44 
was firained to the utmoft ; every pecu- 
}iarity, every extravagance of playful na- 
ture, was drowned in the uniform mea- 
fure of rigid order. A ftranger to the 
fair-fex, for the doors of this inftiturion 
are opened only to females before they be- 
gin to be interefting or when they chave- 
ceafed to be fo—a ftranger to man and to 
the viciffitudes of human life, my pencil 
could not fail to mifs the intermedia‘e 
line between angels and devils, and to pro- 
duce a monfter, which fortunately did not 
exift in the world, and to which I with 
immortality for no other reafon than to 
perpetuate the memory of a birth proceed- 
ing from the unnatural commerce of Ge- 
nius and Subordination—I al.ude to “* The 
Robbers.’? This piece has appeared — 
The whole moral world has charged the 
author withireafon. His only defence is 
the climate under which it was born.— 
If among the multiplied cenfures of the 
Robbers only one is juft, it is this, that I 
prefumed to delineate mankind, to years 
before I had any intercow fe with t hem,” 
The feniation excited by the Robbers 
is well known. It produced either en- 
thefiafm or horror; thofe whofe juft dif- 
cernment led them ta take a middle cou fe 
were but very few. Powerful exertions 
were particularly made to fupprefs this 
piay, when a number of boys at Leipzig 
were induced by itto runaway, as they 
thought, from the rod, inftead of which 
they only haitenedto meet it. ‘Their plan 
was to colleét a band of robbers in the fo- 
refts of Bohemia ; but they did not pro- 
ceed far in the execution, for they had 
{carcely flolen a prayer-book and a piftel, 
when they fell into the hands of jaftice, 
which flogged out of them this violent is- 
elinaticn to lie in ambufh far poor travel- 
Jers and to lighten them of their burdens. 
Circumftances of this nature contributed 
not aliitle to Schilier’s early ceputation.— 
His later produGtions more and more dif- 
played his brilliant talents ; and even his 
{mailer poems in the Anthology which he 
publifhed conjointiy with Scaudlin, evinced 
@ poet fuch as Germany fearcely pofiefled 
befides, fo that his reputation was very 
foon eitablifhed. 
Schiller now wifhed to fee fomething 
more of the world. Without other for- 
tune, the fortune of his genius infpired 
him with confidence in himfelf ; and his 
fame gave him reafon to hope that he 
fhould every where meet with friends.— 
He left Mannheim. At Mentz,to which 
city he repaired, he had the good fortune 
to become acquainted with that illuftrious 
patron of the arts and {ciences, the Duke 
Memoirs of Schiller, the German Dramatift. 
[Feb. Is 
of Weimar, to whom he read the firftt a& 
of his Don Carlos. Soon after tits inter- 
view he vifited Saxony, where Drefden 
captivated him by its charming fituation, 
its treafures of art, its rich hbrary, -and 
the many men of genius whom he found 
there. Schiller now plunged into life, in 
order to drink of it in copious draughts. 
Tt muft not however be imagined, that, 
like the voluptuary, he indulged to the en- 
joyment of uninterrupted pleafure. For 
weeks and months he was buried among 
his books, which he {carcely quitted for a 
moment ; he then refted for a time, but 
appeared only to have defifted from his la- 
bours. With great geniufes it ts well 
known that thefe paufes are only moments 
in which they colle&t. their energies, in. 
order to apply themfelves with increafed 
ardour to their. darling purfvits. Such 
was the cafe with Schiller. At fuch 
times he wandered throuzh iBe country, 
, where the grandeur of nature reanimaced 
his genius, and his heart throbbed with 
new force and life in folitude. One of 
his favourite amufements was to take an 
excur4onin a boat on the beautiful river, 
efpecially during ftorms, when the fiream 
rofe in feaming ‘billows, and all the ele- 
ments appeared in.coefliét. “The harther 
the thunder, the greater was his de- 
light. Once, when the moft awful peals 
Teverberated among the mountains, and 
the tempeftuous wind lafhed the ftream 
into lofty waves, he was fo enrap‘ured 
with the terrific grandeur of nature, that 
he could not forbear to hail the fcene with 
an exulting Bravo ! 
Winter deprived him of thefe pleafures, 
and reftored him to fociallife. His heart, 
formed for friendfhip, loved to conneét it- 
felf with men; he was communicative, 
and was ome of the few who without fear 
of lowering himfelf in the eftimation of 
his friends, darft open to therm his whole 
heart. Let him then loudly rejoice over 
the flowing box], in the circle of friend- 
fhip—how ealy is it fer fuch a man, at 
fuch a time, to tranfgrefs the bounds of 
difcretion !=-Let him indulge in the in- 
toxication of pleafure, while midnight 
pafles unnoticed away: can he for this 
reafon be confidered as a common debau- 
chec ? Or is pleafure likely to debafe 
him? - 
His Don Carlos, which he continyed 
during his refidence at Drefden, was loon 
interrupted, He began to read every 
thing that related to Philip; the library 
of Drefden afforded him abundant mate- 
rials ;.and he became imperceptibly fo 
deeply interelled, that he neglected pecey 
, Gf 
