XXVIII 1800-48. Tell on the lake of Uri, with as much enthusiasm as the CHAP. pathetic scenes of Queen Mary's death, the terrible pangs of jealousy which tormented Philip in the stately solitude. of the Escurial. But, high or low in worldly stations, his leading characters, those on which the force of his genius was asserted, are those to whom nature had given the patent of nobility; and hence he is immeasurably inferior when he comes to comedy, which chiefly portrays the follies, and is often occupied with the most contemptible of mankind. 19. of the pa of rhetoric. Schiller's powers of the pathetic are of the very highest kind the last scene of Queen Mary, many in Joan of His powers Arc, the Bride of Messina, and the exquisite scenes of thetic and Thekla in Wallenstein, are among the most perfect specimens of that species of excellence which the literature of the whole world can exhibit. They are worthy to be placed beside the parting of Hector and Andromache at the Scæan Gate, the last scenes of Dido and Eneas in the Eneid. Equally remarkable are his rhetorical powers, and the graphic picture of the ideas and passions of particular ages and parties which he has given in his historical dramas. This is particularly the case in Queen Mary and Don Carlos. The best-informed student of the religious wars in the Netherlands will find something to learn in the speeches of the Marquis Posa and Don Carlos in the noble drama which depicts the jealousy of the Escurial. Those most acquainted with Scotch history recur to those in Queen Mary for an admirable summary of the considerations for and against the Reformation in this island. Schiller's historical knowledge is so great, his rhetorical power so vast, that he throws himself, whenever an opportunity occurs, into these oratorical displays with the utmost eagerness; but though these speeches in verse excite universal admiration when read in the library, they are far from being equally effective on the stage, and often, by their tediousness, mar the effect of his finest compositions. CHAP. XXVIII. 20. His merits as a lyric poet. Like all other great dramatists, Schiller is equally eminent as a lyric poet. The connection between tragedy 1800-48. and the lyric muse is so close that they insensibly run into each other; the choruses of the Greek tragedies and the strophes of the Italian opera follow so naturally from the previous language and ideas, that the transition never appears violent. Many of his lyrical pieces, in particular the Lay of the Bell and Hero and Leander, are among the finest of the kind that modern Europe has produced. They unite the burning thoughts of Gray, the condensed expression of Campbell, to the varied pictures of Collins, the poetic fire of Pindar. His Bride of Messina is, from the beauty of the choruses, and the strict imitation of the Grecian drama which it presents, the most perfect specimen of that species of composition which modern Europe has produced. In several of his other pieces, in particular Wallenstein's Death, and Joan of Arc, although the unities are in some places violated, yet they are in reality observed in the material parts of the piece; a peculiarity which obtains also in Othello, As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet, and many of Shakespeare's most popular pieces, indicating the deep foundation which the ancient rules in this respect have in the human heart, and the principles of all the arts intended to move it. 21. As a historian, Unlike other dramatists, Schiller is also a historian, and there his merits are by no means equally great. This is a remarkable circumstance, when the eminently historical character of his mind, as evinced in his dramas, is taken into consideration; but the same thing occurred in the case of Sir Walter Scott, Moore, Southey, and many others who have tried to combine the muse of history with that of poetry. His Thirty Years' War is a luminous and succinct narrative of a most important era in modern history, and as such it merits the attention of every historical student, but it has no pretension to be a great historical work. It is a good epitome of the events of the period for the use of schools and colleges, XXVIII. that is all. It is a curious and apparently inexplicable CHAP. circumstance, that the defect always observable in the writings of poets and novelists, when they begin to write 1800-48, history, is, not that they are too imaginative, but that they are too prosaic; not that they are unworthy of credit, but that they are dull-the sin which is never to be forgiven either in prose or verse. Mr Fox assigns a place to history next to poetry, and before oratory; but there are few poets who, when they entered the adjoining region, have not forgotten the place given them. It would seem that the narrative of events is so different from the flights of imagination, that those who can make the farthest sweep in the latter are unable to bring their powers to bear upon the former. Fearful of being thought romancers, they become mere compilers; they curb their imagination from the dread of being too poetical, but they become too prosaic. And yet this disposition is a deviation from the true principles of composition applicable to such subjects,-for what is fiction but an imitation of actual life; and how is the ideal to be founded but on the real; and why should the shadow be clothed in brighter colours than the substance? 22. "The Mes If general and widespread celebrity is to be taken as the test of excellence, the next place must be assigned to the Klopstock. great epic poet of Germany, KLOPSTOCK, in the literary siah." gallery. Yet is this to be done, according to our ideas, rather in conformity with general reputation than our own opinion, for with all its sublime ideas, pure thoughts, and lofty imagery, there is no concealing the fact, that to read The Messiah is a heavy task, which fewer than are willing to admit it have been able to perform. The reason is, that it is too much in the clouds; to awaken the sympathy of mortals, it has too little of the interests, the passions, the weaknesses of humanity. There is also much too frequent an allusion in his great poem to death and immortality topics of the utmost interest and sublimity, when properly and only occasionally introduced, but VOL. V. H CHAP. which lose their influence when too often brought forward. XXVIII. We cannot live always among the tombs; and if we are 1800-48. compelled to do so, their imagery, like death to a soldier 23. as a lyric poet. who daily sees his comrades fall around him, will soon be stript of all its terrors. The greatest human genius cannot avoid failure from these causes, when an attempt is made by mortals to depict the councils of Heaven. Homer only avoided it by giving his gods and goddesses the passions and cares of men and women; Milton, by painting in Paradise the picture, not of divine but human primeval innocence. When he attempted to construct an epic poem with the materials of heaven alone, the Paradise Regained showed the inevitable failure of the attempt. That poem was the favourite of the author, because he felt that, in constructing it, he had greater difficulties to contend with than when the charming episode of "the bowers of Paradise" enlivened his pages like the mother of a weak child, he felt more interest in it than in the more robust offspring which had never caused anxiety. But it by no means follows that the world are to be influenced by the same feelings; and it is no imputation on the genius of Klopstock that he failed in awakening the interest of poetry in a subject such as Homer and Milton were unable to invest it with. If we would form a correct estimate of the poetical His merits genius of Klopstock, we must study his lyrical pieces, and then there is room only for the most unqualified approbation. Like the Allegro and the Penseroso or Lycidas, they evince the lustre of his imagination even more than the stately march of the epic. It is so with many, perhaps most German writers; and the reason is, that in that species of poetry they are compelled to be brief, contrary to the usual inclination of the German mind, as it is evinced in their prose writers, which is to be diffuse and long-winded. Nothing can exceed the beauty of some of his lyrical pieces, or the refinement and delicacy of the sentiments and images presented in them. They are not so graphic or varied as those of Goethe, nor so lofty and chivalrous as those of Schiller: they have not the exquisite rural pictures of Uhland, nor the varied earth-wide panorama of Freiligrath. But in delicacy of sentiment, purity of feeling, and refinement of language, he is equal to any of these illustrious writers; and the poetic fire of some of them proves, that if he has failed in making an interesting epic poem, it was not because his powers were unequal to the task, but because the task itself was above the power of man. It was that which made Dryden say, that the real hero of the Paradise Lost was the devil. XXVIII. 1800-48. 24. schlager. OEHLENSCHLAGER is perhaps the poet who, if he is not the most varied, is the most national that Germany Oehlenhas produced. Several of his works, in particular Aladdin, and the Waringers at Constantinople, are filled with foreign imagery, and prove that he was feelingly alive to the blue skies and ardent sun, and graceful palms and bewitching damsels of the East. Others, in particular the beautiful drama of Corregio, evince a thorough acquaintance with the refined ideas and delicate taste and passionate admiration of art which distinguish the inhabitants of modern Italy. But neither is his ruling disposition his heart is elsewhere; he is a pilgrim, not a sojourner, in the land of the sun. Heart and mind he is a Goth. His inmost soul is tinged with the imagery and ideas, the passions and desires, the scenery and aspirations of his Scandinavian forefathers. His heart is at times rigid and frozen with the severity of an arctic winter; at others it gushes forth in copious floods with the breath of spring. So deeply is he impregnated with the habits and ideas of his rude ancestors, so entirely has their disposition with their blood descended into his veins, that he describes them rather as one of themselves than one of their successors. The sea-kings never had such a bard; the halls of Walhalla never resounded with such strains; the heroes of the north never inspired such enthusiasm. Their courage is not the child of Roman patriotism; it is |