116 



SCHILLER. 



pupils among the sons of his officers, and offered to 

 take young Schiller. His father could not well 

 refuse such an offer; and, in 1773, Schiller \vas 

 received into the Charle-->rlun>l, saeiitieing his 

 own inclinations to the interest of his parents, 

 lie studied jurisprudence at this institution, in 

 which the pupils were kept so entirely separate 

 from the world, that they were permitted to see 

 no females, except their mothers or very young 

 sisters, who visited them on Sundays. Thus the 

 influences, under which Schiller's talents were 

 developed, were precisely opposite to those which 

 operated on Gothe. The plan of the school was 

 afterwards extended, and medicine allowed to be 

 studied in it; and the school itself was transferred 

 to Stuttgard. Schiller now seized on the oppor- 

 tunity offered, and, in 1775, began to study medi- 

 cine and Latin zealously. His teachers did not all 

 consider him as possessing uncommon talents ; but 

 the duke used to say, " Let that boy alone; he 

 will come to something." When sixteen years old, 

 he published a translation of part of Virgil's ^Eneid 

 in hexameters, in a Suabian periodical; but poetry 

 was a forbidden fruit for him and his companions, 

 and attracted them, therefore, the more. Some 

 poetical books found their way, by stealth, into the 

 school the works of Klopstock, Gerstenberg, 

 Gothe, and Lessing. In 1773, Schiller began an 

 epic, the hero of which was Moses ; but he destroyed 

 it at a later period. Shakspeare kindled in him a 

 passion for the drama. He undertook two dramatic 

 compositions, which he afterwards burned. Only 

 some passages of one were retained in the Robbers. 

 For two years he studied medicine very ardently, and 

 wrote a Latin treatise On the Philosophy of Phy- 

 siology, which was never printed. In 1777, at the 

 age of eighteen years, he began to write his Rob- 

 bers a composition with many striking faults; but 

 which, nevertheless, awakens a powerful interest. 

 Schiller himself says of it, that " he dared to 

 describe men long before he knew any thing of 

 them within his grated cell ;" but, notwithstanding 

 this, it contains some deep views and admirable 

 displays of character. In 1780, when he had 

 finished his studies, he wrote a treatise, entitled 

 Essay on the Connexion of the Animal and Intel- 

 lectual Nature of Man, printed in 1821, in the 

 Monatschrift of Berlin. In the same year, he was 

 appointed physician to a regiment in Stuttgard. 

 Whilst in the school, he had been able to compose 

 only by stealth, and had often reported himself 

 sick, in order to have the use of the lamp in 

 the sick-room, while writing his Robbers, not 

 being allowed a light in his own room. Now 

 he enjoyed, for the first time, some degree of 

 libe-ty. His Robbers was printed at his own ex- 

 pen*e, as he could not find any publisher who would 

 take the risk; and, in 1781, he was requested to 

 change the play in certain particulars, so as to adapt 

 it for the stage at Manheim. In 1782, it was per- 

 formed at Manheim, Schiller having willingly made 

 changes wherever he could be convinced that they 

 were improvements. Not being able to obtain 

 leave of absence, to go out of the limits of the state, 

 he left his regiment without permission, saw his 

 piece performed, and returned with the deepest 

 conviction of the unfitness of his present situation 

 for his talents ; particularly as the duke had asked 

 him, after the publication of the Robbers, to show 

 him all his poetical productions, and, upon his re- 

 fusal, had prohibited him from publishing any thing 

 more, except medical works. In 1783, the Robbers 



was performed again at Manheim and he again at- 

 tended the performance, but, this time, was dis- 

 covered, and put under arrest During his detention, 

 he formed the plan of his Cabale und Liebe, ami 

 conceived the idea of his Conspiracy of Fiesco. He- 

 was now convinced that he must leave Stuttgard, 

 unless he should choose to sacrifice his poetry, the 

 charm of his life ; but how could he quit the army, 

 when he had so long enjoyed an education at the 

 public expense? It was not probable that the duke 

 would allow him to go. Some friends proposed to 

 him to propitiate the duke by a panegyrical poem; 

 but, much as he wished to gain his favour, chiefly 

 on account of his beloved parents, he could not 

 bring himself to use these means ; besides, he knew 

 that even if the duke should allow him to print 

 poetry again, there was no safety in the exercise of 

 the privilege. Schubart was sighing on Hohenas- 

 perg, on account of his Furstengruft, in which he 

 had painted, in strong colours, the burial-place of 

 princes. He now thought of deserting but the 

 feeling of gratitude towards the duke, and the fear 

 that his father, who, with his family, altogether de- 

 pended upon the duke, would be made to suffer on 

 his account, caused a great struggle in his mind. 

 At last, the impossibility of living without poetry 

 made him resolve to quit his situation. In 1"^-, 

 he went, under an assumed name, to Franconia, 

 where he was received by the mother of some 

 gentlemen who had studied with him. He lived 

 in great solitude, in a somewhat wild country, in a 

 village called Bauerbach, in order to remain con- 

 cealed and secure against the possible persecutions 

 of the duke. In this situation he finished his Fiesco 

 and Cabale und Liebe. In 1783, he went to Man- 

 heim, and conceived the idea of Don Carlos and 

 Maria Stuart. During this period, he also composed 

 the Battle, the Infanticide, and poems to Laura. 

 In Darmstadt, he won the favour of the prince by 

 reading to him some scenes from Don Carlos. In 

 1785, he went to Leipsic; towards autumn to 

 Dresden, where intercourse with men of talents, 

 the charming scenery, the beautiful gallery, and the 

 library, detained him until 1787. Here he became 

 acquainted with the father of the poet Korner. 

 This gentleman has since written a biographical 

 sketch of Schiller. During this period, he studied 

 all the works which he could procure, relating to 

 the history of Philip II., to prepare himself for his 

 Don Carlos ; and these studies led to his History of 

 the Revolt of the United Netherlands (Leipsic, 

 1788, vol. i.) His history of the most remarkable 

 Revolutions and Conspiracies, of which only one 

 volume was published, was also produced at this 

 period. Don Carlos first appeared at Leipsic, 1787. 

 He himself has written the best and severest 

 critique on this piece, in his Letters on Don Carlos. 

 The Ghostseer (Leipsic, 1789) was probably caused 

 by the tales respecting Cagliostro. In 1787, Schil- 

 ler went to Weimar, where Wieland and Herder 

 received him in a friendly manner. In 1788, he 

 met Gothe, after the return of the latter from Italy. 

 He had seen him but once before, in his boyhood, 

 when Gothe, accompanied by the duke of Wiirtem- 

 berg, visited the academy where he was studying. 

 He did not like him at first: partly through his 

 influence, however, he received, in 1789, a profes- 

 sorship of philosophy at Jena. Schiller entered on 

 his office with the discourse, What is universal his- 

 i tory, and for what is it studied? He now devoted 

 himself to history ; and the few poetical productions 

 which he wrote at this period are mostly of a his- 



