/ 
“at the 
> nt 
mig le 
646 
This melo-drama of three acts has 
been performed feveral times with great 
applaufe, on the boards of one of the 
many little theatres with which Paris 
abounds. The plot, however, is by far 
too improbable; and although it may be 
tolerated’ perhaps on the flage, it cannot 
be read without difguft in, the clofet. 
Fritz, the hero of the piece, having car- 
ried off and deflowered a woman of fa- 
mily, fhe finds it neceflary for her honour 
to efpoufe her yavifher, who proves to be 
Retrofpect of German Literature. . 
’ 
a monfter in every fenfe of the winils 
After having tpent her little fortune, he 
ab{conds, and forges a number of papers, 
all tending to certify his death, according 
to the ufual legal forms; and his pre- 
tended widow having been married in the 
mean time to a man of fortune, he re- 
turns on her death, which happens foon. 
after, and claims all her property, although 
he was at that very pericd an outlaw, in 
confequence of the robberies he had com- 
mitted on the highway. 
RETROSPECT OF GERMAN LITERATURE.. 
EE 
BELLES-LETTRES. 
N the hour ot unftrained focial fef- 
i tivity, the character and genius of 
an individual is moft openly difplayed: 
and in judging of the genius and cha- 
racter ofa nation, the fureft guide and 
criterion are the effufions of the poet,and — 
other works of polite literature. Scienti- 
fic knowledge may pafs unchanged from 
one people to the other; and therefore 
it neither forms, nor can be confidered 
as a proper index of, national charac- 
ter. But poetry cannot be thus tranf- 
mitted by trani plantation or ingrafting 
from one nation to the other. Even 
when the poets of one country, with 
the utmoft diligence, purpofely endea- 
vour to give a faithful transfufion of 
the mafterly productions of | foreign 
bards, they involuntarily and uncon- 
fcioufly imprefs, upon’ what was in- 
tended for an exact copy, the charac- 
ter of their national genius. Hence it 
appears, that correét views of the ftate 
of fine literature among a people may, 
jame time, be confidered as fur- 
nithing important data, whence we 
may eftimate the value of its character. 
In the courfe cf this Retrofpeét we thal] 
frequently have eccafion to recur to. 
theie truths» butit may be of ufe to 
be he exhibited them in a confpicucus 
p! face, On entering upon the OS SCL: 
and thus have pointed out, to the re- 
flea ng reader, a ation whence he 
enjoy a more general and inte- 
refiing view of the w hole, and himfelf 
deduce from his obfervations refults 
which may perhaps have efcaped the 
writer of this areicle. 
die we can {peak in a fatisfactory 
manner of German poetry, it will be 
neceflary firft to give a glance at Ger- 
oe philotopty4 for the Germans are 
become fo philofophical, or at leait ra- 
tlocinating a-people, that they com- 
pofe even good or ee poems in pro- 
portion as they embrace and follow a 
rational or abfurd fyitem of philofo- 
_phizing. This feems a ftrange affer- 
ie : DUEriGds true; as the following 
tement will evince. 
The doétrines of that profoundthink- 
er, Kant, had occafioned a general re- 
volution in the reigning ideas. A 
German has called philotophy the che- 
mifiry of reafon. ‘If this definition: be 
correét, Kant’s critical method of 
pnilofophy may almoft be confidered 
as the great univerfal menftruum, which 
has not yet been found out by the ex- 
periments of phyfical chemiftry.) The 
fyftems of his predeceffors, and with 
them thoufands of errors in every de= 
partment of human knowledge, va- 
nifhed before the irrefiltible force of his 
conclufions. The unavoidable confe- 
quence of this was a general anarchy 
and confufion ; all preceding theories 
having tumbled down like bafelefS fas. 
brics.. Kant himfelf, when he had 
grown old, feemed terrified at the 
effects of his doétrines: and he,’ the 
victorious deftroyer of all fyitems, now 
began te build one himfeif: but ,his 
eaflier doétrines produced the fame 
effect which it isexpeéted the chémical 
univerfal seneremn: when difcovered, 
will produce: for it will diffolve the 
veffel itfe!f, ain which it is collected 
frorn the fill. Kant’s former fcholars 
apphed his principles to the probation 
of his own Jyltem ; ; and it could not 
ftand the te&. His authority now va- 
nithed ; and a hoft of younger literati, 
whoie chief merit confifted in having 
underftood the critical philofophy of 
Kant, now looked down upon him 
with a kind of fupercilioufnels, and 
hatched fyftems of their own, fevera 
of which, as, for inftance, that of a 
certain Fichte, and that of a certain 
Schelling. 
a 
tS 
