Page:Blackwood's Magazine volume 046.djvu/443



No. CCLXXXVIII.

is the custom for many of the liberal writers, both of Germany and of our own country, to depreciate the literary character of Austria. It is spoken of as a German Bœotia—a soil wherein the fine arts, with the exception of music, can take no root; and where poetry, in particular, has never displayed any vigour or originality of character. In all this there is, with some truth, also much exaggeration. It is true that Austria has produced no Goëthe or Schiller; but, when we descend to writers of a respectable though lower order of genius, we can perceive, at the present moment, but little difference between her position and that of the other states of Germany. In none can any writer of commanding ability in poetry be pointed out; while in all there are many who respectably support its pretensions, both in the lyrical and dramatic departments: the epic being left very much in the same state of abeyance in Germany as it is among ourselves. In the drama in particular, Austria will not suffer by a comparison with any or all of its German rivals; and the names of Grillparzer and the Baron von Zedlitz may safely be opposed to those of Immermann and Raupach, who, though not an Austrian, has composed all his best dramas for the Vienna theatre. Grillparzer was at first led into a wrong direction by his imitation of the vulgar fate school of Mullner, who seems himself to have been led astray by a misconception of the principle on which Schiller had composed his Bride of Messina. But of the tragedies constructed on that unhappy model, the Ancestress of Grillparzer was certainly the best. He effected all that could be done for such a subject; for he contrived to infuse a true supernatural grandeur into a legend which in ordinary hands would have been simply ludicrous. This Castle-Spectre style, however, he soon exchanged for one of a higher and purer character. His Sappho and his Golden Fleece are classical plays in the best sense of the word; and his King Ottocar's Prosperity and Death, (Konig Ottocar's Gluck und Ende,) and his True Servant of his Master, (Treuer Diener Seines Herrn), are historical plays of great dramatic beauty and interest.

None of the plays of the Baron von Zedlitz have as yet been translated into English, though many of them have been successful on the German stage. The author has distinguished himself in more than one capacity. He was originally in the army, and served in the war of 1809 under the Prince of Hohenzollern; was present at the battles of Ratisbon, Aspern, and