8 ■ Milton D. Baumgartner 



Ironically he adds that out of courtesy he would mention neither 

 the real nor the assumed names of the opponent who attacked 

 him first without cause in order to give them "die voUige Frey- 

 heit in kurtzer Zeit mit ihren Schriften vergessen zu werden."^® 



In practice there is little difference between Dryden and Wer- 

 nicke in the manner of satirizing. Both were by nature too harsh 

 and too severe. In the foreword to Ahsolom and Achitophel, 

 Dryden says : " I can write severely with more ease than I can 

 gently." Wernicke likewise admits that he was inclined to apply 

 the lash. He maintains that in his early satirical epigrams, " hat 

 man die Laster eifrig und gleichsam mit der Peitsche in der Hand 

 verfolget";^" and he tacitly admits his harshness by suppressing 

 the sharpest criticism in the foreword of the second edition of 

 Hans Sachs. Similarly there is little difference in the use of 

 real names. With the exception of Mac Flecknoe, Dryden 

 nowhere names his opponent, while in Hans Sachs Wernicke 

 uses the transparent anagram " Stelpo " for Postel. 



The influence of Dryden upon Wernicke is evident from his 

 accidental choice of Mac Flecknoe. He tells us in the preface 

 how he chanced upon it when preparing a reply to Postel's son- 

 net. "Als ich nun mit diesen Gedanken im Schwange ging, so 

 gerieth ich unversehens unter meinen zusammengesammelten 

 Schrifften auf folgendes sinnreiches Gedicht eines beriihmten Eng- 

 lischen Poeten, worinnen er eine Person aufgefiihret hat, welche 

 meinem Widersacher in alien Stiicken gleichet, und welche, iiber- 

 dem, damit er sich an der Vergleichung nicht stossen moge, des 

 damaligen Konigs von Engelland wohlbestelter gekronter Poet 

 war. Die Versuchung war zu grosz, dass ich derselben hatte 

 widerstehen konnen, und das Gedicht kaum iiberlesen, dasz ich 

 schon dasselbe in unsere Sprache zu iibersetzen und dem Teutschen 

 Leser die unschuldige Kurtzweil zu gonnen den Schluss gefas- 

 set."^^ Wernicke acknowledges his debt to Dryden in the fore- 

 word of both editions of Hans Sachs. In the first he says: 

 "Was im iibrigen die tjbersetzung dieses Gedichtes betrifft, so 



29 Palaestra, LXXI, p. 119. 



30 Ibid., p. 117. 



31 See Elias, p. 220 ff . 



296 



