Of this new edition a few letters are printed in the volume which I respectfully inclose to your Highness, that I may learn the opinion of a judge before putting the last touch to the whole. May you, gracious prince, perceive in this slight specimen my earnest endeavor to impart to a work, which I venture to address to you, all the perfection possible.

With deepest devotion and veneration, I remain,

Your Ducal Highness' most obedient,
F. SCHILLER.

SCHILLER to the DUKE.

MOST SERENE HIGHNESS, MOST GRACIOUS PRINCE, I ventured a few weeks ago to send in all submission to your Highness the first part of my monthly work, containing the beginning of my "Asthetic Letters." Allow me now, most gracious prince, to lay at your feet the continuation of this work, to which I can wish no better success than that it may be worthy of your Highness' approval.

I know that higher affairs than these literary Occupations now claim your attention; but when your mind, after more important business, looks around for refreshment, the Muses may venture to approach you, and you will find in the enjoyment of truth and beauty a pleasure that is reserved only for the most noble souls.

May I have offered the mind and heart of your Highness something not quite unworthy of you.

With boundless devotion and respect, I remain,

Your Ducal Highness' most obedient, F. SCHILLER. JENA, March 4, 1795.

There is said to be a letter from the duke to Schiller of March 10, 1795, in the private collection before mentioned; but the following is the answer to Schiller's letter accompanying the continuation of the

Hora:

VII.

Letter of the DUKE to SCHILler.

COPENHAGEN, March 19, 1795. (From the draft in the duke's handwriting.) I have received the two first parts of the Hora, and the letters accompanying these two

I was delighted to find your " Esthetic Letters" again in the Hora. But through my ignorance of the terminology, and indeed of the meaning of the critical philosophy, they contain much that is dark to me, which can only disappear by repeated readings; therefore, I would rather at present remain silent as to these letters. In the summer, in the country, with more leisure and fewer interruptions, I shall again take up this study. It is no small pleasure to me to find in your thoughts on what constitutes the wants of mankind so much agreement with my own convictions. Improvement in the circumstances of mankind must originate from man. If this is not the case, every political erection, however beautiful it may be, must soon fall to pieces, and serve, it may be, as a still more convenient refuge for unbridled and wild passions It depends less on the form than on the spirit through which this form receives life. If this spirit is the spirit of humanity, then improvement will follow, be the outer form what it will. It has fallen to your lot, noble man, to awaken, to sustain, to spread abroad this spirit of humanity, and I hope and expect that your latest literary undertaking, as well as some of your former works, will serve for its advancement. My interest and my wishes will always attend you.

To this Schiller answered by a letter of April 5, 1795, which contains some striking remarks on the difficulties of the German language.

VIII.

SCHILLER to the DUKE.

MOST SERENE HIGHNESS, MOST GRACIOUS PRINCE AND MASTER,- In the letter of the 19th March, with which your Highness honored me, I find the encouraging assurance that the first parts of my new journal were not displeasing to you; that indeed your own convictions accord with the principal contents of my "Esthetic Letters." I now pursue the work with more courage, and only ask your most gracious permission to send you each new number of this periodical. Your Highness' remarks with regard to the difficulty of style are well founded, and it requires, of course, the greatest care on the part of the author to unite the necessary profoundness and depth of thought with an intelligible style. But our language is not yet quite capable of this revolution, and all that good writers can do is to work towards this goal of a more perfect form. The language of the

more refined society, and of conversation, is still too much afraid of the sharp, often subtle precision, which is so necessary to the philosopher, and the language of the scholar is not capable of the lightness and life which the man of the world is right in desiring. It is a misfortune to Germans that their language has not been allowed to become the organ of refined society, and it will long continue to feel the evil effects of this exclusion.

Should I, however, but succeed a little in helping to spread philosophical ideas in the circle of the fashionable world, I should consider every effort which my undertaking costs me as richly repaid.

With deep devotion, I remain,
Your Ducal Highness' most obedient,
F. SCHILLER.

JENA, April 5, 1795.

On the 9th June of the same year Schiller writes again, sending the duke the fifth part of the Hora, and announcing the sixth, with eleven new "Esthetic Letters."

IX.

SCHILLER to the DUKE.

MOST SERENE HIGHNESS, MOST GRACIOUS PRINCE AND MASTER,-How greatly do I hope that the Hora, of which I lay the fifth part at your Serene Highness' feet, may not be found unworthy of your further attention. My zeal in collecting good writings wherever

they can be found does not diminish, but, rich

as Germany is in journals and writers, it is poor in good authors, and in the fresh, healthy productions of genius, and of philosophical minds. I own I never realized this want so much as since the publication of my journal, in which so large and influential a society takes part, and where it is, nevertheless, so difficult always to find something satisfactory to lay before the public. It is indeed to the honor of the nation that it is more difficult to please; but it is to be desired that the cleverness of the authors might answer to these high requirements.

I have employed myself all this time, as far as my health allowed, in continuing my "Esthetic Letters," and the sixth part, now at the press, will contain eleven new letters. Could I but hope that this entertainment might enliven a few hours to your Highness during your present visit to the country, I should find in this a sweet reward.

With feelings of the deepest devotion and gratitude, I remain,

Your Ducal Highness' most obedient,
F. SCHILLER.
JENA, June 9, 1795.

The sixth part of the Hora is also accompanied by a letter from Schiller, in which he excuses himself to the duke for the free tone, opposed to conventional decency, of Goethe's "Elegies," printed

in it.

X.

SCHILLER to the DUKE.

MOST SERENE HIGHNESS, MOST GRACIOUS PRINCE AND MASTER,—It is not without embarrassment that I venture to lay the sixth part of the Hora before your Serene and Ducal Highness.

The "Elegies" which it contains are perhaps written in too free a tone, and perhaps the subject which they treat should have excluded them from the Hora. But I was carried away by the great poetical beauty of their style, and then I confess that I believe they offend only conventional and not true and natural decency. I shall, in a future number of the journal, take the liberty of stating in detail my creed as to what is allowable or not allowable to the poet with regard to propriety. May the continuation of my letters on æsthetic education, of which this part contains a large instalment, be read by your Serene Highness not without interest. In it I approach ever nearer to my goal, and hope that I have unfolded many things which were left doubtful in my former letters.

In the deepest devotion and reverence, I remain,

Your Ducal Highness' most obedient,
F. SCHILLER.
JENA, July 5, 1795.

For the ninth part of the Hore we have again an accompanying letter in Schiller's

hand.

His hopes as to the successful effects of his periodical are again in the ascendant, and the high aim which he placed before himself and his coadjutors, the union of deep thought, with clearness and elegance of diction, appears to him as not unattainable. His self-reliance is firmer. He will win the approbation of the best people, let the common herd say what it will.

XI.

SCHILLER to the DUKE.

MOST SERENE HIGHNESS, MOST GRACIOU PRINCE,-Though the numbers of the Hord which have hitherto appeared have often, fron their speculative contents, been very tiresom and unproductive, this ninth part, which humbly venture to send to your Ducal High ness, is perhaps more entertaining. Variou philosophical ideas are veiled in it under a fre poetical covering, and may perhaps in thi form commend themselves to lovers of th beautiful.

After a long separation from the poeti muse, I have again ventured to make some a in reconciling the taste of your Highness, an tempts in this realm, and may I have succede of the whole cultivated world, to my forme metaphysical lucubrations. By every mean in every form, I strive always and ever aft

the same end-truth. Should I not succe

must have sympathy with the past and the present, and a prophetic insight into the future. He must advance firmly, without looking behind him, but his people must be able and willing to follow, or he will vanish like a shadow, as many a true poet has already vanished.

So powerful is the influence of an individual, if he will use it, if he will follow the first impulse of his heart, if he has faith in himself and his fellow-men. In my essay on Schiller, written in 1859 (" Chips," vol. iii., p. 76), it was my principal object to prove clearly how Schiller's development as a man and poet was principally determined by the influence of the great minds with whom it was his good fortune to come in contact. Attempts have been made to deny this, and what can one not deny? But Schiller himself felt it, and clearly acknowledged it once, in a letter of November 23, 1800, to Countess Schimmelmann, the wife of the Danish minister. "Whatever of good may be in me," he writes, was planted in me by a few excellent men my happy fate brought me in contact with them at the most decisive periods of my life; my friends, therefore, are the history of my life."

The unexpected and generous intervention of the duke of Schleswig-HolsteinAugustenburg marks certainly one of the decisive moments in the development of Schiller's genius, and it is impossible to deny that without this intervention the career of the poet would have been totally different. It is true that a poet is born, but he is also made; he is made by his countrymen who understand and love him. Where love and sympathy are wanting in a people, there poetry flourishes as little as the rose will yield its fragrance without sunshine. In this sense each great poetical work is a national poem. It is quite true that a nation makes no national songs, but it makes the poet, who sings to it out of the abundance of his heart and soul. A national song arises only from a combination of creative thought and receptive understanding; so

It was one of the noblest characteristics of the golden age of Weimar that men still professed the art of discovering the beautiful, of overcoming the unlovely. They knew how to enjoy. They loved and praised the beautiful, and because they knew how difficult art is, they did not shake their head at every false note, as men do now, just to prove how true their ear is. How rare the gift of admiring, how difficult the art of praise is, those men do not appear to imagine by whose fault the name of critic has become almost synonymous with that of censurer. When Baggesen and the duke of SchleswigHolstein-Augustenburg and Count Schimmelmann admired the high flight of Schiller's genius, and wished to give energetic expression to their admiration, there were doubtless witty ladies-in-waiting and literary secretaries of legation in Copenhagen who said, "But think, your Highness, what you are doing. Schiller is certainly very popular in certain classes of society in Germany. But it is in reality only wild students and eccentric maids of honor who rave about him; competent judges consider his works a failure. He is no classical writer, like Gellert or Klopstock; and then, your Highness, his political and religious opinions! He is said to be a democrat, an atheist. Would it not be better to wait, and get more accurate information about the author of "The Robbers"? This is the mildew, which blasts all fresh emotions; whilst honest admiration and sympathy, like spring showers and sunshine, bring out the hidden buds of genius at all points into blossom and fruit. There is no doubt that the duke of HolsteinAugustenburg might have deceived himself. Schiller's spirit might have succumbed to his bodily sufferings, without having produced a "Wallenstein," a "William Tell." But what then? Better be deceived a hundred times in admiration and love, than lose the power of admiring and loving. It is this power in which we are wanting. We are not wanting in objects of admiration, but in the talent of admiring. We have great poets, great artists, great savants, great statesmen,

great princes, but we no longer have a great and generous people.

Schiller and Goethe appear to us now as surrounded by a classic halo. We think it is perfectly natural that such literary heroes should have attracted attention and admiration. But let us only read the journals of that time, and we can easily see that even Schiller and Goethe nad to be discovered. Frederick the Great spoke of "Goetz von Berlichingen" as "ces platitudes dégoûtantes." Goethe put Schiller's "Robbers" and "Fiesco" in the same class with Heinse's "Ardinghello." And even later, when Goethe and Schiller had formed their literary duumvirate, and tried to exercise a critical dictatorship through the Hora, the educated mob at tacked them mercilessly in the German newspapers. It is known that Cotta, the publisher of the Hora, ordered favorable notices of the new periodical in the then influential Jena literary newspaper. It appears to us impossible that a man like Schiller could condescend to such a pitiful action. But so it was, and naturally an undertaking supported by such means came to a miserable end, in spite of Schiller, in spite of Goethe. Schiller complains of the pert, incisive, cutting, and prejudicial style of the criticism directed against him, chiefly by the party of Schlegel. He raves like modern poets about general emptiness, party feeling for the extreme of mediocrity, eye-service, cringing, emptiness, lameness, etc., and naturally receives the same coin in return. I mention all this only to show that when what is truly great has once been discovered, every one can admire it; but that two powers are necessary to everything really great, one creative, the other receptive. The world is still rich; the precious stones are there, but of what good are they, when the fowls only look for grains of corn? Is the sea beautiful to the herring-fisher? Is the desert grand to the camel-driver? Are the mountains imposing to the foot-messenger? What we are wanting in is sympathy, compassion, power of rejoicing and suffering with others. We shall perhaps never learn to be enthusiastic again like the noble duke of Holstein, like Count Schimmelmann, Baggesen, and his friends. But what the present generation can and ought to learn, the young as well as the old, is spirit and perseverance to discover the beautiful, pleasure and joy in making it known, and resigning ourselves with grateful hearts to its enjoyment; in a word-love, in the old, true, eternal meaning of the word.

Only sweep away the dust of self-conceit, the cobwebs of selfishness, the mud of envy, and the old German type of humanity will soon reappear, as it was when it could still "embrace millions." The old love of mankind, the true fountain of all humanity, is still there; it can never be quite choked up in the German people. He who can descend into this fountain of youth, who can again recover himself, who can again be that which he was by nature, loves the beautiful wherever he finds it; he says with Schiller, "For all that, life is beautiful;" he understands enjoyment and enthusiasm, if not by the "thundering ocean," yet in the few quiet hours which he can win for himself in the noisy, deafening hurry of the times in which we live. F. MAX Muller.

From The Cornhill Magazine. A HUMAN SACRIFICE.

I.

"COMPLETELY ruined! Half the ricefields are foot-deep of silt, and the stream tearing over the meadows, ploughing them into furrows that would bury a buffalo. When I came up from the ford this morning, the paddy-stalks were as tall as my waist, and in another week the crop would have been ready for the sickle; and now there is scarcely a standing reed left in the whole township. I tell you, neighbor Nenko, the village will be brought to starvation."

"And whom have we to blame for that but ourselves?" growled Nenko. "If the gods had got their due, such calamities, 1 warrant, had never overtaken us. The earth-goddess has asked in vain for a sacrifice. Two cold seasons have come and gone since blood was shed in the meriah grove, and Tari could not but be angry with us.'

66

Very true," returned Beer, shaking his head gloomily; "all our disasters have come upon us since Kowar bilked the axe and ran off to the jungle. And what amends did we then make to the goddess? Two lives would have been little enough to appease Tari for that insult, and yet, though two seasons have passed away, not a single victim has been tied to the stake. What wonder, then, that the goddess should give us over to the snake and the tiger, and wash our rice-fields down to the plains!"

"Ay, our troubles all began with Kowar's running away. It was only a month