xlvi 



RISE AND PROGRESS 



satirical .pastoral ,rornanti c ,amatory ,aud even dra- 

 matic subjects. Rosenplut,* an heraldic painter, 

 the Thespis of the German stage, belonged to their 

 society ; but its most renowned member, at a 

 later period, was JOHN SACHS, f a shoemaker, the 

 author of upwards of six thousand pieces ; whose 

 tediousness and insipidity, in spite of Schlegel's 

 extravagant praise of them, serve only to verify 

 an ancient proverb. 



The erection of universities, at Heidelberg, 

 Prague, Vienna, Erfurt, Wurzburg, Leipsic, in 

 rapid succession,:}: did nothing to ameliorate the 

 German taste. Their energies were expended 

 upon empty whims, unmeaning words, and 

 frivolous distinctions. If some tokens of a 

 better spirit were discernible, it was in but a 

 single department of letters, and through means 

 of one or two individuals, who soared above the 

 general standard. Hugh of Trymberg, about 

 the year 1300, and Boner, nearly fifty years 

 after him, by their moral satires and their fables, 

 prepared the way for REYNARD THE Fox, a 

 specimen of the comic epos, which proved at 

 last that wit, humour, shrewdness, and invention, 

 were not extinct in Germany. Whether Henry 

 of Alkmar, or Nicolaus Baumann were the writer 

 of this popular poem ; and whether the first out- 

 line of its plan belong to the Dutch or to the 

 Germans ; there is no question as to the skill 

 and boldness with which the author, in the Prise - 

 land dialect, and in rhymes succinct and uncon- 

 strained, converts the kingdom of beasts, who 

 epeak and act like men, into an allegorical satire 

 upon the vices of the high and low, the wiles of 

 courtiers, the excesses of the clergy, and the 

 whole " form and pressure " of his times. Alle- 

 gory, though managed with less ease, and through 

 the personification of abstract qualities, reigns 

 likewise in the Theuerdank of Melchior Pfin- 

 zing;|| but the hero and patron of that poet, 

 MAXIMILIAN I.,^[ who was himself an author, and 

 who once more exhibited the spectacle of learn- 

 ing and zeal for its advancement in union with 

 imperial rank, deserves better than his eulogist, 

 to be named as standing on the border between 

 two epochs. 



German prose, which has always lagged in 

 the rear of German poetry, was naturally more 

 tardy in its first growth. Frederick II., and 

 subsequently Rudolph of Habsburg, gave it as 

 much sanction as could be derived from its use 

 in public documents. The thirteenth and four- 



A. D. 1450. t Born A. D. 1494. 



t Heidelberg, A. D. 1346. Prague, 1348. Vienna, 1388. 

 Erfurt, 1392. Wiirzburg, 1403. Leipsic, 1409. 



{ A. D. 1470. D A. D. 14811536. 



T Emperor A. D. 14931519. 



t el-nth centuries witnessed some feeble attempts 

 in history : Tauler, a Dominican of Strassburg, 

 who died there in 1361, preached sermons not 

 destitute of eloquence : but ALBERT DURBR,** 

 so distinguished in the practice of art, was also, 

 by his writings on its theory, the real founder of 

 prose composition in his country. And the 

 mention of this eminent person again conducts 

 us to the age and the court of Maximilian. 



The three divisions of the BRITISH ISLES ; 

 England, whose language, drawing without 

 scruple from the resources of other tongues, and 

 transcending all of modern date in force and 

 variety, has established itself as supreme through- 

 out a great empire ; Scotland, which though 

 labouring under many disadvantages, and never 

 able to compete with its more fortunate sister in 

 some branches of learning, has yet matched her 

 proudest names in intellectual strength and en- 

 terprise ; Ireland, renowned during the middle 

 age for scholastic eminence, and amid the 

 miseries and distractions of her more recent 

 annals, shining at intervals with genius of so 

 bright a ray, that it needed not the contrast of 

 surrounding darkness to augment its brilliancy ; 

 these are the regions that furnish a candid inquirer 

 the most valid reasons for doubting whether the 

 lustre of ancient Greece itself has not been 

 equalled in later times. In ENGLAND, it is 

 true, the early promise of the Saxon literature 

 was blighted. Following in the train of other 

 adverse circumstances, the Norman conquest was 

 sufficient to keep down, for upwards of two hun- 

 dred years, the most genial element of our 

 tongue. From William's invasion to the death of 

 Edward I., ft Norman French was the language 

 of the court, of law, and, to a great extent, of 

 composition : Latin held its place with church- 

 men and chroniclers : Anglo-Saxon was cherished 

 chiefly by the people. But in the course ot 

 Edward's reign, the popular branch of the English 

 constitution put on its outline ; and the weight 

 acquired by cities gave consideration to the form 

 of speech employed by their inhabitants. So 

 were ushered in the best glories of the age of 

 Edward III., and the parliamentary recognition 

 of the English tongue as that of legislation. 

 Up to that period England had received as large 

 an addition to her vocabulary as the familiar 

 intercourse of the Normans with her previous 

 population could confer ; and the dissemination 

 of the romantic poetry had incited her minstrels 

 to translate or imitate, in their own idiom, the 

 models supplied through the same channel. Not 

 to dwell, however, on their ballads ; nor on the 



A. D. 14711527. 

 H That is from A. D. 1066, to A. D. 1307. 



