(Vol. vi., p. 460.)
The Query confirms Professor De Morgan's excellent article in _The
Companion to the Almanack for 1853_, "On the Difficulty of correct
Description of Books." The manuscript note cited by H. J., though curiously
inaccurate, guided me to the book for which he inquires. I copy the
title-page: "_Die Betrübte Pegnesis, den Leben, Kunst, und Tugend-Wandel
des Seelig-Edeln Floridans, H. Sigm. von Birken, Com. Pal. Cæs. durch 24
Sinnbilder in Kupfern, zur schuldigen nach-Ehre fürstellend, und mit
Gesprach und Reim-Gedichten erklärend, durch ihre Blumen-Hirten._ Nürnberg,
1684, 12mo." I presume the annotator, not understanding German, and seeing
"Floridans" the most conspicuous word on the title-page, cited him as the
author; but it is the pastoral academic name of the late Herr Sigmond von
Birken, in whose honour the work is composed. The emblem, with the motto
"Bis fracta relinquor," at p. 249. (not 240.), is a tree from which two
boughs are broken. It illustrates the death of Floridan's second wife, and
his determination not to take a third. The chess-board, plate xiv. p. 202.,
has the motto, "Per tot discrimina rerum," and commemorates Floridan's safe
return to Nuremberg after the multitudinous perils ("die Schaaren der
Gefahren") of a journey through Lower Saxony. They must have been great, if
typified by the state of the board, on which only a black king and a white
bishop are left--a chess problem!
I bought my copy at a book-sale many years ago, and, after reading a few
pages, laid it aside as insufferably dull, although it was marked by its
former possessor, the Rev. Henry White, of Lichfield, "Very rare, probably
unique." On taking it up to answer H. J.'s Query, I found some matter
relating to the German academies of the seventeenth century, which I think
may be interesting.
Mr. Hallam (_Literature of Europe_, IV. v. 9.) says:
"The Arcadians determined to assume every one a pastoral name and a
Greek birthplace; to hold their meetings in some verdant meadow, and to
mingle with all their own compositions, as far as possible, images from
pastoral life; images always agreeable, because they recall the times
of primitive innocence. The poetical tribe adopted as their device the
pipe of seven reeds bound with laurel, and their president, or
director, was denominated General Shepherd or Keeper--_Custode
Generale_."
He slightly mentions the German academics of the sixteenth century (III.
ix. 30.), and says:
"It is probable that religious animosities stood in the way of such
institutions, _or they may have flourished without obtaining much
celebrity_."
The academy of Pegnitz-shepherds ("Pegnitzshäfer-orden") took its name from
the little river Pegnitz which runs through Nuremberg. Herr Sigmond von
Birken was elected a member in 1645. He chose _Floridan_ as his pastoral
name, and the amaranth as his flower. In 1658 he was admitted to the Palm
Academy ("Palmen-orden"), choosing the name _Der Erwacsene_ (the adult?),
and the snowdrop. In 1659, a vacancy having occurred in the
Pegnitz-Herdsmen ("Pegnitz-Hirten") he was thought worthy to fill it, and
in 1679 he received the diploma of the Venetian order of the Recuperati. He
died in 1681. This, and what can be hung upon it, is _Die Betrübte
Pegnitz_, a dialogue of 406 pages. It opens with a meeting of shepherds and
shepherdesses, who go in and out of their cottages on the banks of the
Pegnitz, and tell one another, what all seem equally well acquainted with,
the entire life of their deceased friend. It would not be easy to find a
work more clumsy in conception and tasteless in execution. Herr von Birken
seems to have been a prosperous man, and to have enjoyed a high pastoral
reputation. His works are enumerated, but the catalogue looks ephemeral.
There is, however, one with a promising title: _Die Trockene Trunkenheit,
oder die Gebrauch und Missbrauch des Tabacks_. His portrait, as "Der
Erwachsene," is prefixed. It has not a shepherd-like look. He seems about
fifty, with a fat face, laced cravat, and large flowing wig. There are
twenty-four emblematical plates, rather below the average of their time.
As so secondary a town as Nuremberg had at least three academies, we may
infer that such {17} institutions were abundant in Germany, in the
seventeenth century: that of the Pegnitz shepherds lasted at least till the
beginning of the eighteenth. In _Der Thörichte Pritschmeister_, a comedy
printed at Coblenz, 1704, one of the characters is "Phantasirende, ein
Pegnitz Schäffer," who talks fustian and is made ridiculous throughout. The
comedy is "von Menantes." I have another work by the same author: _Galante,
Verliebte, und Satyrische Gedichte_, Hamburg, 1704. I shall be very glad to
be told who he was, as his versification is often very good, and his jokes,
though not graceful, and not very laughable, are real.