In this shrine where he
believes
the
Goddess to be present, heifers are yoked to her chariot, and he
reverently follows it.
Goddess to be present, heifers are yoked to her chariot, and he
reverently follows it.
Thomas Carlyle
OF LITERATURE
7
evanescencent fsicl individualities, so faithfully shadow itself,
as in the mirror of its Art and Literature; in which two, or in
rather which last, for it virtually includes the former, lies the
only complete record both of What it has felt and thought, and
of How it has felt and thought. These charmed words of the
Poet are as windows into his own inmost soul, and into those
others that loved and encouraged him in his art. Whereas the
movements of the Statesman or Captain, tho' whole kingdoms
hung thereon, are at best out-of-doors transactions; between us
and their real origin and meaning, stand always dark walls, im-
penetrable except to our surmises. The Historian who should
picture for us, in any measure, the true significance of a national
Literature, would bring the essential life of the nation far nearer
us than he who treated merely of its material operations whether
in War or Industry, nay even of its Laws and Polity. Or rather,
let us say, each of these aspects, well illustrated, would add
clearness to the other; and so, comparing Word with Act, a much
truer insight into the whole living phenomenon might be obtained.
Still more profitable for such insight would a Series of Liter-
ary Histories be, wherein all nations were brought into view of
one another, and the united light of a Whole, more and more per-
fectly evolving itself in that survey, should be made to illustrate
each of the Parts. For the rest, the manifold uses of such na-
tional intercourse, and mutual understanding, are palpable enough.
This closer acquaintanceship among nations, this new curiosity
we are all manifesting towards our neighbours, especially the ef-
fort everywhere making to gain some knowledge of their Literature,
is justly reckoned among the most cheering signs of the times.
Directly in face of that poor calumny on human nature that those
we know least are often best esteemed, it may be asserted that
among nations, as among individuals, Knowledge, provided it be
genuine, is the sure parent of Affection; that to no man, not to the
meanest and worst, did we thoroughly penetrate his secret heart,
and survey from his point of view the strange chaotic quarry of
Difficulties and Possibilities, among which he lives, and where-
from he, even he, has built up or begun a little edifice of Freewill,
and Moral Good, should we refuse some pity, some approval and
Love. This freer intercourse, and reciprocal familiarity among
nations, whom Commerce indeed brings together, but only Litera-
ture can cause [to] speak together, and understand each other, is
already widening our horizon, and adding in many ways to our in-
tellectual gratification and resources: but its effects one day may
be much more momentous than these. What is it, for example,
but strangeness to each other, but ignorance of each other, that
influences national hatreds, aggravates all casual misunderstand-
ings into fierce discord, and makes the bloody delirium of War
almost perpetual in this Earth? Let nations begin to know each
other, and they will begin to love each other; for virtues are in
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? 8
HISTORY OF GERMAN LITERATURE
each, otherwise it were not there;26 and man is drawn by invisible
links towards all worth in man. Surely the time will come when
nations instead of regarding themselves as natural enemies, will
find that they are natural friends; when it will be discovered that
we are all brothers and fellow-soldiers engaged, as our fathers
have been and as our sons will be, in one mighty ever-enduring
warfare against Necessity and Evil, and that all other war is but
madness and wicked mutiny. Or if this time can never arrive,
the nearer and nearer approximation of it may be longed for;
wherein if madness must visit certain of us, it may be known
for madness, and by interposition of the sane, be softened in
its paroxysms, and the sooner put an end to.
Such fruits, even in a political respect, are to be anticipated
from the general cultivation of foreign Literature, from the free
interchange of Thought between nation and nation; and this the
more surely and speedily, as the influence falls first and strong-
est on the learned classes, who by their writings are guides of
the unlearned. What still higher benefits, in a moral and spirit-
ual point of view, might follow, were the Literature of all coun-
tries harmonized, in thinking minds, into one World-Literature;27
wherein all that was accidental, transient, local should fall away;
and only the necessary, universal and perennial remaining, the
entire Truth, now so disjointed and discoloured, of man's past
Existence and Endeavour should unite itself into one magnificent
Whole, accessible to all, and thenceforward to be consciously
cooperated in by all: this is a cheering consideration in part open
to every one, yet stretching into long dim vistas, which the wisest
cannot discriminate into form, yet look upon with wonder and hope.
Literature is now not only our grand Arsenal and Storehouse,
wherein all that Time has done for us is to [be] preserved and turned
to use; but it is becoming also, what is infinitely more, our grand
Metropolitan Temple, where, if anywhere, all men are to meet
and worship. 28 To the perfection and purifying of Literature, of
Poetry, [of]Art, all eyes are turned; for in these times the deepest
interests of man seem to be involved in it; the ashes and fast-
burning fragments of the whole Past lie there, from which, amid
clouds and whirlwinds, The Phoenix Future^9 is struggling to un-
fold itself.
The Historian of a National Literature, could he ever hope to
embrace the whole meaning of his subject, would have two things
to do. First, to decipher and pourtray the spiritual form of the
nation at each successive period; how the Universe and man's Life
painted itself to their minds; and with what means, purposes, suc-
cess, they endeavoured, in gayety or earnestness, to copy and out-
wardly represent this picture. Secondly, we could wish him to
show us in what combination of external or internal circumstances,
this particular form of mind originated; not only that such and such
was the spiritual aspect of affairs, but how it came to be so. The
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? OF LITERATURE 9
whole secret of that Literature were thus laid open to us; and
many secrets besides; for we should now see clearly into the
hidden inward structure of that nation, and wherein its social
Life specially consisted; whatsoever nobleness and good it had
realized we might, in the highest conceivable degree, compre-
hend and appropriate.
Literary Historians have nowise lost sight of these severe
conditions they work under, nay rather that second and far hard-
er condition has stood too fixedly before them. Descanting, with
or without examination, with or without descriptive gift, on the
external characters of a Literature, they have seldom neglected
to look out, diligently enough, for the inward sequences and mov-
ing causes; being proud to make their History too, what general
History has long boasted of being, Philosophy teaching by Ex-
perience. 30 On the whole, that tendency we have to theorize on
all things, to 'account' for all things, is but our natural love of
order, put in action; and blameless, praiseworthy, so it over-
step not the limits. Nothing can be more natural than for a man
to build himself some small theoretical Observatory, whence he
may look around upon the world a little; only let him not try to
reach the Heavens with it, otherwise it proves a Tower of Babel,
and ends in confusion of tongues. The Stars are seen more clear-
ly from some stations than from others; but they are not to be
handled and dipt in pieces from any. Literature, Poetry, the
Sphere-music of man's soul, is one of those divine things, which,
it is to be feared, no Science, with its school-gamut, will ever
give us mastery over. Meanwhile we have theories enough where-
in the whole course and mechanism of Poetry is explained; how
it rises, prospers, declines, and even finally terminates, for
except perhaps Cookery, there seems to be no deathless art in
this world. Various are the genetical schemes of such philoso-
phers: sometimes, for instance, Poetry is found to depend on
National Wealth; as if the Greeks in the age of Homer had been
richer than in that of Alexander, the ancient Hebrew Prophets
than the modern Hebrew Goldschmids and Rothschilds. Then
again comes a Denina31 with his Political Freedom; all depends
on Freedom, on a popular constitution: forgetting the eras of
Pericles, Augustus, Leo, Philip Second; and the inconsiderable
Literature of Sparta and the Four Forest Cantons. Freedom
truly it is that makes Poets, that would make us all Poets, in
word or, still better, in deed; but Freedom of an infinitely more
surprising sort than that of the elective franchises; such Free-
dom as an Epictetus, 32 under slave fetters, may plentifully pos-
sess, and the boldest voter in Westminster, tho' the very rivers
ran ale, may altogether want. Which latter Freedom he were a
cunning man that could show us how to come at. But perhaps the
daintiest of all theories is that which makes poetry mount and
sink inversely, balance-wise, with the culture of Language. 33
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? 10 HISTORY OF GERMAN LITERATURE
A half savage language, so it be vague and passionate enough,
gives rise to Poetry; a logical, definite, transparent language
extinguishes it: so that till some sort of Sicilian-vespers be en-
acted on the whole breed of Grammarians, there is henceforth
no prospect of a Poet. We had always understood that Swift was
mistaken when he ascribed to Tailors a creative virtue: 34 here,
however, if there be truth in similitudes, it is not the man that
produces his coat, but the coat that produces its man.
Thus does Philosophy overshoot itself: in stretching our log-
ical faculty to impossible lengths, we pervert and neglect the
province that really lies under its dominion. To the Political
Historian himself, many things, or rather, if he well consider
it, all things, stand rooted in mystery; show only faint super-
ficial glimmerings of their meaning, and remain at bottom in-
finitely-complected, indescribable, unknowable. Much more
so to the Historian of Literature, whose subject of itself leads
him into invisible regions; where not the origin only but even the
result is mysterious. The truth is, those Cause-and-effect
Philosophers, who for every Why are so ready with their Where-
fore, and can spin the whole chaos of human things into a single
thread, or bead-string, are no trustworthy guides. For all man-
ner of Historians, it were more advisable to narrow their enter-
prize within moderate limits: to look upon themselves as witness-
es set there to report and intelligibly represent the things visi-
ble, as they successively or simultaneously emerge; but for the
primary causes and grand moving agencies, to consider these as
a mighty sea, some of whose tides and surface currents it were
indeed blindness not to note; but whose interior secrets, in their
bottomless depths, defy all sounding. 35
It will be understood that in this little undertaking of ours,
which we have named History of German Literature, a far hum-
bler model lies before us. No complete, continuous delineation,
still less any scientific scheme and theory, of the collective
Thought and Culture of the Germans; but only some Series of
light, far-off Historical Sketches relating thereto, can be looked
for here. 36 Nay, were there no other hindrance, the position
of our readers in regard to this matter is not such as to warrant
any deeper attempt. For us English, the Literature of Germany
is almost an untouched subject, whose existence alone has been
made apparent; in respect of which, as yet no curiosity, beyond
that of the lower and primary sort, presses for satisfaction.
How speak with elaborate precision, and in the style (? ] of philo-
sophic deduction, about an object, the whole nature of which is
to most of our hearers unknown? Neither, for the English writer,
even tho' this were all otherwise, are the helps he can find in
English Libraries, or from English discussion whether printed
or spoken, sufficient for great efforts. Our Public Libraries are
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? OF LITERATURE
11
poor in German Books; or rather, with scarcely more than one
exception, 37 altogether destitute of such. Personal communi-
cation, again, even with the learned and intelligent, touching
this subject, will oftener yield darkness than light. As matters
stand, the English inquirer into German Literature is yet rather
a pioneer than a free traveller and observer: on all sides he is
beset with obscurities and complexities, for which, except in his
own resources, such as they may be, there is no aid or outlet.
Meanwhile, German Literature, like a world formed under
Darkness, has suddenly torn asunder its concealments, and now
stands before all nations, the more wondrous that it was unlooked
for, inviting and demanding inquiry. Probably there is not now
any thinking man in England, or in Europe, to whom insight into
the spiritual condition of the Germans were indifferent. Among
ourselves, in particular, the fat contented ignorance only yester-
day so universal on that subject, has abated, and is abating, with
strange rapidity: at the very least, those melancholy maunderings
from our Critical spokesmen, who now see themselves reduced
to one of two extremities, either to acquire some perceptible
knowledge of the matter, or altogether to hold their peace touch-
ing it,--may be considered as finished, probably forever. On
all hands it begins to be understood that the Germans as a Liter-
ary nation stand on a deep and quite independent basis; that their
Literature, alone of all existing Literatures, has still some claim
to that ancient 'inspired gift,' which alone is Poetry; that it is not
only a clear melodious Echo of the present Time, but also a Pro-
phecy of a new and better Time, traces and incipient forms of
which already lie revealed there. 38
So general is public Curiosity on this head; combined too with
a state of Knowledge, such that even the smallest accession is
felt and welcome. Doubtless, in any Historical Survey of German
Literature, with its singular products, and the singular circum-
stances of their production, many pleasant views are discover-
able, and some useful insight may be communicated even by a
stranger and for strangers. One thing it clearly enough lies in
his power to do: to report what he has himself seen and known;
well distinguishing it from what he has only heard of or half
known; whereby if our map of intellectual Germany have but few
cities on it accurately determined, the vacant spaces may be left
honestly vacant, not filled up by Anthropophagi and Mountains of
the Moon. All aspects of our subject, all methods of represent-
ing these, whatsoever can seem interesting to English readers
as they now are, be it Biographical or Critical, National or Uni-
versal, characteristic of Literary men or of Literary things, we
shall hold to lie open for us: where there is little that promises
to interest such readers, we need not linger, need not even pause.
Could these local glances into the field of German Literature be
faithfully delineated, the stations they are taken from being first
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? 12
HISTORY OF GERMAN LITERATURE
well chosen, some outline of that vast, many-sided phenomenon
might grow therefrom, and help to forward and direct the study
of it; preparing us afar off for that clear History, and Philosoph-
ic picture and Estimate, which must one day, whether as separ-
ate book, or as existing at large in the minds of thinking men,
be formed among us; in which History and Estimate, all such be-
ginnings and approximations as the present might be happily ab-
sorbed and forgotten.
On one other point it is fit that the reader and I should have
some understanding, if such do not already exist between us:
What we are specially to understand by the term German Liter-
ature; from what classes of intellectual objects are we entitled
to select those delineations of ours; what classes are they that
may without blame be omitted? To define that vague word Lit-
erature, as here used, might be difficult; neither perhaps is it
very necessary. In its primitive sense, which it still partially
retains, the Literature of any country means the sum-total of
the printed Books in that country. In more strict language, es-
pecially now that Books have so multiplied on us, all manner
of Sciences, and scientific Speculations, Philosophy, Theology,
and so forth, are struck off from our idea of Literature; and
there remains that large, not easily definable body of writings
which, without technical apparatus, address themselves direct-
ly to the whole people. Yet neither is this all Literature: Cob-
bett's Cottage Economy39 is not a Literary work. Perhaps, as
hinted above, we might say that the essential character, as it
were, the inmost nucleus of Literature is Poetry; that whatever
had not in it some emanation of Poetry, whatever did not in some
sort address itself both to all men and to the whole man, to his
affections as well as to his intellect, were no longer Literature. 40
But here again, especially in countries where from eight to
ten thousand imaginative persons are all busy addressing both
the intellect and affections of whosoever will buy their books,
some further distinction becomes necessary; and the question
returns on us: What is Literature, what is mere printed Talk?
Fichte has defined the Literary man to be him only who possess-
es, or with his whole heart strives after, the 'Divine Idea of the
World, '41 what Word sworth in his own dialect has called 'the
Vision and the Faculty divine';42 in which definition, it is mourn-
ful to think how many myriads of amiable gild-brethren sink into
endless sleep.
Happily that task of defining, in this instance, falls rather on
the Logician, or Grammarian than on the Historian, For prac-
tical purposes, we already well nigh understand what is Literature
and what is No-literature, as the cases come before us. At all
events, throughout the greater part of our present course, Time
has already applied his test for us; what was not Literary has per-
ished; nothing that has not some degree of perennial intrinsic worth
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? OF LITERATURE
13
by whatever name we may call it, will be permanently remem-
bered. 43 Nay in its very antiquity there lies a claim to our re-
gard: were it even worthless and nowise Literary, yet as having
once been popular and reckoned literary, it deserves remem-
brance .
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? Chapter II
[Antiquity and Integrity of the German People. German Nation-
al Characteristics. The Northern Immigrations and Their Im-
portance in World History. The Greatness of the Present Ger-
man Culture. ] 44
IF ANTIQUITY and unmixed descent be an honour among na-
tions, the German people, in that respect, may boast itself su-
perior to all its neighbours. We other European nations are but
of yesterday, the oldest of us scarcely counting ten centuries;
for our fathers were wafted together by all the four winds; and
blending in a fierce war-embrace, have left us a most composite
existence; so that in blood, habits, language, we are kinsmen
of all the world. Of the three grand elements, the Celtic, Ro-
man and Gothic or Teutonic, from which our modern European
population springs, the two former are now nearly obliterated
as distinct existences: the Romans long since fused away into
the general mass; the Celts languishing, in thinner and thinner
remnants, here and there, along the rocky coast; waiting as it
were till Time consume them also, and Brittany and Albyn be
as Cornwall: only the Teutschen, as true modern Teutones,
still dwell on their own soil, speaking their own tongue;45 a power-
ful nation in the heart of new Europe, and looking back for their
original to the migrations of Odin, and high fabulous times when
great captains and conquerors were also gods.
What degree of advantage there may be in this; nay whether,
quite contrariwise, a later origin, inferring numerous and even
violent intermixtures, is not the best, we shall not minutely in-
quire here. At all events, the old Athenian boast of Autochthon-
ism were but a vain one in these times: for, be our birth what it
may, there is nod] neither can there be[,J any such thing as inde-
pendent, self-regulated growth and culture for a nation; least of
all, in this ever-fluctuating, all-combining, all-dividing Europe,
where, at this day, to say nothing of our Eastern Coffees and
Cottons, such has been our frank intercourse and brotherhood,
we write with Italian, perhaps Phoenician Letters, compute with
Arabic or Hindoo Numerals, worship with Hebrew Books. Never-
theless Coherence, Perseverance is the first condition of all at-
tainment; and not less of inward than of outward attainment, of
moral depth and greatness, than of physical power. A nation that
has no treasure in the Past cannot be wealthy, save perhaps in
money, which for nations as for individuals is the plainest, but
the most transient and intrinsically the poorest sort of wealth.
Sismondi's Nation of Steam-engines46 could manufacture marki \-
goods; nay perhaps by its superior steadiness in work, and che; >er
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? THE GERMAN PEOPLE
15
method of subsistence (on coals) might undersell the others,
and become the richest: but only a nation of Men can produce
Tells and Luthers, Iliads*? and Hamlets, 48 Bibles and Divini-
ties. Not what we have; in a far higher degree, what we are is
the measure of our value. A national character, which is for a
nation what established principles and a given way of thought are
for a man, cannot grow up except in Time; and the older it is,
the more fixed will it be, and generally the better perfected, and
in its kind the worthier.
That the Germans have endured so long as a separate people,
is itself proof or presumption that their national character must
have some depth; that, at all events, it must ere now be well con-
firmed, and have in all ways clearly expressed itself. The vul-
gar persuasions, current here and elsewhere on this head, might
indeed teach us quite the contrary; but these verdicts, grounded
for most part on mere ophthalmic illusions, will not mislead us.
It is with nations as with men: the deepest excellence is nowise
the soonest recognised; only of physical strength and the talent
for dancing can all eyes judge. Thus, many times, metaphori-
cally as well as literally, honest Worth is left starving on the
street, while forward Dexterity, wheedling and smirking its way,
sits warm and fares sumptuously within. To that immortal ques-
tion, Si un Allemand peut avoir de l'esprit? 49 the Germans might
have answered: We have our Keplers, 50 and Luthers, and Fausts, 51
and the daily life of all men is rich with their inventions; mais
vous, Gualches, 52 qu'avez vous invents?
The political condition and constitution of the Germans, with
its wild discords, and loose unwieldy combination, had often been
little favourable for the free development of a national character:
nevertheless there is much visible among them, even in the worst
periods, to win our regard; if their character want something in
practical adroitness, it has a force, sincerity, and earnest noble-
ness, which is of far rarer value. Already in Tacitus' time, we
discern, in those German manners, features of a rude greatness;
in their dark Forests already dwelt the future regenerators of
Europe, under whom the old corrupt world was to be swept away
as an abomination, and a new world under fairer omens for man-
kind to evolve itself. The first characteristic of those ancient
Germans in the philosophic picture of Tacitus, is their Bravery:53
they are a nation of armed men, and pass their lives amid peril
and adventure, in constant daring and endurance. Their very name,
Guerre-mans, is Wehr-manner, or War-men. * This is not that
* This is Friedrich Schlegel's etymology (Vorlesungen iiber
die Geschichte, V. I), 54 and seems authentic enough. It may
be remarked, at the same time, that the Germans have borne
and still bear a rather curious variety of designations. The
word Germans, or Guerre-mans (Scottice, also we might say
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? 16
HISTORY OF GERMAN LITERATURE
light reckless contempt of death, which could be no distinction
for the Germans, in as much as all men, and most animals,
are capable of it; but a real, far deeper-rooted strength of
heart; stout, unflinching, ever-fresh Endeavour; familiarity
with Danger and Evil, and faith in their power to conquer these.
This same 'deliberate valour' (Tapferkeit) shines forth in their
whole prior and subsequent history: in the wild predatory voy-
ages of the Franks and Saxons, defying all seas and enemies
with their steel 'Knives, ' and frail leathern craft, 'whom, ' says
Sidonius Apollinaris, 56 'Shipwreck only incites, not frightens';
in the stubborn daring of many a Hermann and Civilis; in our
Garr-men) is altogether unknown in their own country; ap-
pears, indeed, to have been nothing more than the assumed
title of those Adventurers, who before Tacitus* or Caesar's
day, had crossed to the left bank of the Rhine, for the pur-
pose of spoiling the Gauls, and settling J? ) in their territory,
and might well call themselves War-men, since except war,
they had no trade there. For the Romans, to whom this was
the vanguard, and first sample, of these unknown hosts, the
casual title of a few became a name for the whole. By them-
selves, however, the Germans have been and still are named
Teutschen, or rather Deutschen; which last, or the equivalent
to it, we English, singularly enough, restrict to the Hollanders,
who have nowise the best right to it. By the French again they
are called Allemands, which also is a Roman designation (Ale-
manni from the native Alle-mSnner); originating in a similar
principle with the name Guerre-mans, and scarcely less sig-
nificant than this; meaning All-men. The Italian Tudeschi is
the only foreign name bearing even a faint resemblance to
their own; which courtesy, it might seem, the Germans have
but ill repaid; calling their southern neighbours, not Italians,
but Walschen, Welsh. -- But, on the whole, names do but sow
themselves 'in the drift-mould of Accident, ' and like many
other earthly things offer strange anomalies. Why, for ex-
ample, is our own country called Angle-land, and not as well
Jut-land, or still better Saxon-land ? The Buccaneers took
name from their hung-beef, or Boucan; which even in that hot
climate they were often glad to live on. Our stout ancestors,
the Saxons, it seems to be agreed on, are so called from the
word Sachs, which in the vulgar dialect of that region is said
to signify or have signified, Knife: Nennius (Historia Britonum)
states as a thing known to him that Hengist was wont to address
his men with a: Nimed eure Sahen (Nimmt eure Sachsen, Take
your Knives! )--which emphatic word-of-command, if genuine,
is doubtless the oldest in modern drilling. See Leibnitz; or
rather Mascov (History of the Germans, Vol. I, p. 242, of the
English Translation), from whom I derive this anecdote. 55
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? THE GERMAN PEOPLE
17
own Hengists and Alfreds; nay, it is still claimed by their great-
est Poet and Thinker, * as the basis of their present national
character.
Akin to this, or rather indeed its origin and root, is the
deep meditative temper, full of enthusiasm and affection, which
those same ancient Germans, and their modern descendants,
likewise exhibit. The Germans of Tacitus are a religious people;
nor is their Superstition a coarse materialism, like that of the
Greeks and Romans; but already an almost intellectual Belief,
stern, majestic, and of infinite melancholy. Their deity is Her-
tha, the Earth or World, the stupendous All;58 whom they wor-
ship without images, solely by the inward sense, not in temples,
but in deep groves, under their sacred Oaks, t no roof over them
but the blue Immensity. Their rites are not always bloodless,
yet not without a grandeur even in their cruelty. 'In an Island
of the Ocean, ' says Tacitus, 'there is a holy Grove; and within
this a consecrated Chariot covered with a cloth, which only one
priest is allowed to touch.
In this shrine where he believes the
Goddess to be present, heifers are yoked to her chariot, and he
reverently follows it. Glad are the days, and festive the places,
wherever she deigns to tarry and be worshipped. No wars are
undertaken, no arms worn, all iron is shut up:^0 peace and re-
pose, strangers at other times, are now alone loved; till the
same priest, his Goddess having had enough of this society with
mortals, restores her to the temple; when the chariot and the
cloth, and if you may believe it, the Deity herself, is washed in
a secret Pool. Slaves do this office, whom straightway the same
Pool engulphs. Hence mysterious terror, and a sacred ignorance
what that may be which only those on the brink of death behold. '61
Nor are the kindly affections unknown to these rude bosoms:
the warriors, tho' they kill their slaves in fits of passion, do not
maltreat them in cold blood: the virtues of Hospitality they prac-
tice with more than uncivilized alacrity; no human guest is turn-
ed away; he that has not entertainment of his own to offer, ac-
companies the stranger to a neighbour's house, and is there wel-
* Goethe, in Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, C. [16] B. [IV]57
t Long afterwards, one of the first proceedings of the Christ-
ian missionaries seems to have been to cut down these Oaks,
under the shadow of which the Germans not only worshipped,
says Mascov, 'but held their conventions and courts of judi-
cature. Such was the famous Oak near Geismar, in lower
Hessia, which was dedicated to the God of Thunder': our
English Boniface, backed by Government authority, cut down
this Thunder-Oak (about the year 850), 'to the great terror
of the people, ' whom however nothing special overtook. Long
Dissertations have been written on this Oak, --which from its
many acorns may have grandsons, or even sons, about Geis-
mar to this day. --Mascov. II. 293. 59
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? 18
HISTORY OF GERMAN LITERATURE
corned along with him. But what most distinguished them from
all other unpolished tribes, ancient or modern, is their treat-
ment of their women. That the stronger should yield to the
weaker, should do homage to her as to a finer, higher nature,
is no dictate of rude instinct; but the late result of moral con-
templation, almost of religion. The old-Germans show a noble
devotion to their women; the ground-plan of a whole future Chiv-
alry lies traced here. 62 They think that there is in females 'a
certain divineness'; these have authority in their counsels; they
are their prophetesses and guardian genii; and are looked upon
with a heartfelt respect, for which the hollow ceremonies of
modern gallantry, whereby the woman, idolized with a certain
mouth-worship, is intrinsically degraded into a beautiful, un-
reasonable plaything, are but a poor substitute. Nor are the
Old-German wives unworthy of this honour; for indeed, giving
honour is often, in such cases, an assurance that it will be de-
served; as popular prophecy brings about its own fulfilment.
The utmost purity of conjugal morals prevails; but these women
are brave, helpful, high-minded, as well as chaste. They ac-
company their husbands in war; fearlessly tend their wounds;
encourage them in the fight; and die with them if all is lost.
How that picture of the Cimbric Mother, whom, in the universal
rout and carnage, Marius' soldiers 'found hanging from the pole
of the waggon, with her children suspended by her feet, "* still
lives in our imagination, after eighteen hundred years;--one
stern Tear, not yet dried away, of the bitter many that have
flowed from broken hearts, and been forgotten! Often, says
Tacitus, the fortune of battles has been turned by the sudden
presence of the women. 64 in that revolt of Civilis, we find a
Velleda from amid her groves on the Lippe, animating and di-
recting the whole heroic enterprises. The spoils of victory are
sent to her: 'but to see or to address the Prophetess herself is
not permitted. She sits apart in a lofty tower; certain of her
relatives chosen for that purpose, like messengers of a divinity,
present the question and bring back the response. '! She is a
Poetess as well as Prophetess and Counsellor, an antique Makarie,
such as Goethe has in these days delineated;66 outwardly fragile
as a reed, yet by her inward clearness, her inward depth, lead-
ing at will the wild strength of men.
The very vices of the Germans do not belie this character,
but rather naturally grow out of it, in such a state of culture as
theirs. These are not indolence and cruelty, passive and active
love of selfish Ease, the common vices of barbarians; but rather
an inordinate passion for social excitement; fierce gambling, and
* Plutarch, in Marius. 63
t Tacitus. Hist. L. IV: C. 67. 65
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? THE GERMAN PEOPLE
19
that excess, which in tavern language is still said to be 'the
feast of souls, ' but in the vulgar dialect is called Drunken-
ness. * Their amusements, which are war-dances and the like;
still more their domestic customs, in regard to childhood, to
majority, to marriage, and the other grand epochs of life; above
all, that rigorous love of Justice, and deep, steadfast, untame-
able spirit of Freedom, which is based thereon are features of
an earnest, high-minded, heroic, people, worthy of the great
work they were one day to perform.
Neither was there wanting, in those early times, a certain
semblance of Literature; if what was not committed to writing,
there being yet no Letters, can deserve that name. A vast
Northern Mythology, full of gloomy grandeur; connecting itself
with the primeval Science and Philosophy of the East;68 yet in-
dependent in structure, and a type of the Northern mind, has
descended, we may say, even to these days: thro' oblique chan-
nels, indeed, and greatly perverted; yet in its groundwork an-
tique, and the property of the whole Northern nations. Wondrous
glimpses into the old and oldest Time, faint dubious light waver-
ing as thro' a submerged City of the Dead, we still have, in those
Eddas and Sagas. What part of all this is due to the more modern
Skalds of Iceland, what to the ancient common stock, it is now
impossible to determine. If Letters are like an imperishable
engraving, Tradition is but an air-image, varying with every
variation in the cloud that reflects it.
But however this may be, we find in Tacitus' description, 69
the Barditus expressly set forth an important element of German
Life. The Bards, chaunting in fierce enthusiasm the exploits of
their heroes, are listened to on all festal occasions; they precede
armies to battle; inspiring them to high daring; they are at once
the Historians, the Singers, and public Preachers of the country.
Their songs of Arminius were in the mouth of the people, when
Tacitus wrote; nay as antiquarians would fondly persuade us
some tone of them still lingers there. Who would not prize any
the faintest tradition or memorial that could be referred with
even a shadow of certainty to this noble Hermann, whom tho' a
Barbarian, his proud enemies themselves thought worthy to be
ranked with their greatest heroes ! But unfortunately, if that
shadow of certainty be an essential, we must forbear such plea-
sure . t
* To certain of my readers it will be interesting to know that
our national English liquor, Ale (now brewed in Australia, and
the remotest west! ) was already the solace of these ancients.
'The liquid they drink, ' says Tacitus, 'is a preparation from
barley or corn, corrupted (corruptus) into a certain resem-
blance of wine. '67
t 'It is highly probable, ' says Mascov, 'that the famous
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? 20
HISTORY OF GERMAN LITERATURE
The succeeding history of the Germans, for some centuries,
was rich enough in heroic materials, had any 'sacred poet' been
there to sing them. These vast movements, which we carelessly
denominate the Northern Immigrations, form an epoch in the His-
tory of the World; they are properly the beginning of European
Culture; and in importance of result, perhaps second only to the
appearance of Christianity itself. 73 it was a boundless 'shaking
of the nations'; the New and the Old, the luxuriously Corrupt and
the barbarously Rude, with all the elements of new worth in the
one, and the fragments or traditions of old worth in the other,
were dashed wildly together, and whatever was worthy to live,
lived, and whatever was valueless, and without strength of its
own, sank to the ground and was obliterated. 74 The Christian
Faith was to wed itself with the deep chivalrous Spirit of the
North; and their nuptial torch, so mysterious are the ways of God,
was the conflagration of a World. But Justice as well as Mercy
is His attribute; and in that fiery whirlwind, abominations, at
which the Sun had sickened, were swept away.
Singular enough! Till within the last century, those North-
men were represented as mere famishing wolves breaking into
the sheepfold; and the word Goth, even among the descendants of
Goths, still retains some such opprobrious signification. Such
charm is in a name: the Commoduses, Caracallas, Domitians,
were called Romans, and their empire had boasted itself to be
Irmensaule (Irmen-Pillar), which Carolus Magnus destroyed
at Ehresburg, was a monumental column, erected to the honour
of Hermann. ' [Mascov J I, 123. 70 Which probability seems to
rest chiefly on the similarity of names, and can hardly be reck-
oned high. The truth is, this name Irmen, or Hermann, seems
to have been appellative as well as proper, signifying Warrior;
or, at least, like our own Arthur, to have fixed itself on every
strange object that stood in want of a name. We have an Irmen-
strasse (Hermann's Street,*or Road), also a Hermann's Car,
as well as a Hermann's Pillar. As for the latter piece of an-
tiquity, it is known to have been an idol Statue, 'figuring a man
armed at all points in the fashion of the ancient Germans, with
a standard in his right hand and a lance in his left': it was wor-
shipped by the Saxons as their chief Divinity; and might more
probably represent Woden than Hermann. Ehresburg (Honour's
Fortress) where 'in a sacred Grove, ' the Irmensaule stood, was
one of the principal strongholds of the Saxons, and lay not far
from the site of the modern Paderborn. Charlemagne destroyed
the Fortress (A. D. 772), and with it this ancient Idol. Two
noted antiquarians, Jacob Grimm and Von der Hagen71 have
each written a Disquisition, said to be learned and instructive,
on these Irmen relics. See Conversations-Lexicon. VII. 577
(Edit, of 1827). 72
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? THE GERMAN PEOPLE
21
eternal. The Goths were at least men; the creatures whom they
conquered were "cooking animals', 75 and fallen, as was natural
in that case, far below the level of animals that do not cook.
Neither are we to figure those 'Northern Swarms' as flying
off, like Bees, naturally, and without effort or merit on their
own part. They were not swarms of insects, but hosts of living,
articulate-speaking men. Not one of all these wild myriads but
had a home, and hearts thai; loved him: he left not his hut in the
forest without parting pangs, and a soul steeled to heroic temper;
cutting himself loose from the whole known Past, to front an un-
calculated Future, in which only the danger and the daring were
certain for him. Many a Russian Expedition has been accomp-
lished, many a Waterloo fought, of which we have now no record.
What consulting, anxious canvassing, expostulating, recruiting,
from hamlet to hamlet, in those Northern Woods; how many sis-
ters', lovers' tears were shed, how many mother's [sic] hearts
orphaned, as host after host of the Adventurers set forth on their
unknown enterprise, compared with which the Circumnavigation
of the Globe were, in later centuries, a small matter! But a
courageous, unrestful spirit; the memory of old injuries, hope
without bounds; Hatred, Greediness, Ambition, Want itself, urge
them on: thus Germany, for two centuries, was as the centre of
a volcanic earthquake, in which all human things were scattered
asunder, scathed with fire, and madly driven to and fro.
It depends on Literature or the want of Literature whether
even great enterprizes shall be reputed barbarous or the con-
trary: Alaric crossed the Alps as well as Hannibal; only there
was no Livy to record it in Alaric's case. We might almost have
expected that among the German Bards, some poetic spark,
blown into flame by these great doings, might have forced some
glimmering of its light even thro' that thick medium, into distant,
calmer times. To the great body of the German nation, to such
of them namely as remained at home, the fury of these commo-
tions was but a spectacle, this havoc was gain; the only tidings
that reached them were of victory and triumph. Nay, even with
our utmost effort, we can form but a faint picture of the national
enthusiasm, the joy, astonishment, that must have seized every
bosom in that age of wonders. For now to the rugged inmate of
the Forest, the steel sword had cut out paths into golden King-
doms; and a whole unknown world of Pleasure and Splendour was
laid open. The Invincible was vanquished; the Queen of the Earth
had fallen, and all nations were gathered to take her spoils.
The wail of the Romans, vehement, discordant, half-delirious,
almost like female shrieks, has reached us; but the triumphal
songs of their victors have all perished on the way hither. Tra-
dition, of itself so insecure, fell then on times doubly unfavour-
able for it; so restless were also the ages that followed these oc-
currences, change ever succeeding change, and nothing would
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? 22
HISTORY OF GERMAN LITERATURE
stand still, but nations, and languages, and laws, and all hu-
man things, were whirling in mad haste, as in a wide all-em-
bracing tornado. 76 Of these vast Immigrations and Conquests,
excepting a few names of persons and events, obscured by ig-
norance, and altogether disjointed from their true coherence,
no Northern record or remembrance survives for us. The tale
of victory and adventure, at first crudely conceived, and dwell-
ing only on the surface of actions, was changed by each succes-
sive singer and narrator; accommodated with new actors and a
new scene to suit the new audience; and sank at last into the shape
of a fireside song for the people, in whose versions all that was
antique and obsolete gradually dropt off, and was supplied by
fresh invention; till of the original little, and that only under for-
eign shapes, and to patient antiquarian eyes, was recognisable.
The ancient world divides itself from the modern by a dim chaos,
over which no highway leads; only we know that in its deep, trou-
blous, ever-fluctuating bosom the latter had its birth, the former
its grave; that in this boundless anarchy, old things passed away,
all things became new.
Of the faint lights which still glimmer on the Northern shore
of that Chaos; of the oldest German traditions, and the shape un-
der which they now meet us, we shall soon speak more at large.
Meanwhile let us here remark that this deep-toned, courageous,
perseverant spirit of the ancient Germans has neverbelied itself
in their modern sons: they too, like their ancestors^] have been
called to play a high part, sometimes the highest, in the History
of the World; and many a new Hermann has waged as valiant a
war, tho' armed not with spear and buckler, but with invisible
weapons. That old German spirit, purified by new knowledge,
shines forth again, to the eyes of all men, in the Luthers and
Huttens77 of the Reformation; in so many Alberts, 78 Keplers,
Leibnitzes79 of other ages; some gleams of the like are [at] once
visible to all in the Schillers80 and Goethes of their recent Lit-
erature. Nay, in one word, have not the Germans, and their
descendants which we too are, grounded, and by long effort, built
up a Form of Life, which, both in respect of physical power and
of moral culture, that is to say, both in the rudest and in the fin-
est estimate, we fancy we can prove to be the highest yet known
representation of Humanity? Abstract Europe from the world,
abstract Germany, and the sons of Germans, from Europe, and
the fairest province were torn from the Domain of Man. 81
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? Chapjter] III
(Traditionary Lore of the Germans. German Language, Its An-
tiquity, Developments, and Characteristics. German Popular
Proverbs. German Folk-tales! ]
WE PURPOSE, in this and the following Chapter, to cast a hur-
ried glance over the Traditionary Lore of the Germans; over that
portion of their spiritual Produce and Possession, the particu-
lar authors of which have been unnoticed, or are long since for-
gotten; which, preserving itself from age to age in the living mem-
ory alone, comes before us as the common property of the whole
people. If not Literature, if it went before Literature, or, as
in these times, lies below the level of Literature, and cannot be
included therein, it is the element out of which Literature grows,
and derives its nationality, its distinctive figure and colour. 82
Herein, as it were, all mutilated, and dismembered, and even
broken into indistinguishable dust and rubbish, lie the fragments
of old primeval Intellect and Imagination; which dust and rubbish
however is the soil for new. Only the Thought that is alive can
give birth to Thought; only such Knowledge as stands written in
breathing hearts constitutes the spiritual resources of mankind;
whether it be written in Books or not is another question; nay,
we may say, great part of it, even in these times, much more in
older times, cannot be so written. In this vast, ever-changeful,
confused Limbo of Tradition, which almost without metaphor, may
be called at once the womb of Literature and its grave, 83 we may
observe many things that both in the historical and speculative
point of view, may seem noteworthy.
One national Tradition which no vicissitudes or war-ravages
can utterly obliterate is the Language. This is the inheritance of
all former [? ] ages to every new one; carries traces in it of all
the discovery, thought, poetic feeling and even moral character
of those that have already spoken it. No good or wise man but
improves it for all his successors. It is an invisible Daughter of
the Air; lives only in the breath of transient man; yet lives on in
man's breath, when the hardest granite pyramids are wrecked and
obliterated.
The German language boasts of an antiquity far higher than
that of any other living dialect:84 indeed, if under the name Ger-
mans, what seems permitted to antiquarians, we include that vast
Kindred, which migrating, as is believed, in unknown times out
of the East, occupied, in known times, the whole North and centre
of Europe, from the mouths of the Danube and Rhine to the Arctic
Circle, and ultimately, as we have seen, conquered and in greater
or less proportions mingled itself with the whole Southern tribes
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? 24
HISTORY OF GERMAN LITERATURE
of our Continent, --the German Language, like the German
People, is of an antiquity we have no measure for; comes from
beyond our utmost horizon, 'forth issuing from Cimmerian
Night. '85
Even as a written language it counts fifteen centuries; nay
there is some controversy whether the ancient Goths, or Ger-
mans, did not write with Runes, and perhaps long prior to the
time of Ulfila. At all events, that Bishop's Moesogothic Bible
dates from the middle of the fourth century; Ulfila himself ap-
pears to have died about the year 380. As this venerable per-
formance of his, independently of other claims to our regard,
is by far the oldest authentic specimen of any Teutonic dialect,
all Anglosaxon, Alemannic, Frankish or Scandinavian writings
being from three to five hundred years younger, we shall here
examine it a little.
Of Ulfila, whose name is also written Wulfila, that is, Wolf-
lein, or as we should say in English, Wolfling, only a few in-
cidental facts are known. It is ascertained that he officiated as
Bishop among the Goths, settled in Thrace and Dacia, from about
the year 360 to 380. He was of the Arian persuasion, and trained
his flock to that same; or rather, as would seem, [was) persuad-
ed that the controversy was of small moment. * The Christian
faith had already taken root among them; probably first communi-
cated by their captives, and ere long confirmed and diffused by
many fugitives from the Athanasian persecution: it is said that
Ulfila himself was the grandson of a Cappadocian prisoner. He
appears to have resided chiefly in Dacia, where it is thought his
Translation was executed. He crossed the Danube with that di-
vision of his people, who in 376, 87 obtained a settlement in
Moesia, and were thence called Moesogoths; but he died soon af-
ter, precisely when is not known. That he stood in high consider-
ation among his countrymen, is evident enough: he was twice their
ambassador to the Emperor Valens, and seems to have acquitted
himself skilfully and faithfully on both occasions; at an earlier
date (359) he had attended the Synod of Constantinople, held under
Arian influences, and subscribed its decrees.
Of his zeal, learning, and intellectual talent, his version it-
self is the best proof. It is true, he stood in constant communi-
cation with Greece, and was master of whatever culture it could
afford him in that day: yet with all this help, the task that lay be-
fore him must have offered innumerable difficulties. Nay, by
some it has been asserted that besides forcing the rude Gothic
dialect to express such high complex matters, he had even to in-
vent an alphabet to spell it with: of this, however, there is no
evidence; but rather, according to philologers, Of the contrary,
his language having marks of much prior cultivation. Indeed from
? Mascov. I, 381. 86
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? TRADITIONARY LORE
25
the readiness with which his Bible was received, and the uni-
versal footing it soon gained and long held in the German Church-
es, we might infer that reading was no novelty among that people,
at least that there was a great alacrity and aptitude for acquir-
ing it. A Letter from St Jerom, written not long afterwards to
two Gothic Priests, is still extant; answering certain queries of
theirs, not about the alphabet and reading in their vernacular
tongue, but about the Hebrew Psalter and its variations from the
Latin. *
Ulfila translated the whole Bible, except the Book of Kings,
which he reckoned of too warlike a character for his Goths.
Considerable part of the work, especially the New Testament,
remains, in two ancient Manuscripts, and in a variety of modern
ones, to this day: it was first printed, in 1665, at Dort; and often
since, in Germany, England and elsewhere; and has been com-
mented upon by many antiquarians: Junius, Marshal, Hickes, and
best of all, as we understand, by the learned and laborious Ihre. 89
It is faithfully, and even with a stiff closeness, rendered from the
Septuagint; on which account, and being at the same time of such
antiquity, it is still valued by the Biblical Critic, as well as by
the Philologer.
The history of these two ancient Manuscripts, as it seems to
be a sort of bibliographical tidbit, may stand here in few words.
With regard to the least important of the two, which indeed con-
tains only some fragments of the Epistle to the Romans, it re-
mained unknown to everyone, till the year 1756, when Knittel the
Keeper of the Wolfenbuttel Library happening to inspect an old
manuscript of Isidorus which lay there, found that it was what we
now call a palimpsest; that to make room for Isidorus, Ulfila with
a parallel version in Latin had been erased, but had now again be-
come the more legible of the two. By dint of exertion, the worthy
Knittel deciphered these scattered leaves of the old Bible, appar-
ently copied in the sixth century; published this manuscript under
the patronage of his Duke, Karl of Brunswick, in honour of whom
he called the Manuscript Codex Carolinus, by which name it con-
tinues to be known. --But far more famous is the Codex Argenteus,
till that discovery, supposed to be unique; which indeed in regard
to all but these few trifling fractions, it still is. 'The history of
this Codex, ' says J5rdens who is our guide here, 'has its own ob-
scurities. When first noticed, the Codex Argenteus was in the
Benedictine Abbey of Werden in Westphalia, not far from Cologne.
7
evanescencent fsicl individualities, so faithfully shadow itself,
as in the mirror of its Art and Literature; in which two, or in
rather which last, for it virtually includes the former, lies the
only complete record both of What it has felt and thought, and
of How it has felt and thought. These charmed words of the
Poet are as windows into his own inmost soul, and into those
others that loved and encouraged him in his art. Whereas the
movements of the Statesman or Captain, tho' whole kingdoms
hung thereon, are at best out-of-doors transactions; between us
and their real origin and meaning, stand always dark walls, im-
penetrable except to our surmises. The Historian who should
picture for us, in any measure, the true significance of a national
Literature, would bring the essential life of the nation far nearer
us than he who treated merely of its material operations whether
in War or Industry, nay even of its Laws and Polity. Or rather,
let us say, each of these aspects, well illustrated, would add
clearness to the other; and so, comparing Word with Act, a much
truer insight into the whole living phenomenon might be obtained.
Still more profitable for such insight would a Series of Liter-
ary Histories be, wherein all nations were brought into view of
one another, and the united light of a Whole, more and more per-
fectly evolving itself in that survey, should be made to illustrate
each of the Parts. For the rest, the manifold uses of such na-
tional intercourse, and mutual understanding, are palpable enough.
This closer acquaintanceship among nations, this new curiosity
we are all manifesting towards our neighbours, especially the ef-
fort everywhere making to gain some knowledge of their Literature,
is justly reckoned among the most cheering signs of the times.
Directly in face of that poor calumny on human nature that those
we know least are often best esteemed, it may be asserted that
among nations, as among individuals, Knowledge, provided it be
genuine, is the sure parent of Affection; that to no man, not to the
meanest and worst, did we thoroughly penetrate his secret heart,
and survey from his point of view the strange chaotic quarry of
Difficulties and Possibilities, among which he lives, and where-
from he, even he, has built up or begun a little edifice of Freewill,
and Moral Good, should we refuse some pity, some approval and
Love. This freer intercourse, and reciprocal familiarity among
nations, whom Commerce indeed brings together, but only Litera-
ture can cause [to] speak together, and understand each other, is
already widening our horizon, and adding in many ways to our in-
tellectual gratification and resources: but its effects one day may
be much more momentous than these. What is it, for example,
but strangeness to each other, but ignorance of each other, that
influences national hatreds, aggravates all casual misunderstand-
ings into fierce discord, and makes the bloody delirium of War
almost perpetual in this Earth? Let nations begin to know each
other, and they will begin to love each other; for virtues are in
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? 8
HISTORY OF GERMAN LITERATURE
each, otherwise it were not there;26 and man is drawn by invisible
links towards all worth in man. Surely the time will come when
nations instead of regarding themselves as natural enemies, will
find that they are natural friends; when it will be discovered that
we are all brothers and fellow-soldiers engaged, as our fathers
have been and as our sons will be, in one mighty ever-enduring
warfare against Necessity and Evil, and that all other war is but
madness and wicked mutiny. Or if this time can never arrive,
the nearer and nearer approximation of it may be longed for;
wherein if madness must visit certain of us, it may be known
for madness, and by interposition of the sane, be softened in
its paroxysms, and the sooner put an end to.
Such fruits, even in a political respect, are to be anticipated
from the general cultivation of foreign Literature, from the free
interchange of Thought between nation and nation; and this the
more surely and speedily, as the influence falls first and strong-
est on the learned classes, who by their writings are guides of
the unlearned. What still higher benefits, in a moral and spirit-
ual point of view, might follow, were the Literature of all coun-
tries harmonized, in thinking minds, into one World-Literature;27
wherein all that was accidental, transient, local should fall away;
and only the necessary, universal and perennial remaining, the
entire Truth, now so disjointed and discoloured, of man's past
Existence and Endeavour should unite itself into one magnificent
Whole, accessible to all, and thenceforward to be consciously
cooperated in by all: this is a cheering consideration in part open
to every one, yet stretching into long dim vistas, which the wisest
cannot discriminate into form, yet look upon with wonder and hope.
Literature is now not only our grand Arsenal and Storehouse,
wherein all that Time has done for us is to [be] preserved and turned
to use; but it is becoming also, what is infinitely more, our grand
Metropolitan Temple, where, if anywhere, all men are to meet
and worship. 28 To the perfection and purifying of Literature, of
Poetry, [of]Art, all eyes are turned; for in these times the deepest
interests of man seem to be involved in it; the ashes and fast-
burning fragments of the whole Past lie there, from which, amid
clouds and whirlwinds, The Phoenix Future^9 is struggling to un-
fold itself.
The Historian of a National Literature, could he ever hope to
embrace the whole meaning of his subject, would have two things
to do. First, to decipher and pourtray the spiritual form of the
nation at each successive period; how the Universe and man's Life
painted itself to their minds; and with what means, purposes, suc-
cess, they endeavoured, in gayety or earnestness, to copy and out-
wardly represent this picture. Secondly, we could wish him to
show us in what combination of external or internal circumstances,
this particular form of mind originated; not only that such and such
was the spiritual aspect of affairs, but how it came to be so. The
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? OF LITERATURE 9
whole secret of that Literature were thus laid open to us; and
many secrets besides; for we should now see clearly into the
hidden inward structure of that nation, and wherein its social
Life specially consisted; whatsoever nobleness and good it had
realized we might, in the highest conceivable degree, compre-
hend and appropriate.
Literary Historians have nowise lost sight of these severe
conditions they work under, nay rather that second and far hard-
er condition has stood too fixedly before them. Descanting, with
or without examination, with or without descriptive gift, on the
external characters of a Literature, they have seldom neglected
to look out, diligently enough, for the inward sequences and mov-
ing causes; being proud to make their History too, what general
History has long boasted of being, Philosophy teaching by Ex-
perience. 30 On the whole, that tendency we have to theorize on
all things, to 'account' for all things, is but our natural love of
order, put in action; and blameless, praiseworthy, so it over-
step not the limits. Nothing can be more natural than for a man
to build himself some small theoretical Observatory, whence he
may look around upon the world a little; only let him not try to
reach the Heavens with it, otherwise it proves a Tower of Babel,
and ends in confusion of tongues. The Stars are seen more clear-
ly from some stations than from others; but they are not to be
handled and dipt in pieces from any. Literature, Poetry, the
Sphere-music of man's soul, is one of those divine things, which,
it is to be feared, no Science, with its school-gamut, will ever
give us mastery over. Meanwhile we have theories enough where-
in the whole course and mechanism of Poetry is explained; how
it rises, prospers, declines, and even finally terminates, for
except perhaps Cookery, there seems to be no deathless art in
this world. Various are the genetical schemes of such philoso-
phers: sometimes, for instance, Poetry is found to depend on
National Wealth; as if the Greeks in the age of Homer had been
richer than in that of Alexander, the ancient Hebrew Prophets
than the modern Hebrew Goldschmids and Rothschilds. Then
again comes a Denina31 with his Political Freedom; all depends
on Freedom, on a popular constitution: forgetting the eras of
Pericles, Augustus, Leo, Philip Second; and the inconsiderable
Literature of Sparta and the Four Forest Cantons. Freedom
truly it is that makes Poets, that would make us all Poets, in
word or, still better, in deed; but Freedom of an infinitely more
surprising sort than that of the elective franchises; such Free-
dom as an Epictetus, 32 under slave fetters, may plentifully pos-
sess, and the boldest voter in Westminster, tho' the very rivers
ran ale, may altogether want. Which latter Freedom he were a
cunning man that could show us how to come at. But perhaps the
daintiest of all theories is that which makes poetry mount and
sink inversely, balance-wise, with the culture of Language. 33
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? 10 HISTORY OF GERMAN LITERATURE
A half savage language, so it be vague and passionate enough,
gives rise to Poetry; a logical, definite, transparent language
extinguishes it: so that till some sort of Sicilian-vespers be en-
acted on the whole breed of Grammarians, there is henceforth
no prospect of a Poet. We had always understood that Swift was
mistaken when he ascribed to Tailors a creative virtue: 34 here,
however, if there be truth in similitudes, it is not the man that
produces his coat, but the coat that produces its man.
Thus does Philosophy overshoot itself: in stretching our log-
ical faculty to impossible lengths, we pervert and neglect the
province that really lies under its dominion. To the Political
Historian himself, many things, or rather, if he well consider
it, all things, stand rooted in mystery; show only faint super-
ficial glimmerings of their meaning, and remain at bottom in-
finitely-complected, indescribable, unknowable. Much more
so to the Historian of Literature, whose subject of itself leads
him into invisible regions; where not the origin only but even the
result is mysterious. The truth is, those Cause-and-effect
Philosophers, who for every Why are so ready with their Where-
fore, and can spin the whole chaos of human things into a single
thread, or bead-string, are no trustworthy guides. For all man-
ner of Historians, it were more advisable to narrow their enter-
prize within moderate limits: to look upon themselves as witness-
es set there to report and intelligibly represent the things visi-
ble, as they successively or simultaneously emerge; but for the
primary causes and grand moving agencies, to consider these as
a mighty sea, some of whose tides and surface currents it were
indeed blindness not to note; but whose interior secrets, in their
bottomless depths, defy all sounding. 35
It will be understood that in this little undertaking of ours,
which we have named History of German Literature, a far hum-
bler model lies before us. No complete, continuous delineation,
still less any scientific scheme and theory, of the collective
Thought and Culture of the Germans; but only some Series of
light, far-off Historical Sketches relating thereto, can be looked
for here. 36 Nay, were there no other hindrance, the position
of our readers in regard to this matter is not such as to warrant
any deeper attempt. For us English, the Literature of Germany
is almost an untouched subject, whose existence alone has been
made apparent; in respect of which, as yet no curiosity, beyond
that of the lower and primary sort, presses for satisfaction.
How speak with elaborate precision, and in the style (? ] of philo-
sophic deduction, about an object, the whole nature of which is
to most of our hearers unknown? Neither, for the English writer,
even tho' this were all otherwise, are the helps he can find in
English Libraries, or from English discussion whether printed
or spoken, sufficient for great efforts. Our Public Libraries are
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? OF LITERATURE
11
poor in German Books; or rather, with scarcely more than one
exception, 37 altogether destitute of such. Personal communi-
cation, again, even with the learned and intelligent, touching
this subject, will oftener yield darkness than light. As matters
stand, the English inquirer into German Literature is yet rather
a pioneer than a free traveller and observer: on all sides he is
beset with obscurities and complexities, for which, except in his
own resources, such as they may be, there is no aid or outlet.
Meanwhile, German Literature, like a world formed under
Darkness, has suddenly torn asunder its concealments, and now
stands before all nations, the more wondrous that it was unlooked
for, inviting and demanding inquiry. Probably there is not now
any thinking man in England, or in Europe, to whom insight into
the spiritual condition of the Germans were indifferent. Among
ourselves, in particular, the fat contented ignorance only yester-
day so universal on that subject, has abated, and is abating, with
strange rapidity: at the very least, those melancholy maunderings
from our Critical spokesmen, who now see themselves reduced
to one of two extremities, either to acquire some perceptible
knowledge of the matter, or altogether to hold their peace touch-
ing it,--may be considered as finished, probably forever. On
all hands it begins to be understood that the Germans as a Liter-
ary nation stand on a deep and quite independent basis; that their
Literature, alone of all existing Literatures, has still some claim
to that ancient 'inspired gift,' which alone is Poetry; that it is not
only a clear melodious Echo of the present Time, but also a Pro-
phecy of a new and better Time, traces and incipient forms of
which already lie revealed there. 38
So general is public Curiosity on this head; combined too with
a state of Knowledge, such that even the smallest accession is
felt and welcome. Doubtless, in any Historical Survey of German
Literature, with its singular products, and the singular circum-
stances of their production, many pleasant views are discover-
able, and some useful insight may be communicated even by a
stranger and for strangers. One thing it clearly enough lies in
his power to do: to report what he has himself seen and known;
well distinguishing it from what he has only heard of or half
known; whereby if our map of intellectual Germany have but few
cities on it accurately determined, the vacant spaces may be left
honestly vacant, not filled up by Anthropophagi and Mountains of
the Moon. All aspects of our subject, all methods of represent-
ing these, whatsoever can seem interesting to English readers
as they now are, be it Biographical or Critical, National or Uni-
versal, characteristic of Literary men or of Literary things, we
shall hold to lie open for us: where there is little that promises
to interest such readers, we need not linger, need not even pause.
Could these local glances into the field of German Literature be
faithfully delineated, the stations they are taken from being first
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? 12
HISTORY OF GERMAN LITERATURE
well chosen, some outline of that vast, many-sided phenomenon
might grow therefrom, and help to forward and direct the study
of it; preparing us afar off for that clear History, and Philosoph-
ic picture and Estimate, which must one day, whether as separ-
ate book, or as existing at large in the minds of thinking men,
be formed among us; in which History and Estimate, all such be-
ginnings and approximations as the present might be happily ab-
sorbed and forgotten.
On one other point it is fit that the reader and I should have
some understanding, if such do not already exist between us:
What we are specially to understand by the term German Liter-
ature; from what classes of intellectual objects are we entitled
to select those delineations of ours; what classes are they that
may without blame be omitted? To define that vague word Lit-
erature, as here used, might be difficult; neither perhaps is it
very necessary. In its primitive sense, which it still partially
retains, the Literature of any country means the sum-total of
the printed Books in that country. In more strict language, es-
pecially now that Books have so multiplied on us, all manner
of Sciences, and scientific Speculations, Philosophy, Theology,
and so forth, are struck off from our idea of Literature; and
there remains that large, not easily definable body of writings
which, without technical apparatus, address themselves direct-
ly to the whole people. Yet neither is this all Literature: Cob-
bett's Cottage Economy39 is not a Literary work. Perhaps, as
hinted above, we might say that the essential character, as it
were, the inmost nucleus of Literature is Poetry; that whatever
had not in it some emanation of Poetry, whatever did not in some
sort address itself both to all men and to the whole man, to his
affections as well as to his intellect, were no longer Literature. 40
But here again, especially in countries where from eight to
ten thousand imaginative persons are all busy addressing both
the intellect and affections of whosoever will buy their books,
some further distinction becomes necessary; and the question
returns on us: What is Literature, what is mere printed Talk?
Fichte has defined the Literary man to be him only who possess-
es, or with his whole heart strives after, the 'Divine Idea of the
World, '41 what Word sworth in his own dialect has called 'the
Vision and the Faculty divine';42 in which definition, it is mourn-
ful to think how many myriads of amiable gild-brethren sink into
endless sleep.
Happily that task of defining, in this instance, falls rather on
the Logician, or Grammarian than on the Historian, For prac-
tical purposes, we already well nigh understand what is Literature
and what is No-literature, as the cases come before us. At all
events, throughout the greater part of our present course, Time
has already applied his test for us; what was not Literary has per-
ished; nothing that has not some degree of perennial intrinsic worth
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? OF LITERATURE
13
by whatever name we may call it, will be permanently remem-
bered. 43 Nay in its very antiquity there lies a claim to our re-
gard: were it even worthless and nowise Literary, yet as having
once been popular and reckoned literary, it deserves remem-
brance .
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? Chapter II
[Antiquity and Integrity of the German People. German Nation-
al Characteristics. The Northern Immigrations and Their Im-
portance in World History. The Greatness of the Present Ger-
man Culture. ] 44
IF ANTIQUITY and unmixed descent be an honour among na-
tions, the German people, in that respect, may boast itself su-
perior to all its neighbours. We other European nations are but
of yesterday, the oldest of us scarcely counting ten centuries;
for our fathers were wafted together by all the four winds; and
blending in a fierce war-embrace, have left us a most composite
existence; so that in blood, habits, language, we are kinsmen
of all the world. Of the three grand elements, the Celtic, Ro-
man and Gothic or Teutonic, from which our modern European
population springs, the two former are now nearly obliterated
as distinct existences: the Romans long since fused away into
the general mass; the Celts languishing, in thinner and thinner
remnants, here and there, along the rocky coast; waiting as it
were till Time consume them also, and Brittany and Albyn be
as Cornwall: only the Teutschen, as true modern Teutones,
still dwell on their own soil, speaking their own tongue;45 a power-
ful nation in the heart of new Europe, and looking back for their
original to the migrations of Odin, and high fabulous times when
great captains and conquerors were also gods.
What degree of advantage there may be in this; nay whether,
quite contrariwise, a later origin, inferring numerous and even
violent intermixtures, is not the best, we shall not minutely in-
quire here. At all events, the old Athenian boast of Autochthon-
ism were but a vain one in these times: for, be our birth what it
may, there is nod] neither can there be[,J any such thing as inde-
pendent, self-regulated growth and culture for a nation; least of
all, in this ever-fluctuating, all-combining, all-dividing Europe,
where, at this day, to say nothing of our Eastern Coffees and
Cottons, such has been our frank intercourse and brotherhood,
we write with Italian, perhaps Phoenician Letters, compute with
Arabic or Hindoo Numerals, worship with Hebrew Books. Never-
theless Coherence, Perseverance is the first condition of all at-
tainment; and not less of inward than of outward attainment, of
moral depth and greatness, than of physical power. A nation that
has no treasure in the Past cannot be wealthy, save perhaps in
money, which for nations as for individuals is the plainest, but
the most transient and intrinsically the poorest sort of wealth.
Sismondi's Nation of Steam-engines46 could manufacture marki \-
goods; nay perhaps by its superior steadiness in work, and che; >er
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? THE GERMAN PEOPLE
15
method of subsistence (on coals) might undersell the others,
and become the richest: but only a nation of Men can produce
Tells and Luthers, Iliads*? and Hamlets, 48 Bibles and Divini-
ties. Not what we have; in a far higher degree, what we are is
the measure of our value. A national character, which is for a
nation what established principles and a given way of thought are
for a man, cannot grow up except in Time; and the older it is,
the more fixed will it be, and generally the better perfected, and
in its kind the worthier.
That the Germans have endured so long as a separate people,
is itself proof or presumption that their national character must
have some depth; that, at all events, it must ere now be well con-
firmed, and have in all ways clearly expressed itself. The vul-
gar persuasions, current here and elsewhere on this head, might
indeed teach us quite the contrary; but these verdicts, grounded
for most part on mere ophthalmic illusions, will not mislead us.
It is with nations as with men: the deepest excellence is nowise
the soonest recognised; only of physical strength and the talent
for dancing can all eyes judge. Thus, many times, metaphori-
cally as well as literally, honest Worth is left starving on the
street, while forward Dexterity, wheedling and smirking its way,
sits warm and fares sumptuously within. To that immortal ques-
tion, Si un Allemand peut avoir de l'esprit? 49 the Germans might
have answered: We have our Keplers, 50 and Luthers, and Fausts, 51
and the daily life of all men is rich with their inventions; mais
vous, Gualches, 52 qu'avez vous invents?
The political condition and constitution of the Germans, with
its wild discords, and loose unwieldy combination, had often been
little favourable for the free development of a national character:
nevertheless there is much visible among them, even in the worst
periods, to win our regard; if their character want something in
practical adroitness, it has a force, sincerity, and earnest noble-
ness, which is of far rarer value. Already in Tacitus' time, we
discern, in those German manners, features of a rude greatness;
in their dark Forests already dwelt the future regenerators of
Europe, under whom the old corrupt world was to be swept away
as an abomination, and a new world under fairer omens for man-
kind to evolve itself. The first characteristic of those ancient
Germans in the philosophic picture of Tacitus, is their Bravery:53
they are a nation of armed men, and pass their lives amid peril
and adventure, in constant daring and endurance. Their very name,
Guerre-mans, is Wehr-manner, or War-men. * This is not that
* This is Friedrich Schlegel's etymology (Vorlesungen iiber
die Geschichte, V. I), 54 and seems authentic enough. It may
be remarked, at the same time, that the Germans have borne
and still bear a rather curious variety of designations. The
word Germans, or Guerre-mans (Scottice, also we might say
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? 16
HISTORY OF GERMAN LITERATURE
light reckless contempt of death, which could be no distinction
for the Germans, in as much as all men, and most animals,
are capable of it; but a real, far deeper-rooted strength of
heart; stout, unflinching, ever-fresh Endeavour; familiarity
with Danger and Evil, and faith in their power to conquer these.
This same 'deliberate valour' (Tapferkeit) shines forth in their
whole prior and subsequent history: in the wild predatory voy-
ages of the Franks and Saxons, defying all seas and enemies
with their steel 'Knives, ' and frail leathern craft, 'whom, ' says
Sidonius Apollinaris, 56 'Shipwreck only incites, not frightens';
in the stubborn daring of many a Hermann and Civilis; in our
Garr-men) is altogether unknown in their own country; ap-
pears, indeed, to have been nothing more than the assumed
title of those Adventurers, who before Tacitus* or Caesar's
day, had crossed to the left bank of the Rhine, for the pur-
pose of spoiling the Gauls, and settling J? ) in their territory,
and might well call themselves War-men, since except war,
they had no trade there. For the Romans, to whom this was
the vanguard, and first sample, of these unknown hosts, the
casual title of a few became a name for the whole. By them-
selves, however, the Germans have been and still are named
Teutschen, or rather Deutschen; which last, or the equivalent
to it, we English, singularly enough, restrict to the Hollanders,
who have nowise the best right to it. By the French again they
are called Allemands, which also is a Roman designation (Ale-
manni from the native Alle-mSnner); originating in a similar
principle with the name Guerre-mans, and scarcely less sig-
nificant than this; meaning All-men. The Italian Tudeschi is
the only foreign name bearing even a faint resemblance to
their own; which courtesy, it might seem, the Germans have
but ill repaid; calling their southern neighbours, not Italians,
but Walschen, Welsh. -- But, on the whole, names do but sow
themselves 'in the drift-mould of Accident, ' and like many
other earthly things offer strange anomalies. Why, for ex-
ample, is our own country called Angle-land, and not as well
Jut-land, or still better Saxon-land ? The Buccaneers took
name from their hung-beef, or Boucan; which even in that hot
climate they were often glad to live on. Our stout ancestors,
the Saxons, it seems to be agreed on, are so called from the
word Sachs, which in the vulgar dialect of that region is said
to signify or have signified, Knife: Nennius (Historia Britonum)
states as a thing known to him that Hengist was wont to address
his men with a: Nimed eure Sahen (Nimmt eure Sachsen, Take
your Knives! )--which emphatic word-of-command, if genuine,
is doubtless the oldest in modern drilling. See Leibnitz; or
rather Mascov (History of the Germans, Vol. I, p. 242, of the
English Translation), from whom I derive this anecdote. 55
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? THE GERMAN PEOPLE
17
own Hengists and Alfreds; nay, it is still claimed by their great-
est Poet and Thinker, * as the basis of their present national
character.
Akin to this, or rather indeed its origin and root, is the
deep meditative temper, full of enthusiasm and affection, which
those same ancient Germans, and their modern descendants,
likewise exhibit. The Germans of Tacitus are a religious people;
nor is their Superstition a coarse materialism, like that of the
Greeks and Romans; but already an almost intellectual Belief,
stern, majestic, and of infinite melancholy. Their deity is Her-
tha, the Earth or World, the stupendous All;58 whom they wor-
ship without images, solely by the inward sense, not in temples,
but in deep groves, under their sacred Oaks, t no roof over them
but the blue Immensity. Their rites are not always bloodless,
yet not without a grandeur even in their cruelty. 'In an Island
of the Ocean, ' says Tacitus, 'there is a holy Grove; and within
this a consecrated Chariot covered with a cloth, which only one
priest is allowed to touch.
In this shrine where he believes the
Goddess to be present, heifers are yoked to her chariot, and he
reverently follows it. Glad are the days, and festive the places,
wherever she deigns to tarry and be worshipped. No wars are
undertaken, no arms worn, all iron is shut up:^0 peace and re-
pose, strangers at other times, are now alone loved; till the
same priest, his Goddess having had enough of this society with
mortals, restores her to the temple; when the chariot and the
cloth, and if you may believe it, the Deity herself, is washed in
a secret Pool. Slaves do this office, whom straightway the same
Pool engulphs. Hence mysterious terror, and a sacred ignorance
what that may be which only those on the brink of death behold. '61
Nor are the kindly affections unknown to these rude bosoms:
the warriors, tho' they kill their slaves in fits of passion, do not
maltreat them in cold blood: the virtues of Hospitality they prac-
tice with more than uncivilized alacrity; no human guest is turn-
ed away; he that has not entertainment of his own to offer, ac-
companies the stranger to a neighbour's house, and is there wel-
* Goethe, in Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, C. [16] B. [IV]57
t Long afterwards, one of the first proceedings of the Christ-
ian missionaries seems to have been to cut down these Oaks,
under the shadow of which the Germans not only worshipped,
says Mascov, 'but held their conventions and courts of judi-
cature. Such was the famous Oak near Geismar, in lower
Hessia, which was dedicated to the God of Thunder': our
English Boniface, backed by Government authority, cut down
this Thunder-Oak (about the year 850), 'to the great terror
of the people, ' whom however nothing special overtook. Long
Dissertations have been written on this Oak, --which from its
many acorns may have grandsons, or even sons, about Geis-
mar to this day. --Mascov. II. 293. 59
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? 18
HISTORY OF GERMAN LITERATURE
corned along with him. But what most distinguished them from
all other unpolished tribes, ancient or modern, is their treat-
ment of their women. That the stronger should yield to the
weaker, should do homage to her as to a finer, higher nature,
is no dictate of rude instinct; but the late result of moral con-
templation, almost of religion. The old-Germans show a noble
devotion to their women; the ground-plan of a whole future Chiv-
alry lies traced here. 62 They think that there is in females 'a
certain divineness'; these have authority in their counsels; they
are their prophetesses and guardian genii; and are looked upon
with a heartfelt respect, for which the hollow ceremonies of
modern gallantry, whereby the woman, idolized with a certain
mouth-worship, is intrinsically degraded into a beautiful, un-
reasonable plaything, are but a poor substitute. Nor are the
Old-German wives unworthy of this honour; for indeed, giving
honour is often, in such cases, an assurance that it will be de-
served; as popular prophecy brings about its own fulfilment.
The utmost purity of conjugal morals prevails; but these women
are brave, helpful, high-minded, as well as chaste. They ac-
company their husbands in war; fearlessly tend their wounds;
encourage them in the fight; and die with them if all is lost.
How that picture of the Cimbric Mother, whom, in the universal
rout and carnage, Marius' soldiers 'found hanging from the pole
of the waggon, with her children suspended by her feet, "* still
lives in our imagination, after eighteen hundred years;--one
stern Tear, not yet dried away, of the bitter many that have
flowed from broken hearts, and been forgotten! Often, says
Tacitus, the fortune of battles has been turned by the sudden
presence of the women. 64 in that revolt of Civilis, we find a
Velleda from amid her groves on the Lippe, animating and di-
recting the whole heroic enterprises. The spoils of victory are
sent to her: 'but to see or to address the Prophetess herself is
not permitted. She sits apart in a lofty tower; certain of her
relatives chosen for that purpose, like messengers of a divinity,
present the question and bring back the response. '! She is a
Poetess as well as Prophetess and Counsellor, an antique Makarie,
such as Goethe has in these days delineated;66 outwardly fragile
as a reed, yet by her inward clearness, her inward depth, lead-
ing at will the wild strength of men.
The very vices of the Germans do not belie this character,
but rather naturally grow out of it, in such a state of culture as
theirs. These are not indolence and cruelty, passive and active
love of selfish Ease, the common vices of barbarians; but rather
an inordinate passion for social excitement; fierce gambling, and
* Plutarch, in Marius. 63
t Tacitus. Hist. L. IV: C. 67. 65
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? THE GERMAN PEOPLE
19
that excess, which in tavern language is still said to be 'the
feast of souls, ' but in the vulgar dialect is called Drunken-
ness. * Their amusements, which are war-dances and the like;
still more their domestic customs, in regard to childhood, to
majority, to marriage, and the other grand epochs of life; above
all, that rigorous love of Justice, and deep, steadfast, untame-
able spirit of Freedom, which is based thereon are features of
an earnest, high-minded, heroic, people, worthy of the great
work they were one day to perform.
Neither was there wanting, in those early times, a certain
semblance of Literature; if what was not committed to writing,
there being yet no Letters, can deserve that name. A vast
Northern Mythology, full of gloomy grandeur; connecting itself
with the primeval Science and Philosophy of the East;68 yet in-
dependent in structure, and a type of the Northern mind, has
descended, we may say, even to these days: thro' oblique chan-
nels, indeed, and greatly perverted; yet in its groundwork an-
tique, and the property of the whole Northern nations. Wondrous
glimpses into the old and oldest Time, faint dubious light waver-
ing as thro' a submerged City of the Dead, we still have, in those
Eddas and Sagas. What part of all this is due to the more modern
Skalds of Iceland, what to the ancient common stock, it is now
impossible to determine. If Letters are like an imperishable
engraving, Tradition is but an air-image, varying with every
variation in the cloud that reflects it.
But however this may be, we find in Tacitus' description, 69
the Barditus expressly set forth an important element of German
Life. The Bards, chaunting in fierce enthusiasm the exploits of
their heroes, are listened to on all festal occasions; they precede
armies to battle; inspiring them to high daring; they are at once
the Historians, the Singers, and public Preachers of the country.
Their songs of Arminius were in the mouth of the people, when
Tacitus wrote; nay as antiquarians would fondly persuade us
some tone of them still lingers there. Who would not prize any
the faintest tradition or memorial that could be referred with
even a shadow of certainty to this noble Hermann, whom tho' a
Barbarian, his proud enemies themselves thought worthy to be
ranked with their greatest heroes ! But unfortunately, if that
shadow of certainty be an essential, we must forbear such plea-
sure . t
* To certain of my readers it will be interesting to know that
our national English liquor, Ale (now brewed in Australia, and
the remotest west! ) was already the solace of these ancients.
'The liquid they drink, ' says Tacitus, 'is a preparation from
barley or corn, corrupted (corruptus) into a certain resem-
blance of wine. '67
t 'It is highly probable, ' says Mascov, 'that the famous
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? 20
HISTORY OF GERMAN LITERATURE
The succeeding history of the Germans, for some centuries,
was rich enough in heroic materials, had any 'sacred poet' been
there to sing them. These vast movements, which we carelessly
denominate the Northern Immigrations, form an epoch in the His-
tory of the World; they are properly the beginning of European
Culture; and in importance of result, perhaps second only to the
appearance of Christianity itself. 73 it was a boundless 'shaking
of the nations'; the New and the Old, the luxuriously Corrupt and
the barbarously Rude, with all the elements of new worth in the
one, and the fragments or traditions of old worth in the other,
were dashed wildly together, and whatever was worthy to live,
lived, and whatever was valueless, and without strength of its
own, sank to the ground and was obliterated. 74 The Christian
Faith was to wed itself with the deep chivalrous Spirit of the
North; and their nuptial torch, so mysterious are the ways of God,
was the conflagration of a World. But Justice as well as Mercy
is His attribute; and in that fiery whirlwind, abominations, at
which the Sun had sickened, were swept away.
Singular enough! Till within the last century, those North-
men were represented as mere famishing wolves breaking into
the sheepfold; and the word Goth, even among the descendants of
Goths, still retains some such opprobrious signification. Such
charm is in a name: the Commoduses, Caracallas, Domitians,
were called Romans, and their empire had boasted itself to be
Irmensaule (Irmen-Pillar), which Carolus Magnus destroyed
at Ehresburg, was a monumental column, erected to the honour
of Hermann. ' [Mascov J I, 123. 70 Which probability seems to
rest chiefly on the similarity of names, and can hardly be reck-
oned high. The truth is, this name Irmen, or Hermann, seems
to have been appellative as well as proper, signifying Warrior;
or, at least, like our own Arthur, to have fixed itself on every
strange object that stood in want of a name. We have an Irmen-
strasse (Hermann's Street,*or Road), also a Hermann's Car,
as well as a Hermann's Pillar. As for the latter piece of an-
tiquity, it is known to have been an idol Statue, 'figuring a man
armed at all points in the fashion of the ancient Germans, with
a standard in his right hand and a lance in his left': it was wor-
shipped by the Saxons as their chief Divinity; and might more
probably represent Woden than Hermann. Ehresburg (Honour's
Fortress) where 'in a sacred Grove, ' the Irmensaule stood, was
one of the principal strongholds of the Saxons, and lay not far
from the site of the modern Paderborn. Charlemagne destroyed
the Fortress (A. D. 772), and with it this ancient Idol. Two
noted antiquarians, Jacob Grimm and Von der Hagen71 have
each written a Disquisition, said to be learned and instructive,
on these Irmen relics. See Conversations-Lexicon. VII. 577
(Edit, of 1827). 72
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? THE GERMAN PEOPLE
21
eternal. The Goths were at least men; the creatures whom they
conquered were "cooking animals', 75 and fallen, as was natural
in that case, far below the level of animals that do not cook.
Neither are we to figure those 'Northern Swarms' as flying
off, like Bees, naturally, and without effort or merit on their
own part. They were not swarms of insects, but hosts of living,
articulate-speaking men. Not one of all these wild myriads but
had a home, and hearts thai; loved him: he left not his hut in the
forest without parting pangs, and a soul steeled to heroic temper;
cutting himself loose from the whole known Past, to front an un-
calculated Future, in which only the danger and the daring were
certain for him. Many a Russian Expedition has been accomp-
lished, many a Waterloo fought, of which we have now no record.
What consulting, anxious canvassing, expostulating, recruiting,
from hamlet to hamlet, in those Northern Woods; how many sis-
ters', lovers' tears were shed, how many mother's [sic] hearts
orphaned, as host after host of the Adventurers set forth on their
unknown enterprise, compared with which the Circumnavigation
of the Globe were, in later centuries, a small matter! But a
courageous, unrestful spirit; the memory of old injuries, hope
without bounds; Hatred, Greediness, Ambition, Want itself, urge
them on: thus Germany, for two centuries, was as the centre of
a volcanic earthquake, in which all human things were scattered
asunder, scathed with fire, and madly driven to and fro.
It depends on Literature or the want of Literature whether
even great enterprizes shall be reputed barbarous or the con-
trary: Alaric crossed the Alps as well as Hannibal; only there
was no Livy to record it in Alaric's case. We might almost have
expected that among the German Bards, some poetic spark,
blown into flame by these great doings, might have forced some
glimmering of its light even thro' that thick medium, into distant,
calmer times. To the great body of the German nation, to such
of them namely as remained at home, the fury of these commo-
tions was but a spectacle, this havoc was gain; the only tidings
that reached them were of victory and triumph. Nay, even with
our utmost effort, we can form but a faint picture of the national
enthusiasm, the joy, astonishment, that must have seized every
bosom in that age of wonders. For now to the rugged inmate of
the Forest, the steel sword had cut out paths into golden King-
doms; and a whole unknown world of Pleasure and Splendour was
laid open. The Invincible was vanquished; the Queen of the Earth
had fallen, and all nations were gathered to take her spoils.
The wail of the Romans, vehement, discordant, half-delirious,
almost like female shrieks, has reached us; but the triumphal
songs of their victors have all perished on the way hither. Tra-
dition, of itself so insecure, fell then on times doubly unfavour-
able for it; so restless were also the ages that followed these oc-
currences, change ever succeeding change, and nothing would
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? 22
HISTORY OF GERMAN LITERATURE
stand still, but nations, and languages, and laws, and all hu-
man things, were whirling in mad haste, as in a wide all-em-
bracing tornado. 76 Of these vast Immigrations and Conquests,
excepting a few names of persons and events, obscured by ig-
norance, and altogether disjointed from their true coherence,
no Northern record or remembrance survives for us. The tale
of victory and adventure, at first crudely conceived, and dwell-
ing only on the surface of actions, was changed by each succes-
sive singer and narrator; accommodated with new actors and a
new scene to suit the new audience; and sank at last into the shape
of a fireside song for the people, in whose versions all that was
antique and obsolete gradually dropt off, and was supplied by
fresh invention; till of the original little, and that only under for-
eign shapes, and to patient antiquarian eyes, was recognisable.
The ancient world divides itself from the modern by a dim chaos,
over which no highway leads; only we know that in its deep, trou-
blous, ever-fluctuating bosom the latter had its birth, the former
its grave; that in this boundless anarchy, old things passed away,
all things became new.
Of the faint lights which still glimmer on the Northern shore
of that Chaos; of the oldest German traditions, and the shape un-
der which they now meet us, we shall soon speak more at large.
Meanwhile let us here remark that this deep-toned, courageous,
perseverant spirit of the ancient Germans has neverbelied itself
in their modern sons: they too, like their ancestors^] have been
called to play a high part, sometimes the highest, in the History
of the World; and many a new Hermann has waged as valiant a
war, tho' armed not with spear and buckler, but with invisible
weapons. That old German spirit, purified by new knowledge,
shines forth again, to the eyes of all men, in the Luthers and
Huttens77 of the Reformation; in so many Alberts, 78 Keplers,
Leibnitzes79 of other ages; some gleams of the like are [at] once
visible to all in the Schillers80 and Goethes of their recent Lit-
erature. Nay, in one word, have not the Germans, and their
descendants which we too are, grounded, and by long effort, built
up a Form of Life, which, both in respect of physical power and
of moral culture, that is to say, both in the rudest and in the fin-
est estimate, we fancy we can prove to be the highest yet known
representation of Humanity? Abstract Europe from the world,
abstract Germany, and the sons of Germans, from Europe, and
the fairest province were torn from the Domain of Man. 81
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? Chapjter] III
(Traditionary Lore of the Germans. German Language, Its An-
tiquity, Developments, and Characteristics. German Popular
Proverbs. German Folk-tales! ]
WE PURPOSE, in this and the following Chapter, to cast a hur-
ried glance over the Traditionary Lore of the Germans; over that
portion of their spiritual Produce and Possession, the particu-
lar authors of which have been unnoticed, or are long since for-
gotten; which, preserving itself from age to age in the living mem-
ory alone, comes before us as the common property of the whole
people. If not Literature, if it went before Literature, or, as
in these times, lies below the level of Literature, and cannot be
included therein, it is the element out of which Literature grows,
and derives its nationality, its distinctive figure and colour. 82
Herein, as it were, all mutilated, and dismembered, and even
broken into indistinguishable dust and rubbish, lie the fragments
of old primeval Intellect and Imagination; which dust and rubbish
however is the soil for new. Only the Thought that is alive can
give birth to Thought; only such Knowledge as stands written in
breathing hearts constitutes the spiritual resources of mankind;
whether it be written in Books or not is another question; nay,
we may say, great part of it, even in these times, much more in
older times, cannot be so written. In this vast, ever-changeful,
confused Limbo of Tradition, which almost without metaphor, may
be called at once the womb of Literature and its grave, 83 we may
observe many things that both in the historical and speculative
point of view, may seem noteworthy.
One national Tradition which no vicissitudes or war-ravages
can utterly obliterate is the Language. This is the inheritance of
all former [? ] ages to every new one; carries traces in it of all
the discovery, thought, poetic feeling and even moral character
of those that have already spoken it. No good or wise man but
improves it for all his successors. It is an invisible Daughter of
the Air; lives only in the breath of transient man; yet lives on in
man's breath, when the hardest granite pyramids are wrecked and
obliterated.
The German language boasts of an antiquity far higher than
that of any other living dialect:84 indeed, if under the name Ger-
mans, what seems permitted to antiquarians, we include that vast
Kindred, which migrating, as is believed, in unknown times out
of the East, occupied, in known times, the whole North and centre
of Europe, from the mouths of the Danube and Rhine to the Arctic
Circle, and ultimately, as we have seen, conquered and in greater
or less proportions mingled itself with the whole Southern tribes
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? 24
HISTORY OF GERMAN LITERATURE
of our Continent, --the German Language, like the German
People, is of an antiquity we have no measure for; comes from
beyond our utmost horizon, 'forth issuing from Cimmerian
Night. '85
Even as a written language it counts fifteen centuries; nay
there is some controversy whether the ancient Goths, or Ger-
mans, did not write with Runes, and perhaps long prior to the
time of Ulfila. At all events, that Bishop's Moesogothic Bible
dates from the middle of the fourth century; Ulfila himself ap-
pears to have died about the year 380. As this venerable per-
formance of his, independently of other claims to our regard,
is by far the oldest authentic specimen of any Teutonic dialect,
all Anglosaxon, Alemannic, Frankish or Scandinavian writings
being from three to five hundred years younger, we shall here
examine it a little.
Of Ulfila, whose name is also written Wulfila, that is, Wolf-
lein, or as we should say in English, Wolfling, only a few in-
cidental facts are known. It is ascertained that he officiated as
Bishop among the Goths, settled in Thrace and Dacia, from about
the year 360 to 380. He was of the Arian persuasion, and trained
his flock to that same; or rather, as would seem, [was) persuad-
ed that the controversy was of small moment. * The Christian
faith had already taken root among them; probably first communi-
cated by their captives, and ere long confirmed and diffused by
many fugitives from the Athanasian persecution: it is said that
Ulfila himself was the grandson of a Cappadocian prisoner. He
appears to have resided chiefly in Dacia, where it is thought his
Translation was executed. He crossed the Danube with that di-
vision of his people, who in 376, 87 obtained a settlement in
Moesia, and were thence called Moesogoths; but he died soon af-
ter, precisely when is not known. That he stood in high consider-
ation among his countrymen, is evident enough: he was twice their
ambassador to the Emperor Valens, and seems to have acquitted
himself skilfully and faithfully on both occasions; at an earlier
date (359) he had attended the Synod of Constantinople, held under
Arian influences, and subscribed its decrees.
Of his zeal, learning, and intellectual talent, his version it-
self is the best proof. It is true, he stood in constant communi-
cation with Greece, and was master of whatever culture it could
afford him in that day: yet with all this help, the task that lay be-
fore him must have offered innumerable difficulties. Nay, by
some it has been asserted that besides forcing the rude Gothic
dialect to express such high complex matters, he had even to in-
vent an alphabet to spell it with: of this, however, there is no
evidence; but rather, according to philologers, Of the contrary,
his language having marks of much prior cultivation. Indeed from
? Mascov. I, 381. 86
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? TRADITIONARY LORE
25
the readiness with which his Bible was received, and the uni-
versal footing it soon gained and long held in the German Church-
es, we might infer that reading was no novelty among that people,
at least that there was a great alacrity and aptitude for acquir-
ing it. A Letter from St Jerom, written not long afterwards to
two Gothic Priests, is still extant; answering certain queries of
theirs, not about the alphabet and reading in their vernacular
tongue, but about the Hebrew Psalter and its variations from the
Latin. *
Ulfila translated the whole Bible, except the Book of Kings,
which he reckoned of too warlike a character for his Goths.
Considerable part of the work, especially the New Testament,
remains, in two ancient Manuscripts, and in a variety of modern
ones, to this day: it was first printed, in 1665, at Dort; and often
since, in Germany, England and elsewhere; and has been com-
mented upon by many antiquarians: Junius, Marshal, Hickes, and
best of all, as we understand, by the learned and laborious Ihre. 89
It is faithfully, and even with a stiff closeness, rendered from the
Septuagint; on which account, and being at the same time of such
antiquity, it is still valued by the Biblical Critic, as well as by
the Philologer.
The history of these two ancient Manuscripts, as it seems to
be a sort of bibliographical tidbit, may stand here in few words.
With regard to the least important of the two, which indeed con-
tains only some fragments of the Epistle to the Romans, it re-
mained unknown to everyone, till the year 1756, when Knittel the
Keeper of the Wolfenbuttel Library happening to inspect an old
manuscript of Isidorus which lay there, found that it was what we
now call a palimpsest; that to make room for Isidorus, Ulfila with
a parallel version in Latin had been erased, but had now again be-
come the more legible of the two. By dint of exertion, the worthy
Knittel deciphered these scattered leaves of the old Bible, appar-
ently copied in the sixth century; published this manuscript under
the patronage of his Duke, Karl of Brunswick, in honour of whom
he called the Manuscript Codex Carolinus, by which name it con-
tinues to be known. --But far more famous is the Codex Argenteus,
till that discovery, supposed to be unique; which indeed in regard
to all but these few trifling fractions, it still is. 'The history of
this Codex, ' says J5rdens who is our guide here, 'has its own ob-
scurities. When first noticed, the Codex Argenteus was in the
Benedictine Abbey of Werden in Westphalia, not far from Cologne.
