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SCHLEGEL, JOHANN ELIAS. 



SCHLEQEL, AUGUST WILHELM VON. 



his latest though not least poetical conception, was a design for a 

 summer palace at Orianda, in the Crimea, for the Empress of Russia, 

 surrounded by terraces and hanging gardens on a lofty eminence, com- 

 manding a prospect of the Black Sea. That was in 1839, the same 

 year in which was conferred upon him the highest rank in his profes- 

 sion that of Ober-Landes-Bau-director ; but it was to him a mere 

 honour, for his career was closed : his health immediately afterwards 

 began to decline, and in the autumn of the following year, on his 

 return from the baths, by whose waters he had hoped to benefit, he 

 was attacked by an organic affection of the brain, which reduced him 

 to a state of almost complete insensibility to all external objects; and 

 in that deplorable condition he remained upwards of a twelvemonth, 

 till released from it by death on October 9th, 1841, 



Schinkel has been called by some of his countrymen the Luther of 

 Architecture ; and he certainly gave a fresh impulse to the art : and 

 if he himself did much, his example and influence have perhaps 

 accomplished more ; for by venturing to think for himself, he has led 

 others to do the same. Yet with all his freedom and originality, he 

 was, perhaps, rather too timid than too bold in his reforms, adhering 

 in many respects too strictly to the original letter of Grecian examples, 

 particularly in regard to the orders. As to Gothic, it would bave 

 been better had he abstained from it entirely, and given his undivided 

 attention to the other style, first eliciting and then maturing new ideas 

 from it. With all his invention, too, he exercised none upon such 

 important features as doors and windows, for which he repeats the 

 very same design again and again in different buildings. 



Schinkel has been made the subject of biographical notice and of 

 criticism more than any other modern architect. Of two separate 

 publications relative to him, one entitled 'K. F. Schinkel, Eine 

 Characteristik,' &c., 1842, is by Dr. Kugler; the other by 0. F. 

 Gruppe. 



SCHLEGEL, JOHANN ELIAS, was the eldest of three brothers, 

 all of whom distinguished themselves by their literary exertions, and 

 acquired some celebrity for a name which has since been rendered 

 more illustrious by two writers (also brothers), August Wilhelm and 

 Friedrich von Schlegel. Johann Elias was born at Meissen, where his 

 father was 'appellations-rath,' January 28th 1718. At the age of 

 twelve he began to display a taste not only for reading but composing 

 poetry ; and was greatly encouraged in his studies by his father, who 

 was himself a man of superior capacity and of a very literary turn. 

 While he was at the university of Leipzig, his talents recommended 

 him to Gottsched, then looked up to as the arbiter in matters of 

 poetical taste, to whose ' Kritischen Beitragen,' &c., he contributed 

 several pieces, as he did also to the miscellany entitled ' Belustiguugen 

 des Verstandes,' &c., besides writing various dramatic compositions. 

 Neither did he neglect his severer academical studies, but on the con- 

 trary applied to them with great diligence ; as he did likewise to 

 French, English, and Italian literature. On quitting Leipzig, he 

 accompanied Von Spener (who had married his uncle's widow) to 

 Copenhagen as his secretary, the latter being sent as envoy to the 

 court of Denmark. All his leisure from his official employments he 

 now devoted not only to studying the language thoroughly, but to 

 making himself acquainted with the history and condition of the 

 country, both by reading and conversation. The information he thus 

 collected, together with his own remarks, he gave to the public in the 

 form of a weekly periodical, entitled ' Der Fremde,' which obtained 

 for him considerable notice. He afterwards became acquainted with 

 Holberg, who procured him the professorship of modern history and 

 the appointment of librarian at the academy of Soroe, founded by 

 himself. [HOLBEBG.] But his excessive application to his duties and 

 to his private studies proved too much for his constitution, which was 

 not a very strong one, and in the course of the following year he was 

 carried off by a fever, August 13th 1749, at the age of thirty-one. A 

 complete edition of his works, in 5 vols., was published by his brother 

 Johann Heinrich, 1761-70. 



JOHANN ADOLPHUS, the second brother, born at Meissen, September 

 18th 1721, studied at Leipzig with Elias, and, like him, then began to 

 make himself known in the literary world by his contributions to the 

 two publications above mentioned. For a time he bestowed far more 

 attention on merely literary pursuits than on the studies more imme- 

 diately connected with his future profession ; but if he did not dis- 

 tinguish himself by profound theological learning, he acquired very 

 great popularity as" a preacher, both by the style of his sermons and 

 by his emphatic and animated delivery. At Zerbst, where he was 

 pastor primarius, and professor of theology and metaphysics, from 

 1754 to 1759, he was frequently called upon to preach before the 

 court. Of his pulpit compositions, several collections appeared at 

 different times, the earliest being that in three volumes, 1754-58. As 

 a poet he must be estimated rather according to the standard of his 

 own day than that of the present. He may rank among those who 

 exerted themselves to introduce a better taste; and his odes, and 

 religious and moral pieces, though by no means free from defects, 

 abound with fine passages. He survived both his brothers many 

 years, not dying till September 16th 1793. His sons are noticed 

 below. 



JOHANN HEINRICH, born in 1724, studied, like his brothers, at 

 Leipzig, and through the influence of Elias, obtained an appointment 

 as secretary in the chancery at Copenhagen. He afterwards became 



Drofessor of history at the university there, and Danish historio- 

 prapher-royal ; and died in that capital, October 18th 1780. 

 Although not so distinguished as either of the preceding, he was a 

 writer of some ability, and published a history of the sovereigns of 

 Denmark of the house of Oldenburg, and several other works relative 

 ;o that country. He also translated Thomson's 'Sophonisba' and 

 some other tragedies from the English. 



SCHLEGEL, AUGUST WILHELM VON, the son of John 

 Adolphus Schlegel, noticed in the preceding article. John Adolphus 

 bad four sons Charles Augustus Maurice, superintendent-general at 

 Harburg ia Hanover, who died in 1826 ; John Charles Fiirchtegott, 

 one of the councillors at the Ecclesiastical Court at Hanover, and 

 known as the author of ' Hanoversches Kirchenrecht ' ('The Eccle- 

 siastical Law of Hanover'), 3 vols. 8vo, 1801-5, and 'Das Kirchen- 

 recht von Nord-Deutschland ' (' The Ecclesiastical Law of Northern 

 Germany'), 3 vols. 8vo, 1828-32, &c., who died in 1831; Augustus 

 William, the subject of this sketch ; and lastly, Frederic Charles 

 William, who obtained a fame still more solid though less brilliant 

 than his eldest brother. 



Augustus William Schlegel was born at Hanover, on the 8th of 

 September 1767, and after having received a careful education was 

 sent to Gottingeu to study divinity, which he soon abandoned to 

 devote his time to philology. Though young, he was no common 

 classical scholar, for his Latin dissertation on the geography of Homer 

 was highly thought of by Voss, the most competent judge of his age 

 on that subject, and Heyne intrusted him with making an index to his 

 edition of Virgil. For some years Schlegel lectured at the University 

 of Gottingen : his contributions to Burger's ' Akademie der Schonen 

 Kiinste ' (especially his poem 'Ariadne,' and his essay on Dante), and 

 to Schiller's 'Musen-Almanach' and 'Horen,' especially his translations 

 from Dante with commentaries, secured him an honourable rank 

 among the best writers of Germany. In 1797 he published the first 

 volume of his translation of Shakspere. Itf the same year he was 

 appointed professor of Humaniora in the University of Jena, and, 

 continuing his literary activity, he soon placed himself among: the 

 leaders of German literature. He remained at Jena till 1802, a friend 

 of Schiller, and an admirer of Gothe, then at Weimar, who however 

 did not return the sentiment. 



Pushed by ambition, Schlegel left the little town of Jena, and 

 repaired to Berlin, where he gave public lectures to a mixed but 

 highly intelligent public on literature and the fine arts. He remained 

 there till 1805, having meanwhile imbibed that puerile passion for 

 little court distinctions, titles, and crosses, which in later years proved 

 such a drawback on his real merits. Among the specimens of his 

 literary activity in the period from 1797 to 1805, may be mentioned, 

 besides the continuation of his translation of Shakspere's plays, the 

 'Athenaeum,' a critical review, which he edited with his brother 

 Frederic, and which did a great deal of good towards purifying the 

 taste of the public; 'Gedichte' (Poems), Tubingen, 1800; 'Musen- 

 Almanach,' which he edited together with Tieck, and in which he first 

 betrayed his growing -tendency towards Roman Catholicism and 

 mysticism; ' Vorlesungen iiber Literatnr uud Kunst des Zeitalters ' 

 (' Lectures on the Literature and the Fine Arts of the Age '), which 

 appeared in the ' Europa,' a review edited by Frederic Schlegel. 



In 1805 he made the acquaintance of Madame de Stael-Holstein. 

 Surprised at finding so rare a combination of deep learning, uncommon 

 poetical talents, and the manners of a courtier as Schlegel presented, 

 she became his sincere friend, and he henceforth accompanied her 

 during several years on her travels through various parts of Europe. 

 The reciprocal influence of these two distinguished persons upon each 

 other was very great, and may be traced in their works : the result 

 was, that he made her popular in Germany, and she brought him out 

 in France, where his vanity afterwards met with so much gratification. 

 At her suggestion he published in French a comparison between the 

 Phedre of Racine and the Hippolytus of Euripides, and this work was 

 the foundation of his subsequent fame among the French. In 1808 

 Schlegel delivered at Vienna a course of lectures on dramatic art, 

 which are an everlasting monument of his genius. They were pub- 

 lished under the title ' Vorlesuugeu iiber Dramatische Kunst und 

 Literatur,' Heidelberg, 3 vols. in 8vo, 1809-1811 ; 2nd edition, 1817. 

 Anew collection of his poems appeared in 1811, 2nd edition, 1820, 

 among which are his masterpieces, Arion, Pygmalion, Saint Lucas, 

 and others. At that time Schlegel and his brother Frederic had 

 already succeeded in founding, in opposition to the models commonly 

 called classical, the modern romantic school of poetry and fine arts 

 which had its origin, in a great measure, in the depressed state of 

 Germany and the deep wishes of the people for a moral, religious, and 

 political regeneration. The brothers Schlegel were considered as 

 enthusiastical patriots, and Augustus William having ventured to 

 depreciate the French drama and to call Moliere a mountebank, at a 

 time when such liberties met with punishment or cruel persecution 

 from the French invaders, his name became popular to a degree which 

 he would perhaps not have enjoyed at another time. ' Das Deutsche 

 Museum,' a review which the brothers Schlegel founded in 1812, was 

 the chief organ of the new school, and the middle ages became the 

 inexhaustible source where the reformers quenched their thirst for 

 piety, sentimentality, and chivalry, and whence they drew forth 

 everything except that rude power softened down by uncorrupted 



