S C H 
773 
S C H 
ginated in a real but hopeless attachment to one of the first 
beauties of Dresden, who is said to have sat for the picture 
of the princess Eboli in Don Carlos. The celebrity of the 
thaumaturgic exploits of the conjuror Cagliostro at Paris, 
seems to have given rise to a novel which Schiller now pro¬ 
duced, under the title of Geisterscher, or the Ghost Seer, 
two volumes of which were published. 
The composition of this work seems to have given its 
author a dislike to fictitious writing, and he now resolved to 
devote his mind to the study of history. The composition 
of Don Carlos had led him to study the affairs of Spain 
under Philip II., and he was thus induced to take the Re¬ 
volt of the Netherlands as the subject of his first history. 
While engaged in this work, he projected a more extended 
one under the title of a History of the most remarkable 
Conspiracies and Revolutions in the Middle and Later 
Ages, of which he published the first volume in 1787, but 
it is little more than a translation of St. Real’s Conspiracy 
of Bedmar against Venice. 
Our author had long contemplated a visit to Weimar, 
which he at last effected in 1787. In this literary city re¬ 
sided Goethe, Herder and Wieland. With the two last he 
became extremely intimate; but Goethe, from his dislike of 
the Robbers, avoided an introduction to Schiller. In the 
midst of the best society in Germany, and occupied with 
his historical work, he continued his residence at Weimar. 
His old patroness Madame Von Wollzogen again invited 
him to Bauerbach; and at Rudolstadt, where he staid during 
a part of that visit, he first saw the Fraulein Lengefeld, a 
lady who made a deep impression on his heart, and who 
entertained for him a reciprocal feeling. 
The first volume of his History of the Revolt of the Ne¬ 
therlands appeared in 1788, and while it added greatly to 
his reputation, it obtained for him the more solid advantage 
of a permanent settlement in life. 
A vacancy having taken place in the professorshsp of 
history in the university of Jena, by the resignation of Pro¬ 
fessor Eichorn, Goethe (whose dislike to Schiller terminated 
in a warm friendship) recommended him tp Amelia, the 
regent of Sachsen-Weimar, and along with Voigt, the head 
chaplain of the court, solicited for him the vacant chair. 
This application having been seconded by the general voice, 
Schiller received the appointment and went to Jena in 1789. 
In the February following he married the Fraulein Lengefeld, 
and entered upon a new era in his life. 
Thus occupied with the study of history as his profession, 
he devoted himself to the composition of a History of the 
Thirty Years War, which he published in 1791, and which 
is deemed in Germany his chef-d’osuvre in history. Soon 
after the appearance of this work, Schiller was seized with a 
disorder in the chest, which, though its violence was over¬ 
come, never quitted him during the rest of this life. The 
duties of his class were discharged by proxy, and he was 
obliged to abandon all his historical studies. In this dis¬ 
tressing condition a ray of benevolence shone upon him 
from an unexpected quarter. The hereditary prince, now 
reigning Duke of Holstein Augustenburg, conjunctly with 
the Count Von Schimmelman, conferred on him a pension 
of a thousand crowns for three years, under no other con¬ 
dition than that he should be careful of his health, and 
make every exertion for its recovery. The delicacy and 
politeness with which this act of generosity was proffered, 
touched Schiller more than even the gift itself. 
When the violence of his disease had abated, Schiller 
turned his thoughts into a new channel of speculation,— 
the study of the Kantian philosophy, a subject which had 
agitated all Germany. The views which he was led to take 
of this subject have been published in various treatises, the 
most elaborate of which are th.e essays on Grace and Dig¬ 
nity, on Naive and Sentimental Poetry; the Letters on 
the ^Esthetic Culture of Man; on Magic Art; on the Pa¬ 
thetic; on the Cause of our Delight in Tragic Objects; on 
Employing the Low and Common in Art. 
After conceiving and abandoning a design of writing an 
Vol. XXII. No. 1539. 
epic poem, of which Gustavus Adolphus w.as.to be the sub¬ 
ject, he again returned to the drama, and resolved to com¬ 
pose his Wallenstein. In 1793 he gave up his Thalia, and, 
with the assistance of Goethe, he began a new periodical 
work, under the title of Horen. He also undertook the su¬ 
perintendence of the Musen-Almanach, a kind of work very 
common in Germany, the object of which is to preserve and 
publish annually a series of short poetical effusions collected 
from various quarters. The Musen-Almanach was cele¬ 
brated by a collection of epigrams called the Xenien, or 
Xenia, a sort of German Dunciad, directed against the bad 
taste, dullness, and affectation, of a set of inferior authors 
who had viewed with a jealous eye the union of two such 
men as Goethe and Schiller. Although the Xenia were 
never completed, yet the parts which did appear excited a 
great commotion among the dull malignants against whom 
they were directed. The Musen-Almanach, in which they 
appeared in 1797, was continued till Schiller left Jena, and 
the Horen ceased some months before. 
The great work of Wallenstein, at which he had been busy 
for seven years, at last appeared in 1797, and is considered 
by competent judges to be the best performance that he had 
yet produced. It is regarded indeed by some as the greatest 
dramatic work of the eighteenth century. It has been 
translated into French by Benjamin Constant, and the last 
two parts of it into English by Mr. Coleridge. 
Alter the publication of Wallenstein, Schiller removed 
to Weimar in quest of a milder winter climate ; and on this 
occasion the pension which he enjoyed from the Duke of. 
Weimar was increased, as it had been four years before 
when he received an invitation to the university of Tubin¬ 
gen. He shared along with Goethe, the task of superin¬ 
tending the affairs of the stage. He remodelled, in con¬ 
junction with Goethe, his Don Carlos; and he now 
composed bis Mary Stewart, a tragedy of much beauty, 
which appeared in 1800. In 1801 was published his Maid 
of Orleans, which is considered as one of the finest of 
modern dramas, and is supposed to evince more genius 
than any of the other productions of its author. It was 
highly popular on the stage, and added greatly to his re¬ 
putation. 
In 1803 he published his Bride of Messina, in which he 
has introduced the ancient chorus; but though it contains 
many tine pieces of lyrical poetry, yet it has found no imi¬ 
tator, and few admirers. 
In tire following year appeared his Wilhelm Tell, which 
is considered by his biographer as one of his very finest 
dramas, and “ as exhibiting some of the highest triumphs 
which his genius, combined with his art, ever realised.” 
“ Less comprehensive and ambitious than Wallenstein, less 
ethereal than the Maid of Orleans, it has a look of nature 
and substantial truth which neither of its rivals can boast of.” 
In 1804, when Schiller was returning from Berlin, where 
he had been witnessing the exhibition of Wilhelm Tell, he 
experienced a violent attack of his former complaint; but 
he escaped its fury, and again resumed his labours. He 
executed various translations from the French and Italian, 
sketched a tragedy on the history of Perkin Warbeck, and 
finished two acts on Dimitri of Russia; but in the midst of 
these occupations he was again arrested by disease. The 
cold spring of 1805 brought back his complaint, and, not¬ 
withstanding all the assistance which medical skill could 
give, he expired on the evening of the 9th of May, in the 
46th year of his age, leaving behind him a widow, two sons, 
and two daughters. 
There were found among his papers his letters to Dalberg, 
which were published at Calsruee in a small duodecimo, in 
1819. See The Life of Frederick Schiller, comprehend¬ 
ing an examination of his Works. London, 1825. 
SCHILLING, a money of account, and copper or base 
silver coin in several parts of Germany. 
SCHILLINGSFURST, a small town of Germany, in Ba¬ 
varian Franconia. Population 1500; 11 miles west of Ans- 
pach. 
9 L 
SCHILLINGSTADT, 
