Dryden's Relation to Germany 85 



" Was einst Horaz, Homer, Virgil und Pindar war, 

 Das stellt uns Schlesien in dem Opitz dar." 



Gottsched reviewed the work and would have it read :^* 



" Was Hesiod, Horaz, Petrarch und Ronsard war, 

 Und Spenzer noch dazu, das stellt uns Opitz dar." 



Of the other lyrics of Dryden his Roundelay (1693) was trans- 

 lated and published in the Neuen Wiener Miisenalmanach in the 

 year 1800.^^ Nicolai also translated the last eight lines of the 

 poem dedicated to the painter, Sir Godfrey Kneller, which he 

 found in Warton's Essay.^'^ The poem written at the death of 

 Mrs. Killigrew, Eschenburg pronounces a beautiful lyrical poem, 

 and adds that in the lighter lyrical songs Dryden was successful, 

 which he exemplifies by adding the English text oi \ns A Song}'^ 

 Blankenburg regards the Ode to Mrs. Killigrew^^ one of the best 

 English odes. Bouterwek believes that Dryden was not a lyricist 

 who really sang from the fullness of his heart, but at times was in 

 a happy lyrical mood, and pronounced the poems written in a 

 lighter vein " vortrefflich."^^ 



Notwithstanding the fact that Dryden no longer ranks as a great 

 lyricist in England and Germany, it cannot be denied that in the 

 eighteenth century he was ranked by both English and German 

 critics as a lyricist of the first magnitude. The popularity of Alex- 

 ander's Feast in England, upon which the fame of Dryden as a 

 lyricist primarily rests, paved the way for his popularity in Ger- 

 many. The change in the nature of German poetry, the revival 

 of folk-songs and music, and the translation of favorable English 

 criticism of Dryden during the second half of the century, also 

 accounts for his cordial reception. The favorable attitude of the 

 German critics, and the numerous translations convince us that 

 Dryden's lyrics combined with Handel's musical compositions 



8* Critische Beytrdge, IV, part i, p. 514, Leipzig, 1741. 



85 See Goedeke, VH, p. 703. 



86 Gesammelte Schriften, VI, 1763. 



87 Loco citato, V, p. 61, 1790. 



88 Loco citato, II, p. 446a, 1796. 



89 Loco citato, VIII, p. 51, 1810. 



373 



