Page:Stories Translated from the German.djvu/230

 "It is quite impossible to translate more literally and more faithfully than Schlegel has done this simple, yet so important verse, only look here:

After Oswald had fully convinced himself that it was so, he exclaimed, in great bitterness of tone: "Well, from henceforth, let me swear nothing but hatred and contempt towards this so-called poet, who has cast himself away so deeply below the most vulgar rabble. My next treatise shall be upon this subject, in order to open the eyes of my good-natured countrymen, and that they may understand with what a spirit they have to do, if they still good-naturedly wish to honour him. Yes, I will write a tragedy for the express purpose, or a lyrical poem, in which I will represent the contempt of this man in the clearest light. It will not be difficult for me to turn the time-piece of the world backwards, so that the hand may again point to the spot, upon which Voltaire and other French writers have most justly represented this unnatural, uneducated, ignorant, low-bred genius as some curious monster."

Thus he continued, and there was no possibility