KAHL THEODOR KORN-ER. 
133 
expert swimmer, and as time went on a formidable swordsman. 
He was also a most accomplished musician, and it was his delight 
to wander forth with his guitar in his hand, and accompanying 
with its strains his own verses. His greatest friend was Schiller, 
and he had therefore a very wholesome horror of mediocrity. 
Fearing that his son might become a mere poetaster, the elder 
Korner attempted to divert Theodor's thoughts to other pursuits 
than verse-making. He was destined for mining, which has long 
been a profession in Germany, while in England it has been carried 
on by the rule of thumb. At the University of Leipzig he got 
into a scrape. The aristocratic students there refused to give the 
burgher students the satisfaction " of gentlemen. The burghers 
felt this acutely. They could not bear to be deprived of the 
luxury of having their noses slit by a " Von" or of having their 
faces laid open by the owner of a dozen quarterings. Korner es- 
poused the burghers' cause, and with their assistance he attacked 
a party of " tufts " cudgelled them, and put them to flight. They, 
thinking that their honour would be less tarnished by meeting 
their opponents than by submitting to another cudgelling, agreed 
to fight in the orthodox university fashion. Korner was honoured 
by being selected as the burgher champion. He and his aris- 
tocratic adversary first tried pistols with no result, then resorted 
to swords with such effect that Korner fell bathed in his own 
blood. On his recovery he had to leave Leipzig, and after a brief 
stay at Berlin went to Vienna. Here his poetical genius got the 
mastery of him, and his father, after a friendly caution against too 
rapid production, allowed him to have his way. His first play 
was so successful that it obtained for him a post at the Court 
Theatre. His second piece, "Zriny," the Hungarian Leonidas, 
so charmed that prince of critics, Goethe, that he had it acted at 
Weimar, which was about the greatest honour that could then be 
conferred upon a young poet. About this time Korner became 
betrothed to a beautiful girl, and thus blessed with love and fame 
life seemed to be infinitely bright for him. But no true German 
could be perfectly happy at this time. Prussia especially was 
still suffering the effects of the disaster of Jena, and the result- 
ing treaty of Tilsit. Then ensued the memorable retreat from 
Moscow, and as the grand army hurried back through Prussia, 
with troops worn and wasted and wan, it soon became evident that 
a great calamity had overtaken Prussia's detested foe. Straightway 
