Germany from the Earliest Period, vol 4 | Page 6

astray by Voss's
stilted manner. Matthison is, on the other hand, most tediously affected.
The German, never more at home than when abroad, boasted of being
the cosmopolite he had become, made a virtue of necessity, and termed
his want of patriotism, justice to others, humanity, philanthropy.
Fortunately for him, there were, besides the French, other nations on
which he could model himself, the ancient Greeks and the English,
from each of whom he gathered something until he had converted
himself into a sort of universal abstract. The great poets, who shortly
before and after the seven years' war, put an end to mere partial
imitations, were not actuated by a reaction of nationality, but by a
sentiment of universality. Their object was, not to oppose the German
to the foreign, but simply the human to the single national element, and,
although Germany gave them birth, they regarded the whole world
equally as their country.
Lessing, by his triumph over the scholastic pedants, completed what
Thomasius had begun, by his irresistible criticism drove French taste
from the literary arena, aided Winckelmann to promote the study of the
ancients and to foster the love of art, and raised the German theatre to
an unprecedented height. His native language, in which he always
wrote, breathes, even in his most trifling works, a free and lofty spirit,

which, fascinating in every age, was more peculiarly so at that
emasculated period. He is, however, totally devoid of patriotism. In his
"Minna von Barnhelm," he inculcates the finest feelings of honor; his
"Nathan" is replete with the wisdom "that cometh from above" and
with calm dignity; and in "Emilia Galotti" he has been the first to draw
the veil, hitherto respected, from scenes in real life. His life was, like
his mind, independent. He scorned to cringe for favor, even disdained
letters of recommendation when visiting Italy (Winckelmann had
deviated from the truth for the sake of pleasing a patron), contented
himself with the scanty lot of a librarian at Wolfenbüttel, and even
preferred losing that appointment rather than subject himself to the
censorship. He was the boldest, freest, finest spirit of the age.
Herder, although no less noble, was exactly his opposite. Of a soft and
yielding temperament, unimaginative, and gifted with little penetration,
but with a keen sense of the beautiful in others, he opened to his fellow
countrymen with unremitting diligence the literary treasures of foreign
nations, ancient classical poetry, that, hitherto unknown, of the East,
and rescued from obscurity the old popular poetry of Germany. In his
"Ideas of a Philosophical History of Mankind," he attempted to display
in rich and manifold variety the moral character of every nation and of
every age, and, while thus creating and improving the taste for poetry
and history, ever, with childlike piety, sought for and revered God in all
his works.
Goethe, with a far richer imagination, possessed the elegance but not
the independence of Lessing, all the softness, pathos, and universality
of Herder, without his faith. In the treatment and choice of his subjects
he is indubitably the greatest poet of Germany, but he was never
inspired with enthusiasm except for himself. His personal vanity was
excessive. His works, like the lights in his apartment at Weimar, which
were skilfully disposed so as to present him in the most favorable
manner to his visitors, but artfully reflect upon self. The manner in
which he palliated the weaknesses of the heart, the vain inclinations,
shared by his contemporaries in common with himself, rendered him
the most amiable and popular author of the day. French frivolity and
license had long been practiced, but they had also been rebuked.
Goethe was the first who gravely justified adultery, rendered the
sentimental voluptuary an object of enthusiastic admiration, and deified

the heroes of the stage, in whose imaginary fortunes the German forgot
sad reality and the wretched fate of his country. His fade assumption of
dignity, the art with which he threw the veil of mystery over his
frivolous tendencies and made his commonplace ideas pass for
something incredibly sublime, naturally met with astonishing success
in his wonder-seeking times.
Rousseau's influence, the ideas of universal reform, the example of
England, proud and free, but still more, the enthusiasm excited by the
American war of independence, inflamed many heads in Germany and
raised a poetical opposition, which began with the bold-spirited
Schubart, whose liberal opinions threw him into a prison, but whose
spirit still breathed in his songs and roused that of his great countryman,
Schiller. The first cry of the oppressed people was, by Schiller,
repeated with a prophet's voice. In him their woes found an eloquent
advocate. Lessing had vainly appealed to the understanding, but
Schiller spoke to the heart, and if the seed, sown by him, fell partially