Page:Studies of a Biographer 2.djvu/77

 people, Coleridge seemed to be repudiating a heresy in which he was really a partaker. His Osorio (which Sheridan refused in 1797, and which succeeded as Remorse in 1813), if not of the Kotzebue variety, showed, at least, the influence of The Robbers and The Ghostseers. The famous translation of Wallenstein, the first product of his visit to Germany, would, indeed, have done something, had it not remained in the Longmans' warehouse, to call attention to the higher German drama. But, if one may judge from the translations, little was really done to introduce Schiller's or Goethe's best work to English readers till Carlyle took up the duty more than twenty years afterwards.

Meanwhile, however, one worthy person, Mr. Herzfeld's hero, William Taylor, was diligently hammering some knowledge of German into English brains. Taylor was born at Norwich in 1765. Norwich was still at his birth one of the leading manufacturing towns; and, like some of its rivals, it had a small literary circle which, if not superior to what might now be found there, was more independent of London influences. Philosophical societies were springing up in many prominent towns, such as Liverpool, Manchester, VOL. II.