DISSEN, GEORGE LUDOLF. 



DISSEN, GEORGE LUDOLF 



610 



this election he became a candidate (1833) in the Radical interest for 

 the borough of Marjlebone; describing himself in his address to the 

 electors as a man who " had already fought the battle of the people," 

 and who " was supported by neither of the aristocratic parties," and 

 avowing himself a friend to Triennial Parliaments and Vote by Ballot. 

 He was again unsuccessful ; and seeing no chance of being elected by 

 any other constituency, he resumed his literary occupations. The 

 'Wondrous Tale of Alroy,' and 'The Rise of Iskander,' published 

 together in 1833 provoked some critical ridicule from the extravagance 

 of their style, as well as from the extravagance of the author's claims 

 in their behalf as novelties in the modern literary art. They were 

 followed by the 'Revolutionary Epic,' a quarto poem (1834), the high 

 pretensions of which were not confirmed by any impression it made 

 on the reading public. In the same year he published a political 

 pamphlet entitled, ' The Crisis Examined,' and in 1835 another 

 pamphlet entitled, ' A Vindication of the English Constitution.' In 

 this year he became a candidate for the borough of Tauntou, and as 

 he now came forward in the Conservative interest, O'Connell in reply 

 to an attack made by Mr. Disraeli on him at the hustings, issued a 

 diatribe against him, in which he accused him of inconsistency in 

 language coarser and more personal than was perhaps ever used before 

 on any umilar occasion. This led to a hostile correspondence between 

 Mr. Disraeli and Mr. O'Connell's son, and to altercations in the news- 

 papers, in the course of which Mr. Disraeli explained his political 

 principles in a manner intended to show how his professions and 

 conduct in 1831 and 1833 might be reconciled with his professions 

 and conduct in 1835. In a letter addressed to Mr. O'Connell himself, 

 after his failure in the election, he said, alluding to this fact of his 

 repeated failures : " I have a deep conviction that the hour is at 

 hand when I shall be more successful. I expect to be a representative 

 of the people before the repeal of the union. We shall meet ngaiu at 

 Pbilippi; and rest assured that, confident in a good cause, and in 

 some energies which have not been altogether unimproved, I will seize 

 the first opportunity of inflicting upon you a castigation which will 

 at the same time make you remember and repent the insults that 

 you have lavished upon Benjamin Disraeli.' 1 This was thought 

 bravado at tbe time; but the prediction was realised. After an 

 interval of two yean during which he published his novels 

 'Henrietta Temple' (1836) and 'Venetia' (1837) Mr. Disraeli at the 

 age of thirty-two wan returned as Conservative member for Maidstone 

 (1837). But the list of his failures was not yet closed. His maiden 

 speech prepared beforehand and in a very highflown style- was a 

 total failure ; he was accompanied through it by the laughter of the 

 House, and at last was obliged to sit down. But before he did so, 

 he energetically uttered the following sentences, "I have begun 

 several times many things, and have often succeeded at last. / i/ialt 

 tit down now, but the time will come when yuu will hear me." This 

 proved to be true. Speaking little for some time, and carefully 

 training himself to the parliamentary style and manner, he began 

 about 1S39 to obtain the attention of the House; and by the year 

 1841 he was recognised as the leader of the ' Young England Party," 

 who were trying to give a new form and application to Tory prin- 

 ciples. His marriage in 1839 with Mrs. Wyndham Lewis, the wealthy 

 widow of his parliamentary colleague for Maidstone, gave his talents 

 the social means necessary for their full success in public life. It was 

 during the Peel ministry of 1841-46 that he acquired his highest 

 distinction as a master of parliamentary invective : during the latter 

 portion of this period his attacks on Peel were incessant. He waa 

 then member no longer for Maidstone but for Shrewsbury (1841-47). 

 After the repeal of the Corn Laws and the retirement of Sir Robert 

 Peel from office, Mr. Disraeli laboured, in conjunction with Lord 

 George Bentinck, to form the new Protectionist party as distinct from 

 both the Peel-Conservative* and the Whigs. The results were decisive. 

 After Lord George Bentiuck'a death in 1848, Mr. Disraeli (elected for 

 Bucks in 1847) became the leader of the Protectionist or old Tory 

 party in the House of Commons ; and he led it with such consum- 

 mate ability, that, on the retirement of Lord John Russell's cabinet 

 in 1852, and the formation of a Tory government under Lord Derby, 

 Mr. Disraeli became Chancellor of the Exchequer. This government 

 however lasted only from March to December 1852, when it broke 

 down on Mr. Disraeli's budget. The Coalition Ministry of Lord 

 Aberdeen succeeded, to be followed by that of Lord Palmerston ; and 

 while we write (1856) Mr. Disraeli has never again been in office, but, 

 like Lord Derby, has exercised his talents in parliamentary opposition 

 to Whigs and Peelites. It is only necessary to add the list of his 

 works published since the commencement of his parliamentary career 

 in 1837. These are 'Alarcos: a Tragedy,' published in 1839; 

 ' Coningsby : or the New Generation,' a political novel on Toung 

 England principles, published in 1844 ; 'Sybil, or the Two Nations,' 

 a novel of similar purpose, published in 1845 ; ' Tancred, or the New 

 Crusade,' also a political novel, published in 1847; and a ' Political 

 Biography of Lord George Bentinck.' Of more trifling writings it is 

 unnecessary to take note. 



DISSEN, GEORGE LUDOLF, an eminent German scholar, was 

 born on the 17th of December 1784, at Grossen-Schneen, near Got- 

 tingen, where his father was pastor. He lost both his parents at the 

 age of thirteen, but a benevolent friend procured for him admission, 

 free of expense, to tM celebrated school ut PforUt in Saxony, whither 



the boy was sent in his iourteenth year, and there he laid an excellent 

 foundation for his future philological studies. In 1804 he went to the 

 university of Gb'ttingen, where until the year 1808 he devoted himself 

 to the study of philology and philosophy under Heyne and Herbart. 

 His former friend continued to support him in the university ; but he 

 was obliged to increase his means by private tuition. The study of 

 art and poetry, and of the beautiful in general, was his delight, and 

 gave to his mind that tone and tendency which we can truce in all his 

 literary productions. On his return to Gottingen he obtained the 

 degree of Doctor iu Philosophy, together with permission to deliver 

 lectures in the university. On that occasion he published his first 

 work, a dissertation ' De Temporibus et Modis Verbi Graeci," Got- 

 tingen, 1809, 4to. The principal subjects with which he now occupied 

 himself, and on which he lectured, were Greek Grammar and Greek 

 philosophy, especially Plato, the study of whose writings brought 

 about an intimate friendship between him and Boeckh, who then used 

 to visit Gottingen very often. His natural tendency to assemble 

 around him young men of talent and congenial pursuits, induced him, 

 towards the end of 1811, to form a philological society at Gottingen, 

 of which he was elected president. In 1812 he; accepted the offer of 

 an extraordinary professorship of Classical Philology in the University 

 of Marburg. He entered upon his new ofiice witb an inaugural disser- 

 tation ' De Philosophia Slorali in Xenophoutis de Socrate Com- 

 mentariis tradita,' Marburg, 1812. Philological studies were at that 

 time rather neglected at Marburg, but Dissen gave a fresh impulse to 

 them, although he did not remain there more than eighteen months ; 

 for in the autumn of 1813 he accepted an invitation as extraordinary 

 professor of Classical Literature in the University of Gottingm, which 

 was always his favourite place, and where in 1817 he was appointed 

 ordinary professor. Incessant study and a secluded life had already 

 impaired his health, but his activity as a lecturer was very great. His 

 lecture-room was always filled, and he succeeded in inspiring his 

 audience with an ardent love of the study of antiquity. The zeal with 

 which he devoted himself to his professional duties and the cultiva- 

 tion of his own mind prevented his doing much as an author; and all 

 that was published by him during the period from 1815 to 1825 con- 

 sists of the part be took in Boeckh's great edition of Pindar, and some 

 reviews which he wrote for the ' Gottinger Gelehrteu Anzeigen." In 

 regard to ancient writers, and poets in particular, Dissen directed his 

 attention more particularly to analysing the connection of the ideas, 

 a point which had been much neglected by previous commentators. 

 With a view to supply this want he prepared a new edition of Pindar, 

 which appeared in 1830 in 2 vols. 8vo ; and of which a second edition 

 with some improvements was published by Schueidewin in 1843. In 

 this work Dissen propounded his sesthetical views respecting the 

 artistic construction of the Pindaric odes. The manner in which he 

 has executed his task clearly shows that Dissen was not only no poet, 

 but that he had little conception of the manner in which a poet sets to 

 work. He displays great analytical powers, but they would have been 

 more properly applied to the works of a philosopher than to those of a 

 poet. His edition of Pindar is nevertheless one of the best that we have. 



Dissen's illness was of an asthmatic nature, and about this time had 

 become so much worse, that he was obliged to give up lecturing ; b'-.t 

 in proportion as his professional occupations decreased, his literary 

 activity increased. Thus he produced in 1835 an edition of Tibullus, 

 with valuable dissertations and a commentary, and in 1837 an edition 

 of Demosthenes's oration ' De Corona.' The great object of these two 

 publications is the same as that of his Pindar, to establish a mode of 

 interpreting the ancients, which should not merely explain the lan- 

 guage and subject-matter of a writer, but the artistic construction of 

 his work, and should thus, as it were, trace the secret processes in the 

 author's own mind. This mode of treating an ancient author may be 

 very interesting and instructive, but it opens a wide field of specula- 

 tion, and the results are seldom satisfactory. Immediately after the 

 appearance of his ' Pindar,' Dissen was severely criticised, and among 

 others by his friend Boeckh, which greatly irritated him. His edition 

 of Tibullus is perhaps his best and most satisfactory production : it 

 should not be used without Dissen's ' Supplementum editionis Albii 

 Tibulli Heynio-WunderlichianaV which he published in 1819. His 

 edition of the oration of Demosthenes contains many valuable remarks 

 on the style and peculiarities of that orator : it was his last production, 

 and appeared only a few days before his death, which took place about 

 the middle of September, 1837. 



Dissen was never married ; but he supported with paternal care 

 several young men of talent whose fathers had been his friends during 

 their lifetime. He was a man of great sensibility, enthusiastic for 

 everything great and noble, and capable of the most devoted friend- 

 ship, though in his social intercourse he seldom conversed on any other 

 topics than those relating to the study of antiquity, for his whole 

 mental faculties were absorbed in his pursuits. Besides the works 

 already mentioned, we must not leave unnoticed an excellent little 

 treatise entitled ' Anleitung fur Erzieher, die Odyssee mit Knabcu zu 

 lesen,' with a preface by the philosopher Herbart, Gottingen, 1809, 

 8vo. A number of smaller dissertations in Latin and German, together 

 with a selection of the reviews written by Dissert, was published as a 

 collection after his death by his friend K. 0. Muller, under the title of 

 ' Kleinc Lateinische und Deutsche Schriften, von Ludolf Dissen,' Got- 

 tingen, 1839, 8vo. It is preceded by biographical notices written by 



