delightful worship of the muse, a solace and relaxation from his severer
and more laborious pursuits. Without making pretensions to anything of a
very high order his poetry is remarkable for a chaste, classical
diction, great harmony and flexibility of versification, a sweet
elegance of fancy, and, at times, depth and tenderness of feeling.
Friendship, patriotism and piety are the noble themes to which he
consecrates his strains. What spirit and fire in his lines on Mohammed's
flight from Mecca! What a noble burst of nationality in his address to
the Rhine! How touching the verses to the memory of his much-loved
friend, Novalis--that sweet flower of poesy and philosophy, cut off in
its early bloom! In the lines to Corinna, what lofty consolations are
administered to that illustrious woman, under the persecutions she had
to sustain from the Imperial despotism of France! And in the sonnet
entitled "Peace," 1806, what lessons of exalted wisdom are given to the
men of our time!
The longer poem, entitled "Hercules Musagetes," is among the most
admired of the author's pieces. His original poems equal in number,
though not in excellence, those of his brother; for it would be absurd
to expect that this universal genius should shine equally in every
department of letters. The flexible, graceful, harmonious genius of
Augustus William Schlegel has at different periods enriched his own
tongue with the noblest literary treasures of ancient and modern Italy,
of Portugal, Spain and England; and his immortal translations, which
have superior merit to any original poems, but those of the highest
order, are admitted by competent judges to have done more than the works
of any writer, except Goethe, for improving the rhythm and poetical
diction of his country. The great poetical powers which his short
original pieces, as well as his translations, display, make it a matter
of regret that he should have so much confined himself to translation,
and never ventured on the composition of a great poem.
Both these incomparable brothers are minds eminently poetical, and
eminently philosophical. In one the poetic element prevails--in the
other, the philosophical element, and, by a great deal, predominates. In
their early productions we can scarcely discriminate the features of
these apparently intellectual twins: but, as their genius ripens to
manhood, the one becomes an etherial Apollo, full of grace, energy, and
majesty--the other an intellectual Hercules, of the most gigantic
strength and colossal stature.
In was in the Spring of 1812 that Schlegel delivered, before a
numerous and distinguished audience at Vienna, his lectures on
ancient and modern literature. Of this work, which a German critic
has characterised "as a great national possession of the Germans,"
and which has been translated into several European languages, and
is so well known to the English reader by the excellent translation
which appeared in 1818, it is unnecessary to speak at much length.
Here were concentrated in one focus all those radii of criticism
that this powerful mind had so long emitted. Here, at the bidding of
a potent magician, the lords of intellect--the mighty princes of
literature of all times--
"The dead, yet sceptred, sovereigns, who still rule Our spirits from
their urns"--pass before our eyes in stately procession--each with
his distinct physiognomy--his native port--and all clothed with a
fresh immortality. Literature is considered not merely in reference
to art--but in relation to the influence it has exerted on the
destinies of mankind, and to the various modifications which the
religion, the government, the laws, the manners, and habits of
different nations have caused it to undergo. The first quality that
must strike us in this work is the admirable arrangement which has
formed so many and such various materials into one harmonious
whole. By what an easy and natural transition does the author pass
from the Greek to the Roman literature! With what admirable skill he
passes, in the age of Hadrian, from the old Roman to the oriental
literature, and from the latter back again to the Christian
literature of the middle age! How skilfully he has interwoven, in
this sketch of oriental letters, the notices of the ancients and the
researches of the moderns on the East! The next characteristic of
this work is gigantic learning. To that intimate familiarity with
the poets, historians, orators and philosophers of classical
antiquity which his earlier writings had displayed--to the profound
knowledge of oriental, and especially Sanscrit, literature evinced
in the above-noticed work of India; we now see added a knowledge of
the long buried treasures of the old German and Provencal poetry of
the middle age--the scholastic philosophy--the principal modern
European literatures in their several periods of bloom, maturity and
decay. What a strong light, also, is thrown on some dark passages in
the history of philosophy! Where shall we find a more curious,
graphic, and interesting account of the mystics of the middle age,
and of the German and Italian Platonists of the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries! Every page bears the stamp of long and diligent
inquiry, and original investigation. The minute traits--the accurate
drawing--the freshness and vividness of colouring--the truth and
life-like reality in this whole picture of literature, prove that
the artist drew from the original, and not a copy. No better proof
can be adduced of the _accuracy_, as well as extent of learning
which distinguished this illustrious man and his brother, than the
fact that their different works on classical, oriental and modern
literature have received the approbation of such scholars, as made
those several branches of knowledge the special objects of their
study and inquiry. Thus their labours on Greek and Roman poetry met
with the high sanction of a Heyne, a Wolf, and other distinguished
Hellenists--their works on Sanscrit literature have been commended
by a Guignault--a Remusat--a Chezy, and our own academicians of
Calcutta; and their critiques on Shakspeare and the early English
poets have been approved by the national critics, and especially by
one who had devoted many years to the study of our elder poetry--I
mean that able critic and accomplished scholar--the late Mr.
Gifford.
The other and more important characteristics of this work are delicacy
of taste, solidity of judgment, vigour and boldness of fancy, and depth
and comprehensiveness of understanding. Here we see united, though in a
more eminent degree, the acuteness, sagacity, and erudition of
Lessing--the high artist-like enthusiasm of Winkelmann--and that
exquisite sense of the beautiful, that vigorous, flexible and excursive
fancy which made the genius of Herder at home in every region of art,
and in every clime of poesy. The intellectual productions of every age
and country--the primitive oriental world--classical antiquity--the
middle age--and modern times, pass under review, and receive the same
impartial attention--the same just appreciation--the same masterly
characterization. In a work so full of beauties, it is difficult to make
selections--but, were I called upon to point out specimens of succinct
criticism, which, for justness and delicacy of discrimination--a poetic
soaring of conception--and depth of observation, are unsurpassed,
perhaps, in the whole range of literature, I should name the several
critiques on Homer--Lucretius--Dante--Calderon--and Cervantes. The part
least well done is that which treats of the literature of the last two
centuries; but, from the vast multiplicity of details, it was impossible
for the author, within his narrow limits, to do full justice to this
part of his subject. He has not paid due homage to several of the great
writers that adorned the reign of Louis XIV. He drops but one word on
Pascal, and passes Mallebranche over in silence; though if ever there
were writers deserving the notice of the historian of literature and
philosophy, it was surely those two eminent men. In general, Schlegel
was too fond of crowding his figures within a narrow canvass--hence many
of them could not be placed in a suitable light or position; and several
of his heads appear but half-sketched. This is not a mere book of
criticism--it is a philosophical work in the widest sense of the
word--the genius of the author is ever soaring above his subject--ever
springing from the lower world of art, to those high and aerial regions
of philosophy still more native to his spirit. To him the beautiful was
only the symbol of the divine--hence the tone of earnestness and
solemnity which he carries even into aesthetic dissertations. The style
too, of this "history of literature" leaves little to be desired. To the
lightness, clearness, and elegance of diction which had distinguished
Schlegel's earlier productions, was here united a greater richness and
copiousness of expression, and a more harmonious fulness and roundness
of period. From this time, however, (if an Englishman may presume to
offer an opinion on such a subject,) a decline may, I think, be observed
in his style. His mind, indeed, seemed to gain strength and expansion
with the advance of years--the horizon of his views was perpetually
enlarged--and in vastness of conception, and profundity of observation,
his last philosophical works outshine even those of his early manhood.
Yet to whatever cause we are to attribute the fact--whether it be that
his last works had not received from his hands the same careful
revisal--or whether some men as they advance in life, become as
negligent in their style as in their dress--or whether he at last gave
in to the bad practice so prevalent in Germany, of disregarding the
lighter graces of diction--certain it is, that his later writings, much
as they may have gained in excellence of matter, and presenting, as they
do, passages perhaps of superior power and splendour, are on the whole
no longer characterised by the same uniform terseness and perspicuity of
language.
With the "History of ancient and modern literature," Schlegel closed
his critical career. He never afterwards mounted the tribunal of
criticism, except on one occasion, when he awarded in favour of the
early poetical effusions of M. de la Martine, a solemn sentence of
approbation.[7] He now devoted himself with exclusive ardour to the
graver concerns of politics and philosophy. Nor can we regret this
resolution on his part, when we reflect that as far as regards
literature, he had done all that was necessary--that he had now only
to leave to time to work out his aesthetic principles in the German
mind--and that should further elucidation on these topics be
required, the distinguished Tieck, and his illustrious brother were
at hand to furnish the requisite aid. But in metaphysics and
political philosophy, what German could supply his place?
In the four eventful years which elapsed from 1808 to 1812, occupations
as new to Schlegel as they were important and various in themselves,
filled up the active life of this extraordinary man. In the Austrian
campaign of 1809, he was employed as secretary to the Archduke Charles;
and it is said that his eloquent proclamations had considerable effect
in kindling the patriotism of the Austrian people. It was about the same
time, he founded a daily paper, called "the Austrian Observer," which
has since become the official organ of the Austrian government. The
establishment of this journal--the situation which Schlegel had
previously held at the head-quarters of the Archduke Charles--the
diplomatic missions in which after the peace of 1814, he was employed by
Prince Metternich who, be it said to the glory of that illustrious
statesman, ever honoured him with his friendship and patronage--and
finally the pension, letters of nobility, and office of Aulic
Councillor, which the emperor was pleased to confer on him, may induce
some of my readers to suppose that his political views were identified
with those of the government, in whose service he was occasionally
engaged; and that he was an unqualified admirer of the whole foreign and
domestic policy of Austria. No conception can be more erroneous. As
Secretary to the Archduke Charles, he knew he lent his support to a
government which had shown itself the most honest, vigilant, and
powerful friend of German independence--he knew he fought the battle of
his country against an unholy and execrable tyranny, which, whatever
shape it might assume--whether that of a lawless democracy or a ruthless
despotism--was alike inimical to Christianity--alike fatal to the peace,
the happiness, and the liberties of every country it subdued. In the
next place, it is not usual even in the representative system, still
less under a government constituted like that of Austria, to exact a
perfect conformity of political sentiments between diplomatic agents and
the heads of administration. Again the pension, title, and dignity which
Schlegel received at the hands of the Emperor of Austria, were the
well-earned recompence of distinguished services, and not the badges of
servility. Lastly with respect to the "Austrian Observer," his motive in
establishing that journal was purely patriotic. To enkindle the warlike
enthusiasm of the Austrian people--to unite the weakened, divided, and
distracted states of Germany in a common league against a common foe--to
procure for his country the first of all political blessings--that
without which all others are valueless--national independence; such was
his object in this undertaking--such the object of every sincere and
reflecting patriot of Germany at that period. The leaning towards a
stationary absolutism, which has marked this journal since Schlegel gave
up the conduct of it, belongs to its present editors; but that tone of
dignified moderation, which according to the express acknowledgment of
German Liberals, it carries into the discussion of political
matters--that aversion from all extreme and violent parties and measures
in politics, which distinguishes this journal, betray the illustrious
hand which first set it in motion.
Nothing, in fact, can be more dissimilar than the policy long
followed by the Austrian government, and that which Schlegel would
have recommended, and did in fact recommend. What, especially since
the time of the Emperor Joseph II., has characterized the general
policy of this government? In respect to ecclesiastical matters, we
still see (though the evil was mitigated by the piety of the late
emperor), we still see that government, by a restless, encroaching
spirit of jealousy, hamper the jurisdiction, and cramp the moral and
intellectual energies of the clergy. In relation to the people, its
sway is mild and paternal, indeed, but at the same time, intrusive,
meddling and vexatious--it is, in short, a dead, mechanical
absolutism, where all spontaneity of popular action has been
destroyed--all equilibrium of powers overturned--and where royalty,
by an irregular attraction, has disturbed, deranged, or compressed
the movements of the other social bodies. With respect to science,
those best acquainted with the policy of this government affirm,
that its patronage is too exclusively confined to the mechanical
arts and the physical sciences. In short, no where has the political
materialism of the eighteenth century attained a more systematic
development than in the Austrian government. Yet in that empire are
to be found all the elements of a great social regeneration; and to
a minister desirous of earning enduring fame, to a monarch ambitious
of living for ever in the hearts of a grateful people, the noblest
opportunity is presented for reviving, renovating, and bringing to
perfection the free, glorious, but now alas! mutilated and
half-effaced institutions of the middle age.
If such is the policy of the Austrian government in relation to the
church, to liberty, and to science, it is needless to observe how
entirely opposed it was to the views of Schlegel. His whole life was
devoted to the cultivation and diffusion of elegant literature and
liberal science; and any policy which tended to obstruct their
progress, or shackle the energies of the human mind, must have been
most adverse to his feelings and wishes. As a sincere friend to
religious liberty, as well as a good Catholic, he must have deplored
the bondage under which the church groaned; and how ardently
attached he was to the cause of popular freedom, how utterly averse
from any thing like absolutism in politics, the reader will soon
have an opportunity of judging for himself.
But before I quit this subject, I cannot forbear noticing the very
exaggerated statements sometimes put forth by party spirit in
England, respecting the state of learning in the Austrian empire.
Without pretending to any personal knowledge of that country, there
are however a certain number of admitted and well-attested facts,
which prove that however inferior in mental cultivation Austria may
be to some other states of Catholic as well as Protestant Germany,
she yet holds a distinguished place in literature and science. The
very general diffusion of popular education in that country--the
great success with which all the arts and sciences connected with
industry are cultivated--the admirable organization of its medical
board--the distinguished physicians, theoretical as well as
practical, whom it has produced--the great attention bestowed on
strategy and the sciences subservient to it--the excellence to which
the histrionic art has there attained--the universal passion for
music, and the unrivalled degree of perfection the art has there
reached--the acknowledged superiority of the Quarterly Review of
Vienna, (the Wiener Jahrbuecher)--lastly, the favour, countenance,
and encouragement extended by the Austrian public to the oral
lectures and published writings of the eminent literary characters,
whether natives or foreigners, who for the last thirty years have
thrown such a glory over their capital--all these incontrovertible
facts, I say, prove this people to have reached an advanced stage of
intellectual refinement. So far from finding among the Viennese that
Baeotian dulness of which we sometimes hear them accused, Augustus
William Schlegel (and his testimony is impartial, for he is neither
a native nor resident of Austria,) confesses[10] that he discovered
in them great aptness of intelligence, a keen relish for the
beauties of poetry, and much of the vivacity of the Southern
temperament. And the crowded audiences which flocked to the
philosophical lectures Frederick Schlegel delivered on various
occasions at Vienna, a metaphysician of equal celebrity might in
vain look for in another European capital I could name, and which
certainly considers itself very enlightened. There is no doubt that
this Archduchy of Austria, which in the middle age produced some of
the most celebrated Minnesingers, would with free institutions and a
more generous policy on the part of the government, soon attain that
intellectual station, to which its political greatness, and recent
as well as ancient military glory alike bid it to aspire. If the
statesmen that rule the destinies of that country were to regard the
matter merely in a political point of view, they might see what
moral dignity, weight and importance, the patronage of letters has
given to the Protestant King of Prussia on the one hand, and to the
Catholic King of Bavaria on the other.
For several years after the peace of 1814, Schlegel was one of the
representatives of the Court of Vienna at the diet of Frankfort. These
diplomatic functions occasioned a temporary interruption to his literary
pursuits--an interruption which will be regretted by those only who have
not reflected on the advantages of active life to the man of letters.
The high dignity with which he was now invested--the commanding view
which his station gave him of European politics--the insight he was
enabled to obtain into the political state and relations of Germany--as
well as the society and conversation of some of the most illustrious
statesmen of the age, were all of inestimable service to the Publicist;
and by making him acquainted with the excellencies as well as defects of
existing governments, the obstacles which retard the progress of
improvement, the ill success which sometimes attends even
well-considered measures of Reform, were calculated to check the
rashness of speculation, inspire sobriety of judgment, and at the same
time enlarge his views of political philosophy. In the year 1818, he
returned to Vienna, and resumed his literary occupations with renewed
ardour. He wrote the following year in the Vienna Quarterly Review, (the
Wiener Jahrbuecher,) a long and elaborate reviewal of M. Rhode's work on
primitive history. This reviewal, which from its length may fairly be
called a treatise, contains a clear, succinct, and masterly exposition
of those views on the early history of mankind, which he has on some
points more fully developed in the work, of which a translation is now
given. This article, which alternately delights and astonishes us by the
historical learning, the philological skill, the curious geographical
lore, and the bold, profound and original philosophy it displays, may be
considered one of the most admirable commentaries ever written on the
first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis; and in none of his shorter
essays has the genius of the illustrious writer shone more pre-eminently
than this.[11]
The year 1820 was marked by the simultaneous outbreak of several
revolutions in different countries of Europe, and by symptoms of general
discontent, distrust, and agitation in other parts. The violent, though
transitory volcanic eruptions which convulsed and desolated the south of
Europe, scattered sparkles and ashes on the already burning soil of
France, and shook on her rocky bed even the ocean-queen. In Germany the
wild revolutionary enthusiasm which pervaded a large portion of the
youth--the frenzied joy with which the assassination of Kotzbue had been
hailed--the wide spread of associations fatal to the peace and freedom
of mankind, and the pernicious anti-social doctrines proclaimed in many
writings, and even from some professorial chairs, led the different
governments to measures of severe scrutiny and jealous vigilance, likely
by a re-action to prove dangerous to the cause of liberty. The causes of
these various social phenomena it is not my business here to point out;
but I may observe in passing, that these discontents--these
struggles--these revolutions had their origin partly in natural causes,
partly in the errors both of governments and nations. The general
disjointing of all interests--the derangement in the concerns of all
classes of society produced by the transition from a state of long
protracted warfare to a state of general peace--the blunders committed
by the Congress of Vienna in the settlement of Europe--the blind
recurrence in some European states to the thoroughly worn-out absolutism
of the eighteenth century, injurious as that political system had proved
to religion, to social order, and to national prosperity--in other
countries, a rash imitation of the mere outward forms of the British
constitution, without any true knowledge of its internal organism--above
all, the deadly legacy of anti-christian doctrines, and anti-social
principles, which the last age had bequeathed to the present--such,
independently of minor and more local reasons, are the principal causes,
to which, I think, the impartial voice of history will ascribe the
political commotions of that period. It was now evident that the great
work of European Restoration had been but half-accomplished; and that
the malignant Typhon of revolution was collecting his scattered members,
recruiting his exhausted energies, and preparing anew to assault,
oppress, and desolate the world.