323 



KOSEGAHTEN KOTZEBUE. 



Poles, which appeared uiulcr his name in the Moni- 

 tfw of November 1, ISOti, he declared to be spurious. 

 Having purcliased an estate in the ueighbourliood of 

 Pountainebleau, he lived Uiere in retirement till 1814. 

 April 9, 1814, lie wrote to the Emperor Alexander 

 to ask of him an amnesty for the Poles in foreign 

 lands, and to request him to become king of Poland, 

 and to give to the country a free constitution, like 

 that of Britain. In 1815, he travelled with lord 

 Stewart to Italy, and, in 1816, he settled at Soleure. 

 In 1817, he abolished slavery on his estate of Siec- 

 nowicze, in Poland. He afterwards lived in retire- 

 ment, enjoying the society of a few friends. Agri- 

 culture was his favourite occupation. A full with 

 his horse from a precipice, not far from Vevay, occa- 

 sioned his death, October 16, 1817, at Soleure. He 

 was never married. In 1818, prince Jablonowski, 

 at the expense of the emperor Alexander, removed 

 his body, which, at the request of the senate, the 

 emperor allowed to be deposited in the tomb of the 

 kings at Cracow. A monument was also erected 

 to his memory, and the women of Poland went into 

 mourning for his loss. 



KOSEGARTEN, Louis THEOBOL, a poet and 

 preacher, was born February 1, 1758, at Greves- 

 nuihlen, a small town of Mecklenburg, studied at 

 Griefswald, was for a long time a tutor in the family 

 of a nobleman in Pomerania, became, in 1792, a 

 preacher at Altenkirchen, in the island of Rugen, 

 and was made, in 1793, doctor of theology. Upon 

 this patriarchal island he lived in the enjoyment of 

 nature, his family, poetry, literature, and in a faithful 

 discharge of the duties of his office, a number of 

 happy years, till he received, in 1807, an invitation 

 to a professorship at Griefswald. He died there, 

 October 26, 1818, rector of the university, in the 

 sixty-first year of his age. The fruits of his leisure 

 hours his romances, for instance, Ida von Plessen 

 (2 vols.) ; his rhapsodies, his legends, his epic-idylic 

 poems Jukunde, and Inselfahrt; his patriotic songs ; 

 several translations, of which Richardson's Clarissa 

 is the most distinguished have obtained for him no 

 mean rank in German literature. His muse, often 

 full of natural power and fire, frequently runs into 

 bombast and prolixity. His collected poems ap- 

 peared at Griefswald, 1824, in twelve volumes. 



KOSLOFF, IWAN, a Russian nobleman, born 

 about 1780, passed his youth in the great world. 

 In the social circles of the nobles of Moscow and 

 St Petersburg, he led an animated, rather than a 

 busy life. His genius was not as yet awakened; 

 still he loved literature, was master of the French 

 and Italian languages, and familiar with their classics. 

 But he had recourse to these studies only when in 

 want of occupation, and to recruit his mind exhausted 

 by dissipation. His activity was mainly devoted to 

 the pleasures of this world, and the care of his 

 family. When about forty years old, he was attacked 

 with a severe sickness, which deprived him of the 

 use of his feet. Removed thus at once from the 

 company which he loved, loneliness compelled him 

 to seek in himself an indemnification for the loss of 

 worldly pleasure. This stroke did not prostrate him: 

 on the contrary, his mind took a higher flight. He 

 became a poet. The ideal world which he now 

 inhabited indemnified him fully for the reality of 

 which he was deprived. Upon his bed of pain he 

 learned to know himself, and discovered in himself a 

 talent hitherto unknown to him. In a short time he 

 made himself familiar with the English language and 

 literature. Yet a more severe trial awaited him : he 

 lost his sight. This misfortune did not depress his 

 courage : on the contrary, he made it a means of 

 moral and spiritual elevation. With his blindness 

 burst forth his poetic spirit. He soon commenced 



the study of the German language, and made himself 

 acquainted with the classical poetry of Germany. 

 Since then Kosloff has lived in the world of recollec- 

 tion and of fancy. He is endowed with an extraor- 

 dinary memory, and retains every thing which he 

 learns. He writes poetical epistles to his friends, 

 who gather around him, not to cheer him, but to 

 delight themselves with his conversation. That pro- 

 vidence which veiled his eyes, said to his soul, " Let 

 there be light." His conversation is rich and full of 

 spirit. Notwithstanding the trifling character of his 

 early life, he takes a lively interest in all that is 

 noble, great, and manly. Kosloff has made some 

 very good translations from English and Italian 

 poetry. His Monk, in poetic power, reminds one of 

 Byron's Giaour. His translation of the Bride of 

 Abydos was published at St Petersburg, 1826. Kos- 

 loft' has of late been employed on a great work, the 

 materials of which are taken from Russian history, in 

 the time of the empress Anne. 



KOTTAH (Sanscrit, for dwelling}; the ending 

 of a great number of Hindoo geographical names, 

 like the German Heim (q. v.) and the English ham. 

 (q. v.) 



KOTZEBUE, AUGUSTUS FREDERIC FERDINAND 

 VON, a prolific German writer, was born May 3, 1761, 

 at Weimar. At the age of sixteen years he entered 

 the university of Jena, where his inclination for the 

 drama, already awakened at Weimar by the cele- 

 brated company of players in that city, was confirmed 

 by his connexion with a private theatre. The mar- 

 riage of his sister to a gentleman of Duisburg induced 

 him to enter the university, then at that place ; but, 

 in 1779, he returned to Jena, and studied law; with- 

 out, however, ceasing to compose for the theatre. 

 On leaving the university he was admitted a lawyer. 

 He imitated Schiller, Goethe, Wieland, Hermes, 

 Brandes, and Musseus. In 1781, he went to St 

 Petersburg, at the suggestion of the Prussian minister 

 at that court, and became secretary to the governor- 

 general, Von Bawr, who died two years afterwards. 

 He had, however, recommended Kotzebue to the 

 empress, and she became his patroness. He was 

 finally appointed president of the government of 

 Esthonia, and, as such, was ennobled; inconsequence 

 of which he wrote his work On Nobility, in which 

 he defended this institution, after having often 

 attacked it as a poet. In 1790, on a journey to Pyr- 

 mont, he published his notorious Doctor Bahrdt with 

 the Iron Forehead, under the name of Knigge, by 

 which he sank greatly in public esteem. In 1795, 

 he retired to a country place about thirty-five miles 

 from Narva, in Esthonia, but soon after removed to 

 Weimar, with a pension of 1000 guilders, and again 

 returned to Petersburg, where his sons were edu- 

 cated in the imperial military school. Although he 

 had a passport, yet, on his arrival at the frontiers, he 

 was arrested, and sent to Siberia, without learning 

 the reason. A small drama of his, an indirect eulogy 

 of Paul I., was translated into Russian, and laid, in 

 manuscript, before the emperor, who was so delighted 

 with it, that he recalled Kotzebue, and took him into 

 favour. After the death of this emperor, he again 

 went to Germany. In 1802, he was chosen member 

 of the academy of sciences of Berlin, by what 

 intrigues we do not know,. and, with Merkel, formed 

 a party against Goethe and Schlegel, in which contest 

 the latter, of course, were much superior. In 1806, 

 he went again to Russia, to avoid the French, and 

 lived, from 1807, on his estate Schwartze, in Estho- 

 nia, never ceasing to write against Napoleon. In 

 1813, as counsellor of state, he followed the Russian 

 head quarters, constantly writing to excite the 

 nations against Napoleon, and published, in Berlin, 

 the Russian-German National Gazette (P'olksblatt). 



