethean phi- losophy in his poems and essays. Like Goethe he was an optimist. He believed in humanity and his great faith was a source of inspiration to thousands. Truth was his ideal and for this ideal he was willing to sacrifice worldly advantages. In both Goethe's and Emerson's poetry fate plays an important role. Endless passages might be cited from Goethe ; and from Emerson, such poems as Fate, Horo- scope, Destiny, and The Wortd-Soul. Just as Goethe's Prometheus defies the gods and asserts his creative power, so Emerson in his Sursum corda champions the power of self-asserting individuality. Again Emerson's Earth Song is obviously a remininiscence of Goethe's song of the Erdgeist in Faust. ' Journal, 1843, VI, p. 466. 332 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " Mrs. Sarah Helen Power Whitman (1803-78) Mrs. Whitman's interest in Germany was due to Mme. de Stael.^ In a review of Margaret Fuller's Eckerniann ^ she wrote : " To us Germany has ever been a bright land of •promise since first in early youth we listened to the tidings which Mme. de Stael had brought us of a people, who, in an age of artificiality, had dared to follow the suggestions of their own spirits, and to show us nature, as she had mirrored herself within their own hearts. And now, hav- ing possessed ourselves of the golden key, which is to un- lock this rich world of thought, we cannot but glory in our new-found treasures, and endeavor to win others to be- come partakers of our joy." After her marriage in 1828 to a Boston lawyer, Mrs. Whitman came into close contact with Emerson and his circle. Five years later, upon her husband's death, she returned to her early home in Providence, and devoted her leisure time to writing poems and reviews for maga- zines. Her friendship with Emerson remained unbroken, however, and her admiration for his genius never wavered. In 1839, after Margaret Fuller's translation of Ecker^ mann appeared, Mrs. Whitman wrote an excellent article on Goethe and Faust? In it she refers to the services of Dwight, Margaret Fuller, and Emerson in the spread of German culture. Concerning Faust, she writes : " We know of nothing that approaches this work in exuberance ' Cf. Myrtle Reed: Love Affairs of Literary Men; Jas. A. Har- rison: The Last Letters of E. A. Poe to S. A. Whitman; Poe's Complete Works, Centenary edition, with biog. and introd. by Nathan H. Dole, 10 vols., Akron, Ohio. X, pp. 129-31 : Poem, To Helen; S. A. Whitman, Poems, Boston, 1879, pp. 71-98, 19S-97. ' Bost. Quar. R., Ill, pp. 20-57, Jan., 1840, p. 57. ° Ihid., Ill, pp. 20-57, Jan., 1840. America 333 and prodigality of genius, in the lavish expenditure that is exhibited in all the richest materials of poetry; neither are the closing scenes without a pure spiritual beauty." With keen intuition Mrs. Whitman refutes the unjust criticism in which Goethe is called " artist," a term con- fused with " artificiality." Goethe is an artist in the true sense of the word, for he is a student of the beautiful. But beauty is not isolated; between it and truth and goodness is an eternal bond; from it are evolved the good and true. The same idea is expressed in Schiller's Die Kunstler. This faith in truth and in nature, this belief in the power of the individual to discover truth, this eager desire to free minds from slavish subjection to creeds and conven- tionalisms constituted at once the aim and the heresy of the New School of Philosophy. It teaches that the objects of education are not achieved by the exhibition of facts or the inculcation of theories, but by developing the mind for individual and independent action. To the Germans, more or less directly, says Mrs. Whitman, much, though not all of this belief, is to be attributed. What is dimly shadowed in American literature has grown freely and luxuriantly in the German. There " man finds himself." In its deep, philosophic spirit, in its fearless and trusting simplicity, in the holy fervor of its poets, the serene, spiritual, far- reaching gaze of its moralists and theologians one may find much that cannot be furnished by the rich classical literature of England. Mrs. Whitman was well known as a translator of French and German verse. In a volume of Poems are included six selections from the German,^ which seem to have been ' Uhland : The Lost Church and The Dying Heroes; Burger : Leonora; Gleim: The Cottage; Goethe: Faust, II, — Scene at the Court of the Emperor, — and To the Clouds. -334 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne" translated at an early stage of her literary career, from 1839 to 1842. Mrs. Elizabeth Fries Lummis Ellet (i8i8-7f) Mrs. Ellet was a woman of broad culture and of un- wearied journalistic and literary activity. While a student at the Female Seminary in Aurora, New York, she had been an ardent admirer of French and Italian literature, and had learned a little German. As early as 1833 she had con- tributed literary essays, stories, and poems, original or translated, to various periodicals. It was not, however, until after her marriage in 1835 to William Henry Ellet, professor of chemistry, geology, and mineralogy in South Carolina College, that Mrs. Ellet's activity as an interpreter of German life found full expression. The same year Dr. Francis Lieber was appointed professor of history and political economy in the college (1835-56). Her apprecia- tion of the varied treasures of German literature was un- doubtedly due to her association with this German patriot and exile. From this time on she contributed to various magazines ^ numerous translations and adaptations of Ger- ' Southern Literary Journal, Charleston, S. C. ; Southern Rose, Charleston; Southern Literary Messenger, Richmond, Va. ; Amer- ican Museum, Baltimore ; Graham's Magazine, Philadelphia ; U. S. Magazine and Democratic Review, Washington ; American Whig Review, New York; Columbian Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine, New York; Godey's Lady's Book, Philadelphia and New York; N. Y . Review, North American Review, Boston ; Gentleman's Magazine, Philadelphia ; Hesperian, Columbus, Ohio ; American Monthly Mag., New York; Knickerbocker, New York; American Ladies' Mag., Boston; American Quarterly Review, Philadelphia; Southern Quarterly Review, New Orleans and Charleston; N. Y. Mirror; Sartain's Union Magazine, Philadelphia; Orion, Penfield, Ga., and Charlestoni America 335 man poems and stories. The writers from whom these are taken include Schiller, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Tieck, and Hauff; authors associated with the German romantic movement. Of even greater value than her lyrics or translations were her critical and historical essays. To this work Mrs. Ellet brought a taste cultivated by the study of the best works of art, and a desire to diffuse the love of true art and culture among the people. Her essays were published in a volume, called Characters of Schiller} It is one of the earliest specimens of Ameri- can literary criticism on a larger scale and as such called forth much praise. The Hesperian ^ even went so far as to say : " We regard Mrs. Ellet as among the first feminine writers of our country. . . . She is, we understand, an ex- cellent German scholar ; her mind is deeply imbued with the literature and philosophy of the land of Goethe ; her under- standing is strong, her nature poetic, her style simple and nervous; and with these advantages, we doubt whether any of the popular writers of our country could compete with her in the production of a work of the character of that which she is giving to us." ^ In this work Mrs. Ellet did not claim originality, but the desire to make known to America Schiller's genius. She says, at the conclusion of her work : " The author of the foregoing pages cannot flatter herself that she has been able to say anything new to the admirers of Schiller, to those who from a perusal of his works in the original have been enabled to appreciate his genius; — but from the want of competent translations of all his plays, ^Boston, 1839; 2nd ed., 1841. 'Ill, pp. 250-51, Aug., 1839. ' Cf. Godey, XXV, p. 248, Nov., 1842, and N. A. R., XLIX, pp. 257-58, July, 1839- 336 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " most of them are unknown to many readers in this coun- try. If the reading of this volume should have inspired any with a wish for a more intimate acquaintance with the works of the great German poet, the object of its presenta- tion to the pubHc will have been accomplished." ^ As this work was so valuable for the early history of Schiller in America, I shall give a synopsis of its contents. The book opens with a short essay on Schiller's genius, and then discusses each work, analyzing its contents, criticising the characters, comparing them with other literary creations, and quoting from foreign works, especially from Mme. de Stael's De l'Allemagne. A very valuable portion of its contents is the number of original poetic translations inter- spersed throughout the work. In the introductory essay Mrs. Ellet says that in Schil- ler's writings " taste " is paramount. His endeavor to make " art a second nature " gives rise to many of his defects and some of his beauties. To him the end of art is to purify corruption, to ennoble the human character, and to pro- duce happiness. The artist borrows his matter from the present, but his form arises from the absolute unchanging unity of his own being. Inasmuch as art survives elevated nature, it surpasses it in inspiration. Like Shakespeare, Schiller has vigor and loftiness of intellect, bold grasp of thought, the feeling of the noble and sublime, a rich imagi- nation, and lucidity of expression. But he lacks Shake- speare's versatility " to converse even with the grass- hopper." Schiller's mind is intuitively " romantic," accord- ing to the distinctions of classic and romantic poetry, as formulated by Mme. de Stael and also by Schlegel. In him was incorporated that spirit of manliness and simplicity which was so much admired by Mme. de Stael. A most ' P. 296. America 337 essential requisite for dramatic success is delineation of character. Shakespeare possessed this quality in the high- est degree, and his characters are always varied and in- dividual, not mere copies of one mold. Of the more mod- ern dramatists, Schiller stands first in character portrayal. Even in his first drama. Die Rduber, this power is evident. His next drama. Die V erschworung des Fiesko su Genua, remedies somewhat the lurid medium of its predecessor. It is a noble play in the development of incident as well as in broad, vigorous, and impressive character. In Fiesco is seen the overpowering influence of a master mind and will on the fickle populace. Schiller's deep penetration into character, his vigorous portraiture, his philosophical thought, and his elevation of feeling all combine to make this drama an extraordinary production.^ In Kabale und Liebe are depicted lofty sentiments and deep emotion in humble life. The object of this piece is to show the conflict of simple natural feelings with the selfish intriguing spirit of worldly wisdom. The lovers stand alone in the midst of cunning and deceit. They persevere in their attachment, and so are doomed to a fearful fate.^ With Don Carlos Schiller begins a new era in poetical composition, an era which is characterized by improved taste, expanded ideas, and an enlarged observation of life, due to his better acquaintance with Shakespeare and the more modern poets. Mrs. Ellet then discusses the his- torical Don Carlos, following with a comparative analysis of Alfieri's and Schiller's treatment of the same theme. She quotes Mme. de Stael's comments on the ceremonious ' Prose translation of the scene between Fiesco and Verrina, act V, scene xvi. ' Prose translation of the poison scenes, act v, scenes vii and viii. 338 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " gravity of the Spanish court, and gives many short poetic translations from the drama. Referring to Mrs. Hemans's assertion that " not even Schiller's mighty spells can . . . win the most ' unquestioning ' spirit to suppose that such a voice of truth and freedom could have been lifted up and endured, in the presence of the cold stern Philip II. — that he would not, even for a moment, have listened to the language thus fearlessly bursting from a noble heart," Mrs. Ellet says that critics often forget that Schiller's Philip is guided by a consistent aim. His sole resting-place and society is within himself. If we consider the void in the king's heart, which is filled by a character like the Marquis, the scene is probable. After the murder of Posa amidst the reproaches of his son, he stands silent and awe-struck in the presence of superior greatness. A despot, he involuntarily does homage to freedom. In the delineation of the Marquis Mrs. Ellet follows Schiller's own comments. She shows that Posa is not " idealized beyond all resemblance to life," but that his motives are consistent with his character. The brightest dream of liberty often has its birth in a dungeon. Posa is a hero in moral as well as in physical courage. His great aim is the advancement of mankind, to which his friendship with the prince is secondary. A citizen of the world and a friend of the Netherlands, by his too great zeal for his ideal of lofty virtue and by his too little regard for his friend Carlos, he unwittingly becomes the cause of the destruction of both. Carlos perishes because his friend would save him, not in the ordinary way, but as a god. In Don Carlos enthusiasm is at first in conflict with passion. Only when he has overcome his internal enemy is he fit to be intrusted with the destinies of nations. With the death of Posa dies the passion that had fettered his nobler self; in him arises a new spirit of strength for his America 339 mighty work, which is so untimely arrested. Among Schil- ler's fine creations Elizabeth is the fairest and loveliest. She is a " very woman," rich in all feminine graces and excel- lencies, of calm, passive heroism, drawing consolation from duty. Like Louise in Kabale und Liebe^ she is shut out from external resources and has to rely on her inner self. The Princess Eboli is a much more common character in fiction and in real life. She is " of the earth, earthy." In her temperament there is an Italian fervor which pal- liates to some extent the external deformity of her crimes. Alba reflects his master Philip in his stern qualities, while Domingo is the wicked monk of modern fiction. Although in the tragedy there is somewhat of a labored air, yet the force and energy of separate parts and the expression of liberal thought aid the exhibition of emotion and the de- velopment of events. Of Wallenstein Mrs. EUet speaks most enthusiastically. Never in the whole range of the drama has there been a grander conception or a subject more worthy of poetical powers. Amidst the crowd of events at the close of the Reformation Schiller seizes the most striking and appro- priate. Illuminating all with the light of genius, he shows the mysterious recesses of the human soul. Wallenstein is more of a romance than a drama, its action is simple, and dependent on the character of Wallenstein rather than on ■ the events selected. His aim, according to Schiller, is to make the emperor independent of everyone else in Ger- many but himself. His ruling passion is indomitable pride and ambition; to this he sacrifices his friends' welfare, his daughter's love, the attachment of his soldiers, and honor to his emperor.^ He clothes himself in mystery and is suf- ' Quotations from Mme. de Stael and from Coleridge's version of Wallenstein. 340 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " ficient unto himself ; in the stars he places his trust, and this superstition becomes a deep religious feeling. In contrast to the gloomy bigotry of Philip II., Wallenstein's belief is a cheerful faith. Like Louis XI. in Scott's novel, Quentin Durward, he trusts a character whom he has seen in a vision. As a general he is, however, too irresolute ; he procrastinates until events compel him to act. He dallies with the thought of treason until necessity forces the deed into publicity, and cuts off all possibility of retreat. Great is this moral lesson : woe to the one who dallies with temptation and thinks to vanquish it by human intellect. On the other hand, the episode of Max and Thekla is a " bright thread of silver tissue run through a dark web of ambition, selfish- ness, and treachery." Thekla's love is frank, calm, noble, solemn, and confident. She yearns for an ideal world of goodness and happiness.^ The Countess Terzky voices the pleadings of Wallenstein's own ambition. Her death is worthy of her life. In her address to Octavio she shows the proud calmness of a lofty, though perverted, mind. Max's character is the " very poetry of war." In him burns an exalted enthusiasm, contrasted with the narrow calculating selfishness of his father and the querulous sus- picions of Questenberg. Even after his father warns him, his generous confidence in Wallenstein remains unchanged. He is an " impersonation of the moral energy of man wrestling with the evil powers ; of human freedom opposed to changeless necessity; the warlike angel striving against the spirits of darkness." Though he falls. Truth is trium- phant, and before it the envious hostile powers bow in involuntary homage. Octavio is a masterly delineation. With cold premeditation, he lurks behind his general, whose ' Literal translation of Thekla's Song, by Mrs. Ellet, and quota- tions from Mme. de Stael. America 341 fall will exalt his own house. " True with the tongue, but false with the heart," he tries to excuse himself to Max and to Buttler, who tells him : " You sowed blood — and yet stand astonished that blood is come up." •Mrs. Ellet does not think that the subject of Mary Stuart is favbrable to dramatic composition. About her actions hovers a mystery that renders her guilt uncertain. Unlike Alfieri and Walter Scott, Schiller has distorted his- tory. By giving Mary a firmness and seriousness not sup- ported by fact, he makes her an object of pity, admiration, and indignation. Of the many representations of Joan of Arc, Schiller's Jungfrau von Orleans is by far the best, says Mrs. Ellet. Shakespeare's work is darkened by national prejudice, and Voltaire's is a veritable slander. But Schiller's portrayal is in harmony with his romantic genius, sublime enthusiasm, great energy, noble demeanor, and indomitable will. In the conception of the character of his heroine, Schiller has embodied the spirit of a romantic and superstitious age — its religious faith, extravagant generosity, and boundless devotion to woman. He wrote the work con amore, and the whole work is bathed in an ethereal atmosphere of exquisite beauty. As Posa represents the rights of man, so Joan stands for the rights of nations. Youthful innocence combats with evil. The invention of her death in battle is a mistake, according to Mrs. Ellet, for her historical death at the stake is really a more majestic and sublime catastrophe. In the Braut von Messina Schiller attempted to engraft the beauties of ancient tragedy on a modern subject. The leading idea is destiny. The chorus in this drama plays a twofold part. It represents the ideal spectator and is also an efficient actor in the play. In defense of this chorus, 342 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " Mrs. EUet quotes in translation Schiller's own theories. But for her citations she uses George Irvine's version of the drama with criticisms from De l'Allemagne. Schiller's aim of " art becoming a second nature " is realized, according to Mrs. Ellet, in Wilhelm Tell. " He alone of all poets who have handled this subject, under- stood the strength of true genius." In Tell we have a new and worthy conception of the peasant hero. He is a simple peasant, quiet and humble in habits and manners, but terrible when oppression arouses other feelings in his bosom. He slays Gessler to revenge his wrong and secure safety for his family. Of all Schiller's creations, Mrs. Ellet considers Wallen- stein, the Jungfrau, and Wilhelm Tell as the noblest pro- ductions of his genius. " For comprehensive views and knowledge, for high thought and vast conception, Wallen- stein stands preeminent; a giant monument of intellect. The Maid of Orleans is the more ethereal, bright, and glow- ing; the more full of the exalted spirit of romance; while in truth substantial, appealing to the heart, in its portraiture of nature in her purest and most universal feelings, Wilhelm Tell excels all others. The mountain hero is clothed, too, in the same candor of innocence that is exhibited so brightly in the characters of the intellectual Marquis of Posa and the warrior youth. Max Piccolomini." ^ Because of her ancestors who had fought in the Revolu- tion, Mrs. Ellet had always displayed great interest in the stories of that period. Accordingly she collected from liv- ing relatives and friends material about the women who, by their bravery and cleverness, had helped win battles at that time. ^ P. 296. Conclusion 343 Conclusion The number of American writers who were influenced directly or indirectly by De I'Allemagne is almost un- limited. Only a few of the most distinguished may be mentioned. There is Henry W. Longfellow, whose entire poetic work is permeated by the German spirit; Parke Godwin, Bryant's son-in-law, translator and editor of Goethe's autobiography and Zschokke's Tales; Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, an ardent student of Froebel, who was responsible for the establishment of the first public kinder- garten in America (Boston, 1870); Bayard Taylor, trans- lator of Faust and author of a History of Germany; Mary Elizabeth Lee, a Southern woman who contributed a great deal to the diffusion of German culture in the Southern States. She was best known for her translations from the German — especially fiction. In discussing these writers and their works the attempt has been made to show how they ushered in a new era of human culture, essentially Germanic. The ancient French civilization and tradition, which so long had reigned supreme, was doomed to pass and to surrender its place to a new and modern spirit. At the time it was said, " Let France be brought to see that other nations have anything either great or wise or illustrious which they have not borrowed from herself, and half her confidence is gone. Let the rest of Europe be convinced that in any point they equal their masters, and the yoke is so far broken." ^ This really came about. As formerly in her glory France's self- confidence had wrought success, so now her cultural im- portance diminished with her political fall and with the awakening of national consciousness in Germany. The ' London Quarterly Review, X, pp. 356-57, Jan., 1814. 344 Madame de Stael's " De l'Allemagne " selfish materialism as well as the scepticism of the eighteenth century fell before the mighty force of the youthful ideal- istic spirit of Germany. That the leaders of French, English, and American thought gained their knowledge of German culture either directly or indirectly through Mme. de Stael's De l'Alle- magne is apparent. The study of German now became universal in America — a fact which Bancroft more or less humorously recognized when he wrote : ^ "It cannot be denied that German literature has come to exercise a great influence upon the intellectual character of Europe and America. We may lament over this fact or rejoice at it, according to our several points of view; but we cannot disguise from ourselves its existence. It is thrust upon our notice at every corner of the street; it stares us in the face from the pages of every literary journal. All the sciences own the power of that influence; on poetry and criticism it acts still more sensibly. Theology is putting on such a foreign look that we can scarcely recognize our old acquaint- ance under her masquerading Teutonic garb." This change of thought was largely accomplished through the study of Goethe's works, especially of Faust, which had been introduced to the world in De l'Allemagne. The study of Goethe, in turn, opened the way to an appreciation of the great contemporary German poets and thinkers, such as Herder, Schiller, Kant, Fichte, and Schleiermacher, and finally led to the gradual assimilation of the German spirit and genius. The chief characteristic of this spirit was its modernity. It is the spirit which has become the gospel of our century, the apotheosis of activity and of service to humanity, the cheerful performance of duty and the re- nunciation of selfish desires and, above all, the development ' North American Review, XIX, pp. 303-25. Conclusion 345 of personality. In the exaltation of eternal love with human activity lies the keynote of our modern religious thought. It is this spirit that has found its most perfect expression in Faust, the noblest flower of Teutonic genius, and it is this spirit which is Germany's gift to mankind. INDEX Ackermann, Richard, 182 Adams, David P., 143 Adams, Henry, 24 Adams, John Q., 15, 16, 18, 19, 24, 288 jEschylus, 147, 173 Aikin, Lucy, 194 Albert, Paul, 7 Albin, S. (Mme. Cornu), 134 Alcott, Amos B., 300, 310 Alexander I. of Russia, 72, 74, 75 Alexis, Willibald, 168 Alfieri, Count Vittorio, 121, 337, 341, Alletz, Edouard, 125 Amalie, Grand Duchess of Saxe- Weimar, 51, 54, 57 Amelia, Duchess of Saxony, 209 Ampere, Jean J., 122 Ancillon, Frederic, 55, 60 Andrieux, Francois, 121 Angelo, Michael, 319 Anster, John, igo-194 Appell, J. W., 6, 9, 126 Arc, Jeanne d', 98 Archenholz, Johann W. von, 217, 238, 239 Ariosto, Lodovico, go Aristotle, 167, 314 Arndt, Ernst M., 75, 147 Arnim, Bettina von, 58, 134, 312 Ash, Edward, 145 Ashe, Thomas, 156 Auerbach,,Berthold, 250, 285 Augier, Emile, 126 Augustus, .Prince of Prussia, 55- 71 Austin, John, 194, 243 Austin, Mrs. Sarah Taylor, 146, 194-20S, 206, 243, 244, 24s, 297 Bach, Johann S., 307 Bacon, Lord Francis, 104, 317 Bae^, G. de, 121 Bagehot, Walter, 150 Bailey, James P., 312, 330 Baldensperger, Ferdinand, 6, 120, 126, 130, 137, 138 Baltimore, Lord (Sir George Calvert), 288 Balzac, Honore de, 131 Bancroft, Aaron, 259 Bancroft, George, 21, 183, 258- 268, 270, 289, 29s, 344 Barbauld, Mrs. Anna Aikin, 163, 194 Barbier, Auguste, 131 Basil, St., 173 Baumann, Lina, 286 Baumgarten, Alexander G., 301 Baur, Ferdinand C, 320 Beck, Karl, 252, 282 Becker, C. F., 174 Beers, Henry A., 162 Beethoven, Ludwig van, 305, 312 Bellermann, 279 Benecke, Friedrich, 12, 162, 288 Berlepsch, Frau Emilie von, 71 Berlioz, Hector, 131, 306 Bertola, Abbe, 146 Bethmann, Moritz, 58 Bigelow, Jacob, 143 Bismarck, Prince Otto von, 240 Bjornson, Bjornstjerne, 186 Blackie, John S., 250, 286 Blaze de Bury, Henri, 131, 132 Blennerhassett, Lady Charlotte, 6, 43, 47, S8, 65, 69, 70, 75 Bodmer, Jakob, 29 Boeckh, P. August, 261 Boileau, Daniel, 178 Boileau-Despreaux, Nicolas, 78 Bonaparte, Jerome, 23, 34 347 348 Index Bonaparte, Joseph, SS, 75 Bonaparte, Napoleon, 6, 36, 49, 64. 71. 73. 74, 7S. 116, 120, 14s Bonneville, Nicolas de, 10, 122 Bonstetten, Charles V., 71 Borel, E., 124 Borne, Liidwig, 32, 46, 186 Bossuet, Jacques B., 82 Bottiger, Karl A., 54, 57, 61, 62, Bouhours,- Pere Dominique, 3, 44 Boulard, Henri, 126 Bowdler, Thomas, 244 Bowring, Edgar A., 250 Bradford, George, 297 Brandl, Alois, 8, 10, 14, 160, 177, 181, 184 Brandes, George M., 6 Braun, Frederick A., 308 Brentano, Christian, 149 Brinckmann, Baron Karl G. von, 5S Broglie, Duchesse Albertine de Stael-Holstein de, 251 Brooks, Charles T., 282-287, 290, 296, 297, 301, 30s Brosius, Dr., 24 Brougham, Lord Henry P., 142, 171 Brown, Charles Brockden, 189 Brown, Dr. Thomas, 172 Browne, Claude S., 214 Browning, Robert, 320 Brownson, Orestes A., 302 ■ Brun, Friederike, 47, 71, 155 Brunetiere, Ferdinand, 138 Brunswick, Prince of, 55 Bryant, William C, 306, 343 Buckminster, Joseph S., 23, 143 Biirger, Gottfried A., 32, 38, 8?, 90, 146, 157, 163, 187, 213, 271, 282, 333 Busch, Wilhelm, 285 Buttmann, Philip C., 256, 261, 266 Byron, Lord (George Gordon), 67, 75, 120, 13s, 164, i6s, 168, 177-187, 188, 189, 190, 212, 221, 272, 318, 326 Cabot, James E., 297 Calderon de la Barca, Pedro, 68, 188 Calvert, George, 153, 162, 260, 286, 287-294 Calvin, Jean, 268 Campbell, James D., 155, 158 Campbell, Thomas, 11, 214 Campe, Joachim H., 45 Carlowitz, Baroness de, 127, 128, 134 Carlyle, Mrs. Jane Welsh, 194, 196, 223, 231 Carlyle, Thomas, 14, 29, 147, 151, IS4, 158, 162, 171, 172, 174, 177, 179, 184, 186, 19s, 196, 197, 202, 216-242, 243, 271, 287, 297, 308, 310, 311, 313, 316, 323, 324, 32s, 326, 327, 329 Carove, Friedrich y^., 199 Castelman, Albert, 133 Chadwick, John W., 294 Chamisso, Adalbert von, 71, 283, 297, 299 Channing, Edward T., 144 Channing, William E., 144, 207, 276, 282, 290, 310, 313 Channing, William H., 301, 313 Charlotte, Princess of Wales, gi Chastellux, Frangois J., 15 Chastenay, Mme. de, 75 Chateaubriand, Frangois R., 72, 119, 127, 139 Chenedolle, Charles de, 32 Chorley, Henry F., 212, 213, 214, 215, 216 Chorley, William B., 214 Chopin, Frederic, 211, 306 Cicero, Marcus T., 275, 276 Clarke, James F., 154, 162, 241, 300, 301, 308, 312-318 Clarkson, Mrs. Thomas, 160 Claudius, Matthias, 283 Index 349 Cogswell, Joseph G., 22, 263-266, 268-270 Coleridge, Ernest H., 151, 156 Coleridge, Henry N., 279 Coleridge, Samuel T., 9, 145, 147, 151-162, 163, 164, 167, 173, 187, 188, 189, 192, 196, 197, 211, 278, 279, 281, 29s, 300, 313, 318, 32s, 326, 339 Collier, J. Payne, 160 Collin, H. J. von, 56 Condillac, fitienne de, 105 Constant, Benjamin, 28, 32-33, 34, 46, 49, 50, 56, 68, 72, 127, 149, 301 Constant, Rosalie de, 72 Cooke, George W., 287, 298, 303 Copinger, Walter A., 142 Corneille, Pierre, 51 Cornelius, Peter von, 248 Cousin, Victor, 130, 199, 200, 256, 301 Cranch, Christopher P., 283 Crebillon, Prosper J., 51 Cunningham, Allan, 154 Curran, John P., 11 Cuvier, Baron Georges, 28, 34, 72 Dana, Charles A., 303, 306 Dannecker, Johann H, von, 206 Dante Alighieri, 235, 317, 328 Davies, Charles, 255 Davis, Edward Z., 19 Delacroix,, Eugene, 131 Delerot, Emile, 134 Denina, Carlo G. M., 239 Denis, Johann N., 147 De Quincey, Thomas, 145, 162, 168-171, 173, 174 Descartes, R^e, 106, 107 Deschamps, Emile, 124 De Wette, Wilhelm M. L., 277, 300, 310. 314, 315, 318, 320 Diderot, Denis, 29, 105 Ditson, Oliver, 305, 306, 307 Doering, Heinrich, 271 Dole, Nathan H., 332 Dorat, Claude J., 5 Dorner, I. A., 277 Doumic, Rene, 117 Dowden, Edward, i88, 189 Drummond, Sir George, 55 Duff-Gordon, Lady Lucie Aus- tin, 194, 205 Dumas, Alexandre fils, 136 Dumas, Alexandre pere, 122, 123 Diintzer, Johann H. J., 293 Durand, Walter Y., 169 Duval, Albert, 123 Dwight, John S., 283, 287, 300, 301, 303-307, 332 Ebeling, Chr. D., 256 Eckermann, Johann P., 129, 130, 131. 134, 138, 139. 140. 165, 166, 167, 168, 183, 184, 185, 186, 197, 207, 221, 223, 225, 241, 292, 310, 332 Eichhorn, Johann G., 33 Eliot, Charles W., 266 Eliot, George, 249 EUet, Mrs. Elizabeth Fries Lummis, 166, 334-342 Ellet, William H., 334 Elze, Karl, 186 Emerson, Ralph W., 12, 144, 162, 188, 256, 257, 300, 302, 303, 308, 310, 312, 313, 318, 323- 331, 332 Emerson, William, Jr., 324 Emerson, William, Sr., 143 Eppes, Francis, 18 Ernesti, Johann A., 276, 301 Escott, T. H. S., 246 Ettlinger, Josef, 32, 46 Everett, Alexander H., 20, 24, 143, 270-273 Everett, Edward, 144, 251, 256- 258, 259, 263, 267, 268, 269, 299, 323 Ewald, Georg H. A., 277 Faguet, Emile, 47 Falk, Johann D., 57, 196, 197 350 Index Faust, Albert B., 19, 21, 255 Fellenberg, Philippe E. de, 266, 269 Felton, Cornelius C, 301, 311 Fernandez de Moratin, Leandro, 121 Farrier, James R, 161 Feuerbach, Ludwig A., 249, 319 Fichte, Johann G., SS, 60, 118, 161, 173, 201, 258, 318, 344 Filmore, Lewis, 246 FoUen, A. L., 288 Follen, Karl, 13, 21, 22, 252, 280, 282, 283, 301 Fortier, Alcee, 48 Foscolo, Ugo, 186 Fouque, Friedrich de la Motte, 175. 191 France, Anatole, 137 Francis 11. of Austria, 56 Franklin, Benjamin, 15, 20, 21, 319 Franz, Robert, 307 Franzes, Karl E., 62 Frederick the Great of Prussia, 3, 4, 18, 172, 238, 239 Freiligrath, Hermann F., 283 Friedel, A. Christian, 10, 122 Friedrich Wilhelm III. of Prus- sia, SS, 256 Fries, Jakob F., 281 Froebel, Friedrich, 343 Frothingham, Nathan L., 283 Frothingham, Octavius B., 300, 301, 303, 318, 319 Froude, James Anthony, 19s, 196, 218, 23s Fuller, Sarah Margaret (Mar- chesa d'OssoIi), 144, 162, 297. 300, 301, 302, 308-312, 313, 332 Fiihrich, Joseph, 248, 249 Furness, William H., 285 Ftirstenwarther, M. von, 17, 18 Gautier, Paul, 47 Gautier, Theophile fils, 126, 127, 130 Geibel, Immanuel, 317 Gellert, Christian F., 5, 283 Genlis, Comtesse Stephanie de, SS George III., of England, 34 George IV. of England, 184 Gerando, Jean M. de, 31, 48, 58 Gerard de Nerval (Gerard Labrunie), 129, 130, 131 Gessner, Solomon, 5, 29, 147, 178 Gibbon, Edward, 27, 29 Gillies, John, 172 Gillies, Robert P., 143, 162, 172- 177. 179 Gladstone, William, 204, 24s Gleim, Johann W. L., 147, 333 Gluck, C. W. von, 307 Gochhausen, Frl. von, 54, 57 Godwin, Parke, 306, 343 Goethe, Johann W. von, 3, 4, 6, 8. 9, 10, 13, 14, 27, 29, 30, 31, 34. 35. 36, 38, 41. 44, 45. 49, SO, 51, S3, 54, 55. S6, 58, 61, 62, 64, 65, 70, 83, 86, 88, 89, 90, 92, 97, IIS, 116, 117, 120-140, 141, 143, 146, 147, 148, 149, ISO, is6, IS7, ■ 158, 159, 164. 165, 167, 168, 169, 170, I7S, 177, 179, i8i, 182, 184, i8s, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 19s, ig6, 197, 199, 201, 203, 206, 207, 208, 212, 213, 214, 21S, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 236, 237, 240, 241, 242, 243, 24s, 247, 249, 251, 2S7. 2S9, 260, 261, 269, 271, 282, 286, 287, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295. 296, 299, 304, 30s, 308, 309, 3", 313, 314, 316, 317, 318, 319, 323, 324, 325. 326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 333, 335, 343, 344, 345 Goethe, Frau Katharine Textor, 58 Index 351 Goethe, Frau Ottilia von, 196, 206, 289 Gottsched, Johann C, 3 Gounod, Charles, 131 Gower, Lord Francis L., 215, 222, 250 Greeley, Horace, 306 Greene, J. B., 233 Grillparzer, Franz, 175, 181, 212, 214 Grimp, Baron Friedrich M. de, S, 29, 30 Griswold, Rufus, 280, 281 Grote, Mrs. George, 204, 246 Grotthus, Frau Sara von, 116 Grun, Anastasius (A. A. von Auersperg), 283 Gunderode, Karoline von, 312 Gurney, Archer, 186, 194 Hach, 30s Hagedorn, Friedrich von, S, 147 Hale, Edward E., 162, 298, 313, 314. 318 Hallam, Henry, 278 Haller, Albrecht von, 5, 147 Hammer-Purgstall, Joseph von, S6 Handel, G. F., 307 Harring, Harro, 271 Harrison, James A., 332 Hartley, David, 313 Hauff, Wilhelm, 168, 335 Hawthorne, Mrs. Nathaniel, 309 Haydn, Franz J., 307 Hayward, Abraham, 148, 191, 206, 207, 210, 215, 242-246, 286 Hazlitt, William, Jr., 250 Hedge, Frederick H., 144, 165, 286, 294-299, 300, 313, 323 Hedge, Levi, 295 Heeren, Ludwig, 266, 267, 278 Hegel, G. W. F., 13s, 136, 257, 261, .320, 324 Heine, Heinrich, 60, 63, 64, 65, 186, 249, 299, 307, 317 Heller, A., 196 Helmholtz, Anna, 161 Helvetius, Claude A., 105 Hemans, Mrs. Felicia D. Browne, 188, 194, 211-216, 326, 338 Henry, Patrick, 272 Heraud, John A., 249 Herder, Johann F., 4, 31, 38, SO, 90, 98, III, 136, 146, 147, 169, 213, 279, 280, 292, 301, 310, 344 Herkimer, Nicholas, 18 Herodotus, 317 Hertz, H., 249 Herwegh, Georg, 283 Heyne, C. G., 33, 225, 257 Higginson, Thomas W., 255, 310, 311 Hinsdale, Burke, 15, 19, 21 Hobbes, Thomas, 104 Hoffmann, E. T. A., 139, 224, 299, 335 Hogg, James, 172 Holbach, Baron Paul d', 105 Holcroft, Thomas, 147 Holty, Ludwig H. C, 282 Homer, 173, 317 Houwald, C. Ernst von, 175 Howe, M. A. De Wolfe, 259 Howitt, Mrs. Mary, 212, 250 Howitt, William, 250 Hughes, Mrs. Browne, 213 Hugo, Victor, 118, 122, 123, 127, 140, 141, 186 Humboldt, Wilhelm von, 6, 46, 52, 201, 258 Hume, David, 104 Hunt, Leigh, 154, 235 Huntington, Frederick D., 297 Ibsen, Henrik, 186 Iffland, August W., 13 Ilgen, David, 295 Ingemann, Bernhard S., 175 Irvine, George, 342 Irving, Edward, 231 Irving, Washington, 22 352 Index Jackson, Sir George, SS Jacob, Christian F. W., 256, 262, 267 Jacobi, Friedrich H., 32, 56, 318 Jacobi, Johann G., 147 Jaell, Albert, 307 Jahn, F. L., 277 Jameson, Mrs. Anna B. Mur- phy, 164, 194, 205-211, 242, 312 Jardine, Robert, 217 Jefferson, Thomas, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20 Jeffrey, Lord Francis, 142, 172, 180, 23s Jordan, Camille, 31, 48 Jouffroy, Theodore, 301 Jung-Stilling, Heinrich, 324 Kalb, Baron Johann de, 18 Kant, Immanuel, 59, 60, 107, 108, 118, 130, 136, 152, 161, 169, 173, 176, 177, 230, 241, 278, 279, 281, 297, 300, 344 Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, 50, 51, 52, 57 Kastner, A. G., 33 Keil, Karl F., 277 Kindt, Hermann, 191 Kirkland, John T., 143, 261, 262, 263. Kleist, Ewald von, 147 Klenze, Leo von, 206 Klopstock, Friedrich G., 4, 29, 31, 32, 39. 87, 117, 146, 147, 152, 206, 241, 282, 312, 318 Knebel, Henriette von, 62 Knebel, Ludwig von, 51, 54, 57, 62, 63 Kopisch, August, 283 Korner, C. G., 52, 214 Korner, Gustav, 19 Korner, Karl Theodor, 147, 175, 191, 213, 214, 282, 312 Kortum, Karl A., 285 Kotzebue, August von, 13, SS. 147, 217, 241 Kriidener, Barbara Juliane von, 127 Kurland, Duchess of, 55 Lacretelle, Jean de, 71, 98 Ladvocat, Jean B., 121, 129 Lafayette, Marquis M. J. de, 15, 251. 252 La Forest, 55 Lamarck, Comte Jean B. de, s6 Lamartine, Alphonse de, 76, 126, 127, 131, 186 Lamb, Charles, 154, 156 Lamennais, Felicite de, 133 La Mettrie, Julien O. de, 104 Langkavel, Martha, 137 Lanson, Gustave, 6s •Laprade, Victor, 126 La Rochef oucauld-Liancourt, Due Francois A. F. de, 15 Larousse, Pierre, 69 Latouche, Henri de Lavater, Louis (Louis Spach), 128 Lavoisier, Antoine L., 3 Lee, Mrs. Eliza Buckminster, 284 Lee, Harriet, 179 Lee, Mary Elizabeth, 343 Lee, Samuel, 277 Legrelle, A., 124, 134 Leibniz, Gottfried W., 29, 103, 106, 107, 108, 19s, 317, 324 Lenau, Nikolaus, 283 Lenormant, Mme. Amelie, 51, 65 Lenz, Jakob M. R., 30 Leopardi, Conte Giacomo, 186 Le Rey, Frederic, 126 Lerminier, Jean L., 132, 133 Lessing, Gotthold E., 4, 5, 8, 29, 32, 146, 147, 152, IS9, 169, 175, 188, 201, 308, 317 Lewes, George Henry, 197, 249 Lewis, Sir George C, 203, 243 Lewis, Matthew G., 9, 145, 146, 163, 179, 187 Levy, Frau Sarah, 55 Index 353 Lezay-Marnesia, Comte Adrien de, 32 Lieber, Franz, 334 Ligne, Prince Charles J. de, 56 Linnaeus (Charles de Linne), 3 Liszt, Franz, 306 Livingston, Robert R., 15 Lloyd, Henry, 239 Locke, John, 104, 106, 280, 313 Lockhart, John G., 165, 167, 168 Longfellow, Henry W., 283, 312, 343 Louis XIV. of France, 26, 92, 106, 116 Louise, Grand Duchess of Saxe- Weimar, 50, 51, 52, SS. 57, 64, 208 Louise, Queen of Prussia, 225 Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia, 55 Lowell, James R., 15, 21 Lowther, Lord, 216 LuUin de Chateauvieux, Jacob F., 71 Luther, Martin, 158, 19S, 226, 268, 297 Lytton, Lord (Edward Bulwer), 250 Macaulay; Thomas B., 8, 200, 243 Mackall, Leonard, 19 Mackenzie, Henry, 10, 14S, 163, 172 Mackintosh, Sir James, 8, 141, 208, 324 Maeterlinck, Maurice, 138 Maillard, Albert, 123 Malebranche, Nicolas de, 106, 107, 136 Malherbe, Frangois de, 78 Mancini, Mile. Marie de, 116 Mann, Mrs. Horace, 309 Manzoni, Alessandro, 186 Marlowe, Christopher, 182 Marmier, Xavier, 126 Marmontel, Jean F., 30 Marot, Clement, 138 Marsh, James, 162, 278-281, 313 Martin, Sir Theodore, 249, 286 Martineau, James, 301 Matthisson, Friedrich von, 147, ISS, 30s Maturin, Charlies R., 159 McMaster, John B., 16 Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Prince of, 72 Medwin, Capt. Thomas, 178, 181, 183 Meidinger, 24 Meister, Henri, 29, 30, 36, 44, 4S, 58, 98 Meister, Leonard, 36 Meissner, Fritz, 120 Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix, 307 Menzel, Wolfgang, 311, 323 Meyer, Heinrich, 65 Meyer, J. W., 36 Mezieres, Alfred, 122, 137 Michaelis, Caroline, 56 Michaelis, Johann D., 56, 152, 301 Michelet, Jules, 133 Middleton, Charles, 187 Millais, Sir John C, 248 Mills, James S., 151 Milton, John, 173, 317 Mirabeau, Marquis Victor de, S6 Moir, George, 250 Moliere (J. B. Poquelin), 138 Monroe, James, 15 Monteau, Gaston de, 128 Montegut, fimile, 127, 13s, 136 Montesquieu, Baron Charles de, 30 Monti, Vincenzo, 71 Montmorency, Baron Mathieu F., 15, 74 Moore, Thomas, 181, 190 Morellet, Abbe Andre, 30 Morley, Henry, 159 Morris, Gouverneur, 15 Moses, Henry, 218 Mounier, Jean J., 31 354 Index Mozart, Wolfgang A., 211, 307 Miiller, Johannes von, 55, 71, 196, 272, 291 Milliner, Adolf, 17s, 182 Murray, John, Jr., 181 Murray, John, Sr., 76, 156, 174, 178, 180, 203, 24s Musasus, J. K. A., 224 Musset, Alfred de, 120, 123, 127, 131. 186 Necker, Jacques, 26, 28 Necker, Karl F., 26 Necker, Louis, 26 Necker, Mme. Susanne Curchod, 27, 28, 30 Necker de Saussure, Mme. Al- bertine A., 26, 56, 71 Neufchateau, Francois de, 32 Nicolai, C. F., 55, 147, 283 Niebuhr, B. G., 65, 201, 211 Nodier, Charles, 127, 131 Nolde, Elisabeth de, 76 North, Christopher (John Wil- son), 172, 173, 249 Norton, Andrews, 143, 254, 260, 300, 301, 316 Norton, Charles E., 217, 235 Novalis (Friedrich von Harden- berg), 201, 214, 225, 236, 242, 309, 314 Oehlenschlager, Adam, 68, 69, 71, 17s, 214, 249 Oken, Laurent, 257 Oliphant, Mrs. Margaret Wil- son, 24s Opie, Mrs. Amelia, 194 Orange, Prince of, 55 Osburne, Bernal, 244 Osgood, Samuel, 301 Ossian, (James Macpherson), 1.39 Oswald, Eugene, ig Otway, Thomas, 178 Oulibicheff, A., 306 Overbeck, Friedrich, 248 Parker, Theodore, 162, 300, 318- 323 Parry, EUwood, 19 Pascal, Blaise, 226 Peabody, Andrew P., 22, 296 Peabody, Elizabeth P., 300, 309, 343 Peabody, Nathaniel, 309 Peacock, Thomas Love, 189 Pecontai, Jean, 131 Pellissier, Georges, 119 Perkins, Charles T., 307 Perthes, Friedrich C, 205 Pestalozzi, J. H., 266, 269, 301 Petrarch, Francesco, 87 Pezay, Marquis de (Alex. F. J. Masson), 30 Phillips, Wendell, 320 Pictet de Sergy, Adolphe P. J., 72 Pinckney, Charles, 15 Pindar, 87 Plaidy, Louis, 307 Platen-Hallermiinde, Graf Au- gust von, 283 Plato, 106, 147, 173, 188, 197, 314. 317 Plutarch, 238 Poe, Edgar A., 311, 332 Pope, Alexander, 78 Preston, William, 13 Preuss, Johann D., 238, 239 Puckler-Muskau, Prince Her- mann von, 8, 19s, 196 Pythagoras, 106 Quesnay de Beaurepaire, Jules, IS Quincy, Josiah, 15 Quinet, Edgar, 130 Racine, Jean B., 79, 87, 90, 138 Radcliffe, Mrs. Anne Ward, 178 Radziwill; Prince, 55 Randall, Henry, 15, 16, 18 Ranke, Ludwig von, 200, 203, 204 Raupach, Ernst von, 175 Index 355 Recamier, Mme. Jeanne Ber- nard, 71, 74 Reed, Myrtle, 332 Reeve, Henry, 196 Reeve, Mrs. Henry, 194 Regnard, Jean F., 78 Reid, Thomas, 136, 280 Reinhard, C. F. von, 65 Remusat, Charles de, 121, 135 Renan, Ernest, 126, 134, 13s, 136, 139. Renan, Henriette, 136 Retzer, Freiherr J. von, 69 Retzow, 230 Retzsch, Moritz, 210, 218, 246 Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 8 Richardson, C. F., 214 Richardson, Samuel, 30 Richelet, H., 134 Richelieu, Cardinal, 98 Richter, Jean Paul, 46, 51, 89, IIS, 161, 169, 170, 201, 213, 218, 224, 234, 235, 236, 242, 284, 28s, 287, 297, 308, 309, 312 Rilliet, Mme. Huber, 71 Ripley, George, 144, 282, 290, 292, 299-303, 306, 310, 311, 314, 318 Ripley, Mrs. Sophia, 303 Ritter, Karl, 71 Rivery, Boulenger de, 5 Robertson, Eric, 212 Robin, Eugene, 131 Robinson, Edward, 276 Robinson, Henry Crabb, 9, 12, 13, S3, 61, 70, 76, 146, 148- 151, IS5, 156, 160, 171, 179, 184, 190, 196, 206, 218, 238, 288 Roediger, Emil, 277 Ronsard, Pierre de, 78 Ross, Mrs. Janet, 148, 195, 199, 201, 203, 204 Rossel, Virgile, 6, 120 Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, 246- 249 Rossetti, William M., 212 Rousseau, Jean J., 30, 32, 38, 46, 51, 79, 82, los, 119 Rubens, Peter P., 288, 319 Riickert, Friedrich, 282, 283, 285 Russell, Lord John, 191 Sabatier, Frangois, 137 Sabran, Comte Elzear de, 68 Sachs, Hans, 138, 157 Sainte-Aulaire, Comte Louis de, 121, 129, 130 Sainte-Beuve, Charles A. de, 32 I2S, 133 Saint- Pierre, Bernardin de, 119 Saint-Hilaire, Emile M., 139 Saint-Priest, Comte Francois de, 74 Salvayre, M. Gaston, 123 Sand, George, 126, 127, 130 Sassen, S. E. Wilhelmine von, 191 Savage, James, 143 Savary, A. J. M. (Due de Rovigo), 73, 116, 117 Savigny, Friedrich K. von, 243 Schefer, Leopold, 285 Scheffer, Ary, 127, 132 Schelling, F. W. J. von, 31, 56, 58, 61, 130, 13s, 161, 173, 249, 257, 297, 300, 320 Scherer, Edmond, 136, 235 Schiller, Frau Charlotte von, 52, 57 Schiller, Friedrich von, 4, 13, 14, 22, 31, 34, 36, 38, 39, 45, SO, SI, 52, S3, 57, 61, 62, 64, 6s, 67, 83, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 95, 96, 98, loi, 117, 121, 136, 146, 147, 148, 151, 152, ISS, 159, 161, 166, 169, 170, 17s, 178, 179, 182, 183, 186, 188, 189, 201, 212, 213, 216, 218, 222, 226, 227, 230, 236, 238, 240, 241, 242, 249, 2S0, 259, 271, 282, 289, 291, 297, 298, 299, 304, 30s, 308, 312, 314, 317, 318, 324, 333, 335-342, 344 Schlegel, August von, 42, 47, 55, 356 Index S6, 60, 63, 64, 6s, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 74. 75, 83. 146, 160, 161, 165, 206, 2.50, 278, 295, 324. 336 Schlegel, Friedrich, 55, 59, 64, 6s, 69, 146 Schleiertnacher, F. D. E., 258, 277. 297, 300, 301, 344 Schlenkert, 175 Schleussner, 274 Schlozer, August L. von, 33 Schmidt, Erich, 31 Schnorr von Karolsfeld, Julius, 149, 248 Schopenhauer, Arthur, 232 Schopenhauer, Frau Johanna, 206 •Schroder, Richard, 219 Schubart, C. F. D., 188 Schubert, Fr£.nz, 307 Schulze, Ernst K. F., 251 Schumann, Robert, 307 Scott, Sir Walter, 9, 143, 145, 146, 147, IS4, 162-168, 172, 174, 187, 196, 240, 273, 318, 340, 341 Selden, Camille, 128 Semler, Johann S., 152, 301 Senancour, Etienne de, 127 Seume, J. G., 149 Shackford, C. C., 320 Shakespeare, William, 67, 68, 8s, 88, 121, 129, 152, 159, 173, 178, 184, 209, 288, 319, 336, 337. 340 Shaw, William S., 24, 143 Shedd, William G. T., 152 Shelley, Percy B., 147, 182, 187- 190, 191, 212, 312, 326 Sigourney, Mrs. Lydia H., 213 Sismondi, Jean C. de, 56, 58 Smith, Adam, 3 Smith, J. P., 277 Smith, Lindsay, 303 Smith, Sydney, 41, 142 Soane, George, 250 Sorel, Albert, SO, 119 Soret, 134, 19s Sotheby, William, 8, 19, 146, IS4 Souinet, Albert, 131 Southey, Robert, 9, 146, isi, 154, 194 Spalding, 55 Sparks, Jared, 144 Spinoza, Baruch, 135, 188, 249, 300, 318 Spittler, 33 Staaff, A. R., 7 Stael-Holstein, Baronne Anne Louise Germaine Necker de, 3. 6, 7, 9, 13, 14, 23, 24, 26- 112, IIS, 116, 117, 118, 123, 124, 127, 128, 129, 139, 141, I4S. 146, 149. 169, 177. 178, 187, igo, 194, 196, I97< 199, 204, 20s, 206, 207, 208, 209, 211, 212, 217, 241, 242, 244, 2SI, 271, 272, 278, 308, 324, , 32s, 326, 332, 336, 337, 339, 34D, 344 Stael-Holstein, Baron Auguste de, 74, IIS, 121, 2SI Stael-Holstein, Baron Eric Mag- nus de, 31 Stapfer, Albert, 121, 122, 128, 129 Stapfer, Paul, 126 Stapfer, Philippe A., 32 Stein, Frau Charlotte von, 57, 291, 293 Stein, Freiherr H. F. C. von, 75 Stendhal (Henri Beyle), 67 Stephen, Leslie, 203 Stephenson, George, 319 Sterling, John, 162, .19s Stern, Daniel (Comtesse d'A- goult), 134 Sterne, Laurence, 9 Steuben, Baron Friedrich W. von, 18 Stevens, Abel, 27, ss, s8, 59, 69, 72, 118 Stewart, Dugald, 172, 280 Stoddart, Sir John, 164 Index 357 Stolberg, Count Christian von, ISS Strauss, David F., 135, 249, 320 Streuli, Wilhelm, 235 Stuart, Moses, 23, 162, 273-277, 278 Suard, Jean, 30 Sue, Eugene, 131 Siipfle, Theodor, 5, 6, lo, 120, 122, 125, Swanwick, Anna, 247, 250 Swedenborg, Immanuel, 317' Tacitus, 64 Taillandier, Saint-Rene, 131 Taine, Hippolyte A., 7, 124, 136, 139, 140 Talleyrand-Perigord, Prince C. M. de, IS, 133 Tasso, Torquato, 215 Taylor, Bayard, 286, 343 Taylor, J. Orville, 199 Taylor, William, 9, 14S, 146-148, 163, 164, 194, 196 Texte, Joseph, 6, 28, 32, 46, 47, 67, 120 Thatcher, Samuel C, 24, 143 Tholuck, Friedrich A. G., 301 Thomasius, Christian, 29 Thorndike, Israel, 256 Thucydides, 317 Thrale, Mrs. Hester Lynch (Mrs. Gabriel Piozzi), 8 Ticknor, George, 23, 34, 60, 143, 148, 177, 184, 251-256, 258, 263, 268, 269, 323 Tieck, Christi-n F., 71 Tieck, Ludwig, 117, 164, 175, 201, 206, 211, 213, 224, 242, 249. 309, 314. 335 Tilly, Comte de, 55 Torrey, J., 278 Toussenel, Theodore, 127 Tudor, William, Jr., 143, 144 Tiirkheim, Baron von, 56 Uhland, Ludwig, 17S. 282, 283, 312, 333 Unger, Karoline, 138 Vanderbourg, Martin de, 15, 32 Vapereau, Louis G., 117 Varnhagen von Ense, K. A., 196 Varnhagen von Ense, FraiJ Rahel Levin, 55, 201 Vatke, Johann K. W., 320 Vermenoux, Mme., 30 Verney, Valery, 126 Viereck, L., 16, 18, 21 Vigee-Le Brun, Mme. Elisabeth, 71. 72 Vigny, Alfred de, 123 Villers, Charles D. de, 6, 23, 28, 33-34, 45. 46 Vinet, A. R., 117 Vitry, Aubert de, 134 Voght, Baron Gaspard von, 68 Voltaire (F. M. Arouet), 27, 30, 58, 67, 70, 79, 86, 92, 98, 136, 167, 22s, 239, 341 Voss, Johann H., 55, 147, 156 Vulpius, C. A., 188 Wagner, Richard, 137, 232, 236, 307 Walker, Henry A,, 320 Walzel, Oscar Felix, 66 Warren, Joseph, 272 Weber, Karl Maria von, 306 Weddigen, Otto, 186 Weiss, Jean J., 78 Weiss, John, 297, 318, 319, 320 Wergeland, Henrik A., 186 Werner, Zacharias, 72, 146, 225 Wesselhoeft, Mrs. Minna, 312 Whewell, William, 250 Whipple. E. P., 287 White, Horatio S., 19 Whitman, Mrs. Sarah, 283, 332- 334 Wieland, Christoph M., S, 8, 9, 19." 30, 31, 32, 44, 50, 57, 69, 90, 117, 129, 146, 147, 17s, 182, 188, 241 Wilkens, Frederick H., 22 358 Index Willard, Sidney, 21, 143 Willich, Dr., 163 Willm, Josef, 133 Willoughby, L. A., 246 Winer, Georg B., 276 Wohlfahrt, Heinrich, 306 Wolf, J. C, 307 Wolff, Albert, 54, S7, 261 Wolff, Friedrich A., 123 Wolzogen, Frau Karoline von, 45, 57, 61 Woodhouselee, Lord (Alexan- der F. Tytler), 151 Wordsworth, William, 9, 150, 159. 173. 188, 211, 216, 326 Zeiger, Theodor, 11, 187 Zelter, K. F., 55, 148, 149, 201, 223, 291 Zimmermann, J. G., 239 Zschokke, Heinrich, 188, 343 Zumpt, Karl G., 267 VITA The writer of this thesis was born October 25, 1875, at Neenah, Wisconsin, and was graduated with first honors from the high school there in 1892. She then taught two years in the district schools of Winnebago County, and one year in the Neenah public schools. In 1895 she entered the State Normal School at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, was graduated two years later, and remained for a year's post-graduate work in 1897-8. Next, she was a teacher for three years at Metropolitan, Michigan, and obtained a life certificate in that state. In 1901-3 she was a student in the Modern Classical Course at the State University of Wisconsin. There she studied especially German, Latin, and French un- der Professors A. R. Hohlfeld, Ernst Voss, M. S. Slaughter, E. C. Roedder, G. E. Fiske, Grant Showerman, Lucy Gay, and Susan Sterling and under Dr. Anna Pitman. At this institution she was awarded an undergraduate scholarship, was elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society and received honors on her B.L. thesis, entitled " Byron and Heine — A Comparative Study of Their Treatment of Na- ture." Following her graduation, she taught two years as high school assistant in German and Latin at Brodhead, Wis- consin. Having won a scholarship at the Willard School for Girls, in Berlin, Germany, she studied German and French at that institution and also attended lectures at the University of Berlin under Professors Erich Schmidt, R. M. Meyer, Sternfeld, Lenz, Breysig, Schmitt, Haguenin, Paszkowski, and Herrmann ( 1905-6) . She was then assistant in German- and Algebra in the high school at Monmouth, Illinois, for Vita one year. In 1907 she matriculated as fellow in German at the State University of Illinois, and obtained her A.M. degree in 1908, oflfering a thesis on the subject r" Goethe and Hugo — A Comparative Study of the ' Westostlicher Divan ' (1819) and ' Les Orientales ' (1829)." The same year she was assistant in German in the summer session of the uni- versity. Again chosen as fellow for 1909 and for 1910, she pursued courses in German, French, and Italian literature and in Germanic philology under Professors Julius Goebel, O. E. Lessing, Raymond Weeks, G. H. Meyer, and D. H. Carnahan, and under Doctors Josef Wiehr and Florence Jones. In 1910 she received her Ph.D. degree. After serving again as assistant in the summer session of the university, she became substitute instructor of German for 1910-11 in Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts. Then she accepted a position as professor of German in Converse College, Spartanburg, South Carolina.