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GERMANY. (LITERATURE AND SCIENCE.) 



sow. Lunemann, and others ; and the great under- 

 taking of the Berlin academy, the Corpus Inscript. 

 Greec., edited by Bockh, the excellent Latin gram- 

 mar of Schneider, &c. The Oriental languages and 

 literature have been illustrated by the labours of 

 Gesenius, Von Hammer, Gorres (who translated the 

 Schah-Namah), and others. Hindoo literature has 

 been cultivated by A. W. Schlegel, J. G. L. Kose- 

 garten, D. Frank, and Francis Bopp. The great 

 Encyclopaedia of Ersch and Gruber may furnish future 

 times with a standard of the cultivation of the pre- 

 sent. The bibliographical lexicon of Ebert will fill 

 a void in bibliography. The biographical work of 

 Ersch has been enlarged and improved, in a new 

 edition. Among the periodical publications, the 

 Litteraturzeitungen of Halle and Jena, the Gottingen 

 gelehrte Anzeiger, review every new publication of 

 importance. The Heidelbergher Jahrbucher der 

 Litteratur, Hermes, and the ffiener Jahrbucher, 

 confine themselves more to the important publica- 

 tions. The Isis of Oken was chiefly remarkable as 

 the representative of the spirit of the age, though 

 natural philosophy, politics, voyages, and discoveries, 

 were discussed in it with much ability. It was sup- 

 pressed by the government. The Morgenblatt, the 

 Zeitung fur die elegante Welt, &c. , are calculated, 

 not only for amusement, but also for instruction of 

 the cultivated classes. The Literarischen Conversa- 

 tionsblatt (published since 1826) presents the opinions 

 of all literary parties. There is one journal, called 

 Britannia, relating to Great Britain, and two re- 

 views relating to America. The history of German 

 literature is given in the excellent lectures of Wachler 

 (Frankfort on the Maine, 1818, 2 vols.) For further 

 information on subjects of German literature, see the 

 subsequent divisions, German Prose and German 

 Poetry. 



German Prose. This has undergone more numer- 

 ous changes than German poetry. The first attempts 

 at composition in German were translations, as early 

 as the eleventh century. At a later period, many of 

 the romantic tales, and fragments of epic poetry, 

 were translated into prose ; but this owed its com- 

 plete development more particularly to some mysti- 

 cal theologians, of whom Tauler (died 1361) was the 

 earliest and the most distinguished. He himself, 

 however, wrote mostly in Latin ; but his sermons 

 were written down by his friends in German. The 

 painter Albert Durer (born 1471, died 1528) used 

 the German in his works on fortification, and on the 

 proportions of the human figure. John Turmayr 

 (Aventinus), in his historical works, Sebastian Franke, 

 both in his historical and theological writings, and 

 others, wrote before Luther. Luther, from the be- 

 ginning of the reformation to his death, continued to 

 improve his style, and gave to the literary language, 

 the High German, which had been formed amidst the 

 different spoken dialects, authority and grammatical 

 consistency. The mystical writings of Jacob Bohme 

 enriched the language with metaphysical and philoso- 

 phical expre.ssions,whilst Fischart, Schuppe, and other 

 satirical writers, gave it life and point. The writings 

 of Abraham a Sancta Clara (Megerle), the representa- 

 tive of the popular style of preaching of his time, are 

 full of wit, imagination, and truth, but are coarse and 

 undignified. The thirty years' war was followed by 

 a period of barbarism, in which the German language 

 was a corrupt medley of foreign words from the 

 ancient and modern languages, particularly the 

 French. The language of the learned was Latin, 

 that of the courts was French. German survived 

 only in the pulpit and in society. Thomasius revived 

 the use of the vernacular tongue in scientific works. 

 From this period, a gradual improvement of the Ger- 

 man language is perceptible, notwithstanding the 



Gallomania of Frederic the Great and his court, until 

 its complete triumph in the hands of Lessing. Two 

 circumstances rendered this difficult. The language 

 was behind society in refinement, as the French wis 

 the language of courts and the higher classes, and 

 there was never any room for political or forensic 

 eloquence. There were only three fields for the 

 prose style sacred eloquence, works of fiction, and 

 the language of science. Pulpit eloquence was re 

 stored to its dignity by Laurence Mosheim, born 

 1694, died 1755. He was followed by a series of 

 pulpit orators Sack, Jerusalem, Cramer, Spalding, 

 Gieseke, J. A. Schlegel, Zollikoffer, Teller, Sturm, 

 Ileinhard, Marezol, Ammon, Niemeyer, Hanstein, 

 Ribbeck, Stolz, Laffier, Draseke, Harms, Krumma- 

 cher, Sailer, Schleiermacher, De Wette, Schatter, 

 Tzschirner, and others, many of whom are highly 

 distinguished in other brandies of literature. The 

 elegant prose literature, and in particular the Ger- 

 man novel, had been improved by the endeavours of 

 Gottsched.and the many critical journals of his time. 

 Haller published his Usong, and other political no- 

 vels, and Gellert his Life of the Swedish Countess 

 Gv the first example of a representation of domestic 

 life. At the same time, he improved the epistolary 

 style. The novels of Richardson were translated into 

 German by Dusch. Hermes wrote many successful 

 works in the style of Richardson. The novel be- 

 came the favourite branch of the German authors, 

 for the purposes of amusement, or of moral, philoso- 

 phical, and political instruction. Engel, E. J. Mul 

 ler, Nicolai, Sebaldus Nothanker, A. G. Meissner, 

 J. H. Jung, F. Schultz, are interesting novelists. 

 Naubhard and Fessler wrote historical novels, whilst 

 Miller's Sigwart was distinguished for its excessive 

 sentimentality. Aug. Lafontaine followed his first 

 interesting and original novels with an endless flood 

 of inferior imitations of the first. Jacobi and Fries 

 wrote philosophical novels. Doctor Jung published 

 religious novels and tales ; Pestalozzi, a tale called 

 Lienhand and Gertrude. F. Klinger is a satirical 

 novelist. Though Wieland's Greek heroes and he- 

 roines frequently philosophize, they do it with an 

 Attic grace, and generally with Attic wit. He gave 

 to the stiff prose of his time the ease and beauty of 

 nature, though he often wrote with too much negli- 

 gence. Goethe, after his Sorrows of Werther had 

 powerfully excited the sentimentality of that period, 

 gave, in his JVilhelm Meister, to the most various 

 situations of life a high poetical interest, by the spi- 

 rit with which he analyzed and harmoniously ar- 

 ranged their elements, and by the rich simplicity of 

 his language. He is a master in narrative and de- 

 scriptive prose. Jean Paul Frederich Richter over- 

 flows with wit and original humour. Virtuous en- 

 thusiasm, and the tenderest love of mankind, breathe 

 from his deep reflections, as well as from his charm- 

 ing details of humble life, and his attacks on the; 

 crimes and follies of our time. Novalis expressed 

 his mystical feelings, in the novel Heinrich von Offer- 

 dingen, in inspired language, full of romantic simpli- 

 city. Wagner gave philosophical views and pictu- 

 resque situations of life, in a dignified and animated 

 style. Thummel and Clauren were two writers of a 

 sentimental and witty, but graceful frivolity. While 

 Charles Hoffmann gave vent, in comic and passionate 

 description, to his sparkling humour and his feverish 

 melancholy, Theresa von Huber described, in the 

 most refined language, the manners of the higher 

 classes, and of religious sects. Carolina von Pichler 

 is also to be mentioned as an elegant and highly in- 

 teresting authoress. Besides these, there is a num- 

 ber of very interesting novels, of as different a ten- 

 dency as the style and the talents of the authors are 

 various, the names of which cannot be mentioned 



