Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature (tr John Black) | Page 6

make up the Characteristiken u Kritiken (2 vols.,
Koenigsberg, 1801). Shortly afterwards he undertook with Tieck the
editorship of _Musen-Almanack_ for 1802. The two brothers were now
leading a truly scientific and poetic life, associating and co-operating
with many minds of a kindred spirit, who gathered round Tieck and
Novalis as their centre.
His marriage with the daughter of Michaelis was not a happy one, and
was quickly followed by a separation, upon which Schlegel proceeded
to Berlin. In this city, towards the end of 1802, he delivered his
_Lectures on the Present State of Literature and the Fine Arts_, which
were afterwards printed in the _Europa_, under his brother's editorship.
The publication in 1803 of his _Ion_, a drama in imitation of the
ancients, but as a composition unmarked by any peculiar display of

vigour, led to an interesting argument between himself, Bernhardi, and
Schilling. This discussion, which extended from its original subject to
Euripides and Dramatic Representation in general, was carried on in the
Journal for the Polite World (_Zeitung fur die elegante Welt_,) which
Schlegel supported by his advice and contributions. In this periodical
he also entered the lists in opposition to Kotzebue and Merkel in the
_Freimüthige_ (_The Liberal_), and the merits of the so-called modern
school and its leaders, was the subject of a paper war, waged with the
bitterest acrimony of controversy, which did not scruple to employ the
sharpest weapons of personal abuse and ridicule.
At this date Schlegel was engaged upon his _Spanish Theatre_, (2 vols.,
Berlin, 1803-1809). In the execution of this work, much was naturally
demanded of the translator of Shakspeare, nor did he disappoint the
general expectator, although he had here far greater difficulties to
contend with. Not content with merely giving a faithful interpretation
of his author's meaning, he laid down and strictly observed the law of
adhering rigorously to all the measures, rhythms, and assonances of the
original. These two excellent translations, in each of which he has
brought to bear both the great command of his own, and a wonderful
quickness in catching the spirit of a foreign language, have earned for
Schlegel the foremost place among successful and able translators,
while his _Flowers of Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese Poetry_
(_Blumensträusse d. Ital. Span. u. Portug. Poesie_, Berlin, 1804),
furnish another proof both of his skill in this pursuit and of the extent of
his acquaintance with European literature. Moreover, the merit of
having by these translations made Shakspeare and Calderon more
widely known and better appreciated in Germany would, in default of
any other claim, alone entitle him to take high rank in the annals of
modern literature.
But a new and more important career was now open to him by his
introduction to Madame de Staël. Making a tour in Germany, this
distinguished woman arrived at Berlin in 1805, and desirous of
acquainting herself more thoroughly with German literature she
selected Schlegel to direct her studies of it, and at the same time
confided to his charge the completion of her children's education.
Quitting Berlin he accompanied this lady on her travels through Italy
and France, and afterwards repaired with her to her paternal seat at

Coppet, on the Lake of Geneva, which now became for some time his
fixed abode. It was here that in 1807 he wrote in French his _Parallel
between the Phaedra of Euripides and the Phèdre of Racine_, which
produced a lively sensation in the literary circles of Paris. This city had
peculiar attractions for Schlegel, both in its invaluable literary stores
and its re-union of men of letters, among whom his own views and
opinions found many enthusiastic admirers and partisans,
notwithstanding that in his critical analysis of Racine's _Phèdre_ he had
presumed to attack what Frenchmen deemed the chiefest glory of their
literature, and had mortified their national vanity in its most sensitive
point.
In the spring of 1808 he visited Vienna, and there read to a brilliant
audience his _Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature_, which, on
their publication, were hailed throughout Europe with marked
approbation, and which will, unquestionably, transmit his name to the
latest posterity. His object in these Lectures is both to take a rapid
survey of dramatic productions of different ages and nations, and to
develope and determine the general ideas by which their true artistic
value must be judged. In his travels with Madame de Staël he was
introduced to the present King, then the Crown Prince, of Bavaria, who
bestowed on him many marks of his respect and esteem, and about this
time he took a part in the German Museum (_Deutsche Museum_), of
his brother Frederick, contributing some learned and profound
dissertations on the Lay of the Nibelungen. In 1812, when the
subjugated South no longer afforded an asylum to the