All of these are thought by Dr. Wilkens to be reprints of the Collyer translation. There seems to have been no original American translation published in America. The three reprints of the New Idylls are from the translation by W. Hooper, published in London in 1776. These reprints have been so carefully recorded by Dr. Wilkens that we shall only refer to his work. He speaks also of the imitations of Gessner's style, chief among which was the Death of Cain. He makes the mistake commonly made by critics in believing it to have been written by "a Lady." We have mentioned that in England the work was for many years supposed to have been written by the same Mrs. Collyer who translated the Death of Abel. Even in the catalogue of the British Museum was to be found only a year ago an edition of the Death of Cain marked, "By a Lady-probably Mrs. Mary Collyer." Of this work Dr. Wilkens records four reprints, two of them bound in the same volume with the Death of Abel. In this connection we should state that the Death of Cain was first published in 1788. It is interesting to note that Gessner's works were printed in America as well as in England with the Two Friends of Bourbon, by Diderot. Gessner's popularity in America must have been as great as it was in England. The Death of Abel was arranged as an oratorio by George Perry, leader of the Sacred Harmonic Society. The oratorio was performed May 17, 1844, at Exeter Hall. In order to show the influence of Gessner's writings upon our English poets we have frequently cited parallel passages. This is not altogether a satisfactory method of study, for we realize that it is to a certain extent impossible that the thoughts of the poets of one age should remain inseparable from the thoughts of the succeeding poets. There are what Bayard Taylor01 calls "intellectual genealogies in literature." He writes: "Most authors may be shown to be not imitators, but the spiritual descendants of others, inheriting more or less of their natures." 61 Studies in German Literature, 1879. We have long since outgrown Gessner's Idyls and the Death of Abel, just as we have outgrown the powdered wigs and quaint costumes of his time, but we cannot deny we have inherited through the writings of those poets who are most read by English readers to-day much of Gessner's spirit. Everything that Gessner did has been done since by greater poets, and done better than he could do it. It is true the spirit of Revolution was in the air. In time we should all have learned the lesson of universal brotherhood, and love for every manifestation of nature, whether Gessner had lived or not. But the fact remains that he was one of the first to feel the pulsebeat of this new movement, and one of the first who taught the English people to feel it. He was popular in England from the time his works made their first appearance. There was scarcely a home in England where he was not known. That love of inanimate nature, love for child-life, reverence for the home, and love for animal-life, which are breathed in everything which he wrote, have since permeated the life and thought of the people and become a sacred and enduring inheritance in our English literature. Finis. The following list includes a few of the works which have been consulted. I desire here to express my thanks for the privilege of working in the Library of the British Museum, where constant use was made of the various editions of Gessner's works, both in German and English, as well as those of the English poets, upon whom his influence is observed. In tracing this influence, the letters of the English authors of the period, published volumes, and those in manuscript have been invaluable. After making a systematic search through the English magazines from 1750, to the present time, we have mentioned in Chapter I every criticism which has any weight. These will be found in the index. I desire also to express my gratitude to the librarians of the Stadtbibliotek and Cantonalbibliotek in Zürich, and to acknowledge my indebtedness to Professors Theodor Vetter and Adolf Frey, of the University of Zürich; Professor M. D. Learned, of the University of Pennsylvania; to Professors Henry Wood and B. J. Vos, of Johns Hopkins University, and Professor Hans Froelicher, of the Woman's College of Baltimore, for helpful suggestions. Aikin, John: General Biography, London, 1799-1815. Beers, Henry Augustin: A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century. London, 1899. Blair, Hugh: Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres. London, 1783. Blumenthal, Friedrich: Lord Byron's Mystery "Cain," and its Relation to Milton's "Paradise Lost" and Gessner's "Death of Abel." Progr. der Oberrealschule zu Oldenburg, 1891. Brandes, G. M. C.: Die Hauptströmungen der Lit. des 19. Jhd. Uebersetzt u. eingeleitet von A. Strodtmann. 1872-76. Brandl, Alois: Coleridge und die englische Romantik. 1886. Broglé, Hans: Die französische Hirtendichtung in der 2. Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts dargestellt in ihrem besonderen Verhältnis zu Salomon Gessner. Leipzig, 1903. Craik, G. L.: The Pursuit of Knowledge. 1830. Disraeli, Isaac: The Literary Character. London, 1828. Finser, Georg: Zürich in der 2. Hälfte des 18. Jhd. Zürich, 1884. Frey, Adolf: Salomon Gessner (Kürschners National-Literatur). Fuessli, J. C.: Geschichte der besten Künstler in der Schweiz. 1769-79. Gosse, Edm.: History of Eighteenth Century Literature. 1889. Herzfeld, G.: William Taylor von Norwich. [Morsbach's Studien zur engl. Philologie.] 1897. Hettner, H. J. T.: Literaturgeschichte des 18. Jhd. Braunschweig, 1894. Hillebrand: Die deutsche Nationalliteratur im 18. u. 19. Jhd. 1875. Hottinger, J. J.: Salomon Gessner. Zürich, 1796. Joerdens, Carl Heinrich: Lexicon deutscher Dichter u. Prosaisten. Leipzig, 1806-11. Koch, Max: Ueber die Beziehungen der engl. Lit. zur deutschen im 18. Jhd. Leipzig, 1883. Medwin, Thomas: Conversations of Byron. 1824. Meister, L.: Characteristik deutscher Dichter. 1789. Meister, L.: Berühmte Züricher. 1782. Millar: The Mid-eighteenth Century. 1902. Moerikofer, J. C.: Die Schweizerische Literatur des 18. Jhd. Leipzig, 1861. Mueller, Max: German Classics. 1886. Omond, T. S.: The Romantic Triumph. 1897. Pughe, F. H.: Studien über Byron u. Wordsworth. (Anglistische Forschungen.) 1902. Robberds, J. W.: Memoir of W. Taylor. 1843. Schaffner, Alfred: Lord Byron's Cain u. seine Quellen. Strassburg, 1880. Schirmacher: Cain: a Mystery by Lord Byron. Königsberg, 1863 (Progr.). Schirmacher: Studien. 1897. Stephen, Leslie: History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century. London, 1902. Taylor, William: Survey of German Poetry. 1828. Vetter, Theodor: Zürich als Vermittlerin englischer Literatur im 18. Jhd. 1891. Wilkens, F. H.: Early German Influence in America. Americana Germanica III. Winkworth, Catherine: Christian Singers of Germany. 1867. Woelfflin, H.: Salomon Gessner. 1889. BERTHA REED. Woman's College, Baltimore. CONTINUATION OF THE QUARTERLY AMERICANA GERMANICA A MONTHLY DEVOTED TO THE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE Historical, Literary, Linguistic, Educational and Commercial Relations THE GERMAN AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY KEGAN, PAUL TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO., LTD. F. A. BROCKHAUS H. LESOUDIER |