570 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 215. 



lorn hope. The adjective has nothing to do with de- 

 spair, nor the substantive with the ' charmer which 

 lingers still behind ; ' there was no such poetical depth 

 in the words as originally used. Every corps marching 

 in any enemy's country had a small body of men at the 

 head (haupt or hope) of the advanced guard ; and 

 Avhich was termed the forlorne hope (lorn being here 

 but a termination similar to ward in forward), while 

 another small body at the head of the rere guard was 

 called the rear-lorn hope (xx.), A reference to John- 

 son's Dictionary proves that civilians were misled as 

 early as the time of Dryden by the mere sound of a 

 technical military phrase ; and, in process of time, even 

 military men forgot the true meaning of the words. It 

 grieves me to sap the foundations of an error to which 

 we are indebted for Byron's beautiful line : 



' The full of hope, misnamed _/brforn.'** 



W. R. WiiJ)E. 



Dublin. 



TUECKS "COMCEDIA DIVIHA. 



(Vol. viii., p. 126.) 



The title-page of this work is : Comcedia Divina, 

 mit drei Vorreden von Peter Hammer, Jean Paul, 

 und dem Heramgeher, 1808. The absence of 



fmblisher's name and place of publication leaves 

 ittle doubt that the name W. G. H. Gotthardt, 

 and the date "Basel, Mai 1, 1808," are both fic- 

 titious. 



But for finding the passage cited by M. M. E. 

 at p. 38., I should have supposed that the Munich 

 critic had referred to some other book with the 

 same title. No one who has read this can suppose 

 it was written by Tieck. The Catholic-romantic 

 school, of which he was the most distinguished 

 member, furnishes the chief objects of the author's 

 ridicule. Novalis, Gorres, and F. Schlegel are 

 the most prominent; but at p. 128. is an absurd 

 sonnet " an Tieck." 



The Comcedia Divina is a very clever and some- 

 what profane satire, such as Voltaire might have 

 writtea had he been a German of the nineteenth 

 century. It opens with Jupiter complaining to 

 Mercury of ennui {eine langweilige Existenz), and 

 that he is not what he was when young. Mercury 

 advises a trip to Leipzig fair, where he may get 

 good medical advice for his gout, and certairdy 

 will see something new. They go, and hear 

 various dealers sing the catalogues of their goods. 

 The lines quoted by M. M. E. are sung by a 

 young man with a puppet-show and barrel-organ 

 to the burden : 



" Orgelum Orgelei, 

 Dudeldum Dudeldei." 



He exhibits things taken from the physics of 

 Oken, the metaphysics of Schelling, and the 



aesthetics of Gorres. The whole of the song is 

 good; and I quote one stanza as showing a 

 sound appreciation of the current metaphy- 

 sicians : 



" Die Intelligenz construirt sich in der Zeit 

 Als Object, und erkennt sich, und das ist gescheidt, 

 Denn aus diesen und andern Constructuren 

 Entstehen Lehrb'ucher und Professuren." 



They visit the garret of Herr Novalis Octavi- 

 anus Hornwunder, a maker of books to order 

 upon every subject : they learn the mysteries of 

 the manufacture. The scene is clever, but much 

 of the wit is unappreciable as directed against 

 productions which have not survived. Jupiter, 

 in compassion to Hornwunder, changes him to a 

 goose, immediately after which a bookseller enters, 

 and, mistaking the gods for authors, makes them 

 an offer of six dollars and twelve groschen the 

 octavo volume, besides something for the kitchen. 

 Jupiter, enraged, changes him to a fox, which 

 forthwith eats the goose " feathers and all." 



They then go to see the play of the Fall of 

 Man {Der Siindenfall). The subject is treated 

 after the manner of Hans Sachs, but with this 

 difference, that the simple-minded old Nurem- 

 berger saw nothing incongruous in making Cain 

 and Abel say their catechism, and Cain go away 

 from the examination to fight with the low boys 

 in the'street ; whereas the author of Der Siinden- 

 fall is advisedly irreverent. Another proof, if one 

 were wanted, that he was not Tieck. 



Die Ungotdiche Comodie is not by Batornicki, 

 but translated by him from the Polish. In the 

 preface he apologises for inelegant German, as 

 that is not his native language : and I presume 

 he is a Pole, as he says the author s name is known 

 among us (unter uns). As he calls it a poem 

 (Dichtung), the original is probably in verse. I 

 think the Munich critic could have seen only 

 some extracts from the Comcedia Divina ; for, so 

 far from Batornicki " plundering freely," I do not 

 find any resemblance between the works except 

 in the sole word comcedia. The Comcedia Divina 

 is a mockery, not political, but literary, and as 

 such anti-mystic and conservative. Die Uvgott- 

 liche Comodie is wild, mystical, supernatural, 

 republican, and communistic. It contains pas- 

 sages of great power, eloquence, and pathos. 

 German critics are often prosy and inefficient, 

 but not given to wilful misrepresentation or care- 

 lessness in examining the books they review. 

 The writer in the Munich journal must be held 

 an exception. H. B. C. 



U. U. Club. 



