Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/547

Rh ‘ rose rriters. -.rndt. rioehme. l’.El<‘0R1IATIO.T PE1:1oD.] methods, unsurpassed even by Urquhart. In the poem, [Ms Glz'o'r-/.'/m_ft ;5'r'/u_',ri', he gives evidence of a faculty for stirring narrative verse, but his prose is richer, fuller, and more free. Considering how imperfectly prose style was then developed, he had an astonishing command over the resources of the language. He delighted in new and complicated word—formations, and by means of them often succeeded, while dealing with his 1nai11 theme, in casting side lights on its subordinate branches. Even he, pene- trating and enlightened as he was, could 11ot rise so far above his age as to condemn the burning of witches; but hardly another popular folly escaped his glance. From the evil practices of hypocritical priests to the impudence of astrologers and weather prophets every abuse found in him a watchful critic; and nothing of the kind could be more admirable than the skill with which he excites contempt while professing to write in a spirit of respect and credulity. The secret of his power lay also partly i11 his profound lmmanity, for this scathing satirist was at heart thoroughly genial; his mockery had its root in an abiding faith in justice. Several other cultivators of prose style deserve mention. Albert Diirer, whose paintings, drawings, and engravings gave to the age of transition between mediaevalism and the modern world its most perfect artistic expression, wrote several scientilic treatises, one of which, on the proportions of the human body, is a masterpiece of cahn, clear, and systematic exposition. Johann Thurnmeier, called Aven- tinus (1466-1534), Sebastian Franck (1500~45), and /Egidius Tschudi, of Glarus (1505—"2), wrote histories which, as ordered narratives, rank considerably above mere chronicles. The autobiography of Gotz von Berlichingen, if its style is without merit, has an enduring interest as a sketch of the rude lives of the petty nobles at the time when the old social order was breaking up under the inﬂuence of new ideas. Hultlrich Zwingli, the Swiss Reformer (1484- 1531), could state an argument with logical precision, but his style is thin and weak in comparison with the nervous force of Luther. Johann Agricola (1492-1566) wrote some theological works on the Catholic side; he is chieﬂy im- partant, however, for a collection of German proverbs, which afford important evidence as to the currents of popular thought. Of a far higher class as a religious writer was Johann Arndt (1555-1621), who wrote the most widely read work of the 16th century, 1'-ier Biic/ter -rom ll'a/zrcn C’/wistent/nun (“ Four Books on True Christianity”). Soon after Luther’s death the doctrines of the Reformation lost nelrly all vitality; becoming the subjects of vehement con- troversy among contending theologians, they ceased to in- terest the misses, who turned to simpler and more congenial themes. Arndt, like Eckhart, Tauler, and Luther himself, being a man of religious genius, saw the futility of these noisy disputes, and brushing them aside went to the heart of Christi mity as a power ﬁtted to nourish spiritual feeling and to govern conduct. His work appeared in Magdeburg in 1610, passed through edition after edition, and was translated into eleven languages. It still has a place of its own, for beneath the forms of a past age there burns the ﬁre of a true enthusiasm. Sebastian Franck, already 1nen— tioned as a historian, wrote some religious works in a spirit akin to that of Arndt; but he lacked the intensity, the power of touching the popular mind, which was possessed by the later writer. Less practical in tendency, but incompar- ably deeper in philosophic thought, were the writings of the C-‘rorlitz theosophist, Jacob Boehme (1575-1624). Boehme is in many respects one of the most striking ﬁgures in the history of German speculation. A man of mild and humble temper, working in patient obscurityas ashoemaker,hespent his life in grappling with the vastest problems which perplex humanity. Starting from the dogmas of Christianity, GERMANY 529 he sought to ground them in the deepest reason; and although he often appears to darken counsel by words, yet his writings contain many bold suggestions, which have profoundly inﬂuenced later philosophical systems. There are times when one feels that his struggling thought is imperfectly uttered only because it is 11ot expressed in poetic forms. For Boehme was one of those thinkers who occupy the borderland between philosophy and poetry, a fact often perceptible in the concrete shape which the most abstract ideas assume in his hands. There is a touch of poetry in the very title of his ﬁrst and best known, although not perhaps his best, book, .»lm'o-ra. The secular poetry of this period, if we except the works of Hans Sachs and Fischart, is without value. An ambitious didactic poem by Rollenhagen, De-r Frosc/t- miiuslcr, gained a certain reputation; but it stands far beneath 1-t’eine/re Vos, of which it is partly a11 imitation. The religious lyrics of the age are, however, of high Religious excellence; they, indeed, are the sole works in which al3'l‘iC-‘5- perfect marriage was effected between idea and form i11 the epoch of the Reformation. In his grand battle—hymn 1:7», feste Ban-_r] {st mzser Gott, in his pathetic verses .lus tie[7'er Not sc/u'e_y ic/1, zu dir, and i11 other lyrics, Luther led the way ; and he was, as we have seen, followed by Hans Sachs. Nicolaus Hcrrmann in his ]:'rsc/n'enen ist der Izerrlic/1. "utr/, Paul Eber in his ll'e7m an-i-r in /tijc/zsten No‘!/ten. sci-n, Philip Nicolai in his ll'ie sc/eon leucht mzs cler J1 0r_r/enstcrn, and several other writers not less distin- guished, created, in moments of genuine inspiration, lyrics which must move men while religious instincts survive. The adherents of the Reformation everywhere opened their hearts to these beautiful poems, for in them alone, not in creeds or sermons or controversial treatises, were the deep- est emotions of the time freely poured forth. Next to the translation of the Bible, nothing did so much as the popular hymns to unite the Protestants, to stimulate their faith, and to intensify their courage. During this century the drama made considerable pro- Growth Besides the “ Mysteries” a11d “ Shrove Tuesday 3:31“ gress. Plays,” “School Comedies,” i11 imitation of Terence and Plautus, were written and acted in the universities and public schools. Luther, with the large humanity character- istie of him when dogmatic disputes were not in question, encouraged these comedies, and was, indeed, friendly to dramatic effort of all kinds. To persons who complained that modesty was often offended by the actors he replied that if they carried out their principle they would have to refrain f ron1 reading the Bible. Vhen the Jesuits began to agitate in opposition to Protestantism they detected at once, with their usual tact-, the importance of this element in popular life ; and through their inﬂuence more attention was paid 11ot only to the plays but to the ma1111er in which they were represented. Towards the end of the 16th century Germany was visited by a band of English comedians, who went about acting in their own language. They appear to have produced a deep impression ; and at least one of their im- portations, the clown, the “Pickelhiiring” of the Dutch, survived in Ha11swurst or Jack Pudding, who was for more than a century an indispensable character in every play de- signed to gratify the prevailing taste. In imitation of the English comedians, wandering companies, consisting largely of idle students, now began to be formed, and thrilled both rustic and city audiences with blood—and—thunder tragedies, and with comedies too coarse to deserve even the name of farces. About the middle of the century a theatre was built in Nuremberg, and Augsburg and other cities soon followed the example. Duke Julius of Brunswick (1564-1613) not only built a theatre in his capital but maintained a perma nent company; and he amused himself by writing for it comedies and tragedies in the approved sityle of6 the day. . . — 7 I113.