TIECK, LUDWIQ. 



TIEDEMANN, DIETRICH. 



Schelling; Weimar, where he became acquainted with Herder; and 

 Hamburg, where he married the daughter of a clergyman, named 

 Albert!. The intercourse with tho above-named literary celebrities had 

 much influence on hia future course. While still adhering to the roman- 

 tic school, hia productions embraced a wider field. He continued to 

 write tales, novels, tragedies, and comedies ; but in embodying nursery 

 tales, as in his ' Blaubart,' a play in five acts, ' Die Sieben Weiber des 

 Blaubarts' (Seven Wives of Bluebeard), a tale, and the 'Leben uud Tod 

 des kloinen Rothkappchen' (Life and Death of Little lied Riding Hood), 

 a tragedy in three acts, he united much of the simplicity of the old tradi- 

 tions, with the added interest of poetical conception, a close adherence 

 to the story, and occasional passages of pathos or of humour. Occa- 

 sionally he took for his subject legends of a higher character, as in bis 

 'Leben nnd Tod der heiligen Genoveva;' and in 1804, in 'Kaiser Octa- 

 viiinus,' a work which had been long expected, and which his country- 

 men consider as one of the most successful of his romantic productions. 

 To this he has prefixed a long prologue, in which various characters are 

 introduced to display the prosaic element, and a poet, to whom comes 

 Romance, a female, who describes herself as infusing joy throughout 

 the world, and says that her father is Faith, and Love her mother. 

 In this prologue, and in tho following play, which ia partly in 

 prose, is found the most favourable specimen of Tieck's versification. 

 It is not of the most careful construction ; and it is singular that 

 though his conceptions were highly poetical, the best examples of 

 them are found in his prose. This Hue was followed out in subse- 

 quent works, as in 'Fortuniit,' which however embodies a considerable 

 amount of good-humoured satire on the various conditions of the 

 existing state of society. Another class comprises, what are styled by 

 the Germans Art-Novels, to which belong 'Franz Sternbald's Wan- 

 derungcn,' ' Phantasien iiber die Kunst,' and ' Herzensergiessungen 

 eines Kunstliebcnden Klosterbruders' (Heart-outpourings of an Art- 

 loving Monk), written in conjunction with his friond Wackenroder, in 

 all of which he displays a love and knowledge of the beautiful and 

 elevated in art, a contempt for the self-complacency of affected con- 

 noisseurship, and a manifestation of Roman Catholic feeling, to which 

 faith he for some time adhered about this period. Perhaps less dis- 

 tinctive as a class, as his previous tales had much of a similar character, 

 were his ' Volksmiihrchen ' (Popular Legends), such as the history of 

 Heymon's Children, the Fair Magelone, Melusina, &c., legends which 

 arc European, and the ' Deukwiirdige Geschichtschronik der Schild- 

 biirger' (Memorable History of the Simpletons), a sort of German 

 version of our Men of Gotham ; tales in prose, abounding in pleasant 

 fancy, interspersed with picturesque descriptions or strokes of broad 

 humour, and told with a simplicity and an apparent childish belief 

 in the wonders related that give an indescribable charm to the whole. 

 Upon yet another class he evidently bestowed more thought and 

 labour. In the dramas, for they assume that form, ' Der gestiefelter 

 Kater" (Puss in Boots); in 'Prinz Zerbino, oder die Reise uach 

 dem guten Geschmack' (Travels in search of Good Taste); 'Die ver- 

 kehrte Welt" (The World turned upside down); and 'Leben und 

 Thaten desKleinen Thomas, genanntDiiumchen' (Tom Thumb); in all 

 of which he attacked with keen irony the low, material, anti-poetical 

 notions of poetry advocated by learned pedants, and deflnded by 

 implication, by example, and by occasional parodies on the classicists, 

 the theory of the romantic school. A key to 'Zerbino,' by one 

 thoroughly acquainted with the peculiarities of all the authors alluded 

 to in that drama, would possess much interest for the English student. 

 These pieces, independent of their critical merits, have an interest of 

 their own from the wit and humour of the dialogue. Many of the 

 productions of this period, including most of those above-mentioned, 

 were subsequently published together, under the title of ' Phantasus,' 

 in a frame-work of a conversational party, to whom or by whom 

 they are related. An excellent translation of ' Don Quixote,' a very 

 good one of Ben Jonson's ' Epicccne, or the Silent Woman,' and a 

 remarkably successful one of Sbakspere's ' Tempest,' also belong to 

 this period. 



In 1801-2, while residing in Dresden, he assisted F. Schlegel in 

 bringing. out the ' Musen-Almanach,' to which he contributed some of 

 his tales. He then lived for a time at Berlin, and next at Ziebingeu 

 near Frankfurt-on-the-Oder, seeming to enjoy a poetical leisure, 

 during which he produced nothing but ' Kaiser Octavianus ' of which 

 we have already spoken, in 1804 ; and in the same year he made a 

 journey to Italy, returning from thence in 1806 to Munich, where he 

 had the first attack of gout, from which he was ever after an extreme 

 sufferer. This attack was so violent, that he produced little for 

 several years. He occupied himpelf, when able, in revising and adding 

 to his previous works, publishing the 'Phautasus' as above stated, 

 and a collection of his poems; in studying and collecting the early 

 poetry of his own country, of which in 1803 he had published ' Minne- 

 lieder aus dem Schwabischen Zeitalter' ( Love Songs of the Swabian 

 period), nnd in 1815 ' Ulrich's von Lichtenstein Frauendienst ' ( Worth 

 of Woman) ; and in extending his acquaintance with the English 

 drama. In 1812 he published the ' Alt-englisches Theater,' containing 

 translations of the old King John, the Pindar of Wakefield, 

 Pericles, Locrine, the Merry Devil of Edmonton, and the old 

 Lear, all of which he contends are the genuine, though chiefly early, 

 productions of Shakspere. In 1817 he published two volumes o] 

 specimens of the early German drama, and in the same year visited 



England for the purpose of acquainting himself with the literature 

 connected with the drama which he could not procure iu Germany. 

 He laboured diligently ; the treasures of the British Museum as well 

 as those of many private collections were opened to him ; and it is 

 probable that no foreigner ever attained so wide and so exact an 

 ioquaintance as Tieok with the English literature of the great Eli/.a- 

 aethau period, or so j ust an appreciation of Shakspere, although his 

 enthusiasm has led him .to the discovery of beauties hidden from 

 Englishmen in the apocryphal or rejected works attributed to Shak- 

 spere, in the genuineness of nearly all of which he is a stedfast believer, 

 but of which his countryman and follower Ulrici has formed a more 

 sober judgment. On his return to Germany he settled at Dresden, 

 and for some time his literary publications were chiefly novels and tales 

 for the pocket-books and similar annuals. In 1823 he published the 

 first volume of ' Shakspeare's Vorschule' containing translations of 

 Green's ' Friar Bacon,' 'Arden of Feveraham,' of which he has doubts 

 whether it is a production of Green's or an early work of Skakspere, 

 and Heywood's ' Lancashire Witches ;' this was followed by a second 

 volume in 1S29 containing ' Fair Em,' ' The second Maid's Tragedy,' 

 by Mussingen, translated from one of the three manuscript plays 

 saved from the fire by Warburton the herald, and ' The Birth of 

 Merlin :' the first he considers to be more probably an early effort of 

 Shakspere's than of any of the other names to which it has been 

 assigned, grounding his opinion of this and other of the doubtful 



yd on the belief that Shakspere commenced writing for the stage 

 many years earlier than had at that time been admitted; a belief 

 which the investigations of Mr. C. Knight in his ' Pictorial Shakspere ' 

 has shown to be very probable, though not leading always to the con- 

 clusions at which Tieck has arrived regarding the particular plays. In 

 1828 he published his ' Dramaturgische Blatter,' chiefly written in 

 1817, a collection of reviews or criticisms of modern German plays, 

 including notices of Schiller's ' Piccolomini,' and ' Wallenstein's Tod;' 

 Gothe's ' Jery uud Batelei,' and ' Clavigo ; ' and Shakspere's ' Romeo 

 and Juliet,' 'Lear,' 'Henry VIII.,' 'Macbeth,' and 'Hamlet;' all con- 

 taining much genial criticism, with a delicate and true apprehension of 

 their poetical feeling and harmony ; with notices of the acting of Kemble 

 and Kean ; and Appendices on the German and English stage. About 

 the same time he took an active part in the continuation and 

 completion of the translation of Shakspere's acknowledged plays, 

 which had been begun by Schlegel, and of which the first volume 

 appeared in 1825. The merits of this translation, of which many 

 were entirely from his own hands, and all were subjected to his 

 revision, are universally acknowledged. Less literal, but more spirited 

 and equally true to the sense of the author, than the previous trans- 

 lation by the Vosses, they are illustrated by a number of notes which 

 display a vast amount of reading, and many ingenious conjectures as 

 to various disputed readings, and they now form the recognised text 

 of Shakspere's plays iu Germany. Toe work was completed iu 1829. 

 But his labours were not confined to this work, he continued to write 

 tales for periodical publications, and in 1828 he produced his novel 

 of 'Dichtersleben,' ( Life of a Poet ) in which Shakspere and several 

 of his contemporaries are introduced, and in which the death of 

 Mario w is vividly described. In 1829 he published 'Der Tod des 

 Dichters,' (the Poet's Death) in which the unhappy fate of Camoens 

 is pathetically related. In 1826 he also produced one of his most 

 picturesque narratives, ' Der Aufruhr in den Cevennes,' in which the 

 insurrection in the Cevennes is graphically told, but unfortunately 

 was left incomplete. While residing at Dresden his evening circles 

 became celebrated, at which his readings and the relation of his 

 tales formed a principal charm, and which were attended by all 

 the literary celebrities who were in the vicinity and could gain admis- 

 sion. In 1836 and 1840 he published his two latest novels 'Der 

 Tischlermeister ' ( The Cabinet-maker) and ' Victoria Accorombona,' 

 both of which are very inferior to most of his previous works of a 

 similar character. He also took an active part in the management of 

 the Dresden theatres. In 1840, on the accession of Friedrich Wilhelm 

 IV. to the throne of Prussia, Tieck was invited to Berlin, an invitation 

 which he accepted. He was then created a privy-councillor, and passed 

 the remainder of his life partly in Berlin and partly at Potsdam, occu- 

 pied chiefly with some theatrical productions, and in revising and 

 correcting his works, which were published iu 20 volumes at Berlin 

 between 1828 and 1846. At various times he also edited 'Novalis's 

 Schriften,' in conjunction with Friedrich Schlegel, 1802 ; Heinrich von 

 Kleist's ' Nachgelasseneu Schriften ' ( Posthumous Works, 1826 ; 

 Solger's ' Nachlass und Brief wechsel ' (Remains and Correspondence) 

 with Friedrich von Raumer, 1826 ; and Reiuhard Lenz's ' Gesatu- 

 melte Schriften,' (Collected Works) in 1828. After suffering for some 

 years from continued illness, borne- with wonderful patience and 

 cheerfulness, ho died at Berlin, April 28, 1853, leaving a name which 

 may rank with the highest in his native country, and which English- 

 men may reverence as that which in Germany is most connected with 

 the popularising of the fame of the great dramatic poet of England. 



TIEDEMANN, DIETRICH, a German philosopher, was bom on 

 the 3rd of April 1748, at Bremervb'rde, near Bremen, where his father 

 was burgomaster. He received his earliest education at home, and as 

 he was scarcely allowed to have any intercourse with other children, 

 his leisure hours were spent in reading. His father sent him in 1763 

 to Ytrden, where he was chiefly engaged in acquiring a knowledge of 



