1822.] 
larly as the Marquis does not appear 
to be in possession of sufficient grounds 
for believing that the queen would 
assist in the best possible direction of 
the passions of Carlos ; and, as his self- 
command and judgment so habitually 
outweigh the inclinations of bis affec- 
tion, that, when the prince asks— 
“What could force thee from my 
heart, if woman could not?’ Posa 
ealmly answers, ‘‘I could myself.” 
This. superiority to his friendship, this 
exclusive value for those qualities of 
Carlos which are the concern of the 
world, this republican spirit of Posa, 
becomes especially apparent in the 
third act, when he is introduced at 
court, and assails the monarch’s ear 
with the novel language of courageous 
and enthusiastic virtue. In the subse- 
quent interviews with the qucen, with 
Don Carlos, and with the king, Posa 
evidently shows himself capable of 
trampling with ruthless despotism on 
the safety even of his friend, if the 
great interests of humanity were, in his 
apprehension, to require the sacrifice. 
This is not a pleasing trait in his cha- 
racter; but it is a trait common in 
those men who have attained a disin- 
terested.love of specific reformations. 
Such persons are ofien found to hazard 
their own safety, and that of others, 
for the chance of realizing the specu- 
lations of their philanthropy. When 
therefore, at Jast, Posa thinks that he 
has obtained, by the sacrifice of his 
own life, the independence of Don 
Carlos, and his departure for the Ne- 
therlands, he acquires the self-suffi- 
cient exultation of a martyr. Careless 
of reputation, his last act has been to 
charge himself with an exceptionable 
passion for the queen. His last com- 
mands to Carlos are : “ Reserve thyself 
for Flanders: upon thy life depends 
the fate @ nations. My duty is to die 
for thee.” It is not the Orestes offer- 
ing his own life to saye that of his 
friend, but the philanthrope, who claims 
the survival of that individual, to whom 
circumstances’ entrust the highest 
powers of utility: it is ever the enthu- 
siast. conscious of the immeasurable 
value of his lofty views, and desirous 
of dying for them in such, circum- 
stances as may most contribute to 
secure the trust of their realization. 
Of the other characters none seem 
to require analysis ; because none are 
liable to misconception. Don Carlos, 
Philip, and the Grand Inquisitor, are 
each in their way masterly drawings. 
. 
The German Student —Schiller continued. 
361 
The female characters, as is usual with 
Schiller, are: less successful; especially 
the Princess Eboli, whose episodieal 
love for Carlos occupies a displeasing 
extent. Indeed all the interiocutors 
are too loquacious, all the specches too 
exuberant; Schiller had not yet learnt 
how essential to dramatic dialogue is 
that culling, skipping rapidity of 
thought, which notices only the promi- 
nent ideas of the personages. In the 
first half of the piece the reader is not 
enough prepared for an interest so 
wholly of the political kind, as that 
which ultimately absorbs every other. 
This is the earliest tragedy which 
Schiller composed in iambic blank 
verse, and his style here first lost that 
energetic convulsive striving, which, 
however impressive, wants the higher 
charm of unaffected grace. 
Wicland criticized this play in his 
Mercur with a degree of freedom 
which Schiller long felt as a wound; 
it was however so highly admired at 
Weimar, that the duke in consequence 
sent to Schiller the appointment of 
aulic counsellor, and an invitation to 
come and. reside near his _ person. 
Schiller accordingly left a country- 
house, where he had apartments near 
Leipzig, and removed to Weimar. He 
soon became a contributor to the 
Mercur, and published in it a history 
of the revolt of the Netherlands, which 
was separately published in 1788. 
In 1789 Schiller accepted a profes- 
sorship at Jena, and lectured on clas- 
sical literature; he continued, how- 
ever, the historic Jabours he had 
already undertaken, and produced his 
excellent history of the thirty years’ 
war. Under the title of “‘ The Hours” 
(die Horen) he conducted a periodic 
miscellany, in which his various minor 
poems, and many criticisms on works 
of the fine arts, were progressively 
inserted. Several of these poems have 
adorned our pages; see, for instance, 
vol. xii. p. 221, and vol. xvi. p. 137. 
Here is another: 
THE DIVER. 
* Who’s here of noble or vassal blood, 
Of courage to dive beneath this flood? 
I fling therein a golden beaker, 
And now ’tis swallowed up by the breaker, 
Whoever shows me the cup again, 
May have it and keep it for. his pain,” 
So spake King Robert of Sicily, 
From a high cliff overhanging the sea, 
While into the howling Charybdis he flung 
The goblet of gold in his hand thatheswung, 
‘© Who is so bold, I ask again, 
As into this deep to plunge amain ?” te 
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