Dr. Frkdlanders Sketch of the Poor, Sfc. in Germany. 



J 823.] 



Dowager-Duchess applied to the elec- 

 tor of Mayntz for leave that he 

 might resign the chair of the uni- 

 versity, and obtained for him a graci- 

 ous release from that prior engage- 

 ment. In consequence, he removed 

 during the autumn of 1772 to Weimar, 

 wliere he was immediately decorated 

 with the title of aulic counsellor. 



No sooner was Wieland settled 

 there, than he felt himself in a wel- 

 come atmosphere, — in a congenial 

 situation. Repeatedly in his corres- 

 pondence he boasts, that from this 

 time forward he knew nothing of 

 those attacks of hjpochondriasis, 

 which had previously at times inter- 

 rupted his application, and saddened 

 his solitary wanderings ; and he places 

 at forty the period of life when a man 

 is most adapted to execute a perma- 

 nent work of literary art. 



Wieland gave lessons to his pupil 

 as assiduously as they could be admi- 

 nistered to an heir of rank, who was 

 much his own master ; and he endea- 

 voured to call in the help of more 

 attractive arts df instruction. For the 

 seventeenth birthday of the hereditary 

 prince, he wrote an opcratical inter- 

 lude, which succeeded admirably on 

 the stage, called " the Choice of Her- 

 cules," of which the poetry may be 

 compared with that of " Comus," and 

 for which the charming music was 

 composed by Schweitzer. " Rosa- 

 mond" and "Midas" were translated 

 at this period from tiie English by 

 Wieland, for the stage of Weimar; 

 and the fine serious drama of " Al- 

 cestes" was written, which is the 

 earliest tragic opera extant in the 

 German tongue. The poetry, although 

 its greatest beauties are transplanted 

 from Euripides, deserves admiration ; 

 and, if hastily ridiculed by Goethe, 

 taught him at least the style of his own 

 " Iphigenia^" An elegant dissertation 

 on the theory of the opcratical drama 

 is prefixed to the text. 



(To be continued.) 



For the Muntlihj Mat/azine. 



HISrOKICAL SKIiTCH of the POOR, the 

 PRISONS, the INsriTUriONS of BENE- 



iici'.Ncn, niid the hospitals, in Ger- 

 many; hi) I)K. I IllEIlLANDlvK. 



NEARLY all the institutions 

 created iu favour of tlie poor 

 conceal their origin at a very remote 

 e]io<:h, and do not begin to allord any 

 jnti-rest for history until llicir inipor- 

 tuucc is rendered more generally 



211 



remarkable: I shall not, therefore, 

 stop long to examine the origin of the 

 establishments of beneficence ; re- 

 searches on this subject have been 

 made in Germany analogous to those 

 whicli have been done in France. In 

 this, as in every thing else, nations 

 often dispute the priority. At all 

 events, the history of the progress of 

 all the institutions, both civil and reli- 

 gious, in favour of the poor, does not 

 fail to present sufficient interest to the 

 public curiosity. 



In Germany, as in other civilized 

 countries of Europe, we must distin- 

 guisli the original state of things, in 

 wiiich all were governed by custom or 

 despotism, the epoch of the introduc- 

 tion of Christianity, that of Protes- 

 tantism, and the modern limes when 

 society begins to reform its codes, 

 according to the actual wants of the 

 people, and to establish its administra- 

 tion on the principles of political 

 economy, or, if my readers wish it, of 

 a constitutional monarchy. 



In the origin, the master might 

 easily rid himself of the person who 

 annoyed him, unless he was moved by 

 a feeling of attachment and pity inhe- 

 rent in human nature ; the most simple 

 method was to drive him away. We 

 do not often feel much sympathy when 

 we are not ourselves in easy circum- 

 stances ; and again, at the present 

 day, it is not the most sufiering class 

 which is the most compassionate. It 

 is only when society begins to acipiiro 

 comforts that institutions also arise 

 for those who are deprived of them ; 

 they, at the same time, render mea- 

 sures of police necessary. 



At the epoch of the introduction of 

 Christianity, Christians must have 

 found themselves, in the uncivilized 

 countries of the north, obliged to solicit 

 assistance from those who surrounded 

 them. The church, in each nation, 

 encouraged alms by degrees; and, 

 what one would not do for the love of 

 his neighbour, he was obliged to do it 

 for the love of God, and to obtain a 

 reward in the other world. Charitable 

 individuals no longer thought, after 

 fulfilling this holy duty, as to the man- 

 ner in whicii the alms were employed: 

 the result was, that those who preached 

 beneficence became beggars them- 

 selves, and consumed the greatest 

 part of the revenues. It is known 

 tfiat, from the fifth century of the 

 Christian era, th(! people had to com- 

 plain of the infidelity of tlie ecclcsias- 



lifiK 



