Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/553

Rh GERMANY 535 KLo1>s'.roe1<.] 1..- day, did excellent service by providing the popular philo- Klopstock stood in direct relation to the Swiss writers. K101)- sophers with a medium for the expression of their opinions When a pupil at Schulpforta, one of the great Saxon schools 5t°°k- on all the great questions which then agitated Germany. which sent forth many of the best authors of the day, he Other popular philosophers were George Sulzer (1720-79), was a diligent student of Bodmer, by whose critical who devoted himself to aesthetics in the spirit of the Swiss 'principles he guided himself in reading Homer, Virgil, and school, but with the advantage of later lights; Thomas Milton. The illessict/L, on which his fame mainly rests, is Abbt (1738-66), whose style was one of uncommon nov little read, and it is impossible even to glance through vigour; Christian Garve (17-12-98), who did not attempt it without becoming conscious of glaring faults. Klop- any great original work, but in letters and articles stock’s genius was essentially lyrical; he lacked the plastic examined many individual philosophic questions from new force of imagination necessary for a great epic. His cen- points of view; and Johann Jacob Engel (1741-1802), tral ﬁgure is nowhere presented in clear sharp outlines; whose P/tilosop/tfiir die Welt (“ Philosoplic-r for the World”) it wavers between two distinct conceptions, that of a divine interested a class of readers who would have been unable and that of a human character. And the facts to which to follow a more adventurous guide. Zinnnerniann (l728- he turns our gaze in the crisis of his narrative are not such hardly deserves to be mentioned in such good company ; as kindle the deepest sympathies ; he exhausts the powers but his Bel)‘-Zlr.‘/ltl1_f/en ﬁber die Jfinsmnlceit (“ Observations of language to convey an impression of the )Iessiah’s suffer- on Solitude”) by its sentimentalism and rhetoric carried ings, but we hear nothing of the qualities of soul which Liberal his name far beyond the bounds of Germany. Some theo- these sufferings rouse into action. The subordinate 5119010‘ logians, without exactly sharing the beliefs of the popular characters are innumerable, and except Abaddona, a 3'a“°" philosophers, were profoundly affected by them. Among repentant fallen angel, between whose character and whose these were Mosheim, the ecclesiastical historian; Spalding, fate there is a11 effective contrast, none of them can be the translator of Shaftesbury; and Jerusalem, the father of said to live; they exist only as an excuse for the utter- the young writer whose suicide suggested so1ne elements a11ce of Klopstock’s feelings. They talk incessantly, weep, i11 Goethe’s Wart/zer. These liberal theologians did not embrace, a11d kiss, but they never do anything that exhibits hold a very intelligible logical position, but they were of more than a vast quantity of obtrusive sentiment. Not- so1ne importance by their attempts to introduce a freer and withstanding its obvious defects, however, the jlfcssia/1, more polished style of eloquence than had hitherto marked has qualities which must still command admiration; it the German pulpit. In regard to the permanent movements reveals a nature full of lofty aspiration and deep humanity, of thought, their inﬂuence was greatly inferior to that of and it contains individual images of striking force and Michaelis and Semler, whose labours heralded the approach beauty. of modern Biblical criticism. It would be difficult to imagine anything more dreary His. In history Germany produced at this time at least one than Klopstock’s plays, the subject of three of which is torians. writer of high eminence, Justus Moser (1720-94), author Arminius, while the others deal with scriptural themes. of the 0s2zab2"iiL-/calsclze Gesc/tic/rte (“ History of Osnabriick ”) IIe knew enough neither of life nor of the stage to be a 316581‘. and Patriot-isc/w P/aanlasien (" Patriotic Fancies "). Mijser true dramatist; his characters are mere names, and the in- was the ﬁrst German historian who wrote a good style cidents are grouped according to no principle of art. His and attempted to penetrate to the meaning of events odes, which he continued to write from the beginning to the and to present them in the light of great principles. end of his long career, are of far higher excellence. Those He also produced a strong impression by his enlightened which derive their inspiration from Northern mythology are patriotism and by his burning scorn of wrong. Schrock too remote from general sympathy and too obscure in con- and Sehlozer were prominent historians, and the latter struction to awaken interest; but the stamp of genius is made himself known as a clear writer on contemporary upon several of the lyrics in which he expresses his passion- politics. Karl von 1Ioser, of Stuttgart, applied to political ate feeling for the grander phenomena of nature, his ardent subjects a faculty for wit and satire that was estimated patriotism, his enthusiasm for freedom, and his elevated highly in his own day. sense of human worth and destiny. Both as a11 epic poet It has been already stated that the revival of classical and as a writer of odes he had many imitators, who, like study was one of the chief causes by which the mind of most others of their class, exaggerated the defects of their Germany was awakened to new effort. Professors Christ model and left his virtues alone. His influence upon the and Ernesti, of Leipsic, who were the favourite teachers of intellectual life of Germany was deep, and, on the whole, many young students, including Lessing, were two of the beneﬁcent. He encouraged the self-respect of his country- chief writers to whom this revival was due. Incomparably men, intensiﬁed their desire for an independent literature, Vinckel- greater than either, however, was Johann Joachim Vinckel— and by handling high themes, sometimes powerfully, always ﬁamh mann (1717-68), whose Ilistory of Ancient Art (1764) seriously, suggested that the national imagination would opened a new era in the appreciation of ancient life. reveal its full capacity only by undertaking greater enter- Later investigation has corrected Winckelmann on many prises than any it had yet attempted. points, but no critic has displayed a keener feeling for the Although Klopstock was one of the central literary ﬁg- Wieland beauty and the signiﬁcance of such works as came within ures during two generations, he was not a proliﬁc writer; his knowledge, or a truer imagination in bridging over the Wieland, on the other hand, was one of the most proliﬁc gulfs at which direct knowledge failed him. And his of German authors. He was continually at his desk, and style, warm with the glow of sustained enthusiasm, yet in the course of his career produced a considerable library. calm, digniﬁed, and harmonious, was worthy of his splendid Of his many works the romantic poem Oberon is by far theme. What he did for ancient art was to some extent the most famous, and the only one that really pleases done for ancient literature by the untiring editorial labours modern readers. Apr/at/con is perhaps the best of the prose of Christian Gottlob Heyne (1729-1812). romances in which he endeavoured to depict ancient vational Important as were many of these writers, Vinckelmann Greek life. He was not endowed with great vividness _ite1'a- above all, they exercised slight inﬂuence on the national of imagination, and his prevailing tendency is to extreme ‘um mind compared with the three men whom the Germans diffuseness ; but some of his descriptive passages, espe- justly regard as the founders of their classical literature—— cially those in Oberon, have a touch of ideal grace which Klopstock (1724-1803), Wieland (1733-1813), and Less- enables us to return to them with fresh relish. He had ins’ (1729-1781). a ﬁne appreciation of style, and by the study of Greek