408 TJie German Student, No. XXVIl[. 



polishcJ in the other minor courts and 

 cities; and it first gave that liberal 

 tone of commentary, which was else- 

 where to be felt but as an echo. 



The Hereditary Prince, after the 

 completion of his domestic education, 

 quitted Weimar to visit France and 

 Italy ; and, on coming of age, he signi- 

 fied his gratitude to Wicland by as- 

 signing to him an annuity of a thou- 

 sand dollars, which exceeded the 

 stipulated pension by four hundred. 

 Charles-Augustus had imbibed (and 

 this was not the slightest praise of his 

 instruction) a taste for merit, a vir- 

 tuositif in human excellence, toemi)l<)y 

 his preceptor's phrase. An eager di- 

 lettante in celebrity, he was chiefly 

 ambitious of decorating Weimar with 

 a gallery of living geniuses; and, if in 

 the statistical map of Europe this was 

 an inconsiderable place, it was not 

 long to remain so in the intellectual 

 map. Herder, the father of ratiimal 

 scripture-criticism among the Ger- 

 mans, was called lo be the superin- 

 tendant or bishop of this little metro- 

 polis ; and, like another Paul of Samo- 

 sata, he inculcated beneath mystical 

 phrases an unprejudiced philosophy. 

 Painters were employed to decorate 

 his cathedral ; and Schweitzer, his 

 chapel-master, embellished the public 

 worship with chorusses worthy of Han- 

 del. The theatre of Weimar, which 

 had been burnt down in 1774, and had 

 Leon rebuilt with singular elegance, 

 was conducted wholly at the expense 

 of the state ; and the public, as in an- 

 cient Kome, was admitted gratui- 

 tously. Goethe, the Shakspeare of 

 Germany, was invited to become di- 

 rector of this play-house ; a situation 

 which was made worthy of his accept- 

 anre, which was conferred together 

 with an order of nobility. Henceforth 

 the lovers of the drama were no-where 

 so sure of a various and tajteful selec- 

 tion as to pieces, of performers so 

 picked even in the minor departments, 

 and of costume and scenery so criti- 

 cally exact. Schiller was induced to 

 try on this stage the most eccentric of 

 his immortal productions, and at length 

 to settle amid the ap[)lauding circle. 

 IVIusajus thenovellist, and other minor 

 authors, were led to reside at Weimar 

 by the elegant resources of amuse- 

 ment which it supplied, among which 

 may be classed the romantic walks of 

 J'^tterburg opened to the public in the 

 dneal gronnds. As at Ferrara under 

 the house of Este, a refniement of the 



[June 1, 

 pleasures of man was herebe«ome the 

 chief occupatiivn of his rulers ; and, 

 like Ferrara, Weimar was destined to 

 evolve a second Ariosto. 



The Fabliaux of Wicland were com- 

 posed during the earlier part of his 

 residence at Weimar ; and they form 

 a classical volume of" Metrical Tales," 

 which no other European nation had 

 rivalled. The themes are mostly de- 

 rived from story-books of chivalry, 

 such as " Gyron le Courtois," the 

 " Lays de I'tiiselet," the " Contes de 

 la Grand," and the " Pentameronc ;" 

 but the most fortunate of them all is 

 the story of the " King of the Black 

 Isles," from the Arabian Nights. Some 

 are wholly of the author's invention; 

 but these have less felicity of fable 

 than those of which the plot was adopt- 

 ed or borrowed, and has only been 

 rounded into a neat whole by a moro 

 dramatic arrangement of the incidents. 

 Exuberance of stjlc is their most fre- 

 quent blemish, "riiese excellent nar- 

 rations, however, were but preparatory 

 exercises for the romantic epopea, 

 which was to follow. 



" Oberon" first appeared in the 

 German Mercury for 1780, and was 

 received at once with that transport 

 ol popularity which continues to ac- 

 company its every republication. Un- 

 questionably it is the most beautiful 

 modern poem which has appeared 

 since the "Jerusalem" of Tasso; and, 

 if it has less grandeur of fable, it surely 

 communicates to the marvellous per- 

 sonages and incidents a more natural 

 and illusive colouring. The story of 

 January and May is not well placed in 

 the mouth of Scherasmin, nor has it 

 snflicient dignity of tone for the gene- 

 ral elevation of the poem, on which 

 account Mr. Sotheby omits the pas- 

 sage in his English version ; but, on 

 the whole, both in point of plan and 

 style, this most attractive and attach- 

 ing composition is a master-piece. 

 Wicland felt that he should never sur- 

 pass it, and henceforth declined to 

 write poetry. He did, indeed, publish 

 afterwards a pre-existing translation 

 of Horace's "Epistle to the Pisos," 

 and concluded, rather than completed, 

 his "Clelia and Sinibald ;" but he 

 was careful not to write himself down, 

 by drawing attention to subsequent 

 inferiority. 



Mr. Sotheby's translation of " Obe- 

 ron," however beautiful, has too lofty 

 and heroic a tone for the playful hu- 

 mour of the original: we sjiall contrast 



with 



