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GBEMANY 

VOL.  II. 


GEBMANY 


PEESENT      AND      PAST 


BY 


S.  BAKING -GOULD,  M.A. 


AUTHOR     OF     'THE     VICAR     OF     MORWENSTOW '     ETC. 


Kai  TO.  re  iraAata  K«XII/WS  Sie\6elv,  Kal  nepl  TWI>  vewori 
opxaiws  einelv— Isocrates,  Panegyricua,  §  8 


IN    TWO    VOLUMES 
VOL.    II. 


0 


LONDON 
C.  KEGAN   PAUL  &  CO.,  1  PATERNOSTER   SQUARE 

1879 


( The  rights  of  translation  and  of  reproduction  are  reserved.) 


CONTENTS 

OF 

THE     SECOND     VOLUME. 


PAGE 
XI.      THE  STAGE    . 

XII.      MUSIC        .                                               .  .       .  67 

XIII.      THE  KULTURKAMPF 

XIV.      PROTESTANTISM  .                               .  •               •                .       .  156 

XV.      THE  LABOUR  QUESTION        .  .               .               .211 

XVI.      SOCIAL  DEMOCRACY          .  .       .  241 
XVII.      CULTURE         .... 

XVIII.      ARCHITECTURE    ...  ...  342 

XIX.      THE   STOVE     .                .  •  364 

APPENDIX                .    •  .                                 •  373 

INDEX                                ......  385 


GERMANY,  PRESENT  AND  PAST. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE   STAGE. 

God  be  with  you,  good  people,  go  and  act  your  play ;  and  if  there 
be  anything  in  which  I  may  be  of  service  to  you,  command  me,  for  I 
will  do  it  readily;  having  been  from  my  youth  a  great  admirer  of 
masques  and  theatrical  representations. — Don  Quixote. 

'ON  April  26,  in  the  year  1322,'  says  Johann  Rothe  in  his 
c  Thuringian  Chronicle,'  '  after  Easter  there  was  performed 
at  Eisenach  a  dramatic  representation  of  the  "  Ten  Virgins," 
five  of  whom  were  wise,  and  five  foolish,  according  to  the 
Gospel,  as  preached  by  Christ.  And  the  Landgrave  Frederick 
was  present,  and  saw  and  heard  how  the  five  foolish  virgins 
were  cast  out  of  eternal  life,  and  how  Mary  and  all  the 
saints  interceded  for  them  in  vain.  Then  he  fell  into  great 
doubt,  and  was  very  wroth,  and  exclaimed  :  "  What  profit 
is  there  in  the  Christian  faith  if  Grod  will  show  no  pity  at 
the  prayer  of  Mary  and  the  saints  ?  "  And  he  went  to  the 
Wartburg,  and  was  wroth  five  days,  and  the  learned  could 
hardly  appease  him  and  make  him  understand  the  purport 
of  the  Grospel.  And  then  he  had  a  stroke,  brought  on  by 
the  great  distress  he  was  in,  and  he  lay  sick  of  it  three 

VOL.    II.  B 


Germany,  Present  and  Past. 


years  in  bed.  And  then  he  died,  at  the  age  of  fifty- 
five.' 

It  is  significant  that  the  first  historic  notice  of  a 
dramatic  performance  in  Germany  should  also  illustrate 
the  strong  impression  it  produced  upon  a  German  mind. 

In  his  '  Confessions '  Saint  Augustine  bewails  the  hold 
the  stage  had  on  his  affections  in  his  unregenerate  days. 
The  heathen  stage  certainly  deserved  the  censure  of  the 
early  Fathers  as  dangerous  to  morals.  Under  the  condem- 
nation of  the  Church,  without  the  imperial  court  at  Rome 
to  support  it,  the  drama  died  out  in  the  West,  to  be  revived 
in  a  Christian  form  in  the  Mystery.  Germany  produced 
her  great  dramatist  in  the  tenth  century — an  abbess, 
Hroswitha,  who,  finding  that  the  reading  of  Plautus  was 
not  of  spiritual  profit  to  her  daughters  in  religion,  wrote 
for  them  a  series  of  Latin  plays  on  the  legends  of  the  saints: 
dramas  of  no  ordinary  merit,  and  not  without  their  spice 
of  comedy. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  enter  at  any  length  into  the 
history  of  Mystery  Plays ;  but  something  must  be  said  of 
those  which  were  performed  in  Germany,  as  this  species  of 
performance  is  not  extinct. 

In  1412,  at  Bautzen,  was  performed  in  the  market- 
place the  play  of  c  Saint  Dorothea,'  and  thirty-three  spec- 
tators, standing  on  the  roof  of  a  house,  were  killed  by  the 
giving  way  of  the  rafters.  In  1417,  during  the  sitting  of 
the  Council  of  Constance,  the  c  Mystery  of  the  Birth  of 
Christ,'  the  '  Adoration  of  the  Magi,'  and  the  '  Massacre  at 
Bethlehem,'  were  performed  before  the  Emperor  Sigismund. 
These  plays  often  lasted  several  days.  In  1536,  one,  'Les 
Actes  des  Apotres,'  was  put  on  the  stage  at  Bourges ;  it 
continued  forty  days,  and  consisted  of  40,000  verses,  con- 
tained in  nine  volumes. 

Every  village  church,  probably,  had  its  theatrical  per- 


The  Stage. 


formances  at  Epiphany  and  Easter.  One  of  the  pranks  of 
Tyll  Eulenspiegel  turns  on  such  a  dramatic  representation. 
Tyll  served  the  parish  priest  as  sacristan,  and  was  entrusted 
at  Easter  with  the  duty  of  providing  the  three  Marys.  He 
chose  three  of  the  stupidest  louts  in  the  village,  and  drilled 
them  in  their  parts.  The  priest  had  a  wall-eyed  house- 
keeper who  was  to  enact  the  part  of  the  angel  at  the  tomb, 
sitting  with  her  blind  eye  turned  from  the  congregation  ; 
and  the  priest  with  a  banner  was  to  personate  Christ.  On 
Easter  Day  the  three  bumpkins  dressed  in  female  clothes 
drew  up  to  the  sepulchre  and  stooped  before  it.  Then  the 
white-robed  angel  blandly  asked  'Whom  seek  ye?'  There- 
upon the  three  Marys,  with  one  voice,  answered,  as  instructed 
by  Tyll,  '  We  seek  the  parson's  wall-eyed  wench.'  The 
angel  lost  composure,  sprang  off  the  tomb,  and  clawed  at 
the  eyes  of  the  Marys.  Their  wives,  from  the  congregation, 
flew  to  the  rescue.  The  parson,  emerging  from  his  hiding- 
place,  laid  about  him  with  the  banner,  and,  in  the  general 
scrimmage,  Tyll  made  off. 

In  the  St.  Bartholomew's-Stift  at  Frankfurt-on-Main  is 
preserved  the  stage  director's  book  for  the  performance  of 
a  Passion  Play,  which  continued  to  be  enacted  annually  on 
the  Romerplatz  till  1506.  In  that  year  there  were  two 
hundred  and  sixty-seven  performers,  among  whom  were 
some  of  the  clergy,  and  the  church  choir  sang  antiphons  in 
Latin  between  the  scenes.  The  Bible  text  was  followed 
most  closely.  The  cock  crowed  for  Peter's  conversion,  the 
stage  shook  for  the  earthquake  at  the  Crucifixion,  and  the 
hanging  of  Judas  was  so  real  that  the  actor  taking  the  part 
on  more  than  one  occasion  was  resuscitated  with  difficulty. 
In  1437,  at  Metz,  the  priest  who  acted  the  part  of  Christ 
was  so  severely  dealt  with  in  the  Crucifixion  scene  that  he 
died  of  the  consequences.  The  performance  took  place  in 
the  open  air,  under  the  sun ;  the  pavement  was  parterre, 

B   2 


Germany,  Present  and  Past. 


the  windows  of  the  houses  formed  the  boxes,  and  the  roofs 
constituted  the  gallery. 

In  the  great  Mysteries  the  stage  was  at  three  elevations, 
and  before  it  was  a  shallow  but  broad  podium  for  the  chorus. 
The  lowest  stage  represented  the  nether  world.  In  the 
midst  was  a  door — the  mouth  of  hell,  and  steps  led  from 
it  on  each  side  to  the  second  stage,  which  figured  earth. 
The  highest  stage  was  reserved  for  the  Deity  and  the  saints ; 
it  was  heaven.  Each  stage  was  divided  into  three  com- 
partments by  pillars.  There  was  no  curtain,  no  change  of 
scenery,  but  the  back  of  each  platform  was  suitably  painted, 
or  hung  with  drapery.  The  Mount  of  Olives,  the  pinnacle 
of  the  Temple,  &c.,  were  made  of  wine-barrels  piled  on 
one  another,  disguised  by  painted  canvas,  whence  the  stage 
directions  *  Here  Satan  ascends  the  barrel,'  or  e  Judas 
springs  off  the  barrel.' 

With  this  description  of  the  structure  of  the  mediaeval 
stage,  the  reader  will  be  able  to  follow  the  movement  of  a 
play  composed  in  1480  by  a  priest,  Theodore  Schernbeck, 
and  published  by  Tilesius  at  Eisleben  in  1565.  It  is 
entitled  ;Frau  Jutta'  and  turns  on  the  story  of  Pope  Joan. 
It  opens  with  a  dance  of  demons  on  the  lowest  platform, 
singing  in  chorus — 

Lucifer  on  throne  of  night, 

Kimo,  Kimo,  Rimo  I 

Once  an  angel  clad  in  light, 

Rimo,  Rimo,  Rimo  ! 

Now  a  devil  foul  to  sight. 

Rimo,  Rimo,  Rimo  1 

Lilith,  Satan's  grandmother,  with  a  howl,  leaps  from  the 
jaws  of  hell  (in  the  centre)  into  the  circle  of  caperers,  and 
expresses  her  delight  at  their  mad  hullabaloo.  All  the  while, 
on  the  highest  stage,  in  a  blaze  of  sunlight,  silent,  still  as 
statues,  sit  Christ,  his  mother,  and  the  saints,  whilst  angels 
kneel,  with  smoking  censers,  in  adoration.  Lucifer  sends 


The  Stage. 


an  angel  on  earth  to  inspire  the  maid  Jutta  with  ambition 
to  climb  to  the  highest  pinnacle  of  honour  in  the  world, 
hitherto  supposed  to  be  accessible  only  to  a  man.  The 
devil  mounts  to  the  middle  stage,  where  the  maid  Jutta  is 
seen  ministering  to  her  master  and  lover,  a  clerk.  The  evil 
spirit  breathes  the  ambitious  thought  into  her  ear,  and  she 
discusses  it  with  the  clerk.  They  resolve  to  go  to  Paris 
together,  where  she,  in  male  attire,  may  study  with  him  in 
the  university.  Whilst  they  are  on  their  journey  the  chorus 
on  the  podium  sing.  The  stage  direction  is  broad  enough, 
«  Unter  des  singet  man  etwas.'  When  the  studies  at  Paris 
are  accomplished,  Jutta  receives  the  Doctor's  bonnet,  and 
goes  to  Kome  with  her  clerk,  where  they  enter  the  house- 
hold of  Pope  Basil,  are  next  appointed  cardinals,  and  finally 
Jutta  is  elected  Pope.  All  this  is  passed  over  rapidly,  and 
preludes  the  main  action  of  the  piece,  which  now  begins, 
and  shows  the  advantages  of  the  structure  of  the  Mediseval 
stage  for  dramatic  effect. 

O 

Jutta  is  enthroned  Pope,  and  sits  surrounded  by 
cardinals,  holding  conclave,  when  a  senator  enters  and 
represents  that  his  son  is  possessed  with  a  devil,  which  he 
prays  the  new  Pope  to  expel.  Now,  for  the  first  time,  fear 
falls  on  the  soul  of  the  ambitious  woman.  The  possessed 
boy  is  brought  in,  writhing  on  his  couch,  and  she  recognises 
in  the  spirit  that  afflicts  him  the  demon  who  had  inspired 
her  with  her  sacrilegious  purpose.  She  invites  the  cardinals 
to  drive  out  the  devil :  they  attempt  it,  but  in  vain.  Then, 
hesitatingly,  tremblingly,  the  Pope  raises  her  voice  in 
exorcism.  The  black  spirit  appears — hidden  before  behind 
the  bed, — and  flies  towards  hell,  shrieking — 

Hear  !  hear  this  marvel  all 
Assembled  in  Saint  Peter's  Hall, 
A  woman  has  you  all  beguile 
A  woman-Pope,  a  Pope  with  child  I 


Germany,  Present  and  Past. 


That  the  disclosure  of  such  a  scandal  in  the  Church, 
wrought  by  a  profligate  woman,  would  produce  a  lively 
effect  on  a  believing  audience,  entered  into  the  calcula- 
tions of  the  poet ;  and  the  threefold  division  of  his  stage 
assisted  in  making  it  effective.  The  lowest  platform  is 
crowded  with  scoffing,  exulting  demons,  jabbering  and 
pointing  at  the  Pope,  who  sits  on  the  middle  stage,  in 
full  pontificals,  blanched  with  fear,  covering  her  eyes 
with  shame,  whilst  the  cardinals  shrink  back  with  dismay, 
or  lean  forward  in  question.  Above,  the  Saviour  discloses 
his  pierced  side,  the  saints  express  dismay.  Mary  kneels 
before  her  Son,  and  at  her  prayer  he  sends  the  Angel 
Grabriel  to  announce  to  Jutta  the  approach  of  death. 

Thereupon  the  female  Pope,  filled  with  contrition, 
falls  prostrate.  She  lifts  her  hands  to  heaven,  and  as  she 
sees  death — a  skeleton — descend  the  stair  of  cloud,  with 
poised  javelin  to  smite  her,  she  breaks  into  the  musical 

cry — l 

Mary,  Mary,  mother  dear, 
In  my  shame,  my  hour  of  fear, 
Drops  of  blood  I  weep  ;  receive 
My  confession  !  do  not  leave 
Me,  for  evil  I  have  done : 
Plead  for  me  to  thy  dear  Son  ! 

The  stage  direction  orders  a  rushing  together  of  the 
cardinals  and  of  the  populace  around  the  dying  Pope.  A 
new-born  child  is  lifted  above  their  heads  and  shown  to 
the  audience.  At  the  same  moment  the  soul  of  Jutta  is 
seen  carried  off  by  devils  to  the  nether  world. 

A  new  situation  now  begins. 

Blood  rains  out  of  heaven,  and  the  earth  quakes. 
The  cardinals  assume  that  heaven  is  outraged  at  the 
disgrace  brought  on  the  Holy  See  by  Jutta,  and  resolve  on 
a  pilgrimage  to  invoke  the  intercession  of  Our  Lady  and 

1  The  musical  notation  is  printed  with  the  text. 


The  Stage. 


St.  Nicolas.  They  form  into  procession,  with  tapers  and 
banners,  and  move  along  the  middle  stage  chanting  a 
litany.  Below,  the  demons  are  tormenting  the  soul  of 
Jutta,  who  pleads  on  in  piteous  hymn  to  Mary.  Above,  in 
heaven,  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  St.  Nicolas  are  entreating 
the  Saviour,  but — '  Christus  schweiget  stille.' 

Then  Mary  recites  all  her  cares  and  sorrows,  from  the 
hour  of  the  Nativity  in  the  stable  till  the  dead  head  rested 
on  the  mother's  lap  beneath  the  Cross  :  the  Saviour's  brow 
relaxes,  he  raises  his  mother,  and  sends  Michael  to  release 
the  soul  of  Jutta. 

The  closing  spectacle  must  have  been  one  of  extra- 
ordinary animation  and  dignity,  the  like  of  which  cannot 
be  equalled  with  all  our  modern  appliances,  in  the  opera. 
The  devils  recoil  before  Michael  in  his  flashing  silver 
armour,  muttering  a  rolling  bass  of  execrations.  Simul- 
taneously rise  the  wail  of  the  litany  as  the  procession 
winds,  the  song  of  thanksgiving  from  the  lips  of  the 
redeemed  soul,  and  a  thunder  of  Alleluias  from  the  host 
in  heaven. 

What  a  subject  for  Wagner  ! 

In  the  Mystery  Plays  representing  the  Grospel  story, 
each  scene  was  '  interlarded '  with  a  tableau,  or  scene  in 
dumb  show  taken  from  the  Old  Testament,  typical  of  the 
scene  from  the  New  Testament.  In  the  baroque  period 
this  tradition  of  the  religious  drama  survived  under  a 
form  adapted  to  the  taste  of  the  period.  In  1743  was 
enacted  before  Maria  Theresa  and  Francis  the  First  a  play 
on  the  Conversion  of  Constantine,  which  opened  with  the 
stage  representing  a  rock  rising  out  of  the  sea,  to  which 
Andromeda  was  chained,  and  a  monster  at  her  feet  was 
rising  to  devour  her.  Above  sat  enthroned  Jupiter  and 
the  gods  and  goddesses  of  the  heathen  pantheon.  Perseus 
rescues  Andromeda.  It  is  easy  to  trace  the  allegory. 


8  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

Constantine  delivers  the  Christian  Church  from  persecution. 
The  prologue  ends  with  Perseus  giving  Andromeda  over  to 
the  charge  of  his  friend  Phineus.  The  first  act  represents 
Constantine's  camp  and  the  marshalling  of  his  host. 

The  second  entr'acte  treats  of  the  faithless  Phineus, 
intent  on  securing  Andromeda  for  himself,  building  a 
bridge  with  the  bones  of  the  sea-monster.  Perseus  ap- 
pears on  the  winged  horse,  exhibits  the  Grorgon's  head. 
Phineus  plunges  into  the  sea,  his  companions  are  turned 
to  stone.  The  second  act  represents  the  battle  of  the 
Milvian  Bridge.  Maxentius  is  precipitated  into  the  Tiber, 
the  labarum  strikes  terror  into  the  hearts  of  his  soldiers, 
and  the  Senate  of  Kome  fall  prostrate  in  worship  before 
the  triumphant  Cross. 

The  story  of  Andromeda  also  serves  as  prelude  to  a 
play  of  the  '  Sacrifice  of  Isaac '  performed  in  1725. 

Any  one  who  has  seen  the  Ober-Ammergau,  Mitte- 
wald,  or  Brixleg  Passion  Plays  will  recognise  at  once  three 
features  of  the  Mediaeval  Mystery  which  are  preserved 
in  them :  the  chorus  singing  the  intermezzo  on  the  po- 
dium ;  the  proscenium  enclosing  only  a  third  of  the  stage ; 
and  the  allegorical  tableaux  from  the  Old  Testament 
introducing  each  scene  in  the  Gospel  narrative. 

Miracle  Plays  are  not  limited  to  these  three  spots. 
I  have  seen  the  ( Life  of  Our  Lord  '  enacted  by  strolling 
companies  in  the  Black  Forest,  and  in  the  Pyrenees.  But 
perhaps  the  most  curious  representation  of  the  last  scenes 
of  the  sacred  history  I  have  witnessed  was  at  Mechlin,  a  few 
years  ago,  on  the  fete  of  St.  Kumbold.  A  travelling  band 
of  players  had  erected  a  large  tent  with  stage  in  it,  in  the 
market-place;  and  their  programme  of  entertainments 
consisted  of : — 

1.  Tight-rope  dancing,  tumbling,  and  performing 
dogs. 


The  Stage. 


2.  The  laughable  farce  of  '  A  Grhost  in  spite  of  him- 
self.' l 

3.  The  Passion  and  Eesurrection  of  Christ. 

It  was  more  than  startling  to  see  '  the  spangled  sprite 
of  the  shining  shower,'  who  pirouetted  on  the  tight-rope, 
figure  half-an-hour  later  as  the  Mater  Dolorosa,  and  the 
human  spider,  a  man  in  fleshings,  who  walked  backwards 
on  hands  and  feet,  transformed  into  the  Beloved  Disciple ; 
but  the  Brabant  peasants  seemed  aware  of  no  incongruity, 
and  were  as  ready  to  weep  at  the  crucifixion  as  they  were 
to  laugh  at  the  dancing  dogs.  The  peasant  mind  of  the 
present  day  is  constituted  like  that  of  their  Mediaeval 
forefathers,  who  insisted  on  the  introduction  of  an  element 
of  grotesqueness  into  every  tragedy  and  religious  mystery. 

This  has  been  banished  from  the  Ober-Ammergau 
performance  in  deference  to  the  taste  of  Munich  visitors ; 
but  it  survives  at  Brixleg,  where  Judas  hanging  himself, 
and  Malchus  pulling  his  ear  to  ascertain  whether  it  is  fast 
fixed,  elicit  roars  of  laughter.  In  Mahlmann's  tearful  tra- 
gedy of '  Herod  before  Bethlehem  '  there  is  a  comic  chorus 
of  the  children  over  lollipops  scattered  among  them. 

But  it  is  in  the  Opera  and  the  Oratorio  that  the  most 
flourishing  descendants  of  the  old  Mystery  Plays  are  to  be 
met  with.  It  is  in  them  that  they  have  touched  the 
ground  and  arisen  with  renewed  strength.  The  sacred 
opera  is  not  known  to  us  in  England :  its  less  charming 
quaker  sister,  the  Oratorio,  is  preferred.  But  in  Germany, 
as  we  shall  see  presently,  it  long  held  its  ground,  and  at  the 
present  day  Mehul's  4  Joseph  in  Egypt '  and  Kubinstein's 
'  Maccabeus,'  &c.,  are  played  wherever  there  is  an  operatic 
company.2 

1  The  English  farce  of  that  name  translated  into  Flemish. 

2  In  1877,  at  Berlin,  Joseph  thrice,  The  Maccabees  five  times ;  at 
Hanover,  Joseph  once,  Cassel  twice,  Wiesbaden  once,  in  the  season. 


io  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

At  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  a  new  species  of 
dramatic  performance  came  into  existence  to  dispute  the 
ground  with  the  Mystery.  This  was  the  school  comedy,  a 
nursling  of  the  learned.  The  zeal  with  which,  at  this 
period,  the  Greek  and  Latin  authors  were  studied  led 
to  the  performance  by  scholars  of  the  plays  of  Terence. 
Then  the  learned  were  seized  with  ambition  to  write  Latin 
imitations  of  the  classic  authors,  and  to  set  their  pupils  to 
act  them.  But  these  performances  were  of  little  influence 
on  the  drama,  except  to  emancipate  it  from  the  Church. 
The  language  was  dead,  the  manners  represented  belonged 
to  a  dead  civilisation — there  was  nothing  in  them  to  live 
or  give  life. 

At  the  same  time,  in  taverns  and  in  the  streets,  strolling 
players,  seldom  more  than  three  at  a  time,  performed  little 
farces  of  the  meanest  merit  and  most  jejune  wit.  Hans 
Kosenblut,  a  master-singer,  was  renowned  as  a  composer  of 
such  pieces.  They  were  performed  without  stage  or 
costume.  Their  representatives  survive.  Whilst  writing 
this  chapter,  I  saw  a  couple  performed  at  a  peasant's 
wedding  near  Klein-Laufenburg.  One  turned  on  the  con- 
trast between  the  new  style  of  fashionable  shoemaker  and 
the  old  style  of  cobbler.  The  other  was  on  the  blunders 
made  by  a  Swabian  servant  in  the  service  of  a  baron. 
These  simple  plays  were  the  first  feeble  beginnings  of 
the  secular  drama.  They  appeared  at  the  time  when  the 
schism  between  the  people  and  the  Church  was  beginning 
to  show. 

But  Hans  Sachs,  the  shoemaker  of  Niirnberg,  gave 
the  drama  its  new  direction.  'Hans  Sachs,'  says  Grer- 
vinus,  c  stands  at  the  middle  point  between  the  old  and 
the  new  art ;  he  drew  into  his  poetry  history  and  the 
whole  circle  of  science  and  common  life,  broke  the  bounds 
of  nationality,  and  gave  German  poetry  its  characteristic 


The  Stage.  n 


stamp.  He  was  a  reformer  in  poetry  as  truly  as  was 
Luther  in  religion,  and  Hutten  in  politics.'  Sachs  adapted 
to  the  stage  alike  the  stories  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments, from  the  Creation  to  the  Redemption,  the  fables  of 
antiquity,  the  legends  of  the  Heldenbuch,  the  novels  of 
Boccaccio,  Greek  tragedies,  Roman  comedies,  and  the  follies 
and  crimes  of  his  own  time.  In  his  sixty-nine  carnival 
pieces,  fifty-two  secular  comedies,  twenty-eight  secular 
tragedies,  and  fifty-two  sacred  tragedies  and  comedies,  he 
broke  down  the  partition  which  existed  between  the 
religious  stage  and  the  secular  drama,  and  brought  the 
theatre  into  sympathy  with  the  citizen  life  of  his  period. 
Hans  Sachs'  plays  show  us  dramatic  art  getting  out  of 
swaddling-clothes,  nothing  more.  There  is  no  attempt  at 
delineation  of  character,  none  at  producing  effective  situa- 
tions. The  comedy  of  the  '  Children  of  Eve  '  shows  us 
the  great  simplicity  of  the  cobbler-poet.  The  Almighty 
appears  'like  a  condescending  but  stiff  school  inspector/ 
says  Tieck,  and  walks  about  attended  by  two  angels,  examin- 
ing Adam's  children  in  Luther's  catechism.  Eve  has  to 
take  Cain  to  task  for  holding  out  his  left  to  shake  hands 
with  God,  and  for  forgetting  to  doff  his  cap  on  His  first 
appearance.  It  was  probably  under  the  direction  of  Sachs 
that  the  first  German  theatre  was  erected  at  Niirnberg,  in 
1550,  by  the  guild  of  the  master-singers.1  Augsburg 
followed  the  example  of  Niirnberg.  These  theatres  were 
without  roofs,  but  the  stage  was  covered,  and  the  patri- 
cians occupied  chairs  on  the  stage  on  each  side — a  right 
they  claimed  long  after  the  whole  house  was  covered  in. 

1  In  France  the  first  was  erected  by  the  Brothers  of  the  Passion  in 
the  village  of  S.  Maur,  near  Vincennes,  in  1398.  In  Italy,  the  old  amphi- 
theatres were  used.  The  Brothers  of  the  Passion, « del  gonf alone,'  since 
1264  when  founded,  performed  annually  in  the  Colosseum.  The  first 
wooden  theatre  erected  in  London  was  in  1576. 


12  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

These  theatres,  like  those  for  the  Mysteries,  were  without 
curtain.  At  the  beginning  of  an  act  the  performers 
entered,  at  the  end  they  retired.  The  drama  had  not 
yet  conceived  the  idea  of  beginning  or  closing  in  the 
midst  of  a  situation. 

Adam  Puschmann,  a  pupil  of  Hans  Sachs,  also  a  shoe- 
maker and  master- singer,  carried  the  Niirnberg  art  to 
Breslau.  He  wrote  a  great  comedy  of  'Joseph  and  his 
Brothers '  with  valuable  stage  directions.  He  particularly 
urges  that  all  the  properties  and  costumes  be  got  together 
before  the  beginning  of  a  performance.  The  brothers  of 
Joseph  are  to  have  coats  of  one  sort,  hats  and  shepherds' 
staves,  Jacob  a  long  grey  beard,  the  angel  yellow  frizzled 
hair  and  a  gilt  nimbus.  Pharaoh  must  wear  royal  robes 
*  and  a  beautiful  royal  beard,'  Joseph  a  slashed  and  puffled 
dress,  parti-red. 

At  this  time,  as  in  the  Middle  Ages,  women  were  not 
tolerated  on  the  stage,  and  the  female  parts  were  enacted 
by  boys.  Charles  V.,  in  an  enactment  on  stage  dress,  ex- 
cluded women  from  appearing  on  the  boards.  Philip  II. 
strictly  prohibited  female  performers,  but  with  the  intro- 
duction of  the  opera,  they  became  a  necessity.  The 
Eeformers  laid  eager  hold  of  the  drama,  as  a  lively  means 
of  popularising  their  attacks  on  Kome.  Not  only  rectors 
of  colleges  and  professors  of  universities,  but  village 
pastors  and  superintendents  of  dioceses,  rivalled  each  other 
in  the  composition  of  pieces  for  the  stage.  But  it  was 
not  only  for  polemic  purposes  that  they  courted  Melpo- 
mene ;  they  felt  that  by  making  a  clean  sweep  of  the  old 
religious  services  of  the  Church,  they  had  lost  one  great 
means  of  impressing  on  the  minds  of  the  people  the  great 
story  of  Eedemption,  carried  out  in  the  ecclesiastical 
ritual  of  the  Christian  year  in  a  dramatic  but  educative 
manner.  They  therefore  sought  to  make  the  stage  do  for 


The  Stage.  13 


them  what  Catholic  ritual  had  effected  before.  The 
result  was  that  with  the  Keformation  came  a  great  revival 
of  the  religious  play,  and  that  till  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century  the  Evangelical  clergy  of  Grermany 
encouraged,  wrote  for,  and  applauded  the  stage,  and  only 
broke  with  it  when  it  refused  to  become  the  humble  hand- 
maid of  the  Protestant  Church. 

Luther  was  the  first  to  stand  forth  as  the  champion  of 
the  stage  against  those  sterner  spirits,  who  doubted  the 
propriety  of  setting  boys  to  act  in  the  questionable  plays, 
of  Terence.  '  Christians,'  he  said,  '  must  not  shun 
comedies  because  in  them  there  are  some  foul  indecen- 
cies and  licentious  performances,  for  on  account  of  these 
we  might  forbid  them  also  reading  the  Bible.  Therefore 
it  is  not  well  that  a  Christian  should  avoid  reading  or 
acting  in  such  comedies,  just  because  they  contain  these 
sort  of  things.' 

'  John  Huss  at  Constance '  was  a  stock  polemic  piece 
among  the  Lutherans.  The  contrast  between  Christ  and 
Antichrist,  in  a  series  of  scenes,  as  represented  in  the 
woodcuts  adorning  the  'Memorabilia'  of  Wolfius,  was 
put  on  the  boards.  Such  a  series  had  great  influence  in 
deciding  the  people  of  Berne  to  adopt  the  Keformation. l 

The  Eector  Kielmann  of  Stettin  composed  a  comedy 
on  Tetzel's  sale  of  Indulgences.  '  Lutherus  Bedivivus,* 

*  Curriculum  Vitse   Lutheri,'     e  The    Calvinist   Postboy/ 
were  the  titles   of  other  controversial   comedies.     Paul 
Rebhun,  pastor  of  Oelmitz,  afterwards  superintendent  of 
Voigtsberg,  wrote  a  '  spiritual  play  of  the  chaste  Susanna,* 
in   five  acts,  with   chorus,   after  the   Mediaeval  pattern. 

*  Saul  and  David,'  in  five  acts,  occupying  two  days,  with 
100  actors  and  500  walking  characters,  was  performed  in 

1  By  Nicolas  Manuel.  His  pieces  were  as  offensive  to  decency  as 
they  were  polemical. 


14  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

1571  at  Grabel.  The  deacon,  Eriginger,  wrote  a  great 
play  of  the  Eich  Man]  and  poor  Lazarus.  In  this  the 
dramatis  personce  are  divided  into  three  lots  (Hauferi). 
To  the  first  lot  belong :  the  actor,  i.e.  the  director,  who 
recites  the  prologue  to  each  act,  and  is  also  stage-manager  ; 
the  argumentator,  a  boy  who  points  the  moral  of  each 
act ;  the  conclusor,  who  speaks  the  epilogue ;  also  the 
Almighty,  the  angel  who  takes  the  soul  of  Lazarus, 
Abraham ;  trusty  Eckehardt,  adopted  into  the  sacred  play 
from  popular  mythology ;  *  Solicitus,  a  poor  artisan ; 
Lazarus ;  two  travelling  students  ;  a  hospital  servant  col- 
lecting subscriptions ;  Master  Hans,  a  tailor  ;  the  soul  of 
Lazarus  represented  by  a  pretty  little  boy  in  a  white  shirt. 

To  the  second  lot  belong :  Nabal,  the  rich  man ;  his 
wife  Sarkophilia ;  his  five  brethren ;  Convivia,  a  guest ; 
Syrus,  Dromo,  and  Davus,  servants ;  a  head  cook  and 
scullion,  a  huntsman,  fisherman,  butler,  jester,  drummers 
and  pipers,  and  chambermaids. 

To  the  third  lot  belong :  Temporal  Death  and  Eternal 
Death ;  Satan  and  six  hideous  devils ;  the  soul  of  Nabal, 
a  little  boy  blackened  with  charcoal  and  in  a  black  shirt. 

'It  was  in  the  bosom  of  the  Keformation,'  says 
Devrient,  '  that  the  drama  first  obtained  an  independent 
life,  which  gradually  unfolded.  And  the  course  of  the 
history  of  the  stage  shows  that  all  progress  in  dramatic 
art  was  effected  in  Protestant  lands,  by  Protestant  authors, 
and  by  Protestant  actors.' 

I  shall  speak  in  another  chapter  of  the  German 
opera,  but,  as  I  am  on  the  subject  of  sacred  dramas,  I  can- 
not break  what  I  have  to  say  upon  it  into  two  portions. 
The  true  descendant  of  the  old  Mystery  Play  is  found  in 

1  Trusty  Eckehardt  in  the  popular  myth  watches  the  gates  of  the 
Venusberg,  and  warns  off  those  who  approach  the  underground  palace 
of  the  goddess  of  Love. 


The  Stage.  15 


the  sacred  Opera  and  Oratorio.  That  I  have  already  stated. 
But  what  I  may  now  add  is,  that  these  are  the  forms  it 
has  assumed  in  the  nursing  arms  of  Protestantism.  The 
old  Mystery  Play  remains  scarce  altered  in  Catholic  lands, 
in  Austria  and  Bavaria,  but  in  the  Protestant  North  it 
has  become  a  cultured  child  of  civilisation. 

In    1678    a   musical  drama   was  performed,  entitled 

*  Man's  Creation,  Fall,  and   Kestoration,'   the    words   by 
Oerhardt  Schott,  the  music  by  Thiel.     The  old  threefold 
form  of  stage  was  preserved  with  this  improvement  (?), 
that  Heaven,  with  the  Trinity  enthroned  in  it,  was  let 
down  and  hauled  up  as  required.     The  introduction  repre- 
sented Chaos  and  the  Fall  of  the  Angels.     The  Creator 
descends  '  on  the  great  machine,'  and  begins  to  make  Man. 
Lucifer   on   the   lowest   stage,   addressing   his   devils   as 

*  Messieurs ! '  exhorts  them  to  effect  the  ruin  of  the  new 
creation.     It  is  unnecessary  to  follow  the  opera  further. 
In  the  same  year  was  enacted,  before  the  court  at  Dresden, 

*  The  Patriarch  Jacob  and  his  Sons,'  lasting  three  days,  and 
winding  up  with  '  a  ballet  of  the  Sons  of  Israel.'     In  the 
repertoire  of  the  Hamburg  Opera-House  during  the  seven- 
teenth .century  we  find  the  c  Bloody  Spectacle  of  Jesus 
tortured  and  crucified  for  our  Sins.'   And  before  the  Saxon 
<jourt  was  repeatedly  played  '  The  Dying  Jesus '  by  Dede- 
kind.     How  little  these  compositious  did  justice  to  their 
subject  may  be  judged  from  an  instance  from  the  last. 
When  Judas  sings  his  farewell  to  earth,  the  Devil  sings 
echo;  and  when   he   bursts  asunder,  Satan    collects   the 
bowels  in  a  basket,  trolling  forth  an  appropriate  air. 

In  1688  at  Hamburg  was  performed  'The  Kevenge  of 
the  Gibeonites,'  after  2  Sam.  xxi.  and  Joshua  ix.  On 
another  day  in  the  same  year,  c  The  sacred  drama  of  Adam 
and  Eve,  followed  by  the  merry  farce  of  Pickelherring  in 
a  Box.'  At  Hamburg,  in  1702,  widow  Velthen's  company 


1 6  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 


produced  '  The  ascent  of  Elijah  and  the  stoning  of  Naboth, 
followed  by  Pickelherring  and  the  Schoolmaster,  or  the 
bacon  thief  taken  in.'  In  1734  at  Hamburg  was  enacted 
c  The  whole  history  of  Samson,  the  Israelitish  Hercules,' 
winding  up  with  a  ballet  of  Jews,  Philistines,  Delilah  and 
Samson.  In  the  '  Birth  of  Christ,'  an  opera  performed  at 
Hamburg  in  1681,  in  addition  to  the  personages  of  the 
sacred  story,  appeared  Apollo,  the  Pythoness,  and  his 
priests,  bewailing  the  fall  of  the  old  gods  of  Olympus. 

In  Catholic  countries  the  martyrdom  of  saints  re- 
mained a  favourite  subject  for  dramatic  representation. 
A  traveller  in  1790  gives  the  following  account  of  one 
such: — 'The  parish  of  Ambras  announced  on  a  large 
placard  its  intention  of  entertaining  and  edifying  the 
public,  on  July  25,  with  a  performance  of  a  tragedy, 
"  The  youthful  martyr  St,  Pancras,"  to  begin  at  half-past 
one  in  the  afternoon,  and  to  last  till  six  in  the  evening. 
Though  this  was  the  tenth  performance,  there  was  quite  a 
pilgrimage  of  Innsbriickers  to  Ambras  on  that  sweltering 
afternoon.  The  theatre  was  a  solid  wooden  erection  near 
a  tavern,  with  a  plot  of  grass  before  it.  The  three 
entrances  were  guarded  by  peasants  with  halberts.  Seats 
in  shade  cost  six  kreuzers.  The  stage  was  much  raised 
and  was  long.  It  had  two  side  curtains,  and  between 
them  the  principal  curtain,  and  these  were  drawn  up 
turn  and  turn  about  with  the  central  curtain.  Over  the 
proscenium  sprawled  a  wooden  angel,  from  whose  con- 
secrated lips  issued  in  golden  vapour  the  words  "  The 
Life  and  Death  of  the  Blessed  Pancras."  In  Greek  fashion 
the  prologue  was  sung  by  a  chorus,  in  which  the  (rood 
Shepherd,  brandishing  his  crook,  denounced  the  evil  day^ 
in  doggerel.  In  the  play  appeared,  not  only  angels  and 
devils,  but  also  the  Pope,  who,  when  not  wanted  on  the 
stage,  sat  in  the  pit  in  pontificalibus,  looking  on  with  the 


The  Stage.  17 


spectators.  For  next  Sunday  "  The  Devil  on  two  Sticks  " 
was  announced.'  The  traveller  goes  on  to  relate  that  in 
other  villages  near  Innsbruck,  St.  Mary  Magdalene  and 
St.  Sebastian  were  being  performed,  and  he  was  assured 
that  these  pieces  possessed  superior  attractions  to  that  of 
St.  Pancras,  inasmuch  as  more  devils  appeared  in  them. l 
Precisely  the  same  plays  are  enacted  to  this  day  in  Tyrol, 
the  Bavarian  Alps,  the  Black  Forest,  and  elsewhere.  On 
the  very  day  that  this  was  written,  I  saw  a  poster  at 
Waldshut  announcing  that  on  Sunday,  April  7,  1878,  the 
legend  of  St.  Christopher  would  be  given  by  a  religious 
club,  representing  the  Saint  in  his  service  to  Satan,  his 
conversion,  his  carrying  Christ  over  the  water,  and  his 
martyrdom,  in  four  acts. 

Throughout  the  seventeenth  century  wandering  bands 
of  actors  performed  in  the  towns  of  Grermany.  They 
bore  the  title  of  '  English  comedians.'  Perhaps  the  first 
company  may  have  been  composed  of  English  players,2 
but  if  so,  their  successors  were  certainly  German,  though 
they  designated  themselves  as  English.  They  were  the 
first  professionals  in  Grermany. 

In  1605,  Duke  Julius  of  Brandenburg  appointed 
court  actors.  In  1611,  the  Saxon  ambassador  at  the 
court  of  Hesse-Cassel  saw  performed  the  ' "  Comedy  of 
Tarquin  and  Lucretia"  in  a  pretty  theatre  built  in  the 
Roman  style,  and  capable  of  holding  a  thousand  spec- 
tators.' In  1626,  Hans  Schilling,  director  of  one  of  these 
bands,  obtained  a  patent  from  the  Elector  John  Greorge  of 

1  See  Pichler,  Ucber  das  Drama  des  Mittelalters  in  Tirol.  Innsbruck, 
1850. 

2  Now  it  is  our  proud  prerogative  to  provide  the  Continent  with 
clowns.    In  1876, 1  saw  English  clowns  at  the  Theatre  S.  Hubert  in 
Brussels,  in  a  circus  at  Liege,  in  another  at   Constance;  in  1878,  at 
Strassburg.     I  have  met  them  as  well  at  Mainz.     They  may  be  found 
also  in  the  Prater  at  Vienna. 

VOL.    II.  C 


1 8  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

Saxony  to  perform  in  his  Principality.  The  patent  was 
continued  to  his  son-in-law  Lengsfeld. 

From  these  companies  the  theatrical  profession  in 
Germany  dates  its  origin. 

Let  us  see  what  was  their  repertoire.  Jacob  Ayrer  of 
Niirnberg  was  the  chief  dramatic  composer  after  Hans 
Sachs.  Sixty-six  of  his  pieces  were  published  after  his 
death  in  1618.  They  manifest  some  advance  in  power  of 
treatment  and  grouping,  but  that  is  all.  In  Hans  Sachs 
there  was  the  coarseness  of  a  simple  age;  in  Ayrer 
there  is  brutal  indecency,  to  suit  a  savage  and  sensual 
taste. 

In  1624  appeared  in  print  the  first  collection  of  pieces 
performed  by  the  errant  troupes.  It  was  entitled: 
'  English  Comedies  and  Tragedies :  that  is,  very  Beautiful, 
Choice,  and  Excellent  Sacred  and  Secular  Comedies  and 
Tragedies,  together  with  Pickelherring.  These,  on  ac- 
count of  their  moral  purport  and  adhesion  to  history,  have 
been  well  received  by  Koyal,  Electoral,  and  Princely  Courts, 
as  also  by  the  Free  Imperial  and  Hanseatic  Cities,  where 
they  have  been  enacted  by  English  Players.  Now  first 
printed  for  edification  and  entertainment.' 

This  curious  volume  lets  us  see  what  was  the  state  of 
the  public  taste  when  the  Thirty  Years'  war  burst  over 
the  nation. 

Among  the  plays  the  favourite  was  probably  '  Titus 
Andronicus,'  a  seven-act  tragedy,  which  was  so  popular  in 
England  that  it  was  recast  again  and  again  till  Shak- 
speare  gave  it  its  definite  form.  From  his  redaction  we 
know  that  it  is  a  story  full  of  horrors,  much  more  calcu- 
lated to  excite  disgust  and  repulsion  than  to  serve  for 
'edification  and  entertainment.'  But  Jin* the  version 
given  by  the  '  English  players '  in  Germany  all  the 
horrors  were  produced  with  dull  coarseness,  fcthe  speeches 


The  Stage.  19 


are  without  brilliancy — all  is  stupid  and  brutal  and 
bloody.  At  the  close  of  the  fourth  act,  when  Titus 
has  in  his  power  the  sons  of  the  Empress,  who  had  dis- 
graced his  daughter,  and  cut  off  her  hands  and  tongue 
lest  she  should  be  able  to  write  or  speak  the  name  of  the 
person  who  had  ill-treated  her,  he  exclaims :  '  Hallo, 
soldiers !  come  forward  and  hold  these  fellows  firmly. 
Now,  you  murderous  and  dishonourable  scoundrels,  I  have 
you  in  my  power.  Servants  !  bring  me  a  sharp  knife  and 
a  butcher's  apron.'  When  these  properties  are  produced, 
Titus  ties  on  him  the  apron.  '  Go  and  fetch  me  a  basin. 
And  do  one  of  you  hold  this  fellow's  throat  that  I  may 
slash  it.  And  do  you  other  hold  the  basin  in  which  to 
catch  his  blood.'  The  eldest  brother  is  first  led  forward. 
Titus  cuts  his  throat  from  ear  to  ear.  The  blood  pours 
into  the  bowl.  Then  he  lays  him  down,  when  all  the  blood 
has  run  out. l  And  he  deals  with  the  second  brother  in  a 
similar  manner.  Titus  goes  on,  '  Now  I  have  cut  both 
their  throats,  and  I  have  slaughtered  them  with  my  own 
hand,  and  I  will  cook  them  myself  also.  I  will  hack 
their  heads  into  small  junks,  and  bake  them  in  pasties, 
and  feast  on  them  the  Emperor  and  his  mother,  when  I 
have  invited  them  to  me.  Take  up  the  bodies  and  carry 
them  into  the  kitchen,  where  I  may  operate  upon  them 
appropriately.' 

Putting  aside  the  disgust  inspired  by  a  horrible  sub- 
ject treated  in  this  Raw-head  and  Bloody-bones  style,  one 
looks  into  the  drama  in  hopes  of  finding  some  tokens 
of  advance  in  dramatic  composition,  some  improvement 
in  literary  style  on  the  crudities  of  Hans  Sachs,  and  one 
looks  in  vain.  The  play  is  simply  a  story  told  in  dialogue. 
It  is  the  same  with  Esther  and  Haman,  the  Prodigal  Son, 
Fortunatus,  and  the  rest.  They  are  strings  of  incidents 

1  The  stage  directions  for  all  this  are  very  explicit, 
c  2 


2O  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

calculated  to  amuse  the  public,  but  the  Folks-drama  is  like 
the  Folks-tale,  a  tissue  of  adventures  without  a  thread  of 
moral  interest  running  through  it.  The  actors  are 
puppets,  not  men  with  characters  and  souls ;  there  is  no 
development  of  ideas,  no  modulation  of  character  in  them. 
The  popular  interest  is  excited  by  material  horrors,  not  by 
spiritual  sympathies.  The  speeches  have  their  formulae, 
'  Now  I  will  do  this,'  and  after  an  event,  6  Now  this  i& 
done.'  Even  the  throat-cutting  in  Andronicus  must  be 
announced  as  about  to  take  place,  and  declared  to  be 
accomplished,  so  little  could  the  drama  emancipate  itself 
from  the  form  of  recitation  of  a  tale,  to  which  the  enacted 
scenes  were  the  illustrations. 

Of  horrors  there  must  be  a  glut.  Suicides  take  place 
in  public,  often  the  hero  or  villain  in  despair  '  dashes  his 
head  against  the  wall,  so  that  blood  bursts  out,' — the  stage 
direction  adds,  '  to  be  managed  with  a  bladder.'  In  '  King 
Montalor '  a  pair  of  lovers  are  beheaded  on  the  stage  with 
great  effusion  of  blood,  and  when  the  king  dies,  the  stage 
direction  is,  '  Here  they  begin  to  fight,  and  when  the  king 
is  cut  across  the  head,  it  must  be  so  arranged  that  blood 
is  to  spurt  out.'  In  the  hanging  scene  in  Esther,  Haman 
exclaims,  whilst  the  rope  is  round  his  neck, 6  How  sweet  is 
life !  Death  how  bitter !  World  adieu ! '  whereupon 
Hans  Knapkiise,  the  clown,  flings  him  off,  cuts  him  down, 
and  carries  him  out. 

It  will  perhaps  be  hardly  believed  that  spectacles 
equally  disgusting  should  still  attract  and  delight  crowds. 
But  such  is  the  case.  In  1876  I  was  at  Him  at  the 
Kermesse.  In  front  of  the  Liebfrau-Kirche  was  a  huge 
booth,  in  which  a  grand  execution  by  guillotine  proved  an 
unfailing  attraction  every  evening.  The  person  to  be 
beheaded  was  laid  on  a  sort  of  trough,  and  run  under  the 
guillotine :  a  crimson  silk  cap  was  placed  over  the  head. 


The  Stage.  21 


The  cord  was  cut,  and  down  came  the  axe,  apparently 
severing  the  head  from  the  trunk.  The  executioner  held 
up  the  head,  from  which  blood  flowed  into  a  large  metal 
soup-plate.  He  borrowed  a  handkerchief  from  a  lady  in 
the  reserved  seats,  and  sopped  it  with  the  blood  spurting 
from  the  severed  arteries  in  the  stump.  Then  he  placed 
the  head  on  a  table,  and  drew  up  the  cap  to  expose  the 
face.  Of  course  the  putting  on  of  the  head  followed.  But 
the  feature  of  the  performance  which  most  struck  me — 
sickened  by  the  revolting  spectacle — was  the  placidity  and 
even  pleasure  with  which  it  was  viewed  by  ladies,  and 
burger  and  bauer  women  of  Ulm  and  its  neighbourhood. 
A  Yorkshire  friend,  sitting  by  me,  exclaimed,  '  Why,  if 
this  had  been  exhibited  at  Wakefield,  we  should  have  had 
the  women  shrieking  and  fainting  ! '  and  I  have  no  doubt 
that  such  would  have  been  the  effect  produced  by  the  ex- 
hibition in  any  part  of  England. 

But  to  return  to  the  '  English  comedies  '  published  in 
1 624.  The  obscenity  of  these  pieces  printed  '  with  moral 
purpose '  is  as  offensive  as  their  brutality.  '  However  un- 
refined we  may  imagine  the  age  to  have  been,'  says 
Devrient,  'it  seems  to  us  inconceivable  how  women  and 
girls  could  have  sat  out  the  scenes  of  boundless  indecency 
and  unveiled  licentiousness  in  which  Pickelherring  or 
Hans  Wurst  is  the  chief  actor.  Their  shameless  foulness  of 
word  and  act  surpasses  all  belief.' 

About  the  year  1683  a  Grerman  band  of  strolling 
players  was  organised  by  Master  Johann  Velthen  of  Halle, 
which  speedily  acquired  great  fame,  and  which  revolu- 
tionised the  stage. 

Velthen  introduced  dramatic  life  and  personality  into 
his  pieces  and  personages,  but  at  a  great  cost.  Hitherto 
the  actors  had  been  puppets  reciting  a  story  they  had 
acquired  by  heart.  To  identify  the  actor  with  his  part 


22  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 


was  Velthen's  object,  and  the  only  way  of  doing  this  was, 
he  supposed,  to  emancipate  him  from  the  text  and  throw 
him  on  his  own  resources.  He  cast  aside  the  manuscript, 
sketched  to  his  company  the  outline  of  the  plot,  arranged 
the  order  of  the  scenes  and  the  principal  situations,  and 
left  them  to  work  the  story  out  in  their  own  way,  by 
their  own  wit,  improvising  to  suit  every  occasion.  For 
the  first  time  the  actor  was  taught  to  enter  into  his 
part,  live  in  it,  think  in  it,  speak  and  act  in  it,  instead  of 
strutting  and  declaiming  it.  The  fashion  spread  and  be- 
came universal.  But  success  was  not  also  always  universal* 
Velthen's  plan  answered  when  all  the  company  consisted 
of  men  of  talent,  but  one  or  two  inferior  actors  had  it  in 
their  power  to  mar  a  whole  play,  to  discomfit  the 
rest,  and  so  entangle  the  plot  as  to  make  it  inextricable. 

There  were  further  disadvantages  in  Velthen's  venture. 
The  whole  generation  of  actors  that  grew  up  under  him 
acquired  a  radical  contempt  for  the  text,  and  their 
memories  were  uncultivated,  so  that  it  became  with  them 
an  impossibility  to  accurately  read  up  a  part.  And  a  still 
more  serious  disadvantage  was  this — Velthen  had  cut  the 
drama  adrift  from  literature.  No  writer  of  ability  would 
compose  for  the  stage  when  the  actors  refused  to  be  bound 
by  his  text. 

John  Greorge  III.  of  Saxony,  in  1685,  erected  the 
first  Grerman  court  theatre  at  Dresden,  and  installed  in  it 
Velthen  and  his  troupe  with  fixed  salary.  Velthen  received 
annually  200  thalers,  his  wife  the  same  sum,  his  sister 
100  thalers,  the  other  actors  received  from  150  to  100 
thalers  a  year.  The  pay  was  poor.  In  1687  the  first 
Italian  singers  at  the  opera  received  1,500  thalers ;  but  it 
was  a  beginning,  a  first  recognition  of  the  drama  by  the 
court.  It  was  more :  it  was  the  first  recognition  of 
women  as  actresses.  Hitherto  female  parts  had  been 


The  Stage.  23 


performed  by  boys.  But  the  opera  had  broken  through 
prejudice  and  admitted  women  on  the  boards.  But  even 
in  the  opera  it  was  not  everywhere  that  women  were 
tolerated.  At  the  court  of  Charles  VI.,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  when  the  opera  was  under  the 
direction  of  Metastasio,  and  the  carrying  out  of  one  opera 
cost  60,000  florins,  the  female  parts  were  taken  by 
eunuchs.  Velthen,  who  introduced  improvisation,  brought 
also  women  on  the  stage.  There  were  five  in  his  com- 
pany, his  wife,  her  sister,  the  wives  of  two  of  the  actors, 
and  a  lady  of  gentle  birth,  Sara  von  Boxberg. 

On  the  death  of  John  George  III.,  the  court  theatre 
was  broken  up,  and  the  Saxon  Electoral  House  abandoned 
the  protectorship  of  the  German  drama.  Velthen's  troupe 
recommenced  its  wanderings.  Velthen  died  at  Hamburg 
in  1692,  and  his  company  dissolved. 

Velthen  had  lived  long  enough  to  find  that  the  wide 
latitude  he  had  allowed  his  actors  did  not  answer,  that 
genius  was  not  always  ready  to  respond  to  a  sudden 
summons,  and  that  tragedies  trusted  to  improvisation 
had  an  unhappy  knack  of  converting  themselves  in  the 
course  of  performance  into  extravaganza  or  burlesque. 
Actors  at  a  loss  for  words  beat  about  their  hands  and 
howled,  ranting  took  the  place  of  acting,  and  empty 
vociferation  of  connected  declamation.  He  was  therefore 
obliged  to  introduce  more  and  more  of  matter  to  be  com- 
mitted to  memory.  And  what  was  this  repertoire  ?  A 
curious  MS.  collection  of  pieces  of  this  period  exists  at 
Vienna.  Among  them  are  '  Perseus  and  Andromeda ; ' 
'Phaeton;'  'Medea  and  Harlequin ;' ( The  Wisdom  of 
Solomon ; '  '  Eginhardt  and  Emma ; '  '  Eomeo  and  Juliet ; ' 
'The  Earl  of  Essex;'  <  Charles  XII.  at  Friedrichshall ; ' 
6  The  Loving  Stepmother,  Ormunda  ;  '  '  Ardelinda,  the 
Female  Hero,'  &c.  The  plots  were  derived  from  foreign 


24  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

sources,  but  the  plays  were  no  servile  translations.  '  Medea 
and  Harlequin '  was  based  on  the  tragedy  of  Euripides, 
but  oh,  what  a  falling  off  is  here !  Medea  is  wroth 
chiefly  because  Creon  will  not  admit  her  to  his  court.  A 
soldier  who  bars  her  way  she  transforms  into  a  pillar, 
another  into  a  tree,  the  palace  into  a  wilderness.  There 
is  no  lack  of  enchantments,  flying  chariots  and  fire- 
breathing  dragons.  Harlequin,  who  is  an  attendant  on 
Jason,  threatens  Medea  with  a  pistol,  and  is  transformed 
by  her  into  a  nightstool. 

Charles  XII.  before  Friedrichshall  comes  on  announcing 
his  pedigree  and  position.  '  Mighty  disposer  of  the  un- 
bounded earth !  who  am  I  ?  Lord,  thy  servant.  Yet 
allow  me  to  state  my  lineage.  Charles  XI.,  the  son  of 
Charles  Grustavus,  to  whom  the  Swedish  throne  was  ceded 
by  the  renowned  Queen  Christina,  was  my  father,  and  my 
mama  was  Ulrica  Eleanora,  daughter  of  the  King  of  Den- 
mark, who  married  Sophia  Amelia,  a  princess  of  Brunswick 
Liineburg;  and  the  said  Ulrica  Eleanora  had  issue  on 
June  19,  in  the  year  of  Grace  1682,  between  seven  and 
eight  in  the  morning,  to  the  universal  joy  of  the  Swedish 
realm — Me  ! ' 

Velthen's  company  had  broken  up.  One  of  his  com- 
pany obtained  the  degree  of  Doctor  at  Vienna  for  his  profi- 
ciency in  chemistry,  another  became  Hector  at  Eiga.  But 
the  widow  did  her  best  to  keep  a  troupe  together.  She 
had  not  the  abilities  of  her  husband,  and  though  she  con- 
tinued to  play  sacred  dramas  and  tragedies,  her  stage  was 
all  but  monopolised  by  buffoonery. 

One  of  Velthen's  company,  Elenson,  died  in  1708,  as 
court  actor  to  the  Duke  of  Mecklenburg.  He  was  so 
admired  by  the  Elector  of  Koln,  that  on  his  death  the 
archbishop  commemorated  the  merits  of  the  actor  and  his 
own  wit  on  a  marble  monument  at  Langenschwalbach : — 


The  Stage.  25 


Hie  jacet  et  tacet  qui  stabat  et  clamabat. 
Ludens  Comoediam  finit  Tragoediam. 

Viator,  ora  et  labora 
Ut  ultima  hora  sit  tibi  Aurora. 

Julius  Franciscus  Elensen 

Prinzipal  Hochfiirstlich  Mecklenburgischer  Hofcomodiant. 
SanCte  Chrlste  Dona  el  reqVIeM  (MDCCVIII.)- 

Elenson's  widow,  a  handsome  broombinder's  daughter, 
continued  the  troupe,  married  the  harlequin  Haak,  and  on 
the  coronation  of  Charles  VI.  at  Frankfurt  in  171 1,  entered 
into  competition  with  widow  Velthen,  beat  her,  and  forced 
her  to  leave  the  town. 

In  Berlin,  the  Elector  Frederick  III.,  first  King  of 
Prussia,  held  the  actors  in  high  esteem,  and  attended 
German  plays  as  well  as  the  Italian  Opera  and  the  French 
theatre.  But  Frederick  would  not  tolerate  excessive  bur- 
lesque. In  1 692,  when  the 6  Prodigal  Son  '  was  being  acted 
before  him,  and  Hans  Wurst  began  his  low  buffoonery 
with  some  saints  and  devils,  the  King  rose  and  left  the 
theatre  with  his  suite. 

The  close-fisted  Frederick  William  I.  put  down  the 
Italian  Opera  and  French  theatre,  but  favoured  the  German 
stage,  which  exhibited  tight-rope  dancing,  tumbling,  and 
pantomime.  He  hated  everything  French,  and  ordered  an 
eminently  anti-Gallic  piece,  '  The  Marquis  dismissed  with 
Blows,'  to  be  frequently  enacted.  From  the  '  Memoires  of 
the  Margravine  of  Baireuth'  we  learn  how  intolerably 
tedious  and  tasteless  such  performances  were  to  those  of 
the  court  who  had  received  French  education.  Lady 
Montagu  was  present  at  a  play  in  the  Court  Theatre  at 
Vienna  in  1716.  It  was  on  the  fable  of  Amphitryon, 
burlesqued.  It  opened  with  Jupiter  falling  to  earth  out 
of  a  cloud,  and  ended  with  the  birth  of  Hercules.  Jupiter 
was  the  wag  of  the  piece ;  he  defrauded  a  banker  of  his 
money,  a  tailor  of  a  suit  of  clothes,  and  a  Jew  of  a  diamond 


26  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

ring.  Lady  Montagu  says  that  the  play  was  so  charged 
with  vulgarities  and  indelicacies  that  it  would  not  have 
been  tolerated  at  an  English  fair,  whereas  the  coarsest 
jokes  drew  applause  from  the  boxes,  and  the  whole  piece 
was  regarded  by  all  parties  as  a  masterpiece. 

We  can  form  some  idea  of  the  degradation  to  which 
the  stage  had  fallen  when  we  look  at  the  tariff  of  payments 
made  to  performers  of  the  Court  Theatre  at  Vienna  under 
Maria  Theresa,  about  1750. 

This  was  the  scale  of  payments : — 

Fl.    Kr. 
For  every  flight  into  the  air  10 


jump  into  the  water 

„    over  a  wall  or  down  a  rock 
transformation 
cudgelling  (passive) 
box  in  the  ear  or  kick   . 


1    0 

1    0 

1     0 

34 

34 


When  cudgelling,  kick,  or  clout  was  returned,  no  charge 
could  be  made,  the  gratification  of  repaying  it  cancelled 
the  claim. 

Kr. 

For  every  bruise  received 34 

„        sousing  with  water        .        .        .        .34 
„         sword  fight,  each  combatant          .        .     34 

On  Saturday  the  actor  brought  his  bill  to  the  Imperial 
cashier.  Some  of  these  have  been  preserved.  Here  is  a 
specimen : — 

Fl.  Kr. 

This  week  6  airs  sung  ...  .60 

„          1  flight  into  the  air 
„          1  plunge  into  water     . 


1  sousing  with  water   . 
received  2  cuffs  on  the  ear 
1  kick  . 


1  0 
1  0 

34 
1  8 

34 
Total  9  76 


Eeceived  with  profound  gratitude, 

J.  H. 


The  Stage.  27 


When  Moliere  was  blamed  for  having  allowed  himself 
to  receive  a  blow  when  acting  the  part  of  Sganarelle,  he 
answered,  '  It  was  not  I,  but  Sganarelle,  who  was  struck,' 
but  here  each  actor  eagerly  claimed  the  insult  and  de- 
manded nothing  better  than  to  be  kicked  and  cuffed  and 
cudgelled,  as  it  raised  the  total  of  his  receipts  on  Satur- 
day. 

Our  Christmas  pantomimes,  and  the  representations  at 
a  circus  of '  The  Tailor  of  Brentwood,'  &c.  are  sole  relics 
among  us  of  a  type  of  performance  which  never  obtained 
complete  possession  of  the  English  stage,  but  which 
reigned  absolutely  in  Germany.  The  clown  was  an  essen- 
tial element.  He  went  by  many  names,  Hans  Wurst  (our 
Jack  Pudding),  Pickelherring,  Jampatsch ;  the  Italian 
Harlequin,  Pantaloon,  Leander  and  Columbine  were  added, 
and  the  attractions  of  the  play  consisted  in  marvellous 
transformations  and  broad  jests.  In  a  favourite  piece, 
'  Spirito  folletto,'  oranges  on  trees  changed  into  letters,  a 
bottle  yielded  alternately  red  and  white  wine,  out  of  a 
pasty  bloomed  a  sunflower,  and  the  flower  when  cut  off 
resolved  itself  into  a  lady's  head. 

No  play,  however  sacred  or  tragic,  was  tolerated  without 
Hans  Wurst  to  enliven  it.  In  the  most  blood-curdling 
scenes,  the  clown  in  one  corner  was  diverting  the  attention 
of  the  audience  by  his  buffooneries. 

The  stage  had  shaken  itself  free  from  the  Eeformed 
Church  ;  and  the  clergy  changed  their  estimate  of  it.  In 
England  the  Parliament,  in  1642,  forbade  theatrical  per- 
formances. But  German  Protestantism  was  not  Puri- 
tanical. The  first  system  of  moral  theology  drawn  up  for 
the  Lutheran  Church  by  Johann  Conrad  Diirr  in  1662  is 
the  first  to  give  a  just  estimate  of  the  dramatic  art.  St. 
Thomas  Aquinas  had  pronounced  the  profession  of  an  actor 
as  not  in  itself  sinful,  Diirr  proclaims  it  noble.  His  is  not 


28  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

a  negative,  but  a  positive  approval.  He  declares  that  the 
profession  is  lawful,  as  the  actor  is  employing  a  natural, 
divine-given  talent  for  a  useful  and  praiseworthy  purpose, 
— the  representation  of  men's  manners  and  fortunes,  the 
expression  of  the  beauty  of  virtue  and  the  hatefulness  of 
vice.  The  stage  is  a  great  moral  educator,  it  is  in  its  way  as 
sacred  as  the  pulpit.  It  is  even  more  effective  as  a  teacher, 
and  may  be  as  useful  to  society.  The  drama  is  lawful  as 
long  as  it  holds  to  this  ideal,  it  is  only  unlawful  when  it 
panders  to  low  tastes  and  vulgar  passions.  Diirr  goes  on 
to  say  that  an  actor's  professional  training  is  calculated  to 
do  him  good  morally  and  mentally.  His  memory  is 
educated,  his  manners  refined,  a  polish  is  given  to  his 
thoughts,  his  speech,  his  intercourse  with  others. 

But  the  vagabond  bands  of  '  English  Comedians '  had 
taken  the  stage  out  of  control.  It  was  different  when 
pieces  were  performed  by  the  guild  of  master-singers  or 
the  pupils  of  a  school.  Now  the  actors  appealed  to  the 
vulgar,  and  were  unscrupulous  what  they  provided  so  long 
as  spectators  were  brought  to  their  booths,  and  they  could 
reap  a  harvest  of  groschen.  '  Go  on,  boy,'  says  the 
puppet  player  in  Don  Quixote,  'and  let  folk  talk,  for 
so  I  fill  my  bag,  I  care  not  if  I  represent  more  impro- 
prieties than  there  are  motes  in  the  sun.'  As  long  as  the 
strollers  were  men  and  boys,  the  magistrates  were  tolerant 
of  their  extravagances,  but  when  women  associated  them- 
selves with  them,  and  appeared  on  the  boards,  the  councils 
of  the  various  towns  forbade  their  reception  into  the  houses 
of  the  burgers.  They  became  a  sort  of  outlaws,  living 
only  in  taverns,  and  forbidden  association  with  the  respect- 
able classes.  This  did  not  tend  to  their  elevation.  It  is 
curious  that  the  first  direct  attack  against  them  on  the 
part  of  the  clergy  was  made  in  Hamburg,  in  the  town  in 
which  several  of  the  pastors,  Kiest,  Johann  Koch,  Johann- 


The  Stage.  29 


sen,  and  Elmenhorst,  had  written  for  the  stage.  Anton 
Keiser,  Pfarrer  of  St.  Jacob,  wrote  against  the  opera  in 
1681.  Thereupon  Pastor  Winkler  composed  a  treatise  in 
its  defence.  In  1688,  Pastor  Elmenhorst,  himself  a 
dramatic  writer,  published  his  '  Dramatologia  antiquo-hodi- 
erna,'  in  vindication  of  the  stage.  In  1693  the  theological 
faculties  of  the  Lutheran  universities  of  Eostock  and 
Wittenberg  decided  that  operas  on  Biblical  subjects  were 
not  objectionable,  and  that  the  Lord's  Supper  was  not  to 
be  denied  to  actors  in  them.  But  when  Velthen  was 
dying,  a  Hamburg  pastor  refused  to  give  him  the  Sacra- 
ment. In  Berlin,  under  the  influence  of  the  pious  but 
prejudiced  Spener,  some  pastors  rejected  actors  from  the 
communion  table,  but  the  Elector,  Frederick  V.,  as  their 
spiritual  head,  being  a  great  friend  of  the  stage,  read  them 
a  sharp  lecture  and  ordered  them  at  once  to  give  the 
Sacrament  to  the  players.  King  Frederick  I.  gave  open 
token  of  his  respect  for  the  profession  by  standing  sponsor 
along  with  his  Queen  at  the  font  to  the  daughter  of  the 
actor  Uslenzki,  in  the  very  church  of  which  Spener  was 
provost. 

A  still  more  decided  step  was  taken  in  1745  by 
Frederick  II.  At  the  instigation  of  the  Pastor  Frank,  the 
university  of  Halle  requested  that  a  company  of  actors 
might  not  be  allowed  to  perform  in  the  town.  The  King 
wrote  peremptorily,  '  Enough  of  this  pack  of  bigots  (Muck- 
erpack).  The  actors  shall  perform,  and  Herr  Frank,  or 
whatever  the  rogue  (Schurke)  calls  himself,  shall  assist  at 
the  entertainment,  to  make  open  reparation  before  the 
students  for  his  foolish  remonstrance.  And  an  attestation 
to  this  effect  shall  be  sent  me,  that  I  may  be  satisfied  that 
he  has  been  present.' 

When  dramatic  art  was  at  its  last  gasp,  a  pedant  and 
a  woman  were  its  saviours. 


Germany,  Present  and  Past. 


Frederica  Caroline  Weissenborn  was  the  daughter  of  a 
practising  solicitor  at  Zwickau.  She  was  born  in  1692 
at  Keichenbach.  Her  father  was  a  widower,  harsh,  prag- 
matical, and  gouty.  He  little  understood  the  character 
of  his  child.  We  know  nothing  of  her  youth,  of  how  the 
artistic  faculties  of  her  soul  were  quickened  and  fed.  She 
suddenly  comes  before  us  at  the  age  of  twenty-six,  when, 
to  escape  a  beating  from  her  father,  she  jumped  out  of  a 
window,  and  was  only  saved  from  death  by  falling  into  a 
hedge.  She  never  returned  home,  but  fled  to  Weissenfels 
with  a  young  man  named  Johann  Neuber,  who  was  warmly 
attached  to  her.  At  Weissenfels  they  were  married,  and 
there  joined  a  strolling  band  of  players  under  Spielberg, 
a  disciple  of  Velthen.  Neuber  was  never  other  than  a 
third-rate  actor,  but  he  was  an  intelligent  and  true-hearted 
man.  When  Caroline  Weissenborn  married  him,  she  ac- 
quired an  indefatigable  assistant  and  a  devoted  husband. 
But  the  genius  of  the  Neuberinn,  her  higher  culture,  her 
inexhaustible  energy  of  character,  distinguished  her  above 
all  her  associates.  Her  husband  shines  with  but  a  reflected 
light.  The  Neubers  soon  left  Spielberg  and  joined  the 
troupe  of  the  widow  Elenson,  now  married  to  a  third 
husband,  Hoffmann,  and  associated  with  the  best  actors 
of  the  period.  Whilst  the  company  were  at  Dresden, 
Hanover,  and  Brunswick,  Frau  Neuber  took  the  oppor- 
tunity to  attend  French  plays.  Her  cultivated  taste  told 
her  at  once  how  vastly  superior  they  were  to  the  sad 
rubbish  performed  on  the  German  stage;  and  she  was  the 
first  to  perceive  the  advantages  of  Alexandrine  verses 
for  tragic  declamation.  She  played  in  '  Koderic '  and 
*  Ximenes,'  adapted  from  Corneille,  and  in  the  '  Eegulus  ' 
of  Pradon.  At  the  same  time  she  showed  great  comic 
liveliness,  and  acted  frequently  dressed  in  men's  clothes. 
A  strange  transformation  in  ideas  !  Fifty  years  had  not 


The  Stage.  31 


elapsed  since  female  parts  were  acted  by  boys,  and  now  it 
was  hciut  gout  for  women  to  take  the  parts  of  boys. 

When  the  widow  Elenson  died,  the  Brunswick  court 
gave  the  Neubers  the  management  of  the  theatre  there. 
They  brought  out '  Eegulus,' '  Brutus,' '  Alexander,'  and  the 
6  Cid.'  The  applause  these  adaptations  received  encouraged 
the  daring  woman  in  her  resolution  to  devote  her  life  to  the 
regeneration  of  the  drama.     For  this  purpose  she  organised 
a  company  of  her  own,  after  her  own  heart — elect  spirits 
from  widow  Elenson's  band,  and  disciples  trained  by  her- 
self.    With  this  troupe  she  came  to  Leipzig  for  the  great 
Easter  fair  in  1727.     There  she  met  a  man  whose  ambition 
and  passion  was  the  development  of  the  German  language 
and  poetry — a  man  who  had  long  chafed  at  the  unworthiness 
of  the  stage  in  his  own  land.   The  ambition  of  one  inflamed 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  other.     The  Neuberinn  promised  to 
do  her  utmost  to  give  back  to  the  stage  its  dignity,  and 
purge  it  of  the  blood  and  filth  which  stained  it,  if  she 
were  seconded  by  literary  men   who   should  restock  her 
repertoire.     Grottsched,  this  Leipzig  pedant,  obtained  for 
her  a  concession  to  play  in  Saxony,  and  thenceforth,  for 
ten  years,  Leipzig  was  the  centre  from  which  the  Neubers 
made  their  excursions  to  Dresden,  Brunswick,  Hanover, 
Hamburg,  and  Niirnberg.     Grottsched  was  not  a  poet,  or  a 
man  of  original  conceptions.     He  was  not  calculated  to 
be  the  Shakspeare  of  the  German  drama.     The  utmost 
he  could  do  was  to  translate,  and  recast  old  material.   As  he 
and  the  Neuberinn  worked  together,  their  ideas  expanded, 
and  their  enthusiasm  was  shared  by  other  members  of  the 
company.     The  task  they  had  undertaken  was  not  light. 
Grottsched  desired  a  total  revolution.     The  plots  of  the 
old  plays  were  regardless  of  time  and  space.     They  had  to 
be  subjected  to  the  rule  of  Aristotle,  and  brought  to  a  treble 
unity  of  scene,  period,  and  treatment.    Proportion  must  be 


32  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

introduced  into  the  lively  medley  of  dialogue  and  song, 
of  tragedy  and  burlesque.  Improvisation  must  be  given 
up.  The  dialogue  must  be  cast  into  rhyme,  and  move 
with  stately  swing.  The  Neuberinn  was  herself  a  ready 
extemporiser,  and  had  an  untrained  memory.  To  the  end 
of  her  days  she  found  unusual  difficulty  in  learning  her 
parts  correctly.  Her  companions  had  been  brought  up 
under  Velthen's  lax  method,  and  found  it  hard  to  abandon 
improvisation  and  chain  themselves  to  a  text.  But,  never- 
theless, Frau  Neuber  carried  out  exactly  what  she  had 
undertaken.  She  was  satisfied  that  Grottsched  was  right,, 
and  followed  his  direction  with  alacrity. 

The  artistic  association  of  Grottsched  and  the  Neuberinn 
is  one  of  the  most  weighty  and  eventful  moments  in  the 
history  of  the  development  of  the  German  drama.  Now 
once  more  literature  was  called  to  aid ;  the  schism  be- 
tween the  stage  and  poetry  was  healed.  The  Neuberinn 
held  out  her  hand  across  the  gulf,  with  humility,  and 
cried  to  the  literary  world  to  come  to  her  assistance. 

Frau  Neuber  was  by  nature  chosen  to  carry  out  her 
undertaking.  Keen-sighted,  daring  to  defiance,  energetic 
to  violence,  active  to  restlessness,  persistent  to  stubborn- 
ness, she  was  far  removed  from  greed  of  gain  or  craving 
for  applause.  She  lived  for  an  ideal,  and  to  that  ideal  she 
was  ready  to  sacrifice  everything.  She  had  the  good  fortune 
to  associate  with  her  men  of  no  ordinary  talent,  the  most 
remarkable  of  whom  was  Koch,  a  clever  actor  and  scene- 
painter.  It  was  not  only  the  elevation  of  the  drama  that 
this  remarkable  woman  sought,  she  sought  also  to  recover 
for  her  profession  the  respect  it  had  forfeited.  And 
that  this  might  be  regained,  the  members  must  learn  to 
respect  themselves.  Like  a  practical  woman,  she  began 
her  reformation  with  the  members  of  the  troupe  under  her 
own  hand.  She  insisted  on  frequent  and  careful  rehearsals, 


The  Stage.  33 


the  more  necessary,  as  under  Velthen's  system  rehearsals 
had  fallen  into  disuse.  She  brought  order  and  respect- 
ability into  the  company  arrangements.  The  unmarried 
actresses  lived  with  her,  they  became  her  adopted  daughters. 
She  cared  for,  watched  and  directed  them,  as  though  they 
were  her  own  children.  The  unmarried  actors  dined  at 
her  table.  And  this  arrangement,  which  she  first  insti- 
tuted, survives  to  the  present  day  among  the  strolling 
companies  in  Grermany.  Her  plan  was  economical,  but  it 
was  not  for  economy  that  she  adopted  it ;  it  was  because 
she  was  determined  to  emancipate  her  profession!  from 
public-house  haunting,  and  to  bring  about  community 
life  in  the  company.  She  tolerated  no  idle  flirtations ;  if 
an  actor  and  actress  appeared  attached,  she  watched  them 
with  Argus  eye,  and  unless  there  was  an  engagement,  put 
a  stop  to  the  matter  peremptorily.  The  women  worked 
with  scissors  and  needles  at  the  costumes,  the  men  at 
scene-painting,  copying  the  parts,  or  organising  the 
mechanism.  By  degrees  a  sort  of  family  life  grew  up  in 
the  company,  in  which  each  followed  his  special  avocation, 
and  all  felt  an  interest  in  one  another.  In  a  word,  this 
patriarchal  life  of  the  band,  encouraged  by  burger  exclu- 
siveness,  which  refused  the  player  access  to  their  houses, 
became  the  nursery  from  which  the  modern  Grerman  pro- 
fession has  grown,  and  conquered  the  respect  of  noble  and 
burger  alike.  The  repertoire  was  next  overhauled.  It 
took  a  long  time  to  get  up  the  Alexandrine  tragedies, 
and  even  when  the  difficulty  of  learning  them  was  over- 
come, the  Neuberinnn  found  that  the  public,  accustomed  to 
burlesque  and  blood-curdling  horrors,  had  no  taste  for 
classic  compositions. 

It  was  in  Hamburg,  in  1730,  that  she  ventured  on  the 
first  production  of  the  tragedies.  '  The  verses  please,'  she 
wrote  to  Grottsched, '  but  there  are  complaints  made  of 

VOL  II.  D 


34  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

their  obscurity.  One  must  have  patience  :  with  time  taste 
will  grow.'  She  found  it  necessary  to  tack  a  farce  on  the 
tail  of  a  tragedy,  and  play  burlesques  on  alternate  nights 
to  attract  and  fill  her  house. 

Next  year  at  Hamburg,  her  hopes  seemed  likely  to  be 
realised.  She  wrote,  *  Our  comedies  and  tragedies  are 
tolerably  well  attended.  The  trouble  we  have  taken  to 
improve  taste  has  not  been  quite  thrown  away.  I  find 
here  various  converted  hearts.  Persons  whom  I  had  least 
expected,  have  become  lovers  of  poetry,  and  there  are 
many  who  appreciate  our  orderly  artistic  plays.' 

From  Hanover  the  Neuberinn  wrote :  *  Here  I  have 
found  better  appreciation  of  Grerman  tragedies  than  might 
have  been  anticipated.  During  the  last  few  years,  there 
have  been  many  comedians  here,  amongst  them  the  re- 
nowned harlequin  Miiller.  These  gave  the  Hanoverians  such 
a  glut,  that  at  first  the  people  came  only  in  driblets  to  our 
performances.  But  when  we  began  our  metrical  comedies 
and  drew  on  our  new  costumes,  matters  mended.  The 
Greheimrathe  were  the  first  to  appear,  and  as  they  were 
pleased,  the  nobility  and  gentry  followed,  and  now  every  one 
comes  to  see  the  novelty.  But  the  general  public,  fed  on 
the  unwholesome  diet  provided  by  former  comedians,  do 
not  take  to  our  performances,  which  are  ungarnished  with 
indelicacies.' 

From  Niirnberg,  in  1731,  Neuber  wrote  :  '  As  we  play 
only  twice  a  week,  and  the  bad  weather  may  spoil  an 
evening,  I  have  waited  some  time  before  writing,  so  that 
I  might  have  leisure  to  ascertain  whether  the  people  here 
are  to  be  won  to  a  taste  for  our  plays.  At  first  no  one 
would  hear  of  a  comedy  all  in  verse.  But  now  the  patri- 
cians are,  I  trust,  won.  Our  first  piece  was  <  Cinna,'  and 
fortunately  the  translator,  Herr  von  Fiihrer,  was  one  of 
the  audience ;  and  as  he  is  castellan  and  principal  councillor, 


The  Stage.  35 


and  lives  up  at  the  Castle,  his  word  goes  for  much.  This 
patriot  has  done  wonders  for  us  by  his  applause,  and  the 
Niirnbergers  show  a  decided  inclination  to  favour  the 
Leipzig  verses.  But  what  distresses  me  most  is  that  we 
have  not  enough  pieces  of  the  sort.' 

This  was  precisely  the  great  difficulty.  This  was  the 
burden  of  every  letter.  Whatever  pains  Grottsched  took 
to  translate  and  adapt,  the  results  were  small.  As  written, 
the  plays  were  sent  to  the  Neubers,  act  by  act,  and  com- 
mitted to  memory.  From  not  having  enough  new  comedies 
and  tragedies,  the  Neubers  were  obliged  to  fall  back  on 
the  old  stock,  but  they  recast  the  plays,  cut  out  what 
was  unsuitable,  improved  the  dialogue,  and  ruthlessly 
removed  every  allusion  offensive  to  delicacy.  How  small 
was  the  result  of  the  literary  labours  of  Grottsched  and  his 
fellow-workers  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  the 
Neubers  had  only  twenty-seven  of  the  new  plays  in  their 
repertoire  between  1727  and  1740.  Of  these,  fifteen  were 
translations,  the  rest  rearrangements.  The  Neuberinn  her- 
self took  pen  in  hand,  and  wrote  comedies,  farces,  and 
preludes.  Lessing  says  of  her  compositions,  *  One  must  be 
very  prejudiced  not  to  allow  this  famous  actress  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  her  art.  She  had  masculine  penetration, 
and  in  one  point  only  did  she  betray  her  sex — she  delighted 
in  trifles.  All  plays  of  her  composition  are  full  of 
disguises  and  pageants,  wondrous  and  glittering.  But, 
after  all,  she  may  have  known  the  hearts  of  the  Leipzig 
burgers,  and  put  these  in,  from  a  desire  to  please  them, 
as  flies  are  caught  with  treacle.' 

Frau  Neuber  took  great  pains  to  have  good  costumes, 
and  went  as  far  as  her  means  allowed  her  in  making  them 
rich  and  suitable.  She  would  have  no  tinsel,  and  crowns 
and  armour  of  gilt  paper.  By  a  stroke  of  policy  in  1728 
she  began  her  performances  at  Leipzig  with  the  '  Regulus ' 

D  2 


36  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

of  Bressand,  translated  by  von  Konig,  master  of  cere- 
monies at  Dresden.  Von  Konig,  to  help  out  his  poor 
translation,  sent  her  the  requisite  costume  from  the 
royal  garde-robe.  The  magnificence  with  which  she  was 
able  to  put  the  c  Kegulus '  on  the  stage,  and  the  report 
carefully  circulated  by  Grottsched  that  the  court  was 
interested  in  the  Neuberinn's  reform,  caused  the  house  to 
be  crowded,  and  attracted  attention  to  her  undertaking. 
Otherwise  costume  followed  the  received  tradition.  The 
three  classes  of  Roman,  Turk,  and  modern  costume  were 
retained,  but  the  two  first  were  poorly  represented,  and 
eked  out  from  the  third.  The  powdered  coiffure  and 
hoop-petticoats  with  women,  knee-breeches  and  buckle- 
shoes  for  men,  were  de  rigueur  at  least  for  the  chief  per- 
sonages, and  Kohlhardt  appeared  alike  as  Cato  and  as 
King  of  Cockayne  with  powdered  wig,  ruffles,  and  a  three- 
cornered  hat.  Attitude  was  not  natural  any  more  than 
were  the  speeches.  The  body  was  bent  in  graceful  pos- 
tures :  only  one  foot  was  allowed  to  rest  on  the  ground,  the 
other  was  poised  on  the  toe :  the  arms  were  bowed  in 
studied  curves ;  there  was  much  of  c  Ah ! '  and  '  Oh  ! '  of 
turgid  rhapsody  and  tedious  soliloquy.  But  a  great 
stride  had  been  taken ;  the  stage  had  acquired  dignity, 
the  drama  had  been  lifted  from  the  dust,  brutality  was 
exchanged  for  baroque,  indecency  for  high-flown  courtesy. 
G-ottsched's  services  deserve  recognition  as  well  as 
those  of  Frau  Neuber.  He  reduced  the  chaos  of  dramatic 
composition  to  order,  and  divided  the  elements  and  set 
each  its  proper  place.  His  stiff-necked  determination  to 
subject  the  drama  to  the  rules  of  beauty  and  proportion, 
as  he  understood  them,  was  as  invaluable  as  the  perse- 
verance and  self-devotion  of  Frau  Neuber  in  carrying  out 
his  theories.  He  had  the  literary  power  and  dogged 
resolution  to  lay  down  his  theories  as  irrefragable  laws ;, 


The  Stage.  37 


his  diplomatic  cleverness  acquired  for  him  an  artistic 
dictatorship  in  literary  circles,  and  none  belonging  to 
polite  society  dared  to  dissent  from  his  views.  His  in-, 
fluence  engaged  writers  of  talent  in  the  service  of  the 
stage.  All  poetry  in  a  dramatic  form  that  appeared  till 
1750  issued  from  Grottsched's  school  at  Leipzig.  He 
•brought  Elias  Schlegel's  youthful  productions  into  notice. 
His  exhortations  inspired  Grellert  to  write  dramas,  and 
Grellert  was  the  first  to  bring  the  genuine  German  tone 
back  to  the  dramatic  art.  It  is  true  that  Grottsched  was 
:a  representative  of  baroque  formalism,  that  his  reform  was 
along  false  lines,  in  the  direction  of  affectation,  not  of  na- 
ture ;  but  it  was  a  reform  in  the  interests  of  civilisation. 

But,  when  all  is  said  for  Grottsched,  the  largest 
measure  of  our  gratitude  and  respect  remains  to  be 
meted  to  Frau  Neuber.  It  cost  Grottsched  nothing  to 
start  his  theories,  but  on  her  fell  the  labour  and  risk  of 
carrying  them  into  execution.  It  was  her  purse  which 
suffered,  her  popularity  which  was  affected.  It  was  she 
who  fought  the  battle  and  received  the  blows,  whilst 
Grottsched  directed  from  the  safe  and  serene  heights  of  his 
library.  She  lived  on  the  people,  her  bread  was  de- 
pendent on  their  favour,  and  yet  she  had  to  take  from 
them  what  they  most  prized  and  give  them  that  for  which 
they  had  no  appreciation.  Every  sacrifice  she  made  of 
the  foolish,  bloody,  and  obscene — of  what  was  popular — 
cost  her  money  and  the  favour  of  the  people.  She  knew 
it ;  she  was  well  aware  that  she  might  have  doubled  her 
receipts  by  stooping  to  please  low  tastes,  but  she  was  too 
noble,  too  conscientious,  too  true,  ever  to  sacrifice  what 
was  right  to  sordid  interest. 

In  1731  the  Neubers  wrote  to  Grottsched  from  Niirn- 
berg : — *  Probably  we  should  have  earned  many  more 
thalers  if  we  had  played  only  the  tasteless  fashionable 


38  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

pieces.  But  now  that  we  have  undertaken  what  is  goodr 
we  will  not  forsake  the  path  so  long  as  we  have  a  penny- 
Good  must  continue  good.' 

In  1733  the  privilege  of  the  Neubers  to  play  in  Saxony 
expired,  and  the  King,  instead  of  renewing  it,  made  it 
over  to  the  harlequin  Miiller  and  his  band.  In  vain  did 
the  Neubers  remonstrate,  and  offer  to  give  to  Miiller 
exclusive  right  to  play  all  burlesques.  '  Our  efforts,'  they 
wrote,  'have  been  incessant  to  subject  all  our  representa- 
tions to  the  strictest  morality,  to  avoid  vapid  foolishness 
and  indelicate  double-entendres.  Our  aim  has  consistently 
been  to  educate  and  raise  the  taste  of  the  masses,  and  not 
to  make  the  stage  a  means  of  evoking  the  immoderate 
laughter  of  the  vulgar.'  It  was  all  in  vain.  The  Neubers 
and  their  troupe  were  turned  out  of  the  theatre  in  Leipzig 
to  make  way  for  harlequin  Hans  Wurst  and  the  blood 
and  filth  from  which  they  had  washed  it.1 

The  Neubers  went  from  town  to  town,  meeting  with 
some  support,  but  with  a  thousand  contrarieties,  attacks 
from  friends  of  the  old  style,  the  indifference  of  the  public,, 
and  with  consequent  deficiency  of  means.  They  found 
one  protector,  Duke  Charles  Frederick  of  Schleswig- 
Holstein.  In  1736  he  gave  the  Neubers  a  patent  as 
court  actors,  and  an  annual  subsidy  of  1,000  thalers.  So- 
great,  indeed,  was  his  liking  for  their  performances,  that 
on  more  than  one  occasion  he  appeared  with  the  company 
on  their  boards.  But  the  Ducal  subsidy  could  not  keep 
them  wholly  above  water.  In  May  1736,  Neuber  wrote 
from  Liibeck: — 'We  must  be  content  to  carry  on  our 
undertaking  as  best  we  may,  and  that  is  poorly.  Every 

1  Smollet,  in  Peregrine  Pickle,  describes  a  performance  in  the  theatre 
at  Amsterdam,  where  the  jests  of  Harlequin  or  Pickelherring  were  of 
the  grossest  nature.  These  obscenities,  when  banished  Germany,  took 
refuge  in  Holland. 


The  Stage.  39 


one  must  see  that  we  would  gladly  do  good  if  we  were 
able,  and  that  it  is  only  shortness  of  means  which  impedes 
us.  But  it  cannot  be  helped ;  we  do  our  utmost,  and  wait 
on  time  and  luck.' 

But  luck  did  not  come ;  and  as  it  proved  unpropitious, 
the  Neubers  became  the  more  stubborn.  Urged  on  by 
Gottsched,  they  resolved  by  an  open  manifestation  to 
show  their  irrevocable  breach  with  pantomime.  Grottsched 
was  impatient  because  improvisation  was  not  wholly 
abolished.  The  root  of  the  evil  lay  in  harlequin,  that 
merry-andrew  whose  jokes  tickled  the  multitude,  and 
whom  they  regarded  as  an  essential  element  in  every 
play.  He  appeared  in  the  sacred  drama  and  in  the 
tragedy;  no  moment  was  too  solemn,  no  situation  too 
supreme,  not  to  be  marred  by  his  unseasonable  and 
inappropriate  jests.  If  the  people  did  not  always  exact 
the  chequered  tights  and  spangles,  they  demanded  the 
merry-andrew — at  Vienna  under  the  green  hat  of  a 
Salzburg  clown,  elsewhere  in  white  and  scarlet.  Grott- 
sched exhorted  the  Neubers  to  wholly  suppress  this  vulgar 
and  disturbing  element.  They  resolved  on  doing  so  by  a 
characteristic  theatrical  exhibition.  It  was  in  October 
1737,  and  their  booth  was  at  Hamburg.  A  suitable  piece 
was  played,  in  which  a  figure  dressed  up  as  harlequin  was 
brought  up  for  trial,  and  all  his  outrages  on  decency  and 
artistic  proprieties  were  charged  against  him.  He  was 
sentenced  to  execution ;  a  pyre  was  raised,  and  he  was 
committed  to  the  flames. 

This  demonstration  has  been  ridiculed.  Lessing  calls 
it '  itself  the  greatest  harlequinade ; '  but  it  was  the  demon- 
stration of  a  serious  purpose,  from  which  the  Neubers  never 
swerved,  though  it  cost  them  their  popularity,  and  brought 
them  to  ruin. 

Many  years  ago,  when  English  musical  taste  was  in 


40  Germany ',  Present  and  Past. 

the  depths,  Julien  attempted  its  education.  With  his 
band  he  performed  a  few  classic  pieces,  interspersed  with 
noisy  rubbish  of  the  modern  French  school.  The  ear  of 
the  vulgar  was  caught  with  the  rubbish,  and  tolerated  the 
good  music.  Little  by  little  the  musical  faculty  acquired 
a  power  of  distinguishing  between  good  and  evil,  and  then 
what  was  worthless  became  distasteful,  and  the  classic 
music  was  approved.  But  had  Julien  begun  with  the 
latter  only,  he  would  have  disgusted,  not  have  drawn. 
His  performances  would  have  pleased  a  few  connoisseurs, 
not  have  raised  the  taste  of  the  masses.  The  Neubers 
erred  in  banishing  harlequin  before  the  vulgar  were 
trained  to  find  his  pranks  distasteful,  and  they  felt  at 
once  the  consequences.  Hitherto  their  dramas  had 
pleased  a  cultivated  circle :  the  people  had  crowded  to 
their  comedies,  wherein  harlequin  cut  his  jokes.  And  it 
was  on  the  people's  groschen,  not  on  the  thalers  of  the 
men  of  letters,  that  the  company  had  lived.  The  Neubers 
had  burnt  harlequin,  as  Cortez  did  his  ships,  and  retreat 
was  impossible.  En  avant  was  their  motto,  cost  what 
it  might.  The  audience  yawned  at  the  Alexandrines,  and 
clamoured  for  a  pantomime  ;  for  the  old  loved  '  Harlequin, 
the  Living  Clock,' (  The  Man  with  Two  Heads,'  and  the 
like.  In  vain  did  Frau  Neuber  compose  and  introduce 
farces  after  her  tragedies,  in  which  the  situations  were 
laughable.  The  people  would  not  laugh  at  fun  that 
came  from  no  accredited  joker.  They  complained  that 
tragedies  were  intolerable  when  not  relieved  by  the  capers 
of  a  fool,  and  history  was  dry  dust  unless  treated  as 
burlesque. 

In  1735,  when  Frau  Neuber  had  been  three-quarters 
of  a  year  in  Hamburg,  using  every  endeavour  to  recover 
her  ground,  and  gain  the  approval  of  the  people  for  her 
'  purified  stage,'  she  had  felt  keenly  her  disappointment. 


The  Stage.  41 


She  was  the  object  of  ignoble  cabals,  of  jealousies,  mean 
insinuations,  and  even  open  attack.  She  gave  vent  to 
her  indignation.  The  Hamburgers  called  her  proud  and 
thankless.  They  expected  her  to  accept  the  crusts  from 
their  lavish  tables  with  cringing  humility.  They  would 
have  her  the  servant,  not  the  guide,  of  public  taste.  She 
fell  into  debt.  Her  enemies  exulted.  The  headstrong 
choleric  woman  thought  herself  justified  in  telling  the 
'  public  her  opinion.  She  announced  a  prelude  to  her  last 
performance  for  the  season  on  'The  Condition  of  the 
Drama  at  all  Seasons.'  The  Senate  had  wind  of  its  pur- 
port, and  forbade  the  performance. 

In  1738,  when  she  acted  at  Hamburg  for  the  first 
time,  she  had  the  triumph  of  performing  in  the  opera- 
house,  as  the  opera  had  failed.  But  this  circumstance 
helped  on  her  downfall.  It  drew  on  her  the  hostility  of 
the  lovers  of  the  dead  opera.  She  could  not  equal  the 
attractions,  the  splendour  of  the  mise-en-scene,  of  the 
opera ;  she  could  not  draw  the  multitude  without  harle- 
quin. She  lost  her  first  actress,  Grundler,  who  retired 
from  the  stage.  With  her  usual  energy,  though  she  was 
aged  forty-six,  Frau  Neuber  threw  herself  into  the  parts 
hitherto  filled  by  Griindler,  and  often  acted  two  roles  in 
the  same  piece.  But  the  audience  sneered ;  she  was  too 
old  for  the  part  of  first  lady.  In  1739  she  met  with  no 
better  success.  The  house  in  Hamburg  became  thinner 
and  thinner.  At  the  coffee-houses,  the  friends  of  the 
opera  intrigued  with  the  lovers  of  pantomime  to  make  her 
ridiculous  by  lampoon,  and  hurt  her  character  by  innuendo. 

Schonemann,  her  old  harlequin,  deserted  her,  and 
organised  a  new  company,  in  which  he  might  resume  his 
gambols  and  jests.  Eckenberg,  a  great  Jack  Pudding, 
set  up  his  booth  in  rivalry  and  drew  crowds.  The  ruin  of 
the  Neubers  seemed  inevitable,  when  the  Empress  Anna, 


42  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

on  the  recommendation  of  her  Holstein  supporter,  invited 
the  troupe  to  St.  Petersburg. 

Here  was  help  in  the  hour  of  need  I  In  the  moment 
of  exultation  the  embittered  woman  took  a  step  which 
was  as  fatal  as  it  was  indiscreet.  She  who,  with  untiring 
effort,  at  great  sacrifice,  had  lifted  German  art  from  the 
dungheap,  had  met  with  the  recognition  from  a  foreigner 
which  had  been  denied  her  by  her  countrymen.  Now  she 
could  pay  her  debts,  and  defy  the  spite,  the  ridicule,  the 
persecution,  with  which  she  had  been  assailed.  She  closed 
her  last  performance  at  Hamburg  with  an  epilogue  com- 
posed by  herself,  and  sufficiently  remarkable  to  deserve  an 
extract.  It  began  : — 

My  friends,  have  patience,  now  I  charge  my  foes; 

and  then,  after  a  few  introductory  lines,  went  on  : — 

Perhaps  the  days  will  come, 
In  which  the  world  will  weigh  with  equal  scale 
What  we  have  tried  t'  become,  and  you  have  proved  to  be. 
Go  !  take  you  some  Jack  Pudding  to  your  hearts, 
Some  clown  from  out  a  gutter,  train  him  well, 
And  make  him  wise  with  all  your  treasured  store 
Of  science  and  of  sense ;  and  set  him  up  to  be 
Your  teacher  and  your  pattern  .... 
For  what's  your  life-long  object  ?  good  to  spoil. 
Your  chief  est  wisdom  ?  innocence  to  stain  ; 
For  innocence  you  know  not,  sirs,  nor  grow, 
Nor  cherish  in  your  midst.     Oh  !  if  she  went, 
Poor  Purity,  a  beggar  through  your  streets, 
And  asked  a  crust  and  water  at  your  doors, 
What  would  she  get  ?  .... 

Whether  the  Hamburg  audience  heard  her  out  may  be 
doubted.  The  indignation  she  aroused  was  so  general 
that  the  Senate  cancelled  her  licence  to  play  in  the 
town.  She  was  never  after  able  to  appear  in  Hamburg. 

In  Russia  she  met  with  nothing  but  disappointment. 
The  opera  was  there  in  vogue,  and  no  one  cared  for  the 


The  Stage.  43, 


drama.  When  her  patroness,  the  Duchess  of  Courland, 
died,  she  returned  to  Germany,  no  richer  than  when  she 
left  it.  Her  sojourn  in  St.  Petersburg  had  been  brief ;  it 
lasted  but  a  year.  She  found  the  soil  in  Germany  not 
ready  to  receive  her.  Hamburg  was  closed  to  her.  To 
the  Elbe  reigned  Franz  Schuch,  the  harlequin.  This  man 
in  youth  had  been  a  friar  in  a  Tyrolean  convent.  He  ran 
away  from  it,  came  to  Berlin,  and  became  an  actor.  His 
wife  took  the  part  of  Columbine.  A  cloister  comrade,. 
Stenzel,  had  escaped  his  cell  with  him,  and  played  with 
him  on  the  boards  the  part  of  Leander,  the  lover.  Schuch 
and  Stenzel  were  grave,  honourable  men  in  private  life ; 
but  Schuch  was  transformed  when  he  trod  the  stage.  As 
he  said  of  himself:  '  When  he  drew  on  the  Hans-Wurst 
jacket,  the  devil  entered  into  him.'  But  it  was  a  merry, 
harmless  devil.  He  did  his  good  work,  for  he  purified 
stage  humour.  Schonemann,  as  has  been  said,  had  formed 
a  troupe  of  his  own,  and  was  supported  by  Gottsched,  who 
had  quarrelled  with  the  Neubers  because  they  would  not 
abandon  a  translation  of  Voltaire's  '  Alzira '  by  Striiven, 
which  they  had  read  up,  for  another  made  by  Madame  Gott- 
sched. Kohlhardt,  one  of  the  best  actors  in  the  company, 
died  almost  like  Moli&re,  on  the  stage.  Everything  went 
wrong  with  Frau  Neuber ;  and,  in  deep  disappointment 
and  distress,  she  broke  up  her  company,  and  in  1743  went 
with  her  husband  to  Oschatz,  where  the  Amtmann  was 
their  friend,  and  where  she  hoped  a  civil  appointment 
might  be  obtained  for  Neuber.  But  this  was  also  a 
failure.  Next  year  she  returned  to  the  battle-field, 
sounded  the  call,  and  the  elite  of  her  old  attached  com- 
pany flew  to  her  again — Koch,  Heydrich,  Lorenz,  Wolf- 
ram, bringing  with  them  fresh  adherents — the  young  and 
beautiful  Kleefelder,  and  Schuberth.  The  Neubers  at 
once  entered  the  field  against  Schonemann.  It  was  the 


44  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

period  when  the  craze  for  pastoral  scenes  and  idealised 
rusticity  had  set  in  over  Europe.  The  Neubers  introduced 
pastoral  plays  upon  their  stage  with  some  success. 
Gellert  wrote  for  them  the  first  attempt  at  the  domestic 
drama,  '  Die  zartliche  Schwester.'  It  was  performed  by 
them  in  1745.  One  might  have  expected  that  the  star  of 
the  Neubers  would  ascend  again,  that  success  would  return, 
now  that  they  had  touched  and  opened  a  new  dramatic 
vein;  but  it  was  not  to  be.  They  had  fulfilled  their 
mission.  It  is  an  universal  historic  experience  that  in 
the  advance  of  civilisation  individuals  are  ruthlessly  cast 
aside  as  soon  as  they  have  accomplished  the  task  set  them. 
Leaders  of  great  movements  are  left  broken  on  the 
path,  and  fresh  tools  are  taken  up  to  carry  on  the  work 
they  began. 

But  one  favour  was  accorded  to  Frau  Neuber  to  link 
her  life  to  the  most  important  moment  in  the  development 
of  her  art.  She  was  allowed  to  introduce  to  the  world 
that  great  man  who  was  destined  to  found  German 
literature  and  the  national  drama,  and  unite  both  in 
closest  wedlock.  Grotthold  Ephraim  Lessing,  a  student 
of  eighteen  at  Leipzig,  brought  her  his  first  composition, 
'The  Young  Savant'  (1747).  She  recognised  at  once 
the  promise  of  genius,  and  brought  out  the  piece  on  her 
stage.  '  Damon '  and  '  The  Old  Maid  '  speedily  followed. 

This  was  the  last  gleam  that  falls  on  the  history  of 
this  remarkable  woman.  In  1748  she  lost  Koch,  Heyd- 
rich,  and  Lorenz,  called  to  Vienna,  where  the  Court 
desired  the  reformation  of  the  theatre  on  her  lines.  Then 
her  adopted  daughter,  the  Kleefelder,  married  and  left 
her.  The  ever-faithful  Suppig  died.  In  1750  her  troupe 
broke  completely  up,  and  she  and  her  husband  wandered 
about  with  a  company  of  strolling  players,  as  subordinates, 
performing  at  fairs.  The  Seven  Years'  war  brought  that 


The  Stage.  45 


to  an  end,  and  the  Neubers  found  refuge  with  an  honour- 
able man  at  Dresden,  Dr.  Lober,  physician  to  the  King, 
who  gave  them  a  little  room  in  his  house  free  of  rent. 
When  Dresden  was  occupied  in  1756  by  the  Prussian 
soldiers,  some  were  quartered  in  their  chamber.  She  was 
forced  to  live  and  sleep  in  the  same  room  with  the  soldiers. 
But  her  dignity  maintained  its  rights.  At  the  window 
stood  a  little  table,  on  which  the  old  fallen  couple  con- 
tinued their  literary  labours.  This  table  was  respected  by 
the  soldiers ;  not  a  pipe  was  ever  laid  on  it.  Neuber 
sickened  and  died ;  the  soldiers  helped  to  carry  him  to 
his  grave.  During  the  bombardment  of  1760  the  house 
was  shelled  and  destroyed.  Frau  Neuber  escaped  with 
some  members  of  the  family  of  Dr.  Lober  to  the  village  of 
Laubegast.  There  she  fell  ill.  The  host  would  not  hear 
of  an  actress  dying  in  his  house,  and  her  kind  benefactors 
hired  for  her  a  lodging  in  another  cottage,  and  carried  her 
to  it.  It  was  a  little  room,  with  a  window  command- 
ing the  vine-clad  hill  of  Pillnitz.  The  vines  were  now 
cleared  of  grapes,  save  a  few  purple  clusters  not  gathered 
for  the  vintage,  and  the  first  frosts  had  touched  the  leaves 
crimson  and  amber.  Into  this  room  the  Neuberinn  was 
brought  from  the  battles  of  theatrical  life,  persecuted  by 
prejudice  against  her  profession,  seeking  a  corner  in  which 
she  might  lay  her  head  to  die.  When  the  aged,  God- 
fearing woman  was  carried  in,  overcome  by  emotion,  she 
fell  on  her  knees,  and  stretching  out  her  arms  towards  the 
window,  burst  into  the  words  of  the  Psalmist :  '  I  will  lift 
up  mine  eyes  unto  the  hills  from  whence  cometh  my  help* 
My  help  cometh  even  from  the  Lord,  who  hath  made 
heaven  and  earth.'  There  she  died,  not  long  after,  on 
Saturday,  November  30,  1760,  about  one  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  She  was  buried  without  religious  service  in  the 
cemetery  at  Laubegast.  Her  grave  is  hard  by  the  church- 


46  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

yard  wall  that  runs  along  the  Pirnau  road.  Tradition 
adds  that  the  pastor  locked  the  graveyard  gate  against  her 
body,  and  to  get  it  to  its  place  of  rest,  the  coffin  was  flung 
-over  the  wall. 

Such  was  the  end  of  a  noble  woman,  who  devoted  her 
whole  life  to  the  cause  of  art  and  morality — a  woman  who 
was  an  honour  not  merely  to  her  profession,  but  to  her 
sex  and  country.  The  stage  has  produced  many  martyrs, 
but  she  was  the  first.  She  had  an  unbending  will,  but  it 
was  a  will  that  would  not  bend  because  conscience  was  its 
director.  To  the  carrying  out  of  a  true  conviction  she 
sacrificed  fortune,  favour,  success,  counting  the  cost,  and 
submitting  to  pay  it  rather  than  descend  from  her  ideal. 
If  this  be  not  the  true  heroism  of  a  Christian,  I  ask, 
what  is  ? 

Frau  Neuber  had  died  in  poverty,  her  work  apparently 
a  failure.  But  it  may  be  doubted  if  any  serious  work 
conscientiously  carried  out  is  lost.  '  Shew  thy  servants  thy 
work,  and  their  children  thy  glory,'  was  the  prayer  of  the 
psalmist,  and  prophetic  of  the  ways  of  Providence.  The 
work  of  the  Neuberinn  was  not  lost.  Actors  trained  under 
her,  Koch,  Schonemann,  Dobellin,  and  Ackermann,  became 
directors  of  the  great  companies  which  played  in  Grermany 
when  the  Neuberinn  was  gone,  and  her  traditions  were  not 
cast  aside.  Six  years  after  her  death  saw  the  last  harle- 
quin figure  on  the  N.  German  stage  ;  and  in  1769,  Hans 
Wurst  was  banished  from  the  Viennese  boards.  On  the 
outside  of  the  theatre  at  Constance  is  a  curious  painting 
of  about  1770.  It  represents  the  triumph  of  the  dramatic 
Muses  over  the  pantomime  and  burlesque,  impersonated 
by  harlequin,  Hans  Wurst,  pantaloon,  and  clown,  who  are 
being  precipitated  into  darkness  by  the  radiant  Muses — 
the  whole  a  parody  of  the  fall  of  the  angels  before  Michael. 

Frau  Neuber  had  raised  the  drama,  but  had  not  made 


The  Stage.  47 


it  either  national  or  natural.  She  had  sought  inspiration 
in  France,  and  had  transformed  a  creation  of  the  popular 
life  into  a  courtly  orator.  If  she  had  civilised  a  savage, 
she  had  also  made  him  artificial.  Before  the  stage  could 
reach  the  heart  of  the  people,  and  fulfil  the  task  she 
designed  it  to  execute,  much  she  had  taught  must  be  un- 
learned. The  man  who  took  up  her  unfinished  work,  and 
gave  it  the  impulse  and  direction  it  needed,  was  Eckhof. 

Konrad  Eckhof  was  born  at  Hamburg  in  1720,  of  poor 
parents.  He  began  his  education  as  lamp-trimmer  and 
candle-snuffer  in  Schonemann's  theatre.  When  no  one 
was  in  the  house,  and  he  had  done  his  work,  the  boy  would 
set  up  coats  and  gowns  in  the  stalls,  and  act  to  them  from 
the  stage.  He  was  a  little  man,  high-shouldered  and 
bony,  and  with  strongly  accentuated  features.  His  only 
charm  lay  in  his  voice  and  eye,  both  capable  of  the  most 
subtle  and  varied  expression.  His  unprepossessing  exterior 
prevented  directors  from  engaging  him  at  first,  but  when 
once  he  had  set  his  foot  on  the  stage  his  power  manifested 
itself,  and  in  a  few  years  he  was  recognised  as  the  first 
actor  in  Germany.  Lessing  worked  with  him.  It  was 
Lessing's  object  to  correct  the  affectation  of  the  French 
drama  by  an  appeal  to  Shakspeare  as  the  type  of  true  art. 
Eckhof  was  a  careful  and  accurate  student  of  nature. 
Consequently,  the  poet  and  the  player  were  admirably 
calculated  to  work  together.  They  released  the  drama 
from  the  golden,  but  cumbrous  fetters  of  the  rococo  style, 
and  gave  it  a  healthy  and  free  life — gave  it  back  to  nature, 
but  not  to  barbarism.  Nicolai  gives  an  instance  of 
Eckhof  s  dramatic  power.  He  visited  him  in  his  old  age, 
along  with  Musaeus,  and  asked  him  to  read  them  some- 
thing. Eckhof  chose  a  scene  from  ( Codrus,'  then  that  of 
the  meeting  of  Lusignan  with  his  children,  from  '  Zaire.' 
And  so,  in  dressing-gown  and  nightcap,  with  spectacles 


48  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

on  his  nose,  seated  in  his  high-backed  arm-chair,  he  pro- 
duced intense  artistic  effect  upon  his  hearers,  so  that  the 
tears  rolled  down  their  cheeks.  Then,  springing  out  of 
his  chair,  and  flinging  aside  his  dressing-gown,  he  gave  a 
scene  from  the  c  Bauer  with  an  Inheritance '  with  such 
comic  power,  '  that  scarce  a  trace  could  be  distinguished 
of  the  man  of  dignity  and  inner  tenderness  we  had  seen 
before.  He  was  the  bauer  all  over,  to  the  bowed  knees, 
the  up-drawn  shoulders ;  in  every  muscle  of  the  face  and 
movement  of  the  hand  was  the  richest  comic  expression.' 

Tales  of  Eckhof  s  power  border  on  the  fabulous.  It 
is  said  that  when  an  Englishman,  passing  through  Weimar, 
begged  Eckhof  to  give  him  a  specimen  of  his  reading,  the 
actor  declaimed  to  him  the  German  ABC  with  such 
variation  of  expression  between  the  pathetic,  the  heroic, 
and  the  ludicrous,  that  the  Englishman  alternately  wept, 
and  bristled,  and  burst  into  uncontrolled  laughter.  Les- 
sing  says  of  him,  '  Eckhof  can  play  any  part  he  chooses. 
In  the  smallest,  his  ability  as  a  first-rate  actor  stares  you 
in  the  face.  One  feels  vexed  that  he  cannot  take  every 
part  simultaneously,  and  then  the  performance  would  be 
perfection.' 

Eckhof  is  rightly  regarded  as  the  father  of  the  Grerman 
drama.  The  work  of  Frau  Neuber  was  negative,  his  was 
positive.  She  freed  the  art  from  coarseness,  but  he  made 
it  German,  and  touched  the  heart  of  the  people.  I  have 
entered  at  such  length  into  the  life  of  the  Neuberinn,  that 
I  must  only  indicate  the  results  of  Eckhof  s  labours  with- 
out attempting  a  biography. 

The  first  Court  theatres  in  Weimar,  Schwerin,  and 
Gotha,  the  first  attempt  at  a  national  theatre  at  Hamburg,, 
are  associated  with  his  name.  He  fitly  shares  with 
Lessing  the  fame  of  having  created  the  German  drama. 
One  glimpse  I  must  give  of  his  private  character,  to  show 


The  Stage.  49 


how  worthy  a  successor  he  was  to  the  Neuberinn,  and  how 
good  and  noble  were  these  two  founders  of  the  modern 
dramatic  profession. 

If  every  work  of  art  partakes  somewhat  of  the  person- 
ality of  its  creator,  how  much  more  true  must  this  be  of 
the  dramatic  art,  in  which  creator  and  creature  are  one  ? 
Eckhof  never  thought  of  dissociating  the  man  from  the 
artist,  and  the  artist  from  his  work.  Thoroughly  con- 
scientious, he  was  persuaded  that  to  be  able  to  take  a 
noble  part,  the  actor  must  be  noble  in  himself ;  he  must 
be  able  to  feel  the  sentiments  put  into  his  mouth;  he 
must  be  virtuous  and  generous  himself,  or  he  cannot 
appreciate  virtuous  and  generous  characters.  A  man  may 
be  many-sided,  and  able  to  catch  and  caricature  the  in- 
firmities of  his  fellows  in  their  many  varieties,  but  unless 
the  light  of  purity  of  purpose  burns  in  his  heart,  he 
cannot  catch  and  copy  the  beauties  of  good  lives  equally 
varied.  So  possessed  was  he  with  this  idea,  that  for  a 
quarter  of  a  year  he  lectured,  in  the  dramatic  academy  he 
had  founded,  on  the  necessity  of  the  actor  leading  a  high 
and  moral  life,  to  enable  him  to  become  great  in  representa- 
tions of  noble  characters.  And  the  religious  sincerity  with 
which  he  pursued  his  art  made  him  carry  out  in  his  own 
life  the  morality  he  preached  on  the  stage,  and  conquer 
in  himself  the  passions  and  vices  he  denounced.  He  was 
a  devout  and  regular  attendant  at  church,  and  after  his 
death  many  sacred  poems  and  prayers  were  found  among 
his  papers. 

Well  has  it  been  said  of  him,  c  The  first  great  German 
actor  was  an  honourable  and  upright  man,  fearing  God,  in 
whom  could  not  be  detected  the  absence  of  a  single  quality 
which  is  thought  to  characterise  a  true  Christian  and  a 
good  citizen.'  For  thirty-eight  years  he  reigned  on  the 
German  stage,  long  enough  to  give  it  its  modern  direction. 

VOL.  II.  E 


50  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

The  last  role  he  played  was  that  of  the  ghost  of  Hamlet's 
father,  and  it  was  noticed  that  his  last  words  on  the  stage 
were,  *  Adieu,  adieu  !  remember  me.' 

The  Neuberinn  and  Eckhof,  the  founders  of  the  modern 
drama,  were  worthy  representatives  of  a  profession  which 
has  since  earned  for  itself  the  respect  and  gratitude  of  the 
German  people. 

From  this  period  the  history  of  the  drama  and  stage  is 
one  of  progress,  scarcely  interrupted.  Under  Schroder, 
Shakspeare  was  translated  and  performed,  and  became  a 
preponderating  influence.  Lessing,  Schiller,  Goethe  wrote. 
Wandering  companies  settled  down  in  the  principal 
towns;  and  in  1776,  under  Iffland  and  Baron  Herbert 
von  Dalberg,  the  first  attempt  was  made  to  organise  a 
dramatic  school  for  the  profession  at  Mannheim.  This 
remains  as  the  nursery  to  the  German  stage.  At  Mannheim, 
young  actors  and  actresses  receive  their  training  :  it  is 
a  school  for  music,  scene-painting,  mechanism,  costume — 
in  a  word,  for  everything  pertaining  to  the  dramatic  art. 

It  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  give  further  particulars  of 
its  growth.  The  little  streams  had  run  together  into  a 
great  river.  The  precarious  existence  of  a  disordered  youth 
had  acquired  vigour  and  gravity.  Let  us  now  look  at  the 
modern  German  stage. 

In  the  spring  of  1877,  I  was  at  Partenkirchen,  in  the 
Bavarian  Oberland.  Opposite  my  windows  was  a  little  inn 
occupied  by  a  company  of  strolling  players.  The  attic  of 
the  tavern  was  the  theatre.  Performance  began  at  6  P.M., 
with  the  director's  little  boy  going  round  the  town  with  a 
drum  rattling  the  roll-call.  Sight-seers  fell  in  behind 
the  drummer,  and  we  streamed  en  queue  up  the  stairs  into 
the  garret.  Eeserved  seats  were  sixpence,  back  seats  four- 
pence,  and  standing  places  one  penny.  The  loft  was 
crowded  to  suffocation.  An  observer  in  the  house  opposite 


The  Stage.  51 


insisted  he  saw  our  steam  visibly  issue  from  the  louvre  in 
the  roof.  Lasses  in  white  sleeves  and  laced  bodices, 
matrons  with  beaver  mitres,  jagers,  and  burgers,  and 
burschen  of  every  degree,  were  there  with  beaming  faces 
and  chattering  tongues.  The  proscenium  consisted  of 
newly  planed  deal  boards,  with  a  shield  of  paper  on  each 
side,  on  which  was  painted  a  bunch  of  gentians,  alpen- 
rosen,  and  edelweiss.  The  curtain  was  a  sheet  of  brown 
holland,  with  a  lyre  of  gilt  paper  pasted  in  the  centre. 

The  Partenkirchen  band  occupied  a  bench  against  the 
footlights,  and  performed  the  double  function  of  orchestra, 
and  easing  the  curtain  as  it  fell  or  rose,  so  as  not  to  knock 
over  the  chimneys  of  the  paraffin  lamps  that  served  as 
footlights.  The  violoncello-player  was  a  raw  hand,  that 
roamed  vaguely  with  the  bow  over  the  strings,  and  threw 
in  grunts  at  random.  The  chief  forester  then  came  to  the 
rescue,  and  from  the  reserve  seats  by  me,  prompted  the 
bass  with  his  stentorian  directions,  *  B — C — bah  Dumm- 
kopf !  F — Gr ! '  &c.  The  manager's  bell  had  tinkled,  and 
tongues  were  wagging,  when,  all  at  once,  from  the  Church 
tower  tolled  the  Angelus.  An  instantaneous  hush  fell  on 
the  audience.  The  orchestra  stopped.  Every  head  was 
uncovered.  It  was  still  in  the  theatre,  as  in  the  Church, 
at  the  Elevation.  Then  the  bell  ceased,  and  as  the 
tongues  broke  loose,  the  manager  repeated  his  signal,  and 
up  rose  the  brown-holland  curtain. 

The  scene  was  pretty,  if  the  proportions  were  not 
correct.  Alpine  peaks,  the  Zugspitz  with  its  glaciers,  and 
a  little  blue  lake,  the  Blaue  Grumpen,  at  its  foot.  On  the 
left  a  chalet  with  a  window,  from  which  a  Tyrolese  girl 
was  leaning  and  singing.  Presently  a  distant  jodel  is 
heard,  and  a  young  chamois-hunter  enters.  He  has  come 
to  the  Aim  to  see  his  Maidle  and  tell  her  that  he  has 
been  drawn  at  the  conscription  and  must  off  to  the  wars, 

B   2 


52  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

She  fears  for  him  :  he  scarce  believes  she  will  remain  true 
to  him.  Girls  are  giddy  and  love  pleasure.  How  will  she 
bear  it  to  be  without  a  Bua  to  jb'del  with  her  on 
Saturday  evenings  on  the  Aim,  and  to  attend  her  to  the 
dance  at  Kermesse  ?  They  part,  and  he  leaves  with  her 
his  hunter's  gun,  and  pouch,  and  hat,  adorned  with  the 
curved  feathers  of  the  Black  Grouse.  As  he  descends  the 
mountain-side  she  sings  to  him,  and  fainter  sound  his 
answering  calls ;  then  tears  choke  her  utterance,  and  the 
curtain  falls  on  her,  praying  that  her  Bua  may  be  preserved: 
in  battle. 

The  second  act  takes  place  inside  the  chalet  after  the 
lapse  of  three  years.  The  Sennerinn  is  engaged  churning,, 
and  she  sings  and  speaks  to  herself.  On  a  nail  hang  the  hat 
and  gun  and  bag  of  her  old  Schatz,  religiously  preserved. 
Presently  it  occurs  to  her  that  on  this  very  day  three 
years  ago,  her  lover  had  left  her  for  the  wars,  and  leaving 
her  churn,  she  goes  to  the  window,  and  leaning  and  looking 
wistfully  forth,  sings  her  old  song 

Auf  der  Aim,  auf  der  Aim,  ja  da  1st  a  Freud, 
Auf  der  Aim  da  1st  a  Leben. 

From  far  away  comes  the  refrain  jodeled  back  to  her. 
She  is  startled,  and  puts  her  hand  to  her  heart.  Presently 
her  lad  enters  in  uniform.  He  has  returned  invalided, 
and  discharged.  The  meeting  is  pathetic.  He  has  been 
wounded,  but  he  has  his  pension  and  his  iron  cross.  He 
has  been  true  to  her,  and  she  to  him.  There  hang  his  hat 
and  pouch  and  gun,  displaced  by  those  of  no  other  hunter. 
He  catches  them  from  the  nail,  and  shouldering  his  little 
bundle  retires.  Whilst  he  is  absent  her  full  heart  breaks 
out.  She  kneels,  and  lifting  her  grateful  hands  to  heaven, 
utters  a  glad  hymn  of  praise.  Whilst  thus  praying  he 
enters  behind  in  his  old  Tyrolean  costume.  But  he 


The  Stage.  53 


removes  his  hat,  and  stands  still  behind  her  with  folded 
hands.  Thanks  and  praise  for  happy  reunion  to  the 
source  whence  all  blessing  flows.  And  so  the  curtain  falls 
on  them.  What  could  have  been  simpler,  and  what  more 
touching  ?  Two  performers  only,  and  a  plot  without  a 
tangle;  a  drama  of  every  day.  Two  hearts  loving,  two 
hearts  parting,  confiding  each  other  to  Grod,  two  hearts 
meeting  and  uniting  in  the  love  of  Grod.  Perhaps  it  was 
due  to  the  sweet  simplicity  and  purity  of  the  whole  per- 
formance, as  much  as  to  the  fact  that  several  of  the  airs 
in  it  came  back  to  me,  wafted  from  boyhood  from  the  lips 
of  my  mother,  that  I  was  more  affected  by  this  little  play 
in  a  tavern  attic  than  by  anything  I  have  seen  on  the  best 
stage,  always  excepting  Jenny  Lee's  incomparable  '  Jo.' 

On  another  occasion  we  had  'Ida  of  Tannenburg, 
or  Filial  Affection,'  for  children,  wherein,  as  a  final 
spectacle,  the  whole  company  appeared  in  a  red  blaze  of 
strontian  fire,  repeating  in  unison,  ( Honour  thy  father 
and  mother,  that  thy  days  may  be  long  in  the  land  which 
the  Lord  thy  Grod  giveth  thee.'  During  my  stay  at 
Partenkirchen,  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  Herr  Director 
Stobe  and  his  wife  the  Frau  Directorinn.  He  and  I 
climbed  some  of  the  peaks  together,  and  he  gathered  on 
the  Krottenkopf  the  first  Alpenrosen  of  the  year  for  her. 
She  was  gentle  and  lady-like,  engrossed  in  her  children. 
The  rest  of  the  company  consisted  of  a  stout  Frau 
Hoffmann,  who  leaned  out  of  her  window  the  greater  part 
of  the  day  in  deshabille,  with  her  head  in  an  infinity  of 
little  curl-papers,  as  though  it  were  the  pasturage  of 
countless  small  snails — smoking  a  long  Grerman  pipe  with 
a  death's-head  and  cross-bones  painted  on  the  bowl;  a 
first  lady,  a  Fraulein  Seichel,  who  smoked  cigarettes ;  her 
mother,  with  a  blind  eye,  who  acted  the  countess  and  royal 
parts ;  and  a  grandmother,  in  peasant  costume,  who  was 


54  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

prompter  ;  also  two  young  men — one  a  student  of  juris- 
prudence of  Tubingen,  the  other  a  candidate  of  Evange- 
lical theology  at  Heidelberg — who  were  trying  the  stage 
and  their  chances  with  the  fair  Seichel,  before  committing 
themselves  irrevocably  to  the  bar  or  the  pulpit. 

But  what  a  change  to  the  strolling  companies  of  a 
century  ago !  What  a  difference  in  dramatic  perform- 
ance ! 

There  are  now  very  nearly  3,000  professionals  in 
Germany,  exclusive  of  chorus  in  the  opera  and  walking 
parties  in  a  drama ;  exclusive  also  of  all  strolling  com- 
panies, whose  numbers  are  not  given  in  the  '  Deutscher 
Biihnen-Almanach.'  In  Germany  and  Austria  there  are 
235  theatres — indeed  there  is  not  a  little  town  without 
one ;  but  the  season  at  each  is  not  the  same ;  and  one 
company  will  play  alternate  nights  at  two  theatres  in 
places  not  very  distant  from  one  another. 

At  Aachen,  for  instance,  the  opera  season  is  in  the 
summer.  A  travelling  company  plays  at  the  principal 
provincial  towns  in  Westphalia.  The  company  in  the 
Stadt  Theatre  at  Hamburg  performs  also  in  Altona  during 
the  season.  The  same  company  plays  at  Karlsruhe  in  the 
winter,  and  at  Baden-Baden  in  summer.  One  company 
performs  on  alternate  nights  at  Niirnberg  and  Bamberg. 
In  Berlin  there  are  twenty  theatres,  in  Potsdam  three,  in 
Hamburg  eight,  in  Munich,  with  a  population  of  170,000 
there  are  four.  Hanover,  with  a  population  of  76,000, 
has  two. 

Of  German  acting,  I  cannot  speak  in  very  high  terms  : 
it  is  wanting  in  delicacy  and  finish.  German  dramatic 
genius  may  do  well  in  tragedy :  it  is  quite  in  its  element 
in  broad,  vulgar,  comedy,  but  it  is  entirely  incapable  of  at- 
taining to  the  ease  and  refinement  of  the  French  stage. 
Of  the  artists  I  am  glad  to  bring  a  better  report.  They 


The  Stage.  55 


are  quiet,  respectable,  educated  persons,  very  often  sur- 
passing in  polish  the  best  society  in  the  town  where  they 
live  ;  they  rarely  forfeit  the  regard  of  the  public  by  irregu- 
larities in  their  private  conduct.  It  is  not  uncommon  for 
an  actor  or  actress  to  remain  for  many  years  established 
as  a  favourite  in  a  town,  and  the  artist  has  access  to  all 
but  the  most  exclusive  society,  is  made  much  of,  and  a 
kindly  mutual  attachment  grows  up  between  him  or  her 
and  the  public.  Should  the  artist  leave,  there  is  a  fare- 
well at  the  railway-station,  at  which  troops  of  those  who 
have  applauded  from  pit  and  box  attend  ;  and  the  separa- 
tion is  sometimes  not  unaccompanied  with  tears.  A 
kindly,  amiable  folk — of  course,  having  their  little  rivalries 
and  quarrels,  but  forming  warm  friendships,  and — curiously 
enough,  the  class  most  domesticated  of  all.  A  Grerman 
householder  lives  at  his  club,  his  Bierbrauerei,  or  his  tavern. 
He  is  never  at  home  with  his  wife  and  daughters,  but  for 
bed  and  dinner.  But  it  is  not  so  with  the  actor.  He  is 
too  migratory  a  bird  to  belong  to  any  club,  to  become  an 
ancient  at  a  brewery :  consequently,  he  is  driven  to  live  at 
home.  He  spends  his  time  with  his  wife ;  and  at  his 
home  holds  his  merry  gatherings  of  fellow-artists  with  their 
wives. 

I  remember  sitting  in  the  second  loge  one  evening, 
beside  the  wife  of  a  very  wretched  actor — a  poor  tenor, 
who  was  murdering  the  part  of  Oberon  in  Weber's  opera. 
She,  not  supposing  that  I  knew  who  she  was,  became  most 
confidential  on  the  excellencies  of  the  performer.  She 
pointed  out  beauties  in  his  acting  which  no  one  else  saw, 
sweetness  in  notes  which  were  pleasant  to  her  ear  alone, 
and  applauded  vociferously  when  the  parterre  hissed. 
Poor  woman !  with  trembling  hands  she  leaned  forward, 
and  flung  a  wreath  upon  the  stage  at  his  feet.  A  roar  of 
laughter  was  provoked,  and  the  actor's  eyes  filled,  but  he 


56  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

looked  up,  caught  his  wife's  eye,  and  smiled.  Was  it  a 
crime  against  art  that  I  ever  after  gave  poor  Oberon  the 
loudest  applause  I  could  evoke  with  palms  and  the  ferule 
of  my  umbrella  ?  Behind  my  house  was  a  nursery,  and 
from  the  loquacious  old  gardener  I  had  the  secret  history 
of  many  of  the  bouquets  that  were  showered  on  the  actresses 
and  singers.  Every  time  the  prima  donna  sang,  there 
fell  at  her  feet  a  nosegay  from  her  husband.  It  was  as- 
tonishing how  many  bouquets  were  given  to  the  firemen 
to  be  cast  on  the  stage  by  actresses  in  kindly  encourage- 
ment to  one  another.  On  one  occasion,  when  a  soubrette 
had  met  with  unmerited  want  of  recognition  after  a  trying 
part,  newly  read,  a  shower  of  nosegays  fell  about  her,  and 
every  one  had  been  purchased — and  at  a  time  when  flowers 
were  costly — by  her  companions. 

The  profession  is  one  that  pays  very  fairly. 

In  a  little  town  of,  say,  25,000  people,  the  first  tenor 
and  first  female  singers  will  get  900  marks  a  month,  each, 
say,  from  2001.  to  3001.  for  the  season.  The  principal  actors 
will,  however,  receive  only  500  marks  per  month,  or  1501. 
for  the  season.  During  the  other  six  months  they  may  be 
engaged  for  occasional  summer  performances.  This  is 
nothing  to  what  great  singers  and  actors  expect  in  England ; 
but,  then  with  us,  there  is  no  provincial  stage,  certainly 
no  opera. 

The  theatres  in  Grermany  are  either  managed  by  the 
court,  or  by  the  town,  or  belong  to  a  company,  or  are 
private  speculations.  Where  there  is  a  Residenz,  there  will 
be  a  court  theatre,  supported  by  Government.  Even  the 
little  courts,  as  Cassel,  Meiningen,  Sigmaringen,  &c.,  have 
their  theatres,  receiving  a  subvention  from  government. 
Where  there  are  no  princely  residences,  there  are  town- 
theatres,  partly  supported  by  the  Eath,  which  appoints  a 
commission  to  determine  the  programme  of  performances, 


The  Stage.  57 


attend  and  see  that  everything  is  conducted  with  decorum, 
and  choose  the  personnel  for  the  season  :  an  annual  grant  is 
made  to  the  theatre  by  the  town  from  its  funds.  For 
instance,  in  the  winter  of  1877-8,  the  Stadtrath  of  Frei- 
burg in  Baden  gave  a  subvention  of  18,000  marks  or  9001. 

That  is  a  little  town  of  nearly  25,000  inhabitants. 
Some  particulars  of  its  theatre  I  will  give,  as  an  illustration. 
In  1806,  by  the  peace  of  Pressburg,  Freiburg  was  made 
over  to  Baden.  It  had  previously  belonged  to  Austria. 
The  Baden  Government  at  once  suppressed  the  religious 
houses  in  the  town  :  among  them,  an  Augustinian  monas- 
tery ;  the  church  it  converted  into  a  theatre,  and  the  other 
buildings  to  various  purposes,  some  connected  with  the 
theatre,  some  not.  The  town  council  appoints  a  com- 
mission, composed  of  gentlemen  interested  in  literature 
and  art,  men  of  rank  in  the  town — the  Burgomaster,  the 
chief  judge  of  the  circuit,  the  principal  landed  noblemen 
living  in  Freiburg,  &c.,  and  they  are  wholly  responsible 
for  the  conduct  of  the  theatre.  They  appoint  the  per- 
formers, choose  the  plays  and  operas,  maintain  good  con- 
duct in  the  company,  audit  the  accounts,  &c.  There  is 
an  opera  company  as  well  as  a  dramatic  company  engaged 
for  the  season.  The  total  cost  of  the  theatre  for  the  year, 
is  4,500£. ;  but  the  season  is  only  from  October  1  to 
March  31.  Twice  a  week  there  are  operas,  and  twice  a 
week  plays,  dramas,  tragedies,  and  comedies. 

The  prices  charged  for  places  are  the  same  for  opera 
and  for  play  : — 

*.    d. 

Principal  boxes  (centre)        .        .        .        .        26 

»  (side)          ....        2    3 

Stalls  and  parterre  boxes       .        .        .        .        20 

Upper-tier  boxes 16 

Pit 12 

Gallery  (2nd  tier) 10 

Upper  gallery        ....  from  ±d.-Qd. 


58  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

When  the  theatre  is  full  in  every  part,  the  entire  take 
is  5Ql.  In  the  season  the  receipts  amount  to  3,500£.,  or, 
on  an  average,  35£.  a  night. 

Any  one  who  would  suppose  that  for  this  small  cost 
the  performance  would  be  poor,  and  the  mise-en-scene 
inferior,  would  be  greatly  mistaken.  For  instance,  I 
have  heard  '  Faust '  and  '  Lohengrin '  both  at  Drury  Lane 
and  at  Freiburg,  and  certainly  scenery  and  general  spectacle 
were  quite  equal  on  the  little  stage  to  that  in  the  English 
metropolis.  There  is  not  the  lavish  expenditure,  but 
there  is  taste  ;  the  scenery  and  dresses  are  used  again  and 
again  for  other  operas,  but  they  are  good.  Bale  has  a 
population  of  45,000  instead  of  25,000,  and  its  theatre  is 
in  no  way  superior.  The  opera  at  Geneva  is  in  every 
point  inferior.  The  winter  of  1877-78,  we  had  6  Der 
Freischiitz'  for  four  nights  at  Freiburg.  It  has  been 
recently  performed  at  Her  Majesty's,  where  I  heard  it,  and 
in  every  particular,  both  of  acting,  singing,  and  mise-en- 
scene,  chorus  excepted,  the  Freiburg  performance  was 
superior. 

The  performance  begins  at  7  P.  M.,  and  the  whole  thing 
is  over  about  9.  Nobody  goes  dressed.  Ladies  can  go 
without  an  escort.  Would  that  we  had  such  cheap,  whole- 
some amusements  in  every  provincial  town  in  England ! 
I  may  mention  here  a  few  instances  of  the  way  in  which 
the  stage  is  kept  healthy  in  tone.  On  one  occasion  last 
winter,  Madame  Emile  Grirardin's  '  Lady  Tartuffe '  was 
played.  Like  all  French  comedies  it  has  its  offensive 
points,  which  come  out  in  the  last  scene.  The  curtain 
fell  amidst  a  hurricane  of  hisses,  and  the  play  was  never 
repeated.  Strauss's  vulgar  '  Fledermaus '  was  put  on  the 
stage.  The  kissing  chorus  in  the  second  act  gave  such 
offence,  that  it  had  to  be  modified  on  reproduction.  In 
a  little  town  in  South  Grermany,  where  a  travelling  com- 


The  Stage.  59 


pany  was  performing,  one  evening  a  comedy  was  given> 
which  has  had  a  great  run  in  Berlin.  It  turns  on  the 
misadventures  of  a  Protestant  pastor,  who,  in  company 
with  a  doubtful  lady,  that  has  attached  herself  to  him 
in  the  street,  goes  into  a  restaurant  of  bad  repute,  and 
there  meets  the  Minister  of  Public  Worship. 

The  little  town  where  this  was  performed  was  Catholic^ 
and  the  theatre  was  crammed.  But  the  piece  caused  such 
universal  indignation,  that,  on  the  next  performance  of 
the  company,  there  were  only  six  persons  present.  Berlin 
is  by  no  means  squeamish.  As  Wagner's  '  Tristan '  is 
performed  at  the  Imperial  Opera  House  there,  it  is  un- 
endurable by  any  decently  minded  person.  The  ladies  of 
neither  the  upper  nor  burger  classes  in  the  Prussian  capital 
have  a  fine  perception  of  what  is  decent,  and  what  is  unfit 
for  presentation ;  but  this  is  not  the  case  in  the  South  of 
Grermany,  where  a  higher  tone  prevails.  What  will  make 
a  Saxon  or  a  Prussian  laugh  will  make  a  Bavarian  or  a 
Badenserinn  blush. 

I  wish  that  our  playwrights,  instead  of  drawing  so 
liberally  upon  French  sources,  would  turn  to  German. 
They  would  find  there  abundant  and  wholesome  material. 
The  comedies  and  farces  are  rich  in  fun,  and  most  nu- 
merous. Nothing  can  be  better  than  Mosen's  '  Stiftungs- 
fest,'  '  Hektor,'  and  '  Veilchenfresser ; '  Topfer's  '  Eosen- 
miiller  u.  Finke,'  Miiller's  '  Im  Wartesalon  I.  Classe ;  * 
Putlitz'  '  Schwert  des  Damokles ; '  Benedix'  '  Die  Ban- 
ditten ; '  «  Hundert  Tausend  Thaler,' '  Mamsell  Uebermuth,' 
and  a  hundred  more. 

Dramas  are  less  easily  adapted.  'Das  Anna-Lise,' 
'  Zopf  u.  Schwerdt,'  '  Die  Frau  Professorinn,'  and  many 
others,  are  charming.  There  is  one  little  piece,  I  think, 
might  well  find  favour  on  a  London  stage.  I  should  like 
to  see  it  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bancroft  at  the 


60  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

Prince  of  Wales'.  I  aUude  to  the  « Adelaide '  of  Hugo 
Miiller — a  sketch  from  the  life  of  Beethoven,  when  deaf- 
ness was  creeping  over  him,  a  prey  to  his  unsympathetic 
landlady  worrying  the  old  man  about  his  accounts,  but 
attended  by  her  daughter,  whose  clear  girl's  voice  penetrates 
his  dull  ears.  In  youth  Beethoven  had  loved  an  Adelaide, 
who  was,  however,  forced  by  her  parents  to  marry  an 
Italian  count.  As  Beethoven  is  lying  down  in  the  after- 
noon in  an  adjoining  room,  a  lady  in  mourning  arrives : 
Lachner,  the  pupil  of  the  great  musician,  is  then  singing 
*  Adelaide,'  a  song  composed  by  Beethoven,  whilst  the 
girl  Clarchen  accompanies  him  on  the  piano.  This  is  the 
original  Adelaide,  now  a  widow,  come  to  offer  herself  and 
fortune  to  the  composer.  The  interview  with  the  aged 
man,  the  recognition  of  his  old  love,  his  straining  to  catch 
her  voice,  and  finding  it  in  vain,  and  then  his  refusal  of 
her  offer,  forms  one  of  the  most  powerful  scenes  of  refined 
pathos  that  an  actor  of  ability  would  desire  to  study. 

But  the  drama  has  not  as  yet,  in  Germany,  obtained  a 
firm  footing.  Shakspeare  is  more  acted  on  the  stages  in 
Fatherland  than  in  England.  Schiller's  plays  are  in- 
sufferably tedious  ;  Groethe's  '  Egmont '  intolerable.  We 
live  in  a  transition  period,  when  forms  and  fashions  and 
ideas  are  in  a  state  of  flux.  There  is  much  freedom, 
but  not  independence,  much  culture,  little  originality. 
Every  art  exhibits  want  of  earnestness  in  its  professors. 
The  modern  drama,  like  modern  architecture,  is  full  of 
prettinesses,  but  is  without  character,  is  imitative  and 
not  original,  and  where  original,  monstrous  or  grotesque. 
We  may  take  Charlotte  Birch  Pfeiffer  as  the  representa- 
tive of  the  modern  drama.  '  Mutter  Birch '  was  a  genial, 
kindly  writer.  '  What  I  have  written,'  she  says  of  herself, 
'  I  have  always  written  from  a  full  heart.'  Ever  healthy 
in  tone,  never  commonplace  in  diction,  spirited  in  action, 


The  Stage.  61 


ripe  in  interest,  her  dramas  have  long  been  favourites  with 
the  public.  Some  of  her  works  can  never  die.  The 
6  Goldbauer  '  is  as  perfect  in  its  delineation  of  character 
as  it  is  spirited  in  the  conduct  of  action.  If  the  English 
public  could  be  induced  to  listen  to,  and  take  interest  in 
a  melodrama,  which  is  laid  in  Tyrol  and  not  in  Ireland, 
then  the  *  Groldbauer '  is  the  piece  for  the  Adelphi.  But 
Birch  Pfeiffer  could  never  soar  to  be  a  leader  of  taste,  she 
was  forced  to  follow  the  fashion  and  not  to  guide  it.  She 
has  herself,  in  her  kindly  sarcastic  way,  shown  how  a 
dramatist  must  accommodate  himself  to  passing  humour, 
in  her  farce  '  How  to  fill  a  House.'  It  is  this  which 
makes  Birch  Pfeiffer  a  typical  example  of  the  infirmity  of 
purpose  of  the  modern  drama. 

During  forty  years  she  went  hand  in  hand  with  every 
changing  fancy  of  the  day,  turning  from  one  style  to 
another,  as  an  architect  designs  a  house  or  town  hall 
according  to  the  rage  of  the  moment.  The  romantic 
school  reigned  from  1 820-30,  led  by  Fouque  and  Tieck. 
Then  Birch  Pfeiffer  wrote  '  Walpurgisnacht,'  'Eobert 
the  Devil,'  <  Schloss  Greifenstein,' 1  '  The  Bell-Einger  of 
Notre  Dame,'  c  Hinko  the  Freebooter,'  and  '  Heimer  the 
Body-Snatcher.'  But  then  the  recoil  after  the  Polish  and 
French  Revolution  began  in  Germany,  manifest  in  a 
noisy  anti-Gallic  bluster  and  exaltation  of  Teutonism. 
Birch  Pfeiffer  wrote  'Carl  the  Great  before  Pavia,' 
4  Johannes  Gutenberg,'  'Ulric  Zwingle's  Death.'  The 
public  applauded  the  representative  heroes  of  Germanism. 
It  was  grateful  to  the  authoress  for  sparing  it  the  trouble 
of  doing  that  which  these  heroes  professed.  It  streamed 
out  of  the  theatre  thinking  it  had  done  great  things  for 
Fatherland  in  applauding  the  patriotic  utterances  of  its 
Teutonic  ideals.  Then  the  fit  passed.  The  palate  of  the 

1  All  the  first  part  is  a  mere  recasting  of  the  libretto  of  Xhvrywitlie. 


62  Germany ',  Present  and  Past. 

public  was  satiated  with  mock  heroes ;  it  asked  for  some- 
thing simple,  fresh  from  nature,  and  she  wrote  '  Stephan 
Laager,  the  Kope-Maker,'  and  '  Glazier  Toni.'  But  when 
these  country  scenes  no  longer  drew,  when  people,  tired  of 
curds  and  whey,  returned  to  oysters  and  champagne,  then 
she  gave  them  the  good  biirgerish  drama,  '  Night  and 
Morning,' l  '  Mother  and  Son,'  4  One  Family.'  But  this 
fashion  did  not  last  long.  There  was  something  dull  and 
drab  in  colour  about  citizen  life,  fit  material  for  comedy, 
not  for  melodrama.  The  itch  for  the  tinsel  of  baroque 
returned,  and  to  please  a  blase  public,  she  wrote  *  The 
Marquise  de  Vilette,' 2  '  Anne  of  Austria,'  <  Ein  Billet.' 
But  these  gay  pictures  and  glimpses  of  gilded  life  pleased 
but  a  short  time  a  public  which  had  been  too  recently 
oppressed  to  support  it  in  its  extravagance.  Kevolution 
was  simmering  in  the  witch  cauldron  of  the  future.  The 
revolt  of  1848  burst  upon  Germany,  which  led  to  the 
destruction  of  the  aristocracy.  To  the  cry  of  '  Away  with 
the  Ministry  ! '  '  Down  with  the  nobility  ! '  'An  end  of 
privilege ! '  Birch  Pfeiffer  composed  the  absurd  drama, c  Der 
Pfarrer,'  in  which  a  countess,  fired  with*Kadical  views, 
renounces  her  rank,  privileges,  place  at  court,  that  she  may 
marry  a  Lutheran  pastor,  with  a  dunghill  at  his  back-door. 
The  public  applauded  uproariously  the  disgrace  of  the 
minister,  and  renunciation  of  noble  prerogative.  But  re- 
action followed.  German  society  thought  it  had  been  a 
little  precipitate  in  blotting  its  gentry  out  of  its  account- 
book,  and  a  sentimental  sighing  over  the  disabled  estate 
arose.  So  Birch  Pfeiffer  wrote  her  '  Magdala,'  and  c  Im 
Wald,'  full  of  daring  innocence,  purse-proud  shopkeepers, 
arrogant  bauers,  and  dignified,  suffering  aristocrats. 

1  An  adaptation  of  Bulwer  Lytton's  novel. 

2  A  very  graceful  play,  charming  on  the  stage  for  its  picture  s  as 
well  as  situations. 


The  Stage.  63 


As  a  representative  of  the  sensational  dramatic  com- 
poser, Heinrich  Laube  occupies  a  higher  place.  But  in 
spite  of  artistic  intention,  and  great  genius,  he  is  but  Birch 
Pfeiffer  on  a  grander  scale.  Effect  is  the  one  thing  for 
which  he  strives.  He  is  brilliant,  interesting,  but  not 
poetical.  Somewhat  earlier,  Halm  represented  the  lyric 
drama.  Halm  (Baron  Eligius  von  Miinch-Bellinghausen) 
died  in  1870,  but  he  began  to  write  in  1834.  His 
'  Grriseldis  '  and  '  Ein  Sohn  der  Wildniss,'  &c.  maintain 
their  places  on  the  German  stage.  But  he  is  a  poet  who 
veils  the  void  of  ideas  with  smooth  iambics.  There  is 
nothing  in  his  plays  to  make  them  live.  Between  Laube 
and  Halm  stand  Putlitz  and  von  Kedwitz.  '  Das  Testa- 
ment der  grossen  Kurfiirsten '  of  the  former,  and 
6  Philippine  Welser '  by  the  latter,  are  accepted  favourites  : 
they  unite  force  of  situation  to  dignity  of  diction.  4  Ein 
Arzt  von  Grranada,'  showed  that  Brachvogel  was  a  true 
dramatic  poet.  In  '  Narcissus  '  he  proved  his  powers  as  a 
sensationalist.  Unfortunately  the  demand  for  sensa- 
tionalism at  all  cost  has  produced  a  deteriorating  effect 
on  even  Mosenthal,  the  gifted  author  of  '  Deborah.'  Paul 
Lindau  represents  the  modern  middle-class  drama.  Michael 
Bar's  '  Hundsee '  deserves  mention.  More  numerous  are 
the  writers  of  comedies.  I  have  mentioned  some. 
Wichert,  Hacklander,  Bauernfeld,  are  the  names  of  other 
writers.  Benedix  is  a  healthy  and  brilliant  author.  He 
strives  to  amuse,  but  always  keeps  a  good  purpose  in  view. 
He  has  some  better  object  at  heart  than  merely  filling 
the  house  and  setting  it  in  a  roar. 

In  the  comedies  and  dramas  of  the  first  half  of  this 
century  the  prince  solved  every  entanglement  in  the  plot. 
Of  course  the  lovers  must  be  made  happy  ;  and  the  prince 
appeared  as  the  '  Deus  ex  machina,'  flung  aside  his 
incognito,  unbuttoned  his  great  coat,  displayed  his  order, 


64  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

and  the  lovers  rushed  into  each  other's  arms.  But  media- 
tisation  did  away  with  a  great  many  princes,  and  commer- 
cial enterprise  made  money  supreme.  The  prince  dis- 
appeared from  the  stage,  and  his  place  was  taken  by  the 
uncle  from  America.  He  pulls  bags  of  dollars  out  of  his 
pocket,  notes  from  his  book,  difficulties  disappear  before 
hard  cash,  and  the  lovers  are  made  happy.  Then  came 
the  political  convulsions  of  '48.  The  romantic  school 
arose.  The  American  uncle  became  antiquated.  The 
rope-ladder  formed  a  road  to  the  hymeneal  altar.  Modern 
chemistry  discovered  the  poisonous  qualities  of  carbonic 
acid.  The  lovers  work  on  the  fears  of  the  parents  by 
threatening  to  commit  suicide  by  means  of  charcoal  and  a 
cooking  stove.  The  hard-hearted  parent  gives  his  blessing, 
and  the  young  people  are  made  happy.  But  there  is 
something  rude  in  this  method.  It  manifests  no  invention, 
and  is  liable  to  pall.  Consequently  the  new  school  of 
dramatists  have  had  recourse  to  other  methods.  Listening 
at  doors,  peeping  into  letters,  tampering  with  confidential 
servants,  deception,  equivocation — such  are  the  choice 
methods  of  circumventing  obstructions.  But  the  lovers 
must  be  made  happy  in  each  other's  arms ;  what  does  it 
matter  how  this  result  is  brought  about  ? 

There  is  a  difference  between  the  Berlin  and  the 
Viennese  comedy  which  deserves  notice.  The  fun  in 
favour  at  Berlin  is  that  of  persiflage,  at  Vienna  of  genial 
mirth.  The  former  is  the  laughter  of  the  blase  man  of 
the  world,  who  believes  in  nothing,  neither  in  religion  nor 
honour  and  virtue  in  woman  or  man,  holding  that  of 
honesty 

There's  not  a  grain  of  it,  the  face  to  sweeten 

Of  the  whole  dungy  earth. 

Viennese  humour  is  the  boisterous  merriment  of  sunny 
youth,  of  the  student  and  the  recruit,  romp  and  rollick, 


The  Stage.  65 


genial  and  careless.  Berlin  wit  is  purposeful,  Viennese 
purposeless.  The  former  is  stinging,  wounding,  the  latter 
innocent  and  guileless.  The  former  is  witty,  the  latter 
humorous.  The  first  has  in  it  thought,  the  latter  poetry. 

If  there  are  no  great  modern  tragedians,  there  are  many 
who  are  pleasing.  Of  these  Felix  Dahn  deserves  notice :  he 
is  an  historian,  and  his  dramas  are  written  with  political 
purpose.  '  Konig  Koderick,'  which  appeared  in  1874,  repre- 
sents the  battle  of  the  State  against  the  Church ;  '  Deutsche 
Treue'  (1875),  the  triumph  of  the  idea  of  Imperial  unity 
over  German  particularism.  In  1 8 1 6  appeared  Grillparzer's 
'  Ahnfrau,'  which  at  once  stamped  the  author  as  a  genius 
and  a  great  dramatic  writer.  It  was  a  strange  weird  play 
of  fatalism  and  supernatural  elements.  The  high  order 
of  the  poetry,  and  the  ability  with  which  exciting  situa- 
tions were  worked  up,  made  the  play  very  popular. 
Unfortunately  Grillparzer  next  adopted  classic  subjects, 
'Sappho,'  'The  Golden  Fleece,'  'Medea,'  &c.,  in  which 
modern  sentimentality  and  lyrical  pathos  in  an  antique 
setting  somewhat  jar  on  the  taste.  His  finest  production 
was  'The  Fortune  and  Fall  of  King  Ottocar'  (1825). 
Though  wanting  in  strongly  drawn  historical  characters, 
the  drama  is  full  of  merit  and  power. 

Prince  George  of  Prussia  wrote  under  the  name  of 
Conrad,  but  his  tragedies  have  little  merit.  Hebbel 
deserves  a  word.  His  tragedies  are  works  of  art,  and  the 
offspring  of  genius,  but  revolting  and  demoniacal.  He  is  by 
far  the  greatest  dramatic  writer  of  modern  times,  but  also  the 
most  unfortunate.  'Judith'  appeared  in  1841;  'Genoveva' 
in  1 843  ;  '  Maria  Magdalena,'  a  tragedy  of  common  life,  in 
1 844.  A  second  series  is  composed  of  '  Herod  and 
Mariamne,'  '  Julia,' '  Michael  Angelo,'  '  Agnes  Bernauer,' 
and  'Gryges  and  his  King.'  His  last  piece  was  'The 
Nibelungen,'  1862.  His  tragedies  as  they  succeeded  one 

VOL.    II.  F 


66  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

another  seemed  to  grow  in  power,  but  also  in  offensiveness. 
As  he  wrote  he  became  bolder,  but  also  more  horrible  and 
capricious.  His  moral  pathos  is  that  of  a  Danton  or 
Kobespierre. 

Mosen's  dramas  are  overweighted  with  the  lyrical 
element :  there  is  too  great  play  of  diction,  too  little 
articulation  of  character,  too  much  subjectivity,  to  make 
them  successful  on  the  stage.  But  the  charm  of  poetic 
beauty,  pure  feeling,  and  noble  purpose,  is  there,  elevating 
them  above  mediocrity.  One  alone  holds  a  place  on  the 
stage,  <  Otto  III.'  But  the  best  tragedy  after  Schiller  and 
Goethe  is  '  Uriel  Acosta  '  by  von  Grutzkow,  a  most  fertile 
and  versatile  writer.  Two  of  the  best  modern  comedies 
are  also  by  him,  '  Zopf  und  Schwerdt '  and  c  Das  Urbild  des 
Tartuffe.' 


Mzisic.  67 


CHAPTEE   XII. 

MUSIC. 

Ich  glaube  an  Gott,  Mozart  und  Beethoven. 

KICHARD  WAGNER. 

THE  year  1590  was  an  eventful  one  in  the  history  of  music. 
In  the  palace  of  Giovanni  Bardi,  Count  of  Vernio,  at 
Florence,  was  gathered  a  select  circle  of  antiquaries. 
Gothic  art  was  dying,  the  Kenaissance  was  in  flower. 
The  ties  by  which  men  were  held  by  the  Church  were  re- 
laxed. Even  Christianity  had  to  put  on  the  attributes 
of  paganism  to  claim  a  hearing.  Architecture,  sculpture, 
painting,  the  handmaids  of  religion,  dropped  their  cum- 
brous Gothic  drapery  and  affected  the  nude.  The  per- 
pendicular gave  way  to  the  horizontal,  the  spiritual  to  the 
material,  the  world  to  come  was  forgotten  in  the  glories 
of  the  world  that  is.  Of  all  the  arts,  music  alone  remained 
ecclesiastical.  The  minstrel  sang  his  warm  verses  in  a  cold 
Gregorian  mode,  and  a  pot-house  lay  was  intoned  to  an 
air  only  nicely  to  be  discriminated  from  the  Ambrosian 
'  Te  Deum.'  Polyphony  had  been  eagerly  adopted  by  the 
Church,  and  the  Tridentine  Council  had  canonised  it  in 
the  Masses  of  Palestrina.  The  world  might  use  it  for 
madrigals,  but  not  for  the  stage.  It  was  too  cumbrous 
for  passionate  declamations,  and  a  chorus  was  thought  too 
like  a  church  choir  to  seem  in  place  on  the  boards. 

In  1590,  the  antiquaries  collected  in  the  halls  of  Count 

F  2 


68  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

Bardi  discussed  the  regeneration  of  classic  music.  Archi- 
tecture, sculpture,  and  painting  had  been  regenerated  on 
classic  lines,  why  not  music  also  ?  The  old  heathen  drama 
was  revived  in  opposition  to  the  ecclesiastical  mystery,  but 
it  was  without  its  proper  music.  That  Church  music  was 
not  suited  to  the  stage  was  admitted  by  all,  but  how  was 
the  music  of  the  ancients  to  be  recovered  when  no  traces 
of  it  remained  ?  Clearly,  the  only  thing  to  be  done  was 
for  musicians  to  saturate  their  spirits  with  classicism,  and 
then  trust  to  its  expressing  itself  in  proper  strains.  Giulio 
Komano  (Griulio  Laccini)  wrote  a  book, c  Le  Nuove  Musiche,' 
which  became  the  theoretic  gospel  of  the  new  movement. 
He  illustrated  his  theories  with  numerous  examples.  Be- 
side him  worked  the  composer  Vincenzo  Gralilei,  the  father 
of  the  famous  astronomer,  and  Jaccopo  Peri.  The  poet  of 
the  confederation  was  Rinuccini.  Between  them  an  opera 
was  composed,  c  Eurydice,'  an  epoch-making  work.  It 
had  been  preceded  by  '  Dame,'  by  the  same  librettist  and 
composers,  in  1597,  but  the  circumstances  were  not  as 
propitious  to  its  success  as  those  in  1600.  The  'Eurydice' 
appeared  at  the  marriage  of  Henry  IV.  of  France  with 
Maria  de'  Medici.  It  created  great  excitement,  and  was 
carried  to  France  and  Germany,  and  performed  throughout 
Italy.  The  idea  lying  at  the  bottom  of  the  *  Eurydice ' 
was,  as  already  said,  a  revival  of  the  ancient  drama.  No 
one  doubted  but  that  the  new  music  was  a  recovery  of  a 
lost  art,  just  as  in  more  recent  days  glass-painting  has 
been  regenerated  after  having  become  extinct.  There 
was  no  intention  in  the  composers  to  create  a  new  sort  of 
entertainment;  their  highest  ambition  was  to  reproduce 
classic  accessories.  As  modern  managers  seek  to  revive 
Shakspeare's  historic  plays  with  correct  details — archi- 
tectural, heraldic,  &c.,  so  did  these  antiquaries  seek  to 
revive  the  classic  drama  with  its  classic  music.  They 


Miisic.  69 


sought  to  purify  degenerate  modern  music,  as  they  had 
purified  architecture,  and  bring  it  back  to  the  perfection 
of  Greek  simplicity.  A  new  idea  had,  however,  sprung 
from  the  heads  of  these  pedants  without  their  being  aware 
of  the  fact.  The  old  Church  music  did  not  give  declama- 
tory expression  to  the  words.  The  same  strains  were  sung 
to  various  words  and  suited  all  alike.  The  melody  was 
repeated  with  each  verse,  but  the  new  music  was  subordi- 
nated to  the  words,  it  was  musica  parlante,  a  vehicle  for 
intensifying  the  effect  of  poetry,  and  there  was  no  repe- 
tition. 

The  significance  of  the  work  of  1597  and  1600  con- 
sists, not  in  the  production  of  positive  dramatic  music, 
but  in  converting  music  into  a  vehicle  for  the  expression 
of  emotion.  These  first  operas  were  almost  without 
chorus  and  harmony ;  they  consisted  of  musical  recitative, 
dry  and  tedious  ;  rich,  expressive  melody  was  not  yet 
born. 

In  1608  the  great  composer  Monteverde  joined  the 
movement,  set  Rinuccini's '  Arianna '  to  music,  and  it  was 
produced  at  Mantua.1  '  Dafne '  was  translated  into  Grer- 
man  by  Opitz,  and  set  to  music  in  1627  by  Heinrich 
Schiitz. 

In  the  meantime,  one  of  the  company  in  the  house  of 
Count  Bardi  had  struck  out  another  idea.  This  was  the 
Roman,  Emilio  del  Cavaliere.  He  had  worked  with  the 
rest,  and  composed  some  musical  pastorals,  which  had 
been  accorded  the  highest  praise — they  had  been  pro- 
nounced by  connoisseurs  entirely  antique.  Cavaliere  was 
a  man  of  religious  mind  and  devotional  habits.  He  felt, 
to  some  extent,  alienated  in  purpose  from  those  who 
sought  only  the  restoration  of  paganism  in  all  its  forms, 

1   He    composed  '  Orf eo '  in   1607,   'Proserpina   rapita '    in    1630, 
«  L'Adoni '  in  1639, « II  Ritorno  d'Ulysse  '  in  1642,  &c. 


70  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

moral   and   artistic,  and  when  he   settled   in  Kome  he 
carried   away   with   him,   indeed,    the   ambition   of    the 
Florentines  to  dramatise  music,  but  not  their  desire  to 
emancipate  it  from  the  Church.     They  sought  the  revival 
of  the  classic  drama,  he  that  of  the  Mystery  play.     Ac- 
cordingly he  wrote  a  religious  piece,  '  Dell'  Anima  e  del 
Corpore,'  which  was  produced  for  the  first  time  at  Kome 
in  the  very  year  in  which  the  6  Eurydice  '  was  brought  out 
at  Florence,  but  this  was  performed,  not  on  a  profane  stage, 
but  in  the  '  oratorio '  of  the  Church  della  Valicella.     From 
the  place  of  its  production  this  class  of  musical  composi- 
tion has  retained  the  name  of  Oratorio.     In  the  perform- 
ance of  these  first  operas  and  oratorios  the  orchestra  was 
of  little  importance.     The  instruments  were  used  to  in- 
tensify the  notes  of  the  singers,  and  the  recitative  was 
kept  in  tone  by  the  banging  of  a  clavicembalo.  Monteverde 
enlarged  the  orchestra,  brought  in  fresh  harmonies  un- 
allowed  by   strict   theoricians,   and   reduced    all  secular 
music  to  major  and  minor  keys.     There  were  now  two 
distinct  styles  of  music :  the  ecclesiastical,  rich  in  harmony 
and  massive  in  its  polyphony,  but  cold  and  solemn ;  and 
the  secular,  which  was  declamatory  and  contained  a  promise 
of  better  things  rather  than  giving  evidence  of  achieve- 
ment.    However,  there  were  plenty  of  musicians  eager  to 
join  the  new  movement,  and  bring  to  it  all  the  resources 
of  their  minds.     In  Venice  alone,  between  1637  and  1700, 
there  were  40  composers  at  work,  who  produced  357  operas. 
In  Bologna,  between  1641  and  1700,  there  were  30  com- 
posers.     Scarlatti,   the    Neapolitan,   was   the  man    who 
brought  melody  upon  the  stage.     He  wrote  200  masses, 
as   many  motetts   and  oratorios,  400  cantatas,  and   100 
operas.     He  was  a  remarkable  composer,  distinguishing 
sharply  between   the   music  of  the  Church   and  of  the 
theatre.  He  it  was  who  gave  the  air  its  accepted  triple  form, 


Miisic.  7 1 


and  laid  the  weight  of  the  orchestration  on  the  quartett  of 
stringed  instruments.  He  also  was  the  first  to  write  over 
tares  to  his  operas.  Scarlatti  had  as  his  pupil  Adolf 
Hasse,  born  in  1699  at  Hamburg,  who  lived  and  laboured 
from  the  time  of  Scarlatti  to  that  of  Mozart,  of  whom  he 
truly  prophesied,  *  This  lad  will  cast  us  all  into  oblivion.' 
Hasse  had  sung  as  tenor  on  the  Hamburg  stage  in  Italian 
operas,  under  Keiser,  when,  in  1724,  he  passed  into  Italy. 
At  Naples  he  became  Scarlatti's  favourite  pupil.  His 
compositions  gained  the  admiration  of  the  Italians,  and 
he  was  designated  '  il  caro  Sassone.'  In  Venice  he  made 
the  acquaintance  of  Faustina  Bordoni,  the  best  singer  of 
her  time,  who  became  his  wife.  In  1731,  he  was  sum- 
moned to  Dresden  to  take  the  direction  of  the  Italian 
opera.  For  forty  years  his  compositions  occupied  the 
principal  place  in  the  operatic  repertoires  of  Germany. 
His  influence  was  so  great  that  Gluck,  who  must  be  re- 
garded as  his  great  opponent,  wrote  a  series  of  operas  in 
Hasse's  style.  The  murderous  Thirty  Years'  war  (1618-48) 
had  left  the  German  nation  exhausted,  and  seeking  re- 
pose. Music  had  not  thriven  amid  the  discords  of  civil 
strife.  The  tradition  had  been  kept  alive  by  organists  in 
old  churches.  At  the  courts,  Italian  operatic  companies 
occupied  the  stages  and  sang  their  own  music.  With 
peace,  the  German  musicians  were  obliged  to  go  to  school  in 
Italy,  to  learn  the  principles  of  the  art  and  rub  off  some 
of  their  national  stiffness  and  pedantic  formalism ;  but 
they  did  not  lose  their  earnestness  of  purpose  and  origin- 
ality. These  men  formed  a  national  school  of  art,  whose 
fruit  was  Bach  and  Handel.  In  music  alone  after  1648 
was  there  German  spirit  and  national  character.  In 
politics  and  fashion,  in  literature,  and  every  other  branch 
of  art,  Germany  copied  France  and  Italy :  she  recovered 
her  self-consciousness  first  in  music.  Bach  and  Handel 


72  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

preceded  Goethe  and  Schiller ;  there  was  a  musical  patriot 
fighting  for  German  music  before  Lessing  wielded  his 
critical  sword. 

In  1678,  two  learned  men,  Gerhardt  Schott  and  Liitjens, 
united  with  a  musician,  Johann  Adam  Reinken,  to  found 
a  German  opera  in  Hamburg. 

The  attempt  was  the  reverse  of  that  at  Florence.  In 
Italy  the  librettists  sought  their  material  in  Greek  my- 
thology ;  in  Germany,  in  the  Bible.  The  first  operas  per- 
formed at  Hamburg  were  all  founded  on  Holy  Scripture 
or  ecclesiastical  history.  The  series  was  opened  with 
'  Adam  and  Eve,'  the  words  by  Richter,  the  music  by 
Theile ;  '  Michal  and  David,'  ( The  Maccabean  Mother,' 
1679;  'Esther,'  1680;  the 'Birth  of  Christ,' 1680;  'St. 
Eugenia,  or  the  Conversion  of  Alexandria,'  1688;  '  Cain  and 
Abel,'  &c.  followed.  The  attempt  succeeded.  The  matter 
was  homely — known  to  every  German  burger  and  bauer ;  the 
verses  were  German,  the  singers  German,  and  the  music  was 
German  also.  Oratorio,  opera,  tragedy  and  comedy  were 
rolled  together  into  one  lump,  or  rather,  let  me  say,  the 
various  classes  of  compositions  were  not  yet  drawn  out  and 
distinguished  from  one  another. 

But  before  long  the  Italian  opera  stepped  in,  and 
thrust  aside  these  rude  national  beginnings.  The  operas 
of  Scarlatti,  Leo,  and  Durante  monopolised  the  stage 
after  1693,  when  Reinhold  Keiser  became  manager.  This 
man  was  himself  no  inferior  composer.  He  wrote  120 
operas,  and  his  melodies  were  so  sweet,  fresh,  and  joyous, 
that  they  spread  through  Germany  and  France.  With 
him  worked  the  first  tenor,  Johann  Mattheson,  half 
charlatan,  half  serious.  He  wrote  '  Der  Musikalische 
Patriot,'  against  Italian  music.  He  died  in  1764,  in  the 
enjoyment  of  a  canonry  at  the  Dom,  a  provision  given  also 
to  Keiser.  Telemann  was  a  composer  somewhat  later. 


Miisic.  73 


He  wrote  40  operas  and  600  overtures,  as  well  as  44 
Passion-music  pieces.  At  that  time  Handel  was  second 
violinist  in  the  orchestra  of  the  Hamburg  theatre.  '  He 
is  strong  on  the  organ,  especially  in  fugues  and  counter- 
point, but  he  knows  little  of  melody,'  was  Mattheson's 
judgment  of  him.  Handel  wrote  the  opera  'Almira' 
for  the  Hamburg  stage,  and  the  success  it  achieved 
brought  on  him  the  envy  of  Mattheson,  whose  sword  would 
have  finished  the  course  of  the  great  composer  prematurely 
in  a  duel,  had  it  not  broken  on  a  button  of  Handel's  coat. 
Handel  then  wrote  two  more  operas,  'Nero'  and  'Florindo 
and  Daphne,'  but  left  Hamburg  without  waiting  to  learn 
the  result  of  their  production,  and  studied  in  Italy.  In 
1 707  he  composed  '  Eodrigo  '  for  the  Florentine  Opera 
House;  'Agrippina'  followed,  in  1708,  at  Venice;  in  the 
same  year,  at  Naples,  6  Acis  and  Gralathea.'  In  1709  he 
was  in  Eome,  and  was  so  struck  with  the  playing  of  the 
pifferari,  that  he  sketched  the  outline  of  the  pastoral 
symphony  which  he  afterwards  worked  into  the  '  Messiah.' 

His  residence  in  England  determined  the  character  of 
his  masterpieces.  He  abandoned  the  opera  for  the  oratorio, 
of  which  he  will  ever  remain  the  great  classic  master. 
However  beautiful  Mendelssohn's  '  St.  Paul '  and  '  Elijah ' 
may  be,  they  are  imitations  of  the  great  models  left  by 
Handel. 

If  the  oratorio  received  its  most  perfect  development 
from  Handel,  the  chorale  was  not  less  fortunate  with 
Bach.  His  sacred  compositions  were  sacred  compositions 
in  the  best  sense.  He  wrote  '  Jesu,  juva,'  at  the  head  of 
each  work,  and  at  the  end  '  Soli  Deo  gloria,'  and  he  truly 
wrote  and  laboured  to  the  glory  of  (rod  only.  He  laid  hold 
of  Christianity  in  its  positive  form ;  but  as  he  found  in  his 
religion  the  answer  to  the  yearnings  of  his  own  nature,  all 
his  Church  compositions  express  strong  individuality. 


74  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

This  explains  the  double  nature  of  Bach's  works,  the 
existence  of  vigorous  individuality  side  by  side  with  stiff 
formalism,  richest  subjectivity  along  with  vigorous 
objectivity. 

There  are  musical  creations  which  once  heard  are 
epochs  in  a  life,  as  there  are  scenes,  once  seen,  which 
vignette  chapters  in  the  inner  history.  I  shall  never 
forget  the  hearing  of  Bach's  c  Himmlische  Liebe '  at  a 
performance  by  a  German  '  Liedertafel.'  It  was  followed 
by  Mendelssohn's  '  St.  Paul.'  But  that  great  work  fell 
unheeded  on  the  ear,  the  soaring,  lark-like  song  of  Bach 
had  taken  entire  possession  of  the  soul,  and  left  no  room 
even  for  Mendelssohn. 

After  Handel,  the  best  known  names  of  Oratorio  com- 
posers are  :  Hasse,  who  wrote  a  'Te  Deum'  and  a  'Requiem ;  * 
Graun  (1701—1759),  whose  'Tod  Jesu'  is  sentimental  and 
laboured;  Eolle,  the  composer  of  a  c  Tod  Abels;'  Homilius, 
Doles,  Johann  Adam  Hiller,  Naumann  ('  Vater  unser ') 
and  Fasch.  The  works  of  these  masters  are  not  without 
merit  and  do  not  deserve  to  be  forgotten,  but  they  are  of 
no  great  importance. 

The  classics  of  humanism,  Haydn,  Mozart,  Beethoven, 
performed  great  things  in  Church  music,  but  they  carried 
their  secular  style  into  the  sanctuary  just  as  the  rococo 
artists  decorated  churches  with  the  ornaments  of  a  ball- 
room. 

Haydn's  '  Creation '  is  a  jubilant  hymn  in  praise  of 
the  beauty  of  the  world,  culminating  in  earthly  love. 
Mozart's  Masses  and  Requiem  are  the  music  of  the  theatre 
adapted  to  an  ecclesiastical  opera.  Beethoven's  Mass  in 
D  sharp,  from  a  musical  point  of  view,  is  the  Faust-like 
wrestling  of  the  mind  for  new  faith,  subjective  throughout, 
less  Churchlike  than  the  music  of  Haydn  and  Mozart. 
Their  successors  were  Stadler,  Eibler,  Thomaschek, 


Miisic.  75 


Schneider  ('  The  Last  Judgment ')  and  Klein :  good  musi- 
cians all ;  but  of  Church  composers  the  race  was  extinct. 
The  spirit  of  the  Keformation  had  evaporated :  the  bonds 
of  ecclesiasticism  were  broken.  Music  had  asserted  and 
obtained  an  independent  life. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  Italian  opera  was  an  affectation 
of  the  antique.  The  Italians  lived  in  the  midst  of  classic 
ruins  and  kept  alive  the  tradition  of  the  past.  The  classic 
tragedy  appealed  to  them  in  a  way  it  could  not  to  Ger- 
mans  or  French.  Yet  the  courts  favoured  the  Italian 
opera,  and  German  composers  wrote  for  classic  librettists. 
Graun  wrote  thirty  operas,  Naumann  nearly  as  many. 
Their  music  pleased,  and  was  praised  for  its  solidity, 
technical  perfection,  and  melodious  beauty  ;  but  the  drama, 
the  skeleton  they  clothed  with  flesh,  interested  no  one. 

The  sympathy  of  the  people  was  not  obtainable  by  the 
revival  of  mythological  stories  from  Greek  fables.  It  was 
caught  at  once  by  the  '  Singspiel,'  the  German  '  Opera 
comique.'  George  Benda,  after  gaining  applause  by  his 
6  Ariadne  in  Naxos '  and  '  Medea,'  suddenly  cast  himself 
into  the  popular  current,  and  composed  melodramas. 
Hiller,  a  cobbler's  son  (1728-1804),  a  pupil  of  Homilius, 
was  the  most  famous  representative  of  the  popular  Burger 
opera  as  opposed  to  the  classic  opera.  He  wrote  'Die 
Jagd,'  6  Der  Teufel  1st  los,' '  Der  Erndtekranz,'  '  Lottchen 
am  Hofe,'  &c.  Hiller  was  a  shy,  retiring,  morose  man, 
but  his  operas  overflow  with  joyous  melody,  making  them 
ever  popular  and  taking,  however  little  may  be  their 
actual  merit. 

French  operettas  were  produced  in  Hamburg  by  the 
French  company  under  Hammon,  and  in  Berlin  by  that 
under  Berge,  and  the  applause  gained,  as  well  as  the 
pecuniary  profits  reaped,  stimulated  Koch,  the  director,  to 
undertake  German  operettas.  Schonemann  had  brought 


76  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

out  'Der  Teufel  1st  los,'  but  without  much  success.  Koch 
got  the  poet  Weisse  to  retranslate  the  English  original, 
and  the  composer,  Standfuss,  to  recast  the  music  and  write 
orchestral  accompaniments.  The  first  production  of  this 
*  Singspiel '  was  on  October  6,  1752,  and  that  is  the 
date  of  the  revival  of  the  Grerman  opera.  The  opera  was 
alive  again,  in  a  modest  form  indeed,  as  a  comedy  adorned 
with  songs.  No  one  suspected  at  the  time  what  a  dan- 
gerous rival  to  the  drama  was  being  then  brought  into 
activity.  Schiebler's  '  Lisnart  und  Dariolette '  was  con- 
verted into  an  opera,  with  music  by  Hiller,  and  produced 
in  1766;  it  was  followed  by  'Lottchen  am  Hofe'  in  1767, 
and  by  'Die  Jagd '  in  1770.  The  lively  dialogue,  the 
bright  music,  and  the  charming  manner  and  voice  of 
Frl.  Steinbrecher,  who  sang  the  first  parts,  combined  to 
give  the  opera  great  popularity,  and  raise  a  passion  for 
it.  Nicolai  wrote  'The  Merry  Cobblers,'  C.  W.  Wolf 
'The  Village  Deputies,'  Neefe  and  Stegmann  also  com- 
posed in  Killer's  style. 

In  1768,  Gluck's  'Alcestis'  was  first  performed;  it 
was  afterwards  re -arranged  by  the  composer.  Although 
not  calculated  to  awake  much  sympathy  in  a  Grerman 
public,  its  merits  were  allowed. 

At  the  courts,  however,  only  Italian  operas  were  tole- 
rated. The  Duke  of  Wiirtemberg,  at  Stuttgart,  had  the 
most  magnificent  opera-house  and  choice  company  in 
Grermany,  under  the  director  Jomelli,  kept  up  with  lavish 
expenditure.  The  best  singers  drove  about  in  the  Duke's 
carriages,  and  received  daily  six  covers  from  the  ducal 
kitchen.  The  production  of  one  opera  alone,  '  Semiramis,' 
was  rewarded  with  presents  to  the  singers  to  the  amount  of 
15,000  gulden  from  the  ducal  treasury.  This  extravagance 
tended  to  make  the  Italian  opera  hateful,  at  least  to  the 
Swabians.  But  the  Grerman  comic  opera  found  its  true 


Music.  77 


home  in  the  imperial  city  on  the  banks  of  the  blue 
Danube.  There  vigorous,  excellent  Grerman  masters 
worked,  blending  French  esprit  with  Teutonic  earnestness. 
At  the  head  of  these  composers  must  be  reckoned  Carl  Ditter 
von  Dittersdorf  (1739-1797,— 'Doctor  und  Apotheker,' 
'Hieronymus  Knicker ')  and  Wenzel  Miiller  (1767-1835 
— '  Das  Sonntagskind,'  '  Die  Schwestern  von  Prag,'  &c.), 
Kauer  (1751-1835 — 'Donauweibchen')  and  Johann  Schenk 
(1761-1836— <Der  Dorfbarbier ').  It  was  in  these  domestic 
operas  that  Grerman  music  held  its  own  :  it  failed  in  rivalry 
with  Italy  in  the  classic  opera.  In  France  it  was  otherwise. 
Cardinal  Mazarin  in  1645  imported  the  Italian  opera  to 
Paris.  Whereas,  in  Italy,  the  musical  side  of  the  opera 
attracted  most  attention,  and  most  care  was  spent  on  its 
elaboration  and  development,  the  vivacity  of  the  French 
led  them  to  accentuate  the  dramatic  element.  The  French 
would  not  be  satisfied  with  an  opera  without  stirring  move- 
ment in  the  dramatic  composition.  In  Italy,  the  opera 
declined  to  a  mere  concert  in  costume ;  in  France,  poor 
music  was  forgiven  or  excused  if  the  dramatic  interest 
were  kept  awake. 

Jean  Baptist  Lully  (1633-1687),  a  scullion-boy  at  first, 
then,  by  means  of  many  intrigues,  director  of  the  theatre 
in  the  Palais  Royal,  met  this  demand  with  his  c  Tragedies 
Lyriques.'  In  Italy,  everything  had  been  sacrificed  to 
c  arias.'  Lully  restored  the  recitative,  Lully  transformed 
the  Italian  opera,  consisting  of  a  series  of  airs,  duetts,  and 
choruses,  into  the  French  declamatory  opera,  in  which 
these  features  sink  into  altogether  a  subordinate  place. 
The  drama  is  not  composed  for  the  airs,  but  the  airs  for 
the  drama. 

At  the  same  time  there  sprang  up  in  Paris  the  true 
national  genre,  the  only  one  in  which  the  French  have, 
till  quite  recently,  obtained  any  great  results.  Lully  had 


78  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

sacrificed  melody  to  the  demands  of  the  drama.  His  suc- 
cessor, Kameau  (1683-1764),  was  more  conspicuous  still 
for  his  indifference  to  the  'aria.'  Eecitative  began  to 
pall.  Remonstrances  were  heard :  amongst  others,  Jean 
Jacques  Rousseau  spoke  out.  Composers  wrote  comic 
operas,  operettas  full  of  melody  and  liveliness.  In  1752, 
the  artistic  society  in  Paris  was  torn  into  two  factions,  the 
6  Buffon '  and  the  '  Nationals.'  Lully's  style  was  pro- 
claimed by  the  former  intolerable,  by  the  latter  that  alone 
conformable  to  the  laws  and  reason  and  the  exigencies  of 
high  art. 

The  first  '  Buffonists '  were  Antoine  d'Auvergne,  Duni 
(1709-75),  Philidor  (1726-95),  Monsigny  (1729-1817— 
*  Le  Deserteur,'  '  Rose  et  Colas ').  In  place  of  dry  de- 
clamation came  lively,  delicate  dialogue,  instead  of  long 
recitative,  brilliant  melody,  and  for  stately  and  stiff 
movement,  short-skirted,  capering  grace.  The  greatest 
composers  in  the  Opera  comique  were  Gretry  (1741-1813), 
a  native  of  Liege,  who  had  studied  in  Italy,  and  Nicolas 
d'Isouard  (1777-1818).  If  this  style  abandoned  all  pre- 
tence to  seriousness  and  to  tragedy,  it  proved  the  flexibility 
of  music,  and  showed  that  it  was  not  in  the  heroic  drama 
any  more  than  in  the  church-hymn  that  excellence  was 
alone  to  be  achieved. 

The  feeling  for  the  grandeur  of  the  Greek  tragedy 
was  revived  among  the  French  by  something  other  than 
the  Italian  opera.  Their  poets,  Racine  and  Corneille, 
had  given  the  nation  dramas  cut  on  the  ancient  patterns. 
But  the  heroic  personages  of  these  writers  appealed  for 
music  to  give  them  life,  to  bring  them  out  of  the  phantom 
world  into  sympathy  with  flesh  and  blood.  The  idea  of 
reviving  the  antique  without  perruque,  and  of  realising  on 
a  higher  scale  the  ideal  of  the  Florentines,  flashed  on  the 
mind  of  a  German  —  Gluck;  but  it  was  France  which 


Music.  79 


understood  Mm,  and  gave  him  scope  for  the  realisation  of 
his  ideal ;  at  home,  he  would  have  been  denied  both. 

Christopher  Willibald,  Chevalier  von  Grluck,  was  born 
in  1714;  he  was  not  a  musician  by  profession.  He 
studied  in  Milan,  and  there,  in  1741,  wrote  his  first  opera, 
6  Artaxerxes,'  quite  after  the  Italian  school.  Then  he 
visited  Paris  and  London.  The  result  of  his  travels  and 
experience  was  a  conviction  that  the  opera  ought  to  be 
re-cast.  He  would  have  it  severe,  solemn,  majestic,  not 
all  recitative,  nor  all  melody,  but  recitative  and  melody 
combined  and  blended.  The  tragic  opera  was  too  dull, 
the  comic  opera  too  brilliant.  By  a  large  infusion  of 
white,  the  dulness  of  the  former  could  be  lightened,  and 
the  crudeness  of  the  latter  softened,  and  the  result  would 
be  harmonious.  He  wrote  '  Orpheus  and  Eurydice,' 
«  Alcestis '  (1767),  '  Paris  and  Helen '  (1769).1  The  Ger- 
man public  gave  faint  applause,  the  connoisseurs  expressed 
disapproval,  some  condemned  the  harmonies  as  poor  and 
thin,  others,  the  melodies  as  wanting  in  colour  and  warmth. 
Italian  musicians  found  that  his  compositions  were  not 
according  to  their  rules.  Grluck  turned  his  eyes  to  France. 
In  Paris,  in  1773,  he  wrote  his  '  Iphigenia  in  Aulis.' 
With  iron  persistency,  and  with  the  help  of  his  pupil,  the 
Dauphine  Marie  Antoinette,  he  overcame  all  opposition, 
and  the  piece  was  produced  on  April  19,  1774,  and  was 
received  with  enthusiastic  appreciation. 

This  was  followed  by  '  Iphigenia  in  Tauris.'  In  Ger- 
many he  was  not  understood.  The  musicians,  with  only 
a  few  honourable  exceptions,  cried  him  down.  Grluck's 
operas  were  Greek  tragedies.  The  music,  simple  and  re- 
strained, maintains  antique  gravity,  transparency,  and 
objectivity.  The  instrumentation  is  not  intricate.  Strings 

1  The  production  of  Gluck's  Iphigenia  in  Germany  cost  3,000  thalers ; 
his  New  Arcadians,  4,000  thalers. 


8o  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

are  principally  used,  but  wind  instruments  are  employed, 
though  sparely,  yet  with  striking  effect.  His  characters 
are  the  marble  statues  of  antiquity  endowed  with  life,  but 
scarce  with  colour.  His  music  has  the  polish  and  the 
beauty,  but  also  the  solidity  and  chill  of  marble. 

Joseph  Haydn  led  the  choir  of  the  classics  of  instru- 
mental music.  He  was  an  Austrian,  the  son  of  a  waggoner, 
born  in  1732.  His  father  played  the  harp,  and  attended 
the  village  dances,  or  accompanied  his  wife  as  she  sang 
the  peasant  Volkslieder  while  spinning  of  a  winter's  evening. 
The  first  musical  impressions  made  on  the  young  Haydn 
were,  therefore,  village  dance-music  and  popular  roun- 
delays. His  works  were  mostly  composed  as  director  of 
the  choir  of  Prince  Esterhazy.  He  died  in  1809,  after 
having  given  to  the  world  one  hundred  and  eighteen 
symphonies,  eighty-three  violin  quartetts,  sixty  sonatas, 
fourteen  operas,  five  marionette  operas,  five  oratorios,  forty- 
two  songs  and  duetts,  three  Masses,  and  countless  motetts, 
dances,  marches,  &c.  The  fruit  of  his  last  years  were  the 
<  Creation,'  <  The  Seasons,'  and  '  The  Seven  Last  Words.' 

There  was  a  great  charm  about  Haydn's  character  ;  he 
was  so  wholly  unselfish  and  humble.  He  looked  on  his 
musical  powers  as  a  gift  of  God,  and  when,  as  an  old  man 
of  seventy-six,  he  heard  the  production  of  his  '  Creation,* 
when  that  wondrous  burst  of  harmony  rang  through  the 
house,  '  Let  there  be  Light — And  light  was  ! '  and  awoke 
applause,  he  put  out  his  trembling  hands,  brushing  away 
the  clamour  of  the  people,  murmuring,  '  It  is  not  mine,  not 
mine,  it  came  from  above  ! ' 

This  was  no  empty  phrase,  but  the  expression  of  a 
real  conviction.  He  relates  that  he  never  was  so  devout 
as  whilst  composing  the  '  Creation,'  and  that  daily  at  that 
time  '  I  fell  on  my  knees  and  prayed  Grod  to  give  me 
power  to  accomplish  the  work.'  And  again,  *  When  1 


Music.  8 1 


could  not  get  on  with  my  composition,  I  walked  up  and 
down  the  room  with  my  rosary,  and  prayed  some  Aves, 
and  then  ideas  came.'  His  art  was  divine,  and  every 
happy  thought  was  a  gift  of  grace.  This  explains  his 
modesty  and  absence  of  jealousy  in  the  recognition  of 
others.  He  had  no  scruple  in  setting  the  young  Mozart 
above  himself.  '  I  know  very  well,'  he  said,  '  that  Mozart 
is  the  greatest  composer  the  world  has  seen.' 

Haydn's  artistic  significance  lies  in  what  he  has  effected 
for  instrumental  music.  He  loosed  the  tongue  of  the 
orchestra,  he  individualised  every  instrument.  The 
stringed  quartett  became  the  conversation  of  four  real  indi- 
viduals: each  instrument  was  characteristically  handled, 
and  its  theme  adapted  to  its  capacities  and  position  in  the 
conversation.  The  orchestra  with  Gluck  was  an  accom- 
paniment to  the  singer,  monotonous  in  colour.  Haydn 
poured  life  into  it.  Every  instrument  began  to  speak  in 
its  own  tongue,  tell  its  own  tale,  find  out  that  it  had  a 
language  and  character  of  its  own.  It  was  the  Pentecost 
of  the  orchestra.  The  instruments  spoke  together  in  their 
various  tongues,  but  all  were  harmonised  into  one  hymn. 
The  orchestra  under  Haydn  became  the  echo  of  many- 
voiced  nature  :  there  was  warbling  and  twittering,  quaver- 
ing and  trilling,  singing,  thrumming,  and  laughing :  all 
the  notes,  and  tones,  and  emotions,  were  blended  by  one 
golden  sunshine.  The  ideal  character  of  all  Haydn's 
works  is  joyous  youth  and  inexhaustible  freshness.  The 
master  remained  to  the  end  of  his  days  a  child  in  the 
noblest  sense  of  the  word,  and  his  music  has  the  power  of 
breaking  off  the  chains  of  daily  cares,  of  sweeping  the 
cobwebs  out  of  the  heart  and  brain,  and,  like  no  other 
music,  of  bringing  back  the  soul  to  sunny  innocence  and 
childlike  enjoyment. 

Mozart  was  born  at  Salzburg  in  1756.  In  1768  he 
VOL.  II.  G 


82  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

was  in  Vienna,  where  he  was  favourably  received  by  the 
Emperor  Joseph  II.,  and  at  his  request  composed  the 
opera  'La  Finta  Simplice  ; '  but  musical  jealousies  prevented 
its  production.  Two  years  after  he  was  in  Italy  and  was 
received  with  enthusiasm.  He  wrote fi  Mithridates,'  1769, 
6  Ascanius  in  Alba,'  1772,  for  Maria  Theresa,  c  II  Sogno  di 
Scipione,'  and  'Lucio  Silla.'  Munich  was  the  only 
Grerman  city  that  showed  him  any  sympathy.  For  the 
Opera  there  he  composed  '  La  Finta  Griardiniera.'  In  1781 
he  went  to  Munich,  and  there  produced  '  Idomeneo,'  an 
opera  in  GHuck's  style.  It  was  received  with  enthusiastic 
applause.  Then  he  went  to  Vienna,  and  married  Con- 
stanze  Weber.  In  the  jubilation  of  his  marriage  happi- 
ness he  wrote  the  'Entfiihrung  aus  dem  Serail,'  the 
sparkle  and  freshness  of  which  took  the  lively  Viennese  at 
once,  and  hushed  the  disapproval  of  musical  pedants. 
Now  followed  masterpiece  on  masterpiece;  the  oratorio 
'Davide  Penitente,'  1785  ;  the  comic  opera/ Der  Schauspiel- 
Direktor ; '  then  4  Figaro's  Hochzeit,'  at  the  special  request 
of  the  Emperor,  who  desired  the  establishment  of  a  Grer- 
man opera  as  well  as  an  Italian. 

The  intrigues  of  singers,  however,  discredited  '  Figaro ' 
in  spite  of  all  the  Emperor  could  do.  They  would  not 
sing  in  it,  or  sang  badly.  At  Prague,  Mozart  met  with  more 
favour.  For  it  he  composed  c  Don  Juan.'  There  he  wrote 
4  Cosi  fan  tutte ; '  next '  La  Clemenza  di  Tito  ;'  and,  lastly, 
the  '  Zauberfiote.' 

In  1788  Karl  Meyer  opened  the  Josephstadt  Theatre 
at  Vienna,  for  operas,  spectacular  pieces  and  melodramas. 
Neither  there  nor  in  the  Court  Opera-House  could  Mozart 
get  a  hearing.  He  was  received  and  allowed  to  appeal  to  the 
people  only  in  the  humble  popular  theatre  outside  the 
city,  in  the  Wiedner  Vorstadt,  conducted  by  Schikaneder. 
This  man  performed  opera-bouffes  and  ballad  operas. 


Music.  83 


The  house  was  not  altogether  free  from  charges  of  pan- 
dering to  low  popular  tastes.  It  was  there,  however,  that 
the  inimitable  *  Zauberflote '  was  first  heard — that  mar- 
vellous composition  which,  unlike  so  many  other  excellent 
musical  works,  has  not  been  killed  by  the  absurd  libretto 
to  which  it  is  coupled.  Schikaneder  was  himself  a  man  of 
some  musical  talent,  and  Mozart  was  not  ashamed  to 
borrow  of  him  the  melodies  for  his  '  Vogelfanger '  and 
for  the  duett '  Bei  Mannern,  welch e  Liebe  fiihlen.'  When 
the  'Zauberflote'  was  being  rehearsed,  Schikaneder, 
who  was  acting  Papageno,  suggested  one  of  the  happiest 
hits  in  the  last  scene.  As  Mozart  had  written  the 
duett  for  Papageno  and  Papagena,  they  meet  with  an 
astounded  cry  of  *  Papageno  ! '  '  Papagena  ! '  in  duett. 
Schikaneder  was  dissatisfied.  He  shouted  from  the  stage 
to  Mozart,  who  was  in  the  orchestra  :  '  I  say,  Mozart,  that 
won't  do.1  I'll  tell  you  how  it  should  be.  We  must  gaze 
on  one  another  in  mute  astonishment  for  some  time,  and 
then  one  must  begin,  "  Pa,  pa,  pa,"  and  then  the  other 
follow,  "  Pa,  pa,  pa,"  and  dance  round  one  another,  con- 
templating each  other  with  mutual  satisfaction,  till  at  last 
the  whole  name  comes  out.'  How  admirably  Mozart 
worked  out  this  dramatic  '  moment '  at  the  suggestion  of 
the  experienced  player  is  well  known. 

The  '  Zauberflote '  took,  became  a  rage,  and  the  pro- 
fits obtained  by  Schikaneder  were  so  great,  that  in  1799  he 
was  able  to  build  the  handsome  new  theatre  'an  den 
Wieden.'  But  Mozart  was  then  no  more.  The  {  Zauber- 
flote '  was  composed  in  the  year  of  his  death. 

Schubart  has  an  amusing  poem  entitled  '  Frosch- 
kritik.' 

One  evening  there  sang  a  nightingale  in  a  bush,  in  the 
still  moonlight.  The  frogs  in  a  neighbouring  marsh  put 

1  « Du  Mozart,  das  1st  nix.' 
a  2 


84  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

their  heads  above  water  and  listened.  Then  an  old  toad, 
deeply  learned  in  double  bass,  who  had  studied  in  many  a 
marsh  and  pool — a  toad  who,  as  of  cold  blood,  performed 
music,  but  felt  it  not — exclaimed,  '  That  creature  sings  not 
according  to  correct  principle  :  he  makes  false  fifths,  and 
does  not  keep  true  time ;  his  modulations  are  irregular, 
and  all  his  melody  consists  in  jug,  jug,  jug.  Let  us  per- 
form a  fugue.'  So  the  frogs  set  up  their  concert,  striving 
to  drown  the  note  of  the  nightingale  ;  and  the  bat  and  the 
owl  applauded.  But  a  lover  stealing  out  at  night,  with 
full  heart,  to  listen  to  the  song  of  Philomel,  flung  a  stone 
among  the  orchestra,  and  cursed  their  fugue. 

'Humpf  !'  said  the  critic,  from  under  the  water, 
'The  blockhead  no  doubt  understands  nothing  better.' 

The  fable  describes  pretty  well  the  stir  and  disapproval 
among  musicians  wedded  to  formal  systems,  when  there 
burst  on  their  astonished  ear  the  wondrous  strains  of 
Mozart.  Their  croaking  deafened  men  to  his  merits  till, 
alas  !  it  was  too  late.  The  '  Zauberflote  '  alone  obtained 
for  him  the  recognition  that  ought  to  have  been  given 
him  before.  The  Hungarian  nobility  made  him  a  contri- 
bution of  1 ,000  guilders,  an  Amsterdam  society  subscribed 
a  larger  sum,  he  was  appointed  conductor  of  the  music  in 
St.  Stephen's,  Vienna — but  all  too  late.  He  was  dying,  or 
dead. 

He  was  mortally  sick  whilst  composing  a  e  Kequiem r 
ordered  of  him.  The  priest  sent  for  in  his  last  sickness, 
refused  him  the  last  sacraments,  because  he  was  a  free- 
mason. The  day  before  his  death  he  sang  portions  of  the 
partiture  of  the  Kequiem  with  his  friends  Schack,  Hofer, 
and  Grerl.  When  he  came  to  the  '  lacrimosa,'  his  tears 
choked  his  utterance.  He  died  December  5,  1791,  aged 
35.  Next  day  he  was  buried.  It  was  bad  weather,  and 


Music.  85 


none  attended  the  funeral  but  his  nearest  relatives. 
As  he  was  destitute,  the  coffin  was  placed  in  the  general 
burying-place  for  the  poor.  When,  a  few  weeks  later,  his 
widow,  who  had  been  ill,  went  to  seek  his  grave,  the 
sexton  was  unable  to  indicate,  among  the  many  fresh 
mounds,  that  which  covered  the  bones  of  the  great  com- 
poser. 

Mozart's  style  was  that  of  pure  beauty.  His  music 
poured  from  his  soul  in  inexhaustible  flow  and  freshness. 
His  music  is  that  of  a  refined  spirit,  delicate,  sentimental, 
feminine.  There  is  sparkle  in  Haydn,  colour  in  Mozart, 
effervescence  in  the  former,  flow  in  the  latter.  The  great 
distinguishing  work  of  Mozart  is  that  he  changed  the  sex 
of  music.  In  Bach,  Handel,  and  Grluck,  the  music  is 
essentially  manly.  Vigour  is  its  characteristic :  it  is 
massive,  logical,  bold.  In  Haydn  it  is  still  male;  but 
it  is  the  new  music  in  boyish  joy  of  heart.  It  has  re- 
newed its  youth,  but  not  deposed  its  virility.  But 
Mozart's  music  is  altogether  female.  Its  beauty  is 
feminine.  Instead  of  massiveness  is  flexibility,  in  place 
of  logic,  sentiment,  pathos  in  lieu  of  boldness.  There  is 
no  disparagement  in  saying  this.  Woman  has  a  special 
beauty  of  her  own,  and  man  has  his  special  beauty.  Both 
are  beautiful  on  different  norms.  Mozart  achieved  a 
great  work  in  drawing  his  musical  Eve  out  of  the  side 
of  his  predecessors,  and  he  gave  to  the  world  a  new  type 
of  loveliness. 

Beethoven  was  altogether  different.  He  was  the 
Goethe  of  music :  his  is  the  style  of  manly  ethic  pathos. 
Pure  beauty  was  not  what  he  aimed  at  creating,  but 
the  expression  of  thought.  His  musical  passages  are 
ideas  to  be  studied  and  expanded,  drops  of  fire  from 
which  to  kindle  light.  'Music,'  said  he,  'is  a  loftier 
revelation  than  wisdom  and  philosophy ;  it  is  wine  stimu- 


86  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

lating  to  new  achievements.  I  am  Bacchus,  casking  this 
costly  drink  for  men.'  Beethoven's  music  is  intricate, 
elaborate,  scientific.  He  laboured  at  his  manuscripts 
without  weariness,  till  he  had  polished  and  burnished  as 
much  as  was  possible.  He  laboured,  as  he  said,  '  after  a 
perfection  which  he  felt,  but  could  not  describe.'  Every 
work  of  his  muse  is  gone  over  painfully,  and  everywhere 
bears  the  mark  of  his  chisel.  The  result  is  highly  artistic, 
but  there  is  a  want  of  spontaneity  about  it,  of  airy  grace, 
of  easy  production,  such  as  characterises  the  creations  of 
Mozart.  His  music  was  the  language  in  which  he  ex- 
pressed ideas.  The  wonderful  mystic  Canzonetta  for 
violins  bears  the  superscription  '  Holy  thanksgiving  of  a 
convalescent : '  it  is  a  picture  of  his  own  mind  in  such  a 
condition.  Sand  on  glass,  by  the  vibrations  of  music,  will 
arrange  itself  in  various  forms.  The  movements  of  ideas 
in  Beethoven's  brain  vibrated  into  musical  phrases  and 
fixed  themselves  in  notes.  Of  his  Symphony  in  C  flat, 
Beethoven  said  himself,  '  It  is  Fate  knocking  at  the  door,' 
that  terrible  Fate  which  awaited  him,  deafness.  He  fore- 
saw its  advent,  and  in  that  Symphony  we  read  his  agony,, 
his  resolves,  his  resignation. 

The  great  age  of  the  Kevolution  and  the  European 
war  was  followed  by  a  period  of  lassitude.  With  the 
Restoration  the  idealism  of  the  former  age,  the  self- 
conscious  pride  of  man  in  his  rights,  national  enthusiasm 
died  away,  and  a  reign  of  languid  indifference  and  blase 
cosmopolitanism  set  in.  The  vigour  and  thought  in 
Beethoven  were  distasteful ;  men  had  tired  of  what  was 
robust,  and  were  exhausted  by  the  whirlwind  of  ideas  that 
had  sped  across  the  Continent.  ( Ueber  alle  Gipfeln  ist 
Euh' ! '  Goethe  had  sung  in  the  storm.  6  Auf  alien  Erden 
lass  sein,'  said  men  now.  After  hard  work  a  cigar  and  a 
lounging  chair,  and  a  wife  tum-tumming  on  the  piano  are 


Music.  87 


agreeable.  The  Restoration  was  a  relaxation  after  furious 
work,  and  society  wanted  nothing  better  in  the  musical 
line  than  pretty  tum-tumming.  Kossini  met  the  want. 
He  gave  sweet,  sensual  melody,  without  a  thought,  a  depth, 
a  purpose  to  dignify  it.  It  was  calculated  to  lull,  to 
please,  not  to  cheer  and  inspire.  After  the  meat  the  tarts. 

The  style  of  the  dolce  far  niente  spread  over  Europe 
with  extraordinary  rapidity;  and  the  opera  of  pleasure 
usurped  the  stage. 

In  the  midst  of  this  languor  a  small  school  of  writers 
arose — the  Romanticist — who  strove  to  awake  German 
self-consciousness  and  love  of  the  Fatherland  by  an  appeal 
to  the  Middle  Ages,  and  to  national  traditions  and 
customs.  What  Tieck,  Fouque,  and  Brentano  attempted 
in  literature,  that  was  attempted  on  the  musical  stage  by 
Spohr,  Weber,  and  Marschner. 

Spohr  struck  a  Grerman  note  in  his  '  Faust ; '  but  he 
was  too  far  steeped  in  the  doctrine  of  the  musical  schools 
to  take  the  popular  ear  and  touch  the  national  heart. 
His  '  Jessonda,'  a  work,  the  music  of  which  glows  with 
Oriental  richness,  was  too  widely  removed  from  Grerman 
sympathy  to  be  appreciated  by  others  than  artists  and 
scholars.  His  other  operas,  '  Zemir  and  Azor,'  '  The 
Alchymist,'  'The  Crusader,'  'The  Spirit  of  the  Moun- 
tains,' fell  flat.  He  obtained  a  better  hearing  for  his 
Oratorios,  <  The  Last  Things,'  '  Our  Father,'  and  the  '  Fall 
of  Babylon.'  Spohr's  scientific  importance  is  double  ;  as 
a  violinist  he  founded  the  German  violin  school ;  as  a 
composer  he  maintained  subtlety  of  harmony  and  elabora- 
tion of  instrumentation  against  the  superficiality  of 
Italian  melodiousness,  which  used  the  orchestra  merely  as 
an  accompaniment  to  the  air,  and  which  could  dispense 
with  half  the  instruments  without  marring  the  effect  of 
the  composition. 


88  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

Weber's  first  work,  '  Das  Stumme  Waldmadchen,'  he 
pronounced  in  after  years  'an  unripe  production,  only 
here  and  there  not  wholly  void  of  originality.'  In  1801, 
under  the  eyes  of  Michael  Haydn,  he  produced  his 
charming  comic  opera, '  Peter  Schmoll  and  his  Neighbours.' 
In  1810  he  composed  '  Silvana.'  In  1817  he  was  called 
to  Dresden  '  to  found  a  German  opera.'  There  he  wrote 
'  Preciosa,'  '  Der  Freischiitz,'  '  Euryanthe,'  and  '  Oberon.' 
Weber's  significance  is  not  to  be  sought  in  his  music,  but 
in  the  history  of  art  and  culture.  He  opened  no  new 
fields  in  music,  he  taught  nothing  new,  made  no  dis- 
coveries, but  in  that  he  brought  music  into  sympathy 
with  the  spirit  of  the  German  people,  his  importance  is 
not  to  be  overlooked.  Mozart  had  struck  the  first  note 
in  '  Der  Zauberflote,'  Beethoven  in  '  Fidelio,'  Weber  with 
'  Der  Freischiitz '  completed  the  chord.  He  may  truly  be 
said  to  have  founded  the  German  opera.  In  England  we 
know  and  appreciate  his  '  Der  Freischiitz  '  and  '  Oberon,' 
but  not  the  noble  '  Euryanthe.'  That,  unfortunately,  is 
wedded  to  a  poor  plot  and  dull  libretto.  The  recitative 
between  Lysiart  and  Eglantine  in  the  second  act  is  tedious, 
but  the  opera  contains  gems  not  surpassed  by  anything  in 
the  better  known  compositions.1 

Marschner  followed  Weber.  His  gloomy  spirit  and  love 
of  the  grim  have  made  his  operas,  '  Vampyr,'  1828,  '  Der 
Falkners  Braut,'  1830,  'Hans  Heiling,'  1833, 'Templer 
und  Jiidin,'  1829,  less  popular  than  they  deserve.  There 
is  something  almost  Wagnerish  in  the  opening  chorus  of 
the  gnomes  in  '  Hans  Heiling.'  The  chorus  of  peasants, 
'  Juchheisser, ! '  is  bright,  and  the  chorus,  '  So  wollen  wir 
auf  kurze  Zeit,?  is  full  of  beauty.  The  argument  of  the 

1  As  the  solo  and  chorus,  «  Frb'hliche  Klange,'  the  exquisite  *  Der  Mai 
bringt  frische  Rosen  dar,'  the  duett,  <Hin  nimm  die  Seele  mein,  and 
the  cavatine,  *  Glocklein  im  Thale,'  not  to  mention  the  noble  overture. 


Music.  89 


libretto  is  this.  Hans  Heiling,  a  gnome  of  the  mountains, 
loves  a  peasant's  daughter,  Anna,  and  by  display  of  his 
treasures  wins  the  consent  of  the  girl's  mother  to  their 
union.  But  Anna  secretly  loves  a  young  forester,  Conrad. 
The  queen  of  the  gnomes  and  mother  of  Hans,  desirous  of 
withdrawing  her  son  from  the  upper  earth,  reveals  to  the 
damsel  the  nature  of  her  betrothed.  Anna  implores  her 
lover  to  rescue  her  from  the  power  of  a  mountain  demon. 
Hans  Heiling  calls  his  gnomes  to  avenge  him  on  the 
forester.  In  the  midst  of  the  wedding-feast  of  Anna  with 
Conrad,  the  rocks  open  and  the  gnomes  appear,  but  the 
earth-queen  prevents  her  son  from  revenging  himself,  and 
he  sorrowfully  bids  farewell  to  the  land  on  which  the  sun 
shines,  his  brief  vision  of  love,  and  retires  beneath,  leaving 
Anna  and  Conrad  to  their  happiness.  The  drama  is  full 
of  pathos  and  weird  beauty,  and  the  contrast  between  the 
choruses  of  muttering  gnomes  and  of  dancing,  jubilant 
peasants  very  effective.  '  Hans  Heiling  '  is  an  opera  well 
deserving  of  production  in  England.  It  remains  a 
favourite  in  Germany.  In  the  season  of  1877  it  was 
performed  at  Hanover,  Cassel,  and  Wiesbaden.  It  is  im- 
possible to  mistake  its  influence  on  the  composition  of 
'  Der  fliegende  Hollander,'  by  Wagner. 

Marschner  wrote  also  '  Das  Schloss  am  Aetna,'  '  Der 
Babu,'  'Adolf  von  Nassau,'  1844,  and  'Austin,'  1852; 
but  the  '  Templer  and  Jewess  '  and  '  Hans  Heiling '  are  the 
only  two  which  have  maintained  their  hold.  Marschner 
died  in  1861.  A  brighter  and  more  melodious  genius, 
with  whose  compositions  we  in  England  are  as  little 
familiar,  is  Kreutzer  (1782-1849).  His  '  Verschwender  ' 
is  a  popular  opera  of  the  best  style,  but  his  6  Nachtlager 
von  Granada  '  is  his  masterpiece.  He  wrote  in  all  thirty 
operas,  but  the  last  mentioned  is  the  only  one  that  retains 
the  favour  of  an  audience,  though  the  others  are  rich  in 


9O  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

melodies,  which  have  been  extracted  from  them  and  have 
found  their  way  into  popular  song-books.1 

More  of  a  favourite  than  Kreutzer  is  the  genial, 
charming  Lortzing,  born  1803,  died  1851.  His  first 
opera  was  '  Ali  Pacha,'  written  in  Cologne  in  1824.  The 
first  that  was  produced  on  the  stage  was  'Die  beiden 
Schiitzen,'  1837.  In  the  same  year  appeared  '  Zar  und 
Zimmermann,'  which,  since  its  first  appearance  in  the 
Berlin  Opera  House,  has  become  a  stock  piece  throughout 
Germany.  '  Caramo '  followed  in  1839, 'Hans  Sachs 'in 
1840,  'Casanova'  in  1841,  'Der  Wildschiitz'  in  1842, 
which  ranks  as  his  best  work  after  '  Zar  und  Zimmermann.' 
Then  appeared  'Undine,'  and  in  1846  'Der  Waffen- 
schmied,'  which  has  gained  immense  popularity.  In  1 847 
he  produced  his  opera  'Zuin  Grrossadmiral,'  and  in  1848 
'  Rolandsknappen.' 

The  '  Czar  and  the  Carpenter '  is  a  delightful  comic 
opera,  founded  on  an  incident  in  the  life  of  Peter  the 
Grreat.  It  is  full  of  beauties,2  and  the  dramatic  movement 
is  lively.  It  is  just  the  piece  for  the  Globe  Theatre, 
which  has  recently  produced  so  successfully  Planquette's 
'  Les  Cloches  de  Corneville.'  The  '  Armourer  of  Ulm '  opens 
with  a  very  spirited  chorus  of  smiths  to  the  clinking  of 
their  hammers  on  the  anvils,  and  closes  with  onB  of  the 
most  pathetically  beautiful  bass  songs  ever  written,  on  the 
old  man's  recollections  of  his  childhood.  Lortzing,  like 
Marschner,  well  merits  to  be  better  known  in  England. 

Other  composers  clung  to  the  traditions  of  Mozart. 
Peter  von  Winter  (1754-1825)  strove  to  combine  the 

1  In  1877  the  -Nachtlager  von  Granada  was  performed  on  the  Han- 
over, Cassel,  and  Wiesbaden  boards. 

2  *  Sieh  doch  nicht  so  finster  drein '  and  chorus ;   the  air  *  Lebe 
wohl,  mein  flandrisch  Madchen  '  and  chorus  ;  the  air  *  Lieblich  rothen 
sich  die  Wangen,'  and  the  noble  tenor  song  of  the  Czar  in  the  last  act, 
'  Sonst  spielt'  ich  mit  Scepter.' 


Music.  9 1 


dignity  of  Grluck  with  the  beauty  of  Mozart.  His  '  Inter- 
rupted Sacrifice '  is  still  played.  It  was  performed  thrice 
at  Cassel  in  1877.  Weigl  (1764-1848)  has  left  'The 
Swiss  Family,'  not  without  merit.  It  was  also  performed 
at  Cassel  in  the  same  year.  Zumsteg's  (1760-1802) 
'  Greisterinsel '  is  also  not  altogether  forgotten.  Mendels- 
sohn's genius  lay  in  quite  another  direction  than  the 
stage.  His  only  opera,  « Lorlei,'  is  unfinished,  but  what 
there  is  of  it  makes  us  regret  that  it  was  not  completed. 
The  '  Antigone '  can  only  be  regarded  as  an  attempt  to 
rival  Grluck  in  the  same  field.  Mendelssohn's  music  is 
without  passion,  refined,  pure ;  a  pale  flower  blowing 
under  a  Northern  sky,  not  a  red  rose  of  the  South,  glowing 
and  fragrant.  Mendelssohn  discovered  a  new  field  for 
music  beside  the  church  and  the  theatre — the  chamber. 
He  composed  for  the  piano.  He  thought  of  the  circle  of 
amateurs  in  their  homes,  and  dedicated  his  works  to  them 
there. 

While  Grermany  has  been  developing  her  special  type 
of  opera,  France  has  not  been  idle.  French  genius  has 
been  rapidly  conquering  a  place  in  the  estimation  of 
musicians  not  second  to  Italy.  Mehul  (born  1763,  died 
1817),  by  his  'Joseph  in  Egypt,'  has  merited  a  place 
beside  G-luck. 

Boieldieu  (born  1775,  died  1834)  was  a  disciple  of 
Cherubini.  He  learned  of  Mozart  the  skill  to  form  light, 
elegant  melodies,  and  correctness  in  elaboration.  He 
won  the  popular  ear  at  once  with  his  operetta,  '  Jean  de 
Paris.'  His  '  La  Dame  Blanche,'  however,  was  his  master- 
piece. His  works  are  characterised  by  patient  care,  rich 
invention,  and  delicacy  of  touch,  such  as  is  not  met  with 
in  Greman  work.  Boieldieu  is  as  popular  in  Grermany  as 
in  France. 

Auber  (born  1784,  died  1871)  gave  the  comic  opera 


92  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

its  definite  form  and  colour.  Meyerbeer,  a  Jew,  has  the 
merit  of  perfecting  the  union  between  music  and  the 
drama. 

Halevy  (1799-1862)  followed  in  the  steps  of  Meyer- 
beer. His  '  La  Juive '  is  a  work  of  great  power  and 
beauty.  Then  Gkmnod,  also  in  the  traces  of  Meyerbeer. 

These  last  three  have  given  to  the  world  the  sen- 
sational opera,  essentially  a  French  production,  by  all 
means  to  be  regarded  as  the  opera  at  its  perfection.  It 
is  not  the  perfection  of  music,  but  it  is  the  simultaneous 
working  up  of  the  interest  by  all  the  means  in  the  artist's 
power — scenic,  dramatic,  musical.  It  is  the  perfect 
welding  together  of  dramatic  power  with  musical  ex- 
pression, the  fusion  completed  by  all  the  appliances  of 
scenic  effect. 

The  opera  is  a  composite  work.  Poetry,  music,  and 
dramatic  action  are  the  three  factors  of  the  product.  In 
the  early  operas  the  dramatic  interest  was  weak  and  un- 
elaborated,  and  of  poetry  there  was  none.  The  '  Zauber- 
flote '  is  an  instance.  It  is  hardly  possible  to  find  a  more 
absurd  libretto.  Indeed,  probably  no  one  who  has  heard 
the  opera  a  score  of  times  understands  the  plot,  or  cares 
to  understand  it.  The  music  is  everything,  the  drama 
nothing.  In  the  Italian  operas  the  music  and  the  drama 
very  often  have  nothing  in  common.  It  is  so  with  Doni- 
zetti. '  Lucia  di  Lammermoor,'  and  especially  '  Lucrezia 
Borgia,'  are  tragedies  of  the  direst  colour.  Yet  the  music 
is  that  of  the  ball-room  ;  there  is  no  sympathy  between  it 
and  the  drama.  The  contrast  shocks  the  sense  of  con- 
gruity. 

The  poetry  of  the  drama  is  not  necessarily  the  poetry 
of  language,  but  of  beautiful  ideas  expressed  in  action. 
The  music  obscures  the  words,  but  intensifies  the  poetry 
of  action.  A  more  exquisite  example  of  dramatic  pathos, 


Music.  93 


poetic  conception,  and  musical  expression  fused  into  one 
is  not  to  be  found  than  the  shadow-dance  in  '  Dinorah.' 
Meyerbeer  and  Halevy  were  fortunate  in  obtaining  the 
assistance  of  Scribe,  an  accomplished  playwright,  who- 
perfectly  understood  his  art  and  was  a  man  of  no  ordinary 
genius.  But  Meyerbeer  must  have  possessed,  to  a  degree 
unequalled  before  or  since,  the  sense  of  harmony  of  parts,, 
for  no  operas  show  such  a  perfect  balancing  of  music, 
poetry,  and  drama,  all  at  their  best,  as  those  of  Meyerbeer. 
He  possesses  Italian  melodiousness,  German  skill  of  in- 
strumentation, and  French  dramatic  instinct. 

There  is  a  wonderful  completeness,  again,  in  that  mar- 
vellous finale  of  '  La  Juive  '  by  Halevy,  where  the  Cardinal 
recognises  his  daughter  at  the  moment  when  she  is,  by 
his  sentence,  being  plunged  into  the  cauldron  of  boiling 
oil.  There  is  a  maddening  power  in  that  terrible  scene,  a 
working  up  of  human  sympathy,  a  goading  to  excitement 
of  every  faculty.  The  music  lashes  and  stings  into  a 
nervous  fever,  with  a  fury  completely  at  one  with  the 
spirit  of  the  drama. 

In  the  drama,  the  situation  is  the  focus  of  the  scene. 
Early  playwrights  no  more  understood  this,  than  pre- 
Eaphaelite  painters  understood  the  laws  of  perspective  and 
of  chiaroscuro.  It  is  this  which  is  wanting  in  Shakspeare's 
plays.  With  his  unrivalled  powers  and  knowledge  of 
nature,  he  is  not  a  perfect  dramatist,  for  each  scene  in 
his  plays,  with  all  its  splendid  drawing,  is  without  what 
the  painter  terms  '  a  point  of  sight ' — a  point  to  which  all 
lines  converge,  and  about  which  detail  gathers  finish. 
Shakspeare  is  better  in  the  boudoir  than  on  the  stage, 
for  this  reason.  A  true  drama  only  lives  behind  the 
footlights. 

In  the  sensational  opera,  the  French  composers  stand 
quite  unrivalled.  But  when  the  most  perfect  taste  does  not 


94  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

control  it,  the  opera  becomes  overcharged  with  colour,  and 
the  music  does  not  wear  like  that  of  Mozart,  Weber,  and 
Wagner.  The  music  is  as  out  of  place  in  the  cabinet  as 
is  the  drama  in  the  library.  These  operas  are  written  for 
the  stage,  and  for  the  stage  only.  The  music  is  theatrical, 
and  would  be  as  incongruous  in  a  family  party  as  a  rococo, 
gilt  commode  in  a  cottage.  The  French  opera  is  like  the 
paintings  of  Grustave  Dore,  and  the  romances  of  Victor 
Hugo. 

But  the  opera  is  not  merely  composed  of  the  three 
elements  of  drama,  poetry,  and  music,  each  taken  as  an 
element  indivisible  into  component  parts — but  of  drama, 
poetry,  and  music,  vocal  and  instrumental.  The  music  is 
composite,  the  orchestra  and  the  singers  have  each  a  dis- 
tinct though  allied  sphere. 

Here  lies  a  danger  to  the  composer.  He  is  tempted 
to  make  the  orchestral  part  a  mere  accompaniment  to  the 
voice,  in  which  case  he  is  not  giving  each  instrument  its 
due,  or,  in  his  admiration  for  the  powers  of  the  orchestra, 
he  unduly  extends  its  function,  and  treats  the  human 
voice  as  but  one  among  the  instruments  at  his  command. 

The  Italian  composers  have  all  fallen  on  the  first  rock. 

The  Germans  are  fatally  drawn  towards  the  other. 

Meyerbeer  happily  steered  his  way  between  them. 
'The  orchestra  in  Germany  has  been  like  the  parliament  in 
England  and  France,  it  has  gained  the  supremacy,  the 
power  is  in  its  hands ;  at  best,  the  voice  reigns  as  a  con- 
stitutional monarch,  but  in  Wagner  only  as  a  president 
with  a  brief  tenure  of  office.  The  melody — the  rule — has 
passed  from  the  voice  to  the  orchestra :  it  nickers  in  this 
instrument,  then  in  that,  is  diffused,  concentrated  nowhere, 
least  of  all  in  the  organ  of  the  singer. 

But  France  has  not  only  the  credit  of  having  given  to 
the  sensational  opera  its  most  perfect  expression :  it  has 


Music.  95 


achieved,  also,  great  success  in  its  special  favourite,  the 
opera  comique.  This  sort  of  opera  began,  as  I  have  already 
said,  in  a  play  with  occasional  solo  songs  and  duets  in  it. 
It  had  its  Viennese  relation,  the  Singspiel.  In  England 
we  also  had  our  opera.  In  England  it  never  attained  a 
high  place.  Lindley,  in  one  of  his  letters,  tells  us  how 
Sheridan's  opera  of  6  The  Duenna '  was  composed.  Sheri- 
dan picked  up  tunes  where  he  could,  brought  them  to  his 
father-in-law,  set  to  words  of  his  composition,  and  got  him 
to  put  an  accompaniment  to  them,  and  compose  an  over- 
ture. e  The  Beggar's  Opera '  was  no  more  a  work  of 
musical  art  than  '  The  Duenna.'  There  were  hosts  of  these 
compositions  performed  last  century  in  London  and  Bath  ; 
and  none  were  worth  preservation. 

In  '  Perseus  and  Andromeda '  there  is  a  chorus  of 
Greek  sailors : — 

Oh  why  should  we  quarrel  for  Eiches, 
Or  any  such  glittering  Toy  ? 
A  light  heart  and  a  Thin  pair  of  Breeches 
Goes  through  the  world,  brave  Boy. 

And  the  music  does  not  rise  above  the  poetry  or  the 
metre,  nor  is  it  more  appropriate  to  the  classic  theme  of 
the  opera  than  the  6  Thin  pair  of  breeches '  to  a  sailor  of 
old  Hellas. 

But  in  France  the  comic  opera  throve,  and  produced 
charming  fruit.  Cherubini,  in  his  '  Les  Deux  Journees,' 
and  Auber  in  his  'Fra  Diavolo,'  showed  what  excellent 
work  could  be  done  in  this  field.  Boieldieu  has  left  us  in 
'Jean  de  Paris' — with  its  sweet  little  troubadour  aria, 
and  the  still  riper  '  La  Dame  Blanche,'  models  of  this  sort 
of  opera,  refined,  graceful,  delicate — pictures  by  Meissonier. 
Soupe's  '  Fatinitza  ' l  is  rougher  and  more  boisterous,  but 

1  Soup6  is,  I  believe,  a  Viennese,  but  his  production  belongs  to  the 
French  school. 


96  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

it  abounds  in  pleasant  music.  BruhFs  '  La  Croix  d'Or  '  is 
pleasant,  and  Planquette's  '  Les  Cloches  de  Corneville ' 
has  already  established  itself  as  a  favourite  with  the 
English  public.  Serious  works  of  art  they  are  not,  they 
do  not  pretend  to  be  that,  but  they  are  fresh,  joyous,  and 
overflow  with  sweet  melody.  In  the  last-named  opera, 
the  chorus  to  the  '  Chanson  des  Aieux '  in  the  second  act 
is  as  beautiful  and  effective  as  any  production  of  this  genial 
school. 

The  school  has  its  pupils  in  Grermany.  '  Martha,'  by 
Flotow,  is  already  domesticated  on  our  boards.  Lortzing 
has  written  comic  operas,  but  always  with  a  grave,  and 
somewhat  sad  German  heart.  Poor  Groetz  died  of  want, 
just  when  his  first  opera,  '  Taming  the  Shrew,'  was  ac- 
cepted, or  he  might  have  done  great  things. 

Behind  this  class  of  opera  trails  an  ugly  shadow,  the 
burlesque  opera  of  the  blase  world  under  the  second  Empire, 
that  had  no  noble  ideals,  that  believed  not  in  faith  and 
virtue,  and  scoffed  at  rectitude  and  truth.  Grermany  must 
blush  that  two  Grerman  names,  Offenbach1  and  Strauss,2 
mark  the  point  of  lowest  degradation  which  the  opera  can 
reach  ;  France,  that  she  has  educated,  or  encouraged  them* 
The  opera-bouffe  of  these  writers  is  the  slime  of  art  at  its 
ebb,  the  rank  growth  of  the  dissolute  society  under  the 
despotism  of  Napoleon.  It  is  music  in  its  dotage,  drivel- 
ling, and  babbling  obscenities.  If  there  is  laughter  in  it, 
there  is  also  a  leer. 

It  is  when  the  genius  of  music  seemed  to  have  left 
Grermany,  and  to  be  inspiring  France,  that  a  man  arose 
to  make  another  epoch  in  musical  composition,  and  again 

1  Offenbach  is  a  Jew,  born  at  Cologne  in  1822. 

2  The  Strauss  family  are  of  Hungarian  origin.     The  father  is  dead. 
Johann  Strauss,  composer  of  the  '  Fledermaus,'  lives  in  Vienna.      This 
offensive  opera-bouffe  is  essentially  French  in  feeling. 


Music.  97 


to  give  Germany  the  honour  of  being  the  scene   of  that 
epoch-making  production. 

Eichard  Wagner's  early  life  was  one  of  trouble  and 
exile,  brought  on  himself.  The  man  who  can  lift  his  hand 
in  rebellion  against  the  prince  to  whose  charity  he  owed 
his  education,  cannot  expect  much  sympathy  in  his 
banishment.  He  was,  for  a  while,  director  of  a  theatre  at 
Konigsberg,  and  there  he  planned  a  five-act  opera  from 
Konig's  romance  of  <  Die  hohe  Braut,'  and  sent  it  to  Scribe, 
asking  him  to  furnish  the  libretto.  Scribe,  however,  did 
not  deign  to  answer  the  unknown  and  ambitious  young 
German.  In  the  autumn  of  1837,  when  musical  director 
of  the  theatre  at  Riga,  he  resolved  on  composing  an 
opera  on  the  subject  of  Rienzi  the  Tribune,  following 
Meyerbeer  as  a  master  and  guide.  Under  this  influence, 
he  sought  situations,  scenic  effects,  and  effective  ensembles. 
In  the  spring  of  1839  two  acts  of  'Rienzi'  were  com- 
pleted, and  then  he  started  for  Paris.  He  embarked 
with  his  wife  on  board  a  sailing  vessel  which  was  to  take 
him  to  London,  en  route  for  Paris.  The  voyage  lasted 
four  weeks.  A  furious  storm  drove  the  vessel  up  the 
Norwegian  coast,  and  it  was  then  that  he  conceived  the 
idea  of  his  opera  *  Der  fliegende  Hollander.' 

Wagner  remained  a  short  time  in  London,  and  then 
continued  his  j  ourney  to  Paris.  During  a  stay  in  Boulogne, 
he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Meyerbeer,  to  whom  he 
showed  his  '  Rienzi.' l  At  Paris,  he  entered  into  an  agree- 
ment with  the  manager  of  the  Theatre  de  la  Renaissance, 
for  the  production  of  an  opera,  {  The  Novice  of  Palermo,' 
but  the  manager  failed,  and  the  hopes  of  the  composer 
were  crushed.  On  Meyerbeer's  return  to  Paris,  Wagner 
was  introduced  to  the  directors  of  the  Grand  Opera.  By 

1  A  patchy,  undigested  work,  but  with  splendid  gleams  of  genius, 
and  a  prophecy  of  better  things. 
VOL.    II.  H 


98  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

November  1841  he  had  finished  'Rienzi,'  and  began 
'  The  Flying  Dutchman.'  Whilst  still  at  Paris,  Wagner 
received  the  gratifying  intelligence  that  '  Kienzi '  had 
been  accepted  at  Dresden,  and  '  The  Flying  Dutchman '  at 
Berlin.  In  the  spring  of  1 842  he  prepared  to  leave  Paris, 
the  scene  of  many  months  of  conflict  and  disappointment. 
'  Kienzi '  was  produced  for  the  first  time  at  Dresden,  on 
October  19,  1842.  It  was  a  great  success.  Richard 
Wagner  became  the  hero  of  the  day,  and  he  was  at  once 
appointed  Master  of  the  Orchestra  to  the  Court  of  Saxony, 
in  the  room  of  Weber. 

<  The  Flying  Dutchman '  was  performed  for  the  first 
time  on  January  2,  1843,  at  Dresden;  it  was  afterwards 
given  at  Cassel  and  Berlin ;  at  Cassel,  through  the  efforts 
of  Spohr,  the  only  German  Kapellmeister  who  recognised 
and  appreciated  the  genius  of  Wagner. 

In  France,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  the  great 
German  will  meet  with  appreciation :  political  prejudice 
will  bias  artistic  feeling ;  but  more  than  that,  the  genius 
of  French  operatic  music  is  so  completely  different  from 
that  of '  the  music  of  the  future,'  that  it  cannot  under- 
stand it.  One  pitiable  instance  is  enough.  Bizet  studied 
Wagner  and  was  inspired  by  his  genius.  But  Paris  would 
not  endure  anything  that  smacked  of  German  art,  and 
he  was  forced  to  descend  to  the  level  of  public  taste  and 
scribble  '  Carmen.'  Wagner  has  learned  of  Meyerbeer,  but 
has  not  followed  him.  That  he  should  please  English  taste 
is  hardly  to  be  looked  for.  Musical  taste  in  England  is  too 
uneducated  to  care  for  anything  that  requires  scientific 
knowledge  and  insight  for  appreciation.  But  least  of  all, 
will  Wagner  content  the  Italians.  Their  ideal  is  a  melody 
that  can  be  whistled,  or  ground  on  a  barrel-organ.  Ros- 
sini, Donizetti,  Bellini,  sweet  as  their  songs  are,  lovely  as 
the  paintings  of  Raphael,  never  got  beyond  that ;  music, 


Music.  99 


which  by  no  possibility  can  be  made  adaptable  to  that 
instrument,  is  not  music  at  all,  but  a  jabber  of  discords 
and  unmelodious  phrases.  Not  an  Italian  appeared  at 
Baireuth  at  Wagner's  ovation  in  1876. 

Wagner  attaches  to  Weber,  his  musical  ancestor.  His 
ideal  is  the  foundation  of  a  German  national  drama,  which 
shall  be  on  German  soil  to  the  German  people  what  the 
Greek  tragedy  was  to  the  Hellenes  on  Greek  soil.  Like 
Lortzing,  he  writes  his  own  texts,  feeling  that  the  same 
mind  ought  to  express  in  music  as  in  words  its  own 
thoughts ;  that  the  setting  of  other  men's  words  is  but  a 
translation  into  another  tongue,  and  a  translation  never 
fully  expresses  the  poetry  of  the  original.  Wagner  starts 
with  the  assumption  that  he  is  a  poet  and  dramatist,  as 
well  as  a  musician.  A  dramatist  he  no  doubt  is,  his  plots 
and  characters  are  good,  but  a  poet  he  is  not.  There  is 
not  a  line  that  he  has  composed  which  rises  above  medio- 
crity. His  great  achievement  is  in  the  production  of 
melodies  of  unearthly  beauty,  of  an  order  distinct  from 
those  of  any  other  composer,  but  chiefly  in  the  extraordi- 
nary development  he  has  given  to  the  orchestra,  especially 
to  the  stringed  instruments.  His  music  is  not  merely 
epoch-making,  it  is  a  new  revelation.  Wagner  has  never 
written  anything  that  could,  by  any  possibility,  have  been 
produced  by  another  master.1  Each  of  his  creations  bears 
the  stamp  of  his  peculiar  genius  on  it.  His  first  opera, 
4  Kienzi,'  1841,  and  his  last,  the  '  King  of  theNibelungen,' 
are  consistent  with  one  another.  He  has  not  changed  his 
style,  his  genius  is  not  many-sided  and  flexible,  it  is  One ; 
his  power  and  command  over  the  instruments  grows  : 
6  Lohengrin '  is  the  flower  of  the  mind  that  budded  in  '  Der 
fliegende  Hollander.'  This  latter  opera  was  written  in 
1841,  but,  as  already  said,  was  not  produced  till  1843; 
1  Except  in  the  immature  <  Eienzi.' 
H  2 


ioo  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

'  Tannhauser '  was  the  child  of  1845  ;  6  Lohengrin '  of  1846  ; 
'Tristan'  appeared  at  Munich  in  1865;  then  came  the 
'  Meistersanger  '  and  the  '  King  der  Nibelungen.'  He  is 
now  engaged  on  another,  '  Parzival,'  of  which  the  text, 
but  not  the  music,  has  been  published. 

Wagner  is  the  Shakspeare,  the  Turner  of  music.  His 
beauties  do  not  lie  on  the  surface  ;  one  of  his  operas  will 
not  take  by  storm  when  first  heard:  it  must  be  heard 
again  and  again,  and  then  again  and  again,  and,  each  time 
heard,  some  new  idea,  some  new  beauty,  some  marvellous 
perfection,  will  be  the  reward.  His  music  must  be  digested' 
to  be  enjoyed.  He  never  flatters  the  ear,  he  uses  it  as  the 
passage  to  the  soul.  He  has  his  craze,  but  also  his  inspir- 
ations; his  theories,  which  entangle  his  genius,  but  his 
genius  bursts  through  them.  He  is  his  own,  and  his  worst 
enemy.  Puffed  up  with  inordinate  vanity,  he  believes  it 
his  mission  to  reform  the  musical  drama  on  some  fantastic 
theory  which  is  not  worth  discussion,  but  which  may  be 
Hegelian.  A  Grerman  is  nothing  if  he  be  not  a  philosopher, 
and  Wagner  has  invented  a  philosophy  of  the  opera ;  he 
will  kill  his  genius  to  build  it  up  and  lime  it  with  its  blood. 

How  is  it  that  England  lags  behind  in  the  march  of 
musical  culture,  that  she  contributes  nothing  to  the  treasure 
of  good  music  that  is  accumulating  every  year  ?  That  the 
nation  is  incapable  of  musical  invention  I  will  not  believe. 
The  madrigals  of  the  Elizabethan  era  command  the  admira- 
tion of  continental  musicians  in  the  present.  No  musical 
creativeness  in  a  nation  which  has  produced  a  Purcell,  an 
Arne,  and  delightful  Bishop !  In  this  age  one  Oratorio 
of  distinguished  merit  has  been  produced  by  an  English- 
man, '  The  Jerusalem '  of  Pierson,  but  the  cold  recog- 
nition his  talents  received  drove  him  to  Germany.  The 
reason,  I  believe,  why  England  has  been  barren  of  com- 
posers worth  naming,  is  that  there  has  been  no  English 


Miisic.  10 1 


•opera.  Balfe  we  did  not  appreciate  as  he  deserved,  and 
laughed  down  a  real  genius.  In  Germany  every  town  of 
25,000  inhabitants  has  an  opera,  and  the  opera  is  the 
true  nursery  of  music.  The  Church  is  that  no  longer. 
Everywhere  Church  music  in  England  is  made  congrega- 
tional, but  congregational  music  never  can  be  music  of  high 
art.  In  France  and  Germany  both  the  Church  and  the 
Theatre  encourage  scientific  music.  Neither  fosters  it 
in  England.  The  hymn  is  the  sacred  nursery  lullaby, 
nothing  more :  any  servant-girl  can  sing  it  without  know- 
ing her  notes.  Operas  we  have  none  out  of  London, 
and  there  only  an  Italian  house.  It  is  impossible  for 
musical  art  to  spring  up  when  there  is  no  field  in  which  it 
<?an  display  itself.  Every  little  town  of  the  size  of  Exeter, 
Salisbury,  Colchester,  Northampton,  would  in  Germany 
have  a  good  opera,  and  every  opera-house  arouses  enthu- 
siasm for  music  in  a  wide  circle  round  it,  stimulates  its 
culture,  awakes  genius. 

Why  should  we  have  the  operas  in  Italian — German 
operas  translated  into  Italian,  to  be  sung  to  English  ears? 
We  are  as  foolish  in  this  matter  as  the  petty  princes  of 
Germany  a  hundred  years  ago. 

All  honour  and  thanks  to  Herr  Carl  Eosa  for  having 
been  the  first  to  give,  in  1876  and  1877,  at  the  Lyceum, 
operas  in  English,  and  at  cheap  prices,  to  audiences 
which  cannot  afford  to  attend  the  Italian  Opera  at  Covent 
Garden.  And  Mr.  Mapleson  deserves  the  thanks  of  all 
lovers  of  the  opera  for  having  given  the  public  the  benefit 
of  hearing  good  music  at  a  cheap  rate,  in  Her  Majesty's, 
in  1878-9.  These  are  good  beginnings.1 

1  I  would  enter  here  my  protest  against  large  opera-houses.  The 
melodiousness,  the  tone  of  a  voice  is  lost  in  the  vast  spaces  of  Drury 
Lane,  Covent  Garden,  and  Her  Majesty's.  The  difference  of  effect  be- 
tween The  Flying  Dutchman  at  the  Lyceum  and  at  the  Italian  Opera 


IO2  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

At  the  '  Globe '  also  an  appreciative  audience  in  pit 
and  gallery  drink  in  the  sweet  airs  of  '  Les  Cloches  de  Cor- 
neville.'  Let  us  hope  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant 
when  there  will  be  half-a-dozen  opera-houses  in  London, 
and  one  in  each  of  our  great  towns.  Then,  I  do  not 
doubt  it,  English  musical  genius  will  awake  and  sing; 
and  we  shall  contribute  to  our  neighbours,  instead  of 
merely  borrowing.  A  hundred  years  ago  English  archi- 
tecture was  utterly  bad.  English  architects  then  sat  down 
patiently  before  masterpieces  of  antiquity,  copied  themr 
measured  them,  and  reproduced  them.  At  length  they 
became  capable  of  doing  something  better  than  copy,  and 
I  venture  to  assert  that  the  English  architect  now  towers 
in  his  profession  above  the  architects  of  France  and  Ger- 
many, as  the  Abbey  of  Westminster  does  above  little  St. 
Margaret's.  English  painters  were  nowhere  fifty  years  ago. 
They  have  gone  to  Nature,  studied  her  in  all  her  moods, 
with  resolute  perseverance,  and  the  English  school  is  not 
now  to  be  put  to  the  blush  by  anything  produced  by  Paris, 
Munich,  Diisseldorf,  or  Berlin.  Excellence  is  the  fruit  of 
patient  study  in  every  art.  Unfortunately  in  music  no 
masterpieces  are  set  before  our  people  which  they  can 
study ;  and  till  we  have  popular  operas  performed  year  by 
year,  and  everywhere,  it  is  hopeless  to  look  out  for  the 
dawn  of  musical  genius  among  us.  A  man  will  not  be- 
come an  architect  who  lives  in,  and  never  leaves,  Gower 
Street,  and  our  English  public  are  at  present  prisoners  in 
a  musical  Gower  Street. 

was  most  noticeable  in  1876.  The  chorus  loses  its  thrilling  effect  in 
a  huge  house.  The  solo  singers  should  never  have  to  strain  to  be  heard ; 
the  quality  of  tone  is  at  once  depreciated.  The  dramatic  effect  is  also, 
weakened.  The  canvas  is  too  large  for  one  or  two  figures. 


The  Kulturkampf.  io( 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE     KULTURKAMPF. 

Skal.  What !  the  sword  and  the  word  !  do  you  study  them  both,  master 

parson  ? 
Evans.  There  is  reasons  and  causes  for  it. 

Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,  act  iii.  sc.  1. 

THE  old  German  Empire  was  built  on  a  confederation  of 
princes  and  powers.  It  held  together  very  loosely.  The 
Emperor  could  never  rely  on  the  princes  for  support,  and 
the  princes  were  ever  jealous  of  the  authority  of  the  Kaiser, 
Charles  the  Great,  foreseeing  the  danger  to  the  Empire  from 
the  rivalries  of  the  secular  princes,  elevated  some  of  the 
bishoprics  into  principalities  under  episcopal  sovereigns, 
trusting  that  these  spiritual  Electors  would  stand  by  the 
Imperial  throne,  and  maintain  its  prerogatives  against  the 
secular  Kurfiirsten.  He  looked  to  them  as  the  peace-  and 
order-loving  elements  in  the  constitution.  But  he  left 
out  of  his  calculation  the  fact  that  these  prelates  owed  a 
double  allegiance,  and  that  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  as 
head  of  the  Holy  Koman  Empire  and  King  of  Italy,  was 
liable  to  be  regarded  with  suspicion  and  jealousy  by  the 
Roman  Pontiff,  the  spiritual  head  of  these  bishops. 

Throughout  the  Middle  Ages  the  See  of  Rome  pursued 
the  readily  intelligible  policy  of  undermining  the  Empire, 
of  sowing  in  its  fields  the  tares  of  strife.  It  was  the 
Papacy  which  sat  under  the  table  of  the  Electors  and  cast 
the  apple  of  discord  into  their  midst ;  it  was  the  Papacy 
which  hampered  the  development  of  a  great  idea,  and 


IO4  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

made  of  the  Empire  a  house  divided  against  itself.  It  did 
so  solely  because  the  Emperor  of  Germany  wore  the 
crown  of  Italy,  and  was  chief  patrician  of  Kome. 

The  ideal  of  the  Papacy  was  the  establishment  of  the 
throne  of  Peter  as  head  over  a  temporal  realm  of  Italy, 
and  the  fulfilment  of  this  ideal  was  made  impossible  by 
the  might  of  Germany.  In  France  the  great  princes  were 
crushed,  and  the  King  became  supreme.  In  Germany,  the 
Empire  broke  up,  and  the  princes  established  their  inde- 
pendence. In  France  the  centripetal  force  prevailed,  in 
Germany  the  force  that  was  centrifugal.  In  France,  the 
feudal  nobles  succumbed  without  the  Pope  lifting  a  finger 
to  save  them  ;  but  then,  none  of  the  bishops  were  princes, 
and  the  King  of  France  was  not  King  of  Italy. 

Every  German  who  has  studied  the  history  of  his 
country  knows  that  the  failure  in  the  accomplishment  of 
the  ideal  of  Charlemagne  was  due  to  two  causes :  a  loose 
confederation  of  the  States  composing  the  Empire,  and  the 
interference  of  the  Holy  See. 

When  the  Imperial  crown  of  Germany  was  offered  to 
William  of  Prussia,  at  Versailles,  and  it  became  possible 
again  to  labour  at  the  accomplishment  of  that  ideal  which 
had  broken  down  finally  in  the  Thirty  Years'  war,  the 
Chancellor  doubtless  supposed  that  the  two  causes  which 
had  prevented  that  accomplishment  before  existed  still, 
and  must  be  met  and  overcome. 

But,  with  regard  to  the  first,  Prussia  has  little  grounds 
for  fear.  Holding  the  Imperial  crown,  she  is  vastly  more 
powerful  than  any  of  the  States  separately  which  form  the 
union,  and  with  the  States  which  she  can  absolutely  com- 
mand can  crush  at  any  moment  an  attempt  to  resist  too 
summary  incorporation.1  Like  Hermione — '  She  is  spread 
of  late  into  a  goodly  bulk.' 

1  Population    (1875) :— Prussia,    25,772,562;    Bavaria,    6,022,904; 


The  Kulturkampf.  105 

The  Episcopal  Electorates  of  Cologne,  Minister,  and 
Treves  have  passed  to  her.  Part  of  Poland  has  become 
her  spoil.  She  exacted  Silesia  of  Austria  as  the  price  of 
recognition  of  the  right  of  Maria  Theresa  to  the  throne  of 
the  Hapsburgs.  Grand  Duchies  have  been  absorbed  in 
quick  succession.  Schleswig-Holstein  has  been  appropri- 
ated, Hesse-Cassel  secured,  Nassau  incorporated.  Bruns- 
wick and  Hanover  have  gone  to  make  her  *  round  apace,' 
and  now  there  is  not  a  State  in  Germany  which  does  not 
exist  on  sufferance.  Hesse  was  allowed  in  '66  to  linger  on 
because  of  its  relationship  to  Russia.  Baden  has  bought  a 
prolongation  of  life  by  marrying  a  Prussian  princess.  The 
Queen  of  Wiirtemberg  was  an  Olga  of  Russia,  and  the 
King  has  no  son.  Prussia  has,  however,  planted  one  foot 
in  Swabia,  in  Hohenzollern,  and  she  is  not  likely  to  be 
satisfied  till  she  can  put  down  the  other  there  also. 

Since  1871,  the  policy  of  centralisation  has  been 
steadily  pursued.  Universal  military  service,  which  had 
previously  prevailed  only  in  Prussia,  has  been  extended  to 
the  whole  Empire,  and  the  armies  of  the  States  are  being 
systematically  unified.  '  The  entire  military  force  of  the 
Empire,'  says  Art  63  of  the  Imperial  Constitution,  c  shall 
form  one  single  army,  standing  in  war  and  peace  under 
the  command  of  the  Emperor.  The  regiments  shall  be 
numbered  consecutively  throughout  the  whole  German 
army.  The  uniform  shall  be  conformed  in  cut  and  colour 
to  that  of  the  Royal  Prussian  army  ;  but  the  Sovereigns  of 
the  several  contingents  shall  be  allowed  to  add  extra  dis- 
tinctions, as  cockades  and  the  like.' 

Baden  regiments  are  commanded  by  Prussian  officers 
and  may  be  moved  where  the  Emperor  chooses,  into 
Lothringen,  or  Westphalia,  or  Schleswig.  And  though 

Saxony,  2,760,342 ;  Wiirtemberg,  1,881,505  ;  Baden,  1,506,531 ;  Hesse, 
882,349 ;  Elsass-Lothringen,  1,529,408. 


io6  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

Wiirtemberg  soldiers  remain  in  the  kingdom,  they  are 
placed  under  the  command  of  a  Prussian  general.  All 
fortresses  are  Imperial,  and  the  commanders  of  them  are 
appointed  by  the  Emperor. 

The  old  coinage  of  Baden,  Bavaria,  Wiirtemberg,  &c., 
is  suppressed;  kreuzers  and  guldens,  to  the  joy  of  travellers, 
have  made  way  for  Pfennige  and  Marken,  stamped  with 
*  Deutsches  Keich  ; '  and  the  Imperial  Eagle,  bearing  the 
Prussian  escutcheon,  has  supplanted  the  arms  of  the  States 
on  every  coin.1 

Everywhere,  except  in  Bavaria,  the  post-office  has 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Empire,  which  has  also  laid 
hold  of  the  telegraphs,  and  appropriated  the  customs. 
Before  long  the  railways  will  probably  have  been  delivered 
up  to  the  Empire,  and  on  the  carriages  the  black  eagle 
will  be  painted  over  the  blue  and  white  Bavarian  chequer 
and  the  gold  and  red  arms  of  Baden. 

Thus  the  whole  postal,  telegraphic,  railroad,  parcels- 
delivery,  and  customs  administration,  will  be  filled  with 
employes  of  the  Empire,  looking  to  Berlin,  not  to  Munich, 
Stuttgart,  Karlsruhe,  Dresden,  and  Darmstadt.  At 
Berlin  will  be  gathered  every  thread  of  power,  and  the 
whole  of  Germany  will  be  involved  in  a  net  held  by  the 
firm  hand  of  the  Imperial  Chancellor.  On  October  1, 
1879,  Baden  and  the  Bavarian  Pfalz  will  abandon  the 
Code  Napoleon  ;  Bavaria,  Saxony,  and  Wiirtemberg,  their 
national  codes,  the  growth  of  centuries,  and  will  accept 
the  new  Imperial  Digest. 

Before  1866,  Southern  Germany  inclined  to  an  alliance 
with  Austria  rather  than  with  Prussia.  It  was  not  for- 
gotten that  Prussia  had  played  a  selfish  game  in  the  great 

1  In  the  South,  on  the  change  of  coinage,  it  was  desired  to  have 
the  French  decimal  system,  with  the  frank  of  the  same  value  as  in 
Italy,  France,  Switzerland,  and  Belgium.  But  Berlin  ruled  otherwise. 


The  Kulturkampf.  107 

wars  with  Napoleon,  and  that  Austria  had  ventured  all 
and  lost  vastly  for  the  common  good.  Prussia  was  known 
to  have  the  appetite  of  the  boa,  but  then  her  administra- 
tion commanded  respect,  whilst  that  of  Austria  was 
inchoate.  If  Prussia  was  poor,  she  was  not  impecunious ; 
she  could  pay  in  silver,  where  Austria  offered  only  silver- 
paper.  There  was  no  help  to  be  gotten  out  of  an  Empire 
which  issued  notes  for  eighteenpence.  Montecuculi  said 
that  for  war  three  things  are  needed :  first,  money ; 
secondly,  money ;  and  thirdly,  money.  Austria  had  not 
these  requisites,  and  a  piece  of  tissue-paper  that  dissolves 
to  pulp  in  a  shower  is  a  poor  substitute  for  hard  cash.1 
What  redemption  can  come  from  an  Empire  that  even 
in  1878  issued  lottery  tickets  for  the  support  of  its  army  ? 
If  eyes  turned  to  Austria,  it  was  only  with  sentiment :  it 
was  with  as  little  thought  of  union  as  has  the  student 
who  casts  tender  glances  at  the  dowerless  Kellnerinn — 

Lieben,  lieben  will  ich  dich, 
Aber  heirathen  nicJit. 

A  large  part  of  South  Baden  belonged,  before  1802,  to 
Austria.  The  people  in  the  Southern  Schwarzwald  speak 
affectionately  of  the  past  union,  and  grumble  over  their 
present  political  marriage,  but  it  is  the  sentiment  of  the 
widow  who  flings  the  virtues  of  the  late  lamented  in  the 
face  of  her  second  husband,  without  the  expectation, 
perhaps  the  wish  to  resuscitate  the  first. 

The  twins  born  back  to  back  never  made  much  pro- 
gress in  the  world,  for  each  objected  to  walk  backwards. 
Austria  consists  of  three  personalities :  the  thoughtful 
German,  the  plodding  Slav,  and  the  blustering  Magyar, 
not  linked  as  the  graces,  but  like  Samson's  foxes.  The 

1  *  Don't  wade  through  the  river  with  your  fortune  in  your  pocket,, 
is  a  Tyrolese  proverb. 


io8  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

forces  of  the  Empire  are  exhausted  internally  in  keeping 
the  tails  together.  With  Sadowa  finally  disappeared  the 
'  Gross  Deutschland-Partei,'  which  clung  to  the  dream  of 
an  Austrian  union.  If  there  be  dislike  in  the  South  to 
Prussia,  it  is  because  the  Prussian  has  made  himself 
offensive  to  the  gentler  and  more  courteous  Southerner. 
In  1878,  on  March  22,  the  birthday  of  the  Emperor,  a  mili- 
tary banquet  was  given  at  Munich  in  honour  of  the  Kaiser, 
to  which  were  invited  all  Prussian  officers  then  in  Munich, 
and  his  health  was  enthusiastically  drunk  by  Bavarians 
and  Prussians  alike.  When,  next,  the  health  of  the  King 
of  Bavaria  was  proposed,  the  Prussian  junior  officers  re- 
mained seated,  and  refused  the  toast;  when  asked  the 
reason,  they  replied  by  their  spokesman,  that  the  mental 
or  bodily  welfare  of  the  Sovereign  was  a  matter  of  supreme 
indifference  to  them.  In  a  club  to  which  I  belonged  in  a 
South  German  city,  the  Prussian  officers  of  the  native 
garrison  were  admitted  by  the  kindly  citizens,  proposed 
-and  elected  without  prejudice.  Once  in,  they  monopolised 
the  best  room  and  best  tables,  and  by  their  loudly  ex- 
pressed insulting  speeches  about  the  little  State,  its 
Sovereign,  and  religion,  drove  the  old  members  from 
the  room  into  another.  These  are  mere  specimens  of 
conduct  pretty  general,  and  which  naturally  embitters 
people  against  Prussia.  They  decline  to  love  those  who 
comport  themselves  not  as  conquerors  only,  but  as  bullies. 
But  this  antipathy  to  the  Prussian — which  is  after  all 
only  the  dislike  a  person  might  have  to  the  invasion  of 
his  boudoir  by  a  very  boisterous  and  unmannerly  New- 
foundland dog — does  not  extend  to  the  Empire.  The 
re-establishment  of  the  German  Empire  was  hailed  alike 
by  Protestants  and  Catholics,  priests  and  laymen  ;  and  I 
believe  the  Chancellor  was  entirely  mistaken  in  supposing 
that  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  would  prove  a  danger  to 


The  Kulturkampf.  109 

the  young  Empire.  He  has  made  one  or  two  great 
mistakes  in  his  life.  He  is  blundering  now  into  a  repres- 
sive warfare  against  Social-Democracy.  His  Kultur- 
kampf was  a  greater  error.  Since  1871  I  have  been  every 
year  to  Germany,  and  have  talked  with  every  sort  of 
person,  and  have  become  more  and  more  convinced  that 
this  was  the  case.  A  Roman  priest  said  to  me,  cln  1871 
we  were  all  mad  with  joy ;  Catholics,  Protestants,  Jews, 
— it  was  all  the  same  ;  we  rushed  into  each  other's  arms,, 
and  swore  Bruderschaft ;  we  thought  the  millennium  had 
come.' 

And  there  was  reason  why  the  Catholics  in  Baden  at 
all  events  should  hail  Prussian  supremacy.  In  1806,  by 
the  Peace  of  Pressburg,  the  Margrave  of  Baden  acquired 
all  the  lands  of  Austria  between  the  Rhine  and  Danube  to 
the  Lake  of  Constance — lands  thoroughly  Catholic.  At 
once  every  monastery  was  sequestrated,  and  turned  into  a 
barrack,  or  a  brewery.  In  Protestant  Germany  there  are 
many  Stifte,  old  convents  used  for  noble  ladies,  who  live 
there  comfortably  as  canonesses  under  an  abbess.  The 
religious  character  of  these  institutions  is  of  course  gone, 
but  they  remain  as  almshouses  for  the  nobles,  and  the 
post  of  abbess  has  often  been  given  to  a  discarded  mistress 
of  a  prince.  Thus  the  Countess  of  Konigsmark  was  made 
abbess  of  Quedlimburg.  In  the  Black  Forest  was  an 
almshouse  for  peasants'  daughters,  at  Lindenberg,  in 
which  Catholic  old  maids  might  end  their  days  together, 
not  taking  monastic  vows,  but  living  together  near  a 
chapel,  and  with  gardens  and  meadows  belonging  to  the 
institution.  So  persistently  has  the  Baden  Government 
worried  the  Catholics  who  have  come  to  the  Grand  Duchy, 
that  even  this  very  harmless  institution  was  suppressed  in 
1869;  and  now  it  remains  untenanted  and  falling  into 
ruin.  At  the  very  same  time,  as  if  to  add  insult  to  injury, 


no  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

a  Protestant  'Stiff  was  founded  for  noble  Evangelical 
ladies,  nine  miles  off,  at  Freiburg,  in  a  city  where,  before 
1806,  there  had  not  been  a  Protestant.  Indeed,  since 
1806  the  Catholic  Church  in  Baden  has  been  harassed 
in  every  way  possible  by  the  Government,  though  the 
proportion  in  every  100  persons  in  Baden  is  64*5  Catholics 
to  33-6  Protestants.  In  1852,  when  the  late  Grand 
Duke  died,  the  Archbishop  of  Freiburg  was  ordered  to 
have  high  Eequiem  Mass  for  his  soul  in  the  Cathedral. 
He  declined,  on  the  grounds  that  this  was  not  possible, 
as  the  Grand  Duke  was  a  Protestant,  and  the  Catholic 
Church  only  allowed  masses  for  the  souls  of  its  members : 
but  he  offered  to  hold  a  solemn  service  of  mourning,  and 
to  preach  a  panegyrical  sermon  on  the  sad  occasion. 
This  was  the  origin  of  a  series  of  petty  persecutions 
to  which  the  Koman  Church  in  Baden  was  subjected  till 
1871.  When  the  Archbishop  died,  in  1868,  and  the 
chapter  sent  in  eight  names  to  the  Grand  Duke  for  him 
to  choose  among  them,  he  tore  up  the  list,  and  bade  the 
chapter  elect  again.  A  second  list  met  with  the  same 
fate,  and  since  then  the  see  has  been  without  bishop 
recognised  by  the  State,  i.e.  for  ten  years.  It  may  well 
be  imagined  that  Baden  Catholics  could  feel  no  very 
warm  enthusiasm  for  their  Government,  which  had  in- 
cessantly worried  them  since  they  had  been  handed  over 
to  an  insignificant  Margrave  blown  into  a  Grand  Duke  by 
Napoleon  I. 

The  Badenser  Catholics  drew  a  long  breath  in  1871, 
and  hoped  that  in  a  mighty  Empire  they  might  receive 
more  generous  treatment  than  in  a  petty  principality.  In 
Wiirtemberg  the  Catholics  are  in  a  minority.  Before 
1806  they  were  under  Austria  or  Catholic  'immediate' 
princes  ;  but  Napoleon,  to  reward  the  Duke  of  Wiirtemberg 
for  treason  to  the  cause  of  Germany,  forcibly  annexed 


The  Kulturkampf.  1 1 1 

them  to  his  Duchy,  and  gave  the  Duke  a  royal  crown. 
Out  of  100  persons  30*4  are  Catholic,  and  68-7  are  Evan- 
gelical. The  Catholic  Church  is  not  allowed  much  liberty. 
It  is  part  of  the  Koman  system  to  use  monasteries  and 
convents  for  the  advance  of  religion ;  and  in  Wiirtemberg, 
by  law  of  1862,  religious  orders  and  congregations  are 
only  allowed  to  settle  or  be  formed  subject  to  the  risk  of 
expulsion  at  a  few  days'  notice.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there 
are  in  Wiirtemberg  only  232  sisters  of  mercy,  tolerated, 
not  recognised,  by  the  Government,  and  144  sisters  of 
other  orders. 

Bavaria  does  not  comprise  people  of  one  blood  like 
Wiirtemberg.  It  embraces  Bavarians  proper  (the  Bojars, 
a  Slav  people  originally),  Franconians  of  Wiirzburg,  Bam- 
berg,  and  Aschaffenburg  given  it  in  1806,  and  Swabians, 
formerly  under  the  rule  of  little  princes,  on  the  east  of  the 
Iller.  The  proportion  among  100  persons  in  Bavaria  is 
71*2  Catholics  to  27*6  Protestants.  Bavaria  is  a  contented 
little  kingdom,  and  there  was  no  religious  reason  for  op- 
position to  the  Empire.  The  King  was  more  dreaded  than 
the  Emperor.  He  coquetted  with  the  Alt-Katholics,  sup- 
ported Dollinger,  and  when  Pius  IX.  died,  showed  his 
animus  by  forbidding  the  bells  of  the  churches  in  his 
realm  being  tolled  to  call  the  Catholics  to  pray  for  their 
departed  Pontiff. 

In  Prussia  the  Eoman  Church  enjoyed  complete  liberty. 
She  looked  on  America  and  Prussia  as  her  happy  hunting 
fields.  The  conciliatory  spirit  manifested  by  the  Govern- 
ment had  the  most  happy  results  in  completely  securing 
the  loyalty  of  Westphalia,  the  Ehenish  provinces,  and 
Silesia.  Indeed,  South  Germans  looked  with  some  sus- 
picion on  the  Catholics  of  the  North,  and  it  was  a  common 
saying  among  them  that  these  latter  were  6  Prussians  first, 
Germans  next,  and  then  Catholics.' 


1 1 2  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

All  at  once  a  bolt  fell  out  of  the  blue  sky.  On  July  4,, 
1872,  the  Emperor  William  signed  at  Ems  a  law  expelling* 
the  Jesuits  and  their  affiliated  orders  from  the  Grerman 
Empire. 

On  May  20,  1873,  it  was  announced  by  the  Chancellor 
that  the  Kedemptorists,  Lazarists,  the  Congregation  of 
Priests  of  the  Holy  Grhost,  and  the  Society  of  the  Sacred 
Heart,  were  included  in  this  condemnation. 

On  February  6,  1875,  a  law  was  signed  which  withdrew 
registration  of  births  and  burials  from  the  clergy,  and 
placed  it  in  the  hands  of  officers  of  the  State,  and  also- 
made  civil  marriage  compulsory. 

On  February  26,  1876,  an  addition  was  made  to  the 
penal  code  of  the  Empire  drawn  up  in  1871,  which  made 
the  clergy  amenable  to  punishment  for  uttering  any  ex- 
pression in  public,  or  for  printing  anything,  which  imperils 
the  public  peace. 

These  are  the  only  ecclesiastical  laws  affecting  the 
Empire,  but  a  whole  string  of  laws  has  been  enacted,  first 
in  Baden,  and  then  in  Prussia,  applicable  to  both  these 
States — in  Baden  in  1869,  two  years  later  in  Prussia. 
6  Fiat  experimentum  in  corpore  vili.' 

On  July  8,  1871,  the  ministry  of  the  Catholic  religion 
in  the  Kingdom  of  Prussia  was  suppressed,  and  one  minis- 
try of  religion  was  constituted  for  Catholics  and  Protes- 
tants. 

On  March  15,  1873,  the  office  of  Chaplain-Greneral  in 
the  army  for  Catholics  was  done  away  with.  Other  acts 
were  passed  to  give  petty  annoyance ;  but  those  of  May 
1873  were  more  serious. 

The  law  of  May  1 1  requires  that  no  priest  shall  enter 
on  a  cure  of  souls  who  has  not  passed  through  examina- 
tion in  a  Grerman  gymnasium,  spent  three  years  in  a 
German  university,  and  passed  an  examination  in  three- 


The  Kulturkampf.  113 

faculties,  of  which  theology  shall  not  be  one.  It  forbids 
candidates  for  orders  residing  in  a  college  together  whilst 
studying  in  the  university.1  It  forbids  the  opening  of 
new  schools,  and  the  taking  of  fresh  pupils  into  the  old 
schools  for  candidates  for  the  ministry.  It  requires  the 
Ordinary  to  announce  to  the  State  the  nomination  to  a 
cure  of  souls,  and  provides  that,  in  the  event  of  a  bishop 
appointing  a  priest  who  has  not  his  Government  certifi- 
cate, he  shall  be  fined  from  600  to  3,000  marks  (30Z.  to 
1501.) 

There  are  other  provisions,  but  these  are  the  most 
important.  On  December  6,  1873,  a  law  was  passed 
requiring  the  bishops,  before  recognition  by  the  State,  to 
take  an  oath  of  obedience  to  these  laws. 

On  May  21,  1874,  additional  provisions  were  added, 
making  it  penal  for  a  priest  to  exercise  any  religious 
function,  unless  he  has  his  ticket  of  qualification  from  the 
State,  and  authorising  the  parish  or  State  to  appoint  a 
priest  to  a  vacant  cure  of  souls,  without  the  consent  of 
the  bishop,  should  he  nominate  contrary  to  the  law. 

By  law  of  February  18,  1876,  the  religious  instruc- 
tion given  to  Catholic  children  in  schools  is  subjected  to 
the  supervision  and  approval  of  the  State.  Other  laws 
affecting  the  Catholic  Church  have  been  passed,  but  they 
are  of  less  immediate  interest  and  importance. 

The  western  porch  of  the  cathedral  of  Strassburg  is  en- 
closed within  two  gables,  one  within  the  other.  The 
inner  gable  is  surmounted  by  a  statue  of  the  Emperor, 
and  on  the  stages  or  crockets  are  figures  of  bears  and  lions. 
Outside  this  gable,  spiring  airily  aloft,  is  another,  sur- 
mounted by  the  figure  of  Our  Lord,  and  the  stages  of 

1  Protestants  are  allowed  to  live  in  the  Johanneum  at  Berlin,  and 
the  college  of  the  same  name  at  Breslau,  and  the  Evangelical  College 
at  Leipzig. 

YOL.    II.  I 


1 1 4  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

this  gable  are  occupied  by  angels  with  expanded  wings. 
The  inner  structure  represents  the  Imperial  power  resting 
on  and  sustained  by  brute  force.  The  outer  is  the  symbol 
of  the  spiritual  power  reposing  on  free  intelligences  and 
unfettered  wills.  It  would  have  been  well  had  the  Im- 
perial Chancellor  taken  a  look  at  this  frontal  before  passing 
the  May  laws,  and  attempting  to  crush  a  spiritual  empire 
within  one  military  and  bureaucratic. 

Why  was  the  Kulturkampf  undertaken?  This  is  a 
question  often  asked,  and  answered  in  different  ways. 
That  Ultramontanism  is  a  danger  to  the  Empire  is  the 
usual  explanation;  but  proof  is  not  producible.  The 
evidence  is  not  forthcoming  for  very  good  reasons.  Ultra- 
montanism can  scarcely  be  said  to  exist  in  Germany. 
And  Ultramontanism,  even  if  it  did  exist,  need  not  be  in 
opposition  to  the  Empire. 

Ultramontanism,  as  it  is  understood  in  France  and 
Belgium,  has  never  taken  root  in  Germany.  It  was  re- 
presented by  the  Jesuits,  and  when  they  were  got  rid  of, 
Catholicism  remained  as  a  religion,  but  not  as  a  poli- 
tical factor.  In  Prussia  the  Catholic  population  was 
thoroughly  loyal.  The  Poles  were  in  a  state  of  chronic 
discontent,  but  they  knew  that  they  were  better  off  under 
Prussia  than  their  brethren  under  the  Czar.  There 
was  no  danger  to  be  apprehended  from  them.  West- 
phalian  Catholics,  and  those  on  the  Rhine  and  Mosel,  in 
Osnabriick  and  Hildesheim,  were  well  content  to  be  no 
longer  under  episcopal  Electors,  and  felt  no  gravitation 
towards  France.  They  never  lived  under  a  reigning  fa- 
mily, and  had  no  dynastic  loyalty,  like  the  Wiirtembergers 
and  Bavarians  and  Saxons.  A  sluggish  sense  of  respect 
for  the  Hohenzollerns  was  warming  into  loyalty  to  a  house 
and  with  a  little  nursing  might  grow  into  enthusiasm. 
The  real  seat  of  disaffection  and  danger  is  Bavaria  and 


The  Kulturkampf.  i  r  5 

Wiirtemberg,  and  these  States  are  unaffected  by  the  May 
laws. 

Ultramontanism  is  an  exotic,  and  will  not  take  ready 
root  in  German  ground.  German  Catholics  are  too  sober 
and  sensible  to  follow  the  excesses  of  a  school  which  has  mas- 
tered the  Church  in  France.  The  bishops  exhibited  their 
feebleness  at  the  Vatican  Council,  but  not  their  subser- 
viency to  the  Jesuits.  And  the  Catholic  clergy  are  German 
at  heart,  and  moderate  in  their  opinions.  None  are  more 
ready  to  testify  to  this,  as  also  to  the  purity  of  their  lives, 
and  their  devotion  to  their  calling,  than  the  Evangelical 
pastors  who  are  their  next-door  neighbours.  'In  village 
life,'  says  the  proverb, '  every  man  sees  into  his  neighbour's 
mouth ; '  and,  it  may  be  added,  into  his  neighbour's  heart 
as  well. 

Last  Emperor's  birthday  was  kept  in  a  little  South 
German  village  by  there  assembling,  in  the  village  inn, 
three  Koman  priests,  two  Protestant  pastors,  an  English 
clergyman,  the  count  whose  castle  was  in  the  village,  the 
notary,  the  apothecary,  and  some  bauers.     The  health  of 
the  Emperor  was  drunk  by  all  amidst  patriotic  speeches, 
and  the  evening  passed  amidst  clouds  of  tobacco-smoke 
and  the  flowing  of  fresh  beer,  with  the  utmost  cordiality. 
Every  Sunday  and  festival  sees  these  worthies — the  Eng- 
lishman excepted — hobnobbing  together.     Catholic  priest 
and   Protestant   pastor,    Conservative   Graf   and   Liberal 
apothecary,  argue  and  laugh  and  dispute  and  shake  hands 
year  in  year  out.     Is  this  a  nursery  of  Ultramontanism  ? 
In  France  the  priests  are  debarred  by  their  bishops  from 
joining  in  social  gatherings,  lest  they  lose  the  narrowness 
laboriously  contracted  in  the  seminaries,  and  widen  into 
good-fellowship  with  all  men  by  association.     Englishmen 
have  lost  all  prejudice  against  Moslems  and  Hindoos  by 
mixing  with  them,  and  German  Protestant  pastors  and 

i  2 


1 1 6  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

Catholic  priests  are  hail-brother-well-met !  because  they 
smoke  and  drink  together  at  least  once  a  week. 

Ultramontanism  does  exist  in  Germany,  but  it  is  en- 
tirely the  fruit,  the  creation,  of  a  meddling  and  muddling 
policy  on  the  part  of  the  Governments. 

The  external  organisation  of  the  Roman  Church  in 
Germany  was  destroyed  in  1803.  The  Catholic  Church 
till  then  had  been  an  established  Church,  with  its  bishops, 
abbots,  canons,  and  clergy  holding  land,  and  enjoying 
rights  and  exercising  a  vote  in  the  affairs  of  their  country 
and  the  Empire.  In  1803  the  bishoprics,  abbacies,  chap- 
ters, were  all  secularised.  The  archbishopric  of  Mainz, 
which  had  been  an  independent  principality  since  the  time 
of  Charlemagne,  fell  to  Hesse-Darmstadt.  Fulda,  which 
had  been  ruled  by  an  abbot-bishop  since  751,  was  given  to 
the  Calvinist  house  of  Nassau.  Wiirzburg  fell  to  Bavaria, 
so  did  Bamberg.  In  1814  Cologne  became  Prussian,  so 
also  Treves.  It  is  needless  to  mention  others.  The  re- 
sult was  that  the  Roman  prelates  and  clergy  were  detached 
from  the  soil ;  they  had  lost  interest  of  a  practical  kind  in 
their  country.  The  Protestant  rulers  over  newly  acquired 
Catholic  populations  consulted  together  in  1818  about  a 
constitution  for  the  Catholic  Church  in  Germany.  But  in 
the  interim  between  1803  and  1818  irreparable  mischief 
had  been  done.  A  Protestant  church  may  be  disestablished 
with  tolerable  impunity.  It  will  become  narrow  and 
sectarian,  but  not  anti-national,  because  it  has  no  second 
centre  round  which  to  concentrate.  But  it  is  not  so  with 
the  Catholic  Church.  The  only  means  of  making  it  na- 
tional is  to  give  it  a  footing  on  the  soil,  on  which  it  can 
stand  and  make  opposition  to  the  Papacy.  By  cutting 
away  this  foothold  the  Roman  clergy  were  precipitated 
into  the  arms  of  Rome,  compelled  to  be  Ultramontane.  In 
1817  Bavaria  had  concluded  a  concordat  with  the  Pope 


The  Kulturkampf.  117 

which  accorded  extensive  rights  to  the  King, — the  appoint- 
ment to  the  bishoprics.  Prussia  and  Hanover  also  nego- 
tiated directly  with  the  Pope.  From  the  close  of  the 
Thirty  Years'  war  the  German  Catholic  Church  had 
manifested  a  markedly  national  and  liberal  tendency,  and 
had  maintained  a  persistent  opposition  to  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  Curia ;  but  now,  by  the  Protestant  and  Ca- 
tholic governments  negotiating  directly  with  the  Pope, 
instead  of,  as  heretofore,  treating  with  the  bishops  and 
clergy  of  Germany,  as  a  National  Catholic  Church,  they 
constituted  him  absolute  over  the  Grerman  Church,  and 
put  the  clergy  unreservedly  into  his  hands.  Curialism 
gained  ground.  No  provision  had  been  made  by  the 
Governments  for  the  diocesan  rule  being  in  accordance 
with  canon  law.  The  bishops  were  converted  by  the  force 
of  circumstances  into  creatures  of  Rome,  and  the  clergy 
into  creatures  of  the  bishops.  The  Curia  took  care  to 
make  the  bishop  entirely  dependent  on  its  favour,  and  he 
in  turn  ruled  his  clergy  as  a  body  of  serfs.  Can  any  one 
believe  that  the  bishops  and  parochial  clergy  hailed  this 
change  ?  That  it  was  acceptable  to  them  to  be  trans- 
formed from  a  state  of  established  independence  into 
curates  totally  dependent  on  the  Curia  at  Rome? 

If  in  Germany  Ultramontanism  exists,  the  State  has 
only  itself  to  thank  for  it.  The  German  Church  used  to 
hold  its  synods  and  councils.  It  does  nothing  of  the  sort 
now.  The  clergy  have  no  more  a  voice  in  the  management 
of  the  diocese  than  servants  have  in  the  arrangements  of 
.a  household.  If  they  displease  the  bishops,  they  can  be 
crushed.  If  a  bishop  offend  the  Curia,  he  may  have  his 
privileges  withdrawn,  so  that  he  remains  but  a  bishop  in 
name.  A  system  of  faculties  has  been  contrived  which 
are  granted  to  a  bishop  who  stands  well  with  the  Curia  ; 
but  should  he  be  out  of  favour  they  are  withdrawn,  and 


1 1 8  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

his  authority,  power,  and  influence  in  his  diocese  are- 
paralysed.  He  is  a  bishop  unable  to  execute  his  episcopal 
functions  among  his  flock,  and  a  bishop  '  in  partibus  '  is 
sent  by  the  Pope  into  the  diocese  to  discredit  him  with 
his  people,  and  minister  to  them  in  his  room.  It  was  by 
threatening  the  withdrawal  of  these  rights,  that  some 
of  the  bishops  most  opposed  to  the  dogma  of  Papal  in- 
fallibility were  forced  to  yield.  Yet,  in  spite  of  all 
that  has  been  done  by  the  State  to  squeeze  the  clergy 
into  Ultramontanism,  I  do  not  believe  that  more  than 
one  out  of  ten  is  an  Ultramontane  of  the  Belgian  and 
French  type  ;  I  believe  that  till  Prince  Bismarck  passed 
the  May  laws,  the  vast  body  of  the  clergy  were  well 
affected  to  the  Imperial  Government.  If  four  out  of  ten 
are  Ultramontanes  now,  it  is  because  the  Chancellor 
has  made  them  so.  In  the  Middle  Ages  an  outcry  was 
raised  against  the  Jews  for  poisoning  the  wells,  and  they 
were  hounded  down  and  burnt  alive.  Yet  it  was  the 
Christians  as  much  as  they  who  poisoned  the  wells  with 
their  sewage.  If  in  Strassburg,  Ulm,  and  Mainz  the 
Christian  citizens  did  that  wherewith  Sennacherib 
threatened  the  Jews,  and  suffered  for  it,  they  were  wrong 
in  laying  the  blame  on  the  Hebrews,  instead  of  looking 
at  their  own  drains.  Prince  Bismarck  and  his  followers 
are  making  the  same  mistake.  It  is  the  German  Govern- 
ment which  by  its  short-sighted  and  blundering  policy 
has  poisoned  the  wells,  and  not  the  unhappy  Catholics 
whom  they  are  persecuting.  Till  recently,  the  clergy  have 
never  been  politicians  in  Germany,'  any  more  than  the 
bauers.  All  they  have  asked  for  has  been  to  be  let  alone. 
It  was  well  to  banish  the  Jesuits — a  body  of  men  with- 
out fatherland,  national  sympathies,  and  moral  scruples, 
careful  only  for  the  welfare  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and 
the  restoration  of  the  Temporal  Power. 


The  Kulturkampf.  119 

When  the  Empire  of  Germany  was  offered  to  William 
of  Prussia,  Cardinal  Ledochowsky,  as  the  mouthpiece  of 
the  Jesuits,  went  to  the  new  Emperor,  and  asked  him  if 
he  would  assist  in  the  restoration  of  the  Temporal  Power. 
When  the  Jesuits  learned  that  Germany  would  not  lend 
itself  to  this,  they  were  prepared  to  help  on  any  com- 
bination which  might  give  back  to  the  Pope  his  temporal 
crown,  Grerman  unity  being  sacrificed,  if  need  be,  to 
obtain  it.  It  may  be  a  matter  of  curiosity  to  some  to 
know  why  Jesuitism  should  be  so  eager  on  this  point. 
The  reason  is  simple  enough.  Unless  the  Pope  rules  in 
Eome  as  a  sovereign,  Jesuits  exist  in  Eome  and  about 
his  ear  only  on  sufferance.  At  any  moment  the  Italian 
Parliament  might  pass  an  act  expelling  them  from  the 
country ;  and  then,  unless  they  could  drag  the  Pope  off 
with  them,  their  hold  on  the  reins  of  the  Catholic  Church 
would  be  lost.  Odin  had  his  two  ravens,  Hugin  and 
Mugin,  inspiring  him,  by  whispering  dreams  into  his  ear. 
The  Jesuits  are  the  Hugin  and  Mugin  of  the  Supreme 
Pontiff.  If  the  Chancellor  had  confined  himself  to  the 
expulsion  of  the  spawn  of  Loyola,  only  a  handful  of  women, 
Poles,  and  converts  would  have  bewailed  them.  Priests 
and  bishops,  whilst  ostentatiously  protesting,  would  have 
rubbed  their  hands  in  secret.  The  Jesuits  are  the  spies  of 
the  Roman  Curia,  and  no  man  likes  to  have  all  his  moments 
watched  by  keepers  or  detectives.  Every  man  has  felt 
the  unpleasant  sensation  produced  by  an  eye  fixed  on  him 
for  a  protracted  period,  and  however  kindly  disposed  the 
observer  may  profess  himself  to  be,  his  room  is  preferred 
to  his  company. 

Unfortunately,  the  ecclesiastical  legislation  of  May  1873 
has  played  the  game  into  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits,  as  we 
shall  presently  see. 

The  Kulturkampf  has  by  some  been  represented  as  a 


I2O  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

war  for  education  and  culture  against  ignorance  and 
superstition.  It  may  be  so,  but  that  was  not  the  object 
for  which  it  was  declared.  If  we  look  at  the  educational 
statistics  of  Germany,  we  do  not  find  that  the  Catholics 
fall  short  of  the  Protestants  in  education.1  If  the  Govern- 
ment were  anxious  that  the  clergy  should  attain  a  high 
standard  of  culture,  it  was  an  odd  way  of  exhibiting  this 
anxiety  by  banishing  the  religious  orders,  which  contain 
the  most  highly  cultivated  and  intellectually  acute  members 
of  the  Eoman  Catholic  priesthood,  and  those  who  laboured 
at  and  devoted  their  lives  to  education.  In  Bavaria,  it 
was  only  in  1817  that  the  orders  were  allowed  to  occupy 
their  monasteries  and  convents,  and  by  1874  the  number 
of  religious  houses  they  possessed  was  620  (96  of  monks 
and  friars,  524  of  nuns  and  sisters  of  mercy).  Between 
1870  and  1874  as  many  as  66  new  convents  had  been 
established.  Of  all  the  houses  only  2  per  cent,  belonged 
to  contemplative  orders.  As  many  as  209  were  institutes 
for  nursing  the  sick,  with  1,322  members ;  and  there 
were  18  societies  with  331  schools,  and  4,006  members — 
i.e.  64*9  per  cent,  of  all  religious — engaged  in  education. 
In  1873  the  Dames  Anglaises  numbered  1,167  members, 
and  70  qualified  lay  teachers  engaged  in  education.  They 
had  72  schools,  with  2,800  boarders  and  13,790  day 

1  For  instance,  among  recruits  for  the  army  in  1877,  out  of  100 
recruits  for 

Pomerania  (Prot.)        .  1*54  could  not  read  nor  write. 

Westphalia  (Oath.) 
Schleswig-Holstein  (Prot.)  . 
Rheinland  (Oath.) 


Prussian  Kingd.  (majority  Prot.) 
Bavaria  (majority  Oath.)     . 
Baden  (majority  Oath.) 
Eeuss  (Prot.) 
Saxony  (Prot.)      . 
Wiirtemberg  (mixed)   . 


1-05 
0-25 
0-74 
3.19 
1-79 
0-22 
1-42 
0-23 
0-02 


The  Kulturkampf.  121 


scholars,  also  2,040  children  in  orphanages  ;  in  all 
18,530  children.  In  all  Germany  there  were,  in  1873,  as 
far  as  can  be  estimated,  19,434  monks,  nuns,  friars  and 
sisters  of  mercy. 

Men         Women 
In  Prussia  (1873)          .         .  1,037         8,011 


Bavaria  (1873) 
Saxony  (1875) 
Wiirtemberg  (1873) 
Baden  (1873) 
Hesse  (1874)   . 
Elsass-Loth.  (1873) 


1,074         5,054 

none  92 

376 

349 

39  314 

418         2,650 


Total         .         2,568       16,846 

Of  these,  the  vast  majority  were  devoted  to  education, 
or  nursing  the  sick.  Those  nursing  the  sick  are  allowed 
provisionally  to  remain,  hut  all  teaching  orders  have,  in 
Prussia,  Baden,  and  to  some  extent  in  Bavaria,  been  dis- 
banded and  forced  to  leave  the  country. 

I  shall  presently  give  the  story  of  one  society  thus 
suppressed,  and  the  reader  will  see  how  the  law  has  been, 
in  many  cases,  carried  out. 

The  real  purpose  of  the  Kulturkampf  has  been,  I 
conceive,  centralisation.  It  has  not  been  waged  against 
the  Koman  Church  only,  for  the  same  process  has  been 
followed  with  the  Protestant  Churches.  It  was  intolerable 
in  a  strong  centralising  Government  to  have  a  Calvinist 
and  a  Lutheran  Church  side  by  side,  and  both  to  call 
themselves  Protestant.  It  interfered  with  systematic  and 
neat  account-keeping  of  public  expenditure  for  religious 
purposes.  Consequently,  in  1839  the  King  of  Prussia 
suppressed  Calvinism  and  Lutheranism,  and  established  a 
new  Evangelical  Church. on  their  ruins,  with  constitution 
and  liturgy  chiefly  of  his  own  drawing  up.  The  Protestant 
Churches  of  Baden,  Nassau,  Hesse,  and  the  Bavarian 
Palatinate  have  also  been  fused  and  organised  on  the 


122  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

Prussian  pattern.  In  Schleswig-Holstein  and  in  Hanover 
existed  pure  Lutherans,  but  they,  for  uniformity's  sake, 
have  been  also  recently  unified  and  melted  into  the  Landes- 
kirche  of  Prussia. 

A  military  government  cannot  tolerate  any  sort  of 
double  allegiance  in  its  subjects.  Education  and  religion, 
medicine  and  jurisprudence,  telegraphs  and  post-office, 
must  be  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  State.  The  Prussian 
mind,  trained  under  a  military  system,  cannot  understand 
freedom  as  it  is  understood  in  England,  least  of  all  the 
idea  of  a  free  Church.  In  a  military  empire  every  man 
is  a  soldier,  and  everything  concerning  him  is  subjected  to 
military  supervision.  The  State  looks  after  his  mind,  his 
bowels,  and  his  soul ;  it  must  accredit  the  doctors  or 
trainers  for  all  three.  The  State  so  far  bends  to  circum- 
stances as  to  allow  men  to  be  Poles,  Prussians,  or  Saxons 
by  blood,  and  to  be  Catholics,  Protestants,  or  Jews  by 
profession,  just  as  it  acknowledges  three  arms,  infantry, 
cavalry,  and  artillery.  As  every  male  infant  is  an  embryo 
soldier,  and  every  female  babe  a  prospective  mother  of 
soldiers,  they  must  be  registered  by  State  functionaries, 
educated  by  State  functionaries,  married  by  State  function- 
aries, and  shovelled  out  of  the  world  by  State  functionaries. 
No  man  is  a  free  agent,  for  every  man  is  a  soldier.  He 
must  be  drilled  by  State  corporals  on  week-days,  and 
preached  to  by  State  chaplains  on  Sundays.  The  State 
takes  charge  of  his  digestion  and  conscience.  He  is 
forbidden  green  gooseberries  at  Whitsuntide,  and  fresh 
spiritual  diet  at  any  time.1 

1  If  a  Protestant  officer — say  a  lieutenant — should  enter  a  Catholic 
church  during  service,  and  his  superior  officer  were  to  hear  of  it,  he 
would  be  reprimanded ;  and  if  he  repeated  the  offence,  punished.  And 
so  if  a  private  or  officer  who  is  registered  in  the  roll  as  a  Catholic, 
attends  Protestant  worship,  he  subjects  himself  to  reprimand  and 
punishment.  He  is  not  sticking  to  the  regulations. 


The  Kulturkampf.  123 

From  the  point  of  view  of  a  military  despotism,  the 
May  laws  are  reasonable  and  necessary.  As  Germany  is 
a  great  camp,  the  clergy,  Protestant  and  Catholic,  must 
be  military  chaplains  amenable  to  the  general  in  command. 
Military  organisation,  military  discipline,  and  military 
obedience  are  exacted  and  expected  in  every  department. 
A  soldier  cannot  escape  a  duty  because  it  disagrees  with 
his  liver,  nor  can  a  parson  shirk  doing  what  the  State 
imposes  because  it  disturbs  his  conscience.  I  have  no 
doubt  whatever  that  this  is  the  real  explanation  of  the 
Kulturkampf,  and  that  all  other  explanations  are  excuses 
and  inventions.  Prince  Bismarck  no  doubt  hates  the 
Pope,  not  because  he  cares  a  straw  about  religious  prin- 
ciples and  doctrines,  but  because  the  Pope  is  a  power 
interfering  with  Imperial  absolutism  and  military  dictator- 
ship. The  Catholics  are  welcome  to  their  tinsel  and 
bones  and  masses,  just  as  the  Bavarian  contingent  is 
allowed  blue  facings,  and  the  Brunswickers  black,  but  the 
Pope  and  bishops  must  exercise  no  more  real  authority 
over  priests  and  people  than  the  King  of  Hanover  or  the 
Duke  of  Brunswick.  The  Chancellor,  when  he  began  the 
crusade,  had  probably  no  idea  of  the  opposition  he  would 
meet  with,  and  when  the  opposition  manifested  itself,  it 
irritated  him,  and  made  him  more  dogged  in  pursuing  his 
scheme.  The  State  had  met  with  little  or  no  opposition 
in  unifying  the  Protestant  Churches,  and  making  the 
mutually  antipathetic  Calvinism  and  Lutheranism  merge 
their  differences  at  the  bidding  of  the  Crown,  and  Prince 
Bismarck  supposed  he  would  meet  with  as  little  resistance 
from  the  Catholics.  German  Protestantism  is  so  radically 
Erastian  that  the  German  mind  is  incapable  of  under- 
standing the  existence  of  a  conscience  which  distinguishes 
between  the  things  that  be  of  God  and  of  Caesar.  The 
theory  of  the  Church  as  a  spiritual  body  and  not  as  a  mere 


i  24  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

establishment  has  always  lived  in  the  Anglican  Communion. 
Indeed  this  theory  has  taken  such  a  strong  hold  of  the 
English  religious  mind  that  it  has  forced  bodies  of 
Christians  to  leave  the  Established  Church,  rather  than 
allow  their  consciences  to  be  directed  by  a  purely  secular 
authority  such  as  the  Crown  or  Parliament.  Dissenting 
communities  have  organised  themselves  as  spiritual  cor- 
porations absolutely  independent  of  the  State.  But  in 
Germany,  religion  has  been  a  matter  of  mere  State  police. 
The  people  believe  or  disbelieve  at  the  bidding  of  their 
princes.  They  have  not  been  consulted  as  to  their  views 
or  wishes,  but  have  been  given  what  worship  and  creed 
their  rulers  have  affected,  and  as  their  rulers  have  changed 
their  shibboleths,  so  have  the  people  been  required  to 
screw  their  mouths.  Lutheranism  has  never  formed  one 
Church,  with  uniformity  of  liturgy  and  ceremonial.  In 
Niirnberg  its  churches  are  undistinguishable  from  Catholic 
churches,  and  are  adorned  with  statues  of  the  '  Virgo  im- 
maculata,'  relics,  shrines,  crucifixes,  tapers,  and  burning 
lamps ; l  in  Norway  and  Iceland,  with  vestments,  and  wafers, 
and  mass ;  in  Wiirtemberg  and  Baden,  the  churches  are 
bare  as  a  music-hall.  German  religion,  Catholic  and  Pro- 
testant, has  been  determined  for  the  people  by  political 
circumstances.  A  village  is  Catholic  if  its  feudal  lord  was 
of  the  ancient  faith  at  the  conclusion  of  the  Thirty  Years' 
war.  If  he  accepted  the  tenets  of  Luther,  his  people 
were  required  to  hold  by  the  Confession  of  Augsburg ;  if 
he  held  by  Calvin,  to  swear  by  the  Institutes ;  and  those 
who  refused  were  expelled  their  homes.  Consequently, 
scattered  all  over  Germany,  we  find  Catholic  and  Protestant 
villages  side  by  side,  with  no  mingling  of  confessions  in 

1  In  St.  Sebaldus,  the  perpetual  lamp  is  still  kept  burning  before 
the  tabernacle,  which,  kowever,  is  empty ;  and  the  sixteen  altars 
-are  spread  with  clean  linen  for  daily  mass,  which  is  never  said. 


The  Kulturkampf.  125 

them  ;  and  the  idea  is  so  impressed  on  the  people  that  a 
change  of  faith  is  a  political  impossibility,  that  such  an 
event  as  a  conversion  from  one  form  to  another  is  almost 
unknown.  The  peasants  of  Schondorf  are  Catholic  to- 
day to  a  man,  because,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  the 
village  was  bought  by  a  Bishop  of  Bamberg.  The  bauers 
of  Bettberg  are  Lutheran,  because  in  the  twelfth  century, 
by  a  marriage,  their  forefathers  passed  as  serfs  to  the 
Margrave  of  Baden.  The  inhabitants  of  Blaubach  are 
Calvinists,  because  the  Count  of  Starkemburg  embraced 
the  reform  of  Geneva.  As  the  lord  of  the  land  believed 
or  disbelieved,  so  all  his  vassals  were  forced  to  believe  or 
disbelieve  also. 

Very  probably  the  Chancellor  reckoned,  when  he  began 
the  Kulturkampf,  on  the  Old  Catholic  movement  be- 
coming more  general  than  it  has.  There  is  no  doubt  but 
that,  on  the  promulgation  of  the  decree  of  Papal  infalli- 
bility, there  was  a  great  agitation  of  spirits  among  German 
Eoman  Catholics.  The  surrender  by  the  bishops  awoke 
universal  disappointment,  and  the  Alt-Katholic  movement 
for  a  moment  threatened  the  Church  with  a  serious  dis- 
ruption. But  the  moment  passed.  The  German  mind 
abhors  schism.  Germany  has  suffered  too  much  from 
being  broken  up  into  petty  States  to  view  petty  sects 
with  complacency.  Consequently  Methodism,  Anabaptism, 
and  other  forms  of  Dissent  have  made  no  way  in  Ger- 
many. 

If  the  bishops  had  risen  to  the  occasion,  protested  their 
inability  to  receive  the  decree  of  the  Council,  and  left  the 
Pope  to  take  what  further  proceedings  he  chose,  they 
would  have  carried  all  Catholic  Germany  with  them. 
Their  submission  unsettled  for  a  moment  the  consciences 
of  educated  Catholics,  and  some  readily  joined  the  new 
sect  that  absurdly  called  itself  by  an  old  name.  Prince 


126  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

Bismarck  probably  knew  that  the  parish  priests  were  almost 
to  a  man  anti-infallibilists,  and  disliked  the  political  Catho- 
licism of  the  sons  of  Loyola.  But  he  did  not  know  with 
what  horror  a  Catholic  regards  separation  from  the  centre 
of  unity. 

The  schism  of  Konge,  entitled  the  '  German  Catholic 
Church,'  which  rose  as  a  rocket  in  1845,  came  down  as 
a  stick  before  1850 ;  and  the  experiment  was  not  worth 
repeating.  Few  priests  joined  the  movement,  and  those 
who  did  were  either  men  of  learning  who  exercised 
no  influence  over  the  common  people,  or  men  of  strong 
passions  who  wanted  wives ;  and  the  vulgar  speedily  took 
the  measure  of  their  sincerity.  Among  the  laity,  Old 
Catholicism  has  made  recruits  from  those  Catholics  who 
wanted  to  marry  Protestants,  and  who  could  not  do  so  in 
the  Koman  Church,  which  set  her  face  against  mixed 
marriages ; l  or  from  those  who  want  to  shake  off  their 
religious  responsibilities,  but  do  not  care  for  the  chill  of 
Evangelical  Protestantism.  But  the  largest  number  of 
converts  to  Old  Catholicism  were  made  from  the  class  of 
Beamten — Government  officials.  Herr  von  Mallinckrodt 
said  in  the  House  of  Deputies  (January  30,  1872)  : — c  You 
all  know  that  in  Prussia  Catholics  have  not  far  to  go  to 
discover  that  offices  of  importance  in  every  department 
are  not  given  in  fair  division  to  them.  Show  me  among 
the  Ministry  a  single  person  who  is  not  Evangelical. 
Look  further  among  the  under-secretaries,  among  the 
councillors — you  must  light  a  lantern  to  find  one.  Go 
into  the  provinces,  seek  among  the  chief  judges,  among 
the  second  judges  of  the  law  courts  :  you  will  not  find  one. 
Go  further  among  the  functionaries  of  Government,  among 
the  Landrathe,  go  to  the  universities,  to  the  gymnasiums, 

1  Unless  a  written  agreement  be  drawn  up  that  all  the  children 
shall  be  brought  up  Catholics. 


The  Kulturkampf.  127 

count  how  many  among  the  officials  there  are  Catholic, 
and  then  compare  the  proportion  with  that  of  the  Catholic 
population  ! '  That  this  is  by  no  means  overstated  I  can 
bear  testimony  from  having  lived  in  a  town  which  before 
1807  had  not,  probably,  a  Protestant  living  in  it.  The 
troops  garrisoning  it  are  commanded  almost  entirely  by 
Protestant  officers.  On  the  Emperor's  birthday  a  brilliant 
array  of  staff-officers  and  generals  attended  the  Evangelical 
Church,  at  the  head  of  a  handful  of  soldiers,  whilst  the 
great  bulk  of  the  troops  were  at  the  minster  under  a  few 
lieutenants.  The  chief  judge  and  his  assistants  are  Pro- 
testants, the  schools  are  given  Protestant  masters,  and  the 
university  professors  of  the  same  confession. 

Professor  von  Schulte  says,  in  an  article  in  the 
<  Contemporary '  for  July,  1878,  'Protestant  officials  in  all 
influential  posts  became  the  rule.  Provincial  and  govern- 
mental chiefs,  head  magistrates,  &c.,  were  all  Protestants. 
The  Rhenish  provinces  had  not  one,  Westphalia  only  one 
Catholic  president;  from  1815  to  the  present  time  scarcely 
half-a-dozen  Catholic  Ministers  have  been  chosen ;  the 
number  of  councillors  in  the  Government,  the  superior 
courts,  &c.,  has  never  been  anything  like  in  proportion  to 
the  adherents  of  the  two  creeds  among  the  population. 
The  appointment  of  Protestant  officials  in  Catholic  dis- 
tricts, in  courts  of  justice,  &c.,  was,  up  to  1840,  almost 
carried  out  as  a  system  ;  an  immense  majority  of  officials 
of  all  grades  were  Protestants.  It  was  carried  so  far  that 
a  vast  number  of  Protestant  gendarmes,  apparitors,  and 
other  sub-officials,  who  have  to  be  chosen  from  disabled 
soldiers,  were  brought  from  the  Eastern  provinces  to 
Westphalia.  .  .  .  The  circumstance  that,  in  many  cases, 
going  over  to  Protestantism  opened  the  way  to  a  career, 
and  vice  versd,  produced  a  great  effect.'  A  friend  of 
mine,  the  member  of  an  old  noble  Catholic  family,  was 


128  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

brought  up  by  his  father  as  a  Protestant  because  he 
destined  him  for  the  Prussian  army,  and  was  well  persuaded 
that  if  his  son  was  a  Catholic  he  would  stick  among  the 
lieutenants. 

The  '  Beamten '  have  not  been  slow  to  perceive  that 
there  was  no  advancement  for  Catholics,  and  the  Alt- 
Katholic  schism  offered  them  a  convenient  loop-hole  for 
putting  themselves  on  a  better  footing  with  the  Grovern- 
ment,  and  opening  out  to  themselves  prospects  of  advance- 
ment. They  were  not  disposed  to  abandon  their  faith, 
but  they  were  not  willing  to  let  their  creed  stand  as  a 
barrier  to  their  worldly  prospects.  But  they  have  not 
gained  much  by  becoming  Alt-Katholics.  The  schism 
has  proved  itself  a  dismal  failure.  It  is  regarded  with 
dislike  by  Komanists  and  with  contempt  by  Protestants. 
Many  ( Beamten,'  finding  Old  Catholicism  does  not  help 
them  on  in  office,  have  grown  lukewarm  in  their  pro- 
fession of  it,  and  have  their  children  instructed  by  Eo- 
man  Catholic  teachers,  and  only  await  a  favourable 
opportunity  for  slipping  back  into  the  Church  of  their 
fathers. 

It  would  have  been  well  if  some  of  our  Anglican 
Bishops,  Deans,  and  Canons  who  have  shaken  hands  with 
Old  Catholics,  had  studied  them  a  little  at  home  before 
taking  them  to  their  hearts  with  such  effusion.  Now 
that  Leo  XIII.  shows  a  readiness  to  adopt  a  concilia- 
tory policy,  the  position  of  the  Alt-Katholics  is  becoming 
unreasonable.  The  only  parish  in  Bavaria  which  followed 
the  movement  in  1872  returned  to  the  unity  of  the 
Catholic  Church  in  1877. 

In  the  spring  of  1878  I  spent  some  weeks  at  Klein- 
Laufenburg,  in  Baden,  divided  by  the  Rhine  from  Grross- 
Laufenburg  in  Aarau,  but  connected  with  it  by  a  bridge* 
In  the  Swiss  town  is  a  large  and  stately  church ;  in  the 


The  Kulturkampf.  129 

Baden  suburb  a  little  chapel  capable  of  holding  150  persons. 
Gross-Laufenburg  was  given  to  Switzerland  in  1803.  It 
had  previously  belonged  to  Austria.  The  inhabitants  are 
all  Catholics.  But  the  Aarau  government,  like  that  of 
Berne  and  Solothurn,  is  pleased  to  suppose  that  Old  Catho- 
licism is  the  legitimate  successor  of  the  Church  before  the 
Vatican  Council,  consequently  it  has  displaced  all  the 
Roman  Catholic  priests  and  filled  their  cures  with  Alt- 
Katholics.  I  went  to  church  on  Sunday  and  was  puzzled — 
not  knowing  the  circumstances — to  find  the  congregation 
numbered  twenty,  and  was  made  up  of  the  gendarmes, 
post-office,  custom-house,  and  other  Government  officials. 
The  service  was  conducted  precisely  as  in  a  Roman  church, 
and  the  Pfarrer  preached  a  most  admirable  sermon.  Next 
Sunday  curiosity  took  me  to  the  chapel  at  Klein-Laufen- 
burg.  It  was  a  rainy  day.  The  whole  town  was  flowing 
over  the  bridge  in  a  thick  current  to  the  little  chapel.  It 
was  crowded,  and  the  churchyard  and  road  were  filled  with 
worshippers  under  umbrellas,  kneeling  in  the  mud.  In 
winter,  I  was  told,  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  are  willing 
to  stand  in  the  snow  and  bitter  frost  to  hear  mass  outside 
the  Baden  chapel  rather  than  attend  their  parish  church, 
where  precisely  the  same  service,  identical  in  every  minute 
detail,  is  conducted  by  a  priest  out  of  communion  with 
Rome,  but  enjoying  the  sanction  and  support  of  the 
State. 

If  ever  a  religious  community  bore  on  its  brow  the 
evidence  of  being  death-struck,  it  is  that  of  Old  Catholi- 
cism. I  have  attended  the  services  often,  and  have  been 
struck  by  the  deadness  which  hung  about  them.  Catholic 
children,  when  brought  to  attend  Alt-Katholic  churches, 
rapidly  lose  their  old  habits  of  reverence  and  devotion, 
and  the  rod  of  the  schoolmaster  has  to  take  the  place  of 
interior  piety  to  maintain  them  within  the  bounds  of 

YOL.   II.  K 


130  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

propriety.  Their  elders,  who  as  Koman  Catholics  never 
missed  attending  mass  on  Sundays  and  festivals,  fall  into 
listless  indifference  and  go  to  church  occasionally,  after  a 
while  not  at  all.  But  it  is  chiefly  on  children  that  the 
deteriorating  effect  is  noticeable.  And  this  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at.  Old  Catholicism  is  simply  a  controversial 
religion.  The  sermons  I  have  heard  have  been  anti-Papal, 
or  self-vindicatory.  It  is  an  unwholesome  atmosphere  in 
which  to  rear  the  young.  It  is  a  vicious  one  for  adults 
to  inhale.  It  is  not  conducive  to  true  religion  to  go  to 
church  to  hear  the  Pope,  or  the  Curia,  or  the  bishop  of 
the  diocese,  or  the  diocesan  chapter,  or  the  Catholic 
clergy  pecked  at.  Charity  and  edification  should  be  found 
in  the  temple,  not  spite  and  scurrility.  In  a  large  church 
where,  during  Lent,  the  Alt-Katholic  pastor  preached  a 
series  of  sermons  against  the  Archbishop  to  a  crowded  con- 
gregation, at  Easter  he  had  just  three  communicants.  In 
number  the  Old  Catholics  are  declining.  In  1 877  there  were 
in  Germany  53,640  ;  in  January  1878,  only  51,864.  In  one 
year  in  Bavaria  the  numbers  have  fallen  off  to  the  number 
of  1,305,  and  since  then  the  parish  of  Mering  has  abjured 
its  Alt-Katholicism.  The  same  declension  is  observable 
in  the  list  of  Old  Catholic  priests,  which  at  the  beginning 
of  1878  contained  only  fifty  names,  as  against  fifty- 
five  in  1877,  and  of  these  one  has  since  been  dismissed 
for  immorality.  Dr.  Tangermann  and  Dr.  Friedrich, 
Professors  Langen  and  Menzel,  have  also  since  resigned 
their  connection  with  the  movement.  The  number  shows 
few  recruits  except  from  men  who  will  do  no  credit  to  the 
Church.  A  Swiss  friend  was  speaking  to  me  one  day  a  year 
or  two  ago  about  a  theological  student  for  the  Catholic 
ministry,  who  got  ordained  before  it  was  known  that  he  had 
seduced  a  girl  in  his  village  and  that  a  child  was  born.  A 
few  days  after,  my  friend  heard  that  this  man  had  joined  the 


The  Kulturkampf.  131 

Old  Catholic  established  Church  and  been  given  a  parish 
by  the  Grovernment  of  the  Canton  which  had  expelled  the 
Roman  clergy. 

But  to  return  from  this  digression. 

The  law  of  civil  registration  has  not  harassed  the 
Catholics,  and  they  were  ready  to  submit  to  it  without 
objection.  But  the  law  whereby  the  State  takes  the 
education  entirely  into  its  own  hands  has  affected  them 
more  seriously. 

The  Christian  Brothers,  Xavierian  Brothers,  Ursulines, 
and  other  educational  societies,  had  in  their  hands  the 
instruction  of  most  Catholic  children  in  towns.  These 
orders  were  abolished  on  May  31,  1875,  along  with  every 
other  religious  community  in  the  Roman  Church,  except 
the  Nursing  Sisters  of  Mercy,  who  are  allowed  to  linger  on 
till  the  State  is  supplied  with  its  official  staff  of  hired 
nurses,  when  voluntary  charity  in  the  hospital  will  also  be 
dispensed  with. 

The  new  Grovernment  schools  are  not  without  religion. 
On  the  contrary  religious  teaching  is  compulsory;  the 
Jewish  rabbi,  the  Protestant  minister,  and  the  Catholic 
priest,  have  access  to  them,  and  give  instruction  on  doc- 
trine and  morals  in  the  class-rooms.  But  they  do  so  only 
as  State  professors  of  theology,  holding  their  testimonial 
of  efficiency  and  licence  to  teach  from  Grovernment.  They 
are  as  much  State  functionaries  as  the  masters  of  gymnas- 
tics and  geometry.  And  by  order  of  the  Minister  of 
Religion,  dated  February  16,  1876,  the  instruction  of 
Catholics  in  their  religion  has  been  subjected  to  strict 
supervision ;  the  object  being  to  provide  that  the  pupils 
be  not  taught  that  there  is  any  division  in  their  allegiance. 
To  their  '  spiritual  pastors  and  masters  '  they  are  only  to 
owe  obedience  if  these  are  furnished  with  Imperial  licence 
to  rule  over  them  in  matters  of  conscience. 

K    2 


132  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 


That  the  Government  has  acted  well  in  taking  into 
its  own  hands  the  education  of  its  sons,  admits  not  of  a 
doubt.  It  were  well  indeed  for  England  if  the  Govern- 
ment would  sweep  away  the  wretched '  Academies  for  Young 
Gentlemen '  and  '  Collegiate  Institutes,'  in  which  the  sons 
of  the  middle  classes  receive  their  training,  and  were  to 
establish  middle  schools  as  well  as  parochial  schools  for 
poor  children.  The  German  Gymnasia  are  admirable : 
an  excellent  education  is  given  at  a  ridiculously  low  cost ; 
and  the  teaching  in  the  Lyceums  is  far  better  and  much 
cheaper  than  in  many  of  our  grammar-schools.  Some  of 
the  establishments  conducted  by  the  religious  orders  were 
no  doubt  admirable,  but  others  were  inferior,  and  all  were 
under  no  supervision.  In  Hungary,  horses  are  taught  to 
step  high  by  having  spectacles  put  on  their  noses  magni- 
fying pebbles  into  rocks  and  straws  into  tree-boles.  The 
objectionable  feature  of  these  schools  was,  that  the  great 
object  of  the  teachers  was  to  put  moral  spectacles  on  their 
pupils,  and  make  them  prance  through  life. 

But  the  law  that  has  aroused  greatest  opposition  is 
that  which  affects  the  education  of  the  clergy,  as  it  is  sa 
contrived  as  effectually  to  cut  off  the  supply. 

According  to  the  decree  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  boys 
destined  for  the  ministry  of  the  Church  are  taken  from 
home  and  trained  together  in  a  '  Little  Seminary.'  When 
they  have  passed  through  this  school,  they  migrate  to  the 
'  Greater  Seminary,'  where  they  live  together  in  college,  and 
attend  the  theological  faculty  in  an  university,  or,  if  there 
be  no  university  in  the  place,  study  with  their  own  professors. 

The  Seminary  system  is  a  bad  one.  The  candidates 
are  secluded  from  association  with  all  save  their  comrades  : 
they  are  not  exposed  to  contact  with  the  current  of 
modern  thought,  and  never  enter  thoroughly  into  the 
national  life. 


The  Kulturkampf.  133 


Many  years  ago  an  exhibition  of  '  industrious  fleas ' 
attracted  sight-seers  in  the  Strand.  The  industrious  fleas 
went  through  many  surprising  performances  in  a  dull 
mechanical  manner.  But  the  most  remarkable  feature 
about  them  was  that  they  never  jumped.  It  was  explained 
that  they  were  trained  under  thimbles.  Whenever  they 
bounded,  they  banged  their  heads  against  the  walls  of  the 
thimble,  and  incurred  headaches.  After  a  week  or  two 
they  abandoned  jumping  and  were  ready  to  toil  in  tread- 
mills and  drive  coaches  as  their  master  ordered  for  the 
rest  of  their  natural  lives,  without  dreaming  of  taking  a 
header  and  making  their  escape. 

The  seminaries  have  been  the  thimbles  under  which 
the  industrious  fleas  of  Holy  Church  have  been  reared, 
and  made  creatures  of  routine,  under  which  all  mental 
elasticity  is  lost.  Auerbach  in  his  '  Ivo  der  Hierli,'  gave 
a  sketch  of  the  narrowing,  independence-killing  course  of 
education  in  the  seminary  ;  but  it  might  be  objected  that 
Auerbach  as  a  Jew  drew  on  his  imagination,  and  could  not 
know  of  the  course  by  experience.  But  several  Catholic 
writers  have  protested  against  it.1  A  Catholic  priest  thus 
sums  up  the  results  of  the  seminary  system  : — 6  Even  the 
economic  arrangement  of  the  institution  leads  to  bad  re- 
sults. No  privacy.  One  room  for  common  play,  one  for 
common  work.  In  the  dormitories  no  stove — nowhere 
a  corner  where  a  man  may  be  alone  and  work  for  him- 
self, or  rest  himself.  Manliness,  which  the  youth  is 
putting  on,  and  which  gives  dignity  to  morality  and  piety, 
self-respect  and  reverence  for  the  priestly  vocation,  all  are 
wanting.  Bigotry,  cant,  hypocrisy,  servility,  are  the 

1  Die  KatJwlische  Gcistlichkeit  im  neunzehnten  Jahrhundert.  Frank- 
fort a.  M.  1817.  Ueber  zdtgemdsse  Bildung  und  Bildung  sanstalt  en 
KatholiscTier  GeistlioJien.  Hamm,  1824.  Die  Katholische  Xirche,  besonders 
in  Schlesien  ....  Von  einem  Katholischen  Geistlichen.  Altemb.  1827, 


134  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

natural  fruit  of  such  an  institution,  and  the  nobler  spirits 
note  with  sorrow  how  that  coarse  and  stupid  comrades  push 
ahead  of  them  by  an  affectation  of  piety  and  grovelling 
servility.  When  the  alumniate  is  over,  the  seminarist 
goes  forth  heartless  and  mindless,  to  be  the  comforter 
and  teacher  and  friend  of  humanity.' l  This  is  no  doubt 
not  applicable  to  all  seminaries.  It  is  the  description  of 
one  in  Breslau.  But  all  labour  under  the  same  inherent 
defect,  they  cramp  instead  of  enlarging  the  mind.  To 
rectify  this, — to  give  to  the  German  Catholic  clergy  wider 
sympathies,  more  range  of  knowledge,  and  a  more 
thorough  experimental  knowledge  of  human  nature,  the 
law  of  1873  was  passed.  But  Baden  had  attacked  the 
seminary  system  before  Prussia.  In  1868  the  Baden 
Government  ordered  that  all  boys  in  the  Little  Semi- 
nary should  attend  the  public  schools,  and  that  the 
candidates  for  the  priesthood  of  riper  years  in  the 
Greater  Seminary  or  '  Convikt '  should  pass  examination 
in  three  faculties  in  addition  to  theology,  and  spend 
three  years  in  the  university.  It  went  further.  It  dis- 
qualified every  priest  from  holding  a  cure  of  souls,  who  had 
been  ordained  since  1863,  unless  he  submitted  to  examin- 
ation by  a  State  commission ;  and  required  every  priest 
holding  a  charge  to  be  re-examined  by  commissioners  in 
his  '  'ologies  '  two  or  three  years  after  ordination,  and  if  he 
had  not  kept  up  his  secular  studies,  to  be  dismissed 
from  his  pastoral  cure.  This  last  provision  has,  however,, 
been  withdrawn,  and  the  Prussian  law  adopted,  which 
requires  examination  in  three  secular  subjects  before 
ordination. 

The  instructions  given  July  26,  1873,  by  Dr.  Falk, 
'  Minister  of  Ecclesiastical,  Educational,  and  Medical 
Affairs,'  on  the  manner  of  carrying  out  the  law  of  May  11,, 

1  The  last-quoted  book,  p.  34-5. 


The  Kulturkampf.  135 

requires  that  the  three  subjects  shall  be  Philosophy,  His- 
tory, and  German  Literature.  They  provide  : — 

'  A.  Philosophy : — That  the  candidate  shall  have  a 
satisfactory  knowledge  of  the  various  systems  of  philo- 
sophy, and  be  so  far  acquainted  with  the  history  of 
Philosophy  as  to  be  able  to  give  an  intelligible  account  of 
the  characteristics  of  the  epoch-making  systems,  and  of 
their  relation  to  one  another.  He  shall  also  have  a  close 
acquaintance  with  psychology  and  logic,  and  with  those 
systems  of  scientific  education  which  have  influenced 
instruction  and  culture  during  the  last  two  centuries. 

6  B.  History  : — That  the  candidate  shall  be  possessed 
of  a  clear  outline  of  the  development  of  the  history  of  the 
world,  and  be  acquainted  with  the  history  of  the  last  three 
centuries,  especially  with  that  of  Germany,  both  in  the 
broader  and  narrower  sense  of  that  word.  It  shall  be  seen 
especially  that  the  candidate  have  a  clear  conception  of  the 
ruling  and  motive  ideas  in  these  periods,  which  affected 
both  politics  and  civilisation.  The  future  vocation  of  the 
candidate  requires  that  he  shall  know  ecclesiastical  his- 
tory, and  that  he  shall  be  able  to  show  what  influence 
Religion  and  the  Church  exercised  on  civil  life  and 
national  culture. 

6  C.  German  Literature  : — In  this  department  it  must 
be  ascertained  that  the  candidate  is  acquainted  with  the 
inner  developing  forces  and  historic  moments  which  con- 
duced to  arrest  or  advance  German  literature.  The 
andidate  shall  be  proved  by  examination  to  be  not  un- 
acquainted with  any  important  contributor  to  German 
national  literature,  especially  during  the  last  two  centuries, 
and  must  be  able  to  give  an  account  of  the  drift  of  the 
most  important  classic  works.' 

That  this  law  tells  hardly  on  the  Church  can  be  denied 
by  no  unprejudiced  person.  It  is,  moreover,  scarcely  fair, 


136  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 


and  therefore  has  the  aspect  of  persecution.  For  this 
examination  is  imposed  only  on  candidates  for  the  min- 
istry. It  is  not  required  of  law  and  medical  students. 
These  latter  are  free  to  devote  the  three  years  of  their 
university  life  to  the  study  of  their  special  subjects.  But 
the  Grovernment  requires  the  candidates  for  the  priesthood 
to  take  up  these  subjects  in  addition  to  theology.  The 
consequence  is,  that  a  theological  student  finds  his  time 
completely  taken  up  with  them,  and  his  divinity  studies 
have  to  be  laid  aside. 

It  is  hard  on  the  Church  in  another  way.  The  educa- 
tion of  a  priest  is  now  wholly  taken  out  of  the  hands  of 
the  Church  from  his  fifth  to  his  twenty-fourth  year.  At 
the  age  of  five,  the  boy  destined  for  the  ministry  goes 
into  the  public  school,  and  is  drafted  thence  into  the 
Lyceum,  a  Government  grammar-school.  He  remains 
there  till  he  is  twenty,  under  tutors  and  professors  ap- 
pointed by  the  State  ;  the  teaching,  where  possible,  made 
anti- Catholic.1  Before  leaving  school  he  has  to  undergo 
examination  before  a  Grovernment  commission ;  if  he  passes, 
he  receives  his  ticket  of  discharge,  or  absolutorium. 
Then  he  is  liable  to  military  service.  If  he  has  issued 
from  examination  in  the  first  class,  he  is  entitled  to  serve 
one  year  instead  of  three.  He  becomes  an  Einjdhriger. 
But  he  may  postpone  his  military  service  till  he  has  gone 
through  his  university  course,  and  this  is  generally  done. 
When  the  three  years  in  the  university  are  over,  he  goes 
into  the  army,  and  is  drilled  for  a  twelvemonth.  As  an 
Einjdhriger  he  receives  no  pay  and  has  to  find  his  own 
uniform  and  board  and  lodge  at  his  own  cost.  When  the 

1  As  in  the  teaching  of  history.  I  have  by  me  a  pamphlet  of  112 
pages  (Baden  in  den  Jahren  1852-77)  of  a  decided  anti- Catholic  ten- 
dency :  this  was  given  away  gratis  to  all  the  scholars  in  at  least  one 
Government  school  in  which  nine  out  of  ten  pupils  were  Catholics. 


The  Kultzirkampf.  137 


year  is  over,  the  Church  insists  on  his  spending  one  year  in 
a  seminary,  in  converse  with  his  own  heart,  and  in 
theological  studies.  It  was  quite  impossible  for  him  to 
attend  to  these  whilst  at  the  university.  Consequently, 
a  candidate  for  the  priesthood  is  made  a  burden  to  his 
parents  for  five-and-twenty  years. 

And  the  expense  of  training  for  the  Church  is  increased 
fourfold  by  the  compulsory  closing  of  the  Little  Seminary 
and  the  '  Convikt,'  which  were  boarding-schools  and 
colleges  for  students.  The  Church  is  now  forbidden  to 
provide  cheap  lodging-houses  for  poor  boys  and  men  pre- 
paring for  her  ministry.  A  bauer  in  the  country  was 
formerly  able  to  send  his  son  to  the  town  for  education,  as 
the  cost  was  not  great,  when  a  couple  of  hundred  boys 
lived  together ;  and  he  did  not  shrink  from  doing  so, 
knowing  that  his  boy  was  under  supervision,  and  in  the 
charge  of  responsible  persons.  But  he  cannot  do  so  now, 
as  the  seminary  is  closed.  His  son,  were  he  sent  to  the 
Latin  school,  must  be  put  in  private  lodgings,  and  be 
under  no  supervision  out  of  school  hours.  I  have  been 

given  the  prospectus  of  a  boarding-school  of  a  Eev.  Dr. 

who,  before  latitudinarianism  was  fashionable  in  the  Pro- 
testant Church,  was  imprisoned  and  then  expelled  his  cure 
for  denying  the  Trinity  and  the  Incarnation.  He  has  now 
a  large  establishment  for  boarders,  who  attend  the  public 
.schools,  and  live  with  him,  and  he  takes  care  to  educate 
them  in  his  rationalism.  This  is  allowed,  but  Catholics 
are  not  allowed  to  have  boarding-schools  for  their  boys. 
What  is  sauce  for  the  goose  is  not  sauce  for  the  gander. 
It  was  '  excellent-right '  for  the  Government  to  insist  on 
boys,  candidates  for  the  ministry,  attending  the  State 
schools ;  but  to  forbid  the  Church  to  open  a  '  pension  '  for 
them  out  of  school  hours,  in  which  they  may  be  bedded  and 
boarded  at  a  cheap  rate,  is  an  injustice. 


138  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 


The  f  Convikt '  was  a  college  in  which  the  theological 
students  lodged  and  took  their  meals  together,  and  where 
they  met  in  chapel  for  common  devotion.  It  was  the  only 
attempt  made  in  Germany  to  follow  the  English  college 
system.  But  the  6  Convikts '  have  been  closed,  wardens  and 
pupils  turned  into  the  street,  and  the  empty  corridors, 
halls,  and  bed-rooms  left  to  the  spider  and  the  bat.  The 
State  will  not  allow  the  young  man  studying  for  the 
ministry  to  be  under  any  moral  and  religious  influences 
and  restraints  during  his  university  career.  He  must 
lodge  at  a  milliner's  or  a  glove-shop,  and  dine  at  a  tavern. 
This  not  only  dissipates  his  religious  impressions,  but 
makes  his  university  life  expensive.  As  the  Roman 
Catholic  clergy  are  recruited  almost  wholly  from  the 
class  of  small  farmers,  the  law  of  May  11  has  cut  off  the 
supply  at  its  source.  The  little  bauer  cannot  bear  the 
protracted  expense.  The  great  bauer  will  hardly  deem  the 
poor  pittance  of  some  251.  to  SQL  per  annum  offered  to  a 
priest  a  sufficient  return  for  the  great  outlay  of  the  educa- 
tion of  a  son  for  the  Church. 

The  Church,  moreover,  may  well  complain  that  she  is 
not  allowed  by  the  touch  of  her  little  finger  to  direct  the 
studies  and  control  the  education  of  the  young  whom  she 
desires  to  see  minister  at  her  altars.  They  are  only 
handed  over  to  her  grudgingly  at  the  age  of  four-and- 
twenty,  but  then  they  are  men  worth  having,  educated 
and  approved.  The  seminary  system  encouraged  the 
bringing  up  of  youths  for  the  priesthood,  who  had  no 
vocation  for  it,  but  who  were  forced  into  orders  by  their 
fathers.  Only  the  very  courageous  could  defy  the  wrath 
of  their  fathers,  like  Auerbach's  <Ivo,'  when  they  were 
sure  they  were  on  a  wrong  path.  One  whose  education 
had  cost  much  money  felt  bound  to  adopt  the  profession, 
in  the  preparation  for  which,  and  disqualification  for  any 


The  Kulturkampf.  139 

other,  this  money  had  been  spent.  Consequently  the 
Roman  Church  has  suffered  from  the  influx  of  men  to 
whom  their  calling  has  been  a  burden,  and  who  have 
executed  their  ministry  without  heart.  This  cannot  occur 
now.  All  her  priests  will  be  self-devoted.  Whether  the 
results  will  be  such  as  the  State  anticipates  is,  however, 
questionable.  A  candidate  who  goes  through  school, 
university,  and  army,  retaining  his  purpose,  must  be  a 
zealot.  Now  those  who  entered  the  ministry  because 
destined  for  it  by  their  parents  have  never  proved  to  be 
bigots.  They  make  tolerant,  liberal-minded  parish  priests. 
But  those  who  have  devoted  themselves,  and  gone  through 
the  ordeal  imposed  by  the  State,  will  be  firebrands.  The 
years  between  fifteen  and  twenty-four  are,  as  every  one 
knows  who  has  to  do  with  youths,  seasons  of  exaltations  of 
the  imaginative  faculties.  They  are  the  years  of  romance, 
of  idealism.  It  is  the  period  when  God  or  woman 
occupies  the  throne  of  the  heart,  the  period  when, 
perhaps,  the  soul  sees  Grod  as  He  is,  and  woman  as  she 
might  be,  but  too  often  is  not.  A  religious  enthusiast, 
trained  under  a  military  system,  which  is  ever  hampering 
his  pursuit  of  the  object  of  his  life,  will  nurture  a  hatred  of 
the  obstructive  power.  At  the  same  time  he  will  take  the 
impress  of  the  system,  and  will  carry  into  the  Church  the 
idea  of  absolutism  as  the  only  possible  form  of  government. 
Trained  under  military  dictatorship,  he  will  view  with 
contempt  the  round-about  methods  of  constitutionalism. 
He  has  it  urged  on  him  all  his  life  that  allegiance  must 
be  undivided,  and  when  he  becomes  a  priest,  he  will  feel 
that  he  has  passed  into  another  army,  and  he  will  transfer 
his  allegiance  entire  to  his  new  superior  the  Pope.  He 
has  been  taught  that  Grod  and  Caesar,  the  Church  and  the 
Empire,  cannot  be  served  at  once,  and  he  will  regard 
them  as  hostile  principles  and  powers.  He  will  view  him- 


140  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

self  as  pledged  by  his  ordination  to  his  new  master,  to  wage 
unflagging  warfare  with  the  secular  power  which  is  anti- 
ecclesiastical  and  anti-Christian. 

Again,  the  State  examinations  are  conducted  by  Govern- 
ment commissioners,  who  may  be,  and  generally  are,  Pro- 
testants, more  or  less  broad,  and  certainly  anti-Catholic, 
for  the  purpose  of  assuring  the  State  that  the  candidate  does 
not  harbour  reactionary  political,  philosophic,  and  religious 
views.  He  is  catechised  on  burning  questions,  and  chief 
attention  is  directed  to  the  Eeformation  and  the  two  sub- 
sequent centuries.  A  Catholic  regards  the  movements  of 
minds  and  principles  in  these  three  hundred  years  from 
altogether  another  point  of  view  than  that  occupied  by  a 
Protestant.  The  State  is  determined  to  force  every 
candidate  to  occupy  this  latter  point,  or  it  will  cast  him 
off,  and  refuse  him  a  place  in  the  pastorate  of  the  Catholic 
Ohurch.  The  inevitable  result  will  be,  that  the  candidate 
under  examination  will  answer  only  as  he  is  required,  and 
will  reserve  his  own  opinions  for  expression  elsewhere,  and 
at  another  time.  What  other  fruit  can  this  system  pro- 
duce, save  lying  and  dissimulation  ? 

If  the  Government  system  be  carried  into  effect,  it  will 
fill  the  Catholic  Church  in  Germany  with  a  priesthood  as 
jesuitically  minded  as  the  sons  of  Loyola.  It  is  rarely 
that  a  Jesuit  has  been  trained  in  the  seminaries  ordered  by 
the  Council  of  Trent.  The  Jesuit  is  recruited  from  the 
ranks  of  the  army,  and  from  men  of  high  but  not  broad 
culture,  who  are  psychologically  incapable  of  entering  into 
the  movement  of  modern  ideas.  They  are  men  whose 
brains  have  but  one  hemisphere,  though  that  hemisphere 
may  be  a  large  one.  They  are  born  conservatives  and 
bigots,  as  some  men  are  born  colour-blind  or  without 
musical  ear. 

The  law  of  May  11  would  not  have  killed,  it  would 


The  Kulturkampf.  141 

only  have  maimed  the  Catholic  priesthood,  and  the 
German  bishops  and  clergy  would  have  submitted  under 
protest.1  But  imperative  orders  came  from  Rome  that  a 
determined  resistance  was  to  be  offered.  Priests  were  not 
to  submit  to  examination.  Bishops  were  not  to  ordain 
certificated  candidates. 

The  Jesuits  were  the  authors  of  this  injunction.  The 
Jesuits  never  forgive  an  enemy,  or  fail  to  resent  an  injury. 
They  had  been  expelled  Germany,  and  their  expulsion 
must  be  avenged.  The  temporal  power  will  never  be  re- 
stored with  the  consent  of  the  Empire.  For  the  restora- 
tion of  the  temporal  power,  which  will  give  them  firm  foot- 
hold on  the  steps  of  the  Apostolic  throne,  they  will  dare 
and  do  anything.  Their  only  hope,  and  that  a  forlorn  one,, 
is  in  France,  in  a  future  royalist  or  imperial  France.  They 
will  leave  no  stone  unturned  to  break  down  the  Republic,, 
and  they  will  spare  no  effort  to  break  up  the  Empire. 
Till  the  French  Republic  is  supplanted  by  a  despotism, 
Rome  will  never  be  wrested  from  Italy  and  restored  to  the 
Papacy.  And  till  German  unity  has  fallen  to  pieces,  France 
will  be  unable  to  move  the  restitution  of  the  temporal 
power. 

But  the  Society  of  Jesus  was  powerless  in  Germany — 
how  powerless  none  knew  better  than  themselves — till 
the  unfortunate  law  of  May  11  gave  them  the  lever.  By 
its  means,  with  an  ingenuity  that  cannot  but  be  admired, 
but  also  with  an  unscrupulousness  that  can  only  arouse 
abhorrence,  they  have  been  enabled  in  their  banishment  to 
do  a  thousand  times  more  than  they  could  have  effected  by 
their  presence. 

The  German  bauer  is  rough  and  hard — but,  like  the 

1  In  one  archbishopric  the  majority  of  the  curia  voted  for  sub- 
mission. There  were,  if  the  writer  be  correctly  informed,  only  three- 
dissentient  voices. 


142  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

cocoa-nut,  he  has  his  soft  points.  Sigefried  was  made  all 
horny  in  dragon's  blood  save  where  a  linden  leaf  fell  be- 
tween his  shoulders.  A  pretty  hard  and  horny  compo- 
sition encases  the  bauer,  but  he  is  vulnerable  in  three 
spots :  his  pocket,  his  heart,  and  his  soul.  These  are  his 
three  soft  spots,  like  c  the  monkey's  face '  in  the  cocoa- 
nut.  Unfortunately  the  Empire  has  run  a  gimlet  into 
all  three.  The  cost  of  the  army  has  increased  every  year. 
Between  the  outlay  in  1872  and  1878-79  is  a  difference 
of  86,000,000  marks,  or  36  per  cent.  The  outlay  for  the 
navy  has  risen  from  11,000,000  to  86,000,000;  so  that 
the  cost  to  the  country  of  its  armament  has  risen 
100,000,000  marks,  or  40  per  cent.  In  addition  to  these 
353,000,000,  are  pensions  amounting  to  50,000,000,  and 
76,000,000  for  barracks  and  fortifications.  In  total,  the 
War  and  Marine  Departments  require  479,000,000  marks 
for  1878-79.  This  means  enormously  increased  cost  of 
living  and  taxation.  The  bauer  with  his  small  farm  can- 
not stand  this.  The  result  has  been  a  great  increase  of 
poverty :  farms  sold,  and  peasant  yeomen  reduced  to  penury. 
The  proposed  Government  monopoly  of  tobacco  will  make  his 
one  solace  in  his  troubles  an  expense  to  him  which  he  cannot 
indulge  in  freely.  Universal  military  service  has  broken  up 
his  family.  When  he  needs  his  sons  to  work  for  him  on  the 
farm,  they  are  taken  away  from  him,  and  he  has  to  hire  labour, 
and  support  his  son  in  the  barrack  at  the  same  time. 

The  young  man  cannot  marry,  for  he  cannot  earn  a 
livelihood  till  he  has  done  with  his  three  years'  military 
service.  Increased  taxation  and  universal  conscription 
have  told  on  the  statistics  of  marriage.  In  1872, 
when  the  population  was  41,000,000,  the  marriages  were 
423,900;  in  1876,  when  the  population  was  42,000,000, 
they  had  sunk  to  366,912.  Military  service,  as  a  rule, 
obliges  every  man  to  put  off  marrying  three  years ;  as  a 


The  Kidturkampf.  143 

youth  only  begins  to  work  for  his  livelihood  at  23  instead 
of  at  20,  as  formerly.  There  can  be  no  question  that  the 
great  increase  of  cost  of  living  and  taxation,  and  compulsory 
military  service,  have  been  severely  felt  in  South  Grermany, 
and  have  made  Prussia  unpopular. 

The  May  laws  have  been  utilised  by  the  Jesuits  for 
bringing  the  iron  of  Prussian  despotism  into  the  very 
soul  of  the  bauer.  It  is  the  law  of  May  11  that  has 
emptied  the  episcopal  thrones  of  Grermany,  and  left  many 
parishes  void  of  pastors.  A  people  groaning  under  in- 
creased burdens,  with  a  budget  like  the  horse-leech  that 
cries  ever,  '  Grive,  give  I '  with  their  families  broken  up, 
their  business  interrupted,  their  savings  wasted  by  com- 
pulsory military  service,  are  hardly  likely  to  endure 
patiently  the  closing  of  their  churches,  and  themselves 
condemned  to  marry  and  die  without  the  ministrations  of 
religion. 

Let  us  see  what  the  condition  is,  to  which  the  Roman 
Church  has  been  brought  in  Grermany. 

When  a  parish  priest  dies,  the  bishop  seeks  to  replace 
him ;  but  the  State  will  not  allow  one  uncertificated 
to  be  instituted,  and  the  Court  of  Rome  forbids  priests 
qualifying  themselves  by  examination  before  the  State. 
If  the  bishop  appoints  to  the  spiritual  oversight  of  a  vacant 
parish,  as  he  sometimes  does,  the  Grovernment  proceed 
against  him,  and  he  is  fined  or  imprisoned  ;  till  at  last,  to 
escape  perpetual  imprisonment,  he  leaves  Germany,  and 
rules  his  diocese  by  letter  from  Rome,  Holland,  or  Austria. 
He  is  then  declared  deposed,  and  the  revenues  of  the  see 
are  placed  by  Grovernment  in  the  hands  of  a  steward  (  Fer- 
walter),  to  secure  their  not  being  forwarded  to  the  exile. 

If  a  bishop  dies,  no  successor  can  be  appointed,  for  no 
bishop  would  be  elected  by  the  Chapter,  who  would  take 
the  oath  exacted  by  the  State,  and  which  requires  promise 


144  Germany,  Present  'and  Past. 

of  submission  to  the  laws  to  which  he  is  forbidden  by 
Eome  to  bow. 

Thus  death  or  banishment  has  emptied  all  the  arch- 
bishoprics  and  bishoprics  of  Prussia,  except  Culm,  Hildes- 
heim,  Osnabriick,  and  Ermeland. 

The  Archbishoprics  of  Koln,  Trier,  and  Grnesen-Posen 
are  vacated  by  deposition  after  imprisonment  and  fine. 

So  the  Prince-Bishopric  of  Breslau,  and  the  Bishoprics 
of  Minister  and  Paderborn. 

The  Archbishopric  of  Freiburg  in  Baden  is  left  vacant 
by  death;  so  also  Mainz  in  Hesse,  and  Fulda. 

In  Bavaria,  Wiirzburg,  Speier,  and  Miinchen-Freising 
are  vacated  by  death. 

When  a  bishop  dies  the  diocese  is  governed  from  Eome,. 
that  is,  by  the  Jesuits,  through  certain  accredited  agents 
— in  one  archdiocese  by  a  renegade  Jew  and  a  converted 
Protestant.  The  Koman  Curia  has  no  pleasure  in  seeing 
dioceses  like  Eottenburg  and  Passau  at  peace  under  their 
bishops.  Whilst  the  bishop  is  in  his  throne,  the  Curia  is 
kept  out,  at  least  from  direct  rule. 

When  a  diocese  is  vacated  by  deposition,  the  Chapter 
are  required  to  nominate  a  successor.  This  they  refuse 
to  do,  as  they  do  not  regard  the  State  as  competent  to 
deprive  a  bishop  of  his  pastoral  charge,  though  they  do 
not  deny  that  it  may  withdraw  from  him  pecuniary 
grants. 

When  a  diocese  is  vacated  by  death  in  Prussia  the 
law  of  December  6,  1873,  bars  the  way  to  its  being  filled. 
In  Baden  the  Archdiocese  of  Freiburg  has  been  for  ten 
years  without  a  pastor.  The  Chapter  was  required  to 
elect  a  successor  on  the  death  of  Archbishop  Vicari  in 
1868.  According  to  precedent  a  list  of  eight  names  was 
sent  to  the  Grand  Duke.  He  scored  out  seven,  and  sent 
back  orders  to  the  Curia  of  Freiburg  to  draw  up  another 


The  Kulturkampf.  145 

list  of  candidates  more  acceptable  to  the  Government. 
Kome  interfered  and  forbade  the  Chapter  doing  this ;  and 
since  then  the  diocese  has  been  without  a  chief  pastor, 
managed  by  Borne  through  its  agents  in  the  local  curia. 

Full  particulars  of  the  spiritual  destitution  are  not 
accessible,  but  the  condition  of  several  dioceses  is  known, 
and  can  be  given  as  typical  of  the  rest. 

Dr.  Brinkmann,  Bishop  of  Minister,  in  Westphalia,  was 
deposed  by  decree  of  the  High  Court  of  Ecclesiastical 
Affairs  (Obergericktshof  fur  kirchliche  Angelegenheiteri) 
in  Berlin  on  March  8,  1876,  and  lives  in  exile,  along  with 
his  Vicar-General,  Dr.  Giese,  who  has  fled  the  country  to 
escape  imprisonment.  The  episcopal  palace  is  now  occu- 
pied by  the  Government  Verwalter,  a  Protestant,  named 
Gedike.  As  the  suffragan  bishop  is  dead,  since  1875 
there  have  been  neither  confirmations  nor  ordinations  in 
Miinster.  The  Chapter  has  lost  by  death  its  provost,  dean, 
and  a  vicar  choral.  By  January  1,  1878,  seventy  parishes, 
that  is,  more  than  21  per  cent,  of  the  whole  in  the  diocese, 
had  lost  their  pastors.  In  thirteen  of  these  there  is  no  priest 
at  all,  and  the  sacrament  has  been  removed  from  the 
churches,  and  the  perpetual  lamp  extinguished.  In  these 
priestless  parish  churches,  at  the  hour  of  mass  the  congrega- 
tion assembles,  the  altar  candles  are  lighted,  the  bell  rings, 
and  two  servers  in  surplices  kneel  before  the  altar  in 
silence,  and  the  whole  congregation  spend  an  hour  in 
reciting  German  eucharistic  prayers. 

Occasionally  a  Gesperrter,  i.e.  a  priest  unlicensed  by  the 
State,  says  a  private  mass  in  the  sacristy,  with  locked 
doors,  whilst  the  congregation  attend  in  the  church.  A 
Gesperrter,  were  he  to  say  mass  or  exercise  any  ministerial 
function  in  a  church,  or  in  a  room  to  which  the  doors 
were  not  locked,  would  be  liable  to  fine  or  imprisonment. 

Besides  seventy  parishes,  there  were  also  in  1878  three 

VOL.   II.  L 


146  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

rectories  and  forty-nine  curacies  vacant.  Moreover,  the 
churches  of  the  Jesuits,  Capuchins,  and  the  chapels  of  the 
Sisters  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  of  the  Visitation,  the  Poor 
Clares,  &c.,  have  been  closed,  and  these  served  formerly  the 
purpose  of  parish  churches.  Thus,  including  clergy  of  reli- 
gious orders,  195  having  cure  of  souls  have  vacated  their 
cures  by  death  or  banishment.  In  the  Archdiocese  of  Frei- 
burg there  fortunately  remains  a  suffragan  (Weihbischof). 
For  having  instituted  to  vacant  incumbencies  he  has  been 
several  times  had  up  before  the  court  and  fined.  On  re- 
fusing to  pay  the  fine  his  lodgings  have  been  entered  by  the 
gendarmes,  and  his  poor  little  personal  effects  sold  in  the 
street  before  his  door  by  public  auction,  till  the  sum  of  the 
fine  was  realised.  It  may  well  be  imagined  that  such  a  pro- 
ceeding is  calculated  to  exasperate  Catholic  feeling  against 
the  Government.  In  this  archdiocese,  between  November 
1,  1876,  and  October  31,  1877,  thirty-seven  priests  died, 
in  the  previous  year  thirty-two  died ;  thus  in  two  years 
sixty-nine  vacancies  have  occurred ;  many  churches  are 
without  pastors,  and  old  incumbents  are  without  curates. 

In  the  Archdiocese  of  Grnesen-Posen  eighty-five  priests 
have  died  between  the  beginning  of  the  Kulturkampf  and 
the  end  of  1877.  On  the  Lower  Ehine  thirty-three 
parishes  were,  in  1878, without  pastors;  in  the  diocese  of 
Paderborn  sixty-eight  were  priestless.  In  the  diocese  of 
Breslau  (Prussian  portion),  of  753  parishes  eighty-eight 
were  without  pastors ;  of  these  sixty-three  are  without  any 
priest  at  all — twenty-five  are  served  by  chaplains.  Ten  are, 
moreover,  filled  by  the  State  with  Pfarrers  who  have  re- 
ceived no  episcopal  commission,  and  whose  ministrations 
are  refused  by  the  parishioners.1  There  are  37,059  souls 

1  In  1877  in  Gross- Strelitz,  the  Staatspfarrer  Miicke  was  called  to 
minister  to  three  only  of  140  Catholics  who  died.  In  Gross- Rudnos, 
among  200  births,  the  Staatspfarrer  was  required  to  baptize  only  seven : 


The  Kulturkampf.  147 

in  these  ten  parishes.  The  number  without  pastors,  in 
January,  1 878,  was  2 1 5,807.  In  the  diocese  of  Hildesheim 
sixteen  parishes  were  at  the  same  date  without  pastors. 
In  the  diocese  of  Trier  there  were  180  incumbencies  un- 
filled at  the  beginning  of  1878.  In  another  twelve- 
month the  number  of  vacant  parishes  and  desolate 
churches  must  have  greatly  increased. 

A  few  examples  from  the  newspapers  of  December 
1877  and  January  1878  will  show  how  the  May  laws  are 
being  enforced  on  individuals. 

The  priest  Melap,  of  Stralen,  visiting  his  parents  at 
Cleves,  ventured  to  say  mass  one  morning  in  the  church. 
He  was  arrested  by  the  gendarmes,  and  as  he  could  not 
produce  his  ticket  to  show  that  he  had  passed  the  State 
examination,  he  was  taken  before  the  magistrates  and 
sentenced,  on  December  11,  to  pay  fifty  marks  or  undergo 
five  days'  imprisonment. 

On  December  20  the  priest  Hax,  of  Udenbreth,  was 
fined  twenty  marks  for  performing  some  religious  func- 
tions in  the  parish  of  Miirringen,  void  of  pastor. 

At  Grorloczyn,  in  West  Prussia,  the  curate  Zielak  was 
lodging  with  his  brother  last  Corpus  Christi  day.  On 
that  festival  he  ventured  to  join  the  procession  in  surplice 
and  stole,  and  read  the  Grospel  at  one  of  the  stations.  He 
neither  said  mass  nor  preached,  but  for  simply  reading  in 
public  a  few  verses  of  St.  John's  Grospel,  without  having 
been  qualified  to  do  so  by  the  State,  he  was  arrested,  and 
on  December  14  was  fined  fifteen  marks. 

December  14  the  priest  Block,  of  Schwetz,  was  fined 
200  marks  or  two  weeks'  imprisonment  for  having  per- 

of  these  three  were  illegitimate  children.  Of  160  who  died  he  was 
required  to  bury  only  two.  He  blessed  one  marriage,  and  was  not  called 
in  to  administer  the  last  sacraments  in  a  single  case.  His  congregation 
numbers  from  fifteen  to  twenty. 

i,  2 


148  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

formed  religious  services  in  the  parish  of  Dittrichswalde,. 
which  is  without  priest. 

In  the  same  month  the  chaplain  Lb'hers  was  sentenced 
to  eight  days'  imprisonment  or  payment  of  fifteen  marks 
for  having  conducted  a  procession  to  Werl  on  October  7, 
he  being  without  his  ticket. 

In  August  last  the  police  arrested  the  priest  Czechowski,. 
of  Grryzyn,  who  is  not  State-appointed  to  the  chaplaincy  of 
the  hospital  at  Kosten,  having  been  told  that  he  had  visited 
the  patients  and  ministered  to  them.  But  having  na 
evidence  on  which  to  convict  him,  they  proceeded  to  arrest 
the  Sisters  of  Mercy  who  nurse  the  sick  in  the  hospital. 
The  sisters  refused  to  give  the  required  evidence,  where- 
upon they  were  imprisoned.  Two  were  kept  in  confine- 
ment nearly  two  months,  the  others  ten  weeks,  and  were 
released  on  December  14.  Then  the  police  took  up  Dr. 
Bojanowski,  the  physician  attending  the  hospital,  and  on 
December  17  arrested  his  wife.  On  December  27  Frau 
Bojanowski,  for  refusing  to  give  evidence,  was  fined  100 
marks.  On  January  5,  1878,  as  Dr.  Bojanowski  refused 
to  pay  the  fine,  the  police  entered  his  house  and  sold  his 
goods  by  auction,  till  the  sum  required  was  raised.  A 
merchant  bought  the  articles  and  at  once  restored  them  to 
the  doctor.  The  same  day  Frau  Bojanowski  was  again 
brought  before  court  to  be  put  on  her  oath  to  give  evidence 
which  might  convict  the  priest.  She  again  refused,  and 
was  fined  again  100  marks,  and  on  January  18  was 
threatened  with  a  third  fine  of  150  marks. 

At  Hemm  a  man  desired  to  marry  his  sister-in-law. 
The  pair  went  to*  Dean  Tesborn  and  stated  their  wish. 
Such  a  marriage  can  only  take  place  by  dispensation,  as 
the  relationship  is  within  the  forbidden  degrees.  The 
dean  said  they  were  to  come  again  at  the  end  of  a  fort- 
night, and  when  they  did  return  he  informed  them  that 


The  Kulturkampf.  149 

the  difficulty  was  overcome,  and  he  married  them.  There- 
upon the  police  pounced  on  the  bride  and  bridegroom  and 
brought  them  before  the  court,  to  obtain  from  them  evi- 
dence that  the  dean  was  in  communication  with  Koine. 
If  they  could  obtain  this  evidence,  Dean  Tesborn  would  be 
subjected  to  fine  or  imprisonment. 

January  20. — The  priest  Nawrocki  was  convictejl  of 
having  exercised  pastoral  charge  of  the  parish  of  Gosciefzyn 
without  licence  from  the  State.  He  was  sentenced  to  pay 
1,620  marks  or  162  days'  imprisonment. 

The  story  of  the  Marpingen  vision  is  pretty  well  known. 
It  is  a  German  version  of  Lourdes — a  case  of  delusion 
rather  than  of  deception.  The  news  of  the  Virgin  having 
appeared  to  children  naturally  attracted  crowds  to  the 
wood  where  the  vision  was  supposed  to  have  been  seen. 
The  State  interfered,  soldiers  were  placed  round  the  wood, 
and  access  to  it  was  forbidden.  At  the  close  of  December 
a  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  Marpingen  were  arrested, 
brought  before  the  magistrates,  and  fined  various  sums  for 
having  lodged  and  fed  pilgrims  visiting  the  scene  of  the 
supposed  vision ! 

Instances  of  this  sort  might  be  multiplied. 

In  Germany  the  Stadtrath — the  city  corporation — has 
far  more  power  than  in  an  English  town. 

Auerbach,  in  his  '  Befehlerles,'  laments  that  a  German 
functionary  seems  possessed  with  the  idea  that  he  is 
appointed  by  Government  to  overawe  and  bully  the  weak. 

A  town  council  is  composed  generally  of  very  preju- 
diced men  without  the  smallest  conception  of  liberty,  as 
it  is  understood  in  England,  and  with  the  largest  ideas  of 
their  own  importance.  They  issue  proclamations  ordering 
the  killing  of  cockchafers  in  May  and  the  cooping  in  of 
pigeons  from  March  to  June.  They  have  the  chimneys 
swept  in  every  house,  and  the  cesspools  emptied  at  times 


150  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

that  suit  their  agents,  not  the  householders'  convenience* 
Every  dog  and  horse  is  had  up  before  the  proper  authorities, 
examined  and  doomed  or  let  live,  without  appeal.  In 
political  matters  they  nail  their  weathercocks  in  the 
direction  whence  the  wind  blows  in  higher  quarters. 
What  is  done  by  Parliament  is  aped  by  the  town  council. 
Stacjtrathe  are  incapable  of  perceiving  how  far  they  ought 
to  go  in  a  certain  direction  and  where  they  should  stop* 
Consequently,  in  seeking  to  carry  out  the  intentions  of 
the  Government,  they  very  often  embarrass  it  by  exag- 
gerated severity  or  ludicrous  pettiness.  In  the  way  in 
which  they  have  carried  on  the  Kulturkampf  they  have 
done  their  best  to  bring  it  to  a  reductio  ad  absurdum. 

Let  us  take  a  single  instance. 

When  the  Government  dissolved  the  religious  com- 
munities and  charged  itself  with  the  education  of  the 
people,  it  acted  with  a  certain  amount  of  inconsistency. 

No  private  school  for  boys  is  allowed  to  exist  except 
for  very  young  boys  of  the  upper  classes,  whose  parents 
object  to  sending  them  to  the  Volksschule,  where  they 
may  bring  away  with  them  more  in  their  heads  than 
ABC.  But  with  girls  it  is  otherwise.  Government 
does  allow  private  schools,  both  day  and  boarding,  for 
them,  if  the  teachers  have  duly  qualified  themselves  by 
receiving  a  Government  certificate  of  competence.  The 
State  did  not  undertake  the  charge  of  female  education ; 
it  simply  abolished  the  religious  schools  conducted  by 
orders  in  the  Roman  Church.  The  sisters  were  expelled 
their  houses,  their  lands  taken  from  them,  and  they  were 
forbidden  to  wear  an  ecclesiastical  habit.  But  they  are 
still,  in  theory,  allowed  to  teach,  and  open  private  schools — 
only  these  must  be  in  hired  houses,  and  the  sisters  may 
not  live  together  in  community.  At  Bruchsal,  in  January 
1878,  the  Ursulines  were  turned  out  of  their  house  by  the 


The  Kulturkampf.  151 

Stadtrath,  their  school  broken  up,  and  the  members  of  the 
community  were  forbidden  not  only  to  reopen  a  private 
school  in  a  hired  house,  but  even  to  give  lessons  in  music 
and  French,  so  as  to  earn  a  livelihood.  As  they  are 
obliged  by  the  law  to  dress  fashionably,  they  ought,  in 
common  fairness,  to  be  allowed  the  privilege  accorded  to 
any  dancing-mistress.  At  Constance  the  sisters  have  not 
yet  been  turned  out  of  their  Kloster ;  but  they  dare  not 
admit  new  members  into  their  community. 

But  the  story  of  the  Ursulines  of  Freiburg  is  the  best 
example  of  the  extremities  to  which  the  Dogberries  of  a 
German  town  council  will  proceed. 

The  Ursuline  Society  is  one  of  the  lightest  in  discipline. 
The  sisters  do  not  take  life-vows,  but  only  vows  of  obe- 
dience to  the  superior  for  three  years.  So  hostile  to  the 
Catholic  Church  has  the  Baden  Government  been,  that  for 
the  last  eighteen  years  the  Ursulines  have  not  ventured  to 
renew  their  vows.  The  Ursulines  of  Freiburg  possessed  a 
large  convent  with  garden,  vineyards,  and  meadows.  For 
the  last  200  years  they  have  kept  a  school  for  poor  girls, 
which  has  been  attended  by  a  thousand  children  annually, 
whose  parents  paid  for  their  education  four  marks,  or  a 
shilling  a  quarter.  This  sum,  however,  was  paid  over  to 
the  town  council,  which  returned  a  part  of  it  only  to  the 
sisterhood.  This  little  sum  did  not  suffice  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  school,  consequently  the  sisters  established, 
about  fifty  years  ago,  a  boarding-school  for  girls  of  a 
better  class,  and  with  them  taught  also  day  scholars  of  the 
same  class.  It  was  the  proceeds  of  this  school  which 
supported  the  large  and  almost  free  one. 

On  July  1,  1877,  the  town  took  possession  of  the 
convent  and  appropriated  the  school  buildings  and  all  the 
fittings  of  the  school,  desks,  blackboards,  books,  &c.,  as 
well  as  the  furniture  of  the  convent — beds,  tables,  wash- 


152  Germany ',  Present  and  Past. 

hand  basins ;  also  all  the  landed  property  of  the  sisterhood. 
The  town  surveyor  roughly  estimated  this  latter  alone,  at 
1 1 ,500Z.  It  need  scarcely  be  said  that  it  was  worth  more. 
The  convent  and  school-buildings  were  not  valued.  As 
compensation  for  this  spoliation  twenty  of  the  sisters  have 
been  given  pensions  varying  from  11.  10s.  to  201.  Two 
only  receive  201.  The  average  is  101.  The  superior  has 
been  accorded  30£.  The  town  offered  to  allow  the  sisters 
to  remain  in  the  convent  on  condition  that  they  should 
act  as  salaried  schoolmistresses  of  the  town,  subject  to 
dismissal  at  the  will  of  the  Stadtrath,  and  that  they  should 
receive  among  them  such  additional  teachers  as  the  town 
council  chose  to  appoint ;  but  as  no  guarantee  would  be 
given  that  these  should  not  be  Protestants  or  Jewesses,  or 
of  no  religion,  it  was  impossible  for  the  Ursulines  to 
accept  conditions  which  would  have  broken  up  their 
community  life.  They  declined,  and  were  expelled  their 
buildings,  and  were  allowed  to  take  with  them  only  such 
articles  as  they  could  prove  were  the  private  property  of 
each  sister,  brought  with  her  into  the  convent,  or  for 
which  she  could  produce  a  bill  to  show  that  it  had  been 
bought  by  her  in  her  own  name  since  she  had  been  in  the 
house.  So  grasping  did  the  Stadtrath  prove,  that,  after 
the  superior  had  gone  into  private  lodgings,  and  the  sisters 
were  dispersed  to  Austria,  Switzerland,  and  France,  a 
demand  was  made  by  the  council  for  three  articles  which 
it  charged  her  with  fraudulently  appropriating.  These 
articles  were  an  oil-painting  she  had  found  in  the  garret 
of  the  convent  rolled  up  and  much  defaced,  and  which 
she  had  restored  at  her  own  expense ;  also  a  little  pectoral 
cross  given  to  her  predecessor  by  the  mother  of  the  present 
Grand  Duke,  with  a  written  request  that  she  and  her 
successors  would  always  wear  it ;  and,  thirdly,  a  pair  of 
drawing-room  candlesticks,  presented  to  the  late  superior 


The  Kulturkampf.  153 

on  her  birthday  by  some  of  the  pupils  of  the  upper  school. 
The  superior  appealed  to  the  Grand  Duke,  who  coldly 
replied,  that  if  the  town  chose  again  to  insist  on  claiming 
these  articles,  he  could  not  interfere.  And  there  the 
matter  remains  at  present. 

The  town  council  have  also  sent  in  a  bill  to  the  su- 
perior for  all  the  expenses  of  the  cultivation  of  the  land, 
vineyards,  gardens,  &c.,  from  May  7,  1877,1  to  the  end  of 
September,  when  the  sisterhood  cleared  out  of  the  build- 
ings. That  is  to  say,  they  are  to  pay  for  the  cultivation 
of  the  land  and  vines,  the  crops  of  which  were  enjoyed  by 
the  town.  This  the  superior  has  refused  to  pay,  and  the 
question  is  still  undecided. 

No  sooner  was  the  society  expelled,  than  the  superior, 
who  retained  two  or  three  sisters  with  her,  made  formal 
demand  for  permission  to  continue  her  private  day-school. 
Private  girls'-schools  are  permitted,  and  there  are  several 
in  Freiburg.  But  that  of  the  Ursulines  was  regarded  as 
the  best  by  far,  and  Protestant  pastors  and  Jews  sent  their 
daughters  to  it,  in  full  confidence  that  their  religious 
convictions  would  not  be  tampered  with.  Insult  was 
added  to  injury.  No  notice  was  taken  of  the  applica- 
tion. 

For  six  months  the  pupils  came,  but  the  superior  did 
not  dare  to  form  them  into  classes,  lest  she  should  make 
herself  amenable  to  the  laws,  which  forbid  the  opening  of 
schools  without  licence.  It  was  only  when  she  had  made 
personal  application  to  the  Grand  Duke  that  a  tardy  per- 
mission was  accorded  her. 

The  suppression  of  the  Ursuline  school  for  poor  chil- 
dren was  not  effected  without  monster  demonstrations  of 
indignation,  and  appeals  against  it  were  numerously 

1  The  convent  was  suppressed  on  April  17,  and  from  May  7  began 
the  payment  of  the  pension. 


' 
154  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

signed,  but  treated  as  waste-paper  by  town  council  and 
government  alike.1 

These  acts  of  bigoted  injustice  unfortunately  distract 
attention  from  the  real  grounds  of  the  quarrel.  The  Ca- 
tholics smart  under  present  wrongs,  and  do  not  consider 
why  it  is  that  they  are  made  to  smart.  If  a  flight  is  to  be 
got  out  of  a  kite,  it  is  not  by  jerking  at  its  tail,  but  by 
pulling  at  it  from  a  distance.  If  German  Catholic  opinion 
is  worked  into  fury  against  the  Empire,  it  will  be  by  the 
Jesuits  working  the  thread  from  afar. 

It  is  said  that  Prince  Bismarck  is  now  desirous  of  con- 
ciliating the  Catholics,  to  gain  their  support  against  the 
National  Liberals.  For  this  end  mutual  concessions  will 
be  made.  Ultramontanism,  as  a  political  factor,  is  a 
creation  of  the  Chancellor.  He  has  made  the  existence  of 
Catholics  under  the  Empire  intolerable  to  them,  and  they 
have  combined  to  oppose  his  favourite  measures.  But 
Roman  Catholics  have  no  strong  or  radical  prejudice  against 
the  Empire.  They  have  suffered  more  in  petty  States  than 
in  great  kingdoms,  and  under  Grand  Dukes  far  worse  things 
than  under  Emperors.  In  spite  of  every  attempt  to  excite 
the  people  made  by  the  Jesuits,  they  have  sat  composedly 
expecting  a  change.  They  have  felt  that  a  great  injustice 
has  been  done  them,  and  that  this  will  be  recognised  and 
redressed  in  the  end.  I  was  speaking  to  an  old  sacristan  at 
Treves  when  the  bishop  was  in  exile,  and  one  of  the  parish 
priests  in  prison.  c  It  will  pass,'  he  said.  '  Once  the  Mosel 
ran  with  Christian  blood  to  Mehring,  and  afterwards  Con- 
stantine  gave  his  palace  for  a  cathedral.  Governments  are 
like  women ;  they  don't  know  their  own  minds,  and  change 
humour  daily.  Massacre  did  not  kill  the  Church  fifteen 
hundred  years  ago,  and  nagging  won't  hurt  her  now.' 

1  The  school,  which  cost  the  town  nothing  up  to  July  1877,  cost  the 
town  30,000  marks  for  the  half-year  ending  Dec.  31,  1877. 


The  Kulturkampf.  155 

There  has  been  much  that  has  been  right  in  principle 
in  the  Kulturkampf,  but  the  way  in  which  it  has  been 
carried  out  has  been  a  great  wrong. 

It  was  right  that  the  education  of  the  country  should 
have  been  taken  under  the  supervision  and  control  of  the 
State.  It  was  right  that  those  destined  for  the  priesthood 
should  be  given  something  more  liberal  than  the  seminary 
system. 

It  was  right  that  the  Jesuits  should  have  been  expelled 
bag  and  baggage. 

But  it  was  wrong  that  these  measures  should  have 
been  carried  out  with  violence,  petty  persecution,  and 
injustice.  Injustice  is  wrong,  even  in  a  right  cause. 


' 
156  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 


GHAPTEK  XIV. 

PROTESTANTISM. 

More  light  and  light ! — more  dark  and  dark  our  woes. 

Romeo  and  Juliet,  act  iii.  so.  5. 

A  LATE  Esquire  Bedell  of  Cambridge,  who,  for  thirty  years, 
had  executed  his  office  of  convoying  the  Vice-Chancellor 
to  St.  Mary's  Church  to  hear  the  University  sermon,  was 
wont  to  say,  '  For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  I  have 
heard  every  variety  of  doctrine  preached  in  St.  Mary's 
pulpit  every  Sunday  and  Saint's  day  throughout  the  year, 
and,  thank  Grod !  I  am  a  Christian  still.' 

Till  the  year  1540,  the  Ehenish  Palatinate  was  Catholic, 
but,  under  the  Elector  Otto  Heinrich,  it  was  forced  to 
become  Lutheran.  Otto  Heinrich  died  without  issue,  and 
the  Electorate  passed  to  the  Simmern-Zweibrucken  house. 
Frederick  (III.)  was  as  hot  a  Calvinist  as  his  predecessor 
had  been  a  Lutheran,  and  in  1565  the  churches  of  the 
Pfalz  were  swept  of  their  altars  and  crucifixes  and  images. 
The  Lutheran  pastors  were  ejected  and  exiled,  and  fiery- 
hot  Predestinarianism  was  poured  into  the  ears  of  the  be- 
wildered peasantry,  who  had  not  yet  digested  Justification. 
A  remorseless  persecution  of  those  who  held  by  the  Augs- 
burg Confession  was  carried  out.  But  in  1579,  Frederick 
was  no  more,  and  the  Pfalz  was  again  Lutheranised :  the 


Protestantism.  157 


Calvinist  preachers  were  banished,  and  the  Evangelical 
returned. 

In  1585  the  Palatinate  was  again  purged  of  Luther- 
anism,  and  reformed  after  the  pattern  of  Greneva.  In  the 
Thirty  Years'  war  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Imperialists 
and  was  Catholicised  again.  Then,  again,  it  reverted  to 
the  Elector  and  was  re-Calvinised.  Eeckoning  the  changes 
of  religion  effected  by  the  varying  fortunes  of  the  war,  the 
Palatinate  passed  through  ten  changes  in  less  than  a 
century.  Verily,  the  bauers  must  have  thanked  Grod 
that  they  remained  Christian  still.  Much  the  same 
sort  of  thing  occurred  in  other  parts  of  the  Empire. 
When  the  prince  changed  his  faith,  he  made  his  people 
change  also.  Idstein  was  converted  summarily  to  Lutheran- 
ism  by  Count  John  of  Nassau.  After  the  defeat  of  the 
Swedes  at  Nordlingen,  it  was  given  to  the  Elector  of 
Mainz,  and  became  Catholic.  After  the  Peace  of  West- 
phalia it  reverted  to  the  Count,  and  was  reconverted  to 
Protestantism. 

Wolfgang  of  Anhalt  bought  Kothen  in  1546  ;  he  at 
once  turned  the  priests  out  of  the  churches,  purified  them, 
and  made  the  population  Lutheran.  Next  year,  after  the 
battle  of  Miihlberg,  Kothen  fell  to  Count  Sigismund  of 
Lodron,  and  went  back  to  Catholicism.  In  1552,  at  the 
Convention  of  Passau,  it  was  restored  to  Wolfgang,  who 
at  once  converted  his  people  back  to  Lutheranism.  He 
died  childless  fourteen  years  after,  in  1566,  and  his  suc- 
cessor, Johann  Ernst,  forcibly  made  Kothen  Calvinist  in 
1 570.1  In  1 556  Count  Bernhardt  von  der  Lippe  conquered 
the  county  of  Kittberg,  expelled  the  Count  from  his, 
land,  and  brought  all  the  people  to  Calvinism.  The 

1  The  exercise  of  the  Lutheran  and  Catholic  religions  was  strictly 
forbidden.  It  was  not  till  1698  that  Prince  Emanuel  Lebrecht  allowed 
a  Lutheran  church  to  be  built  in  Kothen. 


158  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

granddaughter  of  the  banished  Count  recovered  the 
lands,  to  which  she  was  heiress,  in  1601,  and  restored 
them  to  the  Catholic  Church.  These  examples  might  be 
multiplied. 

Perhaps  the  latest  instance1  occurs  in  the  house  of 
Schonburg.  This  broke  into  two  branches  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  century — that  of  Hinterglauchau  and  that  of 
Wechselburg,  and  by  arrangement  Glauchau  fell  alter- 
nately to  one  house  and  then  to  the  other.  The  Count  at 
the  head  of  one  branch  was  a  pietist,  the  other  Count  a 
rationalist.  Consequently  the  pastors  appointed  by  one 
were  warm  believers  in  the  Incarnation  and  in  free  justifi- 
cation, and  the  next  batch  laughed  both  doctrines  to 
scorn  and  preached  natural  religion. 

Protestants  and  Catholics  alike  after  the  Keformation 
had  no  idea  of  toleration.  The  Lutheran  Elector  Augustus 
of  Saxony  haled  all  the  pastors  who  had  preached  Cal- 
vinism, and  others  suspected  of  Crypto-Calvinism,  before 
him  (1574),  and  made  them  abjure  their  errors  and  swear 
never  again  to  ventilate  them.  They  all  did  so  except 
six,  and  these  were  imprisoned  and  put  on  the  rack. 
Privy  Councillor  Krakau  was  so  cruelly  tortured  at  in- 
tervals calculated  to  recover  him  from  one  torment  to 
endure  another,  that  he  killed  himself  in  prison  to  escape 
his  implacable  persecutors.  Peucer,  the  Elector's  private 
physician,  the  son-in-law  of  Melanchthon,  was  kept  im- 
prisoned for  twelve  years  in  a  filthy  hole,  without  books 
and  writing  materials.  Church-Councillor  Stossel  died 
in  consequence  of  his  tortures.  Only  one  other  of  the  six 
escaped  alive.  After  execution,  the  Elector  had  a  coin 
struck  to  commemorate  his  victory  over  Crypto-Calvinism, 
on  which  he  is  represented  in  armour  holding  a  balance. 

1  Except  the  forcible  union  of  the  Lutherans  and  Calvinists   in 
Prussia  to  be  noticed  presently. 


Protestantism.  159 


In  one  scale  sits  the  infant  Saviour,  in  the  other  the  Devil 
and  four  Calvinists.1 

Professor  Flacius  carried  Luther's  doctrine  of  original 
sin  to  such  exaggeration  that  he  declared  that  man  con- 
sisted of  sin,  sin  only,  and  nothing  but  sin ;  that  every 
thought,  word,  and  act  of  his  was  damnable.  The  Elector 
Augustus  did  not  go  these  lengths.  He  banished  the 
land  all  those  who  held  with  Flacius,  and  then  had  cannons 
cast  to  commemorate  this  triumph  of  orthodoxy  (1571). 
On  them  were  grotesque  figures  of  Dr.  Flacius  in  his 
pastoral  habit,  with  the  Devil  behind  him  casting  a  chain 
round  his  body.  On  the  shoulders  of  the  doctor  was 
represented  another  Devil  with  a  pair  of  bellows,  puffing 
into  the  ear  of  Flacius.  Before  the  Professor  stood  Fame, 
blowing  a  trumpet,  and  holding  a  mitre.  Under  the 
caricature  were  cast  the  inscriptions :  '  Flacians  and  Zealots 
are  the  forerunners  of  Satan,'  and  '  Pride  is  the  deluding 
spirit  of  the  Flacians.' 

When  people  find  that  their  consciences  are  managed 
for  them  either  by  priests  or  princes,  they  are  liable  to 
fall  into  religious  apathy.  Keligion  is  not  calculated  to 
live  where  there  is  no  freedom.  Consequently,  as  the 
belief  and  worship  of  the  German  people  were  ruled  for 
them,  they  became  listless  in  their  religion.  After  a  brief 
outburst  of  excitement  their  consciences  settled  into  com- 
placent indifference. 

The  Thirty  Years'  war  gave  the  whole  nation  a  sickener 
of  ecclesiastical  controversy.  Germans  followed  the 
religion  prescribed  for  them  by  their  princes  in  a  dull 
routine  manner,  without  caring  to  inquire  whether  it  were 
true  or  false. 

1  The  Elector  was  so  strong  in  his  Lutheranism  that  he  was  wont  to 
say, « If  I  had  a  Calvinist  vein  in  my  body,  I  would  bid  the  Devil  tear  it 
out  by  the  root.' — Vehse,  GeschicMe  der  Deut.  Hofe,  xxix.  241. 


1 60  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

When  the  Bible  ceased  to  be  a  sedes  controversies  it 
ceased  to  be  read ;  when  sermons  were  no  longer  seasoned 
with  polemical  pepper  and  vinegar,  they  were  no  longer 
listened  to.  As  long  as  the  preacher  taught  what  was  ta 
be  pulled  down  and  undone,  he  attracted  attention :  when 
he  began  to  build  up  and  mend,  his  people  turned  their 
backs  on  him.  When  the  chorale  was  a  novelty,  congre- 
gations met  in  the  churches  to  sing,  but  when  the  Volks- 
lied  succeeded  with  livelier  strain,  they  went  to  the  garden 
Wirthschafb  instead.  Pastors  tired  of  haranguing  empty 
benches,  and  gave  up  holding  services.  In  the  Grand 
Duchy  of  Mecklenburg  an  inquiry  was  made,  in  1854, 
into  the  condition  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  and  it  was 
found  that  there  had  been  no  divine  service  held  in  the 
head  churches  (Prdpositur-Kirchen)  228  times,  because 
there  had  been  no  congregation.1 

Mr.  Dewar,  English  chaplain  at  Hamburg,  says  : 2 
'  Religious  indifference  has  pervaded  the  mass  of  the 
people.  It  is  a  fact  which  every  traveller  who  has  visited 
the  shores  of  Germany  has  remarked,  that  there  is  no 
regard  for  the  ordinances  of  religion.  In  Hamburg  and 
its  suburbs  there  are  five  parish  churches  and  two  smaller 
churches.  The  congregations  attending  all  the  services 
at  all  these  never,  I  am  told,  amount  to  three  thousand 
in  number,  so  that  the  remainder  of  the  enormous  popula- 
tion, amounting  to  150,000,  pay  no  manner  of  worship 
to  their  God.  So  rapidly  has  the  population  increased 
that,  whereas  in  the  year  1826  the  number  of  births  was 
4,000,  in  1842  it  amounted  to  5,000;  and  yet  in 
the  latter  year  the  number  of  communicants  was  10,000 
less  than  in  the  former.  One  parish  with  more  than 
40,000  inhabitants  has  but  a  single  church;  and  there 

1  Vehse,  Gesch.  d.  Deutsck.  Hofe,  xxxvii.  p.  200. 

1  Dewar  (Rev.  E.  H.),  German  Protestantism.    Oxford,  1844. 


Protestantism.  1 6 1 


has  never  been  a  complaint  made,  that  there  is  a  want  of 
church  accommodation.  There  has  never  been  a  wish 
expressed,  that  more  room  should  be  provided  for  those 
who  might  thereby  be  induced  to  assemble  for  public 
worship.  And  Hamburg  in  these  matters  does  not 
furnish  a  low  standard  when  compared  with  the  rest  of 
Germany.  In  Berlin,  for  instance,  there  is  a  parish  which 
contains  54,000  inhabitants,  and  the  annual  number  of 
communicants  is  1,000  less  than  in  the  largest  parish  in 
Hamburg,  while  the  population  is  one  third  greater.' 

In  statistics  of  church  attendance  and  of  communi- 
cants in  Germany  it  will,  curiously  enough,  be  found 
that  the  number  of  the  latter  exceeds  that  of  the  former. 
The  reason  is,  that  a  great  number  of  persons  proclaim 
their  formal  adhesion  to  the  Established  Church  by  com- 
municating on  the  four  occasions  in  the  year  when  the 
Lord's  Supper  is  administered,  or  at  all  events  at  one  or 
two  of  them,  and  never  set  their  foot  within  the  church - 
door  at  any  other  time.  This  is  the  remains  of  the  custom 
of  qualifying  for  Government  offices,  &c.,  by  exhibiting 
proofs  of  belonging  to  the  State  Church.1  Dr.  Schwabe 
gives  more  recent  information  of  the  state  of  religious 
affairs  in  Berlin.  'The  ancient  ties  of  the  Protestant 
Church  are  broken,'  he  says.2  '  Spirit  and  strength  are 
lacking  to  replace  them  by  new  ones.  At  no  period  has 
the  Church  commanded  less  and  given  less  satisfaction  to 
man.  Statistics  show  how  far  this  alienation  has  proceeded. 
Of  630,000  Protestants,  11,900,  viz.  nearly  two  per  cent., 
attend  church  on  the  Sundays,  and  amongst  them  2,225 
go  to  the  Dom,  merely  for  a  musical  treat.3  Religious 

1  In  Baden,  among  the  Protestants  in  1877,  the  per-centage  of  at- 
tendance at  church  was  26-6 ;  of  communicants  was  55-1. 

2  Schwabe  (H.),  Betrachtungen  uber  die  Volksseele.  Berlin,  1870. 

3  In  the  Dom  at  10  A.M.  the  '  Berlin  Choir  '  performs  every  Sunday 
Mendelssohn's  Psalms,  unaccompanied  by  instrumental  music. 

VOL.   II.  M 


' 
1 62  Germany^  Present  and  Past. 

indifference  appears  no  less  conspicuously  in  the  fact  that 
out  of  23,969  interments,  3,777,  or  nearly  15  per  cent., 
only,  are  attended  by  religious  service.'  The  churches 
provide  accommodation  for  only  25,000  out  of  the 
800,000  souls  in  Berlin,  yet  they  are  all  but  empty  on 
Sundays.1 

I  was  in  Strassburg  on  two  Sundays  last  year,  and  I 
went  the  round  of  the  churches.  In  Strassburg  there  are 
54,000  Catholics,  and  26,000  Protestants.  I  went  into 
St.  Thomas,  the  Temple  Neuf,  St.  Nicolas,  St.  John, 
'  Young '  St.  Peter's,  and  found  that  there  was  but  a 
wretchedly  thin  congregation  everywhere.  At  St. 
Thomas'  were  the  soldiers  and  some  well-dressed  ladies ; 
at  the  Temple  Neuf  the  best  congregation ;  at  the  others 
a  mere  handful — as  many  as  might  be  expected  in  an 
English  town  church  on  a  week-day  evening  service, 
when  there  is  no  sermon.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Cathedral,  Old  St.  Peter's,  and  St.  Louis,  given  up  to  the 
Catholics,  were  crammed.  I  found  the  same  thing 
at  Hadamar  on  the  Lahn,  where  the  nave  of  the  Old 
Church  is  given  to  the  Keformed,  and  the  choir  to  the 
Catholics. 

The  late  Mr.  Samuel  Laing,  who  as  a  Scottish  Presby- 
terian may  be  trusted  as  viewing  matters  of  this  sort 
from  an  impartial  standpoint,  said  in  1 845  :  '  If  the 
question  is  reduced  to  what  really  are  its  terms  in  Germany 
at  present — Catholicism,  with  all  its  superstitions,  errors, 
and  idolatry — or  no  religion  at  all,  that  is  to  say,  not 
avowed  infidelity,  but  the  most  torpid  apathy,  indifference 
and  neglect  of  all  religion — it  may  be  doubted  if  the 
latter  condition  of  a  people  is  preferable.  The  Lutheran 
and  Calvinistic  Churches  in  Germany  and  Switzerland  are 

1  Religious  Thought  in  Germany ',  reprinted  from  the  Times,  1870,  p. 
27. 


Protestantism.  163 


in  reality  extinct.  The  sense  of  religion,  its  influence  on 
the  habits,  observances,  and  life  of  the  people,  is  alive 
only  in  the  Koman  Catholic  population.' l 

His  description  of  a  Genevan  church  on  a  Sunday  may 
apply  to  those  of  Luther  as  well.  '  I  happened  to  be  at 
Geneva  one  Sunday  morning,  as  the  bells  were  tolling  for 
church.  The  very  sounds  which  once  called  the  powerful 
mind  of  a  Calvin,  a  Knox,  a  Zwingli  to  religious  exer- 
cises and  meditations,  were  now  summoning  the  descen- 
dants of  their  contemporaries  to  the  same  house  of  prayer. 
There  are  few  Scotchmen  whose  hearts  would  not  respond 
to  such  a  call.  I  hastened  to  the  ancient  cathedral,  the 
Ohurch  of  St.  Peter,  to  see  the  pulpit  from  which  Calvin 
had  preached,  to  sit  possibly  in  the  very  seat  from  which 
Knox  had  listened,  to  hear  the  pure  doctrines  of  Christianity 
from  the  preacher  who  now  stands  where  the  great  cham- 
pions of  the  Eeformation  stood.  Geneva,  the  seat  and 
centre  of  Calvinism,  the  fountain-head  from  which  the 
pure  and  living  waters  of  our  Scottish  Zion  flow,  the 
earthly  source,  the  pattern,  the  Home  of  our  Presbyterian 
doctrine  and  practice,  has  fallen  lower  from  her  original 
doctrine  and  practice,  than  ever  Kome  fell.  Eome  has 
still  superstition :  Geneva  has  not  even  the  semblance  of 
religion.  In  the  head  church  of  the  original  seat  of 
Calvinism,  in  a  city  of  25,000  souls,  at  the  only  service  on 
the  Sabbath  day — there  being  no  evening  service — I  sat 
down  in  a  congregation  of  about  200  females  and  twenty- 
three  males,  mostly  elderly  men  of  a  former  generation, 
with  scarcely  a  youth,  or  a  boy,  or  working  man  among 
them.  A  meagre  liturgy  or  printed  form  of  prayer,  a 
sermon,  which,  as  far  as  religion  was  concerned,  might 
have  figured  the  evening  before  at  a  meeting  of  some 

1  Laing  (S.),  Notes  on  the  German  Catholic  Church.    London,  1845, 
p.  145. 

Ml 


164  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

geological  society,  as  an  ingenious  essay  on  the  Mosaic 
chronology,  a  couple  of  psalm  tunes  on  the  organ,  and  a 
waltz  to  go  out  with,  were  the  church  service.  In  the 
villages  along  the  Protestant  side  of  the  lake  of  Geneva — 
spots  especially  intended,  the  traveller  would  say,  to  elevate 
the  mind  of  man  to  his  Creator  by  the  glories  of  the 
surrounding  scenery,  the  rattling  of  the  billiard-balls,  the 
rumbling  of  the  skittle-trough,  the  shout,  the  laugh,  the 
distant  shots  of  the  rifle-clubs,  are  heard  above  the  psalm, 
the  sermon,  and  the  barren  forms  of  State-prescribed 
prayer  during  the  one  brief  service  on  Sundays,  delivered 
to  very  scanty  congregations — in  fact  to  a  few  females  and 
a  dozen  or  so  old  men  in  very  populous  parishes,  supplied 
with  able  and  zealous  ministers.' l 

In  1876,  among  Protestants,  church  attendance  on 
ordinary  Sundays  in  Darmstadt  was  8'3  per  cent.,  in 
Griessen  15*7,  in  Mainz  10  per  cent.  Throughout  Ger- 
many 14  out  of  one  hundred  persons  attend  church  on 
Sunday  ;  in  the  town  of  Darmstadt  only  3-3  in  a  hundred, 
in  the  towns  of  Mainz  (among  the  Protestants)  5-1,  Gries- 
sen  5*7,  Worms  6'3.  In  Darmstadt,  out  of  a  hundred 
marriages,  34-5  per  cent,  in  Offenbach  48'6,  in  Worms  44, 
are  celebrated  before  the  registrar  alone,  without  religious 
service ;  burial  without  religious  service  throughout  Grer- 
many  in  29*6  out  of  one  hundred  interments,  in  Darm- 
stadt 60  per  cent.2  A  curious  paper,  by  Dr.  A.  Franz,  in 
the  '  Jahrbiicher  d.  National-Oekonomie,'  in  1865,  shows 
how  little  energy  the  Protestants  have  shown  in  church- 
building.3 

1  Laing  (S.),  Notes  of  a  Traveller,  p.  324. 

1  In  1877,  among  Baden  Protestants  neglect  of  baptism  and  of 
religious  marriage  was  in  this  proportion :  Mannheim,  29-9 ;  Heidelberg, 
24-8 ;  Pforzheim,  28-5. 

3  Statistics  since  the  year  1870  have  been  disturbed  by  the  May 
laws. 


Protestantism . 


165 


CHURCHES  AND  CHAPELS 

CLERGY  ORDAINED 

Increase, 

Increase, 

1858 

1864 

1858 

1864 

Prot. 

Cath. 

Prot. 

Cath. 

Prot. 

Cath. 

Prot. 

Cath. 

Prussia    . 

656 

509 

8 

12 

705 

531 

8 

23 

Posen 

191 

628 

8 

11 

198 

626 

12 

112 

Brandenburg 

2,231 

41 

— 

7 

1,306 

46 

31 

5 

Pommern 

1,229 

15 

13 

1 

759 

13 

19 

5 

Schlesien 

763 

1,273 

11 

9 

853 

1,179 

15 

57 

Sachsen  . 

2,413 

150 

1 

7 

1,670 

143 

— 

21 

Westphalia 

316 

525 

13 

19 

391 

1,159 

19 

45 

Kheinland 

524 

2,084 

20 

140 

538 

2,469 

20 

174 

Hohenzollern 

1 

92 

2 

27 

2 

98 

1 

— 

8,325 

5,317 

76 

231 

6,422 

6,264 

109 

442 

Thus,  while  the  Protestants  gained  seventy-six  churches, 
the  Catholics  had  increased  theirs  by  231.  In  1858  the 
Catholics  had  1,245  souls  to  a  church,  and  the  Protestants 
1,304,  and  yet  the  former  showed  an  increase  altogether 
extraordinary.  The  5,046,056  Protestants  of  the  States 
of  Prussia,  Brandenburg,  Pomerania,  and  Saxony,  who  had 
one  church  to  860  souls,  had  in  1864  gained  only  fourteen 
churches.  On  the  other  hand,  the  171,045  Catholics,  who, 
in  1858  had  one  church  to  830  souls,  had  in  1864  in- 
creased their  number  by  thirteen.  In  1858  the  Catholics 
had  202  clergy,  in  1864  they  had  233.  The  Protestants, 
who  had  3,735  pastors,  or  one  to  1,352  souls,  had  increased 
by  only  fifty.  In  the  whole  State  the  number  of  Protes- 
tant pastors  rose  to  6,422,  or  one  to  1,700  souls ;  but  the 
number  of  Catholic  priests  rose  to  6,264,  or  one  to  1,057. 
The  Protestants  had  an  addition  of  109,  the  Catholics 
of  442. 

If  there  were  religious  interest  among  the  Evangelicals, 
there  would  be  a  considerable  number  of  Dissenters  from 
the  established  Church,  but  this  is  not  the  case. 


1 66 


Germany,  Present  and  Past. 


By  the  religious  census  of  1871,  there  are  in — 


Catholics 

Protestants 

Dissenters 

Dissenters 
in  every 
10,000 

Prussia 

8,267,862 

15,987,927 

53,882 

22 

Bavaria 

3,464,364 

1,342,592 

5,453 

11 

Saxony  (Kingdom) 

53,642 

2,493,556 

4,893 

19 

Wiirtemberg 

553,542 

1,248,860 

3,857 

21 

Baden 

942,560 

491,008 

2,265 

16 

Hesse 

238,080 

585,399 

3,873 

45 

Mecklenburg  and  Old 

enburg    . 

71,205 

242,945 

952 

18 

Saxon  Provinces  and 

Elsass-Loth.  . 

14,867,463 

25,579,709 

82,155 

20 

The  '  Statistik  des  Deutschen  Reichs,'  vol.  ii.,  gives 
0*20  as  the  proportion  of  Dissenters  in  the  Empire,  where- 
as 0*94  returned  themselves  as  of  no  particular  religion. 

To  my  mind,  nothing  could  proclaim  more  clearly  the 
deadness  of  religious  interest  in  a  great  people  than  this 
absence  of  Dissent.  The  State  religion  does  not  satisfy  the 
souls  of  the  people,  but  then  their  souls  have  lost  all  appetite 
for  spiritual  truths,  so  that  they  do  not  care  to  seek  them 
outside  the  Church.  I  know  a  case  of  a  German  Methodist 
who  came  into  a  village  of  some  2,500  inhabitants,  all 
Evangelicals.  He  hired  a  large  room,  lighted  and  heated 
it  at  his  own  expense,  and  preached  there  every  Sunday 
evening  for  a  winter.  At  first  the  bauers  went  out  of 
curiosity.  Then  the  enthusiasm  of  the  man  made  them 
smirk,  finally  they  yawned,  and  went  away.  At  the  end 
of  six  months  the  unfortunate  preacher  had  to  leave  with- 
out having  made  a  convert  or  received  above  a  mark  or 
two  to  meet  the  expenses  of  his  meeting.  As  I  have 
looked  at  the  vacant,  listless  faces  in  the  parish  church,  I 
have  grieved  that  the  enthusiast  was  unable  to  stir  up  in 
their  dull  souls  some  spark  of  spiritual  life.  In  1861,. 
when  I  was  in  Iceland,  I  conversed  with  the  Roman  mis- 


Protestantism.  1 6  7 


sionary  who  had  been  stationed  at  the  capital  ten  years. 
In  all  that  period  he  had  made  but  a  single  convert ;  the 
reason  he  gave  me  surprised  me  then.  '  These  Lutherans,' 
he  said,  '  believe  with  the  head,  but  not  with  the  heart. 
They  are  so  absolutely  indifferent  to  all  religious  matters 
that  it  is  impossible  to  awake  in  them  even  the  spirit  of 
inquiry.'  The  same  condition  exists  in  Germany  as  in 
Iceland.  One  revival  they  have  had — Pietism — of  which 
I  shall  speak  presently,  but  it  has  fallen  dead  again. 

Nothing  can  give  more  clear  proof  of  the  all-prevailing 
indifference  than  the  ease  with  which  the  Prussian  and 
other  unions  have  been  effected.  When  Prussia  embraced 
lands  in  which  Calvinism  was  professed,  and  the  Electors 
introduced  Calvinist  communities  into  Lutheran  provinces, 
it  was  considered  inconvenient  to  have  the  budget  encum- 
bered with  payments  for  the  pastors  of  two  Protestant 
sects.  It  was  decided,  therefore,  to  unite  them.  All  at 
once,  two  Churches,  which  during  three  centuries  had  ex- 
isted side  by  side  in  open  rivalry,  had  zealously  defended 
the  truth  of  their  respective  confessions  of  faith,  had 
suffered  persecution  and  wrong  in  support  of  them,  sub- 
mitted without  a  murmur,  not  to  the  decision  of  a  council 
of  their  assembled  clergy,  but  to  a  royal  ordinance. 

The  history  of  the  union  is  sufficiently  curious. 

At  the  Eeformation  the  Calvinists  and  Lutherans  raged 
against  each  other  with  internecine  fury.  The  Formulary 
of  Concord,  introduced  in  1580,  proved  a  veritable  con- 
cordia  discors.  It  sealed  and  perpetuated  division.  Fifty 
years  later  the  Electors  of  Brandenburg,  Saxony,  and 
Hesse  summoned  a  conference  at  Leipzig  (1631),  in  which 
Lutheran  theologians  were  to  meet  Calvinist  divines, 
and,  if  possible,  come  to  some  agreement  on  fundamentals. 
But  the  points  of  difference  were  found  more  interesting 
and  exciting  than  those  of  agreement.  On  those  points 


1 68  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

they  were  ready  to  denounce  each  other  to  everlasting 
flames  as  heretics.  The  Eeformed  (Calvinists)  and  Evan- 
gelicals (Lutherans)  could  not  come  to  terms  on — 1.  The 
doctrine  of  the  union  of  natures  in  Christ.  2.  The  nature 
of  the  Communion.  3.  And  the  doctrine  of  election.  In 
ritual  also  the  two  confessions  differed.  The  Calvinists 
had  no  altars ;  and  everything  that  had  distinguished  a 
church  from  a  lecture-hall  had  been  swept  away.  They 
attended  divine  worship  wearing  their  hats,  did  not  kneel 
to  pray,  and  stood  to  communicate.  The  Lutherans,  on 
the  other  hand,  used  wafers,  elevated  the  Host,  wore 
chasubles,  exorcised  the  Devil  in  Baptism,  burned  tapers, 
had  crucifixes  and  images  of  saints,  and  imbibed  the  Sa- 
cramental wine  through  pipes.  In  Bavaria,  where  Luther- 
anism  has  not  been  compulsorily  united  with  Calvinism 
by  the  State,  the  old  condition  of  things  remains  in  part. 
In  a  little  village  church  (Muggendorf ),  which  was  Lu- 
theran, I  have  seen  an  altar  reredos  set  up  last  century, 
consisting  of  three  niches,  containing  in  the  centre  a 
statue  of  St.  Lawrence,  on  either  side  St.  Peter  and 
St.  Paul.  On  the  altar  were  six  candles;  the  inscrip- 
tions on  the  brass  showed  that  they  had  been  presented  a 
hundred  years  ago.  At  the  west  end  of  the  church  was  a 
huge  representation  of  God  the  Father  and  a  great  dove, 
below,  a  life-size  crucifix.  I  counted  eight  crucifixes  in 
the  church  :  of  these  several  were  processional. 

One  invariable  token  distinguishes  everywhere  the 
Protestant  parish  church  from  the  Catholic,  however  like 
in  accessories  of  worship  they  may  be.  The  church  path 
to  the  very  door  is  rank  with  grass  in  the  first  case,  trodden 
bare  in  the  other. 

At  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century  Lutheranism  in 
Brandenburg  was  the  dominant  religion,  because  the 
Elector  was  Lutheran.  But  in  1613  the  Elector,  John 


Protestantism.  169 


Sigismund,  went  over  to  Calvinism,  and  the  cathedral  at 
Berlin  was  purified,  and  the  Communion  was  there  admin- 
istered according  to  the  Reformed  rite.  From  this  time 
until  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  there  were  two 
religious  bodies  in  Brandenburg,  the  Reformed  who  fol- 
lowed the  court,  and  the  Lutherans  who  adhered  to  their 
traditional  belief  and  ritual.  The  Electors  and  Kings  of 
Prussia  remained  true  to  Calvinism,  and  used  all  their 
influence  short  of  persecution  to  beat  Lutheranism  down. 
Pastors  who  preached  against  what  they  regarded  as  Cal- 
vinist  heresy  were  deposed.  Paul  Gerhard,  the  great 
psalmist  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  was  banished  the  country 
for  this  reason.  By  degrees  both  communities  became 
weary  of  controversy,  because  they  had  ceased  to  care  for 
the  doctrines  and  ceremonies  which  had  separated  them. 
In  1733  Frederick  William  I.  by  rescript  ordered  the 
Lutherans  to  discontinue  the  use  of  surplices,  Mass  vest- 
ments, altar  cloths,  eucharistic  lights,  the  use  of  the 
wafer,  chanting  the  service,  private  confession,  &C.1  The 
Lutheran  ministers  who  refused  to  obey  were  suspended. 
Frederick  the  Great  rescinded  the  order.  The  object  of 
Frederick  William  was  to  diminish  the  points  of  difference 
in  worship  between  the  Evangelicals  and  Reformed,  so 
as  to  make  a  future  union  possible. 

In  1817,  Frederick  William  II.  thought  the  time  ripe 
for  a  fusion  of  the  two  Churches.  But  before  this  certain 
preparatory  steps  had  been  taken.  In  pursuance  of  a  royal 
minute  of  December  16,  1808,  all  the  consistories  of  the 
Protestant  churches  throughout  the  kingdom  were  abo- 
lished, and  a  new  6  department  for  public  instruction  and 
worship '  was  created  in  the  Ministry  of  the  Interior.  By 

1  In  Iceland,  Lutheranism  remains  unaltered.  There  the  only  service 
is  the  '  Mass,'  sung  by  the  pastor  in  rich  vestments,  with  burning 
tapers,  to  the  old  Gregorian  melodies.  The  Mass,  however,  ends  at  the 
sermon,  without  consecration  and  communion. 


170  Germany r,  Present  and  Past. 

this  order  all  self-government  was  destroyed  in  the 
churches,  and  both  Calvinist  and  Lutheran  churches  were 
established  under  the  direction  of  the  State.  For  ten 
years  the  King,  as  chief  bishop,  ruled  absolutely  over 
both.  In  1815  consistories  were  indeed  re-established,, 
but  only  as  Koyal  Boards  for  the  administration  of  eccle- 
siastical business  for  all  confessions,  Catholic,  Lutheran, 
Calvinist,  and  Jewish  alike. 

In  the  matter  of  doctrine  there  was  little  to  divide  the 
two  Protestant  bodies.  Luther  had  laid  down  consub- 
stantiation  as  an  essential  truth.  Lutherans  had  come  to- 
be  profoundly  indifferent  as  to  what  was  the  nature  of  the 
bread  and  wine  after  the  benediction  of  the  pastor.  Con- 
substantiation,  transubstantiation,  real  presence,  real 
absence,  were  all  one  to  them — a  dispute  about  words. 
The  Sacrament  itself  was  indifferent  to  them,  much  more- 
doctrine  concerning  it.  As  for  election  and  free  justifi- 
cation— words  on  which  Calvin  and  Luther  had  fought — 
nobody  believed  in  either.  Election  was  an  absurdity,, 
free  justification  the  fertile  mother  of  immorality.  Let 
both  be  consigned  with  indulgences  and  relic-worship  to 
oblivion  as  things  unsavoury  to  Christian  ethics. 

The  King  determined  to  establish  inter-communion,  if 
not  compulsory  unity,  and  in  September  1817,  he  ordered 
his  court  chaplain,  Eylert,  to  issue  a  proclamation  to  the 
people  that  the  King  was  resolved  to  unite  the  two  confes- 
sions in  one  outward  Evangelical  Church,  without 
dogmatic  creeds  and  standards.  Eylert  was  given  two 
days  for  this  ;  and  then  the  royal  order  appeared,  founding 
the  union.  The  work  begun  in  1817  was  completed  by  a 
Cabinet  order  in  1839,  when  the  King  of  Prussia  abolished 
the  very  name  of  the  Protestant  Church,  amalgamated 
Lutheranism  and  Calvinism  into  a  new  establishment, 
called  the  Evangelical  Church,  without  any  precise 


Protestantism .  171 


doctrine,  and  with  a  service  and  liturgy  of  his  own  com- 
position. The  old  Churches  relinquished  without  regret 
each  their  accustomed  mode  of  worship,  endeared  to  them, 
one  might  have  supposed,  by  time,  and  hallowed  by 
solemn  recollections.  More  especially,  they  resigned  that 
which  had  been  to  each  the  peculiar  and  most  cherished 
rite,  the  mode  of  administering  the  Lord's  Supper,  and 
adopted  a  liturgy,  prepared,  not  by  the  wisest  and  most 
honoured  among  their  spiritual  rulers,  but  by  the  King  and 
his  Cabinet  Council.  They  resigned  it,  not  because  one 
or  both  were  convinced  of  error,  but  because  both  were- 
indifferent,  and  were  easily  induced  to  agree  in  accepting 
a  nullity.  Two  or  three  country  parishes,  into  which  the 
spirit  of  indifference  had  not  penetrated,  alone  resisted  the 
royal  will.  Their  ministers  were  imprisoned,  troops  were 
quartered  upon  them  to  force  them  into  conformity, 
and  above  600  peasants  were  compelled  to  abandon 
their  little  properties  and  fly  from  Protestant  Germany,, 
where  each  may  exercise  to  the  utmost  the  right  of  private- 
judgment  but  not  of  public  worship,  and  to  seek  in  the 
wilds  of  America  a  new  dwelling-place,  where  they  might 
enjoy  the  privilege  of  holding  the  doctrines  which  Luther 
taught,  and  of  participating  in  the  Sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  as  their  fathers  during  three  centuries  had 
received  it. 

The  Protestant  churches  of  Baden,  Nassau,  Ehein- 
Hessen,  and  the  Bavarian  Palatinate  have  also  been 
united,  or  reorganised,  on  the  pattern  of  the  Prussian 
Evangelical  Church,  and  the  only  point  of  difference  or 
any  importance  between  them  is  that  they  look  to  their 
several  reigning  Dukes  and  Princes  as  their  '  summi 
episcopi,'  instead  of  to  the  Emperor. l  But  this  is  merely 

1  E.g.  'The  United  Evangelical  -  Protestant  Church  of  the  Grand: 
Duchy  of  Baden  .  .  .  forms  a  portion  of  the  Evangelical  Church  of  Ger- 


172  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

because  Grermany  is  in  a  transition  political  condition :  the 
several  sovereigns  will  sink  ere  long  into  bishops,  and  the 
Emperor  will  be  supreme  pope  over  the  whole  Evangelical 
Church.  In  Schleswig  and  in  Holstein  and  in  Hanover 
exist  only  Lutherans.  For  the  sake  of  uniformity,  they 
have  recently  had  their  Church  suppressed,  and  its  place 
assumed  by  the  Evangelical  Church  framed  by  King 
William  of  Prussia. 

By  Prussian  charter  enacted  in  1850,  the  Established 
Church  has  been  made  independent  of  the  State,  but  not 
of  the  King ;  that  is,  it  is  given  synods  and  a  constitution : 
and  the  sovereign  sits  as  king  over  the  secular  state,  and 
as  pope  over  the  ecclesiastical  state,  absolute  and  infal- 
lible. The  spiritual  attribute  thus  claimed  by  the  King  is 
certainly  in  accordance  with  a  principle  acknowledged  by 
Luther  himself  in  his  latter  days, l  when  the  necessity  of 
providing  a  fit  government  for  the  unruly  believers  of  his 
age  made  him  confer  the  privilege  of  Church  headship  on 
the  various  Protestant  sovereigns  of  Grermany ;  and  it  is  in 
agreement  with  German  tradition  during  three  centuries, 
which  has  made  the  prince  sovereign  over  the  creeds  and 
worship,  as  well  as  the  lives  and  properties  of  his  subjects. 
'  Cujus  regio  ejus  religio '  was  a  serious  maxim  of 
government,  and  the  people  accepted  their  prayer-  and 
hymn-books  as  well  as  their  doctrines  from  their  prince 
without  a  murmur ;  but  for  all  that  the  principle  is 
wrong :  it  kills  religious  liberty,  and  with  the  destruction  of 
liberty  religion  itself  dies.  In  Brunswick  the  Duke  is 
in  like  manner  supreme  pope,  with  a  consistory  as  his 

many.  .  .  .  The  Evangelical  Grand  Duke  as  bishop  has  the  ecclesiastical 
government  of  it,  in  accordance  with  the  Constitution  ' —  (  Verfassuug 
der  Evangeliidien  KircJie  des  Crrossherzogthwms  Baden,  p.  1,  §.  1,  4.) 

1  '  Dass  2  und  5  gleich  7  sind,'  he  preached,  <  das  kannst  du  fassen 
mit  der  Vernunf  t ;  wenn  aber  die  Obrigkeit  sagt :  2  und  5  sind  8,  so 
musst  du's  glauben  wider  dein  Wissen  und  dein  Fiihlen.' 


Protestantism .  173 


camarilla.  In  1873  he  issued  an  ecclesiastical  order  for 
his  Church,  with  full  instructions  as  to  what  it  was  to 
believe,  teach,  and  how  it  was  to  worship.  The  title  of 
this  ordinance  is, '  Church  Constitution  of  the  most  Serene, 
Excellent  and  High-born  Prince  and  Lord,  the  Lord 
Frederick  Duke  of  Brunswick  and  Liineburg,  Postulate- 
Coadjutor  of  the  Bishopric  of  Katzeburg,  Provost-Elect  of 
the  Archdiocese  of  Bremen,  &c. — How  teaching  and 
ceremonies  and  other  ecclesiastical  matters  and  functions 
are  to  be  discharged  in  both  his  Gracious  Princely 
Majesty's  principalities  of  Brunswick-Liineburg,  the  Celle 
and  Grubenhagen  division,  and  the  annexed  counties  and 
lordships.'  (212pp.)  Hermannsburg,  1873. 

We  naturally  ask,  How  is  it  that  such  religious  indif- 
ference can  have  spread  as  to  make  the  union  possible  and 
the  people  to  acquiesce  in  a  creedless  church  ?  The 
union  was  not  effected  in  the  spirit  of  Paul,  but  in  that  of 
Gallio. 

No  doubt  the  principle  of  '  cujus  regio  ejus  religio ' 
had  its  numbing  effect,  but  this  was  not  the  main  cause 
of  deadness.  What  really  occasioned  this  torpor  was  the 
discovery  by  both  Lutherans  and  Calvinists,  that  their 
essential  dogmas, — those  which  had  created  the  fiercest 
controversy,  those  which  their  several  leaders  had  regarded 
as  '  articuli  stantis  vel  cadentis  ecclesiae' —  were  impracti- 
cable. The  founders  of  their  faiths  had  established 
theories  :  the  generations  that  followed  put  them  to  prac- 
tical tests,  and  they  found  them  wanting. 

Calvinism  is  a  magnificent  logical  system.  It  explains 
the  universe  ;  God  and  man,  heaven  and  hell,  all  have 
their  places  in  it.  The  world  is  a  problem  in  Euclid,  in 
which  every  step  follows  inevitably  on  what  precedes^ 
and  leads  on  to  the  inexorable  conclusion.  It  is  a  system 
altogether  intellectual,  clear,  sharp,  like  a  prism  of  ice.. 


174  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

And  as  such  it  satisfied  the  minds  of  thinkers.  But  there 
its  merits  ended.  It  leaves  the  heart  of  man  out  of  con- 
sideration. Love  had  no  more  place  in  the  'Institutes' 
than  in  the  Second  Book  of  Euclid.  The  Scotchman  is 
par  excellence  a  man  of  logic,  and  the  affections  play  in 
him  altogether  a  subordinate  part ;  consequently,  Calvinism 
has,  and  no  doubt  always  will  command  his  adhesion,  and 
will  content  his  religious  instincts.  But  the  Grerman  is  a 
dreamer,  not  a  logician,  a  man  of  tender  affections,  rather 
than  of  rigid  definitions.  The  '  Reformed  '  bauer  rocking 
his  white-haired  urchins  on  his  knee,  and  hugging  them  to 
his  heart,  cannot  believe  in  one  being  irrevocably  called 
to  be  a  vessel  of  grace,  and  the  other  to  be  a  vessel  of 
wrath.  He  has  nothing  of  the  Brutus  in  him.  He  can- 
not cover  one  with  kisses,  and  thrust  the  other  into  the 
flames  of  his  oven.  And  is  the  Heavenly  Father  less 
paternal  than  he?  He  watches  his  children  work  out 
their  own  fortunes,  and  cannot  believe  that  their  fate  in 
eternity  is  fixed  irrespective  of  their  characters  and  efforts 
here.  Calvinism  proved  too  inhuman  for  the  Grerman  to 
give  to  the  doctrine  of  election  adhesion  for  more  than  an 
hour.  When  the  first  gale  of  controversy  blew  away,  he 
looked  into  his  own  heart,  and  saw  there  that  Grod  was 
something  other  than  an  arbitrary  and  unloving  despot. 
Thereupon  his  faith  in  Calvinism  as  a  system  gave  way 
^altogether. 

It  was  much  the  same  with  Lutheranism.  Luther 
was  not  a  clear  thinker  like  his  great  rival :  he  was  a  man 
x)f  warm  affections  and  headstrong  convictions.  His 
system  was  the  reverse  of  Calvin's.  He  made  Grod  all 
love  and  forgiveness,  and  restoration  to  favour  was  the 
•easiest  thing  in  the  world.  A  man  had  but  to  believe, 
and  he  was  at  once  in  a  state  of  grace,  and  his  iniquities 
were  blotted  out.  Even  in  his  time,  the  proclamation  of 


Protestantism.  175 


free  justification  by  faith  only  led  to  grave  disorders,  and 
frightened  back  into  Catholicism  many  who  wished  the 
Reformation  success. 

One  instance  alone  will  serve  to  show  the  results 
of  the  introduction  of  Soiifidianism.  In  Ditmarschen, 
Neocorus  tells  us,  chastity  and  innocence  were  so  remark- 
able that  the  little  principality  went  by  the  name  of  the 
Land  of  Mary.  In  1532  it  was  Lutheranised.  Nine 
years  after,  in  1 541 ,  the  Reformer,  Nicolas  Boje,  complained 
that  '  fornication,  adultery,  and  usury  were  practised  in 
a  way  unusual  even  among  Jews  and  heathens,  and  had 
so  gained  the  upper  hand  that  it  was  impossible  to  supply 
any  remedy  by  sermons.'  Mohr,  describing  the  Dit- 
marschen  before  the  Reformation,  says :  '  The  girl,  free  and 
joyous,  in  this  free  and  joyous  land,  has  no  need  to  dread 
the  plots  of  seducers.  The  fall  of  a  maiden  is  a  thing 
almost  unheard  of,  and  when  it  happens,  throws  the  whole 
country  into  mourning.' l  After  the  preaching  of  Soli- 
fidianism,  in  1599,  in  one  parish,  that  of  Meldorf,  there 
were  twenty-six  unmarried  girls  in  the  family  way;  in 
Barrelt  twenty-two;  in  Lunden  sixteen;  and  in  1618  there 
were  in  the  little  village  of  Wesslingburen  alone  forty 
illegitimate  births.2 

The  common  sense  of  Germans  showed  them  that  the 
doctrine  which  Luther  had  made  the  very  ground-work 
of  his  church  was  mischievous  to  morals,  and  they  deodor- 
ised and  disinfected  it  as  rapidly  as  possible  by  putting  it 
underground.  In  the  seventeenth  century  it  was  almost 
forgotten,  nobody  believed  it,  nobody  ventured  to  rule  his 
life  on  it  as  a  working  principle. 

Lutherans  and  Calvinists  alike  were  aware  that  they 
had  been  led  a  long  way  out  of  right  paths  by  theologic 

1  Hanssen  von  Wolf  :   CJvronik  d.  Landes  Dithmcvrsen,  p.  221. 
*  Ibid.  221. 


176  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 


Will-o'-the-wisps,  and  that  they  had  floundered  into 
quagmires.  They  were  ready  to  extend  to  one  another  a 
helping  hand  to  get  out,  and  when  on  dry  land  their  vow 
was  not  to  follow  or  be  led  by  dogmas  any  more.  Dogmas 
were  the  lanthorn  on  the  ass's  head  led  along  the  highlands, 
luring  vessels  among  rocks,  to  become  the  prey  of  wreckers. 
They  would  stand  out  to  sea.  Creeds  were  breakers  over 
which  controversy  raged  and  roared,  and  on  which  true 
religion  foundered.  Confessions,  formularies  of  concord, 
were  crackers  in  which  each  article  was  an  explosive 
pellet,  scaring  decent  people  who  loved  quiet,  and  setting 
in  flames  those  whom  they  reached. 

Thus  all  Protestant  Germany  agreed  to  form  one 
united  Evangelical  Church  without  any  definite  belief. 
The  house  was  most  likely  to  stand,  if  no  powder  or 
petroleum  was  stored  in  its  cellars.  The  primitive 
Church  had  rubbed  on  comfortably  on  the  Apostles'  Creed, 
how  much  more  happily  the  Protestant  Church  on  no 
creed  at  all.  As  creeds  multiplied,  so  had  discord.  The 
more  definitions  were  made,  the  more  material  was  supplied 
for  objectors.  Japanese  artists  ridicule  European  draughts- 
men, and  call  them  object-scratchers,  because  they  out- 
line before  they  fill  in.  The  Japanese  never  outline,  they 
float  in  masses  of  colour,  and  the  artist  converts  the  blotch 
into  a  fish,  a  bird,  a  flower,  or  a  mountain,  as  his  fancy 
leads  him.  In  religion,  said  the  German,  we  have  been 
hitherto  object-scratchers,  drawing  outlines  of  dogma  hard 
and  distinct,  and  afterwards  filling  them  in,  sometimes 
with  colour,  often  with  Indian  ink.  This  we  have  now  to 
unlearn.  We  will  remove  our  outlines,  erase  our  scratches, 
leaving  only  vague  blots  of  ink,  or  patches  of  colour,  for 
any  one  to  transform  into  such  doctrine  as  agrees  with  his 
individual  proclivities. 

With  the  disappearance  of  all  dogmatic  barriers,  it 


Protestantism.  177 


was  believed  that  the  established  Church  would  absorb  all 
sects.  It  was  with  a  feeling  of  unmingled  surprise  that 
the  Government  saw  that  it  produced  them.  It  hoped 
that  all  nonconformist  bodies  would  melt  into  the 
Evangelical  Church,  for  they  would  find  nothing  to  object 
to  in  her  teaching,  for  the  simple  reason  that  she  taught 
nothing  at  all.  He  who  joined  the  established  Church 
would,  like  Ixion,  embrace  a  cloud.  It  was  not  on  the 
platform  of  definite  belief  that  the  union  of  the  Churches 
was  effected,  but  in  the  vacuity  of  common  negation. 
Men  may,  unconsciously,  and  without  effort,  tumble  into 
a  hole,  but  they  cannot  climb  a  hill  without  exertion.  It 
remains  optional  for  any  one  to  call  doctrines  from  vasty 
vagueness,  but  when  he  calls  they  will  not  come,  save  as 
ghosts,  the  ghosts  of  a  dead  creed,  on  whose  tomb  is 
written  no  Resurgam. 

No  new  doctrine  was  imported  into  the  teaching  of 
the  Church ;  her  dogmas  were  simply  extracted  from  her, 
and  laid  aside,  as  cooks  draw  woodcock,  and  serve  its 
entrails  apart  on  toast.  The  old  confessions  and  creeds, 
and  articles,  and  catechisms,  and  formularies  and  rites, 
were  allowed  to  remain  in  an  antiquarian  museum,  to  be 
looked  on  with  interest,  and  lectured  on,  not  to  be  resus- 
citated. Catholic  Christianity  rested  on  an  inerrable  Church, 
as  the  teacher  of  truth ;  Protestant  Christianity  reposed 
on  an  infallible  Scripture  ;  but  the  Dubitarian  Christianity 
of  the  established  Church  declares  that  certainty  on  any 
religious  topic  is  nowhere  to  be  found,  that  truth  lies  at 
the  bottom  of  the  well — but  the  well  is  that  of  Zemzem, 
which  has  no  bottom.  The  externals  of  religion  are  main- 
tained intact,  and  intact  they  will  remain  as  long  as  they 
are  regarded  as  empty  and  meaningless.  Inflated  only 
with  air,  they  serve  their  purpose,  as  the  bladders  on  which 
natives  float  across  the  Euphrates. 

VOL.    II.  N 


178  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

The  Reformation  in  Germany  was  first  of  all  social, 
then  political,  and  lastly,  and  accidentally  only,  religious. 
Moral  it  was  not,  it  scarcely  pretended  to  be.  There  is 
abundant  evidence  that  wherever  it  prevailed  the  moral 
tone  sank  several  degrees.1  It  was  first  of  all  social.  In 
all  the  cities  and  large  towns,  the  cathedral  or  minster 
was  the  seat  of  a  close  aristocratic  corporation.  The 
bishop  or  dean  had  rights  in  the  town,  which  were  in  con- 
stant clash  with  the  rights  of  the  citizens.  These  rival 
•powers,  the  first  feudal,  the  second  democratic,  led  to 
bloody  broils  in  almost  every  century.  The  town  coun- 
cil gradually  fell  into  the  power  of  the  guilds,  and  in  the 
fifteenth  century  the  Rath  seized  the  first  excuse  for  getting 
rid  of  the  rival  authority.  The  princes  were  needy,  im- 
poverished by  equal  subdivision  of  property,  and  they  cast 
hungry  eyes  on  the  large  estates  of  the  Church,  and  saw 
a  means  of  enriching  themselves,  and  recovering  their 
power,  by  appropriating  them.  Zeal  for  religion  was  a 
plausible  excuse  for  spoliation. 

Olaus  Magnus  tells  of  a  city  in  Norway  that  was  buried 
by  an  avalanche,  set  in  motion  by  a  curlew  hopping  over 
snow  on  an  impending  mountain  side.  But  it  was  not 
the  curlew  that  destroyed  the  town,  but  the  breath  of 
spring  that  passed  over  the  country  and  loosed  the  icy 
ties  that  held  the  glacier  to  the  rocks.  Luther,  Melanchthon, 
Osiander,  Brenz,  Bucer,  were  but  the  curlews  hopping  over 
the  mass  and  starting  it.  But  they  did  not  originate  the 
Reformation.  It  was  brought  about  by  the  breath  of 
modern  ideas  thawing  Medievalism.  An  avalanche  is  a 
bad  simile.  The  break-up  of  old  ideas  at  the  Reforma- 
tion far  more  closely  resembles  the  break-up  of  the  Rhine  ice 
in  spring.  The  coherent  and  solid  surface  of  belief  is 
fissured,  and  then  falls  to  pieces.  In  a  moment  nothing 

1  See  the  three  tnick  volumes  of  Dr.  Dollinger  :  Die  Reformation. 


Protestantism.  1 79 


is  seen  but  the  swirl  of  floating  dogmas,  charging  against 
one  another,  grinding  against  each  other,  losing  their 
angles,  and  forming  fresh  ones,  crashing  into  one  another, 
disappearing  with  a  plunge  and  coming  up  in  splinters — 
but  all  imperceptibly,  yet  certainly,  honeycombing  and 
melting  away. 

Three  hundreds  of  years  have  gone  by ;  and  now  if  one 
looks  across  the  current  of  thought,  one  sees  nothing  like 
this — now  and  then  there  reels  by  a  sodden  and  slushy 
relic  of  ancient  faith,  ready  to  disappear.  But  of  such 
the  stream  is  almost  clear — clear  of  crystalline  belief — 
not  clear  of  impalpable  mud — of  that  there  is  super- 
fluity. There  is  now  philosophy  in  Germany,  not  religion. 
And  the  man  who  pretends  to  regard  Christianity  as  any- 
thing more  than  a  form  of  misbelief  is  regarded  as  a  sinner 
against  culture.  Christianity  was  the  pedagogue  leading 
to  the  Keal-Schule. 

On  Sunday,  August  8,  1869,  whilst  the  Pastor  Hein- 
rici  was  reciting  the  creed  in  the  Berlin  Cathedral  Church, 
a  loud  voice  cried,  c  You  lie  ! '  and  a  shot  followed,  aimed 
at  the  pastor.  The  shot  was  fired  by  a  young  man,  named 
Biland,  who  had  been  educated  for  the  Evangelical  ministry, 
but  whose  abhorrence  of  dogmatic  belief  had  become  so 
intense,  that  he  had  resolved,  by  shooting  an  orthodox 
clergyman,  to  attract  attention  from  the  public  mind  to 
the  inadmissibility  of  the  Apostles'  Creed  in  the  religious 
services  of  a  Protestant  church.  '  I  taught  myself,'  said 
Biland,  '  that  some  striking  deed  was  indispensable  to  rouse 
the  public  mind  from  its  apathy,  and  chase  away  the 
mists  of  superstition.  I  therefore  determined  to  seize 
the  first  favourable  opportunity  that  offered  for  shooting 
a  pastor,  while  uttering  his  accursed  perjuries.  I  have 
done  it.  I  cast  the  ball  myself,  and  have  done  my  best 
to  render  the  shot  fatal.  I  knew  perfectly  what  I  was 

N  2 


180  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

about,  and  am  convinced  that  there  are  many  able  to* 
appreciate  the  disinterestedness  of  my  purpose,  though 
they  may  not  approve  of  the  method  chosen  to  compass 
it,' 

The  '  Times' '  correspondent  thereupon  says  :  '  I  am 
afraid  the  prisoner  was  right  in  supposing  that  many  will 
appreciate  his  motive,  though  they  will  abhor  the  deed. 
The  majority  of  educated  men  in  Germany  are  estranged 
from  the  dogmatic  teaching  of  the  Christian  creed,  es- 
tranged from  it  to  the  extent  of  disbelieving  the  sincerity 
of  many  of  the  clergy.  Only  a  small  fraction  of  the 
nation  attends  divine  service ;  of  the  educated,  those  met 
with  in  church  on  a  Sunday  are  few  and  far  between.' 

The  union,  so  far  from  galvanising  religion  into  life, 
has  shaken  up  its  pillows  on  which  it  may  sleep  more 
comfortably.  Here  and  there  are  pastors  and  congrega- 
tions holding  by  the  Apostles'  Creed,  and  preaching  and 
believing  the  Augsburg  Confession,  but  they  are  scarce,  rari 
nantes  in  gurgite  vasto,  and  are  objects  of  suspicion 
and  dislike  to  their  more  enlightened  neighbours.  They 
are  regarded  as  hypocrites  or  ignoramuses,  enemies  to 
culture  and  to  light,  to  be  put  down,  if  possible,  by  force. 

But  the  orthodox  have  the  Emperor  on  whom  to  lean, 
against  whom  they  may  set  their  backs.  In  answer 
to  a  deputation  of  the  Brandenburg  Synod  in  1869,  he 
used  the  memorable  words  :  '  What  is  to  become  of  us,  if 
we  have  no  faith  in  the  Saviour,  the  Son  of  (rod  ?  If  He 
is  not  the  Son  of  (rod,  his  commands,  as  coming  from  a 
man  only,  must  be  subject  to  criticism.  What  is  to  be- 
come of  us  in  such  a  case  ? ' 

It  has,  no  doubt,  been  a  source  of  great  disappoint- 
ment to  the  pious  Emperor,  that  the  Evangelical  Church 
shows  no  signs  of  a  religious  revival.  The  union  did  not 
prick  it  into  life,  perhaps  constitutionalism  might  succeed. 


Protestantism.  1 8 1 


Accordingly  a  new  attempt  was  made  to  awaken  the 
interest  of  the  people  in  the  Church,  by  giving  them  a 
voice  in  her  organisation  and  direction. 

By  decree  of  September  10,  1873,  Prussian  Protestant- 
ism has  been  accorded  a  constitution,  with  parish  synods 
and  diocesan  synods,  and  provincial  synods,  and  general 
synods — the  latter  by  royal  decree  of  January  20,  1876. 
Since  1873,  there  have  been  numerous  laws  made  by  the 
King  for  the  better  organisation  of  representative  govern- 
ment in  the  national  Protestant  Church.  Nothing  can  be 
more  admirable  than  the  constitution — on  paper.1  It  was 
given  in  hope  that  it  would  interest  the  people  in  their 
Church  and  religion.  It  was  an  attempt  to  give  the 
Lutheran-Calvinist  amalgam  a  congregational  character. 
But  the  attempt  failed.  The  people  were  too  indifferent 
to  the  Church  and  religion  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
privileges  given  them.  The  only  persons  who  used  it 
were  the  Socialists,  who  rushed  to  the  poll  to  put  a 
democrat  in  the  pulpit  of  the  parish  church,  whence  he 
might  preach  the  gospel  of  socialism,  or,  where  they  have 
not  the  nomination  of  their  pastor,  to  hamper  him  and 
thwart  the  purposes  of  the  Sovereign  in  the  government  of 
the  Church. 

The  united  Evangelical  Church  of  Germany  has,  as  I 
have  already  pointed  out,  this  peculiar  and  exceptional 
feature.  It  is  creedless.  No  member  in  it  is  bound  to 
any  particular  belief  in  Grod  or  Christ.  No  member  knows 
what  to  believe,  and  nobody  cares.  A  pastor  in  it  can 
therefore  teach  pretty  much  what  he  likes. 

The  act  of  union  set  up  no  confession  of  faith  as  the 
symbol  of  the  newly  organised  church ;  on  the  contrary, 
the  royal  proclamation  asserted  that '  God's  word  alone ' 

1  Die  Gesetze  u.  Instruktionen  uber  die  Ervangelisclie  Kirchenverfass* 
wig  in  den  aclit  dltercn  Provinzen  der  Monwrchie.    Berlin,  1876. 


1 82  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

should  be  the  foundation  of  the  new  church,  and  the  King 
expressly  rejected  any  attempt  at  union  '  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  Lutheran  or  the  Reformed  Confession.'  It. 
is  quite  open  to  one  congregation  to  adopt  the  Heidelberg 
Confession  as  its  standard,  and  to  its  neighbour  to  adopt 
the  two  catechisms  of  Luther,  for  the  general  synod  of 
1846  decided  that  the  right  of  'vocation'  which  pertained 
to  any  patron  or  congregation  included  the  right  to  de- 
mand from  the  '  called '  pastor  a  statement  of  his  belief. 
In  the  'general  synodal  regulation'  of  1876  the  words 
c  the  Evangelical  confession '  (of  faith)  occur,  and  in  the 
discussion  of  this  constitution  in  the  synod  of  1875,  an 
attempt  was  made  to  put  this  sentence  in  the  plural,  as 
4  Evangelical  confessions,'  but  it  was  registered,  and  the 
remark  was  made  by  a  deputy,  '  You  speak  of  an  Evan- 
gelical confession,  but  after  all  you  know  well  that  there  is 
no  such  thing  in  existence  as  the  Evangelical  confession.' 
The  union,  moreover,  was  introduced,  as  I  have  showny, 
entirely  and  solely  by  royal  authority ;  the  King  founded 
it  by  royal  mandate.  The  Churches  were  in  no  way  con- 
sulted, otherwise  than  by  making  the  acceptance  of  the 
union  optional — an  option,  the  value  of  which  may  be 
estimated  by  the  conduct  of  the  Government  towards  those 
who  would  not  conform.  The  present  Evangelical  Church 
is  therefore  a  State  creation,  '  by  order  of  the  King.'  It 
may  be,  it  is  well  to  have  religious  controversies  composed, 
but  this  experiment  did  not  compose  them.  Where  the 
all- prevailing  indifference  exists,  there  there  was  no  strife 
about  doctrine  to  appease,  but  where  it  burns,  there  it  is 
given  redoubled  vehemence,  for  rival  doctrines  are  preached 
in  the  same  church  and  pulpit,  and  the  pastor  at  one 
service  denounces  the  pastor  at  the  next,  and  one  church 
breaks  into  two  or  three  congregations  holding  different 
views. 


Protestantism.  183 


But  the  doctrines  of  election  and  free  justification  are 
indeed  no  longer  the  matters  of  controversy,  nobody  be- 
lieves in  either:  the  wrangling  takes  place  over  what, 
according  to  the  royal  minute,  is  the  very  basis  of  the  new 
Church, '  the  word  of  Grod,'  which  some  insist  on  as  a  rock, 
and  others  as  sand.  One  pastor  declares  all  Scripture 
inspired,  another  shows  how  it  is  a  collection  of  the  litera- 
ture of  a  people,  embodying  its  dramas,  romances,  poetry, 
and  historical  works.  One  proposes  belief  in  miracles, 
another  explains  the  cures  wrought  by  Christ  by  mesmerism, 
and  the  miracles  as  optical  delusions.  The  Church  reposes 
on  no  fundamental  truths,  but  is  built  like  the  Pfahlbauten 
over  a  pond,  from  which  every  man  may  fish  up  what  he 
likes,  and  into  which  he  may  pitch  down  what  he  disdains. 
It  is  a  preparation  for  another  church,  which  will  have 
abandoned  even  the  pretence  of  Christianity. 

In  the  midst  of  the  general  apathy  one  looks  with 
interest  for  the  dawning  of  a  new  religious  movement,  that 
shall  be  constructive  rather  than  destructive.  It  seems  to 
me  that  German  Protestantism  must  lead  to,  and  find  its 
permanent  rest  in  either  Deism  or  Pantheism.  Deism, 
like  Calvinism,  is  an  intellectual  religion,  it  provides  the 
mind  with  a  solution  to  the  riddle  of  the  universe.  It  is 
a  religion  grand  and  solemn,  with  its  clear  ethic  code, 
without  which  religion  is  a  theory  of  philosophers,  not  a 
law  governing  the  world. 

Pantheism,  like  Catholicism,  is  a  heart  religion.  It 
appeals  to  the  sense  of  the  beautiful.  What  the  sacraments 
are  to  Catholicism,  that  every  flower  and  bird  and  butterfly 
are  to  the  Pantheist.  The  Catholic  sees  Grod  on  every 
altar,  and  in  every  rite  a  ray  of  grace.  The  Pantheist  is 
face  to  face  with  Grod  in  all  nature,  in  every  mountain  and 
in  every  star.  Deism  commands  man's  adhesion  through 
the  head,  Pantheism  through  the  heart.  These  two  are 


184  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

the  ultimate  goals  of  all  disintegrating  faiths,  they  must 
become  crystalline  or  gaseous. 

The  Evangelical  Church  reposes,  as  the  King  proclaimed, 
on  nothing  save  the  Scriptures.  And  it  is  precisely  these 
Scriptures  which  have  been  everywhere  undermined  and 
blown  up  with  dynamite. 

The  '  Times' '  correspondent  says,  '  In  the  present  in- 
tellectual atmosphere  of  the  country,  it  is  pretty  certain 
that  a  boy  of  fifteen  disbelieves  the  texts  he  has  been  com- 
pelled to  learn  at  ten.  There  is  a  strong  and  growing 
impression  that  the  Christian  creed  has  become  too  obso- 
lete for  any  one  to  take  the  trouble  of  warring  against  it. 
They  regard  some  of  the  Eeformed  clergy  as  enthusiasts, 
others  as  hypocrites,  and  the  rest  as  dunces ;  all  equally 
destined  to  die  out  in  a  couple  of  generations.' l  At  the 
Cologne  Conference  of  the  Old  Catholics,  a  letter  from  an 
aged  Evangelical  pastor  was  read,  in  which  he  blessed  God 
for  the  movement,  and  prophesied  that  Old  Catholicism 
would  receive  into  it  all  Protestants  who  had  faith  and 
love  for  Jesus  Christ.  His  prophecy  has  not  been  ful- 
filled. I  doubt  if  a  dozen  Evangelicals  have  joined  Old 
Catholicism.  The  majority  of  those  who  believe  in  the 
Incarnation  have  formed  the  sect  of '  Old  Lutherans.' 

Let  us  now  look  at  the  most  remarkable  religious 
movement  in  Protestant  Germany  since  the  Reformation — 
a  movement  very  similar  to  that  in  England  instituted  by 
Wesley,  but  along  somewhat  different  lines.  This  was 
Pietism. 

Throughout  Evangelical  Germany  sleep  had  settled 
over  Lutheranism  and  Calvinism  alike.  The  people  in  the 
villages  vegetated  in  their  traditional  religion  ;  the  students 
in  the  universities,  the  princes  and  the  nobles  disbelieved 
in  all. 

1  Religious  Thought  in  Germany,  p.  28. 


Protestantism .  185 


The  man  in  the  Grospel  asked  for  bread  and  was  given 
a  stone.  Lutheranism  and  Calvinism  alike  were  not  even 
asked  for  spiritual  food  ;  and  if  they  gave  stony  lumps  of 
cold  dogma  to  men  as  bread,  men  tossed  them  aside  with 
indifference ;  they  had  no  appetites.  Christian  Thomasius 
(1655-1728),  the  first  in  the  university  of  Leipzig  boldly 
to  write  the  prospectus  of  his  lectures  on  the  black-board 
in  German  instead  of  Latin — this  Thomasius  had  the 
courage  to  tell  his  contemporaries  that  they  had  exchanged 
*  the  wooden  yoke  of  the  Papacy  for  the  iron  yoke  of 
Lutheranism.'  Theology  was  a  gymnastic  ground,  religion 
a  battle-field  ;  and  only  the  learned  went  through  their  theo- 
logical gymnastics,  and  furious  cantroversialists  mangled 
each  other  in  religion.  The  Papacy  of  the  Apostolic  chair 
had  been  supplanted  by  the  Papacy  of  the  letter  of  the 
Bible.  Nobody  read  the  Scriptures  for  edification  in 
Leipzig  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  as  we  have 
seen  elsewhere ;  not  a  Bible  was  to  be  procured  in  any  of 
its  booksellers'  shops. 

The  leaders  of  reaction,  of  revival,  were  Spener  (1635- 
1705)  and  Francke  (1663-1727).  They  declared  that 
religion  was  something  of  the  heart  and  not  of  the  head,  to 
be  cultivated  by  prayer  not  disputation,  to  be  practised  in 
charity,  not  exercised  in  controversy.  A  warm  breath  of 
spiritual  awakening  passed  over  the  field  of  dry  bones,  and 
some  of  them  came  together  and  stood  up,  like  Ezekiel's 
army — but  not  as  in  his  vision — in  a  great  host,  but  here 
and  there.  The  religious  revival  was  practical.  Francke 
founded  the  Volksschule  ;  he  was  the  first  man  to  arouse 
a  consciousness  in  the  nation  that  it  was  bound  to  provide 
for  the  education  of  the  masses.  Spener  was  a  native  of 
Strassburg,  where  he  entered  the  pastorate  in  1663.  He 
went  to  Frankfurt,  where  he  held  prayer-meetings  in  his 
house,  and  afterwards  in  the  church.  This  roused  the 


1 86  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

anger  of  the  Pharisaic  Lutherans,  and  he  was  obliged  to 
justify  himself  in  a  printed  letter.  But  as  opposition 
increased,  he  was  forced  to  leave,  and  was  appointed  first 
court- preacher  in  Saxony  in  1686.  He  devoted  himself 
to  education,  to  sowing  the  seeds  of  religious  principle  in 
the  tender  hearts  of  children ;  he  continued  his  meetings 
for  prayer  and  Bible  exposition  at  Leipzig.  Some  dis- 
orders were  the  result  of  his  innovation :  he  was  dis- 
missed his  cure,  and  in  1691  summoned  to  Berlin  by  the 
Elector. 

Spener,  however,  was  not  the  originator  of  Pietism,  but 
the  most  noted  reviver  of  it.  Pietism  is,  in  fact,  a  natural 
outcome  of  Lutheranism,  it  is  a  mystic  form  of  religion 
seeking  union  with  God  in  internal  rapture,  spiritual 
exaltation,  and  a  realisation  of  justification.  It  is  a  form 
to  which  hysterical  men  and  women  are  naturally  prone,, 
but  it  is  also  a  necessary  revulsion  from  the  dead-letterism 
into  which  German  Protestantism  had  lapsed.  Boehm,  the 
mystic  Silesian  shoemaker,  had  been  a  representative  of 
the  same  phase  of  religionism,  but  his  system  had  been 
pantheistic.  Broschbandt  and  Miiller  had  preached  Piet- 
ism at  Rostock  in  1661.  Johann  Horbs  of  Traarbach 
followed  in  their  traces,  denounced  external  forms,  and 
made  religion  to  consist  of  the  spontaneous  effusion  of  the 
heart.  Horbs  was  preacher  at  St.  Nicholas,  Hamburg, 
Francke  was  a  convert  of  Spener's.  He  was  born  at 
Liibeck,  and  studied  at  Leipzig.  In  1688  he  came  under 
Spener's  influence,  and  in  1689  began  to  give  Pietistic 
lectures  at  Leipzig.  He  was  persecuted,  and  the  orthodox 
Lutheran  party  attempted  his  expulsion,  but  Thomasius 
defended  him.  In  1690  he  went  to  Erfurt  to  the  Church 
of  St.  Augustine.  His  fervent  piety  and  unction  attracted 
great  numbers  of  Catholics  :  he  was  denounced  for  this  to- 
the  government  as  dangerous  to  the  public  peace,  and 


P  rotes  tan  tism .  187 


ordered  to  leave  Erfurt  within  forty-eight  hours.  In  1692 
he  went  to  Halle,  and  was  made  there  professor  of 
theology  and  pastor  of  Glaucha.  Finding  his  parishioners, 
sunk  in  barbarism  and  ignorance,  he  opened  a  large  school 
for  poor  children,  and  founded  also  an  orphanage,  and 
lastly  a  large  boarding-school  for  children  whose  parents 
wished  to  place  them  under  his  religious  instruction. 

In  the  midst  of  the  senseless  etiquette  and  wasteful 
extravagance  of  the  pre-Revolution  period,  the  Pietists, 
preached  simplicity  of  life,  and  moderation  in  expenditure. 
Luxury  and  licentiousness — the  essentials  of  a  gentleman  in 
the  rococo  period — were  by  them  sternly  rebuked.  They 
had  followers  in  the  aristocratic  classes  as  well  as  among 
the  burgers.  The  family  of  Reuss  was  specially  devoted, 
to  Pietism,  and  it  is  one  of  the  few  German  princely 
families  whose  history  in  the  seventeenth,  eighteenth,  and 
nineteenth  centuries  has  not  been  a  chronique  scandaleuse.. 
Henry  II.  of  Reuss  (1696-1722)  was  regarded  as  the  most 
God-fearing,  upright,  and  Christian  prince  of  a  godless 
age.  A  countess  of  Reuss-Ebersdorf  in  1722  became  the 
wife  of  Zinzendorf.  Moser  says  of  the  line  of  Reuss,, 
'  Perhaps  no  countly  house  in  Germany  has  for  a  long 
series  of  years  produced  such  good,  wise,  excellent  rulers ;„ 
perhaps  no  other  house  rests  on  such  firm,  well-considered, 
and  lasting  bases  of  internal  family-settlements ;  few 
houses  have  produced  such  a  number  of  sons  who  have 
distinguished  themselves  in  war  or  political  life  in  or  out- 
side Germany  ;  few  German  territories  of  like  extent  have 
reared  more  brave  and  learned  men,  among  the  subjects  ; 
there  are  few  which  have  been  such  Canaans  of  happiness 
and  content.' 

But  Pietism  ran  into  extravagance.  It  forbad  not  only 
what  was  evil,  but  also  what  was  innocent.  Laughter, 
dancing,  card-playing,  the  wearing  of  jewellery,  poetry^ 


1 88  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

theatres,  even  the  reading  of  '  worldly '  newspapers  fell 
under  condemnation.  Everything  in  life  was  sinful 
which  was  not  disagreeable.  It  diverted  itself  into  two 
streams,  the  mystic  and  the  puritan :  the  former  guided  by 
the  inner  light  of  spiritual  illumination,  the  latter  nailing 
its  religion  to  verbal  inspiration,  precisely  analogous, 
not  in  doctrine,  but  in  practice,  to  a  harsh  Calvinism, 
which  could  almost  denounce  the  Almighty  as  godless  for 
having  created  the  rose  and  the  peacock. 

Pietism  of  mystic  tendency  culminated  in  Count 
Nicolas  Ludwig  von  Zinzendorf  (1700-1760)  and  Herrn- 
hutenism.  Whilst  young,  in  the  school  at  Halle,  he  founded 
the  order  of  the  '  Service  of  the  Lord,'  the  duties  of  which 
consisted  in  *  renouncing  the  world,  remaining  members  of 
Christ,  and  converting  the  heathen.'  In  the  university  of 
Wittenberg  the  ruling  orthodoxy  drove  him  further  into 
the  arms  of  Pietism,  so  that  he — as  a  youth  of  eighteen — 
*  invoked  the  Lord  and  Saviour  to  aid  him  in  getting 
through  his  dancing-master's  and  riding-master's  lessons 
with  success,  so  as  to  be  the  sooner  rid  of  these  vani- 
ties.' 

In  1722  he  offered  an  asylum  on  his  estate  at  Bertels- 
dorf  in  Lusatia  to  the  Moravian  Brothers,  everywhere 
persecuted  by  the  orthodox.  A  carpenter  named  Christian 
David  was  at  their  head,  and  the  settlement  assumed  the 
name  of  Herrnhut,  or  the  Lord's  Protection.  But  the 
carpenter  had  to  make  way  for  the  Count,  who  assumed 
the  headship  of  the  society.  Thence  he  sent  apostles  into 
all  parts  of  the  world.  The  Count  was  not,  however, 
satisfied  with  his  inner  '  awakening ; '  he  desired  also  an 
external  seal  on  his  mission,  and  went  through  a  theo- 
logical examination  before  the  ministry  of  the  town  of 
Stralsimd.  Then  he  had  himself  ordained  preacher  by  the 
theological  faculty  at  Tubingen,  and  entered  the  pulpit 


Protestantism.  1 89 


dressed  in  black  velvet,  with  a  long  black  mantle,  over 
which  he  wore  the  riband  and  star  of  his  order,  The 
apostleship  had  not  yet  swallowed  up  aristocratic  pride. 
After  that,  in  1737,  he  got  himself  named  bishop ;  and, 
not  satisfied  with  this  title,  in  1743  assumed  that  of 
minister-plenipotentiary  and  steward-general  of  the  so- 
ciety of  Herrnhut.  He  then  started  on  his  travels  in 
England,  America,  &c.  His  spiritual  songs,  which  now 
stand  in  the  hymn-book  of  the  Herrnhuters,  turn  on  the 
mystic  union  of  the  soul-bride  and  the  heavenly  bride- 
groom, not  always  without  sensuous  and  equivocal  ex- 
pressions. Accusations  of  immoralities  practised  among 
these  fanatics  are  probably  groundless,  though  mystic 
exaltation  has  always  a  tendency  to  lapse  into  disorderly 
union  of  the  sexes. 

Zinzendorf 's  enthusiasm  was  not  a  solitary  instance. 
Several  princely  and  countly  houses  reckoned  themselves  as 
pietistic,  and  the  Pietists  knew  how  to  impose  respect  on 
those  who  opposed  them.  In  1709  the  Prince  of  Anhalt- 
Zerbst  issued  an  edict  against  them.  Thereupon  a  preacher 
who  was  bitten  with  Pietism  heard  a  voice  from  heaven 
ordering  him  to  go  to  the  Prince  and  testify  against  him. 
As  this  did  not  answer,  Christ  himself  appeared  to  the 
preacher,  curiously  enough,  dressed  in  the  Eepublican 
colours,  red,  white,  and  blue,  and  with  flaming  hair,  bade 
him  again  warn  the  Prince.  The  latter  was  so  frightened 
that  he  died  seven  days  after. 

The  Counts  of  Promnitz  were  among  the  '  illuminated.' 
Count  Erdmann  was  very  fond  of  protracted  family  prayers, 
to  such  an  extent  as  to  interfere  with  the  domestic  ar- 
rangements. His  mother  was  very  stout.  '  My  son,' 
said  the  Dowager  Countess,  '  I  love  you  dearly,  and  will 
humour  you  in  many  things,  but  I  am  too  fat  to  kneel 
with  you  two  or  three  hours  a  day.' 


190  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

Biisching,  who  '  had  been  converted  to  a  condition  of 
grace '  when  a  boy,  visited  this  family  in  1751,  and  found 
that  the  greater  part  of  the  day  was  devoted  to  reading 
the  Bible  and  pious  talk.  During  unctuous  conversation 
over  meals  the  Countess's  lapdog  walked  about  the  table 
and  put  its  wet  nose  against  the  meats  ;  and  when  a  speaker 
was  very  earnest  and  lost  in  his  subject,  licked  the  gravy 
out  of  his  plate.  The  devout  Countess  also  had  a  pair  of 
squirrels  c  who  dwelt  in  her  bosom,'  but  were  disturbing  to 
pious  converse,  and  did  not  savour  of  holiness.  Grerman 
female  society  was  a  ready  ground  for  the  springing  up  of 
religious  enthusiasm,  or  rather  extravagance.  The  dryness 
and  colourlessness  of  Lutheran  worship — which,  indeed, 
can  hardly  be  called  worship — was  calculated  to  drive 
women  with  souls  amenable  to  religious  influences  to  seek 
expression  for  their  feelings  elsewhere.  To  this  must  be 
added  the  ennui  of  chateau-life  in  spots  not  close  to  a 
court  and  theatres.  Marriages  were  then  often  unhappy, 
for  they  were  contracted  without  love,  and  married  ladies, 
waxing  too  old  to  contract  liaisons,  yawned  for  something 
to  disturb  the  monotony  of  their  lives.  Many  ladies  of 
the  upper  classes  were  condemned  to  be  old  maids  lest 
the  fortune  of  the  family  should  be  squandered.  If  they 
had  not  husbands  and  children  to  love,  they  would  love 
any  religious  fanatic  who  presented  himself,  for  woman 
must  love  something.  From  this  it  came  about  that 
Pietism  had  so  many  adherents  in  the  upper  classes.  The 
illustrious  houses  of  Solms,Stolberg,  Isenburg,  Wittgenstein, 
Leiningen,  Eeuss,  Promnitz,  and  Dohna,  were  all  stung 
with  this  tarantula.  A  swarm  of  apostles,  ecstatics,  sibyls, 
spread  over  the  country.  In  the  gatherings  of  the  '  elect,' 
nothing  was  heard  of  but  marvellous  conversions,  sea  lings, 
and  revelations.  The  holy  community  of  '  Mother  Eve  ' 
in  Schwarzenau  was  rudely  interfered  with  by  the  police. 


Protestantism.  191 


and  discovered  to  hide  under  professions  of  ecstatic  piety 
proceedings  of  revolting  indecency.1 

The  'saints  of  Wildisbach,'  in  1823,  crucified  and 
killed  an  unfortunate  young  woman.  Disclosures  followed, 
•convicting  the  community  of  gross  immoralities  as  well. 

In  1835  a  Pietistic  association,  under  the  pastors  Ebel 
and  Diestal,  had  its  interior  arrangements  disturbed  by  the 
Countess  Finkenstein,  who  had  been  drawn  into  the  society 
by  her  religious  enthusiasm,  declining  to  become  the 
'  mother  of  the  Saviour '  by  Ebel ;  a  process  which  was 
tried  on  all  female  postulants. 

The  Puritanic  party  are  violently  assailed  by  Marlitt, 
in  her  novels,  as  hypocrites  and  kill-joys.  Hypocrites 
they  are  not,  but  earnest  people,  who,  finding  that  rational- 
ism is  invading  the  Church  after  having  mastered  society, 
cling  with  despair  and  some  acrimony  to  the  letter  of 
Scripture,  shut  their  eyes  to  the  discoveries  of  modern 
hermeneutics,  and  make  their  one  article  of  belief — the 
one  on  which  salvation  depends — belief  in  the  verbal  inspira- 
tion of  Scripture.  The  battle  they  fight  is  a  lost  one ;  and, 
knowing  this,  they  fight  with  the  self-devotion  and  fury 
of  the  Punic  women  when  Carthage  was  stormed  by  the 
Komans.  Doctrines — the  Incarnation,  miracles,  the 
Trinity,  the  resurrection,  the  final  judgment,  Heaven  and 
Hell, — are  only  prized  because  they  are  scriptural,  and  they 
rank  with  the  order  of  the  Kings  of  Judah  and  the  date 
of  Sennacherib.2  That c  precious  word  Mesopotamia,*  and 

1  The  depositions  taken  down  and  full  particulars  impossible  of  re- 
production are  given  in  Thomasius'  Verniinftige  u.  Christliche  Gedanken, 
iii.  208-624. 

2  They  have  a  hard  time  of  it  both  with  sceptics  and  inquirers.    The 
story  is  told  of  a  Frankfurt  pastor  of  the  orthodox  school,  that  a  citizen 
button-holed  him  and  began  to  discuss  the  truth  of  the  Deluge  with 
him.     '  Do  you  mean  to  tell  me,  you  believe  the  whole  story  of  the 
Flood  and  the  Ark?'  he  asked.     'Every  word  of  it,'  answered  the 
Pfarrer  stoutly.    'What !  all  about  the  clean  beasts  going  in  by  sevens, 


1 92  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  are  all  equally  good  because 
they  are  all  within  the  covers  of  Luther's  Bible.  The 
children  are  taught,  not  so  much  to  believe  in  God,  as  to 
believe  in  the  Bible,  not  to  follow  the  spirit  but  to  cling 
to  the  letter.  I  have  heard,  and  wondered  over,  the  in- 
struction of  children  for  confirmation  in  the  Evangelical 
Church.  Their  memories  are  burdened  with  long  passages 
of  Scripture  and  with  the  most  exact  knowledge  of  its 
contents  ;  they  know  which  animals  were  clean  and  which 
were  unclean,  and  of  how  many  wives  and  concubines 
the  household  of  Solomon  was  composed ;  they  know  all 
about  the  journeys  of  St.  Paul,  and  the  number  of  Selahs 
that  occur  in  the  Psalms ;  but  of  practical  doctrinal  or  even 
moral  teaching  they  get  nothing.  The  Faroese  have 
fifteen  different  names  for  as  many  varieties  of  fog,  in 
which  they  live  enveloped  ten  out  of  twelve  months. 
The  Evangelicals  profess  about  as  many  doctrines,  but 
they  are  all  vaporous,  undefined,  undefinable.  Any  one 
may  lose  his  way  in  each  of  the  fifteen,  no  one  can  grasp 
anything  in  any  one  of  them. 

In  Scotland  children  are  so  well  instructed  in  the 
Assembly  Catechism,  that  Calvinism,  as  a  dogmatic 
system,  throws  its  fibres  into  their  inmost  souls,  and  is 
never  wholly  eradicated.  But  that  is  a  clear  intellectual 
theory  of  Grod's  dealings  with  the  world.  In  after  life  it 
may  be  rejected,  but  it  can  never  be  forgotten.  Every 
logical  system  sinks  into  the  system  and  becomes  part  of 
it,  for  its  good  or  bane.  It  is  like  mercury.  Take  calomel 
as  a  child,  and  it  will  be  found  in  your  liver  when  an  old 
man.  Augustine  imbibed  Manichseism  as  a  youth,  and  it 
soured  his  breath  when  a  Christian  bishop.  A  dogmatic 

and  the  unclean  by  twos  ? '  'I  believe  it  all,'  said  the  pastor.  The 
Burger  paused — he  was  in  the  Juden-Strasse— looked  round,  and  said, 
'  Eight  Jews  in  the  Ark,  and  only  two  fleas  among  them  1  The  story 
carries  an  impossibility  on  the  face  of  it.' 


Protestantism.  193 


belief  gives  an  indelible  stamp  to  the  mind  like  a  course 
of  Euclid.  This  is  why  a  Catholic,  who  has  broken  from 
his  creed  during  life,  so  generally  returns  to  it  on  his 
death-bed — a  thing  unheard  of  among  Protestants.  A 
drowning  man  will  catch  at  a  balk,  if  he  can,  if  not,  at  a 
straw,  but  never  at  a  bubble.  The  German  Protestants 
are  given  nothing  of  the  kind,  for  the  Evangelical  Church 
has  no  definite  belief.  The  children's  heads  are  merely 
crammed  full  of  Scripture,  and  no  sooner  do  they  begin 
life  for  themselves  than  their  faith  in  the  sun  and  moon 
standing  still,  and  Baalam's  ass  speaking  with  human 
voice,  gives  way,  and  with  these  legends  goes  the  whole 
Gospel  story.  If  one  link  in  the  Biblical  chain  is  broken, 
the  whole  falls  in  ruin.  If  one  inch  of  the  dyke  of  verbal 
inspiration  gives  way,  in  bursts  the  flood  of  unbelief,  and 
submerges  every  Christian  landmark.  Whether  a  dog- 
matic creed  or  belief  in  the  infallibility  of  a  book  furnish  the 
best  grounds  of  religion  may  be  doubted,  but  what  is 
certain  is,  that  the  former  is  the  toughest,  if  only  because 
least  easily  proved  false.  A  man  may  believe  in  God, 
because  he  feels  that  the  world  is  an  enigma  without  that 
key,  and  it  is  impossible  to  demonstrate  the  non-existence 
of  God.  But  if  a  man's  faith  be  pinned  to  a  document, 
and  that  document  be  proved  to  have  flaws  in  it,  away 
goes  his  faith.  He  may  hold  that  there  is  a  future  state 
as  he  has  been  instructed  in  youth  in  his  creed,  and  no 
amount  of  argument  can  disprove  this  article ;  but  if  he 
believes  in  it  because  it  is  foretold  in  a  book,  and  that 
book  blunders  about  the  hare  chewing  its  cud,  he  is 
very  likely  to  say,  a  testimony  which  makes  mistakes  in 
matters  of  daily  observation  to-day,  is  not  to  be  trusted 
when  it  makes  promises  for  the  future. 

As  long  as  a  German  peasant  remains  in  his  village, 
and  sees  no  books  or  newspapers,  he  believes  in  his  Bible. 
VOL.  n.  o 


194  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

He  has  no  great  love  for  it — it  bored  him  as  a  school  task 
— but  he  believes  in  it,  as  he  does  in  the  North  Pole  and 
the  Equator.  But  directly  he  goes  to  a  town,  he  finds 
that  there  the  whole  of  the  Biblical  history  in  Old  and 
New  Testaments  is  by  every  one  regarded  as  children's 
tales,  on  a  level  with  '  Hop-o'-my-Thumb '  and  *  Cin- 
derella.' A  little  rudimentary  criticism  disposes  of  some 
of  the  Biblical  statements,  and  the  bauer's  faith  is 
gone.  Now  that  every  young  peasant  is  brought  into  a 
town  for  three  years  as  a  soldier,  the  belief  of  every  one  is 
more  or  less  undermined.  The  next  generation  will  have 
no  Christian  belief  whatever. 

But  there  is  another  motive  cause  of  disintegration  of 
the  national  belief,  and  that  is  within  the  Church.  The 
great  attraction  exercised  by  the  preachers  at  the  Reforma- 
tion consisted  in  the  fact  that  they  were  destructive. 
There  is  no  pleasure  greater  than  smashing  old  idols. 
People  crowded  to  church  to  hear  each  Sunday  that 
another  of  the  articles  in  which  they  had  formerly  believed 
was  unscriptural  and  superstitious.  When  the  excitement 
of  doctrine-smashing  was  over,  the  laity  grew  listless. 
Preachers  do  not  like  haranguing  empty  benches,  and  it 
was  only  natural  that  some  should  revert  to  the  old  plan, 
and  collect  an  audience  by  iconoclastic  exhortations. 
Consequently  there  are  a  great  number  of  pastors  in  the 
Evangelical  Church  who  court  popularity  by  preaching 
rationalism.  I  do  not  for  a  moment  hint  that  they  are 
insincere.  They  have  read  modern  German  Protestant 
theology,  and  enter  the  ministry  with  a  burning  desire 
to  be  reformers,  to  teach  the  people  to  cast  the  Bible  to 
the  bats  arid  owls,  as  their  forefathers  cast  relics  and 
images.  They  find  that  they  can  draw  a  congregation  by 
preaching  against  the  leading  dogmas  of  Christianity, 
miracles,  and  the  inspiration  of  Scripture,  and  this  en- 


Protestantism.  195 


courages  them  to  greater  boldness  and  more  advanced 
rationalism. 

The  situation  is  most  curious.  The  Church  is  based  on 
no  forms  of  faith  whatever,  but  only  on  Scripture,  and  it 
is  precisely  Scripture  which  the  pastors  of  that  Church  are 
busily  engaged  every  Sunday  in  exhibiting  to  the  people 
to  be  a  tissue  of  fable.  The  architects  of  Lagado  built 
their  churches  from  the  roof-tree  downwards.  The 
ministers  of  the  Evangelical  Church  are  removing  the  one 
stone  on  which  the  whole  superstructure  rests,  nothing 
doubting  that  it  will  remain  suspended  in  air.  I  shall 
quote  a  few  specimens  of  their  proceedings. 

On  Trinity  Sunday,  1877,  the  assistant  preacher  in 
the  one  great  church  given  to  the  Evangelicals  in  a  South 
German  town,  where  the  Protestants  number  nearly  3,000, 
began  his  sermon  thus :  f  Now-a-days,  none  but  fools 
believe  in  a  Trinity.  Let  us,  therefore,  not  waste  time 
over  such  an  exploded  doctrine,  but  consider  the  glories  of 
nature.'  The  same  preacher  on  another  occasion  gave  an 
exposition  of  the  manner  in  which  Moses  hoodwinked  the 
children  of  Israel.  This  was  his  explanation  of  the  miracle 
of  the  smitten  rock.  Moses  went  about  alone  in  search  of 
a  spring  of  water,  and  he  discovered  one  leaking  out  of  a 
rock.  He  thereupon  choked  the  orifice  with  clay,  and 
summoning  the  people  before  it,  thus  addressed  them : 
*  Hear,  now,  ye  rebels ;  must  we  fetch  you  water  out  of 
this  rock  ? '  Then,  by  a  dexterous  twitch  of  his  rod  he 
removed  the  plug,  and  4  the  water  came  forth  abundantly.' 

Now,  in  this  church  there  is  a  dean,  or  head  preacher, 
who  is  orthodox,  insists  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and 
on  the  inspiration  of  Scripture.  He  holds  service  at  9  A.M. 
and  his  coadjutor  at  10.30  A.M.  What  he  insists  on  in 
his  sermon,  his  curate  denies  an  hour  later.  This  is  an 
exemplification  of  what  is  called  the  'Parallel  System/ 

o  2 


196  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

which  prevails  in  a  great  many  places.  The  educated 
Germans  will  not  go  to  church  where  the  old-fashioned 
doctrines  are  preached,  consequently  two  pastors  are  pro- 
vided for  a  church,  one  orthodox,  the  other  rationalist ; 
one  who  baptizes  with  the  Creed,  and  one  without.  The 
Liberal  Protestants  now  for  the  most  part  dispense  with 
baptism,  but  if  they  have  their  children  baptized,  they 
choose  that  it  shall  be  without  the  recitation  of  the 
Apostles'  Creed,  in  which  they  do  not  themselves  believe, 
and  in  which  they  will  not  undertake  to  have  their  chil- 
dren brought  up. 

In  1859-61,  in  the  Palatinate,  the  nationalist  party 
outnumbered  the  orthodox,  and  the  hymnal  and  catechism 
were  purified  of  distinctive  doctrines.  Thus,  the  catechism 
issued  by  authority  in  1869  omits  all  mention  of  the 
Trinity,  the  Grodhead  of  Jesus  Christ,  original  sin,  hell, 
the  resurrection,  &c.  , 

In  the  synod  of  1877  only  one-third  of  the  whole 
number  of  pastors  was  orthodox.  Thirty-six  of  the  Left 
endeavoured  to  have  the  Apostles'  Creed  altogether  ex- 
punged from  the  service  books.  As  an  amendment  it 
was  proposed  to  retain  the  Creed  in  the  books,  but  make 
the  reading  of  it  optional,  and  only  three  orthodox  voted 
against  this.  The  delegates  of  the  Pfalz,  who  do  not  sit  in 
the  'general  synod,'  drew  up  and  sent  in  the  following 
memorial,  which  had  passed  the  provincial  synods : — '  1 .  We 
hold  that  it  is  opposed  to  the  free  thinking  of  the  Pro- 
testant principles  of  our  united  Church  that  any  member 
of  it  should  be  bound  by  any  creed.  Thus  to  tie  a  man's 
belief  up  is  a  violation  of  the  Protestant  right  of  free 
inquiry,  examination  of  the  grounds  of  religion,  and 
internal  conviction.  2.  We  hold,  however,  that  there 
should  be  consent  to  some  basis  of  teaching,  and  that  this 
basis  should  be  Holy  Scripture  and  the  allowed  text-books. 


P  rotes  tan  tism .  197 


3.  We  hold  that  every  parish  has  a  right   to   elect   its 
pastor.' 

A  writer  in  the  c  Pfalzer  Zeitung '  remarks  :  *  This  is 
now  our  condition  in  the  Evangelical  Church.  A  pastor 
who  chooses  to  regard  the  Apostles'  Creed  as  a  worn-out 
relic  of  the  ages  of  superstition  can  put  it  on  one  side. 
Another,  to  whom  the  faith  in  the  truths  of  revelation  is 
all-in-all,  may  indeed  profess  it,  but  have  it  denied  next 
minute  by  another  minister  in  the  same  church.  Both 
sides  are  served.  It  is  remarkable  how  far  temporisation 
has  gone.  And  this  is  only  a  first  step.  Others  will  be 
taken  in  the  same  direction.  Our  pastors  and  laity  alike 
will  come  to  regard  the  verities  of  the  Christian  creed  as 
'Curiosities  stored  in  the  service  book,  as  in  an  antiquarian 
museum.  It  is  a  question  now  whether  a  baptism  without 
the  Creed  can  be  valid.  We  shall  not  be  surprised  if  for 
the  future  Catholics  refuse  to  acknowledge  it,  and  thus, 
almost  the  only  link  between  us  will  be  broken.  Here  in 
the  Palatinate,  as  everywhere  else  in  Germany,  the  doom 
of  the  Protestant  Church  is  sealed.  Positive  Christianity 
will  have  no  foothold  in  it,  and  must  take  refuge  either  in 
the  Catholic  Church,  or  among  the  Old  Lutherans,  or 
in  Methodism,  and  the  established  Church  in  its  negativism 
will  fall  into  undisguised  heathenism.' 

By  decision  of  December  14,  1877,  parallel  forms  of 
Baptism  and  Confirmation  are  provided  for  the  Church  in 
the  Palatinate,  one  with  the  Creed,  the  other  without. 
At  the  same  synod  thirty-six  voted  for  the  abandonment  of 
the  Augsburg  Confession,  i.e.  two-thirds  of  the  whole 
synod,  but  this  motion  was  laid  aside.  Now,  as  the 
4  Pfalzer  Zeitung '  says :  6  Ein  jeder  Pfarrer  predigt  und  lehrt 
wie  ihm  der  Schnabel  gewachsen  ist.' 

In  Schleswig,  lately,  Pastor  Diechmann,  who  is  inspector 
of  schools,  instituted  a  reform  of  religious  instruction  of 


Germany,  Present  and  Past. 


children,  by  expunging  from  their  Bible  text-books  !  every- 
thing that  savoured  of  the  miraculous,  and  he  boldly  de- 
fended his  reform  by  saying  that  '  Biblical  miracles  are  unfit 
for  reading  in  schools,  because  they  are  indefensible.'  Pastor 
Paulsen  of  Kropp  thereupon  charged  him  with  being  an 
'  adulterator  of  Scripture,'  for  which  he  has  been  drawn 
before  the  Schleswig  court  of  justice  and  fined  600  marks 
or  40  days'  imprisonment.  Thereupon  the  Consistory 
has  impeached  Diechmann  for  heresy.  The  'Hamburg 
Correspondenz  '  for  February  3,  1878,  says,  in  a  leading 
article,  '  When  we  look  more  closely  into  what  is  going  on 
in  the  established  Church,  the  more  convinced  we  are  that 
the  Church  is  falling  headlong  to  ruin,  and  that  we  are,  so 
to  speak,  sorrowful  friends  sitting  round  its  deathbed, 
watching  for  the  last  breath.  Here  and  there  the  Social 
Democrats  have  seized  on  the  government  of  the  churches, 
to  use  them  for  their  destructive  polemics.  In  other 
places,  as  in  the  town  of  Schleswig,  formal  declaration  of 
secession  from  it  is  made  by  the  upper  classes  in  consider- 
able numbers  —  a  proof  of  estrangement  on  all  sides.  And 
lastly,  and  most  sadly,  the  clergy  are  divided  into  twa 
hostile  camps.' 

In  Baden  the  orthodox  party  got  the  upper  hand  in 
1857,  and  proceeded  to  reconstruct  the  service  book,  and 
give  it  a  liturgical  character.  It  met  with  violent 
opposition,  and  was  used  only  by  a  few  very  determined 
pastors.  Consequently  the  Grand  Duke,  as  summu& 
episcopus,  by  order  in  1858  declared  the  simplest  for- 
mulary in  the  book,  among  alternative  offices,  the  so-called 
6  minimum,'  to  be  alone  valid,  and  promised  the  speedy 
abolition  of  the  other  forms.  In  1867  some  alteration  in 
a  Liberal  direction  was  made  in  the  book.  But  in  the 

1  Children  in  German  Protestant  schools  are  not  given  the  Bible  to 
lead  and  learn,  but  selected  portions  only,  a  much  superior  plan  to  ours.. 


Protestantism.  1 99 


meantime  the  clergy  had  become  much  more  pronounced 
in  their  rationalism,  and  the  orthodox  had  dwindled  to  a 
handful.  Many  pastors  absolutely  refused  to  read  the 
Apostles'  Creed.  At  last  the  discontent  grew  to  a  head, 
and  the  Evangelical  Synod  undertook  the  reconstruction  of 
the  book.  This  was  approved  by  the  Oberkirchenrath  on 
March  9,  and  received  the  imprimatur  of  the  Grand  Duke 
on  March  17,  1877.  It  still  contains  the  Creed  and  the 
Doxology,  but  these  are  put  within  brackets  as  optional, 
to  satisfy  the  consciences  of  those  pastors  who  are  orthodox, 
but  as  a  Pfarrer  told  me,  '  they  are  probably  not  read  in 
half-a-dozen  churches  in  the  Grand  Duchy.'  The  form  is 
provisional.  Probably  in  another  ten  years  it  will  be 
supplanted  by  one  from  which  Creed  and  Doxology  have 
been  absolutely  cancelled. 

The  Sunday  morning  service  in  this  Baden  book  is 
thus  constructed : — 

1.  A  hymn. 

2.  Votum.     An  invocation. 

3.  Entrance  prayer. 

4.  Doxology  (optional). 

5.  Collect. 

6.  Lesson  from  the  Bible,  to  be  chosen  by  the  pastor. 

7.  Creed  (optional). 

8.  Sermon. 

9.  Hymn  (optional). 

10.  Chief  prayer. 

1 1 .  Lord's  Prayer. 

12.  Hymn. 

13.  Blessing.     '  The  Lord  bless  you  and  keep  you,'  &c. 
By  making  the  lesson  optional,  the  pastor  may  read 

only  exhortatory  passages  from  Scripture,  and  omit  all 
that  is  miraculous.  And  the  form  of  the  blessing  is 
unobjectionable,  as  there  is  in  it  no  allusion  to  the  Trinity. 


2OO  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

As  will  be  seen,  there  is  nothing  in  the  service  like  the 
English  forms  of  worship.  The  only  part  taken  by  the 
people  is  in  the  hymns.  The  Communion  service  is 
equally  simple.  The  communicants  walk  round  the  altar, 
and  receive  a  piece  of  bread,  standing,  at  one  end,  and  a 
draught  of  wine,  standing,  at  the  other  end,  two  pastors 
generally  occupying  the  ends  of  the  table,  for  the  purpose. 
There  is  an  amount  of  formality  and  absence  of  religious- 
ness about  this  service  which  is  somewhat  startling  to  an 
English  or  Scottish  man.  At  Strassburg,  after  communi- 
cating, a  party  of  gentlemen  and  ladies  walked  straight  out 
of  the  church,  one  Sunday  when  I  was  present,  and 
amidst  shouts  of  laughter  began  to  scatter  bonbons  among 
the  poor  children  in  the  St.  Peter's  Platz  for  these  to 
scramble  for.  I  do  not  say  that  such  levity  is  general ; 
but  the  fact  that  the  number  of  communicants  exceeds 
the  average  of  church-goers  on  Sunday,  shows  that  the 
Sacrament  is  treated  as  a  formal  parade  rather  than  as  a 
service  of  religious  devotion. 

On  December  5,  1877,  Professor  Holsten,  head  of  the 
Protestant  faculty  in  the  university  of  Heidelberg,  in 
which  are  the  Divinity  students  for  the  ministry  of  the 
Evangelical  Church  in  Baden,  preached  at  Pforzheim.  He 
said  that  religion  was  subject  to  epochs,  at  intervals 
revelations  were  made  to  the  world  as  the  consciences  of 
men  were  able  to  receive  them.  Mosaism  was  an  epoch- 
making  religion.  Moses  rejected  idolatry,  and  gave  to  the 
Jews  belief  in  one  Grod.  But  his  revelation  was  mixed  up 
with  much  rubbish,  which  in  time  obscured  its  leading 
truth.  Then  came  Jesus.  He  gathered  up  in  his  heart 
all  the  principal  truths  of  Mosaism,  rejected  the  trash, 
after  having  smelted  all  together  in  the  crucible  of  his 
conscience,  and  gave  to  the  world  the  gold  of  his  Grospel. 
That  in  time  became  discoloured  and  antiquated.  Then 


Protestantism.  201 


came  Luther.  On  April  18,  1521,  when  he  proclaimed  at 
Worms  that  no  man  might  go  against  his  conscience,  he 
gave  a  new  revelation  to  mankind.  '  Now  the  Protestant 
conscience  revolts  against  the  idea  that  these  revelations 
are  final,  and  declares,  on  the  contrary,  that  they  were 
necessary  stages  in  the  emancipation  of  the  mind.' 

The  c  Pforzheim  Beobachter '  asks  whether  every  pastor 
is  to  be  on  the  alert  for  a  new  Grospel.  The  old  is  only  a 
makeshift.  Dr.  Schwalb,  pastor  of  the  Evangelical  Church 
in  Bremen,  declared,  '  Whoever  regards  the  disciple  who 
stole  the  body  of  Jesus  as  a  thief,  liar  and  deceiver,  may 
<lo  so.1  I  regard  him  as  a  noble  Christian.  I  envy  him 
what  he  did.  Had  he  felt  himself  obliged  to  declare 
what  he  had  done,  he  would  have  been  a  mean  fellow. 
No,  thank  Grod,  no,  that  he  did  not  do,  but  rejoiced  over 
the  happy  consequences  of  his  holy  fraud  ! ' 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Protestant  Union,  Pastor  Schenkel 
boldly  declared,  '  To-day  the  idea  that  the  Bible  is  inspired 
by  the  Holy  Grhost,  and  that  each  man  must  bow  before 
its  sentence — this  idea  is  doomed  to  death  by  the  scientific 
spirit  of  Protestantism.'  And  again  :  '  We  are  emancipated 
not  merely  from  the  letter,  but  from  the  interpretation  of 
Holy  Scripture ;  from  all  theological  deductions  from  it  we 
are  absolutely  free.  We  are  freed  from  everything  dog- 
matic found  within  its  pages.'  Dr.  Bluntschli  of  Heidelberg 
said:  'The  modern  world  has  read  too  much  to  allow 
itself  to  be  governed  by  any  one  book,  even  by  the 
Bible.' 

The  Pastor  Klapp,  incumbent  of  Adorf  in  Waldeck, 
put  himself  forward  as  a  candidate  for  the  vacant  pastorate 
of  the  Church  of  St.  Catherine  in  Osnabriick.  He  openly 
denied  Our  Lord's  divinity,  resurrection,  and  the  inspir- 

1  The  explanation  given  by  the  Liberal  Protestants  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion. 


2O2  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

ation  of  the  Scriptures,  and  was  elected  by  508  votes 
against  fifty-one.  The  Consistory  at  Hanover,  however, 
refused  to  appoint  him.1 

The  case  of  Dr.  Hosbach  and  the  Church  of  St.  James 
at  Berlin  was  somewhat  similar ;  only  the  majority  have 
been  less  disposed  to  submit  to  have  their  election  over- 
ridden. Hosbach  was  elected  in  1876.  In  his  probation- 
ary sermon  he  frankly  declared  his  views:  he  rejected 
verbal  inspiration  and  all  that  is  miraculous  in  the  Grospel 
story.  The  orthodox  minority,  horrified  at  this  outspoken 
rationalism,  left  the  church  during  the  sermon.  A  few 
weeks  after,  a  memorial  signed  by  900  out  of  the  30,000 
parishioners,  was  laid  before  the  Brandenburg  Consistory,, 
requesting  it  to  refuse  confirmation  to  Dr.  Hosbach.  The 
Consistory  did  so.  Thereupon  a  vestry  was  summoned, 
and  an  overwhelming  majority  repeated  its  choice  of  Hos- 
bach, and  referred  the  case  to  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Consistory.  It  is  only  four  years  since  another  Berlin 
pastor,  Dr.  Sydow,  was  arraigned  before  the  Brandenburg 
Consistory  for  heresy,  and  acquitted  on  the  grounds  that 
his  heresy  had  been  promulgated  in  the  chair  of  the 
lecturer,  not  in  the  pulpit.  Dr.  Hermann,  President  of 
the  Supreme  Consistory,  was  promoted  to  his  place,  in  order 
to  carry  out  the  Kulturkampf  against  recalcitrant  pastors- 
As  the  only  pastors  who  were  troublesome  were  orthodox,, 
his  influence  has  been  to  extend  rationalism  in  the  Evan- 
gelical Church.  He  filled  all  vacancies  in  the  Adminis- 
trative Board  with  men  of  broad  views.  Dr.  Hermann  had 
to  hear  the  appeal  against  the  Brandenburg  Consistory 
made  by  the  favourers  of  Hosbach.  His  position  was 
more  delicate  than  before.  The  Emperor  was  alarmed  at 
the  advance  of  rationalism,  at  the  boldness  with  which 
fundamental  doctrines  were  denied  in  the  pulpits  of  the 
1  See  Klapp :  Mn  Hannoverisches  Glaubensgericht.  Hildesheim,  1875. 


Protestantism.  203, 


Church  of  which  he  was  Sovereign  Pontiff,  and  Hermann 
could  no  longer  follow  the  bent  of  his  desires.  On  Feb- 
ruary 1,  1878,  accordingly,  the  appeal  was  rejected.  Con- 
sequently, Hosbach  does  not  obtain  the  pulpit  of  St. 
James ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  he  remains  unmolested  as 
pastor  of  the  Church  of  St.  Andrew  in  Berlin. 

A  clergyman,  whom  I  knew,  was  appointed  by  the 
Grovernment,  Protestant  instructor  to  the  boys  in  the 
gymnasium.  An  English  gentleman  in  the  town  married 
to  a  Grerman  lady  sent  his  son  to  the  school,  and  he  at- 
tended the  divinity  lectures  of  the  Evangelical  pastor.. 
One  day,  after  having  given  the  pupils  an  elaborate  de- 
scription of  the  way  in  which  the  world  was  evolved  out 
of  nebulous  matter,  he  turned  to  the  English  boy,  and 
said,  '  Now,  Wilson,  how  came  the  world  into  being  ? ' 
The  boy  who — like  most  English  lads — cared  little  for 
learned  questions,  had  paid  no  attention,  and  answered 
simply, '  Grod  made  it.'  '  You  blockhead !  (Dummkopf!) ' 
exclaimed  the  pastor,  catching  him  a  rap  on  the  cheekr 
*  how  long  will  you  and  your  compatriots  cling  to  these 
old  wives'  tales  (Mdhrcheri)?9 

This  pastor  is  now  appointed  to  a  fashionable  watering- 
place. 

The  'Leben  Jesu'  of  Pastor  Kriiger-Velthusen  is  writ- 
ten in  the  spirit  of  the  utmost  rationalism.  What  he 
writes  he  preaches.  He  is  a  distinguished  member  of  the 
Ehenish  Evangelical  clergy.  He  denies  the  Incarnation. 
Jesus  is  the  natural  son  of  Joseph.  Miracles  are  frauds 
or  delusions;  the  Eesurrection  an  imposture.  Professor 
Pfleiderer,  of  the  Theological  Faculty  of  Berlin,  an  educator 
of  the  clergy  of  the  future,  has  repeatedly  attacked  the 
Creed.  In  the  Prussian  Union  the  Apostles'  Creed  is  only 
retained  because  the  Emperor  will  not  give  his  consent 
to  its  abolition ;  but  the  mass  of  the  population,  and  the 


2O4  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

majority  of  pastors,  desire  its  removal.  Its  retention 
hangs  on  the  life  of  the  Emperor. 

In  the  Saxon  Church  in  1811  an  oath  was  imposed  on 
the  clergy  '  to  teach  pure  evangelical  doctrine  as  contained 
in  Holy  Scripture,  and  interpreted  in  the  Augsburg  Con- 
fession.' This  was  modified  into  a  promise  in  1862,  and 
in  1871  further  modified,  so  as  to  admit  of  being  taken 
by  pastors  with  the  most  advanced  rationalistic  views. 

Pastor  Bernet  sadly  writes  :l  '  What  great  advantage 
have  we  really  derived  from  Luther's  reformation  ?  Does 
anything  remain  to  us  of  the  results  of  his  vigorous  exer- 
tions, beyond  an  empty  form  and  a  poor  caricature? 
Where  is  the  living  faith  which  he  set  up  in  the  place  of 
an  external  righteousness  of  works  ?  And  where  is  the 
spirituality  of  worship,  which,  according  to  the  mind  and 
will  of  Christ,  he  demanded  ?  One  might  almost  imagine 
that  our  Church  got  rid  of  the  forms,  in  order,  at  the  same 
time,  to  divest  itself  of  the  spirit.  In  place  of  the  spirit 
were  given,  at  first,  creeds  and  confessions  of  faith,  which 
were  originally  exacted  as  a  matter  of  necessity,  but  after- 
wards became  stony  tablets  of  the  law.  With  them  and 
their  artificial  exposition  came  over  our  Church  a  complete 
Pharisaism,  which  threatened  to  stifle  the  free  breath  of 
life.  Then  came  Pietism,  partly  in  various  sects,  which 
was  a  burden  to  the  Church,  and  neither  yielded  her  any 
assistance,  nor  obtained  success  for  itself.  After  this  began 
the  period  of  Kationalism,  and  many  lifted  up  their  heads, 
as  though  their  redemption  drew  nigh.  For  a  time  they 
dreamed  of  a  happy,  simple  religion,  in  which  they  were 
to  behold  (rod  with  unveiled  faces,  and  no  longer  under 
types  and  images.  But  the  new  edifice  not  only  failed  to 
afford  the  expected  advantage  of  a  better  spiritual  dwel- 
ling for  man,  but  soon  began  itself  to  totter  and  fall  to  the 
1  Das  neue  Heil  u.  das  gescTvriebene  Wort.  S.  Gallen. 


Protestantism.  205 


ground.  The  great  mass  of  the  people  took  only  the 
negative  side  of  Eationalism,  the  right  of  declaring  them- 
selves free  from  every  belief  which  rests  upon  authority, 
without  being  willing  to  undertake  also  the  (certainly  un- 
natural) duty  of  making  a  religion  for  themselves.  The 
new  idols  stood  again,  like  the  old,  as  empty  shadows  on 
the  wall,  and  the  people  went  a-whoring,  as  before,  after 
their  material  gods.  Religiousness  perceptibly  declined, 
the  temples  emptied,  the  prayers  and  hymns  were  felt  to 
be  insipid,  the  sermons  trivial,  the  vigorous  doctrine  of 
the  Reformers  gave  way  to  a  string  of  timid  apologies^ 
Verily,  religion  was  given  us  by  God,  and  there  came  at 
one  time  a  rational  belief,  and  at  another  unbelieving 
reason ;  and  our  Reformers  have  touched  and  retouched  the 
painting,  until  its  true  form  has  altogether  disappeared, 
and  it  must  be  recreated  by  the  spirit  of  Grod.' 

Candidates  for  the  ministry  are  failing.1  In  January 
last,  for  the  whole  Protestant  Church  in  the  Bavarian 
Palatinate,  and  in  Baden,  i.e.  for  865,000  Protestants, 
there  were  only  nineteen  candidates  at  Heidelberg,  in  the 
previous  summer  but  thirteen.  For  Baden  alone,  with 
491,000  Protestants,  there  were  in  1876  only  six  candi- 
dates for  orders.  In  that  year  three  pastors  died,  five  re- 
tired from  the  ministry,  four  were  superannuated  ;  conse- 
quently there  were  twelve  vacancies. 

If  elsewhere  matters  are  not  so  bad,  it  is  due,  in  great 
measure,  to  the  fact  that  times  are  bad,  and  it  is  difficult 
for  young  men  to  get  work  in  other  professions.  Pastor 

1  '  In  consequence  of  the  deficiency  of  candidates  which  has  come- 
about  in  seme  parts  sooner,  in  others  later,  but  especially  in  the  last 
ten  years,  in  ever  increasing  measure,  many  parishes  are  left  without 
pastors.'— Graue  :  Der  Mangel  an  Theologen.  Berlin,  1876.  Within  a 
walk — an  easy  walk  of  my  house,  last  winter,  were  two  parishes  devoid 
of  incumbents,  and  I  heard  of  many  more, — going  a-begging.  But  there- 
were  no  applicants. 


206  Germany -,  Present  and  Past. 

Zittel,  Dean  of  Karlsruhe,  noting  the  declension  of  attend- 
ance at  church,  asks  whether  an  improvement  of  the 
services  would  attract  congregations.  But,  he  answers, 
anything  liturgical  would  be  clean  contrary  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  Evangelicalism,  and  such  an  idea  must  be  given 
up.  Thinking  that  doctrinal  hymns  and  those  of  the 
Litany  description  give  offence  and  keep  people  from 
church — hymns  such  as  Grant's  '  Saviour,  when  in  dust 
to  Thee,'  &c. — he  proposes  their  omission ;  that  the  prayers 
should  be  abandoned,  the  creed  abolished,  and  the  sermon 
converted  into  a  lecture.  The  Dean's  only  notion  of  re- 
covering an  audience  is  to  go  altogether  with  the  rational- 
istic stream.1  But,  will  the  interest  of  an  audience  continue 
after  all  the  books  in  the  Bible  and  articles  in  the  Creed 
have  been  demolished  ? 

If  the  Evangelical  Church  were  a  moral  power,  we 
might  forgive  it  for  being  without  a  belief ;  but  this  it  is 
not.  It  exercises  little  if  any  moral  influence  over  con- 
sciences, which  are  moulded  by  social  custom  and  law,  and 
not  by  ethical  instruction  given  by  the  Church. 

The  union  was  a  centralising  measure.  The  object 
was  to  make  the  Church,  like  the  post-office,  telegraphs, 
and  army,  a  department  of  the  State,  ruled  by  a  special 
Minister  of  Public  Worship  as  vicar-general  under  the 
Sovereign.  This  is  so  obvious,  that  the  Social  Democrats, 
to  spite  the  Government,  are  agitating  to  leave  the  estab- 
lished Church  in  a  mass.  For  proposing  this  measure, 
some  of  their  speakers  have  been  prosecuted  as  guilty  of 
treason.  On  February  1,  1878,  a  large  gathering  of 
women  was  assembled  in  the  Kenz  Hall  in  Berlin,  for  the 
purpose  of  registering  their  secession  from  the  Evangelical 
Church.  The  account  of  this  meeting  I  extract  from  a 
German  paper  of  February  3  : — 

1  Zittel :  DGT  ProtestcmtiscTie  Gottesdienst.  Berlin,  1875, 


Protestantism.  207 


6  The  hall  was  crammed  long  before  the  time  announced 
—half-past  eight.  On  the  platform  were  Most  and  the 
Missionsdirektor  Wangemann.  Women  of  all  ages  were 
there,  some  in  white  nightcaps,  and  many  fresh-cheeked 
young  girls.  The  chair  was  taken  by  Frau  Prasidentin 
Hahn.  She  introduced  Most,  who  began :  "  Gentlemen !  "  (a 
burst  of  shrill  voices — "  Ladies  !  ladies !  ") — "  I  beg  your 
pardon,  ladies  !  I  have  so  often  had  to  address  men,  that  for 
a  moment  I  forgot  that  I  was  not  called  to  speak  before  my 
usual  audience."  He  then  proceeded  to  say  that  the  at- 
tendance of  so  many  women  showed  the  interest  they  took 
in  the  matter,  and  that  they  were  not  content  to  remain 
in  the  great  political  and  religious  movements  of  the  day, 
as  non-effectives  (lit.  as  a  fifth  wheel).  He  was  inter- 
rupted by  cries  of  "  Water !  water ! "  for  a  lady  of  the 
audience  had  fainted,  and  the  carrying  of  her  out  caused 
some  commotion.  Woman,  he  continued,  when  silence 
was  re-established,  has  been  enslaved  for  ages  and  consigned 
to  the  background.  Even  the  Bible  says  that  man  was 
made  the  colossus  of  the  earth,  and  woman  was  an  after- 
thought fashioned  out  of  a  rib  (cries  of  "  shame  !  shame  !  "). 
Women  and  girls  in  the  social  crush  are  squeezed  as  lemons. 
Men  elbow  their  way  to  the  front,  but  women  are  trodden 
into  the  dirt  of  the  street.  What  are  the  wages  the  work- 
ing-man gets  ?  Are  they  enough  to  support  him,  and  keep 
him  from  beggary  in  his  old  age  ?  (Tremendous  applause.) 
And  how  then  does  it  fare  with  women  ?  Can  they  lay  by 
for  a  rainy  day?  Now  German  men  have  organised  a 
society  for  the  reduction  of  the  misery  of  mankind,  for 
expelling  the  idlers  and  hucksters  out  of  the  Temple,  and 
for  enthroning  freedom  and  fraternity  in  the  earth.  This 
society  is  Social  Democracy.  Let  not  women  be  frightened 
by  the  scaring  name,  but  rather  goad  their  husbands  into 
Social  Democracy.  Herr  Most  went  on  to  explain  the 


208  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

alphabet  of  Social  Democracy,  with  a  running  accompani- 
ment of  attacks  on  capitalists,  speculators,  the  Fortschritt 
party,  the  Liberals,  the  Catholic  Union,  and  the  Christian 
Socialists.  The  people,  he  said,  must  not  let  themselves 
be  fed  on  adulterated  milk,  and  that  was  what  the  Christian 
Socialists  were  offering  them.1  He  and  his  party  had 
hitherto  let  the  pastors  alone,  and  it  was  false  to  assert 
that  he  was  invariably  scoffing  at  Christianity.  But  when 
pastors  entered  into  political  meetings  and  tried  to  throw 
dust  in  the  eyes  of  the  people,  and  form  a  party  to  break 
up  the  united  phalanx  of  Social  Democracy,  then  it  was 
time  for  them  to  be  up  and  attack  the  pastors,  and  rend 
them  to  pieces,  as  they  attempted  to  rend  Social  Democracy. 
(Enthusiastic  applause.}  It  was  now  Pull  Tiger  pull  Duff  t 
As  the  pastors  had  sought  to  withdraw  the  people  from 
Social  Democracy,  he  demanded  that  the  people  as  a  body 
should  secede  from  the  established  Church.  To  this  he 
invited  the  women.  He  called  on  them  openly  to  proclaim 
their  separation  from  a  Church  in  which  they  had  ceased 
to  believe  (applause),  and  to  declare :  We  will  have  our 
heaven  upon  earth,  for  that  which  is  future  we  believe  not 
in.  Our  gospel  is  Social  Democracy,  and  Social  Democracy 
is  our  creed.  Here  on  earth  will  we  enjoy  ourselves. 
Let  the  idle  bellies  no  longer  devour  what  the  active 
hands  have  earned.  Here  we  will  revel  and  not  rot. 
(Tremendous  and  prolonged  cheers,  then  commotion 
caused  by  the  fainting  of  several  girls.) 

6  Frau  Schultze  then  rose  and  asked  that  the  speeches 
might  be  intermitted  to  allow  of  the  audience  refreshing 
themselves  with  beer.  This  was  rejected  by  a  majority  in 
a  show  of  hands,  and  the  proceedings  continued.  Beer 
was  passed  over  the  heads  of  the  audience  to  those  who 

1  A  semi- Socialist  society  founded  by  some  Berlin  pastors,  well  in- 
tentioned,  but  not  successful. 


Protestantism.  209 


demanded  it,  whilst  the  speeches  went  on,  till  an  alterca- 
tion arose  from  some  who  had  taken  the  beer  declining  to 
pay  for  it,  when  the  proprietor  of  the  buffet  refused  to 
pass  any  more  in  this  manner. 

'  Frau  Hahn l  continued  the  proceedings.  "  Ladies !  " 
she  said,  "  I  will  tell  you  how  it  is  that  I  am  here  in  this 
assembly.  I  am  the  mother  of  five  children.  It  is  a  long 
time  since  I  shook  myself  clear  of  the  Church.  Why  so  ? 
Because  I  was  sick  of  my  belief ;  what  I  am  I  have  made 
myself!"  (Bravo!)  "I  hold  to  the  foundation,  Do  right 
and  fear  no  man.  I  want  no  Bible,  and  no  pastor,  and  no 
law ! "  (Applause.)  "I  am  not  a  wife  only,  but  also  an  aunt. 
My  husband  has  two  sisters,  who  live  in  a  miserable  den. 
One  is  advanced  in  life,  and  has  two  unbaptized  children. 
The  other  is  unmarried  and  sickly ;  she  suffers  from  bad 
legs.  As  aunt,  I  went  there  and  declared  that  I  would 
help  them  to  the  best  of  my  ability  so  long  as  the  children 
remained  unbaptized,  but  that  if  they  were  given  this 
Sacrament,  I  would  shake  off  my  interest  in  them,  and 
leave  them  to  shift  for  themselves!"  (Bravo!)  "The  other 
day  I  entered  this  den,  and  found  there  two  men,  one 
with  his  hair  cropped,  the  other  with  his  long.  Halloo ! 
said  I,  what  do  these  fanatics  (Mucker)  want  here  ?" 
(Laughter.)  "And  when  they  said  something  about  baptism 
and  the  Church,  I  made  bold  to  tell  them  a  bit  of  my 
mind,  and  bade  them  pack  out  of  the  house,  for  it  was  a 
disgrace  for  them  to  be  in  it ;  and  I  threatened  if  they 
did  not  depart  at  once,  to  charge  them  before  the  police 
with  having  come  there  for  improper  purposes!"  (Thun- 
ders of  applause.)  "Ladies,  let  us  pluck  up  courage. 
What  are  we  ?  We  are  the  money-hoarders  at  home. 
We  know  what  social  questions  mean.  Let  us  buckle  to 
it  and  drive  our  husbands  into  Social  Democracy.  We 

1  Hahn,  I  may  observe,  is  generally  a  Jewish  name. 
YOL.   II.  P 


2io  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

need  no  church,  we  need  no  pastors,  we — "  (here  followed 
a  sentence  so  gross  that  the  Grerman  papers  did  not  report 
it).  (Applause.)  "If  you  want  a  belief,  invent  one  for 
yourselves.  If  you  want  to  pray,  go  into  your  closet.  If 
you  must  have  a  pastor,  ordain  your  own !  "  (Stormy  ap- 
plause and  protracted  laughter. ) 

'  Frau  Schlamsky  then  rose  and  said :  "  The  other  day  a 
pastor  came  to  me  and  spoke  of  my  children  and  church- 
going.  I  said  to  him,  we  have  no  time  for  that  sort  of 
thing,  and  as  for  Christian  charity,  not  a  crust  have  I  had 
from  my  pastor!"  (Loud  approval.) 

'  Fraulein  Hofer  next  attempted  the  narration  of  her 
grievances,  but  began  sobbing,  and  could  not  continue. 
This  caused  much  merriment,  which  only  increased  the 
young  woman's  distress.  Whereupon  the  presidentess 
called  order,  and  requested  the  audience  to  show  more 
sympathy  with  a  suffering  damsel  who  was  labouring 
under  a  broken  heart. 

*  Frau  Lehmann  l  then  told  of  a  pastor  who  had  given 
a  Bible  and  an  old  shirt  to  a  starving  woman.  And  so  the 
meeting  went  on. 

'  Director  Wangemann  made  an  oratorical  panegyric  on 
womankind  in  general.  Herr  Most  again  insisted  on  all 
right-minded  women  seceding  from  the  Evangelical  Church. 
Frau  Naun  seconded  this  proposal,  and  announced,  amidst 
loud  applause,  that  thenceforth  she  had  done  with  parsons. 

'  It  was  long  after  midnight  when  the  meeting  broke 
up.  From  the  hall  all  down  the  Naunyn-Strasse  was  a 
long  tail  of  men  shivering  in  the  cold,  waiting  for  their 
respective  wives,  daughters,  and  sweethearts.' 

1  Another  Jewish  name. 


The  Labour  Question.  2 1 1 


CHAPTER   XV. 

THE    LABOUR    QUESTION. 

Was  bringt  Ihr  neues,  Jery  ? — 
Das  Alte,  Bately. 

GOETHE  :  Jery  u.  Bately. 

PERSONS  with  fixed  incomes  have,  during  the  last  ten  or 
fifteen  years,  found  a  growing  difficulty  in  making  both 
ends  meet.  The  price  of  everything  has  increased. 
Labour  is  dearer,  coals  at  one  time  double  in  price,  and 
up  with  coals  goes  the  price  of  iron.  It  costs  a  third 
more  to  build  a  house  than  it  did  five  years  ago.  It  is 
always  pleasant  to  have  a  whipping-boy.  Those  pinched  in 
means,  and  those  capitalists  who  cannot  turn  over  their 
money  and  make  it  grow  by  geometric  progression,  must 
lay  blame  somewhere,  and  trades-unions  are  the  common 
object  of  abuse  and  denunciation. 

'  The  workmen,'  says  Adam  Smith,  '  desire  to  get  as 
much,  the  masters  to  give  as  little,  as  possible.  The  former 
are  disposed  to  combine  in  order  to  raise,  the  latter  in 
order  to  lower,  the  wages  of  labour.'  What  is  sauce  for 
the  goose,  is  sauce  also  for  the  gander.  If  it  be  lawful  for 
employers  to  unite  to  keep  the  price  of  labour  down,  it  is 
lawful  also  for  the  employed  to  unite  to  enforce  what  they 
consider  a  proper  recognition  of  the  value  of  their  labour. 

In  Edward  III.'s  reign  the  Statute  of  Labourers  was 
passed,  which  limited  wages  at  a  time  when  a  diminution 

p  2 


212  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

of  the  working-classes  by  a  pestilence  made  labour  more 
valuable.  '  Such  laws,'  says  Mr.  Mill,  with  noble  indig- 
nation, 'exhibit  the  infernal  spirit  of  the  slave-master, 
when  to  retain  the  working-classes  in  avowed  slavery  has  , 
ceased  to  be  practicable.'  So  late  as  1725  the  Manchester 
Justices  in  quarter-sessions  drew  up  a  tariff  of  wages,  and 
ordained  that  workmen  conspiring  to  obtain  more  should 
for  the  third  offence  stand  in  the  pillory  and  lose  an  ear. 

If  there  be  but  one  mercer's  shop  in  a  country  town, 
he  may  put  his  own  price  on  his  ribands,  but  if  there  be 
two  or  three,  competition  will  bring  the  prices  down.  If 
there  be  but  one  gardener  in  a  town,  all  the  old  ladies 
who  want  their  flower-beds  put  to  rights  will  compete 
with  one  another  to  get  him,  and  he  may  command 
almost  any  wage.  But  if  there  be  twenty,  and  only  a 
dozen  gardens  to  be  trimmed,  the  competition  for  work  is 
on  the  side  of  the  men,  and  the  old  ladies  hire  the 
cheapest.  If  competition  be  too  brisk,  the  mercers  will 
sell  below  cost,  and  the  gardeners  work  for  what  will  not 
support  their  families :  one  will  fail,  the  other  starve. 
Before  this  takes  place,  in  their  mutual  interests  the 
mercers  agree  among  themselves  to  take  a  moderate 
profit,  and  the  gardeners  to  ask  a  reasonable  wage,  and 
not  to  undersell  one  another.  What  is  fair  and  just  for  the 
tradesman,  is  fair  and  just  for  the  labourer. 

When  the  population  is  very  numerous,  there  is  a  ten- 
dency, in  the  order  of  nature,  for  labour  to  become  very 
cheap.  It  may  become  so  cheap  that  men  cannot  support 
families  on  what  they  earn.  They  must  therefore  uniter 
and  fix  the  price  of  their  labour.  They  are  perfectly  jus- 
tified in  so  doing.  Trades-unions  are  a  social  necessity. 
They  may  have  acted  injuriously  to  the  men's  interests, 
and  to  the  general  prosperity  of  trade  in  the  country,  in 
some  cases,  but  that  was  because  they  were  experiments 


The  Labour  Question.  213 

in  England,  and  young  institutions  must  make  blunders 
before  they  go  right.  A  child  strums  discords  before  it 
strikes  harmonies ;  stumbles  and  gets  blows  before  it 
walks  upright.  What  is  regrettable  in  the  matter  of 
trades-unions  is,  not  that  they  exist,  but  that  they  did 
not  exist  earlier  ;  that  we  should  be  living  in  the  age  of 
their  discords  and  tumbles,  and  not  of  their  harmonies 
and  uprightness. 

The  labour  question  is  a  very  much  more  delicate  one, 
and  subject  to  more  changing  influences  than  it  was  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ago.  In  1861,  Professor  Beesly 
recommended  workmen  to  keep  up  the  price  of  labour  by 
keeping  down  the  number  of  their  children.  He  wrote : 
•*  Although  plenty  of  men  are  to  be  found  in  every  rank  of 
life,  who  recklessly  produce  families  which  they  have  no 
means  of  supporting,  there  are  only  two  classes  of  whom  it 
may  be  said,  that  such  shameless  selfishness  is  the  rule 
rather  than  the  exception — the  agricultural  paupers,  and 
the  clergy  of  the  Established  Church.  Both  these  classes 
abdicate  all  responsibility,  and  are  content  to  leave  the 
prospects  of  their  offspring  to  chance  or  charity.  Among 
the  skilled  mechanics  earning  comfortable  wages,  there  is, 
"we  believe,  something  more  of  prudence  and  self-respect ; 
but  it  is  hardly  to  be  expected  that  improvement  in  this 
respect  will  become  general,  so  long  as  public  opinion  looks 
leniently  upon  conduct  as  degrading  as  it  is  anti-social. 
At  present,  if  an  artisan  limits  his  family  within  reason- 
able bounds,  it  is  for  reasons  that  concern  only  himself 
and  those  dependent  on  him.  He  objects  to  diminish  his 
comforts,  he  thinks  it  his  duty  to  give  his  children  a  fair 
start  in  life ;  he  desires  to  exempt  his  wife  from  the 
miserable  drudgery  which  a  large  and  constantly  in- 
creasing family  entails.  All  these  motives  deserve  the 
highest  respect ;  but  regard  for  the  interests  of  his  class 


214  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

would  be  a  still  nobler  principle  of  action.'  So  infanticide, 
or  what  is  as  bad,  is  to  help  to  keep  up  the  wages  of  the 
working-classes!  The  advice  is  as  unnatural  as  it  is 
immoral,  and  what  is  more,  it  will  not  answer  its  purpose* 
The  price  of  labour  is  not  now  regulated  by  the  number  of 
candidates  for  work  among  the  English  artisans.  Railways 
and  steamboats  have  widened  the  circle  whence  the  pro- 
duce of  labour  is  drawn.  The  gaps  artificially  made  in 
our  population,  acting  on  Professor  Beesly's  advice,  are 
filled  with  Grermans  and  Italians. 

It  is  a  question  which  must  be  solved  in  the  next  ten  or 
fifteen  years,  whether,  in  the  presence  of  modern  facilities 
of  traffic  and  inter-communication,  the  present  organisation 
of  trades-unions  can  be  made  available.  An  international 
union  may  succeed,  but  then  it  may  be  doubted  whether  all 
the  teeming  thousands  of  thousands  asking  for  work  in  the 
wide  world  can  be  compelled  to  enter  it.  Already  in 
London,  and  Manchester,  and  Liverpool,  Grermans  have 
dethroned  English  clerks  from  their  stools,  because  they 
are  content  with  lower  wages.  The  iron  for  the  new  Law 
Courts  came  from  Belgium.  Half  a  century  ago  all 
Normandy  was  supplied  with  cotton  and  woollen  goods 
from  Manchester  and  Leeds.  Now  the  fair  landscape 
about  Rouen  and  Elbceuf  bristles  with  chimneys,  and  the 
water  reeks  with  dye.  A  few  years  ago  our  cloths  and 
serges  found  their  way  over  South  Grermany.  Now 
the  valleys  of  the  Bavarian  and  Austrian  Alps,  and  of 
Switzerland,  are  crowded  with  mills.  All  spring,  autumn, 
and  summer,  water-power  from  the  mountains  is  available 
at  no  cost.  Labour  is  cheap,  for  a  stream  of  operatives 
pours  over  the  Brenner  and  up  the  Finstermunz  from 
overteeming  Italy,  asking  work  at  any  price.  Consequently 
manufacturers  there  can  undersell  English  goods,  and 
have  banished  them  from  the  market. 


The  Labour  Qitestion.  215 

France  has  artificially  kept  down  its  natural  growth 
of  children.  The  men  of  Vorarlberg,  Montafun,  the 
Bregenzer  Wald,  &c.,  pour  over  France  when  the  frosts 
yield,  and  do  mason's  work.  But  for  that  influx,  the  price 
of  labour  in  the  building-trade  would  be  enormous — so 
enormous  that  there  would  be  no  building  done.1  An 
intimate  friend  had  a  fixed  sum  of  money  to  lay  out  in 
adding  a  drawing-room  and  staircase  to  his  house.  It 
could  not  be  done  handsomely,  and  in  keeping  with  the 
rest  of  the  house,  in  England,  for  the  sum  he  had  at  his 
disposal.  He  had  a  carved  oak  staircase,  plaster  ceiling, 
parqueterie  floor,  carved  and  panelled  walls  and  chimney- 
piece,  and  sculptured  stonework  completed  in  Germany, 
and  sent  him  to  England.  And  the  whole  came  to  less 
than  the  sum  he  had  estimated,  just  half  the  sum  it  would 
have  cost  in  England. 

Window  and  door  frames  come  ready  made  in  thousands 
from  Norway.  An  English  joiner  will  charge — say  thirty 
shillings  for  a  window-frame.  A  Norwegian  frame  costs 
twenty  shillings.  Consequently  the  Norwegian  carpenter 
gets  the  job,  and  not  the  English  tradesman.  The 
Carpenters'  Union  is  worsted  by  free  trade,  by  foreign 
competition. 

But  I  am  not  writing  an  article  on  the  principles  of 
trades-unions,  but  on  the  labour  question  as  it  stands  in 
Grermany.  There  aLo  trades-unions  exist,  and  capitalists 
have  had  difficulties  with  them,  but  not  to  the  same 
extent  as  in  England.  They  are  not  there  modern 
creations,  but  legitimate  children  of  mediaeval  organisa- 
tions. The  labour  question  is  not  one  of  to-day  only,  it 
is  not,  as  is  supposed,  an  introduction  of  the  modern 
system  of  manufacture,  the  result  of  wholesale  production. 

1  A  stonecutter  or  mason  in  France  in  1878  got  five  francs  a  day 
and  his  keep. 


2i6  Germany \  Present  and  Past. 

It  existed  before  factory  manufacture,  when  wholesale 
business  was  unknown,  when  each  artisan  worked  in  his 
house  assisted  by  a  few  apprentices.  It  came  to  the 
surface  again  and  again  during  the  Middle  Ages,  with 
more  or  less  dangerous  symptoms,  attended  with  more  or 
less  violence  ;  for,  in  fact,  it  became  a  necessity  from  the 
moment  that  slavery  ceased,  and  free  labour  entered  the 
field,  and  that  is  more  than  a  thousand  years  ago.  It  is 
a  question  intimately  linked  with  the  rise  and  fall  of  the 
prices  of  food,  and  the  growth  of  requirements  of  life,  as 
cause  and  effect.  It  is  a  question  starting  into  the  fore- 
ground the  moment  the  artisan  is  allowed  participation  in 
the  good  things  of  life,  and  does  not  depend,  as  in  slavery, 
on  the  will  of  his  lord,  and  receive  from  him  everything 
as  an  unmerited  gift.  As  soon  as  the  workman  is  free, 
he  becomes  a  contracting  party  in  an  engagement,  and  his 
consent  must  be  won  before  he  will  undertake  a  work. 
His  time  is  his  own,  his  hands  are  his  own,  his  skill  is 
his  own,  and  he  may  fix  upon  them  what  price  he  chooses. 

The  three  great  questions  of  contention  between 
master  and  man  have  been :  1.  The  right  of  the  former  to 
import  foreign  labour,  and  so  keep  down  the  price  of 
native  labour.  2.  The  number  of  hours  which  the  artisan 
is  to  work.  And  3.  The  wage  he  is  to  receive  for  his  labour. 

The  first  matter  of  dispute  rarely  came  to  the  front  in 
Grermany ;  it  was  not  a  burning  question,  as  in  England 
and  America.  In  Grermany,  it  was  customary  for  the 
Gesell,  the  ancestor  of  the  workman  of  to-day,  to  travel 
all  over  the  country,  even  over  Europe,  working  wherever 
he  could,  and  picking  up  everywhere  experience. 

It  was  different  in  England.  Our  apprentices  did  not 
leave  the  island ;  and  maintained  a  jealous  suspicion  of 
foreigners.  In  1517,  on  the  eve  of  May  day,  the  'pren- 
tices of  London  rose  in  riot  against  the  foreigners  who  had 


The  Labour  Question.  217 

settled  in  the  City,  and  were  carrying  away,  as  they 
thought,  the  profits  from  English  industry.  On  May  day 
eve  the  Alderman  of  the  ward  arrested  an  apprentice  who 
with  others  was  playing  at  bucklers  in  Cheapside,  as  a 
whisper  had  gone  through  London  that  on  May  day  all 
foreigners  were  to  be  massacred.  This  was  the  signal  for 
an  outbreak.  'Clubs  !  clubs  ! '  was  the  cry.  In  an  instant  a 
mob  of  some  700  persons  was  in  arms  in  Cheapside ;  and 
soon  after,  a  body  of  300  more  turned  the  corner  from 
St.  Paul's  Churchyard.  The  prisoner  was  rescued,  Newgate 
was  forced,  and  all  who  had  been  imprisoned  for  violence 
to  foreigners  released.  The  riot  grew  worse  and  worse ; 
-expresses  were  sent  to  the  King :  Sir  Thomas  More  himself 
rode  forth  to  try  and  pacify  the  mob ;  Cardinal  Wolsey  was 
in  conference  with  the  City  authorities ;  the  Lieutenant  of 
the  Tower  was  shooting  off  certain  pieces  of  ordnance 
against  the  City,  but  doing  no  great  hurt.  Towards  three 
o'clock  of  the  morning  the  young  rioters'  strength  began 
to  fail,  and  many  were  taken  prisoners.  The  King 
was  furious.  No  half  measures  would  satisfy  him.  Two 
hundred  and  seventy  eight  prisoners,  some  lads  of  thirteen 
•or  fourteen  years  old,  were  brought  through  the  streets^ 
tied  with  ropes,  to  trial ;  thirteen  were  adjudged  to  be 
hanged,  drawn,  and  quartered  ;  and  for  the  execution  of 
this  sentence  ten  pairs  of  gallows  were  set  up  above  the 
City.  The  7th  of  May  was  to  witness  this  prompt  ad- 
ministration of  the  law  ;  and  one  had  already  forfeited  his 
life,  when  a  reprieve  from  the  King  arrived. 

In  1586  again,  a  conspiracy  was  formed  by  the  appren- 
tices of  London  for  a  general  massacre  of  the  foreigners, 
but  a  timely  discovery  of  the  plot  handed  over  some  of 
the  ringleaders  to  the  safe  custody  of  Newgate,  and  saved 
the  body  at  large  from  the  disgrace  of  such  an  outrage. 
The  number  of  foreigners  at  this  time  in  London  was  con- 


2 1 8  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

siderable.  For  when  the  numbers  were  taken  in  1593r 
they  were  found  to  amount  to  5,259. 

Chinese  labour  has  begun  seriously  to  tell  on  the  price 
of  native  labour  in  America.  We  might  import  any 
number  of  Italians  for  any  sort  of  work,  and  the  Tyrolean 
valleys  would  supply  us  with  any  number  of  masons. 

As  regards  length  of  time  for  which  the  artisan  worked, 
this  was  a  matter  touching  him  too  closely  not  to  be 
subject  of  dispute,  when  it  was  not  settled  by  traditional 
usage.  An  unwritten  law  generally  existed  fixing  the 
time  when  work  began  and  when  it  broke  off.  The  church 
bell  sounded  for  both.  To  this  day,  in  districts  where  the 
railway  has  not  introduced  new  ideas,  the  bauer  dares  not 
plough  and  hoe  his  own  plot  of  land  before  or  after  the 
customary  hour.  He  injures  no  one  by  rising  early  and 
working  late,  but  he  breaks  immemorial  custom,  and  that 
is  sacred,  made  sacred  as  a  treaty  of  peace  contracted 
between  master  and  man,  bauer  and  landlord,  before  the 
soil  fell  to  him.  Only  twice  in  the  year  came  a  variation  r 
in  spring  and  in  autumn.  Then  arose  the  question  of 
work  by  candlelight.  Should  the  apprentice  go  on  working 
by  lamplight,  when  the  daylight  failed,  till  the  church 
bell  sounded  his  release,  or  did  the  cessation  of  daylight 
emancipate  him  ?  That  was  a  question  hotly  controverted. 

This  question  was,  however,  settled  at  last  by  com- 
promise between  employer  and  employed.  Before  the 
autumn  equinox  the  apprentice  was  not  obliged  to  work 
by  artificial  light.  If  the  clouds  obscured  the  sun,  or  the 
mist  was  so  dense  that  he  could  not  see,  then  he  was  not 
forced  to  .continue  his  work,  however  many  lamps  and 
candles  were  lighted  in  the  shop.  But  it  was  different 
after  the  autumn  equinox :  then  the  church  bell,  and  not 
daylight,  released  him. 

To  establish  the  compact  as  a  custom,  several  usages 


The  Labour  Question.  219 

were  introduced.  On  the  eve  of  the  autumn  equinox,  the 
'  Lichtganz,'  a  roast-goose,  was  served  for  supper,  and  as 
soon  as  the  goose  had  been  partaken  of,  the  duty  of  work 
by  candlelight  began.  In  spring,  the  close  of  work  by 
candlelight  was  marked  by  other  customs.  At  Niirnberg, 
on  the  eve  of  the  vernal  equinox,  an  iron  candelabrum  con- 
taining twelve  candles  was  carried  in  procession  by  the 
'prentices  to  the  Pegnitz  and  there  extinguished.  From 
that  moment  the  workman  was  not  bound  to  his  task 
after  dusk.  Such  customs  served  to  stamp  the  arrange- 
ment as  a  rule  which  was  not  to  be  broken,  and  long  after 
the  quaint  ceremonies  were  abandoned,  the  rule  was  rigidly 
held.  But  the  strife  about  the  duration  of  labour  was  not 
laid  at  rest  altogether ;  it  altered  its  face,  and  became  one> 
not  of  hours,  but  of  days.  It  had  been  settled  during 
how  many  hours  of  the  day  the  artisan  was  to  work,  but 
not  on  how  many  days  in  the  week.  He  asked  a  day's 
holiday,  Monday  ;  he  sought  to  shorten  his  period  of  work 
from  six  days  to  five,  and  in  this  form  the  contest  con- 
tinued to  be  waged  till  the  present  century,  when  it  has 
reverted  to  the  number  of  hours.  I  shall  return  to  the 
'  Gruten  Montag  '  presently. 

Other  means  were  adopted  for  reconciling  the  con- 
flicting interests  of  master  and  man.  The  former  paid 
the  same  sum  whether  the  man  worked  eight  or  nine 
hours  a  day,  five  or  six  days  a  week,  and  whether  he 
worked  with  a  will  or  idled.  Piecework  was  therefore 
introduced.  The  master  paid  only  for  work  done.  Under 
the  old  system  the  idling  of  the  man  was  a  loss  to  the 
master,  by  piecework  it  was  a  loss  to  the  idler.  This 
very  simple  arrangement  allowed  of  a  diligent  man  earning 
more  than  a  lazy  one.  It  encouraged  application  and 
technical  skill.  Many  trades  reserved  to  themselves  the 
privilege  of  paying  by  piecework.  Others  left  it  to 


22O  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

agreement  between  masters  and  men,  which  mode  of  pay- 
ment was  to  be  adopted.  Uniformity  existed  as  little,  nay 
less,  than  in  our  own  day,  for  piece  payment  was  an  im- 
possibility in  many  branches  of  trade. 

It  is,  therefore,  the  more  remarkable,  that  trades 
which  had  hitherto  preferred  piecework,  and  in  which  it 
alone  was  customary,  suddenly  altered  their  practice, 
forbade  it,  and  ordered  the  men  to  be  paid  by  the  hour  or 
week.  Trades  which  in  the  fourteenth  century  had  re- 
quired all  masters  to  give  out  their  work  by  piece,  in  the 
following  century  forbade  it  peremptorily  ;  and  the  reason 
for  this  was,  that  it  was  found  detrimental  to  the  quality 
of  the  work.  The  artisans  scamped  their  work;  they 
sought  to  gain  more  wage  by  quantity  produced  than  by 
excellence  of  quality.  The  important  trade  of  fustian- 
weavers  in  Ulm  had  piecework  till  the  beginning  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  then  it  was  forbidden,  because  the 
merchants  complained  of  the  deterioration  in  the  fustian, 
and  threatened  to  withdraw  their  custom  from  Ulm. 
Curiously  enough,  piecework  was  complained  of  and  re- 
fused by  many  labourers  on  the  same  grounds.  They  de- 
clared that  it  was  injurious  to  the  quality  of  the  work,  and 
gave  advantages  to  the  unscrupulous  workman.  As  the 
quality  declined,  the  price  of  the  goods  went  down,  and  thus 
the  honest  artisan  suffered  for  the  dishonesty  of  the  other. 

In  the  fifteenth  century,  the  tailors  of  Basel  refused  to 
continue  piecework,  because  they  said  that  system  acted 
injuriously  on  the  trade, — the  bad  artisan  who  ran  his  work 
together,  and  sent  it  out  looking  well,  but  falling  to 
pieces  on  first  wear,  was  better  paid  than  the  patient 
and  conscientious  man  who  fastened  off  all  his  threads, 
and  locked  his  stitches.  The  tailors  of  Basel  demanded 
that  all  should  be  paid  a  day's  wage  alike,  whether  they 
were  experienced  hands  or  new  beginners. 


The  Labour  Question.  22  r 

Piecework,  which  at  first  sight  seems  such  a  ready 
solution  to  the  difficulty,  so  just  and  natural,  on  experience 
has  proved  to  be  defective.  It  does  not  unite  sufficiently 
the  interests  of  the  employer  and  employed  for  the  pro- 
duction of  good  work.  A  closer  union  of  interests  has 
been  sought  of  late  in  the  system  of  tantieme  partnership 
or  co-operation.  Piecework  and  timework  alike  have  their 
disadvantages.  In  timework,  the  master  pays  for  the 
idleness  of  his  men;  in  piecework,  the  work  itself  dete- 
riorates, and  the  good  artisan  suffers  for  the  scamping 
of  the  idler.  Co-operative  undertakings  are  free  from 
these  evils :  the  net  gain  which  went  into  the  employer's 
pocket  is  divided  among  the  operatives.  As  the  prices 
rise,  so  does  the  wage;  one  regulates  the  other.  This> 
the  ideal  condition,  is  not  so  modern  a  system  as  is  sup- 
posed. It  was  very  general,  though  not  quite  in  the 
modern  form,  from  the  fourteenth  to  the  seventeenth 
century.  The  receipts  of  the  week  were  thrown  into  a 
box,  and  this  was  unlocked  on  Sunday,  and  the  contents 
divided  according  to  a  prearranged  contract.  The  work- 
man got  the  third,  fourth,  or  fifth  penny.  Artisans  en- 
gaging on  this  system  were  called  '  Theilknechte,'  or 
6  Biichsengesellen.'  This  sort  of  wage  ceased  at  the  end 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  In  more  recent  times  it  has 
been  again  attempted,  but  under  a  modern  form,  by 
Schulze-Delitzsch.  The  modern  '  Grenossenschaften  '  are 
associations  of  artisans  or  small  manufacturers,  with  the 
object  of  uniting  their  active  ability  and  small  capitals 
against  the  overwhelming  power  of  the  large  employers. 
The  old  guilds  of  the  German  towns  were  able  to  enforce 
their  decrees  on  all  the  members  of  the  craft,  and  no 
craftsman  could  exist  outside  the  guild.  The  modern 
*  Grenossenschaften'  are  free  associations  of  artisans.  They 
were  first  started  in  Grermany  in  1860,  and  since  that 


222  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

date  have  grown  and  spread.  The  experiments  have  not, 
however,  lasted  sufficiently  long,  or  been  sufficiently 
numerous,  for  a  judgment  to  be  formed  upon  them. 
Theoretically  no  system  can  be  fairer,  or  more  calculated 
to  promote  activity,  interest  in  their  work,  and  content- 
ment among  the  associates,  but,  as  in  the  case  of  piecework, 
there  may  be  a  disturbing  element  in  the  calculation  on 
which  we  have  not  reckoned,  and  which  will  only  come  to 
light  when  the  experiment  has  been  given  a  trial  of  at 
least  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

It  is  certain  that  the  mediaeval  attempts  at  co-operation 
failed ;  and  it  is  impossible  not  to  conclude  that  in  some 
manner  not  very  clear  to  us,  they  missed  their  aim,  and 
proved  as  open  to  objection  as  piecework.  This  was  so, 
moreover,  under  circumstances  far  more  favourable  to 
success  than  the  present. 

In  olden  times  there  were  no  large  manufactories  with 
many  hundred  workmen  in  them,  but  a  host  of  little  masters, 
each  of  whom  took  a  fixed  number  of  apprentices.  A  few 
years  ago  it  was  much  the  same  in  the  Yorkshire  dales 
-of  the  Western  Hills.  The  rattle  of  the  loom  sounded  from 
every  house.  Each  householder  had  a  few  workmen  under 
him.  The  large  manufacturers  built  their  factories,  used 
steam,  and  beat  the  little  weavers  out  of  the  field  ;  those 
who  had  been  masters  were  forced  to  become  operatives  in 
the  great  mill.  In  the  Middle  Ages,  the  '  Gresellen ' 
were  the  workmen  under  the  master,  but  they  were  not 
workmen  doomed  to  be  under  subjection  all  their  lives. 
After  a  few  years  they  obtained  the  freedom  of  the  city, 
and  became  masters  themselves.  Every  master  was 
therefore  bound  to  train  his  apprentice  to  become  even- 
tually independent.  For  this  purpose  he  was  legally 
required  to  give  him  an  insight  into  every  particular  of 
the  business.  The  apprentice  acquired  from  his  master  not 


The  Labour  Question.  223 

only  technical  skill  and  dexterity  in  the  manufacture,  but 
.also  the  requisite  knowledge  of  all  that  pertained  to  the 
business  commercially.  He  was  taught  the  cost  of  the 
raw  material,  to  calculate  the  expense  of  working  it  up, 
and  to  reckon  the  net  profits.  He  was  sent  to  purchase 
the  raw  stuff,  and  attended  his  master  at  the  marts  at 
which  the  material  was  sold,  after  having  gone  through 
Iris  hands.  If  the  master  failed  to  give  his  pupil  this 
knowledge,  to  let  him  into  all  the  mysteries  of  the  trade, 
lie  was  punished  by  his  guild.  Consequently,  the  ap- 
prentice knew  exactly  the  economy  of  the  business,  he 
knew  what  wage  it  would  afford,  and  whether  the  profits 
would  allow  of  it  being  raised,  or  necessitated  its  being 
lowered.  In  those  trades  where  such  an  insight  could  not 
be  granted,  which  depended  on  the  skill  of  the  individual, 
and  was  less  mechanical,  in  painting,  or  goldsmith's  work, 
for  instance,  the  system  of  tantieme  never  prevailed. 

Under  such  circumstances  as  described,  no  difficulties 
about  wage  were  likely  to  arise.  There  could  be  no  con- 
flict of  opinion  between  master  and  men.  All  knew  what 
the  net  profits  were,  and  what  was  the  share  due  to  the 
employer,  and  what  fell  to  the  employed.  The  only 
question  which  might  be  disputed,  was  whether  the 
mechanic  should  have  the  third,  the  fourth,  or  the  fifth 
penny  ;  but  this  was  usually  determined  by  the  cost  of  the 
raw  material  and  of  production.  This  system  answered 
well  enough  under  old  simple  commercial  conditions  ;  but 
when  everything  bought  ceased  to  be  paid  for  in  ready 
money,  and  bills,  and  promissory  notes,  and  outstanding 
accounts  with  accumulating  interest  upon  them  entered 
into  the  ledger,  when  perhaps  for  some  weeks  the  box  was 
without  money  to  be  divided,  then  the  tantieme  ceased 
to  be  practised.  It  was  impossible  to  carry  it  out.  Manu- 
factures were  carried  on  on  a  larger  scale,  and  it  was  not 


224  Germany^   Present  and  Past. 

practicable  to  submit  the  accounts  to  the  operatives. 
Modem  commerce  made  the  ledger  a  riddle  except  to- 
those  who  had  been  educated  to  interpret  it.  In  extensive- 
manufactures,  with  wide  commercial  ramifications  and 
minute  subdivision  of  labour,  a  vast  number  of  those 
employed  know,  and  can  know,  only  their  own  special 
branch  of  the  industry,  and  have  neither  the  knowledge 
nor  the  capacity  for  judging  of  the  cost  and  risk  of  a 
speculation.  They  cannot  keep  their  hands  at  work  on 
the  spinning-jennies  and  at  the  same  time  on  the  pulse 
of  trade.  The  disposal  of  the  gross  receipt,  how  much 
of  it  is  to  go  to  the  mechanic,  and  how  much  into  his 
own  pocket,  must  be  left  to  the  employer. 

The  workmen  have  little  knowledge  of  the  meaning  of 
capital,  of  the  cost,  and  especially  the  risks,  of  trade.  They 
underrate  all  these,  mistrust  the  employer,  and  will  not  be- 
persuaded  that  they  receive  a  fair  proportion  of  the  profits. 
Under  the  Mediaeval  system  of  retail  manufacture,  co- 
operation was  simple  enough,  but  with  the  modern  system 
of  wholesale  manufacture  its  success  is  problematical. 
The  condition  is  less  favourable,  and  it  may  well  be  doubted 
whether  co-operative  production  of  manufactured  goods  is 
practicable.  Success  in  business  is  like  success  in  war,  it 
depends  on  instantaneous  perception  of  what  is  needed,  and 
on  rapid  execution.  In  it,  as  Hamlet  says,  '  the  readiness 
is  all!'  A  great  business  can  no  more  be  carried  on 
successfully  by  a  parliament  of  all  employed  in  it,  than 
can  a  campaign  by  conducting  it  in  accordance  with  the 
opinions  and  votes  of  the  soldiers  engaged.  One  must 
take  the  risks  and  reap  the  ruin  or  the  glory. 

As  soon  as  the  trades  in  the  German  towns  had  begun 
to  associate  themselves  in  guilds — and  this  took  place  in 
the  twelfth  century — they  formed  corporations  of  really 
wonderful  organisation.  The  members  were  bound  to- 


The  Laboiir  Question.  225 

gether  with  a  firmness   such  as  probably  no  other  body, 
not  even  the  Church,  exhibited.     Whoever  would  support 
himself  from  his  trade  must  enter  the  association  of  his 
trade,  and  submit  without  appeal  to  all  its  laws.     As  there 
was  no  salvation  out  of  the  Church,  there  was  no  working 
at  a  trade  out  of  a  guild.     The  only  escape  was  to  take 
refuge  on  the  lands  of  a  noble.     He  had  the  privilege  to 
harbour  artisans  who  would  not   belong   to  their  trade- 
union.     In  each  union,  every  member  who  belonged  to  it, 
belonged  with  his  wife,  sons  and  daughters,  servants,  maids 
and  apprentices.     All  were  received  into  the  union  and 
all  were  forced  to  obey  its  laws.     Whatever  concerned  a 
member,  touched  the  body,  affected  the  whole  trade  ;  joy 
or  sorrow,  a  birth  of  a  child,  a  marriage,  a  death,  whether 
of  master,  servant  or  child,  was  a  common  matter  of  re- 
joicing  or   lamentation   to   the    entire   guild.     Whoever 
transgressed  a  law  of  his  union  paid  the  penalty  in  money, 
and  was  excluded  for  a  shorter  or  longer  time  from  the 
trade ;  and  during  excommunication  dared  not  work  at  it. 
This  power  of  the  trade  was  not  exercised  merely  about 
trade    concerns,  but  the  whole  life  of  the  member  was 
placed  under  supervision.     Offences  against  morals  were 
punished   by   it,  just   as    were    infringements    of   trade 
regulations.     Indeed,  the  guilds  were  armed  with  power 
of  fining,  and  confiscation,  and  imprisonment  to  an  un- 
limited extent ;   only  power  over  life,  and  of  mutilation, 
was  reserved  to  the  Sovereign.     This  bond  and  discipline 
were   common   to   all   trades  alike,    even — though   more 
rarely — to  those  specially  filled  with  women,  as  the  guilds 
of  midwives   and   of  sempstresses.      The   determination 
of  rules  and  privileges  fell  to  the  masters  alone,  who  met 
in  their  guild-halls,    and   legislated   for   their  respective 
trades  as  republican  despots. 

But  this  account  does  not  complete  the  idea  of  the 

VOL.    II.  Q 


226  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

power  of  these  unions.  The  tradesmen  in  one  town  were 
not  isolated,  they  were  in  intercommunication  with  the 
trades-unions  in  other  towns. 

At  certain  times,  on  the  so-called  '  Handwerkstage,' 
the  masters  of  the  confederated  cities  assembled,  or  appeared 
by  deputies  in  a  certain  town,  and  in  parliament  deter- 
mined the  laws  which  should  have  force  in  their  guild  in 
all  the  confederated  towns.  The  trades  were  united  in 
districts.  Thus  the  guilds  of  all  the  towns  of  Swabia 
were  united,  so  were  those  on  the  Upper,  Middle,  and 
Lower  Khine,  in  Lower  Saxony,  Silesia,  &c.  In  1457  and 
1484  the  tailors  of  the  Upper  Khine  and  Frankfurt  held 
a  diet  at  Speier,  in  which  delegates  from  the  tailor  guilds 
in  twenty  towns  appeared.  In  the  sixteenth  century  the 
bakers  of  Hildesheim,  Brunswick,  Alsfeld,  Bokum,  and 
other  towns  held  a  diet  at  Hildesheim,  and,  as  an  old 
chronicler  says,  c  ate  up  on  that  occasion  all  the  calves  in 
the  place.' 

The  larger  trades  extended  their  union  throughout 
Germany.  At  their  diets,  laws  were  passed  which  were 
to  be  in  force  for  a  fixed  period,  eight  or  ten  years. 
These  laws  regulated  everything  concerning  the  trade,  es- 
pecially the  manner  in  which  the  wage  was  to  be  paid,  the 
proportion  in  which  it  should  stand  to  the  net  receipt,  and 
the  treatment  of  the  artisans  and  apprentices.  All  this 
was  comprised  in  the  word  '  Gresellenrecht.'  In  the 
Middle  Ages  there  were  various  'rights:'  the  right  by 
which  nobles  were  judged;  the  '  Landesrecht,'  which  ruled 
the  condition  of  the  yeoman  and  peasant;  the '  Biirgerrecht,' 
by  which  the  citizens  were  governed ;  and  the  '  G-esellen- 
recht,'  which  was  the  code  of  the  trades.  A  master  who 
did  not  submit  to  this  right,  who,  for  instance,  made  his 
own  private  arrangement  g  with  his  workmen,  different 
from  those  sanctioned  by  the  trade-union,  was  fined.  If 


The  Labour  Question.  227 

he  repeated  the  offence,  he  was  dismissed  the  guild.  A 
workman  who  would  not  accept  the  terms  agreed  to  was 
obliged  to  leave  his  master,  and  no  other  master  in  the 
district  dare  give  him  work,  at  the  risk  of  being  himself 
expelled  the  union.  The  artisan  was,  however,  protected 
in  his  rights  equally  with  the  master.  No  employer  dared 
to  deduct  any  portion  from  the  wage  allotted  to  his  man. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  determination  of  the  wage  lay 
exclusively  and  altogether  with  the  masters  ;  or,  to  use  a 
modern  expression,  capital  was  then  far  more  able  to 
oppress  labour  than  at  present.  Whether  the  masters 
abused  their  power  or  not,  and  did  in  fact  oppress  the 
labourer,  we  do  not  know.  Chronicles  are  silent  thereon. 
This  condition  of  affairs  did  not,  however,  last  very  long ; 
for,  already  in  the  fourteenth  century,  the  union  of  masters 
in  every  trade  found  itself  face  to  face  with  an  union  of 
men,  who  sought  to  escape  this  subjection,  and  the  rela- 
tions became  rapidly  inverted. 

The  unions  of  men  were  founded  originally  with  the 
knowledge  and  consent  of  the  masters,  and  had,  at  first, 
a  pious  object ;  the  members  assisted  one  another  in  sick- 
ness, and  attended  one  another  to  the  grave.  The  union 
gave  weekly  support  to  the  crippled  artisan,  and  supported 
his  widow  and  children.  Membership  became  compul- 
sory. The  masters  highly  approved  these  associations,  for 
they  kept  the  members  under  moral  supervision. 

Before  very  long  these  unions  became  as  powerful  as 
those  of  the  trade,  and,  like  the  latter,  exercised  despotic 
control  over  the  members.  They  met  and  voted  the 
customs  of  the  trade — the  '  Gresellengewohnheiten.'  Who- 
ever transgressed  the  custom  was  punished  by  a  fine  or 
by  exclusion.  An  excluded  artisan  was  forced  to  leave 
the  trade :  no  other  artisan  would  associate  with  him,  even 
speak  to  him,  till  he  had  expiated  his  offence.  The 

Q  2 


228  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

master  was  obliged  to  dismiss  him,  as  his  other  hands 
refused  to  work  so  long  as  he  was  given  employment. 

These  associations  did  not  confine  themselves  to  the 
establishment  of  fi  customs  of  the  trade  ; '  they  extended 
their  authority  to  matters  which  affected,  not  men  only, 
but  masters  as  well.  In  passing  rules  on  the  time  of  work, 
and  on  the  mode  of  payment,  they  came  into  conflict  with 
the  whole  '  Gesellenrecht.'  Hitherto  the  masters  alone 
had  adjudicated  on  these  matters.  Now  that  the  men 
had  discovered  their  power,  they  wanted  to  become  the 
sole  adjudicators. 

Already  in  the  fourteenth  century  the  c  Meisterschaft ' 
and  the  '  Gresellenschaft '  stood  threateningly  opposite  each 
other ;  both  elaborately  organised ;  both  able  to  enforce 
absolute  control  over  their  members ;  both  struggling  for 
the  power  to  determine  the  duration  of  the  time  of  work, 
and  the  manner  of  payment.  The '  Meisterschaft '  was  able 
and  prepared  to  punish  every  master,  to  exclude  him  from 
the  guild,  that  is,  to  cut  off  his  means  of  livelihood,  if  he 
transgressed  its  prescripts ;  and  to  refuse  work  to  every 
man  who  would  not  submit  to  its  regulations.  The  '  Gre- 
sellenschaft '  was  able  and  prepared  to  forbid  its  members 
to  work  for  any  master  who  did  not  yield  to  the  demands 
of  the  association,  and  to  starve  every  workman  into  sub- 
mission who  ventured  into  the  shop  of  a  master  who  had 
fallen  under  the  ban  of  the  guild  of  artisans. 

A  master  who  wished  to  come  to  terms  with  his  man 
and  give  him  more  than  was  prescribed  by  the  guild  of 
masters,  dared  not  do  so  ;  and  the  man  who  was  ready  to 
agree  with,  his  master  and  remain  in  his  service  might  not 
do  so.  The  strife  was  not  between  master  and  man,  but 
between  guild  and  guild. 

The  situation  was  precisely  like  the  present,  in  which 
a  combination  of  employers  stands  opposed  to  a  combina- 


The  Labour  Question.  229 

tion  of  operatives  in  the  building,  iron  and  coal  trades. 
But  then  the  masters  gave  way :  step  by  step  the  union 
of  men  advanced,  till  they  had  gained  almost  as  absolute 
a  command  as  had  been  previously  enjoyed  by  the  masters. 
But  the  advance  was  only  step  by  step  both  in  the  matter 
of  duration  of  time  of  work  and  rate  of  wage. 

The  half  Monday  was  freely  accorded  the  men  by  the 
masters  at  a  very  early  period,  to  enable  the  workman  to 
do  what  was  necessary  for  himself  without  having  to  pay 
for  getting  it  done,  as  mending  his  clothes,  his  furniture, 
hoeing  his  garden,  &c.  This  was  first  accorded  by  the 
tailors,  shoemakers,  furriers,  and  weavers ;  thence  it  made 
its  way  into  other  trades,  and  became  a  custom.  The 
demand  for  holiday  was  then  extended  to  the  second  half 
of  Monday.  After  much  dissension  the  holiday  question 
was  thus  settled  for  a  while.  When  no  festival  came  in 
the  week — and  this  was  rarely  the  case — then  the  master 
was  bound  to  give  a  holiday  on  Monday,  but,  if  a  festival 
occurred,  then  the  man  was  required  to  work  on  the 
Monday.  Thus  the  working  week  was  normally  fixed  at 
five  days.  But  this  did  not  long  content  the  men.  The 
Monday  under  all  circumstances  they  must  count  on  as 
their  own.  The  masters  fought  hard  against  this.  It  was 
decided  that  if  an  operative  took  two  days  for  his  pleasure 
during  the  week,  the  master  should  dock  him  the  wage 
for  a  day.  The  union  of  men  opposed  this  in  its  usual 
way.  The  master  who  withheld  the  wage  lost  his  work- 
men, and  could  get  none  till  he  yielded.  By  this  means 
they  carried  their  point.  With  only  occasional  exceptions 
the  amount  of  days  of  work  in  the  week  was  reduced  to 
four.  The  Reformation  came  to  the  help  of  the  masters, 
by  reducing  the  number  of  festivals  :  the  men  kept  their 
Mondays,  but  lost  the  Saints'  days. 

The  battle  of  the  wage  took  two  forms.     In  most 


230  Germany ',  Present  and  Past. 

trades  it  was  the  law  that  the  workman  or  'prentice 
should  live  with  the  master,  and  eat  and  drink  at  his 
table.  He  received  his  wage  for  the  most  part  in  no- 
turalia,  only  the  smaller  portion  in  money.  But  in  some 
trades  the  artisans  were  allowed  to  marry  and  set  up 
separate  households  without  becoming  masters  in  the 
trade.  Such  was  the  case  in  the  masons'  trade,  but  this 
privilege  extended  to  few  others.  The  reason  was  simple. 
In  weaving,  shoemaking,  farriery,  every  man  could  have 
a  loom,  a  last,  or  an  anvil.  The  work  to  be  done  was 
accomplished  in  small  portions.  But  it  was  not  so  with 
building.  On  a  church,  or  a  town-hall,  many  scores  of  men 
were  engaged,  and  they  must  be  all  under  the  direction  of 
one  master-mason.  Weavers  might  do  with  one  or  two 
hands,  masons  must  have  at  command  at  least  a  score, 
sometimes  a  hundred.  It  was  in  the  masons'  trade  alone, 
or  almost  alone,  that,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  a  business  ap- 
proached the  proportions  of  modern  times. 

Workmen  living  with  their  masters  were  on  a  much 
more  easy  footing  than  those  who  paid  for  their  own  lodg- 
ing and  food.  The  fluctuations  in  the  price  of  firing  and 
victuals  did  not  affect  them,  but  the  master.  Hard  times 
touched  them  only  so  far  that  the  quantity  or  quality  of 
the  food  given  them  was  reduced.  They  had  precisely  as 
much  pocket-money  to  spend  on  Sunday.  Nevertheless, 
this  portion  of  the  wage  gave  occasion  for  as  hot  dispute 
as  that  which  was  paid  in  cash.  The  demands  for  an 
improved  table  were  numerous.  In  this  case  the  imme- 
diate opponent  of  the  'prentices  was  not  the  master,  but 
the  mistress;  but  this  did  not  lighten  the  controversy. 
When  the  'prentices  and  artisans  felt  themselves  ag- 
grieved and  could  obtain  no  redress,  they  rose  in  bodies, 
and  either  threatened  or  carried  out  an  exodus.  The 
quarrels  about  victuals  raged  so  fiercely,  that  the  Imperial 


The  Labour  Question.  231 

Government  was  obliged,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  to 
intervene,  and  interdict  the  artisans  dictating  the  bill  of 
fare  to  their  masters  and  mistresses. 

If  the  sum  paid  in  wage  did  not  content  the  men,  they 
carried  their  point  by  means  of  a  strike.  It  was  not  un- 
common for  tumults  occasioned  by  a  contest  about  wage 
to  end  in  blows,  and  bloodshed,  and  the  calling  in  of 
assistance  by  masters  and  men  from  their  associates  in  the 
neighbouring  cities. 

The  end  of  all  disputes  in  words  was  a  strike  on  the 
part  of  the  men.  They  left  their  work,  and  marshalling 
their  ranks,  threatened  to  desert  the  town  unless  their 
demands  were  complied  with.  Sometimes  they  carried 
their  threat  into  execution,  and  the  looms  and  workshops 
were  silent  and  empty.  Then  the  masters  sent  after  the 
men  on  strike,  and  the  contest  was  ended  by  arbitration, 
or  by  the  meeting  of  the  masters  of  the  guild  and  the 
heads  of  the  workmen's  union,  who  agreed  to  terms,  and 
concluded  a  peace  which  they  flattered  themselves  would 
be  eternal.  The  past  was  forgiven  and  forgotten.  The  buzz 
of  active  labour  was  heard  again,  and  over  roast  duck  and  a 
bowl  of  Ehenish  wine,  mutual  goodwill  was  sworn.  The 
master  was  generous,  the  grim  visage  of  the  mistress  relaxed, 
and  the  'prentices  were  unusually  active  at  their  work.  The 
eternal  peace  thus  sealed  sometimes  lasted  as  long  as  ten 
years,  but  generally  not  so  long.  The  old  quarrel  broke 
out  afresh  and  went  through  its  usual  round  of  strikes, 
secession,  recall,  conference,  roast  duck,  and  reconciliation. 

This  was  the  way  in  which  the  labour  question  resolved 
itself  in  Germany  in  the  fourteenth  century.  The  history 
of  the  German  trades  offers  many  opportunities  for  tracing 
the  growing  power  of  the  men,  and  shows  how  they  suc- 
ceeded in  organising  themselves  and  enforcing  their 
demands  far  quicker  and  more  successfully  in  South  Ger- 


232  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

many  than  in  the  North,  where  the  guilds  of  masters 
maintained  longer  their  supremacy.  In  the  North  the 
guilds  of  employers  were  more  united  with  one  another  in 
the  several  towns,  and  they  were  able  to  carry  out,  what 
was  not  attempted  in  the  South,  a  lock-out  of  hands.  On 
several  occasions  the  masters  in  the  towns  of  North  Ger- 
many refused  concession,  shut  up  their  workshops,  and 
closed  the  city  gates  against  the  apprentices. 

The  reason  why  power  left  the  hands  of  the  masters, 
and  fell  into  those  of  the  operatives,  was  that  the  organisa- 
tion of  the  former  was  relaxed ;  it  lost  its  cohesion,  and 
fell  to  tatters.  The  great  political  power  enjoyed  by 
the  guilds  had  awakened  the  jealousy  of  the  Government. 
The  town  council,  composed  of  hereditary  councillors, 
patricians,  found  that  all  control  over  the  city  was  being 
wrested  from  their  hands  by  the  guilds.  The  'Ka'the' 
consequently  used  every  endeavour  to  break  up  these  unions. 
In  the  sixteenth  century  the  trades  were  rarely  able  to 
hold  diets,  so  opposed  were  the  rulers  to  allowing  cities  to 
be  the  scenes  of  these  gatherings,  and  none  occurred  in  the 
seventeenth  century.  Each  town  forbade  the  trades  in  it 
entering  into  association  with  those  in  another  town,  and 
cut  off,  as  far  as  possible,  all  commercial  dealings  with 
one  another.  Everywhere  the  right  of  free  correspondence 
was  forbidden.  No  letter  might  be  received  or  despatched 
which  had  not  first  been  submitted  to  the  Board  of  the 
town  council.  Under  such  circumstances  it  was  impossible 
for  the  guilds  to  maintain  cohesion.  The  masters  in  each 
town  were  thrown  a  prey  to  their  operatives  :  the  latter 
could  act  as  a  compact  body,  the  former  must  fight  as 
units.  It  is  true  that  the  unions  of  men  were  subjected 
to  the  same  restrictions :  they  might  only  communicate 
with  one  another  in  other  cities  through  the  Government, 
but  the  unmarried  apprentice,  forced  by  law  to  travel 


The  Labour  Question.  233 

from  town  to  town  to  learn  his  trade,  was  able  to  evade 
the  law  ;  the  married,  settled  master  could  not.  The 
workmen's  union  sent  no  letters,  but  forwarded  orders 
through  travelling  'prentices.  The  law  that  obstructed 
the  intercommunion  of  the  employers,  facilitated  that  of 
the  employed.  The  masters  might  not  by  letter  concert 
resistance:  the  men  were  forced  to  travel  from  town  to 
town,  and  the  operatives  in  every  town  were  therefore  put 
in  daily  interchange  of  communications  with  each  other. 
The  law  gave  them  a  flying  post:  as  a  necessary  consequence, 
the  union  of  operatives  became  doubly  strong,  its  basis 
spread,  it  became  national,  whilst  that  of  masters  shrivelled 
within  the  walls  of  each  town. 

The  break-up  of  the  alliance  of  trade-guilds  accom- 
plished the  same  result  in  another  way.  When  the  trades 
were  not  associated,  they  began  to  compete  in  one  town 
against  those  in  another.  As  long  as  the  alliance  lasted, 
a  man  dismissed  from  work  in  one  town  could  not  find 
employment  in  another.  But  directly  the  tie  was  dis- 
solved, nothing  stood  in  the  way  of  the  discharged  opera- 
tive in  one  place  taking  work  elsewhere.  The  demand 
for  men  was  great,  and  the  man  out  of  place  was  taken 
into  service  without  a  question  being  asked  as  to  his  ante- 
cedents. Indeed,  so  great  was  the  spirit  of  rivalry  be- 
tween the  towns,  that  no  sooner  was  a  strike  on  foot  in 
one  city  than  agents  of  the  next  were  despatched  to  seduce 
the  men  to  it,  in  the  hopes  of  utterly  ruining  the  trade  of 
the  first,  and  drawing  the  business  from  it  within  the 
walls  of  the  other. 

Consequently  the  workmen  had  the  game  put  into 
their  hands.  The  masters  were  absolutely  at  their  mercy. 
It  was  in  their  power  to  ruin  one  town  and  make  another. 
Wherever  they  went  they  were  sure  of  being  received  with 
open  arms,  and  of  having  their  demands  granted  them, 


234  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

however  unreasonable  they  might  be.  Their  organisation 
was  so  complete  that  they  could  prevent  any  man  from 
taking  work  with  the  masters  who  had  fallen  under  their 
ban.  And  the  masters  were  so  helpless  that  they  could 
not  prevent  unruly  operatives  whom  they  had  dismissed 
from  being  snapped  up  by  neighbouring  employers.  In  the 
fifteenth  century  the  trade  of  bottle-makers  was  one  of 
the  greatest  and  most  prosperous  in  Niirnberg.  A  master 
of  the  guild  sat  in  the  town  council.  In  that  century  a 
quarrel  broke  out  between  masters  and  men.  The  men 
in  a  body  left  the  city,  and  carried  their  industry  else- 
where. Of  three  hundred  bottle  factories  only  eight 
survived  the  strike.  The  master  of  the  guild  resigned  his 
place  in  the  council.  The  trade  was  extinguished.  The 
master  of  the  silversmiths  took  his  place. 

The  Thirty  Years'  war,  the  War  of  Succession,  and 
finally  the  European  war  of  Napoleon,  ruined  German 
manufacture,  the  doubling  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  ruined 
its  trade  with  the  East.  Manufacture  and  commerce 
passed  to  England. 

When  Napoleon  was  consigned  to  St.  Helena,  and 
peace  settled  over  the  exhausted  Continent,  trade  revived 
in  Germany,  but  the  conditions  were  altered.  The  guilds 
were  decrepit,  the  unions  of  workmen  extinct ;  manu- 
factures, the  organisation  of  trade,  the  foundations  of 
commercial  prosperity,  had  to  be  re-laid.  Small  employers 
were  no  more.  Business  to  succeed  must  be  carried  on 
upon  a  large  scale.  Competition  was  now  no  longer 
between  city  and  city,  but  between  nation  and  nation. 
Intercourse  was  easy,  combinations  were  feasible,  but 
their  success  problematical.  A  new  force  had  grown  up, 
an  international,  stronger  than  the  workmen's  unions, 
confronting  them  when  they  struggled  into  life  again — the 
police  force.  The  gendarmes  were  no  longer  local 


The  Labour  Question.  235 

watchmen,  appointed  by  the  city  magistrates,  and  with 
no  jurisdiction  beyond  the  walls,  no  link  with  the  watch- 
men in  the  neighbouring  city.  The  gendarmes  were 
now  everywhere,  and  everywhere  the  same,  though  in 
different  uniform  :  the  man  under  suspicion  at  Berlin,  on 
escaping  to  Vienna,  found  himself  there  also  under  sur- 
veillance. If  he  was  dismissed  Breslau,  he  was  shown  out 
of  the  gates  of  Cologne.  The  police  looked  with  no 
sympathetic  eye  on  associations  of  workmen :  they  smelt 
political  gunpowder  everywhere.  The  unions  lost  their 
acquired  character,  and  fell  back  on  their  original  pro- 
gramme. They  became  benevolent  clubs.  Cohesion  was 
gone.  They  met  with  lemons  in  their  hands  about  the 
grave  of  an  associate,  and  subscribed  Pfennige  for  the 
widow,  but  they  no  longer  ventured  to  oppose  the  masters. 
They  were  too  eager  to  get  work  to  haggle  about  the 
terms.  The  police  did  away  with  strikes,  by  forbidding 
compulsory  association. 

It  is  only  since  1848  that  workmen  have  recovered  their 
right  to  unite  to  consider  and  enforce  their  requirements. 

It  will  be  instructive  to  compare  the  conditions  under 
which  these  unions  exist  with  those  strictly  analogous  in 
former  times. 

The  power  of  the  workmen  rested  on  association, 
which  was  compulsory,  and  was  elaborately  organised. 
No  man  could  work  at  a  trade  who  was  not  a  member  of 
the  union.  Consequently  the  union  had  absolute  com- 
mand over  the  entire  body  of  operatives.  The  masters 
could  not  fill  the  vacant  places  from  other  fields.  When 
the  weavers  in  Augsburg  struck,  not  a  man  who  could 
toss  a  shuttle  was  available  throughout  Germany.  The 
Fuggers  might  send  to  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  to  Bohemia, 
to  the  confines  of  Holland,  but  could  not  rake  thence  a 
man  to  sit  at  their  looms.  Weaving  was  an  art  requiring 


236  Germany,   Present  and  Past. 

an  apprenticeship,  and  no  one  could  become  an  apprentice 
who  was  not  also  an  union  man.  Consequently  the  Fuggers 
must  come  to  terms  with  their  workmen :  there  was  no 
help  for  it.  It  is  not  so  now.  Machinery  does  the  intri- 
cate work,  and  no  further  apprenticeship  is  needed  than  one 
of  three  hours,  to  learn  how  to  control  the  mechanism. 
If  the  operatives  strike,  others  can  take  their  places;  what 
men  did,  children  can  effect  as  well.  I  was  in  the  train 
to  Eouen  one  day,  and  had  as  a  fellow-traveller  an  Eng- 
glish  manufacturer.  He  told  me  that  he  had  owned  a 
mill  near  Wakefield,  but  had  been  so  hampered  with 
strikes  when  he  had  taken  heavy  contracts,  that  he  had 
migrated  with  his  machinery  to  Eouen,  where  he  could 
execute  his  contracts  at  a  cheaper  rate  to  himself.  '  And,' 
he  said,  '  there  are  dozens  of  Yorkshire  and  Manchester 
manufacturers  about  me  here  in  Normandy,  who  have 
migrated  for  the  same  reason.  If  labour  becomes  too 
dear  here,  we  shall  migrate  elsewhere,  to  Italy  or  China.' 
This  is  a  consideration  affecting  the  success  of  unions  in  the 
present  day,  which  did  not  exist  in  the  Middle  Ages.  Capital 
can  flit  where  it  likes  to  find  cheap  labour.  Competition 
is  now  so  keen,  profits  are  so  small,  on  account  of  competi- 
tion, that  migration  is  made  compulsory.  It  must  go,  or  die. 
At  Bludenz  in  the  Vorarlberg  are  extensive  woollen  and 
yarn  mills.  A  few  years  ago  the  looms  and  jennies  were 
attended  by  Tyrolese.  But  France  offered  a  good  market 
for  builders,  Switzerland  for  waitresses.  The  Tyrolese 
men  and  girls  found  they  could  obtain  more  money  abroad, 
so  struck  for  higher  wage  in  the  mills.  They  were  per- 
fectly justified  in  doing  so.  The  manufacturers  refused, 
and  imported  Italian  girls  and  men,  and  now  scarce  a 
native  works  in  these  factories.  Capital  will  either  follow 
cheap  labour,  or  will  import  it.  The  demands  of  the 
artisans  were  in  former  times  more  readily  complied  with 


The  Labour  Question.  237 

because  the  numbers  of  workmen  were  relatively  small, 
and  there  was,  therefore,  no  competition  among  themselves, 
for  their  number  was  fixed  by  law.  No  master  might 
take  more  than  one,  or,  at  the  utmost,  two.  No  country- 
man could  enter  a  trade  without  the  consent  of  his  lord, 
and  this  he  was  not  likely  to  give  with  readiness,  as  thereby 
he  lost  a  serf.  Moreover,  it  was  illegal  for  a  master  to 
employ  on  his  trade  a  man  who  had  not  been  regularly 
apprenticed  to  it ;  and  female  labour  was  also  forbidden. 
Now-a-days  there  are  no  such  restrictions.  Any  shifty 
man  may  turn  his  hand  to  any  sort  of  work,  and  women 
and  children  will  compete  with  men,  and  their  cheaper 
labour  will  drive  the  men  out  of  the  field. 

Formerly,  protection,  the  exclusion  of  foreign  pro- 
ductions, and  the  enormous  cost  of  carriage,  and  difficulties 
of  transport,  secured  the  market  of  native  manufactures 
against  competition  from  foreign  productions.  The  master 
who  yielded  to  the  demands  of  the  workmen,  and  added 
a  penny  to  the  daily  wage,  tacked  the  sum  on  to  the 
selling  price  of  his  goods :  the  consumer,  not  he,  suffered. 
Protection  then  was  so  close,  that  heavy  duties  were  levied 
on  goods  introduced  from  neighbouring  cities.  There 
was  no  free  trade  between  Ulm  and  Augsburg,  Niirnberg 
and  Eatisbon,  Cologne  and  Mainz.  It  is  not  so  now.  If 
protection  is  not  wholly  done  away  with,  there  is  free  trade 
between  every  town  in  Germany,  and  duties  are  not  too 
heavy  to  wholly  exclude  foreign  manufactures.  Steam 
has  introduced  extraordinary  facilities  of  transport,  and 
now  not  merely  can  one  nation  of  Europe  compete  with 
another,  but  one  continent  with  another  :  Indian  rice  is 
driving  that  of  South  Carolina  out  of  the  market ;  Belgian 
furnaces  have  blown  out  those  of  South  "Wales  ;  Miihlhausen 
cotton- spinners  are  bringing  Manchester  mills  to  a  stand- 
still ;  Lyons  weavers  have  ruined  the  silk-looms  of  the 


238  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

Calder;  Persian  carpets  are  killing  Kidderminster;  and 
Californian  wheat  beats  down  the  price  of  home-grown 
corn.  If  I  want  books  bound,  I  send  them  to  Bruges ; 
gloves,  I  write  to  Brussels  ;  brass-work,  I  get  it  from  Ant- 
werp ;  some  wine-glasses,  they  come  from  Bohemia ;  a 
stove,  I  order  it  at  Aachen  ;  a  greenhouse,  the  frame  comes 
to  me  from  Drontheiin ;  a  dish  of  cherries,  they  are  grown 
at  Sinzig  ;  fresh  meat,  my  butcher  is  in  New  York. 

In  Mediaeval  times  a  strike  was  unattended  by  risk  and 
cost.  If  the  men  did  not  carry  their  point,  they  were  sure 
of  getting  work  elsewhere.  They  had  no  occasion  to  lay 
by  for  expenses  when  out  of  employ.  If  a  rise  in  wages 
was  refused  them,  they  flung  their  bundle  over  their  backs, 
and  wafting  a  kiss  to  the  master's  daughter,  went  elsewhere. 

Was  klinget  und  singet  die  Strass'  herauf  ? 
Ihr  Jungfrau'n,  machet  die  Fenster  auf  ! 
Es  ziehet  der  Bursch  in  die  Weite, 
Sie  geben  ihm  das  Geleite. 

As  the  modern  housemaid  likes  to  change  her  place 
continually  to  see  more  of  the  world,  and  the  Grerman 
student  to  shift  his  university  every  year,  so  the  workman 
in  the  Middle  Ages  liked  to  ramble  from  town  to  town, 
and  when  he  had  carried  on  his  flirtations  in  one  place 
to  a  dangerous  length,  he  escaped  entanglements  by  going 
to  another,  and  the  easiest  way  to  get  off  was  to  demand 
more  wage,  and  go  if  it  were  refused.  Wherever  he  went 
he  was  well  received  and  helped  on  by  his  fellows.  Their 
purses  were  ever  open  to  the  vagabond  artisan,  for  with 
what  measure  they  meted  this  year,  they  expected  to  have 
it  measured  to  them  the  following  year. 

Here  again  the  modern  workman  is  at  a  disadvantage. 
The  unmarried  man  has  but  himself  to  care  for  if  out  of 
work,  but  the  artisan  who  has  wife  and  children  depen- 
dent on  him  must  consider  his  family. 


The  Labour  Question.  239 

The  union  to  which  he  belongs  will  allow  him  some- 
thing during  the  period  of  strike,  but  not  enough  to  keep 
him  in  comfort,  and  the  object  of  strike  is  not  now  attain- 
able as  it  was  formerly.  Every  workman  does  not  belong 
to  the  union;  capital  is  not  bound  to  one  spot;  com- 
petition is  wide  as  the  world.  The  old  monopolies  which 
favoured  the  artisan  at  the  cost  of  the  consumer  are  dead 
as  Herod.  Trades'-unions  of  operatives,  as  they  have  been 
for  some  time  conducted,  are  an  organisation  unsuitable 
for  modern  times — a  relic  of  medievalism,  practicable 
only  where  there  is  protection.  An  international  society 
•can  alone  meet  capitalists  and  try  conclusions  with  them, 
but  then,  is  it  possible  for  such  a  society  to  embrace 
the  proletariates  of  the  whole  world  ?  If  it  is  organised 
throughout  Europe  and  America,  China  and  Japan 
will  become  the  resort  of  manufacturers,  the  emporiums 
of  trade.  In  the  meantime  much  mischief  may  be 
done  by  using  old  engines  against  modern  earthworks ; 
they  are  likely  to  explode  and  injure  those  who  employ 
them. 

Trade  is  so  delicate  and  subtle  that  it  may  be  banished 
by  a  strike.  A  slight  rise  in  price  made  to  meet  the  de- 
mands of  the  artisans  may  ruin  the  home  manufacture. 
Foreign  goods  can  be  sold  cheaper,  and  English  goods 
will  be  no  longer  asked  for.  Thereupon  the  whole  home 
produce  collapses. 

And  yet  trades'-unions  are  an  excellent  institution,  if 
not  ignorantly  or  designingly  misdirected.  Nothing  is 
better  than  that  men  should  live  a  corporate  life,  that  they 
should  be  made  to  feel  that  they  are  members  of  a  body, 
that  they  should  have  an  organised  society  through  which 
to  make  their  wants  and  ideas  known,  and,  if  necessary,  en- 
force them.  But  then  the  masters  will  league  also,  and 
both  will  face  one  another  as  natural  foes,  maintaining 


240 


Germany^  Present  and  Past. 


peace  only  as  truce.  In  the  Middle  Ages  there  was  a 
more  excellent  way  among  the  so-called  '  great  indus- 
tries.' In  them  there  were  no  separate  guilds  of  masters 
and  unions  of  workmen,  but  one  association  embracing 
both,  with  a  committee  in  which  sat  the  masters  and  the 
delegates  of  the  men.  The  affairs  of  the  trade  were  dis- 
cussed and  regulated  by  the  whole  corporation,  differences 
composed  by  common  action.  In  these  trades,  disputes 
between  masters  and  men  rarely  broke  out  into  overt  acts 
of  hostility.  In  an  organisation  of  this  sort  harmony  is 
maintained,  for  the  interests  of  the  trade  are  understood 
by  both  parties :  whereas  in  separate  organisations,  each 
sees  only  one  side  of  every  question. 

On  the  land  in  Grermany,  labour  is  not  likely  to  com- 
bine, for  the  land  belongs  to  small  holders,  and  few  farmers 
can  afford  to  maintain  workmen.  A  farm  tilled  by  paid 
labour  ruins  the  farmer.  It  is  usual  for  the  employer  to 
feed  as  well  as  pay  his  men.  They  expect  something  to 
eat  and  drink  every  two  hours. 

The  average  price  of  labour  in  Grermany  on  the  land 
is  now,  in  marks  : 


Winter 

Summer 

Average 

In  Prussia 

1-30 

0-83 

1-07 

Pomerania    . 

1-82 

1-10 

1-46 

Posen  . 

1-39 

8-20 

MO 

Brandenburg 

1-56 

1-06 

1-31 

Silesia  . 

0-94 

0-71 

•82 

Saxony 

1-46 

1-12 

1-29 

Hanover 

1-72 

•34 

1-53 

Schleswig-Holstein 

2-00 

•32 

1-66 

Westphalia  . 

1-72 

•38 

1-55 

Kheinland     . 

1-78 

•38 

1-58 

Kingdom  'of  Saxony 

1-61 

•21 

1-41 

Bavaria 

1-55 

1-16 

1-35 

Wiirtemberg 

1-86 

1-38 

1-62 

Baden  . 

1-84 

1-47 

1-65 

Hesse  -Darmstadt 

1-49 

1-22 

1-35 

Elsass-Lothringen 

2-07 

1-64 

1-85 

Social  Democracy.  241 


CHAPTEE   XVI. 

SOCIAL   DEMOCRACY. 

Be  not  over-exquisite 
To  cast  the  fashion  of  uncertain  evils. 

MILTON:  Comus. 

THE  attempts  of  Hodel  and  Nobiling  have  of  late  attracted 
extraordinary  attention  to  Grerman  Social  Democracy.  The 
imagination  of  the  public  and  the  fears  of  Prince  Bismarck 
have  given  to  the  movement  an  importance  which  it 
scarcely  possesses.  By  a  repetition  of  the  mistake  of  the 
May  laws,  the  Grerman  Chancellor  hopes  to  suppress  a 
power  which  he  dislikes  or  dreads,  but  will  instead  give  it 
consistency,  and  exasperate  it  to  deeds  of  violence.  Heine 

said : — 

Franzosen  und  Russen  gehort  das  Land, 

Das  Meer  gehort  den  Britten : 
Wir  aber  fuhren  im  Luf treich  des  Traums 

Die  Herrschaft  unbestritten. 

And  this  is  true  of  Grerman  Social  Democracy ;  it  is 
dreamland,  fantastic,  melting  away  at  the  touch  of  prac- 
tical life.  Better  let  the  dreamer  toss  in  sleep  and  clutch 
at  air  than  by  putting  him  in  a  strait  jacket  and  con- 
fining him  in  a  black  hole,  convert  him  into  a  lunatic. 

If  we  want  to  know  the  origin  of  Socialism  historically, 
we  must  turn  to  the  '  Corpus  Juris  Canonici.'  It  was  the 
Catholic  Church  which  first  preached  Communism.  When 
she  became  wealthy  she  doubted  about  putting  her  doc- 

VOL.    II.  R 


242  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

trine  into  practice,  but  she  taught  it  theoretically,  and 
her  monasteries  were  true  communistic  societies.  Canon 
Law,  the  flower  of  mediaeval  science,  on  the  perfecting  of 
which  Theology,  Jurisprudence,  and  Philosophy  laboured 
together  during  many  centuries,  lays  down  the  principles 
of  Communism  as  plainly  as  Marx  and  Lassalle.  Ac- 
cording to  the  Canonists,  the  ideal  and  original  condition 
of  things  was  and  is  community  of  goods.  Everything — 
air,  light,  water,  the  earth — is  common  to  all.  God 
sent  all  his  creatures  into  the  world  with  equal  rights  to 
life,  to  all  that  conduces  to  life,  to  the  enjoyment  of  life.1 
As  every  man  has  a  right  to  breathe,  so  every  man  has  a 
right  to  eat.  As  the  air  is  without  an  owner,  but  common 
property,  so  the  earth  and  its  fruits.2  St.  Ambrose  re- 
jects the  idea  that  God  is  the  author  of  difference  in  men's 
lots,  that  He  gives  wealth  to  one  and  poverty  to  another. 
Inequality  is  interference  with  the  law  of  God.  There- 
fore, he  says,  let  no  man  dare  to  call  superfluities  his  own. 
Whatever  is  more  than  satisfies  his  needs  is  appropriated 
by  him  from  the  common  good.3  Mine  and  thine  are 
human  distinctions,  creations  of  man's  unrighteousness. 
The  Fall  caused  the  idea  of  property  to  spring  into  being. 
When  the  blight  fell  on  the  earth  through  man's  disobe- 
dience, and  people  multiplied  on  its  face,  then  the  soil  did 
not  bring  forth  sufficient  to  satisfy  all.  Men  were  forced 
to  labour  at  it  to  increase  its  productive  power,  and  with 
labour  came  in  rights  of  property.  What  man  won  by  his 
sweat  was  his  in  a  special  manner.  Thus  came  in  acquired 
rights.  Though  in  an  evil  world  property  must  exist,  yet 
in  cases  of  necessity  the  powers  that  be  are  justified  in 

1  Decret.  Gratian.  ii.  c.  12.    Qu.  i.  c.  2. 

1  See  Erdmann :  'Ueber  die  National- Oekonomischen  Grundsatze 
der  Kanonistischen  Lehre,'  in  Hildebrand,  JahrMcker  fur  Nat.-Oekon. 
u.  Stat.  Band  i. 

8  Decret.  Gratian,  i.  D.  47,  c.  8. 


Social  Democracy.  243 

re-establishing  community  of  property.    6  Dulcissima  rerum 
possessio  communis  est ' ] 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  Communism  of  the  Canonists 
differed  from  that  of  modern  Socialism  only  by  its  religious 
basis.  Theoretically,  with  the  Canonists,  poverty  was  the 
best  state,  that  most  pleasing  to  God.  Wealth,  if  not 
sinful,  is  ensnaring  to  the  soul.  Erdmann  rightly  says 
that  the  extensive  estates  acquired  by  the  religious  orders 
in  the  Middle  Ages  were  not  a  contradiction  in  practice  to 
this  doctrine,  but  rather  an  attempt  to  give  it  practical 
operation.  In  fact,  the  profuse  charity  of  the  Church  was 
a  carrying  out  of  this  system.  What  the  monastic  com- 
munity could  not  consume  was  freely  distributed  among 
the  poor.  What  was  over  and  above  that  which  every 
man  needed  was  the  '  debitum  legale  '  of  Aquinas.  The 
rich  were  constrained  to  give  to  the  poor,  not  by  police 
regulations,  but  by  appeals  to  their  consciences.  It  was 
taught  that  it  was  quite  as  sinful  to  deny  one's  super- 
fluity to  a  brother  in  need  as  to  rob  another  of  his  goods.2 
The  motive  of  all  social  activity  was  desire  to  obtain 
sufficient  to  support  life,  desire  for  the  usufruct.  The 
moment  activity  was  directed  beyond  this,  to  acquisition 
of  superfluity,  then  it  became  avarice,  and  was  sinful. 
The  desire  to  have  more  than  would  maintain  life  was 
cupiditas,  sinful,  and  to  be  rooted  out,  not  restrained.3 
All  activity  beyond  what  was  needful  for  acquiring  the 
necessaries  of  life  is  an  evil.  'Negotium  negat  otium, 
quod  malum  est,  neque  quserit  veram  quietem,  quse  est 
Deus.' 4  This  was  one  purpose  of  the  multiplication  of 
festivals  on  which  unnecessary  work  was  forbidden, — to 
destroy  cupidity,  to  prevent  men  from  devoting  all  their 

1  Gloss  to  Gratian,  i.  D.  1,  c.  7 ;  D.  47,  c.  8  ;  ii.  c.  12.    Qu.  i.  c.  2. 

2  Gratian,  i.  D.  47,  c.  8.  «  Ibid. 
4  Gratian,  i.  D.  88,  c.  12. 

R  2 


244  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

time  to  the  acquisition  of  wealth.  It  may  be  said  that 
many  compulsory  holidays  destroy  the  energy  in  a  people. 
They  certainly  make  them  more  light-hearted.  There  can 
be  no  question  that  the  sweeping  away  of  holidays  in  France 
has  destroyed  the  gaiety  of  the  Gallic  peasant.  Avarice 
is  the  motive  of  his  whole  life,  his  ruling,  all-pervading 
passion.  The  Bavarian  or  Tyrolese  peasant  is  a  far  more 
joyous  being. 

Canon  Law  was  eminently  hostile  to  trade.  No  man 
might  sell  goods  for  more  than  what  they  cost  him.  All 
profit  in  merchandise  was  robbery  j1  whereas  agriculture  was 
praiseworthy ;  and  indeed  all  manual  labour  was  lawful — 
'Deo  non  displicet; '  trade  was  censurable — 'Deo  placere  non 
potest.'  Time  was  God's  gift  to  every  man,  and  might 
not  be  sold.  Therefore,  whatever  a  man  laboured  on,  he 
laboured  on  for  himself.  If  on  other  man's  land,  then  he 
and  the  landowner  had  equal  rights  to  the  fruits.  If  a 
man  borrowed  money  of  another,  it  was  enough  if  he  re- 
paid the  capital :  for  interest  was  robbery. 

Grerman  Eight,  like  Canon  Law,  reposed  on  a  theory 
of  property,  not  without  its  influence  on  modern  Socialism. 
German  right,  which  was  driven  out  by  Eoman  right  in 
the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  viewed  property 
and  man's  relation  to  the  land  and  to  his  fellows  from 
altogether  another  standing-point  from  Eoman  right.2  Ac- 
cording to  the  latter,  every  right  starts  from  the  indivi- 
dual, and  his  boundless  freedom,3  which  is  only  made 
endurable  in  the  commonwealth  by  mutual  curtailment  of 
spheres  in  which  liberty  may  be  exercised  under  the 
direction  of  the  State.  By  German  law,  on  the  other 

1  Grot.  ii.  c.  14.    Qu.  5,  c.  9. 

2  See  Schmidt  (C.  A.)  :   Der  principelle  UnterscMed  ztvischen  dem 
Romischen  u.    GermanisoJien   Reckte,  Eost.  1853 ;   and  Eoscher  :    Ge- 
schichte  d.  NationaloJtonomik  in  Deutschland.  Munch  en,  1874, 

8  Leg.  4,  Dig.  i.  5. 


Social  Democracy.  245 

hand,  Eight  in  general  was  a  postulate  of  the  moral  law, 
and  like  it  of  Divine  origin — a  view  of  right  which  indeed 
stands  in  the  preface  of  the  c  Sachsen-Spiegel,'  but  which 
stretches  back  into  prse-Christian  times.  Every  several 
right  has  as  its  correlative  an  obligation.  Every  office 
entails  duties.  Eoman  law  regarded  man  as  an  indi- 
vidual, and  started  from  this  conception.  German  law 
looked  first  on  the  social  body,  and  then  considered  man 
as  a  member  of  it.  Ab  initio,  in  Eoman  right,  man  was 
dutiless  towards  his  fellows  ;  but  in  German  right,  before 
the  introduction  of  Christianity,  the  basis  of  association 
laid  down  in  every  community  and  guild  was  'unus 
subveniat  alteri  tanquam  fratri  suo  in  utili  et  honesto.' l 
German  right  was  positive,  Eoman  negative ;  the  former 
trusted  to  the  moral  sense  as  its  executioner,  the  latter  to 
the  State.  The  former  reposed  on  principle,  the  latter  on 
compulsion.  In  German  right  the  expression  '  Ehre  und 
Treue '  had  not  merely  a  moral  signification,  it  belonged 
to  quite  a  different  order  of  ideas  from  the  Eoman  '  existi- 
matio  et  bona  fides;'  it  was  an  essential  characteristic  of  a 
citizen,  without  which  there  was  no  participation  in  the 
rights  and  privileges  and  duties  of  citizenship.  '  Gut 
ohne  Ehre  ist  kein  Gut,  und  Leib  ohne  Ehre  halt  man  fur 
todt.  Alle  Ehre  aber  kommt  von  der  Treue.' 2  Each  step 
in  the  social  scale  had  its  special '  Ehre  und  Treue,'  compact- 
ing the  whole  society  together  into  an  indissoluble  body — 
an  idea  the  reverse  of  the  Eoman  abstract  equality.  We  see 
a  relic  of  this  doctrine  in  the  law  that  exempts  the  man 
who  has  fallen  under  the  penal  laws  from  military  service. 
He  has  lost  his  '  Ehre  und  Treue,'  and  is  therefore  un- 
worthy to  fight  for  Fatherland.  The  principle  that  the 
individual  is  subordinate  to  the  community  still  lies  at 

1  Wilda :  Strafreckt  der  Germanen,  i.  140. 

2  Gloss  to  Sachsen-Spiegel.  iii.  78. 


246  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

the  root  of  much  local  custom  and  law.  It  was  because 
the  parish  was  bound  to  maintain  its  poor,  that  in 
Bavaria  it  refused  to  allow  its  young  men  and  young 
women  to  [marry  unless  they  were  in  circumstances  which 
made  it  most  unlikely  that  their  children  would  come  to 
the  parish  for  support. 

According  to  Eoman  ideas,  the  Familia  was  the  pro- 
perty of  the  master :  the  Family  included  children  and 
slaves ;  and  the  father  might  dispose  of  the  children  as  he  did 
of  the  slaves.  Grerman  c  Familienrecht '  was  quite  different. 
Every  child  had  its  rights  in  the  house,  and  the  '  Pflicht- 
theil,'  the  inalienable  portion  of  the  goods  of  the  father 
which  falls  to  it,  is  in  modern  Grerman  law  a  recognition 
of  this  principle.  Only  if  the  child  should  lose  its  c  Ehre 
und  Treue,'  has  it  lost  its  right  in  the  inheritance  of  its 
parents.  In  Roman  law,  property  is  regarded  in  an 
abstract  light,  in  German  it  is  the  medium  of  social  and 
moral  relations.  By  Roman  law  property  entailed  no 
obligations.  It  was  otherwise  by  Grerman  law :  there  was 
no  property  without  obligations.  The  whole  feudal  system 
was  based  on  this  principle.  Grod  was  the  giver  of  all 
good  things,  mediately,  through  the  Emperor.  Every- 
thing was  a  loan,  and  a  loan  entailing  responsibilities 
from  the  receiver  to  the  giver.  All  power  was  viewed  as 
issuing  from  above,  and  flowing  down  by  a  series  of  falls 
to  the  lowest,  and  attached  ever  to  the  holding  of  land. 
Moveables  alone  were  personal  property :  over  them  alone 
had  a  man  free  disposal,  for  they  alone  were  his  own  ac- 
quisition. But  land  entailed  duties  towards  those  from 
whom  the  feof  was  received,  and  authority  towards  those  who 
lived  upon  it.  The  'benevolentia'  of  the  bestower  entailed 
6  fidelitas  '  on  the  part  of  the  receiver.  Every  act  which 
made  a  man  dishonourable,  which  affected  his  c  Ehre  und 
Treue,'  made  him  incapable  of  holding  a  feof.  But  till 


Social  Democracy.  247 

a  man's  honour  was  stained,  and  his  word  broken,  a  feof 
was  unreclaimable. 

By  Roman  law  a  man  had  absolute  disposal  of  his 
property  after  death.  It  was  not  so  by  Grerman  law.  He 
had  no  power  over  anything  except  his  moveables.  '  Deus 
hseredem  facere  potest  non  homo.' *  Wife  and  children 
claimed  their  portion  as  their  rights. 

The  idea  of  corporate  life  which  pervades  Grerman  law 
took  practical  forms  in  the  Middle  Ages,  just  as  in 
monachism  the  Socialist  theories  of  Canon  Law  assumed 
a  living  illustration.  In  the  chapter  on  peasant  properties 
I  have  shown  the  working  of  this  principle  in  the  bauer 
community :  it  took  shape  also  in  the  noble  and  the  citizen 
classes. 

The  principle  of  confederate  or  common  life,  the 
mutual  dependence  of  one  on  another,  manifested  as 
strong  an  influence  on  the  mediaeval  nobles  as  on  the 
proletariates  of  the  present  day.  It  is  quite  a  mistake  to 
suppose  that  the  castle  isolated  the  nobleman,  cut  him  off 
from  his  fellows,  and  fostered  independence.  The  6  Burg ' 
expressed  the  social  insulation  of  the  nobility  as  a  class, 
not  of  the  separate  nobleman.  The  majority  of  gentry 
did  not  occupy  their  own  castles,  but  lived  in  those  of  the 
princes,  as  burggraves  or  stewards.  Often  a  whole  com- 
munity of  nobles  united  to  build  a  castle,  or  to  buy  one ; 
or  several  families  together  inherited  one  castle.  They 
lived  together  in  the  same  fortress,  sharing  the  duties 
and  dividing  the  profits,  arranging  together  which 
should  be  head  of  the  general  establishment,  electing  and 
voting  in  little  parliaments,  and  mutually  arranging  the 
laws  of  succession  to  the  principal  rooms  in  the  common 
mansion.  Perhaps  the  most  curious  instance  was  Fried- 
berg  in  the  Wetterau,  where  the  large  castle  was  the  com- 

1  Gflanvilla,  vii.  1. 


248  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

mon  inheritance  and  property  of  several  noble  families, 
exercising  together  the  office  of  burggrave  over  the  town 
that  lay  outside  its  walls.  These  <  Ganerbschaften,'  as 
they  were  called,  were  actual  communistic  aristocratic 
societies  of  the  Middle  Ages,  such  as  were  quite  unknown 
out  of  Germany.  More  remarkable  were  the  guilds 
(Zunfte)  among  the  citizens.  In  the  former  chapter  I  have 
given  some  idea  of  these.  But  I  must  add  here  some 
further  particulars  to  show  their  Socialistic  character. 

The  guilds  were  as  important  for  the  towns  as  the 
feudal  system  was  for  the  country.  Both  these  institutions 
confounded  religion  and  morals  with  social  economy,  and 
in  many  of  their  features  exhibit  themselves  as  the  '  fore- 
bears'  of  modern  Social  Democracy.  The  guild  system 
was  as  far  removed  from  our  ideas  of  free  trade  as  was 
the  feudal  system  from  modern  notions  of  the  freedom  of 
land-tenure.  The  right  of  labour  was  elaborated  in  the 
towns  into  a  working  system.  The  town  as  a  whole  took 
the  trade  of  the  town  on  itself  as  a  sort  of  feudal  tenure. 
The  great  feofs  of  the  trades  were  reserved  to  the  Rath ; 
they  gave  them  out  as  sub-feofs  to  the  free  citizens.  The 
Rath,  or  town  council,  so  to  speak,  enfeoffed  the  masters 
with  tailoring,  weaving,  baking,  shoemaking,  &c. :  no  man 
had  a  right  to  exercise  a  trade  who  had  not  been  invested 
with  it  by  the  town  council.  Trade  was  an  office  :  God 
was  the  source  of  all  authority  in  the  State,  and  of  all 
ability  in  trade.  From  Him  issued  the  feudal  tenures  of 
gaugrave,  burggrave,  landgrave  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
trade  tenures  of  tailoring,  weaving,  and  shoemaking  on 
the  other.  He  commissioned  the  nobles  through  the 
Emperor  to  administer  law  for  the  good  of  the  common- 
wealth, and  in  like  manner  He  commissioned  tailors, 
tinkers,  and  apothecaries,  through  the  town  council  for 
the  same  end — the  good  of  the  commonwealth. 


Social  Democracy.  249 

The  guilds  of  the  trades  either  bought  the  raw  ma- 
terial and  distributed  it  among  the  masters  ;  or  it  was 
ruled  that  no  master  might  buy  raw  material  without 
notification  to  the  guild.  If  the  guild  thought  a  private 
master  had  bought  too  much,  it  took  from  him  what  it 
held  to  be  superfluous,  and  distributed  it  among  the 
others.  No  master  was  allowed  to  have  more  than  one,  or 
at  the  outside,  two  workmen.  Nor  might  one  master  have 
more  than  a  single  shop.  Nothing  like  competition  was 
allowed  among  the  masters.  The  guild  which  gave  out 
the  raw  stuff  fixed  the  price  at  which  it  was  to  be  sold, 
thus  determining  the  profits  of  every  master.  He  could 
not  become  richer  by  his  trade  than  were  the  other 
masters. 

All  this  was  upset  by  the  introduction  of  Eoman  law, 
which  brought  in  the  novel  ideas  of  capital  and  the 
mobilisation  of  real  property,  of  free  trade,  and  the  right 
of  every  man  to  the  free  disposal  of  his  time  and  his 
energies. 

In  a  century  the  whole  system  of  trade  in  Germany 
has  been  revolutionised,  just  as  land  tenure  has  been 
revolutionised,  but  in  an  opposite  direction.  Land  has 
been  parcelled  out  among  small  holders.  One  large  farm 
has  given  place  to  five  little  holdings.  But  in  trade  five 
small  masters  have  been  swallowed  up  by  one  large  manu- 
facturer. 

In  a  city  where,  under  the  old  doctrines,  there  throve 
five  hundred  master  tradesmen — say  weavers — with  six 
hundred  workmen,  each  workman  with  an  almost  certain 
prospect  before  him  of  becoming  a  master  himself  in  a 
few  years,  there  are  now  five  manufacturers  with  twelve 
hundred  operatives,  not  one  of  whom  can  hope  to  push  his 
way  into  independence.  We  are  assisting  at  a  similar 
process  in  another  branch  of  industry.  Co-operative  stores, 


250  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

or  general  stores,  such  as  those  of  Messrs.  Whiteley,  Shool- 
bred,  Tarn,  &c.,  are  taking  the  place  of  a  number  of  small 
special  traders.  That  means,  where  fifteen  or  twenty 
small  independent  tradesmen  had  their  shops,  there  is 
now  but  one  concern,  and  there  are  fourteen  or  nineteen 
independent  heads  of  firms  abolished,  and  those  who  would 
have  been  free  men  under  the  former  state  of  affairs  are 
now  reduced  to  subserviency.  Imagine  this  carried  out 
on  a  large  scale,  as  it  no  doubt  will  be,  in  time,  and  there 
will  be  no  more  living  in  independence  for  small  grocers, 
linendrapers,  furniture-dealers,  druggists,  &c. ;  a  few 
capitalists  will  have  effaced  them  from  the  streets  of 
London.  The  commercial  world  is  enslaving  the  many 
traders  just  as  the  aristocratic  world  did  the  tillers  of  the 
soil  in  the  early  Middle  Ages.  When  this  takes  place, 
the  whole  middle  class,  reduced  to  servitude  under  '  im- 
mediate '  princely  Whiteleys  and  Tarns  and  Shoolbreds, 
will  chafe  against  their  bondage,  and  perhaps  rise  in  social- 
economic  war  against  the  omnipotence  of  capital  in  trade, 
just  as  now,  and  very  naturally,  the  workmen,  who  a  few 
years  ago  might  have  been  masters,  are  tossing  and 
gnawing  at  the  chain  wherewith  the  great  manufacturers 
hold  them  down.  The  masters  were  the  aristocracy  of 
labour.  And  just  as  the  princes  in  Germany  stamped  or 
bought  the  gentry  out,  so  that  they  might  have  none 
between  them  and  the  serfs,  so  are  wholesale  makers 
squeezing  the  small  dealers  out,  or  forcing  them  to  become 
salaried  clerks  and  overlookers  under  them. 

The  guilds  are  no  more.  Free  manufacture  was  intro- 
duced in  France  in  1786,  and  in  Germany  every  restraint 
upon  it  disappeared  in  1868. 

That  with  the  altered  position  of  the  artisans,  with  all 
hope  of  independence  cut  off  from  them,  with  the  remem- 
brance of  their  past  rights  lingering  about  their  memories, 


Social  Democracy.  251 

they  should  sit  down  contentedly  in  the  fetters  laid  on 
them  by  an  inexorable  present,  is  not  to  be  expected. 
They  are  reduced  to  servitude  and  poverty,  and  a  few 
become  enormously  wealthy.  Under  the  Mediaeval  system, 
the  profits  on  weaving  in  a  certain  city  were  divided 
among  500  masters.  Now  the  profits  go  into  the  pockets 
of  five.  Four  hundred  and  ninety-five  get  none. 

The  following  is  a  classification  of  fortunes  in  Berlin, 
1875-76  :- 

1  person,  with  an  annual  income  of  £90,000 
1  „  „  72,000 

1  „  „  45,000 

1  „  „  36,000 

2  „  „  30,000 

2  „  „  27,000 
1  „  „  24,000 

3  „  „  21,000 
7  „  „  18,000 

3  „  „  15,000  £ 

0  „  „  12,000  to  15,000 

9  „  „  10,200  to  12,000 

17  „  „  8,400  to  10,200 

13  „  „  7,200  to    8,400 

There  are  consequently  seventy-one  persons  with  an 
income  over  7,000?.  a  year.  These  pay  income-tax  to  the 
amount  of  31,891?.,  i.e.  more  than  ten  per  cent,  of  the 
entire  income-tax,  313,253?.  There  are  244  persons  with 
an  income  of  from  3,000?.  to  7,200?.,  and  471  persons  with 
an  income  of  1,440?.  to  3,000?.* 

The  contrast  between  wealth  and  poverty  is  more 
noticed  in  Germany  than  in  England,  because  the  Germans 
have  not  been  for  two  centuries  accustomed  to  see  vast 
wealth  and  squalor  side  by  side,  as  in  England.  Medi- 
aevalism  kept  such  contrasts  down,  and  it  is  only  since  the 
break-up  of  the  old  system  that  such  contrasts  have  become 
possible  ;  and  this  takes  place  precisely  at  a  time  when  the 
1  Annalen  d.  Deut.  fieichs,  1875,  p.  491. 


252  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

reverse  is  going  on  in  landed  property.  Land  is  breaking 
up,  and  being  more  and  more  distributed  and  equalised, 
whilst  capital  in  trade  is  being  withdrawn  from  the  many 
and  amassed  in  the  hands  of  the  few.  The  contrast  of 
the  two  systems  naturally  provokes  discontent  among  the 
operatives  in  trade,  and  they  desire  to  apply  to  capital  in 
gold  the  same  law  that  has  been  applied  to  capital  in  clay, 
to  mobilise  money  as  land  has  been  mobilised.  Is  this 
wonderful  ?  Is  it  not  certain  that  under  the  circumstances 
there  must  be  discontent  in  the  working  class  ?  Is  this 
discontent — the  natural  produce  of  a  transition  state — to 
be  abolished  by  making  the  utterance  of  it  a  crime  ? 

Discontent  was  brooding  when  Lassalle  gave  it  shape 
and  utterance.  In  1851  he  showed  that  9oT7^  per  cent, 
of  the  population  had  incomes  under  251.  a  year,  on  which, 
on  an  average,  five  persons  had  to  be  supported.  According 
to  Lengerke  10,000,000  of  the  population  of  Prussia  have 
annually  under  161.  per  annum  on  which  to  maintain  a 
family.  Let  us  take  the  more  recent  calculations  of  a 
Conservative,  R.  Meyer.  He  classifies  the  fortunes  in 
Prussia  thus,  in  1874  : — 

6,034,263  persons,  or  58-5  per  cent,  are  extremely  poor. 
3,520,691  34-1        ,          have  incomes  from  £20  to  £50 

50  „   100 


478,410 

178,930 

89,293 

9,634 


4-6 
1-7 
0-86 
0-09 


100  „  200 

200  „  750 

over  750. 


About  92*6  of  the  population,  according  to  the  same 
authority,  consist  of  persons  who  do  not  earn  three  shillings 
a  day. 

In  1875  there  were  6,591,559  persons  exempt  from 
taxation ;  that  is  26*86  per  cent,  of  the  entire  population, 
exempt  because  their  annual  incomes  did  not  amount  to 
201.  This  shows  a  condition  of  distribution  of  property 


Social  Democracy.  253 

anything  but  satisfactory.  Dr.  Engel,  in  a  paper  on  the 
classification  of  incomes  in  Prussia  between  the  years 
1852  and  1 875  on  the  basis  of  the  revenue  statistics,  arrives 
at  these  depressing  conclusions : — 

1.  The  larger  the  capitals,  the  quicker  their  growth. 
Incomes  of  1501.  grow  at  double  the  rate  of  incomes  under 
that  figure. 

2.  The  numbers  with  moderate  fortunes  do  not  show 
a  tendency  to   increase.     On   the  contrary,  the  wealthy 
become  more  wealthy,  and  the  number  of  the  poor   in- 
creases. 

3.  The  years  between  1870-73 — years  of  false  com- 
mercial activity — proved  ruinous  to  small  incomes,  but  in- 
creased the  large  incomes. 

In  the  year  1848,  the  social  question  first  attracted 
interest  in  Germany.  There  the  political  agitation  was, 
in  reality,  quite  as  truly  social  as  political,  however  this 
fact  may  have  been  overlooked  by  the  Liberal  leaders  of 
the  time.  It  was  not  long  before  they  became  alarmed 
at  the  c  Eed  Spectre,'  whose  cap  appeared  above  the  crowd 
clamouring  for  change,  and  they  hastened  to  give  their 
support  to  the  Government  to  bring  about  a  reaction,  and 
thereby,  as  was  soon  apparent,  to  forfeit  their  credit  with 
the  multitude. 

Many  German  men  of  letters,  L.  Stein,  Eodbertus, 
Marx,  Lassalle,  Engel,  Mario,  and  others,  then  began  to 
study  the  social  question  with  earnestness,  and  they  gave 
to  Socialism,  by  their  labours,  a  firm  scientific,  or,  at  all 
events,  theoretical  position. 

The  social  question  received  its  solution  in  one  way 
the  liberal,  by  Schulze-Delitzsch  ;  in  a  reactionary  way  by 
Lassalle  and  Marx. 

Granted  that  the  present  condition  is  an  unhappy  one, 
it  is  obvious  that  there  are  only  two  ways  in  which  it  may 


254  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

be  remedied — either  we  must  allow  trade  and  commerce 
its  fullest  possible  development,  make  it  cosmopolitan,  or 
we  must  restrict  trade  and  bolster  up  national  prosperity 
at  the  expense  of  other  countries.  Free  trade  is  not  yet 
universal,  and  till  it  has  become  universal,  the  present 
state  of  labour  is  unsettled.  The  Liberal  programme  is 
the  abolition  of  all  impediments  to  free  trade,  to  com- 
petition, to  the  mobilisation  of  labour.  The  general  wel- 
fare of  the  world  must  be  considered  above  that  of  a  class. 
The  poor  starved  under  the  old  corn  laws  that  the  farmers 
might  grow  rich.  The  importation  of  foreign  corn  was 
made  free  of  duty :  the  poor  ate  and  were  satisfied,  and 
the  farmers  found  to  their  great  surprise  that  they  were 
not  ruined.  What  is  true  of  the  corn  laws  is  true  of  all 
protection.  It  rests  on  a  false  principle.  It  is  artificial 
not  natural,  mediaeval  not  modern.  Every  railway  and 
steamboat  punctures  the  skin  of  protection,  and  makes 
patching  and  plastering  every  day  more  difficult  and 
hopeless.  In  former  times  one  town  stood  in  rivalry  with 
another  town ;  now  they  interchange  their  products,  and 
both  thrive  on  the  interchange.  Nations  were  and  are 
parted  by  protective  tariffs.  The  time  must  come  when  these 
will  fall,  and  then  the  present  social  and  financial  anarchy 
will  right  itself.  A  worthy  old  relative  of  mine  was  wont 
to  bless  Grod  in  his  evening  prayers  that  he  had  been  born 
a  Devonshire  man,  and  not  in  the  wastes  of  "Wiltshire  and 
Berkshire,  or  even  in  that  ash-pit  London.  But  then  he 
had  never  travelled  out  of  the  West  country.  National 
prejudice  will  go  in  time  with  county  particularism  ;  men 
will  not  bless  God  that  they  are  Englishmen  rather  than 
Germans  or  Swiss,  but  that  they  are  Europeans ;  and,  lastly, 
Continental  isolation  will  dissolve  into  universal  humanity. 
That  is  what  increased  facilities  of  locomotion  and  com- 
munication are  daily  bringing  nearer.  Liberal  legislation 


Social  Democracy.  255 

is  a  more  or  less  conscious  recognition  of  the  tendency  of 
the  time :  it  makes  the  welfare  of  humanity  its  aim,  rather 
than  the  tinkering  up  of  nationality. 

In  the  recent  agitation  about  the  Eastern  question, 
this  truth  comes  out  prominently  enough.  The  English 
Liberal  party — at  all  events  that  portion  which  accepts 
Mr.  Gladstone  as  its  head,  looked  to  the  general  interests 
of  humanity  as  of  paramount  importance,  as  enlisted 
against  Turkish  misrule.  Away  with  misrule,  and  a  vast 
region,  now  contributing  nothing  or  next  to  nothing  to 
the  sum  of  the  requirements  of  the  multitudes  on  the  face 
of  the  earth,  will  be  full  of  activity,  and  yield  corn,  and 
wine,  and  metals  in  abundance.  Every  improvement  in 
the  condition  of  one  body  of  human  beings  conduces  to 
the  welfare  of  the  entire  mass  of  humanity. 

Thrace,  Bulgaria,  Asia  Minor  are  the  chilblains  in 
the  body  politic ;  there  is  constant  itch,  because  circulation 
is  arrested.  Restore,  through  commercial  veins  and  arteries, 
the  current  of  trade,  and  the  whole  of  humanity  will 
flourish  the  more  abundantly  for  it. 

The  Liberal  doctrine  is  the  true  outcome  of  Roman 
law.  It  reposes  on  individual  freedom,  and  free  disposal 
of  capital.  It  starts  from  the  unit,  which  it  endows  with 
liberty  and  mobility.  What  the  Reformation  was  in  the 
sphere  of  religion,  that  Liberalism  is  in  the  sphere  of  poli- 
tical economy. 

Herr  Schulze-Delitzsch  is  the  representative  of  German 
Liberalism — the  most  remarkable  exponent  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Progress  party  (Fortschrittpartei).  He  was 
born  at  Delitzsch,  in  Saxony,  in  1808,  and  appointed 
District  Judge  at  Wreschen  in  1 850 ;  but  resigned  the 
office  two  years  after,  that  he  might  devote  himself  wholly 
to  the  solution  of  the  social  question.  His  solution  is  very 
simple. 


256  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

1.  Free  trade,  free  manufacture,  and  free  mobilisation 
of  labour. 

2.  The  elevation  of  the  masses  by  education. 

3.  The  formation  of  unions  of  artisans. 

Freedom  of  manufacture  is  granted  already.  Any 
man,  without  belonging  to  a  guild,  may  start  in  any  trade 
he  likes. 

Free  circulation  of  labour  is  interfered  with  by  mili- 
tary conscription.  A  German  workman  cannot  follow 
trade  in  its  migrations,  because  he  is  tied  to  his  Father- 
laud  by  military  duties.  This  must  tell  seriously  on  his 
well-being.  As  over  700,000  men  are  withdrawn  annually 
from  trade  for  army  and  navy,  there  is  less  competition  of 
labour,  and  consequently  a  rise  in  the  wage.  Coal  is  dear 
in  Germany,  and  competition  with  England  can  only  be 
maintained  when  labour  is  cheap.  Military  service  would 
kill  German  manufacture,  but  that  a  preventive  duty  is 
put  on  foreign  manufactured  goods.  Thus  an  artificial 
life  is  given  to  German  manufacture.  One  evil  breeds 
another.  Because  labour  is  held  down  to  the  soil,  and 
prevented  from  seeking  a  market,  free  trade  becomes  im- 
possible. 

The  other  points  in  the  Schulze-Delitzsch  programme 
need  not  detain  us.  Government  has  taken  the  education 
of  the  people  into  its  own  hands.  The  unions  proposed, 
and  partly  carried  out  by  Schulze-Delitzsch,  are  co-opera- 
tive associations,  savings'  banks,  and  partnership-companies 
of  artisans  carrying  on  manufacture.  The  co-operative 
stores  have  not  proved  very  successful.  That  at  Mann- 
heim has  failed  for  35,000  Mks;  that  at  Freiburg  for 
7,000  Mks.  Those  at  Metz  and  Mainz  have  also  been 
liquidated. 

The  productive  associations  have  never  come  to  any- 
thing for  want  of  capital  on  which  to  start. 


Social  Democracy.  257 

It  is  evident  that  these  schemes  are  mitigations  only 
of  the  prevailing  distress,  but  that  they  do  not,  and  are 
not  intended  to,  touch  the  root  of  the  disorder.  This  can 
only  be  effected  by  the  complete  carrying  out  of  the  first 
article  of  the  programme — the  throwing  open  of  the  ports 
to  foreign  competition,  and  the  letting  of  labour  loose 
to  follow  trade  to  its  centres,  and  move  with  it  as  it 
migrates. 

Lassalle's  system  is  the  reverse  of  this  at  every  point. 
As  Schulze-Delitzsch  represents  the  theory  of  Eoman  right, 
Lassalle  is  the  modern  exponent  and  advocate  of  the  theory 
of  German  mediaeval  right.  Schulze  is  progressive, 
Lassalle  retrograde.  The  two  stand  to  one  another  as 
the  poles.  Prince  Bismarck  never  made  a  more  stupid, 
if  not  wilful  blunder,  than  when  he  endeavoured  to  make 
the  Liberal  party  responsible  for  the  crimes  and  follies  attri- 
buted to  Social  Democracy.  Social  Democracy  has  far 
more  in  common  with  Conservatism  than  with  Progress. 
The  Eomantic  School  attempted  to  revive  the  aristo- 
cracy by  throwing  a  halo  over  the  chivalry  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  The  Socialists  are  the  Eomantic  School  of  the 
working  class,  and  Lassalle  is  their  De  la  Motte  Fouque. 
Both  attempted  impossibilities.  Chivalry  is  not  to  be 
galvanised  into  life  again.  Trade  protection  is  dead 
irretrievably.  We  must  let  the  modern  torrent  flow.  It 
is  because  we  try  to  arrest  it  with  piles  that  we  pro- 
duce disastrous  floods.  No  doubt  we  are  living  in  the 
midst  of  a  great  social  problem,  because  new  agencies 
are  at  work  disintegrating  society  and  building  it  up 
in  new  masses.  We  cannot  solve  these  problems  with 
foregone  conclusions,  but  must  let  them  work  themselves 
out. 

Ferdinand  Lassalle  was  a  Jew,  born  at  Breslau  in 
1825.  His  father  wished  him  to  be  a  merchant,  but  he 

VOL.    II.  S 


258  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

declined  to  devote  himself  to  commerce,  having  a  strong 
taste  for  philosophy  and  law.  He  was  in  Berlin  during 
the  revolution  in  1848,  and  took  considerable  part  in  it. 
In  Berlin  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  Countess 
Hatzfeldt,  a  lady  of  forty,  but  still  very  beautiful.  She 
was  engaged  in  an  action  for  separation  from  her  husband. 
Lassalle  challenged  the  Count,  but  the  latter  turned  '  the 
stupid  Jewling  '  out  of  his  house.  He  then  went  with  the 
Countess  to  Diisseldorf,  and  lived  with  her  in  the  most  in- 
timate relations  till  his  death.  For  eight  years  he  fought 
her  battles  from  court  to  court,  figuring  before  the  world 
as  the  champion  of  wronged  innocence,  the  disinterested 
protector  of  the  oppressed,  whilst  all  the  while  he  was 
feathering  his  own  nest.  He  would  not  undertake  the 
championship  till  he  had  wrung  a  contract  for  a  handsome 
annuity  from  the  Countess.  He  obtained  for  the  lady  a 
princely  provision,  and  sponged  upon  her  to  the  end  of  his 
days.  Whilst  setting  himself  up  as  the  opponent  of 
wealth,  the  advocate  of  equalisation  of  fortunes,  he  lived 
himself  in  epicurean  luxury,  was  a  fop,  a  gourmand,  and 
licentious.1  But  he  was  brilliant,  clever,  and  of  extra- 
ordinary fertility  of  resource.  His  popularity  in  society 
was  wonderful.  6 1  can't  help  liking  you,'  Heine  had  said 
to  him  in  Paris ;  and  the  circle  of  friends  who  gathered 
round  Varnhagen  von  Ense  in  Berlin  had  all  the  same 
feeling  towards  him.  But  whilst  he  was"  charming  so- 
ciety, and  working  hard  at  law,  he  suddenly  amazed  the 
scholastic  world  with  a  critical  treatise  on  Heraclitus.2 
There  seemed  no  limit  to  his  powers  and  interests.  The 

1  See  Eine  Liebes- Episode  aus  dem  Leben  Ferdinand  Lassalle's. 
Leipzig.     The  Social  Democratic  press  have  endeavoured  to  dispute  the 
authenticity  of  the  letters  therein  contained.     But  of  their  genuineness 
there  can  really  be  no  question. 

2  '  A  masterly  treatise  on  an  author  he  had  not  read,'  is  the  judg- 
ment I  have  heard  passed  on  it. 


Social  Democracy.  259 

unhappy  Sophie  von  Hatzfeldt  stood  as  his  bad  angel  at 
his  side,  directing  his  energies  into  perverse  currents. 
She  had  the  rare  self-control  of  Livia,  the  wife  of  Augustus. 
She  was  not,  or  did  not  show  herself,  jealous  of  the  infideli- 
ties of  her  lover  and  advocate.  The  fascinating  and 
intelligent  face  of  Lassalle  made  him  a  favourite  with 
women :  his  love  adventures  form  a  chronique  scanda- 
leuse.  On  the  occasion  of  one  of  these  he  was  attacked  by 
a  rival  with  fury  in  the  Thiergarten  at  Berlin,  and 
defended  himself  with  such  valour,  that  the  historian 
Forster  made  him  a  present  of  Robespierre's  walking-stick, 
which  he  ever  after  bore. 

The  end  of  Lassalle  was  tragic.  When  he  was  reading 
one  day  at  the  Kaltbad,  half-way  up  the  Rigi,  where  he 
and  the  Countess  Hatzfeldt  were  staying  together,  a 
young  lady  with  a  party  of  friends  begged  to  be  escorted 
to  the  summit.  She  turned  out  to  be  an  old  acquain- 
tance, and  Lassalle  was  delighted  to  assent.  The  young 
lady  and  Lassalle  were  soon  desperately  in  love  with  one 
another.  Lassalle  was  a  Jew,  the  lady  a  Catholic,  and  so 
religious  difficulties  stood  in  the  way  of  their  marriage. 
Lassalle  offered  to  give  up  everything,  urged  her  to  take 
refuge  with  the  Bishop  of  Mainz,  and  wrote  to  him  offer- 
ing to  become  a  Catholic,  if  he  would  marry  him  to  the 
lady.  Presently,  however,  he  discovered  that  her  father 
was  Protestant.  Immediately  he  pitched  the  Bishop 
and  Catholicism  overboard,  and  was  ready  to  em- 
brace Protestantism,  if  that  were  required.  But  in  the 
meantime  the  young  lady  had  grown  cold.  She  was 
already  engaged  to  the  Wallachian  Bojar,  Raconitza,  and 
she  probably  considered  her  prospects  as  a  lady  of  rank  in 
Austria  promised  better  than  as  the  wife  of  a  Jew  agitator, 
whose  life  was  disreputable,  however  brilliant  his  genius. 
Lassalle,  furious  at  his  rejection,  challenged  the  more 

s  2 


260  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

fortunate  lover,  and  was  shot  in  a  duel  near  Geneva, 
August  31,  1864.1 

That  Lassalle  was  a  man  of  marvellous  talents  is  un- 
questionable. But  that  he  was  sincere  in  his  convictions 
may  well  be  questioned.  He  loved  glitter,  applause,  dis- 
play, and  cared  little  how  he  won  it.  In  all  this  he  stands 
in  marked  contrast  to  his  less  brilliant  rival  in  the  same 
field,  Karl  Marx,  a  man  who  was  ready  to  suffer  and  make 
sacrifices  for  his  creed. 

The  system  of  social  economy  of  Lassalle  was  better 
than  the  man.  It  was  consistent.  It  was  based  on  truths 
and  principles.  He  laid  down  lucidly  the  fundamental 
axioms  of  Socialism,  and  exhibited  its  radical  antagonism 
to  Liberalism.  He  repudiated  altogether  Liberal  atomism, 
the  doctrine  that  all  social  and  political  economy  must 
start  from  the  individual  enjoying  the  plenitude  of  his 
liberty  as  the  perfection  of  existence.  '  Liberalism,'  he 
said,  '  regards  men  in  modern  society  as  insulated  Robinson 
Crusoes.' 

In  opposition  to  the  duty  of  self-help  as  preached  by 
Schulze,  and  the  throwing  of  every  man  back  on  his  own 
resources,  Lassalle  proclaimed  the  social  body  as  the  unit, 
solidarity  as  the  principle  of  social  well-being.  '  All 
historic  development  from  the  beginning  has  proceeded 
from  the  community,  and  without  that  no  culture  would 
have  existed.'  'The  entire  old  world,  and  the  Middle 
Ages  up  to  the  French  Eevolution  of  1789,  sought  human 
solidarity  or  community  in  union  or  in  subjection.  The 
French  Eevolution  of  1789  and  the  period  influenced  by 
it,  indignant  at  this  bondage,  sought  freedom  in  the 
dissolution  of  all  solidarity  and  community.  What  was 
won  was  not  Freedom,  but  Wilfulness.  The  present  age 

1  See   Bernhard  Becker  :  Enthullung  uber  das  tragische  Lebemende 
Ferd.  Lassalle's.    Schleiz,  1868. 


Social  Democracy.  261 

— at  least  the  fourth  estate — seeks  freedom  in  soli- 
darity. This  in  a  few  lines  is  the  social  history  of  the 
past  and  present. 

'  From  a  legal  point  of  view,  individual  responsibility  is 
an  unconditional  principle.  And  so  it  must  be,  for  in  the 
matter  of  right  and  wrong  each  man  is  responsible  for  his 
own  acts.  But  in  the  economic  sphere  this  is  not  so. 
On  the  contrary,  every  man  is  responsible  for  what  he  has 
not  done.  If,  for  instance,  this  year  the  currant  harvest 
in  Corinth  and  Smyrna,  or  the  wheat  harvest  in  the  Missis- 
sippi valley,  on  the  Lower  Danube,  or  in  the  Crimea,  be 
very  abundant,  then  the  currant-dealers  and  contractors  in 
Berlin  and  Cologne,  who  had  filled  their  stores  at  the 
prices  last  year,  lose  half  their  fortunes.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  our  German  harvest  is  bad,  then  this  year  the 
labourers  lose  half  their  wage,  which  indeed  remains  the 
same  nominally,  but  has  less  buying  power,  as  the  prices 
of  necessaries  have  risen.  If,  on  the  contrary,  our  harvest 
be  good,  then  it  happens  to  us,  as  was  naively  and  sadly 
expressed  by  the  King  of  France,  in  his  address  to  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  on  November  30,  1821,  "the  laws 
are  in  full  force,  but  no  law  can  alter  the  inconveniences 
which  arise  from  excessive  harvests  " — that  is,  the  fall  of 
prices,  and  therewith  distress  among  farmers  in  years 
of  abundance.  If  the  cotton  crop  fails  in  the  Southern 
States,  then  the  mill-hands  in  the  English,  French,  and 
German  cotton-factories  are  thrown  out  of  work  and  bread. 
But  if,  in  place  of  a  bad  cotton  harvest  in  America,  there 
be  an  industrial,  or  money  crisis,  then  all  who  have  stores 
of  cotton  sell  at  what  they  can  realise,  the  market  is 
glutted,  and  the  silk  and  velvet  manufactories  in  Crefeld, 
Elberfeld,  and  Lyons  are  brought  to  a  standstill,  as  there 
come  in  no  orders.  Newly  opened  mines  rich  in  silver 
cause  a  depreciation  in  the  currency,  and  manufacturers 


262  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

cannot  execute  their  contracts,  save  at  a  loss.  All 
creditors  are  made  poorer  and  all  debtors  richer.  On  the 
other  hand,  a  demand  for  silver  in  China  and  Japan  re- 
verses these  conditions.  The  telegraphic  notice  that  the 
rape-crop  in  Holland  promises  to  be  better  than  the  year 
before  brings  the  oil-millers  in  Prussia  to  the  brink  of 
ruin.  They  gain  nothing  by  their  industrial  activity,  and 
are  thankful  if  they  can  sell  the  oil  they  have  made  for 
the  bare  price  of  the  uncrushed  rape-seed.  Every  new 
mechanical  invention  which  reduces  the  cost  of  manufac- 
ture causes  the  depreciation  of  goods  already  made,  and 
often  deprives  whole  lots  of  dealers  and  contractors  of  the 
means  of  existence.1  A  new  railway  alters  at  once  the 
values  of  houses  and  gardens  and  fields  near  the  station,  and 
relatively  depreciates  those  furthest  away  from  the  line. 
These  illustrations,  which  might  be  multiplied  indefinitely, 
show  how  true  it  is,  that  in  the  sphere  of  social  economy 
the  reverse  principle  to  that  in  jurisprudence  holds — every 
man  is  responsible,  not  for  what  he  has  done,  but  for  what 
he  has  not  done.  And  the  reason  is  simple.  In  the 
sphere  of  right  every  act  is  the  product  of  the  individual 
will.  Eesponsibility  depends  on  freedom.  Where  free- 
dom ends,  there  ends  responsibility  also. 

'  Human  community  and  solidarity  may  be  misunder- 
stood and  disavowed,  but  it  cannot  be  done  away  with. 
If  therefore  there  be  social  edifices  which  do  not  take 
cognisance  of  this,  so  much  the  worse  for  them.  It  exists, 
but  through  want  of  recognition  is  converted,  by  a  wild 
avenging  natural  force,  into  chance,  which  plays  at  ball 
with  the  destinies  and  liberties  of  individuals.  One  is 
tossed  aloft  in  this  game  by  the  misunderstood  and  un- 
controlled forces  at  work  below,  and  falls  into  the  lap  of 

1  As,  for  instance,  the  invention  of  adhesive  envelopes,  which  at  once 
mined  the  manufacturers  of  sealing-wax. 


Social  Democracy.  263 

wealth ;  and  hundreds  are  plunged  in  the  slough  of  poverty, 
and  the  wheel  of  social  progress  goes  over  them,  crushing 
them  and  all  their  industry,  and  the  fruits  of  their  toil, 
into  powder.  Chance  plays  ball,  and  men  are  the  balls 
with  which  it  plays. 

6  Now  when  chance  rules,  the  freedom  of  the  individual 
is  no  more.  Chance  is  the  repeal  of  self-responsibility  and 
self-determination.  The  object  we  seek  is  the  limitation  of 
the  caprices  of  chance,  by  restoring  a  general  equilibrium 
of  responsibility,  by  subjecting  every  shoulder  to  that 
weight  which  misses  some  and  crushes  others.  We  seek 
to  enthrone  a  rational  direction  of  the  natural  forces  in 
the  social  world  in  the  place  of  wild  caprice,  to  recognise 
common  obligation  and  universal  solidarity,  and  therewith 
to  bring  back  self-responsibility,  self-determination,  and 
individual  freedom.  What  is  now  an  undisciplined  natural 
force  will  be  controlled  and  expropriated  by  community 
of  interests.  The  social  union  is  the  old  Orphic  chain,  of 
which  the  Orphics  said  that  it  bound  all  existences  to- 
gether with  infrangible  links. 

'  Only  those  are  admitted  to  the  great  game  of  luck 
that  is  going  on  in  the  mercantile  world  who  can  sell  pro- 
ducts on  their  own  account,  who  have  command  of  capital, 
and  are  able  to  produce  or  accumulate  these  products  in 
great  quantities,  so  that  they  may  seize  on  favourable 
opportunities  the  moment  they  offer.  The  whole  artisan 
class  is  excluded  from  the  game,  from  every  chance  of 
getting  the  pool,  for  the  artisan  can  never  sell  the  products 
of  his  toil  on  his  own  account ;  so  also  is  the  tradesman 
more  or  less  shut  out,  for  wholesale  manufacture  is  cutting 
away  and  diverting  from  him  all  the  sources  of  his  living, 
and  driving  him  down  into  the  position  of  a  hireling. 
He  has  not  the  capital  to  invest  the  moment  a  fortunate 
conjuncture  of  affairs  offers,  but  while  he  is  making  ready, 


264  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

gathering  together  his  little  outstanding  debts,  another 
steppeth  down  before  him,  and  obtains  all  the  advantages 
of  the  plunge.  Unable  to  avail  himself  of  propitious  cir- 
cumstances, disadvantageous  circumstances  crush  him  in- 
exorably. The  class  of  artisans  and  small  tradesmen  form 
a  social  division  in  our  community,  over  which  might  be  in- 
scribed the  legend  that  stood  upon  Dante's  "Hell: "  "  Who 
enters  here,  leaves  hope  behind."  As  a  rule,  the  artisan 
class  scarcely  and  only  transitorily  feels  the  passing  effect 
of  a  wave  of  commercial  prosperity ;  whereas  depression 
in  trade  makes  itself  felt  in  it  instantaneously.  Wage  is 
diminished,  the  artisan  begins  to  consume  his  savings, 
and  he  has  perhaps  to  pay  with  entire  deprivation  of  work 
and  loss  of  wage  for  some  reckless  speculation  or  fatal 
calculation  of  his  master,  in  which  he  was  not  consulted, 
and  in  the  profits  of  which,  had  it  succeeded,  he  would 
not  have  shared.' 

Such  is  Lassalle's  statement  of  the  social  question.  Let 
us  now  see  what  are  the  remedies  that  he  proposes. 

'  Modern  association  of  labour  is  not  self-reliant 
activity,  but  a  concentration  of  a  great  many  activities  on 
one  product.  Wholesale  production  is  indeed  common 
and  co-operative,  but  distribution  of  the  profits  is  not 
common,  but  individual. 

4  The  subdivision  of  labour  is  the  fountain  of  wealth. 
It  is  an  economic  law,  which  may  be  almost  classed  as  a 
natural  law,  like  gravitation,  the  expansion  of  steam,  &c., 
to  be  called  perhaps  a  social-natural  law,  that  the  more 
labour  is  subdivided  the  more  profitable  the  labour  be- 
comes, and  the  cheaper  becomes  the  production.  But  it 
is  a  law  that  has  been  taken  advantage  of  by  a  few  in- 
dividuals to  their  individual  profit,  who  have  wound  the 
dazed  and  withering  populace  round  and  round,  and  in  and 
out,  with  invisible  threads,  into  an  inextricable  tangle, 


Social  Democracy.  265 

where  they  are  held  fast,  whilst  these  few  suck  the  blood 
of  profit  to  themselves,  and  cast  to  their  tools  only  refuse 
— enough  to  keep  them  alive  ;  just  what  on  the  lowest 
stage  of  life,  before  all  culture,  the  savage  obtained — the 
bare  necessaries  of  existence. 

'  There  is  no  question  nowadays  about  the  abolition  of 
subdivision  of  labour ;  all  we  require  is  that  capital  should 
be  reduced  to  its  proper  function,  to  be  the  dead  tool  in 
the  hand,  not  the  master  enslaving.  We  have  no  thought 
of  doing  away  with  subdivision  of  labour ;  on  the  contrary, 
we  desire  to  extend  and  develop  the  principle.  Division 
of  labour  is  common  labour,  common  union  for  production. 
Let  this  remain  so.  But  what  is  required  is  that  the 
individual  gains  in  the  common  production  should  not  be 
alienated  from  the  worker,  to  the  profit  of  the  manu- 
facturer. The  work  is  common,  and  the  gains  should  be 
common ;  the  profit  shared  by  all,  as  the  work  is  shared 
by  all,  in  proportion  to  their  share  in  the  work  and 
activity  in  the  discharge  of  it.' 

The  ideal  state  of  the  world  is  one  in  which  all  work 
will  be  co-operative;  when  trade  will  be  brought  back 
to  the  proportions  and  conditions  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

Such  a  state  of  things  cannot  come  about  in  a  day. 
Till  it  does,  Lassalle  asked  the  Government  to  advance 
capital  to  associations  of  artisans  on  this  principle.  He 
demanded  of  the  State  a  hundred  millions  of  thalers  for 
the  starting  of  a  co-operative  partnership  factory.  Small 
undertakings  on  this  system  would  not  succeed,  he  argued, 
they  would  be  squeezed  out  of  existence  by  those  on  a 
larger  scale.  '  Nothing  would  be  easier,'  he  said,  '  than 
for  free  competition  to  crush  down  a  handful  of  associated 
artisans.  Economic  questions  can  only  be  solved  in  the 
gross,  never  in  retail.  As  the  great  battalions  on  the 
field,  so  are  the  masses  of  workmen,  or  the  great  capitalists, 


266  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

and  it  is  the  masses  which  prove  decisive  of  victory  on 
the  economic  battle-fields.  Precisely  for  this  reason,  free 
competition,  which  is  now  strangling  the  artisan,  may  be 
turned  to  his  advantage.  But  to  do  this,  the  great  bat- 
talions must  be  on  the  side  of  the  workmen.  And  this 
can  alone  be  achieved  by  the  State,  which  in  the  economic 
field,  as  on  the  battle-field,  is  the  only  power  which  can 
set  the  battalions  in  motion  and  assure  them  the  victory.' 

The  same  system  should  be  applied  to  the  land.  Till 
the  whole  of  the  land  could  be  brought  under  co-operative 
cultivation,  he  would  have  the  Crown  give  up  its  '  domains, 
or  enable  by  loans  large  bodies  of  workmen  to  buy  up  the 
estates  of  impoverished  landowners.' 

It  is  true,  these  undertakings  would  be  small,  but 
Lassalle  was  convinced,  or  pretended  to  be  convinced,  that 
they  would  be  the  mustard-seeds  of  a  new  era  of  social 
economy,  which  would  in  time  overshadow  the  whole  earth. 

Such  was  Lassalle's  system,  clear,  coherent,  and  prac- 
tical if  not  practicable.  The  Prussian  Government  could 
hardly  have  better  spent  some  of  the  milliards  it  wrung 
from  France  than  by  giving  the  disaffected  workmen  an 
opportunity  of  testing  it. 

The  next  great  leader  of  Social  Democracy  is  Karl  Marx, 
born  at  Treves  in  1818,  of  a  Jewish  father.  He  studied 
in  Berlin  and  Bonn,  and  became  editor  of  the  '  Kheinische 
Zeitung.'  Although  he  was  son-in-law  of  the  Minister 
von  Westfalen,  and  his  talents  and  connection  combined  to 
assure  him  a  brilliant  career,  he  turned  from  it,  strong  in 
principle,  governed  by  his  political  and  social  convictions, 
that  he  might  devote  his  life  to  the  great  question  which 
had  taken  hold  of  his  mind.  Banished  from  Germany 
and  France,  he  took  refuge  in  London.  In  1859  he 
published  his  first  tirade  against  capital.  In  this  work  he 
showed  that  in  the  earlier  history  of  the  world,  work  alone 


Social  Democracy.  267 

was  productive,  and  that  capital  was  nowhere,  but  that 
now  it  was  sovereign,  and  enchained  labour.  His  great 
book  on  'Capital'  was  begun  in  1867,  when  the  first 
volume  appeared.  It  is  not  yet  complete.  His  style  is 
obscure  ;  imbued  with  Hegelianism,  he  imitates  his  master 
in  wordiness  and  cloudiness  of  expression.  According  to 
him,  the  common  labour  at  production  is  the  measure  of 
its  market  value  and  the  source  of  all  property.  No  man 
has  a  right  over  that  on  which  he  has  expended  no  labour. 
Property  is  the  produce  of  labour ;  when  it  is  not,  it  is 
the  spoliation  of  another.  Capital  is  accumulated  labour, 
— it  is  more,  it  is  the  accumulation  of  the  labour  of  others. 
In  the  old  world,  the  slave,  in  Mediaeval  times  the  serf, 
worked  for  his  master,  who  lived,  ate,  drank,  clothed  him- 
self on  the  fruit  of  the  bondman's  toil.  He  gave  the  serf 
or  slave  enough  to  keep  him  alive,  but  all  the  profit  that 
came  from  his  work  accrued  to  the  lord.  Then  the  storm 
of  the  French  Eevolution  burst.  Serfdom,  guilds,  all  the 
old  feudal  and  protective  machinery  of  the  Middle  Ages 
was  broken  to  pieces.  Free  competition  appeared.  Labour 
was  proclaimed  emancipated,  and  great  was  the  jubilation. 
But  no  real  alteration  was  made.  Still  the  labourer 
worked,  and  bis  profits  went  into  the  pockets  of  others, 
not  now  of  the  noble,  but  of  the  capitalist,  the  less 
respected  bourgeois.  He  could  no  more  lay  by  than  before : 
he  reaped  the  fields,  winnowed  the  wheat,  wove  at  the 
loom,  and  the  profits  went  from  him.  It  was  still  with 

him  as  before,  a  hopeless  '  sic  vos  non  vobis '    '  Eigen- 

thum,'  said  Lassalle, '  ist  Fremdthum,'  or,  as  Proudhon  put 
it,  'la  propriete,  c'est  le  vol.' 

Capital  is  a  sponge  which  sucks  up  all  profits  of  labour, 
and  all  the  sweat  of  labour,  and  leaves  the  labourer  nothing 
but  bare  necessaries.  And  the  more  capital  grows  the 
greater  is  its  power  of  suction,  the  wider  the  area  which 


268  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

it  exhausts.  The  artisan  is  smothered  by  the  produce  of 
his  own  hands.  His  work  of  yesterday  rises  up  before 
him  and  beats  him  down,  and  plunders  him  of  his  wage 
to-day.  The  more  the  artisan  has  produced  since  1789, 
the  more  he  has  enriched  the  manufacturer,  increased  the 
capital  which  is  crushing  him  ;  the  more  labour  is  sub- 
divided, the  stronger  becomes  the  chain  which  binds  him. 
Hitherto,  says  Marx,  history  has  shown  us  the  expropriation 
of  the  workman.  Time  will  bring  about  its  revenge.  The 
next  to  be  expropriated  will  be  the  capitalist. 

Great  capitalists  are  continually  killing  small  capi- 
talists. In  time,  there  will  exist  only  a  few  magnates  of 
capital  face  to  face  with  a  huge  enslaved  population.  As 
the  wealth  of  these  few  grows  in  geometric  progression,  so 
will  the  general  mass  of  misery,  depression,  degradation, 
slavery,  and  exspoliation  ;  but  so  also  will  grow  the  sense 
of  rage  and  exasperation  of  an  organised  and  united  class 
of  artisans.  The  situation  will  become  unendurable. 
There  will  be  an  explosion  in  society.  The  hour  of  the 
capitalist  will  have  struck.  The  expropriator  will  be 
himself  expropriated. 

Private  accumulated  capital  is  the  negation  of  private 
property  earned  by  labour.  By  an  inevitable  process  it  is 
leading  to  its  own  negation.  Private  property  will  recover 
its  legitimate  position  as  the  produce  of  each  man's  toil. 
The  plunder  taken  from  the  masses  will  be  redistributed 
among  them.  The  reign  of  the  usurpers  will  be  at  an  end. 

Marx  expects  no  alteration  in  the  structure  of  society 
at  present ;  he  looks  to  the  rapid  development  of  capital 
till  it  becomes  unendurable.  Lassalle  looked  to  a  peace- 
able solution  to  the  question,  Marx  to  a  violent  one. 
Marx  and  the  present  Socialists  lay,  naturally,  no  stress 
upon  co-operative  societies,  care  not  for  co-partnerships 
such  as  Lassalle  proposed. 


Social  Democracy.  269 

These  cold  ways, 

That  seem  like  prudent  helps,  are  very  poisonous 
Where  the  disease  is  violent. 

Coriol.  act  iii.  sc.  1. 

All  means  for  ameliorating  the  condition  of  the  workmen 
stave  off  the  day  of  restitution  of  all  things,  give  the 
present  social  order  a  longer  spell  of  life.  The  great 
demand  they  make  that  labour  may  receive  all  it  earns 
cannot  be  carried  out  without  -an  universal  revolution ; 
and,  therefore,  the  worse  things  go  now,  so  much  the 
better,  the  sooner  the  cataclysm. 

If  we  inquire  how  the  ideal  of  Socialism  is  to  be 
carried  into  effect,  we  are  told  that  all  production  will  be 
carried  on  by  the  State.  The  State  now  monopolises  the 
telegraphs,  the  railways,  the  post-office,  the  sugar-culture, 
the  salt  mines,  and  proposes  to  monopolise  tobacco- 
growing.  Let  it  in  like  manner  monopolise  every  trade, 
let  it  embrace  in  itself  tinkering,  tailoring,  baking, 
butchering,  and  distribute — the  tin  to  the  tinker,  to 
others  the  cloth  to  make  into  suits,  to  others  the  flour 
to  knead  into  bread,  and  to  others  the  oxen  to  cut  up  for 
meat.  Let  it  do  more  ;  let  it  work  all  the  mines,  rear 
the  sheep,  grow  the  corn  and  pasture  the  oxen.  As  it  has 
now  a  navy  for  warlike  purposes,  let  it  have  also  a  navy 
for  commercial  purposes,  and  bring  to  Germany  coffee  and 
currants.  Let  it  grow  the  malt,  and  brew  the  beer,  and 
distribute  it  in  Government  taverns  by  the  hands  of 
State-paid  Kellnerins.  Is  this  impracticable  ?  Experience 
proves  that  it  is  not.  In  the  villages  it  is  still  customary 
for  the  '  Gemeinde '  to  find  the  wood  and  stone  and 
lime,  and  pay  the  carpenters  and  masons  by  the  day.  In 
the  towns,  the  actors,  sweeps,  and  cesspool- emptiers  are 
town  officials,  why  not  also  the  bakers  and  brewers? 
,  a  manufacturer,'  says  Lassalle,  'can  do  what  no 


270  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

feudal  lord  could  achieve,  he  can  convert  the  sweat  drop 
of  the  workman  into  a  fountain  of  fresh  sweat  for  the  man, 
and  into  a  thaler  for  himself.'  This  must  be  done  away 
with.  All  private  capital,  so  far  as  it  is  productive 
capital,  i.e.  landed  property,  factories,  machinery,  &c.,  and 
all  that  serves  for  the  production  of  more  wealth,  must  be 
abolished,  as  individual  property,  and  pass  over  to  the 
possession  of  the  commonwealth.  But  not  superfluity  of 
money  so  far  as  it  is  left  unproductive.  For  instance,  if 
a  man  has  1  ,OOOL,  he  may  spend  it  in  eating,  drinking, 
hearing  the  opera,  buying  pictures,  going  to  the  mountains 
for  '  Sommerfrische,'  but  must  not  expend  it  in  buying  a 
new  loom,  or  invest  it  in  anything  which  will  bring  a 
per-centage.  It  will  be  seen  that  Marx  is  as  rigid  a 
disciple  of  old  Catholic  Canon  Law  doctrines  as  Lassalle 
was  of  German  trade  doctrines ;  and  that  both  are  re- 
actionary, and  diametrically  opposed  to  the  Liberal 
theories  of  Schulze-Delitzsch  and  the  Fortschritt  party. 

Ultramontanists  are  never  weary  of  extolling  the 
Middle  Ages  as  the  period  of  ideal  prosperity.  The  Social- 
ists desire  to  reproduce  that  ideal  on  the  same  lines  in 
modern  times,  with  but  one  omission — that  of  Eeligion. 

It  is,  however,  altogether  a  mistake  to  regard  Social- 
ism as  anti-Christian.  It  is  cwim-Christian  only.  It  may 
be  said  to  realise  the  ideal  programme  of  Catholicity ;  and 
the  Eoman  Church  would  certainly  be  glad  to  come  to 
terms  with  it  were  there  any  prospect  of  its  ultimate 
success.  That  Jesuits  have  coquetted  with  Social  Demo- 
cracy is  no  secret.  The  Roman  Church  has  now  nothing 
to  lose  by  a  revolution  in  the  political  and  social  worlds. 
The  clergy  live  up  to  the  programme  of  Socialism.  They 
have  now  no  chance  of  hoarding  capital.  In  Csesarism  the 
Papacy  meets  with  a  mighty  foe  :  in  a  State  founded  on 
Socialist  principles,  it  would  be  supreme. 


Social  Democracy.  271 

Professor  Treischke  has  taunted  the  Socialists  with 
their  godlessness.  Herr  Most  and  other  stump  orators  of  his 
calibre  have  given  occasion  to  such  charges,  but  anti- 
Christian  they  are  not.  6  We  avoid  especially  everything 
which  may  offend  religious  feeling,'  writes  the  author  of 
the  '  Socialistische  Keplik  '  to  Herr  Treischke  :  'we  leave 
every  man  free  to  the  exercise  of  his  faith  ;  only  there  do 
we  fight  against  religion  when  we  find  it  in  conscious  false- 
hood labouring  to  stultify  the  people.  We  have  far  more 
respect  for  the  faith  of  our  childish  years  than  you,  and 
will  never  endure  that  it  be  made  part  of  the  calculations 
of  the  brutal  and  egoistical  politics  of  the  wealthy  classes, 
and  be  desecrated  by  such  usage.  Name  to  me  a  single 
Socialist  writing,  in  which  you  can  find  such  disgusting, 
such  unseemly  scoffs  at  the  foundations  of  the  Christian 
religion,  as  are  produced  by  your  special  colleague  in 
historical  legerdemain  and  deification  of  Bismarck,  Herr 
Johannes  Scherr  I ' 

It  is  false  also  that  Socialism  preaches  community  of 
goods,  the  abolition  of  property.  It  preaches  only  com- 
munity of  profits,  and  the  abolition  of  capital  as  a  pro- 
ductive agent.  '  How  would  you  define  Socialism,  Herr 
Schulze  ? '  asks  Lassalle.  '  Thus,  no  doubt :  The  parcelling 
of  property  by  society.  But  do  you  not  see  that  this  is 
precisely  the  process  now  in  full  vigour  ?  Precisely  now, 
under  the  make-believe  of  individual  production,  is 
chance  engaged  in  distributing  fortunes  capriciously 
among  the  social  units.  Social  distribution  goes  on 
daily,  but  in  an  anarchical  fashion.  And  it  is  this  an- 
archical distribution  which  creates  commercial  property. 
What  Socialism  asks  is,  not  to  abolish  property,  but  to% 
make  it  individual  property,  won  by  labour. 

'We  are  quite  ready  to  allow  already  accumulated 
capital  to  remain  intact :  its  accumulation  has  been 


272  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

justified  by  the  laws  which  allowed  it,  but  we  are  free  to 
dispose  of  the  capital  of  the  future,  the  accumulation  of 
which  in  a  few  hands  we  will  not  allow,  but  distribute  it 
among  the  workers.' 

The  charge  that  Socialism  seeks  the  destruction  of 
right  of  inheritance  is  also  false.  Not  a  single  Socialist 
has  proposed  this.  In  the  Middle  Ages  a  man  had 
always  free  disposal  of  the  personal  property  lie  had 
acquired  (Erworbenes) ;  real  property  he  could  not  de- 
vise; but  real  property  will  have  ceased  to  exist  when 
the  Socialist  programme  is  carried  out.  So  far  from 
the  right  of  inheritance  being  threatened,  it  will  be 
strengthened  by  intensification  of  the  idea  of  the  solidarity 
of  the  Family.  Abrogation  of  right  of  inheritance  would 
be  too  deep  a  wounding  of  the  sense  of  family  union  for  a 
Socialist  agitator  to  obtain  much  sympathy  were  he  to 
propose  it.  Moreover,  the  right  of  free  disposal  of  pro- 
perty, if  done  away  with,  would  destroy  one  of  the  strongest 
incentives  to  economy  and  activity — an  incentive  which 
Socialism  has  every  reason  to  desire  to  stimulate,  as  con- 
ducive to  the  general  good.  The  accumulation  of  property 
will  be  allowed  to  any  extent,  to  be  spent  for  enjoyment, 
for  protection  of  the  arts,  &c.,  but  not  for  the  purpose  of 
speculation.  Labour  may  earn  what  it  can,  and  save  up, 
from  generation  to  generation,  but  money  must  not  be 
endowed  with  the  power  of  generation.  It  is  dead,  and 
must  remain  dead. 

It  is  false,  altogether  false,  that  Socialism  has  advo- 
cated '  free  love.'  There  have  been,  indeed,  demagogues 
and  fanatics  hitching  themselves  on  to  the  skirts  of 
Socialism,  who  have  broached  this  offensive  doctrine,  but 
they  have  been  promptly  disavowed  by  the  recognised 
leaders  of  the  party.  The  Socialist  view  of  marriage 
is  precisely  that  of  the  Christian  Church.  The  Socialist 


Social  Democracy.  273 

programme  leaves  marriage  intact  as  a  sacred  institution. 
'  We  recognise  and  prize,'  writes  the  above-quoted  oppo- 
nent of  Herr  Treischke,  'the  moral  might  of  marriage 
higher  than  do  you,  and  it  is  on  this  ground  that  we  are 
such  implacable  foes  to  the  modern  constitution  of  society. 
For  this  reason  you  are  absolutely  without  excuse  when 
you  charge  us  with  polygamous  tendencies.  If  you  want 
to  play  marriage  as  a  trump  card  against  us,  you  must  let 
us  see  more  respect  for  it  in  your  modern  society,  and  not, 
what  is  everywhere  apparent  in  it,  moral  decay.'  '  Have 
you  ever  run  your  eye  through  the  saddest  chapter  of  the 
Social  Question,  the  chapter  of  female  and  child  labour  ? 
Are  you  not  aware  that  it  is  the  reckless,  remorseless 
making  a  profit  out  of  our  women,  on  whom  the  future  of 
our  people  depends,  which  is  one  of  the  mainsprings  of  the 
wealth  of  your  "  natural  aristocracy,"  one  of  the  most 
powerful  means  of  holding  down  the  artisan  class  on  the 
lowest  social  level  ?  If  the  physical  and  moral  dangers 
which  naturally  issue  from  these  conditions  have  not 
radically  ruined  modern  cultured  races,  you  have  only  the 
artisans  to  thank,  who  will  not  shrink  from  the  greatest 
sacrifices  to  preserve  the  honour  of  their  wives  and 
daughters.  But  when  the  last  physical  and  moral  check 
fails,  which  the  family  provides — when  the  work-girl, 
armed  only  with  her  bare  hands,  is  brought  into  the 
market  of  your  boastful  society,  what,  I  ask,  is  the  fate  in 
store  for  her  ?  What  is  the  economic  regulator  which 
makes  all  the  difference  between  the  highest  pay  and  the 
poorest  remuneration,  scarce  enough  to  keep  body  and 
soul  together  ?  It  is — Professor ! — it  is  your  "  free  love  " 
and  "  community  of  women  "  in  its  most  loathsome  and 
degrading  form.  The  whole  range  of  female  activity, 
from  the  ballet-dancer  to  the  humblest  mill-girl,  is  open 
on  the  market  to  your  u  natural  aristocracy ;  "  bidding 

VOL.    II.  T 


274  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

for  it  is  a  lung  of  its  existence.  The  capitalists  would 
command  our  young  women,  at  their  own  price  and  for 
what  they  willed,  were  they  not  stopped  by  the  fence  of 
married  life  which  they  cannot  always  with  impunity 
overleap.1  Professor,  we  fight  tooth  and  nail  against  the 
modern  system  of  production,  because  we  are  determined 
to  vindicate  the  sanctity  of  marriage  against  "  free  love  ; " 
whereas  you,  lauding  our  theories,  which  you  appropriate 
as  your  own,  act  the  reverse  of  them.' 2 

Socialism  does  not  preach  class  antagonism,  but  only 
hostility  to  the  present  commercial  system.  Marx  says,  in 
the  preface  to  his  book,  '  I  do  not  show  the  forms  of  the 
capitalist  and  the  landlord  in  a  rosy  light ;  but  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  these  persons  are  the  representatives 
of  a  system  and  interests,  personifications  of  economic 
categories.  They  are  not  responsible  for  the  evil  of  the 
system,  they  are  necessary  products  of  it,  forms  that  must 
be  evolved  in  the  development  of  social  progress,  to  be 
superseded  and  disappear  in  their  course.'  And  Lassalle 
urges,  '  The  artisan  must  and  ought  never  to  forget,  that 
all  property  once  acquired  is  unassailable  and  legitimate  ; 
it  is  only  when  the  capitalist  seeks  to  perpetuate  the 
present  confusion,  and  sets  himself  in  opposition  to  the 
advance  of  mankind  in  blind  egoism,  that  he  becomes  the 
bourgeois.'  It  is  also  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  Socialism 
seeks  the  break-up  of  property  into  smaller  and  ever 
more  infinitesimal  portions.  It  is  precisely  this  that  has 
been  done  by  the  Code  Napoleon,  which  has  made  the 

1  German  mothers  in  the  gentle  and  middle  classes  do  not  nurse 
their  own  children,  but  hire  for  them  wet  nurses,  who  are  girls  who 
have  had  illegitimate  children.     These  are  paid  higher  wages  than 
other  servants,  and  are  made  much  of.     A  premium  is  thus  put  on  loss 
of  chastity. 

2  Herr  von  Treischkeder  Socialistentodter.  JEine  Socialistische  Replik. 
Leipz.  1875,  p.  33. 


Social  Democracy.  275 

whole  peasant  class  subject  to  Jew  usurers.  Subdivision  of 
trade  in  manufactures  has  been  taken  advantage  of  by 
employers  to  enslave  the  artisans  and  draw  the  profits  into 
their  own  purses.  Subdivision  of  property  in  land  has  had 
precisely  the  same  effect.  The  Jew  has  stepped  into  the 
place  of  the  old  landlord :  the  bauer  toils  all  his  life  long, 
earns  a  bare  subsistence,  but  all  the  profits  of  his  farming 
are  sucked  up  by  the  Jew  usurer.  The  object  of  the 
movement,  says  the  Socialist,  is  the  emancipation  of  man- 
kind from  the  yoke  of  capital.  Towards  this  history  is 
tending.  When  the  middle  class  was  ripe  for  independence, 
it  precipitated  the  ruin  of  the  aristocracy  when  they  set 
themselves  to  oppose  it  in  their  selfish  greed  of  power. 
Their  position,  their  rights  were  historic,  only, — empty 
forms,  from  which  the  animating  spirit  had  flown.  They 
stood,  leaning  on  these  hollow,  pithless  reeds,  relying 
on  these  shadows  of  substances  extinct,  to  fight  natural 
rights,  animated  with  eternal  principles.  Each  host 
unfurled  the  banner  of  Eights,  but  one  bore  historic  rights 
heraldically  emblazoned,  the  rights  of  a  dead  civilisation, 
and  the  other  the  living,  ever  renewing  rights  of  humanity. 
There  could  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  result.  The  nobility 
made  way  for  the  middle  class.  The  castle  fell  into  ruins, 
and  the  factory  rose.  The  pennant  on  the  keep  was  re- 
placed by  the  smoke-snake  of  the  mill-chimney.  Men  no 
longer  fought  in  the  lists,  but  on  the  exchange ;  smote 
one  another  not  to  the  heart,  but  in  their  purses.  As  the 
noble  went  down  before  the  citizen,  so  must  the  citizen 
vanish  before  the  artisan.  The  great  period  of  commercial 
and  manufacturing  activity  has  been  a  chapter  in  history,  to 
be  now  concluded.  It  was  necessary  that  capital  should 
build  large  factories,  purchase  machinery,  subdivide  labour, 
bring  vast  crowds  of  workmen  to  co-operate  on  one  pro- 
duct, carry  on  wholesale  manufacture  and  trade,  to  prepare 

T   2 


276  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

the  way  for  the  wholesale  trade  and  manufacture  par 
excellence,  which  will  be  carried  on  by  the  State.  It  was 
necessary  that  men  should  learn  first  co-operation  in 
production,  before  they  could  advance  to  co-operation  in 
distribution.  We  have  got  so  far  that  we  see  our  goal, 
we  see  whither  history  points ;  and  never  will  Liberalism 
and  the  middle  class  succeed  in  arresting  the  evolution  of 
the  destiny  of  the  masses,  and  snap  short  off  the  progress 
of  history.  c  We  must  look  to  the  past,'  adds  the  Socialist, 
'and  take  from  it  lessons  for  the  future.'  Capital  in 
money  was  never  endowed  with  fertility  till  labour  was 
subdivided.  In  the  natural  state  of  society,  the  shilling 
stuck  to  the  owner.  The  Church  forbade  usury,  that  is, 
the  giving  of  money  the  faculty  of  procreating  in  its  own 
image.  She  did  well.  In  the  Middle  Ages  money  was 
borrowed  as  it  is  now,  but  then  no  opportunity  offered  of 
converting  the  loan  into  a  means  of  acquiring  money.  It 
was  borrowed  to  relieve  want,  not  to  speculate  upon.1  If 
society,  for  the  common  good,  forbade  usury  three  or 
four  centuries  ago,  it  may  forbid  it  again,  a  century 
hence,  having  discovered  by  bitter  experience  what  a 
curse  it  has  proved.  This  is  all  the  expropriation  sought 
by  Socialism.  It  is  cast  in  our  teeth,  that  our  theory 
could  never  be  carried  into  practice.  We  answer  it  has, 
and  it  beat  the  opposed  theory  when  put  to  the  test  of 
experience.  In  the  Middle  Ages  the  feudal  system  repre- 
sented that  you  advocate.  The  few  expropriated  the 
many.  But  in  the  towns  the  communal  system  throve, 
and  the  towns  waxed  so  strong  on  that  system  that  they 
broke  the  power  of  the  feudal  aristocracy.  With  the 
sixteenth  century  that  communal  system  was  abandoned 

1  *  Ea  propria  est  usurarum  interpretatio,  quando  videlicet  ex  usu  rei, 
quse  non  germinat,  nullo  labore,  nullo  sumptu  nullove  periculo  lucrum 
fcetusque  conquiri  studetur.'— Decree  of  fifth  Lateran  Council. 


Social  Democracy.  277 

by  trade,   and  the  feudal  introduced  under  the  form  of 
plutocracy. 

As  concerns  landed   property,  every  one  knows  that 
originally  the  land  was  common  to  all.     It  is  so  to  this 
day  in  Java,  and  there  agriculture  is  nevertheless  most 
intensive,  and  there  in   less  than   a  hundred   years   the 
population  has  risen  from  two  millions  to  seventeen  and  a 
half  millions  ;  so  favourable  has  the  system  shown  itself. 
Every  parish  in  Germany  has  still  its  common  land  and 
forest.     It  was  when  agriculture  became  intensive  rather 
than  extensive,  that  common  land  was  appropriated  to 
householders.     But  now,  throughout  Germany,  subdivision 
of  property  in  land  leads  everywhere  to  wretched  farming. 
The  earth  does  not  produce  one  half  of  what  it  would  in 
the  hands  of  a  large  holder  ;    and  we   see  that  it   is  a 
commercial  and  financial  necessity  to  do  away  with  these 
minute   holdings   and    bring    the   land   under   wholesale 
culture,   by   the   community.     As    population   increases, 
properties  dwindle,  and  the  land  produces  less ;  the  time 
must  come  when  society  will  no  longer  endure  this  waste 
of  resources.      The   land   must   be   taken   back   by   the 
community.     No  doubt  the  bauer  will  object ;  but  he  will 
soon  see  how  much  more  prosperous  he  will  become  when 
the  Jew  has  his  claws  no  more  in  him. 

The  State  will  organise  national  labour  General  pro- 
duction will  be  a  social  function,  and  private  speculation 
done  away  with  for  ever.  There  will  be  no  living  on 
rents  and  funded  property,  for  property  in  land  and  banks 
will  be  abolished.  In  the  place  of  private  speculators  and 
manufacturers,  the  State,  the  collective  organ,  will  act,  and 
regulate  production  by  demand.  By  this  means  the 
anarchy  of  competition  will  be  supplanted  by  national  order. 
It  would  be  impossible  to  over-estimate  the  advantages 
of  such  an  organisation — could  it  be  realised.  Now  capital 


278  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

and  labour  are  alike  wasted,  squandered  on  swindling, 
on  fruitless  undertakings  which  end  in  bankruptcy.  Much 
labour  and  much  capital  would  be  economised,  when 
demand  and  production  balanced  each  other  exactly. 
Such  an  organisation  would  call  forth,  not  only  a  more 
equal,  but  a  more  intense  production.  Many  branches  of 
industry,  only  occupied  with  ministering  to  luxury,  would 
disappear.  The  moral  advantage  would  be  scarcely  less. 
Nothing  is  so  mischievous  to  the  moral  fibre  as  waste  of 
time.  When  every  man  must  work  that  he  may  eat,  a 
healthy  life  will  pervade  the  whole  community.  All  will 
be  busy  and  all  will  be  happy  in  the  consciousness  that 
they  are  profiting  themselves  and  the  community. 

As  the  production  of  goods  will  be  common,  so  will  be 
the  distribution  of  profits.  The  prime  law  of  the  com- 
munity of  the  future  will  be  'To  work  its  full  wage.' 
Not  that  each  should  substantially  possess  the  product  of 
his  own  hands  as  in  the  Mediaeval  commonwealth.  The 
immense  advance  made  by  society  in  subdivision  of 
labour  makes  this  impossible,  but  each  will  receive  the 
absolute  value  of  his  work.  The  measure  of  the  value 
will  be — true  to  the  Socialist  principle  that  work  is  the 
source  of  all  value — the  day's  labour.  Whosoever  shall  have 
done  a  certain  number  of  hours'  work  will  receive  a  certifi- 
cate or  cheque  for  its  worth,  and  at  the  State  stores  he 
can  provide  himself  with  anything  he  desires  up  to  the 
value  of  his  cheque.  As  all  products,  all  goods,  are  valued 
by  the  amount  of  work  bestowed  on  them — because  they 
are,  so  to  speak,  the  crystallisation  of  work — it  will  be 
always  possible  to  fix  their  value,  and  this  will  be  so  low 
as  to  leave  only  a  slight  profit  over.  Thus  all  independent 
trade  and  speculation — the  market,  in  fact, — will  in  the 
Socialist  State  have  no  footing ;  and  thus  the  first  object 
of  the  system  will  be  attained. 


Social  Democracy.  279 

With  respect  to  the  normal  work-day,  it  is  not  to  be 
supposed  that  the  number  of  hours  will  be  fixed  for  all 
alike,  nor  that  intelligent  and  unintelligent  work  should 
be  reckoned  of  like  value.1  On  the  contrary,  all  work  will 
be  appreciated  by  the  skill  it  demands,  the  discomforts 
and  danger  to  health  it  may  entail,  the  intelligence  which 
it  requires  for  its  execution.  All  these  will  be  taken  into 
account  and  given  their  proper  value.  The  man  of 
learning,  the  student  of  science,  the  educator  of  the  young, 
the  painter,  the  poet,  the  musician,  all  will  receive  recog- 
nition and  payment,  as  workers  together  for  the  common 
good.  They  will  be  paid  out  of  the  slight  profit  made  on 
the  sale  of  goods  in  the  general  stores, — the  very  simplest 
method  of  taxation  conceivable. 

Such  is  the  Socialist  economical  system.  It  is  one 
dazzling  and  full  of  promise.  Presented  before  the 
artisans  of  Berlin,  Leipzig,  Elberfeld,  and  other  large 
towns,  where  Protestantism  has  lost  its  hold  on  their 
affections,  where,  however,  in  their  present  distress,  they 
are  craving  for  a  religion,  Socialism  has  become,  not  a 
theory  of  government  only,  but  a  religion.  It  opens  to 
them  a  glorious  future :  it  assures  them  a  reign  of 
justice,  liberty,  fraternity,  and  equality  on  the  earth. 

Police  and  imprisonment  will  not  destroy  it;  ideas 
are  not  put  down  by  laws.  Eepression  may  make  martyrs, 
but  will  not  prevent  the  spread  of  the  creed.  An  atmo- 
sphere of  ideas  is  precisely  the  atmosphere  that  should 
not  be  concentrated  and  condensed,  but  given  expansion 
and  dilution.  Nitrogen  is  innocuous,  except  when 
crystallised  in  glycerine.  Enthusiasts  are  always  to  be 
found  to  whom  expression  of  some  kind  is  an  imperative 
necessity ;  they  muse  over  their  theories  till  the  fire 

1  This  is  not,  however,  the  doctrine  of  Liebknecht,  or  of  several  of 
the  speakers  at  the  Gotha  Conference. 


2 So  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

kindles,  and  then,  if  not  given  space  for  explosion,  will 
blow  down  a  house  even  if  they  bury  themselves  under  the 
ruins. 

If  Socialism  were  a  foreign  importation,  a  cordon  of 
an   effectual   kind  might   be    drawn   round   the  Empire 
to   prevent   the    innoculation   of  the    guileless,    healthy 
German  operative  with  this  contagious  French  foot-and- 
mouth  disease.     But  it  is  not  so.     It  is  of  home  growth. 
Grerman    socialism   is  distinct  from  French  communism. 
That   it  is   extensively   propagated   and  believed  in, 
admits  of  no  doubt.     In  spite  of  all  Government  restric- 
tions and  precautions,  it  grows.      In   1876  as  many  as 
51  of  the  representatives  of  Social  Democracy  in  the  Gotha 
Congress  fell  under  the  arm  of  the  law,  in  all  141  times, 
to  the  total  amount  of  205  months  30  days'  imprisonment, 
and   1,307  thalers  fine,  beginning  with  1    day's  imprison- 
ment or  one  thaler  fine,  up  to  44  months'  imprisonment 
or  515  thalers  fine  for  one  person.     Liebknecht  underwent 
44  months'  imprisonment.     Hasenclever  had  to  pay  515 
thalers  fine.    Bebel  was  imprisoned  35  months,  Hurlemann 
9,  Slauk  over  8  months.    In  Saxony,  during  the  five  years 
1870—75,  as  many  as  50  Social  Democrats  underwent  toge- 
ther 500  months'  confinement.     One  would  have  supposed 
that  the  great  blunder  of  the  crusade  against  the  Ultramon- 
tanes  would  have  taught  the  Chancellor  wisdom,  and  that 
he  would    not    attempt   the    same   unsuccessful   crusade 
against   Socialism.      But   a   despotic   government   never 
learns,  it  hardens  itself  in  its  blundering  policy. 

In  1875  Herr  Geib  stated  in  Hamburg  that  503 
associations  of  Social  Democrats  had  been  organised  in 
Germany — an  increase  of  66  per  cent  in  two  years.  At 
the  Socialist  Congress  at  Gotha  in  1876,  there  were 
101  delegates,  representing  284  places,  and  37,774 
members. 


Social  Democracy.  281 

In    1871   the    Socialists    polled    only    1,961    votes  in 
Berlin  ;  in  1877  they  polled  31,576  ;  in  1878  the  votes  re- 
corded  for    a   Socialist   member   were    56,336.     At   the 
General   German  elections   in    1871   they  only   collected 
120,000  votes,  and  managed  to  return  two  members;  in 
1874  they  had  340,000  votes  and  nine  members ;  in  1877, 
the  number  of  votes  for  Socialist  candidates  was  497,000, 
and  twelve  members  were  returned  to  the  legislature.    In 
1878,  in  spite  of  harsh,  repressive  measures,  in  spite  of  their 
inability  to  hold  meetings,  or  even  to  state  their  views  freely 
in  the  press,  the  Socialist  candidates  polled  far  more  votes 
than  they  did  in  the  previous  year.     If  they  have  not  so 
many  representatives  in  the  Keichstag  as  before,  this  is  due 
to  the  fact  that  the  German  election  law  makes  no  provision 
for  the  representation  of  minorities.     They  are  practically 
extinguished,  unless  they  happen  to  be  a  local  majority. 
Had  there  existed  three-cornered  constituencies,  or  had 
election  au  scrutin  de  liste  been  employed,  the  Socialist 
party  in  the  German  Parliament  would  have  been  greatly 
strengthened. 

In  spite  of  repression  the  Socialist  press  shows  no  loss  of 
activity.  In  1869  it  issued  only  six  Social-Democratic 
papers,  now  there  are  forty-seven,  of  which  thirty-two  are 
political,  and  three  comic.1  The  illustrated ;  Neue  Welt '  at 
first  numbered  18,000  subscribers,  now  30,000.  '  Der  Arme 
Konrad,'  the  calendar  of.  the  party,  sells  to  the  amount  of 
40,000  copies.  Socialist  ideas  are  by  no  means  confined  to 
the  lower  stratum  in  society.  The  whole  professional  class  is 
more  or  less  infected  with  them.  This  class,  living  in  a  world 
of  dreams,  delighting  in  destructive  criticism,  utterly  unac- 
quainted with  the  practical  aspect  of  such  questions,  has 
been  captivated  by  the  specious  promises  of  Socialism. 

1  Eulenspiegel  (Mainz),  LeucJitTiugcln  (Brunswick),  and  Krdkehl&r 
(Cassel). 


282  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

This  is  especially  the  case  with  the  professors  of  political 
economy  in  the  German  universities.  Socialistic  doctrines 
of  trade  are  too  reactionary  not  to  attract  the  sympathy  of 
protectionists,  and  the  advocacy  of  State  encouragement 
of  private  industry  is  quite  in  harmony  with  the  tenets  of 
Socialism.  Free  trade  aggravates  the  distress  at  home. 
The  chief  professor  of  political  economy  at  the  Berlin 
University  is  a  rank,  an  undisguised  Socialist.  In  his 
hostility  to  private  property  and  his  sympathy  with  the 
theory  of  State  control  of  manufacture  and  sale,  he  is 
quite  as  far  advanced  as  the  Berliner  '  Freie  Presse ' 
itself.1 

The  Social-Democratic  party  has  been  accused,  if  not 
of  complicity  with,  at  all  events  of  responsibility  for,  the  two 
attempts  made  on  the  life  of  the  Emperor.  The  accusation 
is  most  unjust.  Hodel  was  a  man  of  weak  intellect,  made 
weaker  by  depraved  morals ;  and  Nobiling's  brain 
trembled  on  the  verge  of  insanity.  The  party  was  as 

1  A  writer  in  the  Saturday  Review  of  March  23, 1878,  says  very  truly 
that  the  recent  general  elections  of  1878  have  strongly  impressed 
Germans  with  two  remarkable  facts  :  in  the  first  place,  the  chief 
stronghold  of  the  Socialists  was  shown  to  be  Berlin  itself,  so  that  it 
appeared  that  the  greatest  support  of  doctrines  which  seem  to  be  the 
offspring  of  sheer  ignorance  was  found  in  the  very  centre  of  German 
education,  and  indifference  to  the  Fatherland  was  most  zealously  pro- 
claimed in  the  very  centre  of  German  military  glory.  Then,  again,  it 
was  discovered,  to  the  surprise  of  many  honest  and  respectable  persons, 
that  the  Socialists  by  no  means  all  belonged  to  the  mob.  Decorous 
people,  dressed  in  an  unexceptionable  manner,  and  even  to  some  extent 
wearing  kid  gloves,  were  seen  to  go  solemnly  to  the  poll  and  proclaim 
themselves  adherents  of  the  lamented  Lassalle.  They  were  not  Con- 
servatives wishing  to  give  a  wholesome  lesson  to  the  bourgeoisie,  but 
men  who  were  frankly  sick  of  modern  society  and  repudiated  it  in 
spite  of  the  advantages  which  they  personally  derived  from  it.  They 
would  probably  have  hesitated  to  drink  beer  with  twelve  hundred 
ladies  in  a  dancing-saloon,  or  to  wear  a  red  scarf  at  an  irreligious 
funeral ;  but  when  they  had  merely  to  go  to  the  poll,  they  had  the 
courage  of  their  opinions  and  plumped  for  a  Socialist. 


Social  Democracy.  283 

little  guilty  of  their  wicked  and  foolish  attempts,  as  was 
the  Liberal  in  that  of  Biland  on  the  pastor  Heinrici,  or 
the  Ultramontane  in  that  of  Kullmann  on  Prince 
Bismarck. 

If  violence  be  resorted  to,  it  is  not  to  advance  the 
cause,  but  to  revenge  the  curtailment  of  natural  rights. 
Shooting  the  Emperor,  or  Bismarck,  would  not  advance 
the  Social  millennium  by  a  day ;  but  it  may  be  the 
nemesis  of  an  indignant  people  against  those  who  deny 
them  the  liberty  of  free  propagation  of  their  ideas. 
Those  ideas  in  themselves  are  harmless.  They  are  an 
historic  theory,  a  prophecy  of  what  is  to  be,  a  calculation 
of  forces.  The  theory  may  be  wrong,  the  prophecy  false, 
the  calculation  put  out  by  imreckoned  elements.  That 
can  only  be  proved  by  experience.  Let  it  be  proved  by 
experiment.  At  least,  let  many  minds  consider  it  from 
their  many  standing-points,  and  point  out  the  weak  scales 
in  the  harness,  and  thrust  the  arrows  of  criticism  through 
the  joints  they  find.  The  experiment  is  preposterous,  say 
many,  but  it  is  not  preposterous,  it  is  only  premature. 
Free  trade  has  not  been  fully  tried.  The  Liberal  pro- 
gramme has  not  been  carried  out  in  its  entirety  ;  and  till 
that  has  been  tested  and  has  broken  down,  the  era  of 
Social  Democracy  has  not  come.  We  have  less  of  Socialism 
in  England,  because  free  trade  and  a  free  circulation  of 
labour  have  made  prosperity  pretty  general.  Germany 
has  imported  our  manufacturing  system,  without  throw- 
ing open  her  ports,  and  whilst  tying  down  her  people  to 
the  land.  She  reaps  the  evil  and  none  of  the  good. 

The  attempts  made  to  repress  Social  Democracy  will 
aggravate  the  disorder,  and,  in  the  meantime,  the 
elements  of  a  dangerous  combination  are  being  brought 
together  by  a  common  persecution.  Ultramontanism  has 
nothing  to  fear  from  Social  Democracy  and  much  to  gain. 


284  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

For  a  century  the  decrees  of  Popes  against  usury  have  been 
the  derision  of  modern  civilisation.  Ultramontanism  can 
come  before  Social  Democracy  flaunting  this  fact.  The 
Church,  it  can  say,  and  say  with  truth,  laid  down  the  very 
principles  which  you  advocate,  and  condemned  the  whole 
modern  system  of  making  capital  breed  capital.  The 
world  would  not  listen  to  her.  A  hundred  years  of 
breaking  banks,  ruined  industries,  money  panics,  and 
trade  failures  have  shown  mankind  that  the  Church  was 
right  and  speculative  trade  was  wrong.  The  commercial 
system  of  the  nineteenth  century  grew  up  on  lines  con- 
demned by  the  Church,  and  experience  has  justified  her. 
That  an  alliance  between  Ultramontanism  and  Socialism 
is  possible  is  proved  by  the  fact  of  the  growth  of  the  latter 
among  the  Catholic  population  of  Brittany.  Friends 
living  there  have  assured  me  that  this  is  the  case ;  and 
that  the  poor,  who  have  been  known  as  devoted  to  their 
religion,  are  becoming  eager  Communists  as  well.  Point- 
ing to  the  Bible  they  declare  that  Christ  was  the  first 
prophet  of  this  social  gospel,  and  the  early  Church  the 
first  Communistic  society.  Christ,  they  argue,  came  to 
be  not  merely  the  moro£,  but  also  the  social  regenerator  of 
mankind.  For  nineteen  centuries  moral  regeneration  has 
alone  been  attempted:  let  us  now  look  at  Him  as  the 
recaster  of  the  social  system,  and,  taking  his  precepts,  act 
up  to  them  literally.  For  nineteen  centuries  the  inculca- 
tion of  the  moral  law  has  led  to  small  results.  The 
morals  of  men  are  scarcely  better  than  they  were  in  the 
days  of  heathenism,  because  governments  have  refused  to 
establish  the  whole  Gospel,  and  allow  Christianity  a  field 
for  developing  its  social  principles,  except  within  the  walls 
of  a  monastery.  But  when  the  body  politic  is  reformed 
on  the  Gospel  system,  on  the  system  of  the  Apostolic 
Church,  on  the  system  of  the  Canonists,  and  of  the  great 


Social  Democracy.  285 

monastic  patriarchs,  then  it  will  be  found  that  the  moral 
law  is  more  easily  kept.  How  is  it  possible,  in  the 
present  condition  of  trade,  to  observe  the  eighth  command- 
ment in  the  spirit  ?  Manufacture,  trade,  must  be  more 
or  less  fraudulent,  or  the  manufacturer,  the  trader,  is 
ruined.  How  is  it  possible  for  the  seventh  commandment 
to  be  observed  ?  Marriage  is  a  prerogative  reserved  to 
the  wealthy — at  least  in  towns.  The  clerk  and  shopman 
cannot  take  to  themselves  wives  and  make  homes,  on 
account  of  the  cost  of  living  and  the  uncertainty  of  trade. 
The  consequences  are  a  wide-spread  demoralisation.  It 
is  of  no  avail  the  Church  preaching  purity,  when  the 
social  condition  is  such  that  marriage  is  unattainable. 
This  alone  proves  that  the  commercial  situation  is  un- 
natural, and  if  unnatural,  anti-Christian  also.  It  is  the 
natural  right  of  every  man  to  establish  a  household. 
Reorganise  society  on  the  basis  of  natural  and  Christian 
right,  and  the  sun  will  shine  out  again  over  the  dark 
places  of  society.  Take  the  ordinary  life  of  a  young  man 
or  lady  of  wealth.  The  day  is  spent  in  killing  time,  life 
is  wasted  in  a  round  of  pleasures  that  pall  by  repetition. 
Most  of  the  vice  in  society  arises  from  the  empty  heart 
seeking  ever  new  gratifications  in  the  hope  of  appeasing 
an  eternal  craving.  Every  form  of  debauchery  is  a 
new  stimulant  poured  into  a  hungry  stomach.  It  intoxi- 
cates and  enfeebles,  it  does  not  satisfy  and  brace  to  action. 
Satan  will  always  find  mischief  for  idle  hands  to  do. 
More  than  half  the  infidelities  in  married  life  are  the 
ugly  crop  that  springs  out  of  idle  hours.  An  untilled 
field  grows  briers  and  thistles.  If  every  man  and  woman 
be  made  to  work,  the  whole  atmosphere  of  society  will  be 
refreshed  and  purified.  Vice  still  will  be  ;  but  it  will  be 
rough,  not  exquisite.  Work,  not  pleasure,  will  occupy 
the  heart ;  healthy  exercise  will  invigorate  the  moral  as 


286  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

well  as  the  physical  system.  Time  will  be  utilised,  not 
killed.  Those  who  live  now  as  parasites  on  the  common- 
wealth will  fall  off,  and  the  race  disappear.  All  human 
beings,  not  a  few,  will  labour  together  for  the  common 
weal. 

The  old  regime  was  bad  enough ;  for  under  it  a  few 
lived  only  for  pleasure,  and  the  many  worked.  But  they 
did,  unconsciously,  one  great  good.  They  preserved  a 
sense  of  honour,  a  reverence  for  truth.  The  modern 
regime  is  at  once  a  plutocracy  and  a  kakistocracy.  An 
escutcheon  may  be  stained,  but  a  money-bag  cannot  blush. 
All  the  evils  of  an  aristocracy  remain,  and  none  of  the 
advantages.  The  old  aristocracy  was  lavish  and  licentious ; 
the  new  plutocracy  is  ostentatious  and  obscene. 

Such  arguments  may  be  heard  from  the  mouths  of 
devout  Catholics  in  France.  The  fusion  has  begun  there 
between  the  Church  and  the  Commune.  It  has  not  pro- 
ceeded far,  but  it  has  begun.  In  Grermany  this  is  not  the 
case.  German  Catholic  workmen  are  not  as  yet  infected 
with  Socialistic  views.  But  this  is  a  condition  of  affairs 
not  likely  to  last.  Catholicism  and  Socialism  have  a 
natural  tendency  to  coalesce.  The  priests  are  not  vehe- 
mently hostile  to  it.  The  purse-proud  burger  has  proved 
himself  too  offensive  for  them  to  desire  the  perpetuation 
of  the  species. 

M.  Tissot,  in  his  '  Vienne  et  la  Vie  Viennoise,'  gives  a 
conversation  he  had  with  an  Austrian  priest  who  had  taken 
up  Socialist  views.  I  will  give  the  words  of  a  priest  in 
South  Grermany  on  the  same  subject.  '  During  the  last 
three  hundred  years  the  Catholic  Church  has  had  the  most 
difficult  of  all  tasks  to  perform.  She  has  had  to  find  a 
modus  vivendi  for  Christians  in  a  social  condition  for 
which  the  Grospel  was  not  calculated.  Take  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount.  Is  it  possible  to  carry  out  its  provisions 


Social  Democracy.  287 


in  the  nineteenth  century  ?  Luther  was  brought  face  to 
face  with  the  same  problem.  He  had  penitents  ;  he  knew 
by  the  confessional  how  impossible  it  was  to  apply  the  hard 
and  fast  lines  of  Gospel  morality  to  the  men  and  women 
of  the  century  in  which  he  lived,  in  which  already  life  was 
becoming  complex.  He  solved  the  difficulty  in  his  rough 
and  ready  way  by  making  the  moral  law  an  invention  of 
Moses,  and  free  grace  and  forgiveness  the  revelation  of 
Christ.  His  Gospel  was  emancipation  of  the  conscience 
from  the  restraints  of  the  moral  law.  It  was  impossible 
for  the  Church  to  adopt  his  solution.  She  has  tried 
another.  She  has  made  pardon  for  sin  almost  as  easy  to 
be  obtained  as  it  is  under  Luther.  She  maintains  her 
protest,  but  that  is  all.  There  is  a  higher  and  better 
way,  but  under  the  existing  state  of  things  it  is  impossible 
for  the  world  at  large  to  follow  it.  She  exhorts  to  the 
higher,  but  connives  at  men  following  the  lower.  This  is 
the  Jesuit  programme.  That  it  is  not  satisfactory,  most 
will  allow.  But  something  had  to  be  done,  and  moralists 
did  what  they  could.  The  condition  of  society  is 
changing,  and  we  wait  for  a  better  and  healthier  state  in 
which  the  Church  may  take  a  more  dignified  line.  Our 
course  now  is  a  pis  aller,  nothing  more.  We  are  impa- 
tient at  this.  We  believe  that  the  Gospel  scheme  is 
adapted  to  something  better.  We  believe  that  Christianity 
has  not  said  its  last  word.  We  see  everywhere  society 
breaking  up,  governments  tottering,  and  a  new  light 
breaking  in  on  the  minds  of  men,  showing  a  way  in  which 
the  great  wrongs  of  mankind  may  be  redressed,  and — what 
touches  us,  spiritual  guides,  nearly — in  which  the  literal 
carrying  out  of  the  Gospel  maxims  of  morality  may  be 
made  possible ;  a  condition  in  which  moral  questions  are 
not  a  tangle  to  be  solved  only  by  casuistry,  but  simple,  to 
be  cut  with  common  sense.  We  look  at  the  teaching  of 


288  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

Christ,  and  we  find  in  it  the  outlines  of  this  new  social 
philosophy.     We  look  at  the  history  of  the  early  Church, 
and  we  find  attempts  made  to  reconstitute  society  on   a 
basis  which  is  precisely  that  of  Marx  and  Lassalle.     We 
open  our  canonists,   and  discover  that  Social-Democratic 
dogmas  are  the   social  dogmas  of  the   infallible  Church, 
formulated   before   modern  society   had    developed    into 
the  monster  which  it   now   is.     De   Maistre    a  hundred 
years  ago  said:  "When  I  consider  the  general  weaken- 
ing  of   moral   principles,  the    immensity    of  our  needs, 
and  the  inanity  of  our  means,  it  seems  to  me  that  every 
true  philosopher  must  choose  between  these  two   hypo- 
theses— either   he   must  form  a  new  religion  altogether, 
or    Christianity    must    be    rejuvenated    in    some     extra- 
ordinary   manner.      Everything   announces    some    grand 
unity,   towards   which   we   are    advancing  with    mighty 
strides."     That  is  what  I  expect  too,  and  expect  to  find  it 
in  Social  Democracy — not  in  a  godless  communism,  but 
in  a  great  Christian  social  revival.     Wait  a  bit.     The  day 
may  not  be  so  distant  when  the  successor  of  St.   Peter 
will  set  himself  at  the  head  of  this  movement,  and   Christ 
will  appear  Himself  not  merely  as  the  moral  but  also  the 
social  regenerator  of  the  world.     Empires,  constitutional 
monarchies,  republics  have  been  tried,  and  have  not  proved 
completely  successful.     Perhaps  a  great  Christian  Social- 
Democratic  State  will  prove  the  solution  of  the  question 
how  men  are  to  be  governed.     The  Apostolic  Chair  has 
not   received   sufficient  favours    from    modern  emperors, 
kings,  and  presidents  to  have  much  scruple  in  consign- 
ing them  to  the  lions.     The  phoenix  may  consume  her 
nest,   but   she   will    spring    from    the   flames   newborn, 
victorious.' 

I  do  not  say  that  Socialism  has  made  much  way  among 
German  Catholics.     On  the  contrary,  I  assert  that  it  has 


Social  Democracy.  289 

not;  but  I  do  assert  that   Catholicism   is  not  likely  to 
oppose  its  extension.1 

There  stands,  however,  in  Germany,  one  dyke  against 
which  Social  Democracy  may  dash  itself,  but  which  it  will 
never  undermine  or  overleap — not  the  iron  empire,  not 
penal  laws,  not  the  military  force,  not  the  Catholic 
Church,  but  the  great  Bauerstand — a  Portland  Beach  of 
very  small  pebbles,  loosely  lying  together,  uncemented, 
but  impossible  to  move  or  break  through.  The  Bauer- 
stand  clings  to  real  property  with  inflexible  tenacity. 
Not  a  bauer  can  be  allured  by  the  dreams  of  communism ; 
and  the  Bauerstand  is  the  basis  of  the  empire.  In  the 
Eusso-Turkish  war,  the  spade  proved  a  more  important 
weapon  than  the  bayonet;  and  in  the  future  battle 
between  property  and  proletariatism,  the  spade  will  make 
the  rifle  pits  in  which  the  capitalists  will  cower,  and  from 
which  they  will  decimate  their  assailants. 

1  The  recent  encyclical  of  the  Pope  on  Socialism  has  been  in  fact  a 
slap  in  the  face  of  the  Jesuits,  who  have  for  long  been  coquetting  with 
Social  Democracy,  and  whose  trump  card  has  been  the  above  pro- 
gramme. 


VOL.    II. 


I 

290  Germany \  Present  and  Past. 


CHAPTEE   XVII. 

CULTURE. 

Vwla. — The  rudeness  that  hath  appeared  in  me,  have  I  learned  from 
my  entertainment. 

Twelfth  NigJit,  act  i.  sc.  5. 

FOR  thirty  years  Germany  was  a  battle-field.  In  Saxony 
900,000  men  had  fallen  within  two  years ;  in  Bohemia 
the  number  of  inhabitants  had  sunk  to  one-fourth. 
Augsburg,  instead  of  80,000  inhabitants,  numbered  but 
18,000.  Every  province,  every  town  throughout  the 
empire  had  suffered  in  like  manner.  The  country  was 
completely  impoverished.  The  trades  had  disappeared. 
The  busy  looms  were  hushed,  the  factories  destroyed, 
the  warehouses  gutted.  Vast  provinces,  once  flourishing 
and  populous,  lay  entirely  waste  and  uninhabited.  In 
Franconia — which,  owing  to  her  central  position,  had  been 
traversed  by  every  party  during  the  war — the  misery  and 
depopulation  had  reached  such  a  pitch,  that  the  Fran- 
conian  Estates,  with  the  assent  of  the  bishops,  abolished 
the  celibacy  of  the  Catholic  clergy,  and  permitted  each 
layman  to  marry  two  wives,  on  account  of  the  numerical 
superiority  of  the  women  over  the  men.  Science  and  the 
arts  had  fled  the  realm.  In  place  of  learning,  pedantry 
dragged  on  a  wretched  existence  ;  and  when  a  desire  came 
for  works  of  art,  Germany  was  fain  to  import  a  style  from 
France.  It  had  none  of  its  own.  Thirty  years  are  a 


Culture.  291 


generation.  A  generation  had  grown  up  without  the 
restraints  of  moral  or  other  law  ;  had  grown  up  with  their 
only  idea  of  right — the  right  of  the  strongest.  Mediaeval 
culture  had  been  killed  in  the  course  of  development. 
The  humanising  effects  of  a  gradually  unfolding  civilisa- 
tion were  undone,  and  the  whole  nation  was  replunged  in 
barbarism.  Chivalrous  respect  for  women  was  gone ; 
domestic  life  was  done  away  with.  To  bouse  and  fight  in 
the  taverns  became  the  practice  of  men.  Art  had  to  be 
recreated  or  imported.  Poetry,  literature,  painting  were 
extinguished.  Eeligion  also  had  expired. 

I  was  speaking  once  at  Lille  with  an  old  French 
commercial  traveller,  on  the  irreligion  of  Frenchmen  as 
compared  with  Belgians.  He  made  the  excuse  :  '  Foreign- 
ers forget,  in  judging  us,  that  a  whole  generation  grew  up 
without  Grod,  without  public  worship,  without  religion  of 
any  sort,  under  the  first  Republic.  Grod,  worship, 
religion  became  only  a  tradition.  The  Church  had  to 
relay  her  foundations,  and  start  with  the  reconversion  of  a 
country  with  a  gap  in  its  past.' 

In  Grermany  culture  of  every  kind  became  a  tradition 
only.  A  gulf  of  thirty  years  stood  between  the  old  civi- 
lisation and  the  new  era.  Everything  had  to  be  recon- 
quered, on  every  field.  Everywhere  lay  only  ruins ;  and 
it  was  not  till  more  than  thirty  years  later  that  the 
heart  came  back  to  men  to  set  up  again  the  fallen  stones. 
This  most  important  consideration  must  not  be  put 
aside  in  estimating  modern  Grermany.  We  have  had  no 
such  break  in  the  continuity  of  our  civilisation  since  the 
Wars  of  the  Roses,  and  they  were  a  trifle  compared  with 
that  of  thirty  years  in  Grermany.  Our  social  development 
has,  therefore,  not  been  spasmodic,  but  leisurely  and 
methodical.  But  in  Grermany  civilisation  has  not  been  as 
systematic.  The  advance  has  not  been  all  along  the  line. 

u  2 


292  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

In  some  departments  there  has  been  extraordinary  deve- 
lopment ;  in  others  stagnation.  German  wood- engraving 
is  absolutely  unsurpassed  by  any  in  Europe.  Grerman 
architecture  is  in  the  lowest  abyss  of  degradation.  In 
figure- drawing  Grerman  artists  are  all  but  unrivalled  ;  in 
colour  they  are  nowhere.  In  poetry  they  have  conquered 
a  proud  position ;  in  romance  they  have  yet  one  to  make. 
In  science  they  have  proved  themselves  masters  of  de- 
structive criticism ;  they  have  done  little  as  yet  in  the 
more  difficult  work  of  construction.  '  Germans,'  says  Dr. 
Croly  in  his  preface  to  '  Salathiel,'  '  are  never  content  till 
they  have  demonstrated  all  facts  to  be  fiction,  and 
laboured  to  convert  all  fiction  into  facts.' 

The  Grerman  intellect  is  sharpened  and  polished  into 
the  most  admirable  instrument,  but  the  '  manner  '  which 
'  maketh  man  '  is  left  sadly  untutored.  This  is  what  every 
Frenchman  or  Englishman  notices.  It  is  impossible  to 
blink  a  patent  fact.  But  allowance  is  not  made  often 
enough  for  the  Thirty  Years'  war,  whose  fatal  influence  is 
still  felt  in  this  particular.  It  is  not  my  wish  or  intention 
to  illustrate  this  deficiency  in  culture  of  manner  by  modern 
examples,  but  rather  to  excuse  it.  Grermans  who  have 
associated  with  foreigners  are  ready  enough  to  admit  the 
want  of  refinement  at  home,  and  lament  it ;  but  they  can 
always  excuse  it  by  pointing  back  at  their  history. 
Modern  politesse  is  the  development  in  the  eighteenth 
and  nineteenth  centuries  of  mediaeval  chivalry.  Medise- 
valism,  with  all  its  good  as  well  as  its  evil,  was  buried  in 
Germany  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  a  new  civilisation 
started.  In  two  hundred  years  the  fruit  cannot  be  as 
mature  as  that  which  has  ripened  through  seven  hundred. 

The  mischief  wrought  by  the  Thirty  Years'  war  was 
not  merely  the  rupture  with  the  past.  It  went  farther ; 
it  interfered  with  future  amendment  by  insulating  the 


Culture.  293 


classes  with  wide  spaces  between  them.  The  great  body 
of  the  landed  gentry  was  done  away  with.  The  fortunes 
of  the  war,  and  the  policy  of  the  princes,  had  ruined  them. 
There  was  no  chain  along  which  social  currents  could  flow 
from  the  prince  to  the  peasant.  The  citizen  in  like 
manner  was  left  to  harden  into  his  own  peculiarities  and 
class  prejudices.  He  had  nothing  in  common  with  the 
peasant,  and  was  brought  into  no  contact  with  the  prince, 
for  he  was  not  hoffdhig.  The  gentleman,  who  has  be- 
queathed his  title  to  describe  all  that  is  honourable, 
courteous,  right  in  feeling,  and  considerate  in  conduct,  the 
conservator  of  traditional  virtues  where  courts  are  corrupt, 
became  an  extinct  species  in  Grermany,  like  the  Urochs. 
There  were  gentlemen  before  the  Thirty  Years'  war,  as 
there  were  giants  before  the  Flood.  The  gentleman  is  a 
produce  of  many  ages,  the  resultant  of  many  forces.  He 
is  not  developed  in  a  day. 

With  the  kindest  of  hearts  and  the  best  of  intentions, 
a  Grerman  omits  the  little  courtesies,  and  even  decencies 
of  life,  without  which  civilised  life,  as  we  understand  it  in 
England,  is  intolerable.  His  mode  of  eating  in  the  best 
society  is  on  a  level  with  that  of  our  agricultural  labourers. 
With  a  rudeness  dictated  by  selfish  economy  of  postage- 
stamps,  or  disinclination  to  trouble  himself  with  writing, 
he  does  not  acknowledge  and  answer  letters.  With  a 
romantic  admiration  for  the  fair  sex,  almost  grotesque  in 
its  ideality,  he  will  treat  his  wife  and  daughters  with 
brutality,  and  insult  them  to  their  faces  before  company. 
He  maintains  the  extravagant  external  demonstrations  of 
respect  observed  in  the  last  century,  but  has  no  ease  in 
female  society.  I  do  not  like  to  say  this ;  but  it  is  the 
statement  of  a  truth,  and  I  only  do  so  to  excuse  it.  It  is 
in  no  captious  spirit  that  I  remark  it ;  but,  if  no  notice  be 
taken  of  it,  it  will  not  be  amended.  The  Grerman  nature 


294  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

is  not  guilty  of  this  blemish,  but  the  German  history. 
The  stars  in  their  courses  have  fought  against  Teutonic 
culture.  A  distinguished  Protestant,  after  a  visit  to  Eome, 
returned  a  Catholic.  '  The  religion  must  be  true,'  he 
said,  '  or  it  could  not  survive  such  scandals  and  villanies  as 
are  perpetrated  at  Eome.'  The  German  nature  must  be 
endowed  with  marvellous  resistance  to  bad  influences  not 
to  be  irredeemably  corrupted.  It  is  the  '  entertainment '  to 
which  Germans  have  been  subjected  which  makes  4  rude- 
ness appear '  in  them. 

The  court  everywhere  sets  an  example  of  manners  and 
mode  of  life.  Let  us  look  at  what  court  life  was  in 
Germany  when  it  had  recovered  the  exhaustion  consequent 
on  the  Thirty  Years'  war. 

6  Ich  bin  gut  Deutsch,'  said  Frederick  William  I.  when 
he  succeeded  to  the  Prussian  throne.  '  Ich  will  nichts  von 
den  Blitz-  und  Schelmfranzosen  ; '  and  he  introduced  a 
reaction  against  French  manners  which  were  infiltrating 
his  court.  That  reaction  meant  recurrence  to  a  brutality 
and  savagery  tolerable  only  as  an  inevitable  consequence 
of  war.  He  despised  everything  that  pertained  to  cul- 
ture. Of  the  great  Leibnitz  he  said  scornfully,  '  Bah  ! 
the  fellow  is  not  big  enough  and  upright  enough  to 
stand  guard.  There  can  be  no  good  in  him.'  If  he 
said  that  a  pinch  of  common  sense  was  worth  an  uni- 
versity full  of  learning,  he  was  not  far  wrong;  for  the 
learning  in  the  universities  was  then  but  pedantry.  He 
was  a  bitter  foe  to  aristocratic  pretensions.  When,  in 
1717,  the  Count  of  Dohna,  as  marshal  of  the  nobility  of 
Prussia,  presented  him  with  a  remonstrance  against  the 
taxation  of  the  nobility,  which  concluded  with  the  words 
in  French,  Tout  le  pays  sera  mine,  the  king  burst  out 
with  6  Tout  le  pays  sera  ruine  ?  Nihil  credo ;  but  this 
credo,  that  the  authority  of  the  aristocracy  will  be  ruined. 


Culture.  295 


I  will  establish  my  sovereignty  as  a  rocker  of  bronze/ 
One  evening  a  new  chamberlain  saying  grace  at  table 
began,  '  The  Lord  bless  you '  instead  of  '  thee.'  The 
king  interrupted  grace :  '  You  dog  !  In  Grod's  eyes  you 
and  I  are  a  pair  of  scurvy  dogs — read  grace  aright.'  As 
Frederick  William  was  riding  round  Berlin  one  day,  he  saw 
a  poor  Jew  slink  out  of  his  way.  He  stopped,  seized  on 
the  man,  and  asked  him  why  he  was  trying  to  make  off. 
'  Sire  !  I  was  afraid  of  you ! '  said  the  scared  Hebrew. 
The  king  caught  him  by  the  scruff  of  his  neck,  and  laying 
into  him  with  his  riding  whip  with  fury,  roared,  '  Fear 
me  !  fear  me  !  I'll  teach  you  to  love  me  ! ' 

The  palace  was  furnished,  like  the  house  of  a  citizen, 
with  common  bare  tables  and  chairs,  and  no  carpets  on  the 
floors.  In  private  the  king  was  a  despotic  master.  His 
daughter,  the  Margravine  of  Baireuth,  relates :  f  My 
brother  Frederick  told  me  that  one  morning,  when  he  went 
into  the  king's  room,  our  father  seized  him  by  the  hair, 
flung  him  down,  and  after  he  had  exhausted  the  strength 
of  his  arm  on  the  boy's  poor  body,  he  dragged  him  to  the 
window,  took  the  curtain  rope,  and  twisted  it  round  his 
neck.  The  prince  had  presence  of  mind  and  strength  to 
grasp  his  father's  hands  and  scream  for  help.  A  chamber- 
lain came  in  and  plucked  the  boy  away  from  the  king.' 

King  Frederick  William  entertained  a  bitter  dislike 
for  the  unfortunate  prince.  Frederick  was  very  beautiful, 
and  delicately  formed.  The  timidity  inspired  by  the 
severity  of  his  father  was  mistaken  by  the  latter  for 
cowardice.  The  son  devoted  his  leisure  to  the  study  of 
French  works,  especially  of  Voltaire.  His  father,  on  dis- 
covering this,  punished  him  unmercifully  with  his  cane. 
The  royal  youth  attempted  to  escape,  was  discovered,  seized 
at  Frankfurt  and  carried  into  the  presence  of  his  father, 
who  personally  ill-treated  him,  grossly  outraged  and 


296  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

insulted  him  in  a  brutal  speech,  and,  drawing  his  sword, 
was  on  the  point  of  running  him  through  the  body  when 
he  was  prevented  by  General  Mosel.  The  prince  and  his 
accomplice,  Lieutenant  von  Katt,  were,  however,  con- 
demned by  court-martial  to  death  for  desertion,  and  the 
execution  of  the  sentence  was  only  prevented  by  the 
representations  of  the  foreign  courts.  Frederick  pined  for 
several  weeks  in  prison  with  a  Bible  and  a  book  of  hymns 
for  recreation.  A  scaffold  was  erected  opposite  his  prison 
window,  and  he  was  compelled  to  witness  the  execution  of 
his  friend  Katt. 

The  Margravine  of  Baireuth,  in  her  'Memoirs,'  gives  us 
an  insight  into  the  domestic  arrangements  of  the  king : — 

f  At  10  o'clock  in  the  morning  my  sisters  and  I  went 
to  my  mother,  and  attending  her  presented  ourselves 
before  the  king  in  the  adjoining  room,  and  there  we  had 
to  sigh  away  the  whole  morning.  At  length  came  dinner. 
For  this  were  provided  six  badly  dressed  bowls  of  food,  to 
supply  twenty-four  persons,  and  most  of  them  had  to  satisfy 
their  stomachs  with  the  smell  of  the  messes.  After  dinner, 
the  king  seated  himself  in  his  leather  lounging  chair,  and 
went  to  sleep  for  two  hours,  during  which  I  worked.  As 
soon  as  the  king  woke  he  went  out.  The  queen  then 
returned  to  her  room,  and  there  I  read  aloud  to  her  till 
the  king's  return.  He  only  remained  a  few  minutes  and 
then  went  off  to  the  tabagie.  At  8  o'clock  we  supped  plenti- 
fully; the  king  was  present  and  ate  heartily,  but  the 
others  went  away  hungry  from  table.  Till  1  o'clock  the 
king  generally  remained  in  the  tabagie,  and  till  his 
return  we  were  forced  to  sit  up.' 

The  tabagie  was  the  king's  smoking-room.  The 
palaces  at  Berlin,  Potsdam,  and  Wusterhausen  were  pro- 
vided, every  one,  with  a  smoking  divan — not  an  abode  of 
luxury  by  any  means — furnished  with  hard  chairs,  and  a 


Ctdture.  297 


deal-table  covered  with  green  baize.  To  these  he  invited 
his  generals,  ministers  of  State,  and  the  guests  staying 
with  him.  The  gentlemen  sat  round  the  long  table, 
wearing  their  orders,  and  smoked  out  of  long  Dutch  pipes. 
No  one  was  allowed  to  shirk  smoking.  Prince  Leopold 
of  Dessau  and  the  Imperial  Ambassador  Seckendorf  were 
neither  of  them  fond  of  tobacco,  but  they  dared  not  appear 
without  their  pipes.  Before  each  stood  also  a  great  mug 
of  beer.  The  most  important  affairs  of  State  were  here 
discussed.  Plenty  of  ale  was  kept  running,  and  nothing 
delighted  the  king  more  than  to  make  his  princely 
visitors  sick  with  tobacco-smoke,  or  drunk  with  lager 
beer.  The  principal  butt  of  the  evening  was  Grundling, 
the  king's  historian  and  newspaper  censor.9  Frederick 
William,  in  mockery  of  the  nobility  whom  he  sought  to 
stamp  out  or  laugh  down,  created  him  a  baron,  ennobled 
his  sixteen  ancestors  in  their  graves,  and  to  insult  the 
learned,  appointed  him  President  of  the  Academy  of 
Sciences  ;  he  made  him,  moreover,  his  chamberlain  and 
financial  councillor.  The  king  loved  to  make  him  tipsy, 
and  then  to  jeer  or  lash  him  into  paroxysms  of  drunken 
fury.  Once  the  king  had  a  bear  brought  from  a  me- 
nagerie and  put  in  his  bed.  When  Grundling  was  drunk 
and  incapable,  the  sovereign,  attended  by  his  field- 
marshals,  generals,  and  ministers  of  State,  carried  him  to  his 
room  and  tumbled  him  in  between  the  sheets  with  Bruin. 
It  was  not  owing  to  the  king's  mercy  that  poor  Grundling 
was  not  hugged  to  death  by  the  beast.  On  another 
occasion,  when  the  Finanzrath  had  been  seen  to  bed,  the 
king  and  the  rest  of  the  tobacco- college  besieged  his  bed- 
room with  rockets  and  crackers,  which  were  flung  in  at 
his  window.  On  another,  the  king  ordered  masons  to 
wall  up  the  door  of  his  room,  and  when  Grundling  retired 
from  the  tabagie  for  the  night,  somewhat  elevated,  he  was 


298  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

unable  to  get  into  his  apartment,  and  spent  the  night 
prowling  about  the  palace  looking  for  his  room,  and 
knocking  up  sleepers  and  invading  wrong  apartments. 
One  evening  the  king  had  Fassmann,  Grundling's  rival, 
brought  into  the  tabagie,  and  he  made  Fassmann  read 
aloud  to  the  company  a  satire  composed  by  his  majesty's 
orders  against  poor  Gundling.  This  was  too  gross  an 
insult  to  be  borne.  Grundling  sprang  up,  seized  the  pan 
of  red-hot  turf  that  stood  on  the  table  for  the  lighting  of 
the  pipes,  and  flung  it  in  Fassinann's  face.  The  author, 
maddened  by  the  pain,  flew  upon  Baron  Grundling,  half 
stripped  him,  and  belaboured  his  back  with  the  hot  pan, 
so  that  the  latter  was  unable  to  sit  for  several  weeks. 
Gundling  died  in  1731,  and  in  profane  frolic  was  buried 
in  an  empty  wine- barrel  instead  of  a  coffin.  Morgenstern 
succeeded  Grundling.  The  king  ordered  the  professors 
of  the  University  of  Frankfurt-on-Oder  to  dispute  with 
Morgenstern  in  public  on  the  theme,  '  Savants  are  quacks 
and  fools.'  Morgenstern  appeared  in  the  pulpit  of  the 
disputation  hall  in  a  scarlet  waistcoat  and  blue  velvet 
gown  frogged  with  silver  lace,  and  great  red  trimmings, 
an  enormous  wig  which  hung  half  down  his  back,  and 
at  his  side  a  fox's  tail  in  place  of  a  sword.  After  the 
disputation  had  continued  an  hour,  the  king  stopped  it, 
complimented  Morgenstern,  then  turned  to  the  audience, 
whistled,  and  clapped  his  hands.  They  followed  the  lead, 
and  the  disputation  ended  amid  general  uproar. 

Court  festivities  ended  in  grotesque  scenes.  It  was  a 
standing  custom  for  the  king  to  dance  with  his  generals 
and  colonels  after  the  queen  and  the  ladies  had  with- 
drawn. 

Frederick,  the  crown  prince,  had  been  forgiven  by  his 
father,  on  condition  that  he  married  a  princess  of  Bruns- 
wick whom  he  did  not  love.  He  lived  with  his  wife  at 


Culture.  299 


Kheinsberg,  where  he  kept  a  little  court,  dividing  his 
time  between  the  arts,  the  sciences,  and  revellings.  How 
life  ran  in  this  little  court  may  be  seen  from  the  descrip- 
tion given  of  it  by  the  Baron  von  Bielefeld,  who  was 
there  in  1739,  as  guest.1  '  No  sooner  were  we  at  table, 
than  the  prince  began  to  propose  healths,  one  after  an- 
other, to  all  of  which  we  were  obliged  to  pay  honour. 
Then  followed  a  stream  of  jokes  and  jovialities  on  the 
part  of  the  prince  and  those  round  him.  The  most 
serious  brows  lightened,  merriment  prevailed,  and  the 
ladies  took  their  share  in  it.  In  the  space  of  two  hours, 
however,  it  became  obvious  to  all  that  our  stomachs  were 
not  fathomless  abysses  into  which  we  might  be  ever- 
lastingly pouring  spirits  with  impunity.  I  could  no 
longer  stand  the  atmosphere,  dense  with  fumes  of  all  sorts, 
and  I  went  out  to  draw  a  gasp  of  fresh  air.  On  my  return, 
the  vapours  began  to  bewilder  my  brain.  I  had  left 
before  me  a  glass  of  water.  During  my  absence  the 
princess  emptied  it  out,  and  filled  it  up  with  champagne. 
My  senses  were  somewhat  blunted,  and  not  perceiving  the 
joke,  I  poured  my  wine  into  the  champagne,  supposing  it 
to  be  water.  In  order  to  complete  my  destruction,  the 
prince  ordered  me  to  sit  at  his  side,  and  began  to  con- 
verse affably  with  me,  and  made  me  drink  glass  after 
glass  of  Lunelle.  .  .  .  Wine  makes  people  susceptible. 
The  ladies  were  overwhelmed  with  expressions  of  love. 
Presently,  by  accident  or  otherwise,  the  crown  princess 
broke  her  glass.  This  was  the  signal  for  us,  in  our  un- 
governable joviality,  to  follow  her  example.  In  a  moment 
the  glasses  were  flying  about  into  every  corner  of  the  hall ; 
all  the  glass,  porcelain,  mirrors,  chandeliers,  bottles,  dishes, 
everything  was  smashed  to  a  thousand  pieces.  In  the 
midst  of  this  complete  havoc,  the  prince  stood  like  the  brave 
1  I  am  obliged  to  omit  certain  coarsenesses  in  this  description. 


300  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 


man  in  Horace,  contemplating  the  wreck  of  the  world 
with  eyes  unmoved.  But  when,  at  last,  out  of  the  jollity 
there  grew  riot,  he  fled,  assisted  by  his  pages,  and  took 
refuge  in  his  own  rooms.' 

Kough  and  vulgar  as  the  Prussian  court  had  been  under 
Frederick  William,  it  did  not  greatly  alter  its  character 
under  Frederick  II.  He  separated  from  his  wife  directly 
he  came  to  the  throne,  and  spent  his  time  in  listening  to 
music,  and  reading  French  books,  or  conversing  with 
French  men  of  letters.  He  was  close-fisted,  and  looked 
sharply  after  his  cooks,  that  they  did  not  purloin  any  of 
the  broken  victuals.  He  could  not  write  German  without 
crowding  his  lines  with  orthographic  errors.  In  dress  he 
was  moderate,  a  Jew  bought  his  wardrobe  on  his  death 
for  400  thalers.  The  covers  of  his  chairs,  sofas,  &c.,  were 
smeared  with  tobacco,  for  he  was  a  constant  snuff-taker. 
In  religion  he  was  perfectly  tolerant,  for  he  regarded  all 
religions  as  various  modes  of  superstition.  He  allowed 
free  speech  and  freedom  to  the  press ;  '  Reason  as  much 
as  you  like,'  he  was  wont  to  say,  '  but  obey  and  pay.' l 

Lessing,  in  a  letter  to  Nikolai,  dated  August  25,  1769, 
thus  describes  the  Prussian  capital : — 

'  In  Frenchified  Berlin,  freedom  is  reduced  to  thinking 
and  writing  about  freedom,  and  bringing  to  market  all 
the  foolish  things  that  can  be  said  against  religion.  But 
let  any  one  attempt  to  write  plain  facts,  and  speak  out  the 
truth  to  the  courtiers,  as  Sonnenfels  has  done  in  Vienna, 
let  any  one  venture  to  say  a  word  for  the  subjects,  and 
against  despotism,  and  he  will  soon  find  out  that  this  is 
the  most  enslaved  country  in  all  Europe.'  With  this 
agrees  what  the  Italian  poet  Alfieri  wrote  in  1 770 :  '  Prussia, 
with  its  many  thousand  salaried  satellites,  on  which  capri- 

1  When  a  difference  arose  about  hymn-books,  he  settled  it  by  de- 
ciding, '  Let  every  man  sing  in  church  whatever  foolery  he  likes.' 


Ciilture.  301 


clous  authority  is  based,  is  but  one  huge  watchhouse  co- 
extensive with  the  kingdom ;  and  Berlin  is  but  one 
monstrous  barrack.' 

On  the  intellectual  condition  of  the  capital,  Lord  Mal- 
mesbury  thus  expressed  himself  in  1772,  in  a  letter  to 
his  father :  '  The  society  of  Berlin  is  not  expensive  ;  it 
cannot  be  in  a  town  where  the  inhabitants  are  not  rich. 
The  men  are  entirely  military,  uninformed  on  every  other 
subject,  and  totally  absorbed  in  that.' J 

On  the  moral  condition  of  Berlin  his  judgment  was 
as  unfavourable.  In  1773  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Batt :  'The 
private  life  of  Berlin  will  not  bear  being  set  upon  paper.' 2 
And  '  none  can  be  worse  off  for  the  comforts  of  social  life 
than  Berlin.  Berlin  is  a  town  where,  if  "fortis  "  may  be 
construed  honest,  there  is  neither  "  vir  fortis  nee  f&mina 
casta."  A  total  corruption  of  morals  reigns  throughout 
both  sexes  in  every  class  of  life,  joined  to  penuriousness, 
necessarily  caused  partly  by  the  oppression  of  his  present 
majesty,  and  partly  by  the  expensive  ideas  they  received 
from  his  grandfather,  constituting  the  worst  of  human 
characters.  The  men  are  constantly  occupied  how  to 
make  straightened  (sic]  means  support  the  extravagance 
of  their  life.  The  women  are  harpies,  debauched  through 
want  of  modesty  rather  than  from  want  of  anything  else. 
They  prostitute  their  persons  to  the  best  payer,  and  all 
delicacy  of  manners  or  sentiment  of  affection  are  un- 
known to  them.  Bad  as  this  description  is,  I  do  not  think 
I  draw  the  picture  in  too  bad  colours.  I  came  without 
any  prepossession,  and  venture  to  suppose  that  I  live  here 
with  too  great  a  variety  of  people  to  be  blinded  by  pre- 
judice. All  I  can  say  in  their  favour  is,  that  the  example 

1  Earl  Malmesbury's  Letters,  London  1870,  vol.  i.  p.  255. 

2  Earl  Malmesbury's  Diaries  and  Corresjwndence,  London  1844,  rol. 
i.  p.  94. 


302  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

of  irreligious  neglect  of  all  moral  and  social  duties  raised 
before  their  eyes  by  the  king,  I  say  this,  joined  to  the  suc- 
cess of  all  his  undertakings,  and  the  respect  he  enjoyed 
throughout  Europe,  have  infatuated  their  better  judgment, 
and  show  them  vice  in  too  advantageous  a  light.' l 

Greorge  Forster  was  in  Berlin  in  1779.  He  wrote:  'I 
was  very  much  upset  in  my  prejudices  in  favour  of  this 
great  place  which  I  brought  with  me.  I  find  it  exter- 
nally more  beautiful,  but  internally  blacker  than  I  anti- 
cipated. Berlin  is  certainly  one  of  the  finest  towns  i» 
Europe,  but,  the  inhabitants !  Prodigality  and  tasteless 
enjoyment  of  life  in  them  run  out  into  bumptiousness, 
boastfulness,  and  gluttony,  daring  rationalism  and  bare- 
faced dissolution  of  morals.  The  women  are  all  rotten 
apples.  But  what  chiefly  disgusted  me  was  the  deification 
of  the  king  in  his  foolish  extravagance,  by  even  intelligent 
people,  that  what  is  bad,  false,  unjust,  and  eccentric  in  him 
is  lauded  as  magnificent  and  superhuman.' 

Frederick  William  II.  succeeded  '  Old  Fritz,'  and  stern 
martial  despotism  was  followed  by  the  rule  of  a  seraglio. 
He  was  married  first  to  the  Princess  Elizabeth  of  Bruns- 
wick, but  separated  from  her  in  1769,  and  married  the 
Princess  Louise  of  Hesse-Darmstadt,  who  bore  him  his 
successor,  Frederick  William  III.  His  chief  favourite  was 
Wilhelmine  Encke,  married  to  the  Chamberlain  Reitz, 
whom  he  elevated  to  be  Countess  of  Lichtenau,  and  over- 
whelmed with  estates  and  costly  presents.  When  his 
eyes  fell  on  Fraulein  Julie  von  Voss,  she,  as  did  after- 
wards the  Countess  Sophie  von  Donhoff,  insisted  on  a 
left-handed  marriage  with  the  king,  and  this  was  con- 
cluded with  the  knowledge,  if  not  the  consent,  of  the 
queen.  The  Evangelical  Consistory  raised  no  objection 

'"Earl  Malmesbury's  Diaries  and    Correspondence ',  London,  1844, 
vol.  i. 


Culture.  303 


to  such  august  bigamy.  Countess  Donhoff  received  from 
the  king  200,000  thalers  as  her  dower,  her  mother  50,000, 
her  sister  20,000,  and  her  uncle  40,000.  It  may  be 
imagined  how  disagreeable  it  was  for  the  queen,  the 
crown  prince,  and  the  whole  royal  family  to  be  forced  by 
the  king  to  attend  the  soiree  of  the  Countess  Lichtenau. 
In  1797,  the  king,  struck  with  a  mortal  malady,  returned 
to  his  capital  from  the  baths  of  Pyrmont  somewhat 
better,  and  a  grand  festival  was  held  in  Berlin,  at  which 
the  countess  appeared  in  Greek  costume  as  Polyhymnia, 
and  sang  to  the  king  some  wretched  verses  of  congratula- 
tion composed  by  herself.  The  monarch  was  so  touched, 
that  he  bade  the  crown  prince  go  to  her  and  kiss  her 
hand.  Frederick  William  left  behind  him  a  debt  of 
49,000,000  thalers. 

But  if  the  Prussian  court  was  gross  and  sensual,  it 
was  outdone  in  sensuality  and  extravagance  by  others, 
pre-eminently  by  those  of  Saxony  and  Wiirtemberg.  In 
the  former,  a  Lutheran  pastor  and  general  inspector, 
John  Leyser,  had  the  effrontery  to  publish  a  work  en- 
titled '  The  Marrow  of  all  Lands,'  urging  polygamy  as  not 
only  allowed  by  Holy  Scripture,  but  necessary  for  salva- 
tion. The  Elector,  John  Greorge  IV.,  cast  aside  his  first 
wife,  a  Danish  princess,  for  the  Margravine  of  Branden- 
burg-Anspach.  When  he  met  her  for  the  first  time  on 
her  way  to  Dresden  to  be  his  wife,  his  first  salutation  was, 
*  You  must  be  mad  !  What  do  you  mean  by  wearing  a 
velvet  gown  in  the  dog  days  ? '  Formally,  by  written 
documents,  basing  his  right  on  Holy  Scripture,  he  took 
also  Fraulein  von  Eeitschiitz  to  be  his  second  wife,  and  had 
her  created  Countess  of  Eochlitz.1 

1  Polygamy  seems  to  have  been  much  affected  by  the  Protestant 
princes  of  Germany,  since,  with  Luther's  consent,  the  Landgrave  Philip 
had  two  wives  at  once.  The  Margrave  Leopold  Eberhardt  of  Wiirtem- 


304  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

Augustus  of  Saxony  died  in  1733,  leaving  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty-two  children,  among  whom  Maurice,  the  well- 
known  Marechal  de  Saxe,  son  of  the  beautiful  Aurora, 
Countess  of  Konigsmark,  resembled  him  in  bodily  strength , 
but  surpassed  him  in  mental  powers.  The  countess  was 
made  Protestant  Abbess  of  Quedlinburg,  '  for  which  post, 
says  Uffenbach  in  his  '  Travels,'  *  she  was  well  suited  by  her 
imposing  figure,  but  not  by  her  morals.'  The  most 
notorious  of  the  king's  mistresses,  the  Countess  Cosel, 
had  extracted  from  him  20,000,000  thalers ;  Frau  von 
Spregel  was  less  successful,  she  retired  from  favour  on 
100,000. 

Augustus  was  as  extravagant  as  he  was  debauched. 
The  fetes  he  gave  cost  vast  sums,  wrung  from  his  groan- 
ing subjects.  Mythological  representations  were  per- 
formed on  an  immense  scale.  In  Wackerbarth's  biography, 
there  is  a  description  of  a  firework  for  which  eighteen 
thousand  trunks  of  trees  were  used,  and  of  a  gigantic 
allegorical  picture  which  was  painted  upon  six  thousand 
ells  of  canvas.  One  festival  alone  cost  6,000,000 
thalers.  The  Japanese  palace  contained  Chinese  porce- 
lain to  the  amount  of  a  million  thalers.  At  Dresden  a 
hall  is  still  shown  completely  furnished  with  the  ostrich 
and  heron  plumes  used  at  these  fetes.1  Luxury  and  a 
tasteless  love  of  splendour  were  fostered  by  this  unheard- 
of  extravagance,  and  it  was  merely  owing  to  a  happy 
chance  that  the  purchase  of  the  Italian  antiques  and 
pictures,  which  laid  the  foundation  of  the  magnificent 
Dresden  gallery,  flattered  the  pride  of  Augustus. 

Charles  William,  Margrave  of  Baden,  built  Carlsruhe 
in  the  midst  of  forests,  in  1715,  in  imitation  of  Versailles, 

berg  (the  Mompelgard  line)  married  three  wives  at  once.     Eberhardt 
Ludwig  of  Wurtemberg  had  two.     We  shall  meet  with  others. 

1  The  gilding  of  a  single  gondola  at  a  water  fete  cost  6,000  thalers. 


Culture.  305 


where  he  revelled  in  Oriental  luxury.  Of  the  foulness  of 
his  court  it  is  impossible  to  give  a  description.  That  of 
our  Charles  II.  was  decency  and  purity  compared  with  it. 

More  brutal,  and  quite  as  sensual,  was  Eberhardt 
Ludwig,  Duke  of  Wiirtemberg.  Indeed,  ever  since  the 
end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  princes  of  this  little  land, 
up  to  the  first  king,  seem  to  have  tried  what  their  people 
could  be  brought  to  endure.  They  exterminated  the 
nobility,  and  gave  over  the  whole  conduct  of  government 
into  the  hands  of  women  or  Jews.  Eberhardt  Ludwig, 
though  already  married,  got  an  obsequious  pastor  to  pro- 
nounce the  nuptial  benediction  over  him  and  Fraulein  von 
Grravenitz,  who  thenceforth,  till  displaced  by  the  younger 
and  more  beautiful  Countess  von  Wittgenstein,  governed 
Wiirtemberg.  She  made  her  brother  Prime  Minister, 
and  sold  all  the  offices  about  court  and  in  the  country. 
She  obtained  the  commutation  of  punishments  for  money, 
mortgaged  or  sold  the  crown  lands,  and  filled  her  coffers 
at  the  expense  of  the  treasury  of  the  duke.  She  even 
desired  that  her  name  should  be  inserted  in  the  public 
prayers  in  Church  along  with  that  of  the  duke.  *  Madame,' 
said  a  courageous  pastor,  '  we  mention  you  every  day  in 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  when  we  say,  Deliver  us  from  Evil ! ' 

At  a  period  of  great  famine  the  duke  began  the  erection 
of  a  new  palace,  at  immense  expense,  at  Ludwigsburg. 
To  pacify  the  people,  at  the  foundation  stone  laying,  he 
caused  loaves  of  bread  to  be  flung  among  them.  Several 
people  narrowly  escaped  being  trampled  to  death  in  the 
scramble  for  food.  'The  princes  of  this  house,'  says 
Scherr,  '  seem  for  a  long  time  to  have  sought  how  far  it 
was  possible  to  carry  licence  and  indecency.' * 

The  courts  of  Ernest  Augustus  of  Hanover  and  of  An- 
thony Ulric  of  Brunswick  were  as  infamous  and  oppressive. 

1  Scherr :  DeutscJte  Kultnrge.scldcJvte,  bk.  iii.  c.  2. 
YOL.    II.  X 


306  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 


Ernest  Augustus  built  Montbrilland  for  one  mistress, 
Frau  von  Kielmansegge,  and  the  Fantaisie  for  the  other, 
the  Countess  Platen.  His  son  and  successor,  Greorge  I.  of 
England,  devoted  himself  entirely  to  the  interests  of  Great 
Britain.  But  the  absence  of  the  prince  afforded  no  allevi- 
ation of  the  popular  burdens.  The  Electoral  household, 
notwithstanding  the  unvarying  absence  of  the  Elector,  re- 
mained on  its  former  footing.  The  palace  bore  no  appear- 
ance of  being  deserted  ;  except  the  Elector  himself,  not  a 
courtier,  not  a  single  gold-laced  lacquey,  was  wanting  to 
complete  the  court ;  the  horses  stamped  in  the  stalls ;  the 
royal  kitchen  and  cellars  were  kept  well  stocked.  The 
courtiers  resident  in  Hanover  assembled  every  Sunday  in 
the  Electoral  palace.  In  the  hall  of  assembly  stood  an 
arm-chair,  upon  which  the  monarch's  portrait  was  placed. 
Each  courtier,  on  entering,  bowed  low  to  this  portrait,  and 
the  whole  assembly,  as  if  awe-stricken  by  the  presence  of 
majesty,  conversed  in  low  tones  for  about  an  hour,  when 
the  banquet,  a  splendid  repast  prepared  at  the  Elector's 
expense,  was  announced.  In  Hanover,  as  in  nearly  every 
little  principality,  the  old  nobility  and  gentry  had  been 
trodden  out.  '  That  was  a  curious  state  of  morals  and 
politics  in  Europe,'  says  Mr.  Thackeray  in  his  lecture 
on  Greorge  I. ;  '  a  queer  consequence  of  the  triumph  of 
the  monarchical  principle.  Feudalism  was  beaten  down. 
The  nobility,  in  its  quarrels  with  the  crown,  had  pretty 
well  succumbed,  and  the  monarch  was  all  in  all.  He  be- 
came almost  divine :  the  proudest  and  the  most  ancient 
gentry  of  the  land  did  menial  service  for  him.' 

Every  little  prince — and  there  were  hundreds  of  them — 
copied  the  great  princes,  who  aped  the  court  of  France. 
Louis  XIV.  had  created  Versailles  out  of  a  sandy  forest, 
as  a  palace  for  pleasure  and  court  extravagance,  away  from 
the  throng  and  eyes  of  Paris.  All  the  great  and  little 


Culture.  307 


princes  of  Germany  must  do  the  same.  Thus  sprang  up 
Carlsruhe,  Mannheim,  Potsdam,  Darmstadt,  Ludwigsburg, 
&c.,  towns  away  from  the  current  of  trade,  living  on  the 
court,  founded  at  enormous  cost,  and  diverting  commerce 
from  its  proper  course. 

As  the  great  princes  lived  in  extravagance,  so  did  the 
little  ones.  Carl  Magnus,  Count  of  Salm-Grumbach,  must 
have  his  Versailles.  He  built  a  palace  at  Grehweiler  in 
1749,  at  the  cost  of  180,000  gulden.  His  annual  income 
was  only  60,000  gulden.  He  kept  open  table,  gave  mag- 
nificent festivals,  was  attended  by  lords  and  ladies  in  wait- 
ing, hussars,  heyducks,  Moors ;  had  his  court  band  and 
marionette  theatre,  and  a  bodyguard  of  six  men  in  blue 
uniform  with  white  facings  and  red  collars.  He  had  one 
drummer  and  one  fifer  to  this  regiment.  Each  soldier  re- 
ceived four  kreuzers  per  diem  as  his  pay,  and  more  kicks 
and  cudgellings  than  kreuzers.  In  his  stud  were  120 
horses.  This  extravagance  could  not  last  long;  in  1768 
his  debts  amounted  to  300,000  gulden,  and  22,000  gulden 
annual  interest.  At  last  his  whole  income  was  not  equal 
to  the  interest  on  his  debts.  He  had  recourse  to  various 
expedients  to  prolong  his  reign  of  splendour.  He  mort- 
gaged to  the  Count  of  Lemberg  a  forest  of  500  acres, 
which  had  no  existence.  To  pawn  his  villages  he  made 
school-children  subscribe  the  names  of  their  fathers,  or  wrote 
names  himself  of  persons  who  did  not  exist,  as  bound  with 
him  to  pay  interest.  At  last  the  Emperor  Joseph^II.  issued 
a  commission  to  try  him,  and  sentenced  him  to  ten  years' 
imprisonment  for  fraudulent  transactions.  When  he  issued 
from  prison  he  was  so  reduced  that  he  could  keep  but 
a  single  horse,  and  when  his  one  attendant  came  to  him 
to  say  that  there  was  no  hay  in  the  loft,  and  the  count  had 
no  money  in  his  purse  to  buy  any,  '  Well,  well ! '  said  he  ; 
4  take  the  horse  out  and  give  it  a  mouthful  of  fresh  air.' 

x  2 


308  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

The  follies  and  extravagance  of  almost  all  the  little 
counts  and  princes  claiming  sovereignty  are  incredible. 
A  Count  of  Limburg-Styrum  kept  a  corps  of  hussars, 
which  consisted  of  one  colonel,  six  officers,  and  two  pri- 
vates. There  were  privy  councillors  attached  to  the 
smallest  barony,  and  in  Franconia  and  Swabia  the  petty 
lords  had  their  private  gallows,  the  symbol  of  sovereign 
jurisdiction.  They  nominated  to  incumbencies  the  pastors 
who  obliged  them  by  marrying  their  cast-off  mistresses. 
In  1746  the  consistory  of  Hildburghausen  required  every 
presentee  to  a  living  to  swear  that  he  had  not  obtained 
the  cure  of  souls  by  this  means. 

Count  William  of  Biickeburg,  a  man  '  with  the  finest 
Greek  soul  in  a  rude  Westphalian  body,'  as  Moses  Men- 
delssohn describes  him  in  1765,  created  the  citadel  of 
Wilhelmsburg  on  an  artificial  island  in  the  Steinhuder- 
meer.  It  was  elaborately  and  scientifically  engineered, 
and  strongly  garrisoned  with  300  gunners.  His  infantry 
numbered  1 ,000  men.  The  fortress  defended  nothing  but 
a  potato  and  cabbage  garden,  and  an  observatory  with  an 
inferior  telescope  in  it. 

Moses  Mendelssohn  visited  the  count  at  Pyrmont. 
They  walked  side  by  side  talking.  Presently  they  came 
to  a  ditch :  the  count  strode  over  it,  and  continued  talking. 
After  a  while  he  perceived  he  was  alone,  and  looking  back 
saw  the  little  Jew  hovering  on  the  further  side  of  the 
ditch,  unable  to  leap  it.  The  count  returned,  tucked 
Mendelssohn  under  his  arm,  strode  over  the  ditch,  set  him 
down,  and  continued  the  conversation. 

The  count  was  fond  of  taking  an  air  bath  every  morn- 
ing. For  this  object  he  walked  in  his  walled  garden, 
wearing  only  his  pigtail  and  boots,  but  armed  with  a 
Brazilian  blow-pipe  for  bringing  down  sparrows.  One 
day,  whilst  thus  invigorating  himself,  inhaling  ozone  at 


Culture.  309 


every  pore,  like  Adam,  he  saw  a  cock  seated  on  the  wall 
of  his  Paradise.  He  discharged  a  dart,  and  the  bird  fell 
into  the  adjoining  precincts.  With  his  natural  activity, 
he  escaladed  the  barrier  and  alighted  in  the  neighbouring 
garden,  where  a  party  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  were  break- 
fasting al  fresco.  The  prince,  no  way  discomposed, 
bowed,  apologised  for  his  intrusion,  went  alter  the  bird, 
picked  it  up,  and  clambered  over  the  wall  again. 

Count  Frederick  of  Salm-Kyrburg  swindled  the  churches 
in  his  principality  out  of  their  money  to  maintain  his 
extravagance.  When  plunged  in  debt,  he  maintained  his 
old  show.  At  table  every  day  eighty  dishes  were  served, 
but  of  these  only  two  or  three  were  edible.  His  guests 
gulped  down  as  best  they  might  what  was  set  before  them. 

The  house  of  Schwarzburg  is  of  old  Thuringian  origin. 
It  has  two  principal  possessions,  Sondershausen  and  Rudol- 
stadt,  which  have  gone  to  two  branches,  that  of  Schwarz- 
burg-Sondershausen  and  that  of  Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. 

Schwarzburg-Sondershausen  has  a  superficial  extent  of 
15'65  geographical  square  miles,  and  in  1875  had  67,480 
inhabitants.  Christian  Griinther  III.  reigned  in  this  little 
principality  from  1758-1794.  He  kept  a  splendid  court, 
gave  grand  masquerades,  and  kept  up  rigid  etiquette ; 
whilst  the  Jew  Herz,  his  factotum,  sold  offices  about  court 
and  in  the  land,  and  the  capital  Sondershausen  swarmed 
with  parasites. 

A  little  while  before  the  outbreak  of  the  French  Revo- 
lution, in  the  summer  of  1789,  the  Hamburg  tourist, 
Ludwig  von  Hess,  visited  Sondershausen,  and  described 
what  he  saw. 

6  The  little  princely  capital  of  Sondershausen  is 
pleasantly  situated  on  the  Wipper,  in  a  long  narrow  plain, 
girt  in  on  both  sides  by  lofty  hills  as  by  walls.  When  one 
arrives  from  the  north,  and  looks  down  on  it,  the  appear- 


310  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

ance  of  the  valley  is  like  that  of  a  calm  broad  river,  in 
the  midst  of  which  stands,  as  an  island,  the  little  town. 
The  effect  is  enchanting.  But  the  town  has  the  look  of 
being  a  mere  appendage  to  the  palace  which  rises  above  it 
in  pre-eminent  dignity. 

6  This  palace  contains  350  rooms,  of  which  the  reign- 
ing prince  has  built  the  greater  part.  One  may  be  pretty 
sure  that  a  little  prince  when  he  lacks  originality  will 
imitate  another  who  lives  on  a  larger  scale.  This  prince 
makes  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse-Cassel  (Frederick  II.)  his 
model,  at  least  in  his  passion  for  building.  He  would 
copy  him  also  in  his  military  pretensions,  were  the  land 
large  enough  to  allow  him  to  enrol  an  army.  However, 
Prince  Griinther  has  one  original  feature  in  him,  he  is 
passionately  addicted  to  clocks.  The  greatest  adornment 
of  the  350  rooms  consists  of  clocks  of  all  sizes  and  sorts,, 
some  large,  some  diminutive,  some  that  strike,  some  that 
cuckoo,  some  that  are  repeaters,  and  others  that  play 
tunes.  Some  have  cost  him  600  thalers,  most,  however, 
much  less.  He  has  not  made  one  himself,  though  fond  of 
mechanics,  but  he  occupies  himself  and  all  his  family  in. 
polishing  madrepores. 

'Since  he  has  taken  to  building  he  has  made  himself 
as  popular  as  any  German  prince ;  for,  instead  of  going, 
about  nagging  at  the  masons  for  not  working  faster,  he 
button-holes  them,  and  draws  them  off  by  the  hour  from 
their  task,  that  he  may  twaddle  and  joke  with  them.  He 
has  given  up  hunting,  keeps  no  more  dogs,  and  only 
seventy-one  horses,  which  he  rarely  uses.  But  he  takes 
plenty  of  exercise  nevertheless,  for  he  allows  no  one  but 
himself  to  wind  up  his  innumerable  clocks.  His  taste  in 
mistresses  is  not  as  original  as  his  fancy  for  clocks.  In  this 
particular  he  follows  his  great  exemplar,  but  with  more 
patriotism,  for  he  has  chosen  one  of  his  subjects,  the 


Culture.  1 1 1 


daughter  of  a  guardsman,  a  pretty  enough  girl,  but  horribly 
stupid,  called  Hannchen  Mannchen.  She  is  too  stupid 
to  have  any  political  or  courtly  influence.  She  lives  in 
the  castle  in  rooms  adjoining  the  princesses,  and  is  on  the 
most  familiar  terms  with  them.  They  "  thee  and  thou  " 
her  affectionately.  Prince  Griinther  had  three  sons  and 
three  daughters  by  his  wife  Charlotte  of  Anhalt-Bernburg, 
who  died  in  1777.  The  princesses  are  amiable  creatures, 
but  unfortunately  they  were  over-nursed  as  babies.  Con- 
sequently the  two  eldest  are  crooked,  and  the  youngest 
only,  who  is  supposed  to  be  a  beauty,  is  straight.  Their 
characters  are  irreproachable.  Worldly  pleasures,  masquer- 
ades, and  the  like,  do  not  prevent  the  princesses  from 
harbouring  ennui ;  the  traces  in  crow's  feet  are  apparent 
on  their  faces.  But  to  smooth  these  away  and  relieve 
the  tedium,  the  rector  Botticher  calls  daily,  and  spends 
three  hours  with  them  lecturing  on  religion  and  history. 
He  has  written  a  book  called  "  The  Agreeable  Month."  I 
have  not  read  it ;  the  Grerman  public  has  forgotten  it ; 
but  it  may  still,  perhaps,  be  found  in  Sondershausen.  In 
the  capital  lives  Wetzel,  author  of  "  Wilhelmine  Arend,  or 
the  Triumph  of  Sensitiveness,"  and  other  books  of  the 
sort.  Poor  Wetzel  has  lost  his  senses  in  the  composition 
of  his  last  work,  "  On  the  Human  Soul."  His  father  is 
dead,  but  his  mother  lives  still  in  Sondershausen.  From 
early  childhood  he  was  so  detached  in  ideas  and  feelings 
from  his  parents  that  he  came  to  suppose  himself  not  to 
be  their  child,  but  an  adopted  one.  He  went  about  Ger- 
many studying  men  and  manners.  His  mother  wished 
much  to  make  a  home  for  him,  and  wrote  to  him  to  that 
effect.  His  last  letter  to  her  was  from  Vienna.  He  answered 
her  harshly,  that  she  was  not,  could  not  be  his  mother,  for 
how  could  such  a  commonplace  person  as  she  produce 
such  a  genius  as  himself.  Now  that  he  is  back,  and  half 


312  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

demented,  in  Sondershausen,  she  supports  him  with  the 
work  of  her  hands.  He  lives  alone,  and  takes  only  weak 
coffee  and  boiled  potatoes. 

6  The  court  take  no  more  notice  of  him  than  to  nick- 
name him  the  "overwrought  savant."  The  prince  and 
Hannchen  Mannchen  have  no  conception  how  it  is  possible 
that  a  man  can  lose  his  wits.  They  bless  God  they  have 
no  wits  to  lose.  They  never  read  anything  ;  and  Wetzel 
would  starve  under  the  palace  walls  if  his  old  mother  did 
not  take  him  his  potatoes  daily. 

<  But  Wetzel  is  not  the  only  example  in  Sondershausen 
of  the  vanity  of  human  greatness.  Not  far  from  him 
wastes  in  seclusion  the  brother  of  the  sovereign,  Prince 
Augustus,  who  lives  in  a  long  wing  of  the  palace  very  much 
like  a  gymnasium.  As  Wetzel  sways  between  philan- 
thropy and  misanthropy,  so  does  the  prince  oscillate 
between  want  of  necessaries  and  want  of  credit.  His 
whole  annuity  or  allowance  amounts  to  10,000  thalers, l 
and  in  a  capital  where  every  winter  there  are  twenty 
masked  balls,  and  at  each  of  which  he  must  appear  in  a 
new  and  suitable  costume,  this  sum  is  very  little.  Prince 
Augustus  therefore  spends  his  time,  when  not  engaged  in 
these  royal  festivities,  in  concocting  pathetic  begging 
letters  to  his  brother.  The  sovereign  is  so  accustomed  to 
receive  these,  that  they  all  remain  without  effect.  Prince 
Augustus  achieved  one  good  stroke  in  marrying  a  princess 
of  Bernburg,  who  brought  him  as  dower  100,000  thalers. 
He  rollicked  over  this  newly  acquired  treasure  but  a  very 
few  hours,,  when,  to  his  unspeakable  dismay,  his  creditors 
swooped  down  on  it,  and  carried  off  the  whole  sum  to  the 
last  farthing.  In  this  situation  Prince  Augustus  mourns 
out  his  hopeless  existence. 

'  One  may  see  from  the  conduct  of  the  prince  towards 
'  ],500Z. 


Culture.  3 1 3 


his  brother,  and  from  the  efforts  he  makes  to  snip  the  wings 
of  his  extravagant  heir,  that  he  is  not  open-handed.  His 
revenues  amount  to  about  200,000  thalers  ; l  of  these  he 
spends  some  50,000  in  and  about  Sondershausen.  His 
ancestors,  after  the  fashion  of  little  princes,  left  the  State 
with  a  debt  on  it,  but  this  he  is  clearing  off.  His  army 
consists  of  150  infantry  soldiers  and  28  guards  on  horse- 
back, fine  men,  in  good  uniforms.  The  military  like  their 
sovereign,  but  the  citizens  and  peasants  are  very  luke- 
warm in  their  praises.  Solomon  says  that  a  good  king 
must  rise  early.  So  does  the  prince  of  Sondershausen. 
His  first  morning  duty  is  to  go  into  the  stables  and  see 
after  his  horses.  Then  he  walks  in  his  garden,  or  looks  at 
the  buildings,  winds  up  his  clocks,  and  so  the  morning 
passes  to  dinner-time.  Alter  dinner  he  attends  to  the 
affairs  of  State,  assisted  by  his  chancellor,  who  draws  a 
pay  of  2,000  thalers  (300£.),  and  four  assessors,  with  a 
salary  of  400  thalers  (60£.)  each.  His  chancellor  is 
Privy  Councillor  von  Hopfgarten,  who  owns  Schlotheim. 
He  and  the  sovereign  are  the  only  rich  persons  in  the 
laud,  and  have  so  managed  matters  between  them,  that  no 
private  individuals  who  have  scraped  together  a  few 
thalers  can  invest  them  in  anything  bringing  in  more 
than  four  per  cent. 

'  The  Prince  of  Sondershausen  prefers  living  at 
Ebleben  to  the  Residence,  and  spends  there  the  greater  part 
of  the  summer.  The  most  remarkable  thing  at  Ebleben 
is  the  palace  garden.  I  never  in  my  life  saw  such  speci- 
mens of  hideous  taste,  and  I  hope  never  to  see  the  like 
again.  The  entire  garden  is  strewn  with  statues,  or  rather 
with  wooden  monstrosities  which  are  painted  grey  with 
oil-colours,  to  make  them  look  like  stone.  Everything  is 
common,  vulgar,  debased,  without  the  smallest  token  of 

1  30,0002. 


314  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

taste  or  dignity.  On  entering  the  palace  garden  one  is 
distracted  between  laughter  and  dismay  at  seeing  two 
wood-stone  soldiers  set  up  presenting  arms,  one  on  each 
side  of  the  entrance.  They  are  gaunt  figures,  with 
pigtails,  caps,  and  cockades,  stiff  as  pokers.  And  as  they 
are  erected  on  tall  pedestals  they  look  like  giants.  More 
absurd  still  are  two  basins  paved  with  smooth  stones, 
never,  however,  filled  with  any  other  water  than  rain.  In 
the  midst  of  these  basins  are  set  up  gawky  horses  galloping 
at  full  speed,  with  postilions  on  their  backs  wearing  little 
hats,  cockades,  flying  jackets,  tall  boots,  and  protruding 
pigtails.  Each  is  represented  blowing  his  horn.  Beside 
each  runs  a  little  panting  dog,  and  behind  stands  a  tree 
painted  white,  with  the  traces  of  green  paint  still  adhering 
to  the  leaves. 

'  The  crown  prince  lives  a  Grerman  mile  out  of  Sonders- 
hausen,  in  the  forest,  and,  after  his  father's  fashion,  had  a 
mistress,  a  butcher's  daughter.  She  was  unlike  Hannchen 
Mannchen,  for  she  was  ugly,  and  had  some  sense  in  her 
head.  The  heir  to  the  throne  lived  fast,  and  involved 
himself  in  debts.  His  economical  father  allowed  him  eight 
horses,  and  he  kept  over  thirty.'  This  prince,  also  called 
Giinther,  succeeded  his  father  in  1794,  and  reigned  till 
1835.  He  married  his  cousin  Caroline  of  Eudolstadt. 
After  the  birth  of  a  crown  prince  in  1801,  she  separated 
from  her  husband,  and  retired  to  her  parents'  court  at 
Rudolstadt. 

Prince  Grunther  ruled  his  little  realm  like  an  emperor* 
The  inhabitants  numbered  then  60,000.  He  had  a  multi- 
tude of  officials,  and  published  his  court  calendar  with 
the  list  of  them  all,  and  their  order  of  precedence.  The 
principal  offices  were  filled  by  his  natural  children,  of 
whom  there  were  plenty.  He  was  fond  of  music  and  the 
drama.  At  the  theatre  he  sat  in  the  royal  box  smoking  a 


Culture.  3 1 5 

long  pipe,  and  every  one  was  allowed  to  smoke  in  the 
court  theatre.  Travellers,  passing  through  Sondershausen, 
were  invited  by  the  prince  to  the  performances.  The 
'  Traveller's  Book '  at  the  Eagle  went  up  to  the  palace,  and 
the  prince  sent  his  red  liveried  heyducks  to  invite  the  visi- 
tor to  the  play.  In  the  theatre  he  made  the  stranger  sit 
with  him  in  his  box,  and  provided  him  with  a  clay  pipe 
and  tobacco.  On  one  occasion  a  Prussian  major,  who  was 
at  Sondershausen,  was  thus  sitting  with  the  prince, 
whilst  Kotzebue's  dull  play  of  '  Bayard '  was  being  per- 
formed. '  How  do  you  like  it  ?  '  asked  the  prince. 
'  Surpassing  well,  your  serene  highness,'  answered  the 
major  courteously ;  '  I  should  be  sorry  not  to  have  a 
chance  of  seeing  the  piece  again.'  The  prince  waited  till 
the  play  was  concluded,  but  then,  before  the  curtain  fell, 
he  shouted  from  his  box,  '  Hey !  hey  there !  Here's  a 
Prussian  major  wants  to  see  the  play  again.  So  act  it 
through  once  more.'  And  the  performers  were  forced  to 
repeat  the  whole  drama. 

The  park  to  the  palace  was  thrown  open  to  the  public, 
and  the  court  band  performed  in  it  on  Sunday  and  festival 
evenings.  The  court  kitchen  and  pastry-cooks,  at  the 
prince's  orders,  supplied  refreshments  to  the  troops  of 
townspeople  who  assembled  in  it,  and  his  serene  highness 
himself  rambled  about  in  the  dusk  flirting  with  the 
prettiest  girls,  and  initiating  the  intrigues  which  supplied 
his  offices  with  officials. 

The  prince  was  a  good  wrestler,  and  could  generally 
throw  his  man,  and  he  was  proud  of  exhibiting  his 
dexterity  before  his  subjects.  But  one  day  he  met  with 
his  match,  a  stout  country  farmer,  who  flung  his  serene 
highness.  The  prince,  sprawling  on  the  ground,  swore  he 
had  slipped  on  a  cherry-stone,  forgetting  that  it  was  not 
the  time  of  the  year  for  cherries.  He  picked  himself  up, 


316  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

and  doubling  his  fists  flew  on  the  farmer  in  a  frenzy  of 
disappointed  vanity.  The  bystanders  forming  the  ring  in 
vain  urged  the  bauer  to  allow  himself  to  be  tripped  up  by 
his  sersne  highness  ;  the  countryman  had  no  notion  of 
the  exigencies  of  court  complaisance,  and  gave  the  prince 
fisticuffs  in  return.  The  combat  became  furious  ;  at  last 
his  serene  highness,  whose  nose  was  bleeding  and  his  eye 
blackened,  disengaged  himself  and  screamed,  '  Hold  !  A 
fortnight  in  prison  ! '  and  the  guards  marched  the  unyield- 
ing bauer  off  to  the  lock-up. 

In  1835  Prince  Griinther  was  deposed,  and  his  son 
elevated  to  the  throne.  This  was  effected  by  a  revolution 
managed  by  Privy  Councillor  von  Ziegeler,  who  got  it  up 
after  the  fashion  of  a  St.  Petersburg  palace  revolution, 
only  on  a  very  diminutive  scale.  In  the  scare  he  signed  a 
resignation  of  the  crown,  and  was  sent  to  his  hunting  lodge 
of  Possen.  As  he  found  himself  there  treated  much  like  a 
prisoner,  he  tried  to  escape  to  King  Frederick  William  III. 
of  Prussia,  but  his  plan  was  discovered,  and  he  was  kept 
ever  after  under  surveillance.  He  spent  the  rest  of  his 
time  playing  skittles,  or  looking  after  his  horses,  and  died 
in  1837. 

Ludwig  Griinther,  Prince  of  Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, 
had  almost  as  eccentric  a  peculiarity  as  Christian  Griinther 
of  Schwarzburg-Sondershausen.  He  was  passionately 
fond  of  painting  the  portraits  of  horses.  At  the  present 
day  246  such  portraits  remain,  the  produce  of  his  industry, 
adorning  the  walls  of  the  palace  of  Schwarzburg.  He 
died  1790.  His  court  was  more  simple  than  that  of 
Sondershausen,  and  much  more  respectable.  He  succeeded 
to  the  sovereignty  because  his  elder  brother  had  married  a 
stable-keeper's  daughter  in  Leipzig,  and  though  she  was  en- 
nobled, yet  her  sons  were  obliged  to  bear  her  name,  and  were 
excluded  from  succession,  as  being  morganatically  born. 


Culture.  3 1 7 


The  court  of  Nassau-Usingen  was  decorous  and  simple, 
a  pleasant  contrast  to  most  of  the  others.  A  traveller  in 
Bernoulli's  Collection  was  at  Biberich  in  1 780,  five  years 
after  Prince  Carl  Wilhelm  had  succeeded  to  the  sove- 
reignty. '  Hospitality,'  he  says,  '  was  at  this  court  as 
great  as  visitors  were  numerous.  Every  stranger  who 
was  provided  with  references  was  received  with  the 
utmost  kindness,  and  was  allowed  to  appear  there  every 
day,  uninvited  and  unannounced. 

*  We  found  the  prince  in  his  garden  when  we  came  to 
Biberich.  He  was  surrounded  by  gentlemen.  He  is  a 
man  of  middle  stature,  well  developed,  and  with  kindness 
of  heart  and  love  to  mankind  beaming  out  of  his  intelli- 
gent face.  His  neat  dress  shows  him  to  be  a  man  who  does 
not  think  men  are  to  be  blinded  by  display,  like  children 
and  fools.  He  speaks  little,  seems  to  love  solitude  rather 
than  a  crowd,  and  attracts  every  one  to  him  by  his  gentle, 
courteous  manner.  We  soon  sought  the  society  of  the 
ladies ;  amongst  these  were  the  sovereign  princess,  and  the 
two  princesses,  a  Countess  of  Leiningen  (sister  of  the 
prince),  and  a  Countess  of  Gruntersblum  and  her  daughter. 
We  went  to  table  in  the  great  round  hall  lighted  from  the 
cupola  above.  The  effect  is  striking.  Above  is  Jupiter  on 
his  eagle,  and  around  him  are  the  gods  and  goddesses.  A 
balcony  overhangs  the  Ehine.  Every  one  sat  by  the  lady 
he  had  taken  in.  I  was  next  to  one  of  the  young  prin- 
cesses. Sociality,  cheerfulness,  and  buoyancy  of  conver- 
sation, such  as  are  generally  far  from  the  tables  of  princes, 
were  present  here.  Every  eye  was  not  held  spell-bound 
on  the  presence  of  one.  Each  spoke  as  he  liked,  and  let 
his  wit  run  with  him  where  he  listed,  and,  what  is  not  uni- 
versal, was  able  to  eat  till  he  had  satisfied  his  hunger. 

'  After  dinner,  which  scarcely  lasted  an  hour,  we  went 
into  the  gallery  adjoining,  lighted  on  one  side,  with  scenes 


318  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

from  Virgil  and  Homer  painted  on  the  other.  Here  we 
drank  coffee,  read  newspapers,  amused  ourselves,  and  then 
rambled  about  the  garden.  There  was  no  gambling.  All 
amusements  were  simple  and  countrified.  The  ladies 
were  not  ashamed  to  devote  their  hands  to  something 
better  than  card-playing;  they  read,  and  their  minds 
were  cultivated.  As  may  well  be  imagined,  every  beau- 
tiful summer  evening  draws  the  company  out  into  the 
garden  or  down  to  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  and  the  fresh 
lovely  nature  contributes  a  cheerfulness  which  is  sought  in 
vain  in  the  gorgeous  halls  of  other  princes. 

6  The  two  princesses,  the  elder  aged  seventeen  and  the 
younger  sixteen,1  are  so  good,  gentle,  and  natural,  that  there 
is  nothing  of  the  stiffness  of  a  court  about  them.  There  is 
something  unspeakably  attractive  in  their  appearance, 
which  makes  one  forget  they  are  not  also  beautiful.  Of 
pretension,  of  pride,  there  is  not  a  trace  in  them.  The 
happy  blending  of  frankness  with  shyness  makes  their 
society  especially  agreeable.  They  are  well-grown,  and 
their  dress  is  simple  but  in  good  taste. 

6  Among  other  estimable  acquaintances  that  I  made 
at  Biberich,  was  that  of  the  Crown  Prince  of  Nassau- 
Saarbriick.  This  charming  young  gentleman  is  well 
educated,  and  attracts  every  one's  respect  and  love  by  his 
courtesy.  His  lively  temperament  is  kept  under  wonderful 
control  for  a  lad  of  eleven  years.  He  is  colonel  in  the 
French  service,  and  bridegroom  of  the  Princess  of  Mont- 
barry,  who  is  seven  years  his  senior.  The  betrothal  took 
place  on  October  6,  1779,  when  the  prince  was  eleven 
and  the  princess  eighteen.  The  young  husband  after  that 
went  to  the  University  of  Grottingen.' 

The  '  Memoirs '  of  the  Baroness   Oberkirch,  who  was 

1  Caroline,  born   1762,  married  Prince  Frederick  of  Hesse-Cassel 
in  1786;  Louise,  born  1763,  never  married. 


Culture.  3  J  9 


present  at  this  marriage,  give  us  some  particulars  of  it. 
She  says,  '  The  reigning  Prince  of  Nassau-Saarbriick  gave 
a  magnificent  fete  on  the  event  of  the  marriage  in  the 
Castle  of  Eeichshofen,  near  Hagenau,  belonging  to  a  Herr 
von  Dietrich.  All  the  world  was  invited — all  the  neigh- 
bouring courts.  Everything  was  in  the  most  splendid 
style.  Chases,  fetes,  promenades  lasted  three  days. 
During  the  ball  there  was  no  getting  the  bridegroom  to 
dance  with  the  bride ;  at  last  he  was  threatened  with  a 
whipping  unless  he  did  so,  and  promised  a  heap  of  sugar- 
plums if  he  consented.  Then  he  led  her  through  a 
minuette.  He  showed  great  aversion  to  his  bride,  but  the 
greatest  attention  to  the  little  Louise  von  Dietrich,  a 
<jhild  of  his  own  age,  and  sat  himself  down  beside  her  the 
moment  the  tedious  performance  with  the  bride  was  over. 
My  brother  showed  him  a  picture-book  to  pacify  him,  but 
in  the  book  was  a  wedding.  The  moment  the  prince  saw 
this,  he  closed  the  book  in  a  huff,  and  exclaimed  at  the 
top  of  his  voice, "  Take  it  away,  take  the  nasty  book  away, 
that  is  too  horrible  !  A  wedding !  I  don't  want  to  hear 
of  any  more  weddings.  But  look  here,"  he  continued, 
*'  here  is  a  great  long  gawky  just  like  Mademoiselle  de 
Montbarry !  "  and  he  pointed  to  a  figure  in  the  book.' 

The  Nassau-Usingen  and  Nassau-Saarbriicken  courts 
were  strongly  influenced  by  France,  and  the  refinement 
they  showed  was  due  to  their  relations  with  the  more 
polished  Gallic  nation.  Court  life  in  Vienna  under  Joseph 
II.  was  also  very  different.  This  noble  emperor,  a 
worthy  son  of  a  great  and  good  mother,  devoted  his 
whole  life  to  the  service  of  the  State,  and  had  no  time  for 
the  indulgence  of  fancies.  He  never  gambled.  On  the 
occasion  of  a  visit  to  Versailles  he  declined  to  take  a  hand 
at  cards.  '  A  prince  who  loses,'  he  said,  '  loses  the  money 
of  his  subjects.'  Joseph  had  no  mistresses.  When  he  lost 


320  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

his  dearly  loved  wife,  Isabella  of  Parma,  he  sought  and 
found  consolation  in  a  marriage  with  Josephine  of 
Bavaria,  and  the  society  of  amiable  ladies  of  the  highest 
class.  If  his  regard  for  these  seemed  sometimes  to 
exceed  the  limits  of  friendship,  it  never  led  him  to 
transgress  those  of  morality.  He  was  not  a  drinker  or  a 
gourmand,  nor  a  cynic  in  dress  like  Frederick  of  Prussia, 
When  not  in  the  uniform  of  his  regiment,  he  wore  a  plain 
coat  of  dark  colour.  The  court  of  the  Empress,  Maria 
Theresa,  had  cost  six  millons  of  gulden,  that  of  Joseph  II. 
cost  only  half  a  million.  He  loved  music,  especially  German 
music,  and  played  the  violoncello.  He  highly  esteemed 
Mozart,  who  composed  in  his  reign.  The  haste  with 
which  his  sanguine  choleric  temperament  made  him  carry 
out  his  plans  of  reformation  frustrated  their  utility  ;  and 
Frederick  was  right  when  he  said  that  Joseph  always  took 
the  second  step  before  he  made  the  first.  But  his  inten- 
tion was  right  and  pure,  his  desire  for  the  education  and 
improvement  of  his  people  was  sincere ;  and  he  succeeded 
in  divorcing  Austria  from  Spanish  formalism,  and  accom- 
modating it  to  modern  times.  In  1787  he  wrote  to 
Dalberg  :  c  I  gladly  receive  your  communications  as  to  the 
means  of  benefiting  our  common  fatherland,  Germany; 
for  I  love  it,  and  am  proud  to  be  able  to  call  myself  a 
Grerman.' 

But  the  moment  we  turn  our  eyes  into  the  heart  of 
Germany,  we  find  rough  manners,  extravagance,  and 
disorder. 

Leopold, '  the  old  Dessauer '  of  Frederick  the  Great,  was 
prince  of  Anhalt-Dessau.  The  tradition  of  the  house  is 
that  it  was  descended  from  a  bear,  and  certainly  it  has 
done  much  to  show  the  world  that  bearishness  runs  in  its 
illustrious  blood.  Leopold  was  attached  from  boyhood  to 
Anna  Lise,  daughter  of  an  apothecary  named  Fohse,  at 


Culture.  321 


Dessau.  One  day,  as  he  passed  down  the  street,  he  saw  her 
at  her  window  with  a  man  speaking  to  her  in  a  familiar 
manner.  Prince  Leopold  rushed  upstairs  in  ungovern- 
able fury,  and  ran  him  through  the  body.  Then,  when 
too  late,  he  learned  that  the  person  he  had  transfixed  was  a 
doctor,  and  cousin  of  the  damsel.  He  married  her,  and  the 
emperor  created  her  a  princess  in  her  own  right,  so  as  to 
legitimatise  her  offspring. 

The  marriage  was  a  happy  one ;  she  bore  him  ten 
children,  and  died  two  years  before  the  prince.  When  the 
news  of  her  decease  reached  him  he  was  in  the  field  at 
Neisse,  in  Silesia.  He  was  inconsolable,  and  communi- 
cated their  loss  to  his  sons,  who  were  with  him  in  camp, 
in  the  following  laconic  speech  :  '  Curse  it,  boys,  the  Devil 
has  carried  off  your  mother.' 

Prince  Eugene  was  wont  to  call  him  the  '  Bulldog,' 
and  he  was  proud  of  the  designation.  He  served  in  the 
Prussian  army  under  Frederick  I.,  Frederick  William  I., 
and  Frederick  the  Great,  and  it  was  he  who  gave  the 
Prussian  infantry  its  organisation.  He  was  in  twenty-two 
battles  and  twenty-seven  sieges,  and  only  once  was  grazed 
by  a  ball,  consequently  the  soldiers  regarded  him  as  invul- 
nerable. Pollnitzen's  '  Memoirs  '  thus  describe  him :  '  The 
Prince  of  Anhalt-Dessau  was  well  built.  His  whole  bear- 
ing, face,  dress,  everything  about  him  bespoke  the  soldier, 
but  also  the  oddity.  He  was  active,  and  unwearied  in 
work.  Heat  and  cold,  want  and  superfluity,  seemed  not  to 
affect  him.  He  was  brave  to  temerity,  in  discipline  most 
harsh,  but  he  loved  the  soldiers,  rewarded  them,  and 
associated  familiarly  with  them.  He  was  a  warm  and 
true  friend,  but  an  implacable  enemy  ;  easily  won,  he  was 
obstinate  to  pig-headedness  in  his  fancies.  Little  accus- 
tomed in  his  youth  to  moderation,  for  a  long  time  he  was 
dissolute  and  savage.  He  cared  nothing  for  the  pomp  of 

VOL.    II.  Y 


322  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

a  court,  and  in  his  manners  he  little  regarded  proprieties, 
and  his  mode  of  life  was  in  little  accord  with  his  position. 
A  lover  of  supreme  power,  he  would  like  to  have  enslaved 
the  whole  world  under  himself.  Strangely  enough  he 
disliked  learning  so  much  that  he  would  not  allow  his 
princes  to  have  a  tutor,  as  he  said  he  wanted  them  to 
make  themselves  and  not  be  manufactured  by  others.' 
On  his  Italian  journey  when  young  he  was  attended  by  a 
French  chamberlain,  M.  de  Chalesac.  At  Venice  one  night 
the  prince  returned  to  his  hotel  drunk,  and  was  re- 
proached by  de  Chalesac.  The  prince  seized  a  pair  of  pistols, 
levelled  them  at  his  chamberlain's  head,  and  roared,  '  You 
dog,  I  must  positively  kill  you.'  '  You  may  do  so,  your 
serene  highness,'  said  the  courtier, '  but  it  will  have  an  ugly 
look  in  history.'  The  prince  thought  a  moment,  laid 
down  the  pistols,  and  said, '  Yes,  you  are  right,  it  would 
not  read  respectably.' 

One  day  in  church  the  preacher  gave  out  the  first 
verse  of  a  hymn  : 

Neither  hunger  nor  thirst, 

Nor  want  nor  pain, 
Nor  wrath  of  the  Great  Prince 

Can  me  restrain. 

Prince  Leopold  thinking  he  was  alluded  to,  grasped  his 
walking-stick,  and  made  a  rush  at  the  pulpit,  to  thrash 
the  pastor  for  his  insolence.  The  minister  screamed  to 
him,  'Sire!  I  mean  Beelzebub,  Beelzebub,  not  your 
highness!'  and  scarce  pacified  the  furious  prince,  and 
saved  his  own  hide. 

His  piety  had  its  peculiar  colour.  Before  the  battle 
of  Kesselsdorf  he  prayed,  '  Dear  Grod,  graciously  assist  me 
this  day.  But  if  you  won't,  why  then,  for  goodness'  sake, 
don't  help  these  blackguards,  my  enemies;  but  stand 


Culture.  323 

quietly  by,  look  on,  and  don't  meddle.     I  will  manage 
them.' 

His  daughter  Louise  was  married  to  the  reigning 
Prince  Frederick  of  Bernburg.  Whilst  Prince  Leopold 
was  in  Halle  with  his  regiment,  he  received  news  that 
she  was  at  the  point  of  death.  He  at  once  marched  from 
Halle  to  Bernburg  at  the  head  of  his  troops  to  do  military 
honours  to  her  departure,  and  going  into  the  castle  garden 
he  knelt  down,  and  with  tears  in  his  eyes  prayed,  '  Lord 
(rod!  I  haven't  asked  you  a  single  thing  for  an  age. 
And  I  won't  bother  you  any  more  if  you  will  only  restore 
my  daughter  to  health  now.'  However,  she  did  not 
recover,  but  died  in  the  flower  of  her  age,  1732.  The 
Dessauer's  favourite  song  was  Luther's  '  Ein'  feste  Burg 
ist  unser  Gott;'  which  he  called  'Our  Lord  God's 
dragoon  march.'  He  only  knew  or  cared  for  one  tune, 
the  Dessauer  March,  and  he  thundered  Luther's  hymn, 
and  all  other  psalms,  in  the  church  to  the  same  tune. 
Oelsner  wrote  to  Varnhagen,  '  This  savage  is  like  Peter 
the  Great,  he  has  a  mixture  of  simple  common  sense  and 
humanity  along  with  his  barbarism.  On  one  of  his 
campaigns  he  came  to  Lomnitz,  a  village  in  Silesia,  of 
which  my  maternal  grandfather  was  lord.  He  asked  for 
a  guide,  and  was  given  a  swineherd.  The  prince  ordered 
the  man  to  step  into  his  carriage.  The  poor  fellow  felt 
not  a  little  frightened  before  the  fire-eater,  and  when 
doing  so  did  not  venture  to  put  his  feet  inside.  After  a 
moment  the  Dessauer  exclaimed,  "  Pigherd,  draw  in  your 
paws,  do  you  think  mine  are  made  of  almond  cake  ?  " ' 

In  addition  to  the  Protestant  main  line  of  the  House  of 
Hohenzollern  which  occupies  the  throne  of  Prussia,  and 
which  was  Calvinist,  there  are  two  Lutheran  lines,  those  of 
Baireuth  and  of  Anspach,  founded  by  the  Elector  John 
George,  who  died  in  1598.  George  William,  Margrave 

Y   2 


324  Germany \  Present  and  Past. 

of  Baireuth,  was  born  in  1678,  and  married  Sophia  of 
Saxe-Weissenfels,  when  she  was  only  just  fifteen ;  a 
princess  of  extraordinary  beauty  but  of  infamous  morals. 
G-eorge  William  of  Baireuth  and  Sophia  exhibited  Grerman 
court  life  in  the  eighteenth  century  in  its  full  extrava- 
gance. The  hermitage  of  Baireuth,  afterwards  so  admired 
and  extolled  by  Jean  Paul,  and  still  an  object  of  curiosity 
to  the  visitor,  was  erected  by  the  Margrave  in  1715.  It 
lies  about  three  miles  from  Baireuth.  It  is  said  to  have 
cost  2,000,000  gulden.  The  Temple  of  the  Sun  in  it,  an 
imitation  in  miniature  of  St.  Peter's  Church  at  Eome, 
alone  cost  100,000  gulden. 

The  hermitage  has  a  chateau,  with  gardens,  and  a  beau- 
tiful park.  In  the  latter,  which  goes  down  to  the  Main, 
were  erected  a  multitude  of  pavilions,  without  external 
symmetry,  the  cells  of  the  hermits,  looking  outside  like  piles 
of  timber,  but  comfortably  and  even  luxuriously  fitted  up 
within.  The  Margrave  was  superior,  and  his  wife  mistress 
of  the  order.  When  they  arrived  at  the  hermitage,  all 
the  members  of  the  society  appeared  in  their  habits.  At 
fixed  hours  the  brothers  and  sisters  paid  each  other  visits 
in  their  several  cells,  and  were  given  collations.  The 
order  was  subject  to  rules  from  which  none  were  dispensed 
without  the  permission  of  the  grand  master  or  mistress. 
In  the  evening  they  all  assembled  in  the  hall  of  the  castle 
or  Temple  of  the  Sun  for  supper.  This  latter  was  fan- 
tastically decorated  with  rock  crystals,  shells,  and  coloured 
stones.  At  meal  time  a  brother  hermit  read  a  verse  or  a 
tale  he  had  composed  ;  and  when  this  was  concluded,  all 
broke  out  into  comment  and  jest.  A  ball  concluded  the 
entertainment.  No  one  could  enter  the  order  who  had 
not  been  elected  by  the  chapter. 

Part  of  the  chateau  of  the  hermitage  was  furnished  in 
Chinese  fashion.  The  pillars  of  the  Temple  of  the  Sun 


Cultiwe.  325 


were  of  striped  foreign  marbles.  Everywhere  in  the  alleys 
of  the  park  were  ruined  castles.  On  one  occasion  an  arti- 
ficial ruin  actually  tumbled  down  on  some  people  and 
buried  them  alive.  In  a  bower  was  the  marble  monument 
of  the  dog  of  the  Margravine,  in  such  bad  taste  that  Count 
Putbus  remarked  of  it,  'Tombeau  de  chien,  chien  de 
tombeau.'  The  Margravine  of  Baireuth,  the  favourite 
sister  of  Frederick  the  Great,  and  the  wife  of  George  Wil- 
liam's successor,  has  left  us  in  her  '  Memoirs '  a  lively  but 
revolting  picture  of  the  society  in  this  court.  The  Mar- 
gravine Sophia  carried  her  gallantries  to  such  a  pass  of 
shamelessness,  that  the  Margrave  was  at  length  obliged  to 
consign  her  to  prison  in  the  Plassenburg.  The  Duchess 
of  Orleans  says  in  one  of  her  letters,  dated  May  8,  1721  : 
*  The  Margrave  of  Baireuth  and  his  wife  are  a  crazy  pair. 
L'esprit  de  vertige  reigns  in  this  court  and  in  the  her- 
mitage. It  is  no  wonder  that  misery  abounds  in  the 
principality,  when  the  sovereign  of  the  land  cares  nothing 
for  his  duties,  and  has  no  regard  for  justice.  If  they  have 
any  fear  of  G-od,  then,  verily,  they  are  fools  in  folio,  and 
know  not  what  they  do.'  The  Margravine  Wilhelmina 
thus  describes  the  Margravine  Sophia : — '  In  her  youth  she 
was  lovely  as  an  angel,  but  she  never  lived  happily  with 
her  husband.  She  may  be  numbered  with  the  famed 
women  of  antiquity,  for  she  was  in  her  morals  the  Lais  of 
her  age.  No  one  attributed  to  her  great  good  sense. 
When  I  saw  her  in  1732,  she  was  aged  forty-eight;  she 
was  stout  and  well-shaped,  her  face  rather  long,  as  was 
also  her  nose,  which,  however,  disfigured  her,  for  it  was  red 
as  a  cherry ;  her  brown  eyes,  with  which  she  was  wont  to 
lay  down  the  law,  were  well  formed  but  dull,  with  no  more 
sparkle  in  them.  Her  eyebrows  were  coal  black — but  then 
they  were  false.  Her  mouth,  though  large,  was  yet  well 
moulded  and  full  of  charm ;  she  had  teeth  white  as  ivory 


326  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

and  like  a  row  of  pearls ;  but  her  skin,  though  clean,  was 
quite  withered.  Consequently  she  looked  like  an  old 
worn-out  theatrical  prima  donna,  and  her  manner  gave  one 
the  same  impression.  Yet  in  spite  of  all,  she  was  still  a 
handsome  woman.'  Of  the  crimes  of  this  infamous 
woman,  the  gossiping  Margravine  Wilhelmina  has  plenty 
to  say,  but  they  cannot  be  told  here. 

After  the  death  of  the  Margrave  (1726)  she  was  re- 
leased from  prison.  She  married,  when  she  was  fifty 
years  old,  Count  Albert  of  Hoditz,  a  Moravian  nobleman, 
who  was  twenty-two  years  her  junior.  '  As  long  as  she 
had  a  halfpenny  in  her  purse,'  writes  the  Margravine,  ( her 
husband  flattered  her.  She  had  to  sell  all  her  clothes  to 
meet  his  exactions,  and  then  he  deserted  her,  leaving  her 
in  the  direst  poverty.'  She  lived  in  Vienna  generally 
despised,  and  in  want  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  upon  the 
alms  flung  her  by  the  nobility,  and  there  she  died  in 
1750. 

The  other  Lutheran  branch  of  the  Hohenzollerns  was 
that  of  Anspach.  Charles  William  Frederick  became  Mar- 
grave in  1729.  He  was  feared  as  a  madman  and  a  tyrant. 
In  a  fit  of  rage  he  shot  one  of  his  huntsmen  because  he 
thought  he  had  neglected  the  dogs.  A  militia  man 
was  keeping  guard  before  his  palace.  The  Margrave  de- 
manded his  gun  of  him,  and  the  man  surrendered  it  out 
of  respect  for  his  prince.  The  Margrave  at  once  declared 
him  unworthy  of  bearing  arms,  had  him  bound  to  the  tail 
of  a  horse,  and  dragged  about  in  the  mud.  The  poor 
wretch  re.ceived  such  injuries  that  he  died  of  them  two 
months  after.  He  intrusted  the  administration  of  govern- 
ment to  the  family  of  Seckendorf,  and  gave  himself  up  to 
the  pleasures  of  the  chase  and  the  society  of  two  mistresses. 
He  was  for  some  time  completely  guided  by  a  Jew,  named 
Isaac  Nathan,  who  practised  financial  swindling.  The 


Culture.  327 


little  Margrave,  wishing  to  bestow  a  great  honour  on  the 
great  King  of  England,  sent  him  the  Ked  Order  of  the 
Eagle  set  with  brilliants.  The  Jew,  Ischerlein,  who 
had  an  understanding  with  Nathan,  received  the  com- 
mission, and  put  paste  in  the  place  of  diamonds.  King 
George  at  once  detected  that  the  brilliants  were  false,  and 
took  no  notice  of  the  present.  An  inquiry  was  set  on  foot 
and  the  imposition  was  discovered.  The  Margrave  in- 
stantly sent  for  the  Jew  and  for  a  headsman  ;  Ischerlein 
was  bound  down  to  a  chair,  but  no  sooner  did  he  see  the 
executioner,  than,  springing  up,  he  ran,  with  the  chair 
adhering  to  him,  round  the  long  table  occupying  the 
middle  of  the  hall,  pursued  by  the  headsman,  till  the 
latter,  encouraged  by  the  Margrave,  struck  off  his  head 
across  the  table.  Nor  did  Nathan  escape  the  Margrave's 
wrath ;  he  was  closely  imprisoned,  deprived  of  the  whole 
of  his  ill-gotten  wealth,  and  in  1740  expelled  the  country. 
The  Margrave  was  passionately  and  extravagantly  attached 
to  the  chase.  He  had  forty- seven  officers  and  functionaries 
attached  to  his  falconry  alone.  When  he  was  buried,  a 
crowd  of  people  attended  the  funeral  procession  with 
growls  of  satisfaction.  He  died  of  apoplexy  brought  on 
by  a  fit  of  passion. 

I  have  given  but  a  few  examples  of  what  the  German 
courts  were  in  the  eighteenth  century.  These  be  thy  Gods, 
0  Israel !  It  was  these  which  set  the  example  to  the 
citizens.  These  were  the  nurseries  and  representative  spots 
of  culture  !  They  were  rather  open  sores,  from  which  the 
resources  of  the  land  drained  away  ;  cesspools  infecting  the 
neighbourhood.  In  France  there  was  but  one  court — one 
Versailles ;  in  Germany  there  were  over  a  hundred.  In  the 
dissolute  court  of  Louis  XIV.  and  Louis  XV.  vice  was  at 
least  given  a  gloss  and  delicate  colour.  In  England  it 
was  veiled  with  some  respect  for  decency.  But  in  Ger- 


328  Germany ',  Present  and  Past. 

many  vice  was  gross  and  nude.     Extravagance  had  been 
borrowed  from  France,  but  not  refinement. 

In  the  history  of  culture,  these  little  territories,  with 
their  courts  aping  those  of  great  sovereigns,  were  back- 
waters. Kleinstddterei,  as  the  niggling  government  of 
petty  princes  is  called,  with  its  consequent  narrow  views 
and  interests,  place-hunting,  and  stagnation  of  culture, 
has  been  the  bane  of  Germany.  '  Till  recently,'  writes 
Dr.  Vehse,  '  as  long  as  the  censorship  of  the  press  existed, 
little  or  no  details  of  the  various  maladministrations 
could  come  out ;  of  late,  however,  many  voices  have  been 
raised  by  trustworthy  men,  who  have  drawn  the  worst 
scandals  to  the  light,  and  have  shown  what  has  been 
going  on  in  the  various  parts  of  Germany.  I  allude  only 
to  what  Eiehl  has  disclosed  concerning  Nassau,  Dr.  Habech 
has  said  of  Dessau,  Dr.  Fischer  of  Detmold.  If  all  the 
little  German  States  have  not  borne  as  grotesquely 
barbarous  a  political  character,  and  one  so  degraded 
in  culture,  as  Mecklenburg,  for  instance,  yet  in  every  one 
wretchedness  is  manifest  to  the  full.  With  the  sole  ex- 
ceptions of  Oldenburg  and  Eeuss  all  the  little  German 
States  have  been  for  long  misgoverned,  and  the  results 
are  only  too  painfully  apparent  to  the  present  day. 
As  regards  the  mediatised  principalities,  there  are  few 
families  which  can  show  such  clean  hands  as  the  Protestant 
house  of  Stolberg-Wernigerode  and  the  Catholic  house  of 
Fugger.' ! 

One  main  root  of  the  evil  that  throve  in  the  little 
States  was  cliquedom.  On  this  cancer,  which  still  gnaws 
at  the  vitals  of  the  small  States,  and  demoralises  the 
whole  constitution  of  society  in  them,  nothing  can  be 
quoted  more  to  the  purpose  than  the  6  Confessions  of  Forty 
Years  in  the  Life  of  a  Physician,'  which  appeared  at  Leip- 

1  Vehse :   Geschichte  der  Dsutschen  Hofe,  vol.  xl.  pp.  163-4. 


Cidture.  329 


zig  in  1854.1  It  is  now  no  secret  that  the  description 
is  of  Brunswick  under  Duke  Frederick  Augustus  William 
Charles,  who  died  at  Geneva  in  1874;  and  that  the 
writer  was  Dr.  Lange,  the  court  physician.  On  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  '  Memoirs,'  Dr.  Klencke,  who  had  been  a 
personal  friend  of  Dr.  Lange,  and  who  was  supposed  to 
have  had  a  hand  in  giving  the  book  to  the  world,  was 
suddenly  banished  Brunswick.  But  though  the  description 
is  that  of  one  little  capital,  it  may  be  said  to  apply  to 
all  alike,  as  far  as  it  delineates  the  mode  of  administration, 
the  cliquedom,  and  the  pettiness  of  these  little  princi- 
palities. 

'  It  is  easy  to  decide  the  inner  character  of  a  town  at 
the  first  glance,  even  without  having  seen  the  inhabitants. 
On  entering  the  capital  in  which  I  had  to  live,  I  saw  at 
once,  from  the  nature  of  the  houses  and  streets,  that  here 
a  Kleinstddtlichen  tone  must  prevail.  The  streets  wound 
about  irregularly,  and  were  of  unequal  width ;  the  houses, 
mostly  of  timber  and  plaster,  with  old  carved  beam- 
ends  and  Grothic  dates,  resembled  a  range  of  giants  and 
dwarfs,  the  chimney  of  one  house  often  on  a  level  with  the 
first  story  of  the  neighbour.  In  all  the  open  spaces  stood 
farmers'  carts  like  barricades,  without  horses  or  driver;  the 
pavements  were  swarming  with  children  ;  human  heads 
were  at  all  the  windows ;  gaping,  gossiping,  or  smoking 
people  stood  at  every  door.  One  could  see  into  the 
ground-floor  rooms.  The  soap-boilers  had  their  horn 
lanterns ;  the  linen-weavers  had  hung  their  linen  to  dry  on 
lines  in  front  of  their  houses  ;  the  smiths  and  coopers 
worked  in  the  street  before  their  doors ;  cattle  were 
driven  up  and  down,  in  and  out.  Every  cart  that  passed 
drew  peering  faces  to  the  windows,  thick  as  tame  trout 

1  Selbstbekenntnisse :  oder  werzig  Jdhre  a.  d.  Leben  d.  oft-genannten 
Arztes,  Leipz.  1st  ed.  1854  ;  2nd,  1855. 


330  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

rising  to  the  surface  for  crumbs.  In  many  houses  the 
owner  lived  on  the  ground  floor,  and  all  the  upper  rooms 
were  uninhabited.  Only  near  the  princely  palace  were 
there  handsome  modern  houses,  showing  that  there  lived 
the  dignitaries  of  the  town.  The  external  appearance  of 

the  place  is  typical  of  all  little  capitals.1     Count  K 

explained  a  good  deal  of  this  to  me.  Court  life,  said  he, 
does  not  exist  here.  The  gentry  are  without  estates,  the 
bauers  burdened  with  debt ;  the  State  receipts  are  small, 
and  the  fancy  of  the  prince  to  have  many  soldiers  runs 
away  with  so  much  money  that  there  is  little  polite  life 
possible.  The  highest  civil  officers  affect  no  luxury  ;  the 
shopkeeper  and  the  trading  citizens  are  those  most  well-to- 
do,  and  give  the  tone  to  society.  Though  they  may  live 
in  tumble-down  houses,  they  keep  their  carriages  and 
horses,  have  plenty  of  money,  and  give  large  parties. 
Consequently  money  is  the  supreme  qualification  of  man. 
Every  one  is  valued  by  what  capital  he  has  in  the  bank  or 
in  business.  For  this  reason  the  gentry  marry  into 
citizen  families,  the  destitute  aristocracy  here  form  no 
class  to  themselves.  The  military  form  the  first  rank 
among  the  subjects.2 

'  The  small  States  are  the  haunts  of  egoism  and 
cliquedom.  In  a  small  state  and  a  capital,  which  veils  its 
Kleinstddterei  under  an  appearance  of  high  life,  where 
Philistinism  struts  about  in  Paris  fashions  and  with 
Berlin  airs,  it  is  much  harder  for  an  independent  man 
with  self-respect  to  maintain  his  place  than  in  petty  life 
which  does  not  affect  to  be  anything  but  Philistinism.  In 

1  Does  not  this  description  recall  at  once  a  score  to  the  recollection 
of    the   traveller  !     Donaueschingen,    Aschaffenburg,    Sondershausen, 
Kothen,  Dessau,  &c. 

2  This  is  now  universal,  as  will  be  seen  by  what  has  been  said  in 
Chap.  II.   The  nobility  have  no  position  at  court,  apart  from  that  they 
can  claim  on  their  military  grade. 


Culture.  331 


a  large  town  men  stand  more  apart,  and  a  thousand 
different  interests  cross  one  another,  and  families  shift, 
influences  are  always  changing,  and  stiff  old-fashioned 
formality  or  vulgarity  is  broken  or  softened  by  foreign 
intercourse.  The  gay  stream  of  manners  and  customs 
among  other  nations  rolls  in,  and  overflows  the  old  grit 
and  mud  of  ages  ;  social  life  receives  an  infusion  of  new 
life  which  refines  it  of  its  coarseness.  But  in  a  provincial 
and  residential  capital,  all  meanness,  and  commonness,  and 
coarseness  are  ossified  and  made  part  and  parcel  of  society 
and  family  life.  Old  prejudices  are  intensified  and  take 
firmer  root,  and  throw  up  fresh  suckers  on  all  sides, 
making  a  thick  undergrowth  of  barbarism  from  which 
there  is  no  escape.  Every  man  imbibes  these  sordid 
peculiarities  in  early  life  like  a  sponge ;  squeeze  him,  and 
all  life  long  nothing  else  distils  from  him  but  pettinesses 
and  vulgarities.  The  wretchedness  of  cliquedom  throws 
its  roots  through  the  whole  country,  and  scatters  its 
noxious  seeds  wherever  there  is  soil  where  it  can  be  pro- 
pagated. The  egoism  of  one,  which  in  a  great  town 
is  kept  in  check  by  the  egoism  of  others,  in  a  little  town 
is  converted  into  family  self-seeking.  All  princely  residence 
towns  in  small  territories  are  alike  in  this. 

'  I  soon  made  the  experience  that  the  sovereign  did 
not  rule  the  land,  except  in  name  ;  a  citizen  dynasty  had 
arrived  at  unlimited  sovereignty,  and  occupied  not  only 
all  city  offices,  with  its  relatives  and  kinsmen,  but,  with 
the  exception  of  the  ministry,  had  in  its  hands  every 
office  and  profession  of  every  sort.  The  prince  was  a 
soldier,  he  went  about  always  in  the  uniform  of  his  regi- 
ment of  cavalry,  which  was  his  pet  creation  and  toy.  He 
stood  quite  apart  from  the  civil  life  of  his  land,  and 
ordered  just  what  he  was  recommended  or  told  to  do, 
without  looking  into  anything.  The  ruling  dynasty 


332  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

thrust  its  people  everywhere  into  the  most  influential  and 
lucrative  situations,  till  every  bureau  and  green  table 
was  surrounded  or  occupied  by  blood  relations  playing  into 
each  other's  hands. 

'The  external  form  of  government  was  maintained, 
but  no  one  regarded  what  was  legal.  Every  petty  official 
did  what  was  right  in  his  own  eyes ;  the  superior  officials 
looked  another  way,  as  they  all  acted  on  the  principle  of 
mutual  accommodation.  The  reigning  citizen  dynasty, 
with  the  full  power  of  wide-extending,  all-embracing 
nepotism,  stood  above  law.  All  conscientious  discharge  of 
duties  in  office  was  looked  on  with  disapproval ;  an  official 
who  was  vexatiously  honest  was  got  rid  of  by  the  ruling 
coterie. 

6  Such  family  lordship  over  a  land  is  only  possible  in  a 
little  State.  But  although  it  is  a  feature  of  small  princi- 
palities that  they  should  fall  a  prey  to  cliquedom,  and 
remain  for  a  long  time  in  the  hands  of  a  family  of  toadies, 
yet  it  is  also  a  feature  of  them  that  the  sovereign  power 
should  now  and  then  break  loose,  and  exert  itself  in  a 
dictatorial  and  absolute  manner. 

( The  prince  lived  without  a  family,  in  knightly 
bachelorhood,  without  ever  corning  in  contact  with  the 
softening  influence  of  noble  women.  His  associates  were 
only  officers,  horses,  dogs,  and  guns.  Separated  early 
from  the  wife  who  had  been  diplomatically  united  to  him, 
he  had  acquired  no  respect  for  woman.  All  he  regarded 
in  the  other  sex  was  their  external  graces.  His  chivalry, 
and  the  proud  sense  of  personal  honour  attached  to  it, 
served  his  subjects  as  a  guarantee  that  he  would  behave 
uprightly  and  justly  in  his  dealings  with  them.  Such 
was  the  opinion  of  the  educated.  But  this  very  chivalry 
and  high  sense  of  honour  separated  the  prince  entirely 
from  his  people,  in  whom  he  seemed  to  have  no  interest, 


Culture.  333 


for  he  never  troubled  himself  to  inquire  into  their  affairs, 
and  gave  over  the  management  of  the  State  into  the  hands 
of  those  men  who  were  recommended  to  him  by  his 
surrounding  officials,  and  devoted  his  whole  attention  to 
military  drill  and  discipline. 

'  I  had  already  learned  from  Count  K that  the 

prince  had  no  taste  for  literature  and  art ;  that  he  only 
patronised  the  theatre  as  a  pastime,  and  that  he  regarded 
no  man  of  science  as  presentable  at  his  court.  Every 
sub-lieutenant  of  nineteen  took  precedence  over  the 
worthiest  professor  and  councillor. 

*  What  I  had  already  been  told  of  the  character  of  the 
prince  relieved  the  impression  made  on  me  by  my  first 
reception.  Stepping  out  of  a  crowd  of  adjutants,  he 
received  me,  listened  to  my  thanks  for  his  invitation  to 
be  the  town  physician  with  proud,  cold  manner,  looked  at 
me  for  some  time  without  speaking,  and  then,  without  the 
least  departure  from  his  military  bearing,  said  :  "  Acting 
on  distinguished  representations,  I  have  taken  the  excep- 
tional step  of  summoning  you  to  my  residence.  I  expect 
of  you  pre-eminent  efforts  and  paramount  discharge  of 
your  duties.  I  remain  yours."  Then,  with  a  wave  of  the 
hand,  he  dismissed  me.  He  expected  no  answer  from  me, 
but  returned  to  his  adjutants.  No  sooner  was  I  back  in 
the  palace  square  than  the  prince  passed  me,  galloping  off 
surrounded  by  his  circle  of  officers. 

'  The  prince  detested  all  petitions  and  appeals.  He 
wanted  to  know  nothing  about  what  went  on  in  the 
country  or  the  town,  and  it  almost  seemed  as  if  he  were 
ashamed  in  his  pride  of  the  little  ancestral  land ;  at  all 
events,  he  spent  the  greater  part  of  the  year  away  from  it, 
and  wore  the  uniform  of  a  general  of  the  Hanoverian  army. 
Any  one  who  did  not  wish  to  fall  into  disfavour  avoided 
troubling  him  with  affairs  of  state.  He  was  wont  to 


334  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

rudely  refer  those  who  mentioned  such  matters  back  to 
his  boards  of  officials,  and  to  order  that  the  person  who 
had  so  annoyed  him  should  be  denied  further  access  to  his 

person.      Count   K told   me   that   I   only   got   my 

appointment  through  the  direct  expression  of  the  will  of 
the  prince  and  a  fortunate  combination  of  circumstances 
which  prevented  the  reigning  coterie  filling  the  vacancy 
with  one  of  their  own  people. 

6  The  prince  was  a  decided  foe  to  all  religious  strait- 
ness,  spiritual  despotism,  and  mystic  fanaticism.  A  tutor 
of  his  youth  had  sufficiently  indoctrinated  him  with 
rationalism  for  him  not  to  tolerate  anything  of  this  sort. 
There  were  no  Sabbath  restrictions  in  the  capital;  the 
pastors  were  to  be  seen  on  Sundays  playing  cards  in  the 
taverns  or  drinking  deep  in  clubs.  During  divine  service 
entertainments  were  given,  hunts  were  carried  on,  military 
parades  were  held.  Much  looseness  in  the  morals  and 
ideas  of  the  land  was  due  perhaps  to  this  general  free- 
thinking.' 

Whilst   the   author  was   town   physician,   the   prince 

met,  at  a  bathing  resort,  a  Countess  von  M ,  who  was 

young  and  beautiful.  He  made  her  his  left-hand  wife, 
and  brought  her  to  a  chateau  a  few  miles  from  the 
capital,  where  he  could  visit  her.  The  writer  of  the 
'  Memoirs '  attended  her  during  a  confinement,  and  was 
then  appointed  by  the  prince  his  court  physician  and  the 
general  '  Sanitary  Councillor '  of  the  land.  He  at  once 
set  to  work  to  reform  the  medical  profession  and  practice 
in  it.  He  found  that  the  regulations  were  more  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years  old,  and  treated  of  '  tooth-drawers, 
worm  doctors,  snake  and  frog-catchers,'  and  that  the 
profession  in  the  principality  was  represented  by  a  pack 
of  ignorant  quacks. 

The  medical  reform  was  frustrated  by  a  court  revolu- 


Culture.  335 


tion,  of  which  the  author  gives  the  following  account : — 
'  The  prince,  who  had  hitherto  amused  himself  only  with 
bunting  and  soldiering,  got  tired  of  these  hobbies  and 
looked  out  for  a  change.  He  must  also  have  tired  of  his 
favourite  countess,  who  lived  with  her  mother  and  brother 
at  "  Wolfsforst," !  for  he  dismissed  her,  undertook  a 
journey  to  Italy,  and  amazed  his  little  capital  on  his 
return  with  opera  and  ballet  corps.  In  Vienna  he  had 
made  the  acquaintance  of  a  ballet-girl,  with  whom  he  fell 
desperately  in  love ;  and  now  all  his  passion  for  soldiers 
was  converted  into  one  for  caperers  on  the  boards  of  a 
theatre.  He  wanted  not  only  to  love  his  favourite,  but 
to  see  her  dance,  so  a  whole  company  was  engaged  to 
assist  her  in  the  ballet,  and  the  coquette  played  her  cards 
so  well  that  she  completely  ensnared  her  princely 
admirer,  and  in  a  very  short  while  became  the  regent  of 
the  land. 

'  I  at  once  felt  the  consequence  of  the  altered  relations, 
for  suddenly  it  was  announced  that  the  dentist  Martinelli 
was  appointed  court  physician  and  medical  councillor, 
with  privilege  of  presentation  at  court. 

4  That  the  favourite  dancing-girl  had  a  hand  in  this 
was  not  doubtful,  I  suspected  at  first ;  but  I  soon  found 
that  my  worst  fears  were  not  exaggerated.  Martinelli 
had  been  a  goldsmith's  assistant  at  Prague,  where  he  had 
made  the  acquaintance  of  the  ballet-dancer,  and  had 
followed  her  to  Vienna,  and  there  sponged  on  her.  She 
supplied  him  with  money  to  attend  Carabelli's  lectures  in 
the  university,  and  to  buy  the  title  of  '  Doctor  in  Surgery.' 
She  must  have  been  warmly  attached  to  him  ;  she  pretended 
to  the  prince  that  he  was  her  half-brother,  and  on  this 
ground  got  his  appointment.  The  prince  himself  suf- 
fered from  nothing  worse  than  corns,  and  could  not  wear 

1  Keally  Wolfenbuttel. 


336  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

his  boots.  The  dancing-girl  recommended  her  pretended 
brother,  who,  without  much  difficulty,  extracted  the  corns, 
and  was  thereupon  promoted  to  my  place.' 

But  the  dancing-girl  was  only  Martinelli's  means  to 
an  end.  She  fell  into  disfavour,  but  he  planted  himself 
deeper  in  the  prince's  regard.  In  half  a  year  the  dentist  was 
elevated  to  be  opera  superintendent.  The  medicinal  reform 
was  left  unearned  out,  the  cliques  of  the  town  recovered 
their  hold  of  the  rudder,  and  the  author  of  these  curious 
4  Memoirs  '  left  the  town  to  be  professor  in  an  university. 

Despotic  power  is  a  dangerous  instrument  in  the  hands 
of  one  emperor;  it  is  far  more  dangerous  when  lodged 
with  a  host  of  little  magnates.  Prince  Frederick  Christian 
of  Schaumburg-Lippe  was  a  good  marksman,  and  he 
delighted  in  playing  the  William  Tell  with  his  subjects. 
He  would  lie  in  waiting  at  the  window  of  one  of  his 
hunting-lodges,  or  of  his  palace,  with  his  gun,  watching 
to  see  a  child  or  a  woman  cross  the  street  or  go  to  the 
fountain  with  a  pitcher  on  the  head.  Then  crack  went 
the  gun,  and  the  vessel  flew  into  pieces,  deluging  the 
bearer  with  water  or  milk.  Once,  however,  he  shot  a 
man  through  the  body.  He  saw  something  moving  behind 
a  bush,  and  fired  from  his  window  at  it.  The  Pastor 
Busching  remonstrated  with  the  prince.  '  The  old  fellow 
is  right,'  said  the  Nimrod,  when  Busching  left ;  '  I  have 
sinned  against  Grod  and  my  people.  I  trust  I  shall  be 
forgiven.' 

King  Frederick  William  I.  of  Prussia  used  to  argue 
that  it  .was  Scriptural  for  a  sovereign  to  have  absolute 
command  over  his  people,  for  Scripture  gives  him  lordship 
over  '  menservants  and  maidservants,  young  men  and 
asses.'  In  the  exercise  of  this  divine  right  he  collected 
tall  guardsmen  where  he  could  and  how  he  could.  One  of 
his  recruiting  officers,  Baron  von  Hompesch,  cast  his  eyes 


Culture.  337 


on  a  strapping  carpenter  at  Jiilich,  and  coveted  him  for 
the  guard  of  the  king.  To  get  him  he  had  recourse  to 
an  artifice.  He  ordered  a  long  box  of  him.  The  carpenter 
made  and  brought  it.  The  baron  said  it  was  too  short. 
The  man,  to  show  how  long  it  was,  laid  himself  down  in 
it.  Hompesch's  men  at  once  screwed  down  the  lid,  and 
sent  the  recruit  to  the  King  of  Prussia.  He  received  the 
man — but  dead.  It  had  been  forgotten  that  he  could  not 
breathe  in  a  close  case. 

In  Osnabriick,  under  Frederick  Duke  of  York,  the 
second  son  of  George  III.,  who,  when  six  months  old,  was 
created  Protestant  bishop  of  the  diocese,  a  socman  was 
condemned  to  draw  the  plough  for  life  for  having  ventured 
to  strike  a  steward  of  the  bishop  who  had  taken  from 
him  his  affianced  bride,  and  given  her  to  another.  Charles 
William  of  Nassau  beat  a  peasant  to  death  with  his  own 
hand  who  was  accused  to  him  of  poaching. 

Ernest  Augustus  of  Saxe- Weimar  in  1736  forbade  his 
subjects  '  reasoning  under  pain  of  half  a  year  at  the 
treadmill.' 

The  Count-Palatine  Charles  of  Zweibriicken  resided  at 
Carlsberg,  where  he  kept  fifteen  hundred  horses,  and  a 
still  greater  number  of  cats  and  dogs,  and  collected  the 
heads  of  meerschaum  and  clay  pipes  to  the  number  of 
over  a  thousand.  He  issued  a  decree  that  every  one 
coming  in  sight  of  his  palace  should  uncover  his  head  till 
out  of  sight.  A  foreigner,  ignorant  of  the  law,  was  on 
one  occasion  nearly  beaten  to  death  for  not  removing 
his  hat. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  continue  the  list  of  crimes,  follies, 
and  extravagances  of  the  little  German  courts.  Enough 
has  been  shown  to  let  the  reader  judge  whether  they  were 
conducive  to  general  culture  or  not. 

The    princes,   seeking   to   establish   their   despotism,. 

VOL.   II.  Z 


338  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

were  obliged  to  get  rid  of  the  nobility,  who  formed  an 
estate  in  their  petty  realms,  and  in  the  Diets  constantly 
opposed  the  extension  of  their  sovereign  power.  Menzel 
says :  '  War,  the  headsman's  axe,  and  emigration  almost 
entirely  exterminated  the  old  free-spirited  nobility.  Here 
and  there  only  might  a  gentleman  be  found  living  on  his 
estate.  Their  place  was  taken  by  foreign  adventurers. 
The  example  set  by  Austria  was  followed  by  the  other 
Grerman  courts,  and  the  families  of  ancient  nobility  were 
forced  to  admit  to  their  rank  unworthy  creatures — the 
favoured  mistresses  of  the  princes  and  their  offspring.' 

The  revolution  of  1848  completed  the  ruin  of  the 
gentry.  The  princes  lent  a  hand  to  consummate  their 
destruction,  not  then  to  establish  themselves  as  despots, 
but  to  stave  off  their  own  ruin.  The  gentleman  has 
therefore  disappeared  in  Grermany  as  a  class.  He  has  no 
political  rights,  no  social  position,  different  from  the 
burger.  The  latter  is  now  the  representative  man.  He 
is  wealthy;  the  gentleman  poor.  He  has  acquired  his 
wealth  by  scraping  money  together,  by  screwing  down 
home  expenses,  and  holding  his  workmen's  noses  inflexibly 
to  the  grindstone.  He  has  made  himself  by  pushing.  He 
has  trodden  his  way,  regardless  whom  he  jostles  and  on 
whose  corns  he  treads.  Such  a  man  is  useful,  but  he  is 
not  ornamental ;  valuable,  but  disagreeable.  The  market, 
not  the  drawing-room,  is  his  proper  sphere  ;  men,  not 
women,  his  proper  associates.  He  may  spend  his  money 
on  works  of  art — this  is  most  exceptional — but  he  can- 
not buy  culture.  Most  of  his  gold  goes  in  eating  and 
drinking.  His  house  is  badly  furnished.  His  wife  and 
daughters,  slipshod,  in  nightcaps  and  petticoats,  ramble 
about  the  rooms  till  noon,  and  then  blaze  for  an  hour  or 
two  in  gaudy  attire,  put  on  with  a  pitchfork.  Philistinism, 
not  chivalry,  is  the  characteristic  of  Grerman  society, 


C^tlt^l,re.  339 


because  the  burger  has  risen  to  the  top  and  overspread 
the  surface  of  society.  Culture  can  no  more  be  had  for 
money  than  could  spiritual  gifts  by  Simon  Magus.  It 
may  be  acquired  by  one  not  born  to  it ;  but  then  it  must 
be  acquired  in  early  life,  or  the  twang  of  the  old  tongue 
remains.  The  haunt  of  all  Grerman  men — his  '  Lokal  '- 
is  the  last  place  where  it  may  be  learned.  If  he  could 
but  wrench  himself  from  his  club  or  tavern,  and  spend  his 
evenings  at  home,  he  would  become  less  loud  in  talk, 
more  considerate  of  women,  less  uncouth,  and  more  dis- 
interested. His  Philistinism  would  disappear  ;  it  would 
thaw  under  the  genial  warmth  of  his  wife  and  daughters, 
and  the  vernal  flowers  of  culture  would  shoot  out  of  the 
rugged  soil. 

On  the  separation  of  sexes  I  have  said  so  much,  that 
I  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  do  more  here  than  quote 
the  words  of  a  Kussian  officer  of  distinction. 

6  In  Grermany  men  live  very  little  at  home,  the  majority 
prefer  spending  their  leisure  in  the  tavern,  or  in  the 
club,  to  devoting  it  to  their  family  at  home.  The  G  erman 
hates  restraint ;  seated  behind  his  mug  of  beer,  with  two 
or  three  boon  companions,  he  will  pass  long  hours,  lost  in 
some  interminable,  philosophical  discussion,  in  which, 
indeed,  he  is  in  his  element.  But,  the  more  he  feels  at 
his  ease  in  this  society,  and  in  this  locality,  the  less  com- 
fortable he  is  when  surrounded  by  ladies  and  in  his  home. 
He  looks  on  all  social  gatherings  in  which  both  sexes 
meet  as  a  sort  of  intolerable  corvee,  to  which  he  must 
indeed  submit  once  or  twice  in  the  year,  which  the 
tyranny  of  circumstances  imposes  on  every  master  of  a 
household.  On  such  occasions,  made  solemn  by  their 
rarity,  the  host  thinks  he  is  bound  to  surround  his  guests 
with  all  the  superfluities  of  pompous  luxury,  though  in 
everyday  life  he  denies  himself  even  rudimentary  comforts. 

z  2 


34-O  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

Consequently,  a  G-erman  detests  an  impromptu  visitor. 
He  likes  to  be  informed  long  before  that  a  visit  is  intended, 
that  he  may  prepare  laboriously  for  it ;  for  to  receive  a 
friend  without  ceremony  is  regarded  as  against  all  good 
manners/"^  And,  on  the  other  hand,  a  visitor,  however 
intimate  he  may  be,  would  run  the  risk  of  being  set  down 
as  ignorantf  of  the  first  principles  of  etiquette,  were  he  to 
present  himself  in  the  evening,  or  at  dinner  time 
uninvited.' l 

In  England  every  country  house  and  parsonage  has 
been  a  quiet  nursery  of  gentility  and  purity.  In  Germany 
there  are  few  country  houses,  and  the  parsonages  are 
occupied  by  families  of  burger  or  bauer  origin.  The 
pastors  are,  with  rare  exceptions,  men  of  cultivated  minds, 
men  whom  it  is  a  pleasure  to  meet  and  converse  with. 
But  their  wives  are  of  citizen  class,  gentle,  domestic 
women,  but  without  the  polish  that  is  expected  of  the 
parson's  wife  in  England,  and  she  and  her  husband 
are  not  received  into  the  best  society.  The  pastor  is 
poor,  and  has  to  scramble  on  with  a  large  family  on  a 
small  income.  He  cannot  give  his  children  a  gentle 
education. 

In  England  the  hall  and  the  rectory  are  on  terms  of 
intimacy.  The  daughter  of  the  parson  not  unfrequently 
becomes  lady  at  the  hall,  and  the  younger  son  of  the  squire 
is  settled  in  the  country  rectory.  We,  who  live  in  England, 
have  little  idea  of  the  influence  on  culture  possessed  by 
the  parsonage  in  our  island.  The  young  ladies  from  it 
grow  up  active  in  good  works,  loving  and  caring  for  the 
poor,  looking  after  them  in  sickness,  taking  interest  in 
the  school-girls,  teaching  the  lads  in  night-schools,  or- 
ganising cottage-garden  shows  and  harvest  festivals. 

1  Baron  v.  Kaulbars,  « Notes  d'un  Officier  Kusse  sur  I'ArmSe  Alle- 
mande,  in  Bulletin  de  la  Reunion  des  Officiers,  1877. 


Culture.  34 1 


And  when  they  pass,  as  they  so  often  do,  to  country 
homes  of  their  own,  in  the  hall  or  rectory,  they  carry  with 
them  their  sympathy  for  those  beneath  them,  and  are 
in  their  generation  fountains  of  light,  stars  beaming  down 
into  dark  hearts,  and  making  them  twinkle  with  smiles. 
It  has  been  my  fate  to  be  for  some  years  in  parishes 
without  resident  gentry,  and  where  there  have  never  been 
resident  incumbents.  The  moral  and  social  condition  of 
these  parishes  is  dark  indeed  compared  to  that  where 
hall  and  rectory  were  ever  influencing  farmhouse  and 
cottage. 

I  have  seen  the  rudest  village  bumpkins  humanised  by 
a  winter  night-school  conducted  by  the  rector's  daughters 
—not  humanised  only,  but  made  gentle  and  chivalrous. 
The  rectory  party  and  those  in  the  hall  are  on 
familiar  and  often  affectionate  terms.  There  is  no  per- 
ceptible difference  in  culture  between  them  ;  indeed,  one 
family  by  birth  and  bringing  up  is  as  good  as  the  other. 
The  parsonage  interests  the  hall  in  the  matters  of  the 
parish,  and  so  all  classes  meet  in  general  sympathy 
and  exchange  of  kindlinesses,  and  in  so  doing  react  on  one 
another ;  the  poor  receive  light  from  above,  and  in  return 
give  back  what  is  as  precious — the  feeling  of  that  to 
which  so  ugly  a  name  has  been  given — human  solidarity, 
but  which  in  Christian  parlance  is  real  charity.  The  rich 
knows  the  poor  not  by  the  outside  only,  but  is  acquainted 
with  his  wants,  his  shortcomings,  his  temptations,  and 
seeks  to  help  him,  at  least  to  make  allowance  for  his 
deficiencies.  Philistinism  begins  with  dissociation  of  man 
from  man,  and  class  from  class. 


34 2  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 


CHAPTEK   XVIII. 

ARCHITECTURE. 

Why  should  you  fall  into  so  deep  an  0  ? 

Romeo  and  Juliet,  act  iii.  sc.  3. 

FRANCE  is  the  land  of  cathedrals,  Belgium  of  town  halls, 
and  Grermany  of  castles.  The  history  of  each  country 
gives  the  reason.  In  the  midst  of  internal  peace  the 
Church  flourished,  and  the  cathedrals  of  France  are  its 
most  magnificent  monuments.  Commerce  throve  in  the 
Netherlands,  and  the  corporate  life  of  the  towns  was  de- 
veloped along  with  it,  manifesting  itself  in  the  splendid 
hdtels  de  ville.  Unhappy  Grermany,  torn  by  feuds,  broken 
up  among  a  thousand  little  princes  and  ten  thousand 
lesser  nobles,  shows  to  this  day,  in  the  ruins  of  its  castles 
crowning  every  hill,  the  scars  of  internal  strife. 

Ever  since  the  Grothic  revival  began,  our  English 
architects  have  rushed  pencil  and  note-book  in  hand  across 
the  channel,  to  pick  up  ideas  from  French  ecclesiastical  and 
domestic  architecture  for  reproduction  in  England.  The 
result  of  these  excursions  is  apparent  everywhere.  We 
have  French  town  halls,  French  churches,  French  colleges. 
Even  Barry  could  not  build  his  Houses  of  Parliament  in 
English  Perpendicular  without  putting  on  them  French 
Eenaissance  roofs.  Yet  with  this  foreign  adjunct,  allow- 
able under  the  circumstances,  the  Westminster  Palace  is 
by  far  the  most  pleasing  production  of  English  architec- 


Architecture.  343 


ture  in  the  present  century.  It  is  pleasing  because 
English,  whereas  the  new  Law  Courts  will  stick  in  the 
throat  of  the  City,  an  unwholesome  jumble  of  continental 
details. 

I  believe  that  no  European  architects  have  so  mastered 
Gothic  styles  as  our  own,  but,  unfortunately,  they  have 
been  demoralised  by  flirtations  with  La  Belle  France. 
Our  native  productions  were  deficient  in  imaginativeness  : 
this  has  been  felt ;  our  architects  have  been  as  uncreative 
as  their  predecessors  in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  to  supply 
the  deficiency  they  have  imported  French  surprises. 
English  mediaeval  architecture  slowly  and  gravely  deve- 
loped itself,  always  characterised  by  restraint.  There  was 
no  effort  made  to  attain  the  unattainable,  and  therefore 
no  unfinished  cathedrals  and  parish  churches.  The  French 
were  inspired  with  grandiose  conceptions,  and  they  set 
to  work  to  build  without  counting  the  cost.  This  accounts 
for  the  solitary  choir  of  Beauvais  and  the  incompleted 
spires  of  Amiens. 

Under  the  Norman  kings  there  was  unquestionably  an 
interchange  of  architectural  ideas  with  Normandy ;  but 
when  once  our  builders  had  firm  hold  of  the  main  prin- 
ciples of  construction,  and  knew  how  to  use  the  compass 
and  handle  the  chisel,  they  went  on  their  own  way,  the 
master  taught  the  apprentice,  and  the  apprentice  deve- 
loped the  doctrine  of  the  master.  French  and  English 
architecture  followed  their  several  lines,  diverging  more 
and  more,  till  French  frivolity  flashed  into  Flamboyant, 
and  English  matter-of-fact  stiffened  into  Perpendicular. 

The  French  architects  had  been  impelled  by  am- 
bition, and  had  sought  an  ideal  wholly  foreign  to  the 
ambition  and  ideal  of  the  English  architect.  The  French- 
man sought  to  give  his  cathedral  enormous  height,  to 
make  the  choir  a  semicircular  lantern  with  a  crown  of 


344  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

little  lantern-like  chapels  round  it.  The  Englishman 
sought  length  rather  than  loftiness  ;  Exeter  and  Lincoln 
disappoint,  because  they  are  so  low;  only  Westminster 
and  Eievaulx  show  aspirations  after  height.  English 
taste  preferred  the  square  east  end  to  the  apse,  and  the 
great  east  window  to  the  semicircle  of  lights.  The  French 
architect  put  his  towers  at  the  extremities  of  the  nave  and 
transepts,  and  planted  a  delicate  neche  at  the  intersections. 
The  English  architect  concentrated  his  efforts  on  one 
mighty  central  tower  over  the  crossing  of  nave  and 
transepts,  and  made  the  other  towers  subsidiary.  The 
French  capital  was  always  a  reminiscence  of  the  Koman 
mixture  of  Corinthian  acanthus  with  Ionic  volutes.  The 
volutes  are  always  present,  however  disguised ;  and  this 
capital  gives  the  abacus  its  square  character,  and  the  arch 
that  springs  from  it  its  rectangular  harshness.  The 
English  capital  was  circular ;  the  volute  disappeared 
at  once ;  and  the  abacus  was  round,  and  the  arch  obtained 
a  richness  it  never  acquired  in  France.  French  archi- 
tecture is  impudent,  English  architecture  modest. 
French  architecture  is  the  natural  outgrowth  of  Celtic 
vivacity.  It  exhibits,  written  in  stone,  the  characteristics 
of  Celtic  civilisation,  and  English  architecture  carries  in 
giaven  tables  the  stamp  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  character  and 
culture.  Gallic  architecture  is  picturesque,  but  extrava- 
gant ;  pretty  with  the  prettiness  of  caprice,  daring  but 
thoughtless,  exuberant  but  superficial.  It  delights  for  a 
while  and  then  palls.  English  architecture  is  the  reverse 
at  every  point ;  it  is  clumsily  shy  of  posturing  so  as  to 
appear  picturesque ;  it  is  homely,  gravely  adhering  to  pre- 
cedent, studiously  moderate,  disappointing  at  first  sight, 
but  wearing  with  a  wear  everlasting. 

It   is    sad  that   our   modern   architects   should   have 
striven  to  force  on  us  a  style  which  goes  clean  contrary 


A  rchitecture.  345 


to  the  traditions  of  Anglican  art  and  to  the  artistic 
instincts  of  our  race.  If  in  the  poverty  of  their  invention 
they  needs  must  plagiarise,  they  would  have  done  better 
to  go  to  Germany,  where  a  race  of  like  blood  with  us 
developed  its  artistic  ideas,  and  created  for  itself  a  style 
peculiar  to  itself,  unlike  the  French  Flamboyant  and  the 
English  Perpendicular,  but  yet  a  style  with  which  the 
Anglican  artistic  instinct  can  sympathise,  and  with  details 
which  can  be  quoted  in  English  modern  architecture  without 
producing  a  shock.  Flamboyant  and  Perpendicular  are 
thought  to  be  the  expiring  efforts  of  Grothic  art.  I  do  not 
think  this  is  a  fair  explanation  of  them,  I  regard  them  as 
the  styles  in  which  the  national  character  first  arrived  at 
complete  self-consciousness.  The  Grerman  style  of  the 
same  period  is  to  be  regarded  in  the  same  light.  In  the 
fifteenth  century  each  nation  had  artistically  individualised 
itself. 

Christian  churches  are  thought  to  have  been  given 
their  first  type  by  the  basilicas  of  Rome  which  were  yielded 
up  to  Christian  worship.  This  is  possible.  No  doubt  San 
Clemente  and  San  Paolo  fuor  le  Mura  at  Rome  were  origi- 
nally halls  of  justice.  But  the  basilican  churches  were 
not  always  adaptations  of  this  sort.  In  a  letter  of  Con- 
stantine  to  Bishop  Macarius  of  Jerusalem,  the  emperor 
instructs  the  prelate  to  build  a  basilica  over  the  Holy 
Sepulchre.  The  title  basilica  was  given  to  a  church 
because  the  term  meant  a  colonade,  and  was  derived  from 
an  adjective  signifying  royal  or  splendid,  a  word  occurring 
in  Plautus,  in  whose  time  the  first  basilicas  were  erected. 

The  first  church  at  Treves,  the  Rome  of  Grallia  Cisal- 
pina,  was  a  palace  belonging  to  the  mother  of  Constantine, 
which  she  converted  into  a  cathedral.  This  was  not  un- 
frequently  done.  In  the  '  Clementine  Recognitions  '  it  is 
said  that  Theophilus,  one  of  the  greatest  men  in  Antioch, 


346  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

dedicated  '  domus  suse  ingentem  basilicam  ecclesise 
nomine.'  Ammianus  Marcellinus  speaks  of  the  basilica 
of  Sicinus,  which  was  evidently  the  house  of  Sicinus 
transformed  into  a  church.  It  is  probable  that  the 
oldest  churches  on  the  Rhine  were  private  mansions 
of  noble  Grallo-Romans  converted  into  places  of  worship. 
Now  the  principal  part  of  a  Roman  mansion  was  the 
atrium,  a  square  hall  in  the  centre  of  the  building,  with 
a  pond — the  impluvium — in  the  middle ;  the  atrium  was 
covered  in,  except  immediately  over  the  impluvium.  On 
one  side  of  the  hall,  generally  raised  a  step  or  two  above 
it,  was  the  tablinum,  a  semicircular  apartment  richly 
painted,  and  before  this  stood  the  altar  to  the  lares  and 
penates.  The  tablinum  was  converted  into  the  sanctuary 
of  the  church,  and  the  altar  moved  back  out  of  the  atrium 
into  it.  The  passage  leading  to  the  atrium  was  widened 
by  piercing  the  walls  into  the  side  chambers,  and  thus 
constituting  a  nave.  At  Treves  the  atrium  remained 
open  to  the  sky  till  the  eleventh  century,  when  Bishop 
Poppo  roofed  it  in,  and  at  the  same  time  broke  through 
the  old  tablinum  and  built  a  larger  choir. 

If  the  traveller  will  bear  this  arrangement  in  mind  he 
will  understand  the  growth  of  ecclesiastical  structures  on 
the  Rhine.  Treves  minster  was  the  typal  church,  the  St. 
Sophia  of  the  Ripuarian  Franks.  The  atrium  roofed  over, 
covered  with  a  cupola  or  octagonal  lantern  tower,  becomes 
a  distinguishing  feature.  Other  towers  are  run  up  for 
holding  the  bells,  or  for  adornment,  but  the  huge  central 
lantern,  is  the  predominant  mass  that  takes  the  eye. 
It  is  to  be  seen  in  the  glorious  Apostles'  Church  at 
Cologne,  in  St.  Maria  in  the  Capitol,  St.  Grereon,  Laach, 
Bonn,  &c. 

Taking  the  atrium  as  the  foundation  for  ground-plan 
measurement,  all  additions  were  scaled  by  it.  A  choir 


Architecture.  347 


was  added,  east  of  this,  of  precisely  its  measures,  and  the 
apse  was  thrown  east  of  this  choir.  The  transepts  were 
squares  of  the  same  dimensions,  and  the  nave  was  two  or 
three  squares  ;  the  side  aisles  double  as  many  half-squares 
as  the  nave.  This  was  the  original  plan  of  the  Cathedral 
of  Merseburg. 

There  are  several  features  of  interest  in  Grerman  Ko- 
manesque  architecture.  One  is  the  external  gallery 
round  the  apse,  a  feature  of  great  beauty.  There  are 
fine  examples  at  Cologne.  That  of  St.  Servais,  at  Maes- 
tricht,  is  also  noticeable. 

This  gallery  was,  no  doubt,  a  practicable  passage  to  the 
internal  galleries  often  met  with  over  the  aisles,  Around 
the  circular  space  in  the  centre  of  the  cathedral  of  Aachen 
runs  an  aisle,  vaulted  low;  and  the  vault  supports  the 
floor  of  a  superimposed  solarium,  or  gallery  opening  by 
arches  into  the  central  body  of  the  church.  In  this,  op- 
posite the  altar,  was  the  throne  of  the  emperor,  and  the 
gallery  served  for  the  court.  The  western  gallery  was 
generally  retained  as  the  private  box  of  princes  and 
nobles,  but  also  as  a  place  for  nuns.  The  gallery  oc- 
casionally runs  the  whole  length  of  the  church  on  both 
sides,  making  double- storied  aisles,  as  at  Altenberg  on  the 
Lahn,  Neuendorf  in  the  Altmark,  Hecklingen  near  Strass- 
burg,  Liinen,  Miihlberg,  Langenhorst,  &c.  A  late  example 
is  St.  Columba's,  Cologne.  The  great  church  of  Essen 
has  a  three-storied  choir.  Some  of  the  Thuringian  Bene- 
dictine monasteries  were  double,  that  is,  one  church  served 
monks  and  nuns  ;  these  have  all  solaria  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  the  women,  whereas  the  men  occupied  the  ground- 
floor.  Another  peculiarity  of  Grerman  Eomanesque 
churches  is  the  double  choir.  Both  the  west  as  well  as 
the  east  end  of  a  great  many  cathedrals  and  churches  ends 
in  an  apse,  with  choir  and  altar  in  it.  The  origin  of  these 


348  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

western  choirs  is  to  be  sought  at  Fulda.  The  first  church 
there,  dedicated  to  the  Saviour,  was  completed,  properly 
orientated,  by  the  first  abbot,  Sturmi.  Bangolf,  the 
second  abbot,  threw  out  an  apse  to  the  east.  Katger, 
abbot  in  803,  erected  a  similar  apse  at  the  west  end  to 
contain  the  tomb  of  St.  Boniface,  and  the  church,  thus 
completed,  was  consecrated  in  819.  The  fame  acquired 
by  the  tomb  of  the  Apostle  of  Grermany  caused  the 
western  choir  to  be  regarded  as  the  principal  choir,  and 
when  the  church  was  rebuilt  in  the  eighteenth  century 
this  was  alone  retained.  The  next  example  is  the  plan  of 
the  abbey  church  of  St.  Grail,  of  820.  The  eastern  choir, 
raised  on  a  flight  of  steps,  stood  over  the  tomb  of  St.  Grail, 
and  the  western  choir  contained  an  altar  to  St.  Peter,  to 
whom  the  old  church  of  the  monastery  had  been  dedicated 
two  centuries  before.  Simultaneously  a  new  cathedral 
was  built  at  Cologne  on  the  same  plan,  the  eastern  choir 
dedicated  to  St.  Peter,  the  western  to  St.  Mary.  One 
nave  served  for  both. 

In  the  tenth  century  the  bishop's  seat  was  transferred 
from  Saben,  where  the  patron  was  St.  Ingenuus,  to  Brixen, 
where  the  church  was  dedicated  to  St.  Peter.  The  cathe- 
dral was  at  once  provided  with  a  second  apse  and  altar  at 
the  west  end  for  St.  Ingenuus.  The  western  choir  is 
often  attributable  to  a  similar  reason ;  it  is  so  at  Naum- 
burg,  to  which  the  bishopric  was  transferred  from  Leitz 
in  the  eleventh  century.  But  also  convenience  or  economy 
promoted  this  curious  usage,  so  as  to  make  one  church 
serve  two  purposes.  This  is  the  case  with  some  minsters 
which  were  also  parish  churches.  The  chapter  had  their 
choir,  and  the  parochial  clergy  their  own,  at  opposite 
extremities  of  the  building.  Examples  of  churches  with 
apses  at  both  ends  are  numerous :  such  are  the  cathedrals 
of  Treves,  Mainz,  Worms,  Augsburg,  Eichstadt,  Naumburg, 


Architecture.  349 


Bamberg,  Miinster,  and  Bremen.  A  very  beautiful  small 
church  of  this  kind  is  St.  Croix,  at  Liege. 

The  churches  from  the  sixth  to  the  eighth  centuries  were 
without  towers ;  the  introduction  of  bells  caused  a  revolu- 
tion ;  and  so  great  became  the  desire  to  have  towers,  not 
only  for  containing  bells,  but  as  ornaments,  that  the 
smallest  parish  did  not  rest  satisfied  till  it  was  provided 
with  at  least  one.  The  cathedrals  of  Mainz,  Speier,  and 
Worms,  the  church  of  St.  Michael  at  Hildesheim,  and 
Laach  Abbey  Church,  have  six;  the  great  church  at  Bonn 
has  five,  Limburg  Cathedral,  perched  on  the  top  of  a  rock, 
seven ;  the  Marienkirche  at  Danzig  has  ten  in  addition 
to  the  great  bell  tower. 

When  a  church  was  provided  with  a  double  apse,  it 
was  thought  that  it  ought  also  to  have  a  double  transept, 
and  when  it  was  given  a  transept  at  the  west  end  as  well 
as  at  the  east  end,  a  cupola  or  lantern  tower  over  the 
intersection  followed,  as  a  matter  of  course.  Thus,  at 
Mainz  there  are  two,  one  at  each  end  of  the  nave.  And 
when  each  arm  of  the  transept  at  one  end  was  furnished 
with  bell  towers,  each  arm  of  the  transept  at  the  other 
end  was  similarly  provided.  At  St.  Michael's,  Hildesheim, 
there  is  a  central  square  tower  over  the  crossing  at  each 
end  of  the  nave,  with  one  octagonal  tower  dying  into  a 
circle  in  the  middle  of  each  transept,  and  two  similar 
porches  at  the  two  extremities  of  the  nave. 

The  transition  from  Romanesque  to  Pointed  was  not  a 
native  development  in  Germany.  The  Pointed  style  was 
borrowed  from  France.  The  Eomanesque  Church  of  St. 
Cunibert  at  Cologne  was  completed  in  1247,  and  the 
foundations  of  the  richly  decorated  pointed  cathedral  were 
laid  the  following  year.  The  plan  was  obviously  borrowed 
from  Amiens,  then  in  course  of  construction.  If  drawn 
on  the  same  scale  and  one  be  applied  to  the  other,  the  two 


350  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

ground-plans  will  be  found  to  coincide.  The  Liebfrau- 
kirche  at  Treves  was  designed  by  a  French  architect ;  it 
was  begun  in  1227,  and  was  copied  from  the  choir  of  St. 
Ived,  in  Braine,  near  Soissons,  built  between  1180  and 
1216.  But  the  central  tower,  erected  after  the  pointed 
body  of  the  church  by  Grerman  workmen,  is  in  the 
Komanesque  style.  This  latter  style  lasted  all  over  Grer- 
many  through  the  first  half  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and 
even  in  places  down  to  1 300  ;  whilst  the  pointed  Grothic  ap- 
peared sporadically  from  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  The  very  earliest  instance  of  the  adaptation  of 
a  French  plan  to  a  Grerman  building  is  seen  in  the  Church 
of  St.  Grodehard,  at  Hildesheim,  founded  in  1133,  erected 
in  the  Romanesque  style.  The  plan  is  of  a  semicircular 
apse,  with  radiating  chapels — a  plan  common  in  the  south 
of  France  in  the  eleventh  century,  and  which  spread  to 
the  Loire.  Bishop  Bernhard  I.,  of  Hildesheim,  was  at  the 
Council  of  Eheimsin  11 31,  when  St.  Grodehard  was  canon- 
ised, and  no  doubt  he  carried  back  with  him  the  French 
plan  of  a  choir  with  its  wreath  of  chapels,  and  built  his 
church  at  Hildesheim  after  it.  This  example  of  a  Koman- 
esque choir  with  radiating  chapels  is  almost  unique  in 
Grermany.1 

In  1207  the  Cathedral  of  Magdeburg  was  burnt  down. 
A  few  days  after  the  fire,  Archbishop  Albert  II.  entered 
the  city,  and  at  once  undertook  the  rebuilding  of  the 
minster.  The  archbishop  had  long  studied  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Paris,  and  there  no  doubt  he  had  seen  and  been 
pleased  with  the  new  pointed  Grothic  style.  He  either 
brought  an  architect  from  France,  or  sent  Grerman  work- 
men to  study  there,  for  the  Cathedral  of  Magdeburg  both 
in  plan  and  style  followed  the  French  school.  The  Cathe 
dral  of  Naumburg  was  consecrated  in  1242  :  it  was  built 
1  There  is  another,  the  abbey  church  of  Heisterbach. 


A  rch  itcctu  re.  351 


in  the  German  Romanesque  style.  That  same  year  a 
learned  man,  named  Peter,  a  master  of  arts,  of  Paris,  was 
elected  to  the  bishopric.  The  opposition  of  the  Margrave 
prevented  him  from  maintaining  his  place ;  but  it  is 
probable  that  he  had  brought  with  him  French  builders 
for  the  completion  of  the  cathedral,  for  the  rest  of  the 
work  is  pure  Pointed,  a  startling  contrast  to  the  portion 
completed  only  a  few  years  before. 

Directly  the  German  architects  mastered  the  principles 
of  Pointed  architecture,  they  got  rid  of  the  square  abacus. 
The  pillar  had  been  called  upon  to  support  a  rectangular 
block  of  masonry;  the  capital  was  the  point  at  which 
the  circle  melted  into  the  square.  In  France,  old  Gallo- 
Roman  ruins  had  supplied  abundance  of  pillars  for  the 
first  Christian  temples,  but  on  the  Rhine  pillars  were 
not  so  abundant,  and  builders,  therefore,  employed  piers. 
A  pilaster  was  manageable.  The  Grerman  pilaster  or  little 
column  was  given  a  capital  very  different  from  the  early 
French  capital.  Imagine  a  marble  rubbed  down  partially 
on  four  opposite  sides,  and  then  sawn  in  half.  Half  such 
a  die  is  the  Romanesque  capital  of  Germany. 

When  the  nave  and  aisles  came  to  be  vaulted,  and 
the  groining  ribs  and  responds  rose  from  the  capital, 
the  pillar  was  required  to  support  a  mass  of  masonry 
whose  section  was  not  rectangular,  parallel  with  the  axis 
of  the  building,  but  a  rectangle  set  diamond-wise.  The 
capital  at  once  returned  to  its  bowl  shape,  with  a  circular 
abacus,  and  kept  to  that  type. 

In  Middle  Pointed,  the  compass  first  showed  its  capa- 
cities. But  the  instrument  which  lent  the  style  its  great 
power  and  endowed  it  with  such  daring,  was  also  the 
cause  of  its  ruin.  It  put  the  ability  to  design  respectably 
in  the  hands  of  every  man  who  could  strike  a  circle. 
Architecture  became  mechanical ;  proportion  was  measured 


352  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

by  a  wooden  rule,  not  by  living  taste.  Genius  got  nipped 
between  the  compass  legs.  What  genius  can  do  with  the 
aid  of  the  instrument  may  be  seen  in  the  nave  and  west 
front  of  Strassburg,  with  its  spire  as  originally  designed ; 
what  compass  with  commonplace  mind  can  effect,  in  the 
nave  and  west  front  of  York  Minster.  Cologne  Cathedral, 
with  all  its  beauty,  disappoints,  because  the  compass  has 
been  too  much  for  the  creative  genius.  Compass  and 
rule  became  sovereign  in  England  in  Perpendicular.  But 
German  genius  saw  its  peril,  flung  the  instrument  aside, 
went  into  the  green  wood,  took  in  a  deep  inspiration  from 
nature,  and  in  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century  developed 
a  style  intensely  national,  and  one  of  which  Germans  ought 
to  be  proud.  German  genius  caught  at  the  branchings 
and  interlacings  of  tree  boughs  as  the  means  of  escape 
from  the  despotism  of  the  rule  and  divider  ;  it  determined 
to  have  picturesqueness  at  any  price,  and  to  eschew  con- 
ventionality. In  the  architectural  creations  of  the  end 
of  the  fourteenth,  of  the  fifteenth,  and  beginning  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  we  meet  with  caprice,  defiance  of  ar- 
tistic canons,  grotesqueness  even ;  but  the  great  inexpres- 
sible charm  of  the  style  is,  that  it  speaks  to  us  with  human 
voice,  it  reveals  to  us  the  thoughts  that  chased  through 
the  mind  of  the  builder  and  sculptor;  it  shows  us  the 
beatings  of  a  kindly  human  heart ;  it  is  full  of  fancy,  nay 
more,  of  ideas.  It  sometimes  stutters,  not  from  want 
of  thought,  but  from  inability  to  express  the  flow  of  rich 
imaginings.  The  German  architects  have  not  yet  arrived 
at  the  pitch  of  comprehending  it ;  it  is  barbarous  to  them, 
as  the  Gothic  of  York  Minster  was  Saracenic  to  Matthew 
Bramble.  They  have  not  yet  given  it  a  name.  Otte  con- 
signs to  it  half  a  page,  Lubke  about  a  couple.  And  yet  this 
is,  par  excellence,  the  German  Gothic,  the  embodiment 
of  the  merits  and  defects  of  the  Teutonic  genius. 


A  rchitecture.  353 


As  the  development  has  not  yet  been  christened,  I  will 
perform  the  rite,  and  call  it  the  '  Broken-twig  style.' l 

The  leading  idea  of  this  style  is  to  carry  every  mould- 
ing through,  not  let  one  die  into  another.  An  ordinary 
picture  frame  and  an  Oxford  frame  will  illustrate  the  dif- 
ference. In  the  former,  each  side  disappears  into  the 
other  at  the  junction.  In  the  latter,  each  side  is  carried 
through,  and  appears  beyond.  Square-headed  doorways 
and  windows  are  treated  precisely  like  Oxford  frames.  In 
a  hollow  lies  a  roll,  sometimes  representing  a  stick,  with 
lateral  twigs  and  knots ;  this  is  crossed  above  the  door  by 
a  similar  stick,  and  the  two  are  represented  as  lashed  to- 
gether. 

At  Ulm,  on  the  south  of  the  minster,  is  a  door  into  the 
church,  between  massive  buttresses.  A  very  depressed 
arch  is  flung  between  the  buttresses,  over  the  door,  and 
this  arch  takes  the  form  of  a  huge  tree  trunk  thrust  be- 
tween the  piers  of  masonry  to  keep  them  apart,  somewhat 
bent  with  their  pressure  inwards.  This  is,  no  doubt,  an 
inexcusable  conceit,  but  it  shows  fancy.  An  ordinary 
architect  would  have  struck  a  low  semicircle  with  his 
instrument,  and  it  would  have  interested  no  one.  The 
tree  trunk  tells  you  at  once  that  a  mind  loving  the  woods, 
full  of  resources,  has  worked  there.  At  Ulm  again,  in  the 
market-place,  is  a  lovely  Gothic  fountain,  a  plinth  with 
niches,  and  knights  and  saints  standing  in  them,  sur- 
mounted by  a  crocketed  spirelet.  There  are  hundreds  of 
such  Gothic  fountains.  So  the  architect  thought,  and  he 
gave  his  spirelet  a  twist,  just  as  woodbine  ascends  a  trunk, 
and  the  whole  creation  became  at  once  perfectly  charming 
by  its  quaintness.  At  Eichstadt,  at  the  junction  of  the 
cloisters  with  an  ambulatory  leading  to  the  chapter-house, 

1  I  believe  Dr.  Whewell  called  the  tracery  of  this  style  'stump 
tracery.' 

VOL.    II.  A  A 


354  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

is  a  pillar  standing  alone,  on  which  the  vaulting  leans. 
It  is  octagonal,  with  the  faces  concave,  but  with  half- 
pillars  in  the  alternate  faces.  The  whole  is  twisted.  I 
suppose  the  idea  came  into  the  head  of  the  sculptor  that 
it  was  to  some  such  pillar  that  Christ  was  bound,  for 
about  the  base  he  has  twined  thorns.  He  has  carried 
these  up  in  the  concave  faces,  but  as  the  thorns  and  briars 
climb  they  break  into  leaf  and  flower,  and  about  the 
capital  form  a  blooming  crown.  There  are  both  taste  and 
thought  manifest  here. 

Capitals  of  pillars  in  this  style  are  often  nothing  but 
a  change  in  the  adornment  of  the  shaft.  There  is  no 
widening  above;  and  very  often  the  capital  falls  away 
wholly,  and  the  groining  of  the  vaults  rises  out  of  the 
pillars  as  boughs  out  of  a  tree,  without  any  break.  The 
architects  of  this  period  greatly  affected  hall-like  churches; 
they  placed  the  piers  as  far  apart  as  possible,  and  made 
the  aisles  lofty  and  wide.  The  clerestory  was  often 
omitted,  and  one  vast  roof  covered  in  the  whole  church. 
It  is  so  with  St.  Stephen's,  Vienna  ;  it  is  so  also  with  the 
magnificent  church  of  St.  Cross,  Gmiind,  in  Swabia,  one 
of  the  purest  and  finest  specimens  of  this  style.  The  side 
aisles  are  rarely  carried  round  the  choir,  which  ends  in 
three  sides  of  an  octagon  with  lofty  windows.  The  crown 
of  chapels  adopted  from  France  disappears  altogether; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  buttresses  of  the  aisles  are  often 
enclosed,  taken  into  the  church,  and  the  spaces  between 
converted  into  side  chapels.  It  is  so  with  the  Liebfrau- 
kirche,  Munich.  A  very  curious  arrangement  is  some- 
times met  with — two  aisles  of  equal  width  and  height, 
divided  by  an  arcade,  with  one  choir,  the  axis  of  which 
is  the  line  of  the  arcade.  Consequently,  any  one  standing 
precisely  in  the  centre  at  the  west  end  of  the  church  can- 
not see  the  altar.  The  churches  of  Feldkirch  and  Schwaz, 


A  rchitecture.  355 


in  Tyrol,  and  the  pretty  little  village  church  of  Driesch, 
in  the  Eifel,  are  good  examples.  The  two  naves  at  Driesch 
are  separated  by  one,  pillar,  i.e.  are  composed  of  two  bays. 
Such  churches  are  not  uncommon  in  the  Mosel  district.1 
The  effect  is  anything  but  disagreeable,  especially  in  a 
small  church. 

The  vaulting  of  this  period  is  peculiarly  fine.  Earlier 
vaulting  in  Germany,  as  in  France,  had  never  attained  the 
perfection  of  English  vaulting.  The  English  architects 
alone  used  the  ridge  rib,  running  the  whole  length  of  the 
church  and  uniting  the  keys,  a  feature  of  paramount  beauty. 
Neither  in  France  nor  Germany  is  to  be  seen  a  vaulting 
of  such  purity  and  loveliness  as  that  of  Exeter.  But  also, 
neither  in  France  nor  Germany,  did  vaulting  become  so 
feeble  and  uninteresting  as  in  York. 

The  groinings  of  the  '  Broken-twig '  period  are  rich, 
and  strongly  accentuated.  The  vault  is  composed  of  a  num- 
ber of  cells,  arranged  as  the  meshes  of  a  net,  or  as  a  star. 
Often  the  ribs,  after  touching  the  boss,  pass  through  it, 
reappear,  and  are  cut  off  short. 

The  window  tracery  escapes  the  effeminateness  of  the 
Flamboyant  by  a  similar  artifice.  It  is  geometrical,  with 
a  tendency  to  flamboyant  forms,  but  intersecting  circles 
break  off. 

The  foliage  of  this  period  is  peculiarly  rich  and  exuber- 
ant. In  figure  sculpture  the  drapery  represents  stiff  silks 
or  brocade,  in  place  of  linen,  as  in  the  thirteenth  century. 
Very  beautiful  specimens  of  this  style  are  the  chapel  of 
St.  Lorenz,  on  the  north  side  of  the  Cathedral  of  Strassburg  ; 
the  Frauenkirche,  Esslingen  ;  the  west  facade  of  Eatisbon, 
the  Heilig-Kreuz  Kirche,  Gmund,  the  Stiftskirche,  Stutt- 
gart, the  west  front  of  Magdeburg  Cathedral,  and  some 
of  the  town-halls  of  the  free  cities.  The  choir  of  Frei- 
1  Cues,  Graach,  Hatzenport,  Traaben,  «kc. 

A  A  2 


356  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

burg  Cathedral  is  too  late,  and  not  good  of  its  style.  St. 
Afra  and  St.  Ulrich,  at  Augsburg,  is  an  interesting  example 
of  the  style,  accepting  Renaissance  detail,  and  losing  its 
original  vigour. 

The  German  artists  of  the  fifteenth  century  solved  one 
of  the  greatest  difficulties  that  beset  Gothic  architects  from 
the  beginning  of  Pointed  architecture — the  reredos.  In 
France  and  in  England  at  the  back  of  the  altar  stood  a 
stone  structure,  often  very  beautiful,  as  at  Winchester, 
All  Souls',  Oxford,  the  Lady  Chapel,  Gloucester,  &c.,  but 
formal.1  The  erections  of  which  traces  remain  in  France 
were  even  less  satisfactory,  if  we  may  judge  by  the  speci- 
mens engraved  by  M.  Viollet-le-Duc.  Stone  is  cheerless, 
marble  freezing,  in  England.  The  east  end  of  a  church 
is  the  culminating  point  for  decorations,  colour,  and  glow. 

In  Belgium  no  success  was  attained  in  solving  the  pro- 
blem. The  wooden  reredos  was  common,  and  the  carving 
was  exquisite.  But  it  was  nothing  more  than  a  collection 
of  miniatures  in  sculpture.  The  museum  of  the  Porte  de 
Hal,  at  Brussels,  contains  several  fine  specimens.  There  is 
another  in  the  church  of  St.  Denis  at  Liege ;  another, 
a  Jesse-tree,  at  Bruges  ;  another  Belgian  Jesse-reredos  in 
Lord  Brougham  and  Vaux'  chapel  at  Brougham.2  But  the 
German  altar-piece  of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries 
was  the  most  elaborate,  gorgeous,  and  effective  adjunct  to 
the  building.  It  was  the  focus  of  the  church  ;  it  was 
most  richly  sculptured  without  being  '  finnikin,'  bold 
without  being  coarse,  and  it  glowed  with  gold  and  colour. 
The  idea  is  a  triptych,  the  central  block  the  width  of  the 
altar,  each  wing  half  this  width.  Above  this  rises  a  sheaf 

1  They  were  originally  coloured.  We  had  in  England,  no  doubt, 
carved  wooden  altar-pieces,  but  none  have  survived  the  Reformation,  or 
havoc  wrought  by  the  Puritans  in  the  seventeenth  century. 

8  This  is  really  an  Abraham-tree  ;  as  David  appears  sixth  from  the 
root-figure. 


A  rckitectu  re.  357 


of  pinnacle  work  of  exuberant  richness,  tilled  with  small 
statues  of  angels  and  saints.  Sometimes  the  centre  of  the 
triptych  is  occupied  by  a  picture,  and  then  the  wings  are 
painted  externally  and  internally ;  but  more  frequently 
it  contains  sculpture,  and  then  the  wings  are  fixed  and 
covered  also  with  sculpture,  or  are  painted,  and  can  at 
will  be  closed  over  the  centre.  A  magnificent  altar-piece  of 
this  latter  kind  is  at  Blaubeuren,  figured  in  Otte's  '  Kunst- 
Archaologie  ; '  another  at  St.  Wolfgang,  in  Upper  Austria, 
engraved  in  Liibke's  '  Ecclesiastical  Art  in  Germany.' 
Others  are  at  Eothenburg  on  the  Tauber,  Nordlingen, 
Moosburg,  Calcar,  Xanten,  Dortmund,  and  Danzig.  One  at 
Alt-Breisach  is  very  fine,  but  late  and  heavy,  and  too  large 
for  the  church,  spoiled,  moreover,  by  being  daubed  over 
with  brown  paint.  A  remarkably  fine  one  of  the  Cruci- 
fixion, but  without  the  crown  of  pinnacles,  is  at  Holar,  in 
Iceland,  brought  from  Germany  in  the  fifteenth  century. 
One  small  German  specimen  may  be  seen  in  England,  at 
St.  Michael's  Church,  Brighton,  and  a  modern  imitation 
of  an  old  one  at  St.  Ethelburga's,  Bishopgate  Street. 

Gradually  the  Renaissance  supplanted  Gothic,  but  in 
Germany  it  maintained  much  of  the  beauty  of  outline  of 
the  earlier  style.  German  towns  are  peculiarly  ricli  in 
bay-windows  (Erkfenster)  of  this  period.  Every  patrician 
family  took  pride  in  having  the  face  of  the  city  mansion 
richly  treated,  and  an  inexhaustible  store  of  the  most 
beautiful  windows  and  sculptured  details  can  be  gathered 
from  the  towns  of  Germany.  Ratisbon  has  many ;  Col-mar 
one  or  two  of  extraordinary  beauty ;  one  that  is  famous  is  at 
Torgau ;  Schaffhausen  abounds  with  excellent  specimens.1 

1  I  commend  to  architects  a  small  one,  No.  23,  Augustiner-Strasse, 
Zurich.  A  magnificent  work,  now  approaching  completion,  is  Die 
Deutsche  Renaissance,  Leipzig,  giving  working  details  of  the  best 
examples  of  the  style  in  the  various  towns  of  Germany. 


358  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

The  Renaissance  flourished  in  Germany  but  for  a 
brief  space  before  the  Thirty  Years'  war  broke  over  the 
country.  Nevertheless  it  obtained  there  remarkable  ex- 
cellence, and  some  notable  specimens  remain,  as  the  Otto- 
Heinrichbau  (1556)  and  the  Friedrichsbau  (1607)  of 
Heidelberg  Castle,  and  the  palace  of  the  Elector  of  Mainz 
at  Aschaffenburg. 

When  peace  returned,  art  was  dead.  Germany  looked 
to  France,  and  Gallican  artists  came  over  to  lay  out  towns 
and  build  palaces  for  Electors  and  Princes.  Rococo  came 
in  with  powdered  hair  and  patches.  But  German  artists 
were  no  more  content  to  accept  French  art  in  the 
eighteenth  century  without  pouring  into  it  the  national 
spirit  than  they  were  in  the  thirteenth.  German  rococo 
is  something  very  different  from  the  baroque  of  Louis  XV. 
It  is  richer,  more  fantastic,  less  formal.  French  baroque 
was  too  much  under  Palladian  influence  to  be  other  than 
cold  and  formal.  There  was  a  bonhomie  about  German 
rococo  which  is  very  attractive.  The  plaster-work  of  that 
period  is  superb.  Very  fine  specimens  may  be  seen  in 
the  churches  of  Wiirzburg,  which  were  thoroughly 
modernised  by  Bishop  Schonborn.  Equally  fine  was  the 
metal  work ;  indeed  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  more  ex- 
quisite treatment  of  hammered  iron  than  was  displayed  at 
that  period.  A  great  deal  of  it  is  to  be  seen  enclosing  side 
chapels  in  great  churches.1  A  vast  number  of  altars 
belong  to  the  same  period.  These  are  now  being  everywhere 
ruthlessly  swept  away  to  make  room  for  execrable  modern 
work.  These  erections  generally  consist  of  two  stages.  One 
contains  a  painting  between  two  sets  of  twisted  pillars, 
and  the  other  a  smaller  picture  or  a  statue  between  twisted 

1  A  very  beautiful  grating  to  an  '  Oelberg  '  at  Krotzingen,  in  Baden, 
of  tre  date  of  1790.  Exquisite  work  of  the  same  date  may  be  seen  over 
the  doors  of  private  houses  in  almost  every  town. 


A  rchitecture.  359 


pillars  also.  The  pillars  are  twined  with  oak-leaves  or 
roses,  and  between  them  and  around  are  wreaths  of  flower- 
work,  often  of  the  most  exquisite  workmanship,  the  carving 
equal  to  anything  of  Grinling  Gibbons.  There  are  often 
small  panels  painted  dark  blue,  covering  relics,  on  which 
gold  ornaments  have  been  traced,  as  delicate  and  beautiful 
as  on  Japanese  cabinets. 

The  figure  sculpture  at  this  period  was  very  bad,  the 
attitudes  theatrical,  the  muscles  and  flesh  puffed,  as  if  all 
saints  and  angels  were  dropsical.  This  statuary  offended 
modern  taste  as  soon  as  taste  began  to  revive ;  and  in 
sweeping  it  away,  the  beautiful  flowers,  and  wreathed 
pillars,  and  delicately  moulded  cornices  went  also.  From 
1700  to  the  middle  of  the  century  the  altar-pieces  were 
often  admirable,  after  that  their  character  declined. 
Unfortunately  most  of  the  carving  was  done  in  pearwood, 
which  readily  attracts  the  worm ;  and  rich  work  that  is 
only  a  hundred  years  old  is  now  crumbling  to  dust.  But 
the  decay  might  be  arrested  were  there  a  will  to  do  so. 
There  is,  however,  no  appreciation  of  this  late  work, 
A  peculiarly  magnificent  altar-piece  was  torn  down  a 
couple  of  years  ago  at  Mahlberg,  as  a  new  church  was 
about  to  be  built.  Hearing  that  it  was  for  sale,  I  went  in 
quest  of  it.  I  was  too  late.  It  had  been  put  up  to 
auction,  no  offer  had  been  made  for  it,  and  so,  during  the 
winter,  it  was  used  for  heating  ovens.  In  the  place  of 
the  former  church  stands  now  an  erection  of  almost  incon- 
ceivable hideousness,  with  the  meanest  and  most  tasteless 
altar  furniture. 

The  European  war  made  a  battle-field  of  Germany, 
and  on  it  German  architecture  fell  with  a  bullet  in  its 
heart.  Of  the  four  fine  arts — music,  painting,  sculpture, 
and  architecture— one  is  not.  Architecture  is  dead  and 
buried.  It  would  seem  as  if  the  perceptive  faculty  of 


360  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

choosing  what  is  good  and  rejecting  what  is  evil  in  archi- 
tecture were  also  extinct  in  Germany.  During  the  reigns 
of  Ludwig  and  Maximilian  a  great  effort  was  made  in 
Munich,  by  pouring  gold  down  her  throat,  to  restore 
vitality  in  the  dead  art,  but  it  was  in  vain.  Money  and 
honours  could  not  buy  genius.  Munich,  from  an  art 
point  of  view,  possesses  the  same  sort  of  interest  as  does  a 
museum  of  monstrosities  to  an  anatomist.  The  architects 
Klenze,  Liebland,  Gartner,  Ohlmiiller,  Eiedel,  &c.  have 
striven  hard  with  one  another  who  could  show  the  world 
to  what  a  depth  of  degradation  architecture  could  sink  in 
Germany.  Recently  a  new  Rathhaus  has  been  completed 
which  shows  that  architecture  is  as  impotent  still  as  it 
was  in  the  reigns  of  Ludwig  and  Maximilian. 

Still  more  infamous  is  the  new  Protestant  church,  as 
bad  as  anything  done  in  England  in  the  '  compo '  period. 

It  is  instructive  to  see  how  different  it  is  directly  the 
traveller  crosses  the  frontier  into  Belgium  or  Switzerland. 
In  Brussels  the  new  Palais  de  Justice  is  a  noble  structure, 
and  the  houses  springing  up  along  the  new  boulevard  by 
the  Post  Office  abound  in  merit.  At  Zurich  many  fresh 
buildings,  probably  designed  by  French  architects,  show 
talent.  But  not  a  spark  of  that  heavenly  fire  has  fallen 
as  yet  in  Germany.  Everywhere  of  late,  in  villages  and 
towns,  new  schools,  at  great  cost,  have  been  erected  ;  and 
I  have  not  seen  one  which  is  not  absolutely  hideous  when 
in  the  least  pretentious.  New  churches  are  all  bad — exe- 
crably bad.  It  will  take  half  a  century  of  patient  study 
of  existing  monuments  of  Christian  art  before  German 
architects  can  build  respectably  in  a  Gothic  style.1  In 

1  The  only  restoration  on  which  it  is  possible  to  look  back  with  any 
pleasure  is  that  of  the  castle  above  Kochem,  on  the  Mosel,  by  an  archi- 
tect of  Berlin  named  Arnold.  This  is  excellent ;  but  the  same  architect 
has  failed  conspicuously  in  a  church  at  Dresden. 


A  rchitecture.  3  6 1 


this  particular  again  it  is  different  in  Belgium.  At 
Ghent  there  has  been  completed  recently  a  new  beguinage, 
which  is  as  lovely  and  perfect  a  creation  as  any  work  of 
the  Middle  Ages. 

Indeed,  recently,  work  altogether  admirable  has  been 
done  in  Belgium  by  Mr.  Weale  and  Mr.  Bethune,  who 
after  hard  fight  have  routed  native  incompetence,  and 
founded  a  new  school  of  Gothic  art. 

German  architects  will  not,  unfortunately,  leave  well 
alone.  When  they  attempt  to  restore,  they  disfigure. 
The  interesting  cathedral  at  Mainz  is  now  undergoing 
cruel  martyrdom  at  their  hands.  The  character  of  the 
eastern  choir  has  been  altered  by  the  destruction  of  an 
almost  unique  feature  in  it,  and  a  monstrous  lantern  tower 
has  been  erected  over  the  crossing  with  neat  symmetrical 
picked-out  quoins.  Lorch  church  was  once  one  of  the 
most  interesting  on  the  Khine.  Under  the  brutal  hands 
of  ignorant  restorers,  its  glory  is  departed  ;  it  is  a  monu- 
ment of  German  blindness  to  the  good  and  beautiful.1  At 

1  A  recent  No.  of  the  Academy  justly  says  the  so-called  <  Restora- 
tion  of  the  Church  of  Lorch  am  Rhein  has  been  most  disastrous. 
Complaints  of  unsuccessful  attempts  at  church  restoration  have  for  a 
long  while  past  made  themselves  loudly  heard  in  Germany,  and  this 
last  affair  at  Lorch  seems  to  have  brought  matters  to  a  crisis.  The 
church  was  famous  both  for  the  beauty  of  its  situation,  and  for  the 
fairly  good  state  in  which  it  had  come  down  from  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury :  it  has  now  been  so  mishandled  both  without  and  within  that  it 
is  said  by  competent  authorities  to  offend  against  every  principle  of 
architectural  science.  Nothing  remains  of  the  original  work  in  the 
choir  except  the  iron  clamps,  which  had  been  introduced  here  and 
there,  in  the  course  of  time,  in  order  to  bind  weak  places  together  ; 
and  these,  too,  it  is  proposed  to  replace  with  new  ones.  Of  the  old 
piers  nothing  but  the  kernel  can  be  said  to  exist,  for  they  have  been 
re-faced  and  tricked  out  with  Gothic  finials  of  the  last  fashion,  and 
the  picturesque  Renaissance  tower  has  been  destroyed.  For  the 
moment  the  work  is  at  a  standstill,  and  a  second  architect  has  been 
called  in,  to  whom  has  been  entrusted  the  conduct  of  the  restoration 
of  the  two  aisles ;  he  is,  however,  almost  hopelessly  embarrassed  by 


362  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

Ulm  was  a  charming  little  church  and  tower  before  the 
west  front  of  the  great  Dom,  giving  it  scale,  as  St.  Mar- 
garet's gives  scale  to  Westminster  Abbey,  and  the  spire 
of  St.  Bride's  to  the  dome  of  St.  Paul's.  In  1877  I 
saw  this  church  torn  down,  and  its  ruins  carted  away. 
Esslingen  has  lost  its  glorious  St.  Catherine's.  Ratisbon 
was  surrounded  with  fifteen  towers,  variously  capped, 
making  the  distant  prospect  of  the  city  a  vision  of  beauty. 
All  have  disappeared  save  one. 

There  is  a  reason  why  architecture  in  Germany  does 
not  awake  out  of  the  dust.  It  is  an  art  which  demands 
study  of  many  years,  with  careful  measurement  of  old 
work.  No  man  can  build  in  any  style  till  he  has  made  it 
his  own,  till  he  thinks  in  it.  An  architectural  style  is  a 
language.  A  tongue  is  never  spoken  fluently  and  gram- 
matically till  the  thoughts  take  shape  in  the  language 
before  they  are  uttered.  It  is  the  same  with  an  archi- 
tectural style.1  In  a  style  every  part  hangs  together  in 
close  relationship — the  plan,  the  mouldings,  the  tracery, 
the  foliage.  When  Mr.  Venus  built  up  a  skeleton,  he 
waited  patiently  till  he  had  got  suitable  bones,  and  he 
would  not  hang  Mr.  Wegg's  leg  on  the  French  gentle- 
man's thigh  because  it  was  not  in  his  style.  He  had  his 
box  of  '  human  warious,'  from  which  he  sorted  out  adap- 

the  labours  of  his  predecessor.  If  he  is  forced— and  it  is  said  he  will 
be  forced — to  continue  the  work  as  it  has  been  begun,  total  ruin  will 
be  about  the  best  thing  that  can  be  wished  to  this  once  valuable 
monument  of  Ehenish  Gothic  architecture.' 

1  It  deserves  remark  how  that  now,  when  English  architects  have 
recurred  to  an  English  style — the  so-called  Queen  Anne — they  can  de- 
sign pleasantly,  and  their  creations  give  us  pure  delight ;  they  touch 
chords  in  our  hearts,  wake  up  pleasant  associations.  The  authors  speak 
easily  in  their  own  tongue.  The  works  of  such  masters  of  sweet  Eng- 
lish, as  Mr.  Norman  Shaw  and  Mr.  Chancellor,  are  a  delight  to  the  heart, 
Old  English  madrigals  writ  in  brick.  On  the  other  hand,  many  of  our 
modern  architects  affect  a  broken  jargon  of  Spanish,  Italian,  and  French. 


A  rch  itecture.  363 


table  fragments,  but  never  strung  together  those  that  were 
incongruous.  Modern  German  architects  have  their  port- 
folios of  prints  of  '  Gothic  warious,'  and  when  they  want 
to  build  a  church  or  a  town-hall,  first  outline  a  factory, 
and  then  trick  it  out  with  every  sort  of  various  detail, 
mouldings,  out  of  their  own  heads,  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury,— they  never  trouble  themselves  to  measure  and  map 
old  mouldings — foliage  of  the  sixteenth  century,  windows 
of  the  tenth,  tracery  (bad)  of  the  thirteenth.  Mr.  Venus 
knew  every  bone,  and  where  it  ought  to  go,  and  to  what 
sized  skeleton  it  belonged.  A  German  architect  has  no 
idea  as  to  what  ought  to  be  done  with  his  scraps,  which 
go  together,  and  where  they  should  go. 

And  the  reason  of  this  ignorance  is — military  service. 
?The  man  who  intends  to  become  an  architect  has  per- 
haps not  passed  as  'reif.'  and  so  serves  for  three  years. 
These  are  the  years  in  which  he  ought  to  be  going  over 
the  country,  tape,  compasses,  and  T- ruler  in  hand,  studying 
architecture,  and  taking  down  good  examples  in  his  book. 
When  his  service  is  over,  he  sets  up  in  his  profession,  buys 
Heideloff' s  *  Ornamentik  des  Mittelalters,'  and  Liibke,  and 
thinks  himself  able  to  design  anything  from  a  school  to  a 
cathedral.  And  this  is  why  the  traveller  of  taste  is  con- 
strained, in  passing  one  of  his  creations,  to  sing  like 
Serpolette,  Grenicheux,  and  the  Bailli,  in  '  Les  Cloches  de 
Corneville ' — '  I  shut  my  eyes  !  I  shut  my  eyes  !  I  shut  my 
eyes ! ' 


364  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

THE   STOVE. 

Grumio  :  A  cold  world,  Curtis,  in  every  office,  and  therefore  fire. — 
Taming  of  the  Shrem,  act  iv.  sc.  1. 

I  CAN  quite  understand  the  worship  of  the  Parsees.  If 
ever  I  abjure  Christianity,  it  will  be  to  pay  my  adora- 
tions to  Fire. 

Warmth  is  more  precious  than  food,  and  in  our  raw, 
damp  English  climate  we  need  it  almost  more  than 
where  the  winters  are  keener  but  the  cold  is  dry.  We 
suffer  from  cold  more  in  England  than  where  cold  is 
severer,  but  this  is  due  chiefly  to  an  unscientific  method 
of  heating  our  rooms. 

The  English  grates  in  common  use  are  adapted  for  the 
combustion  of  a  large  amount  of  coal,  and  therefore  are 
greatly  to  the  advantage  of  the  coal-merchant ;  but  they 
are  wasteful  to  the  consumer. 

The  amount  of  heat  radiated  by  the  open  fireplace 
bears  a  miserably  small  proportion  to  the  amount  of  heat 
carried  up  the  chimney.  The  smoke  that  issues  from  the 
top  of  the  chimney  is  hot.  All  the  heat  carried  off  by  the 
smoke  is  so  much  heat  wasted  ;  in  a  word,  is  so  many 
pence  per  day,  so  many  shillings  per  week,  and  so  many 
pounds  per  annum  out  of  the  consumer's  pocket.  It  is 
small  satisfaction  to  him  to  contemplate  a  wreath  of 
smoke  issuing  from  his  chimney,  however  gracefully  it 
may  curl,  and  know  that  in  that  wreath  in  one  day  enough 
caloric  has  been  carried  off  to  have  heated  his  room  for  a 


The  Stove.  365 


week.  We  throw  away  money  wastefully  in  smoke  ;  we 
play  ducks  and  drakes  with  our  money  in  coals.  One 
quarter  of  the  heat  generated  is  utilised  by  us,  and  three 
quarters  we  throw  clean  away. 

An  open  fireplace,  such  as  is  common  in  England,  is 
the  most  barbarous,  spendthrift  contrivance  under  the 
sun.  It  is  the  worst  contrivance  for  warming  a  room  that 
ingenuity  could  possibly  devise.  The  grate  radiates  forth 
a  certain  amount  of  heat,  and  that  amount  is  all  we 
utilise ;  but  the  great  body  of  heat  is  carried  up  the 
chimney  by  the  draught  generated  by  the  fire.  A  person 
sitting  before  an  open  fireplace  is  in  a  strong  draught ; 
his  back,  his  feet,  are  cold,  whilst  his  face  and  knees  are 
scorched.  The  oxygen  of  the  air  is  burnt  in  the  grate,  or 
helps  to  burn  the  coal,  and  there  is  a  strong  current  of 
air  from  all  parts  of  the  room  to  carry  on  the  combustion. 
Place  the  hand  in  the  orifice  of  the  chimney  immediately 
above  the  fire,  and  two  currents  will  be  detected,  a  hot 
one  of  smoke,  and  a  cold  one  of  air.  Both  are  carried  up 
the  chimney.  We  throw  away  the  heat  in  our  smoke, 
and  we  throw  away  the  partially  heated  air  in  the  room, 
whilst  the  exhaustion  sucks  colder  air  in  from  every  quarter 
to  replenish  the  void. 

No  doubt  this  artificial  draught  is  of  one  advantage, 
it  prevents  the  room  becoming  close  ;  but  this  can  be 
prevented  quite  as  well  without  squandering  our  heat. 

The  chimney,  rather  than  the  grate,  should  be  the 
heating  apparatus  of  the  room  ;  or,  rather,  both  chimney 
and  grate  should  unite  to  heat  the  room.  As  our  houses 
are  constructed,  the  chimneys  are  made  utterly  useless  for 
this  purpose.  They  are  sometimes  placed  in  an  outside 
wall,  so  as  to  throw  off  their  heat  into  the  open  air; 
sometimes  in  an  inner  wall,  so  constructed  that  one  side 
of  the  chimney  only  can  give  off  heat  internally,  and  this 


366  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

it  is  prevented  from  doing  by  the  thickness  of  the  wall 
and  the  badly  conducting  nature  of  its  materials.  More- 
over, the  distance  from  the  mouth  of  the  flue  to  the 
ceiling  is  so  short,  that  the  chimney  is  not  allowed  the 
opportunity  of  throwing  off  its  heat  into  the  room. 

If  we  look  to  the  Germans,  who  have  little  coal,  and 
who  are  obliged  to  rely  on  wood  as  their  staple  of  fuel, 
which  is  very  costly,  we  find  that  they  have  been  driven 
by  their  necessities  to  economise  fuel  to  the  utmost ;  and 
what  is  more,  we  find  that  they  are  able  to  warm  a  room 
more  effectually  with  a  few  chips,  or  a  bundle  of  fir-cones, 
than  we  can  with  two  scuttlesful  of  coal. 

The  secret  of  utilising  fuel  for  heating  a  room  is  : — 

1 .  Bring  the  fire  into  the  room,  and  thus  let  it  radiate 
heat  on  all  four  sides,  instead  of  on  only  one. 

2.  Do  not  let  the  smoke  escape  out  of  the  room  till  it 
is  cool. 

Now  it  is  evident  that  if  we  adhere  to  these  two 
golden  maxims,  we  are  making  the  very  utmost  of  our 
fuel ;  we  extract  all  the  heat  that  we  can  out  of  it  before 
we  let  the  refuse  smoke  and  ash  escape.  The  ancient 
Greeks  knew  very  little  about  smelting  ore.  At  Laurium 
they  got  a  certain  amount  of  silver  from  the  rock,  and 
tossed  away  the  dross.  But  we  know  now  that  their 
refuse  is  rich  in  metal,  and  will  well  repay  the  labour  of 
extracting  it.  English  people  treat  their  fuel  as  bar- 
barously as  did  the  Greeks  their  silver  ore. 

The  Germans  heat  their  rooms  with  stoves  of  tile  or  iron. 
The  tiled  stove  is  constructed  somewhat  as  follows.  It  may 
be  square  or  circular.  The  diagram  represents  a  section. 
The  fire  is  lighted  in  the  stove  at  a,  and  the  smoke  rises 
freely  in  d,  and  entirely  fills  it.  When  full,  the  colder 
smoke  descends  and  is  carried  off  through  the  flue  at  c. 
When,  as  in  old  stoves,  the  receiver  is  large,  and  extends 


The  Stove. 


367 


nearly  the  full  height  of  the  room,  there  is  merely  a  flue 
from  c  into  the  chimney  in  the  wall.     But  if  the  stove  be 


reduced  in  size,  then,  to  utilise  the  smoke,  the  flue  of  iron 
is  made  to  perform  many  turns  before  it  is  carried  at  g 
into  the  structural  chimney  g.  At  e  is  a  damper.  At  b  is 
the  door  to  the  stove  ;  this  is  arranged  with  a  simple 
apparatus  to  admit  a  current  of  air,  or  to  shut  air  com- 
pletely off.  When  a  quick  sharp  fire  has  been  raised,  the 
whole  of  the  receiver  has  been  full  of  flames,  and  rapidly 
becomes  so  hot  that  the  hand  cannot  be  borne  on  it.  The 
quick  fire  dies  rapidly  out.  The  moment  it  is  dead,  the 
sooner  the  better,  the  damper  is  turned,  and  the  chimney 
closed.  Consequently  the  whole  stove  remains  a  huge 
vessel  filled  with  heat,  which  it  continues  to  radiate  into 
the  room  for  several  hours. 


368  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

In  the  depth  of  winter,  when  the  thermometer  is  some 
degrees  below  zero,  it  is  quite  enough  to  fire  up  twice  in 
the  twenty-four  hours.  For  instance,  the  maid  makes  up 
a  fire  in  the  sitting-room  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
by  half-past  eight  the  fire  is  out  and  the  stove  closed. 
The  stove  need  not  be  again  heated  till  six  o'clock  in 
the  evening.  Those  sitting  in  the  room  will  enjoy  a 
summer  heat  all  day,  produced  by  an  armful  of  small 
logs.  In  Scotland,  on  the  Yorkshire  moors,  or  in  Devon- 
shire, a  bush  of  gorse  would  heat  a  room  for  ten  hours. 
Grorse  is  not  attainable  everywhere ;  thorns  will  do  as 
well.  A  couple  of  '  Times  '  newspapers  in  a  German  tile 
stove  will  raise  the  temperature  of  a  room,  and  keep  it 
warm  longer  than  a  small  scuttleful  of  coals  in  an  open 
grate. 

At  /,  the  top  slab  of  the  stove,  often  of  marble,  is 
raised  upon  an  open  cornice  of  porcelain  above  the  real 
tile  top  of  the  receiver.  Thus  a  current  of  heated  air 
continues  streaming  out  of  the  openings  of  the  cornice, 
and  the  slab  is  also  heated  and  in  its  turn  gives  out  heat. 
Should  the  air  be  thought  too  dry,  a  shallow  vessel  with 
water  may  be  placed  on  it.  But  I  do  not  believe  that  air 
heated  by  an  earthenware  stove  becomes  unpleasantly  dry ; 
it  is  when  burnt  by  contact  with  overheated  iron  that  it 
becomes  unpleasant  and  unwholesome. 

The  stove  is  built  up  of  fire-tiles.  To  keep  them  firmly 
compacted  together  brass  bands  pass  round  the  block,  and 
are  secured  by  screws.  Nothing  can  be  simpler,  give  less 
trouble,  or  be  more  practical.  The  stove  is  a  mere  smoke- 
chamber,  it  is  easily  cleaned  through  the  grate. 

It  is  quite  true  that  it  does  not  ventilate  the  room ; 
and  this  is  its  defect.  But  this  is  a  defect  easily  remedied. 
If  the  room  become  close,  the  window  may  be  opened. 
When  the  window  is  shut  again,  the  room  does  not  remain 


The  Stove.  369 


cold,  for  the  stove  continues  pouring  forth  its  heat,  and 
rapidly  brings  up  the  temperature  again. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  a  German  room  in  winter 
is  hot ;  it  is  also  intolerably  close.  There  are  double 
frames  to  the  windows,  and  generally  at  the  head  of  the 
stairs  is  a  glass  screen,  so  that  a  German  flat  smells  dis- 
agreeably. This  is  because  the  Germans  do  not  care  for 
and  understand  ventilation.  Stoves  are  made  to  heat  a 
room,  not  of  necessity  to  ventilate  it.  The  combination 
of  a  heat-producing  and  a  ventilating  apparatus  in  one,  as 
in  our  open  fireplaces,  is  clumsy  in  the  extreme. 

To  ventilate  a  room  we  need  two  currents  of  air,  one 
to  enter  the  room,  the  other  to  leave  it.  That  which 
enters  need  not  be  cold,  but  it  must  be  pure  atmospheric 
air  containing  oxygen.  That  which  leaves  the  room  is  the 
air  divested  of  its  oxygen  by  the  lungs,  together  with 
carbonic  acid  given  off  with  nitrogen  by  every  expiration 
of  the  lungs.  Nitrogen  is  not  needed  by  the  lungs, 
carbonic  acid  is  poisonous ;  consequently,  to  keep  an 
apartment  healthy,  we  must  carry  off  the  nitrogen  and  the 
carbonic  acid,  and  supply  its  place  with  pure  air. 

Now,  by  a  provision  of  nature  the  heated  nitrogen  and 
carbonic  acid,  when  given  off  by  the  lungs,  rise  to  the  top 
of  the  room.  The  carbonic  acid,  when  cold,  sinks ;  but 
not  till  it  is  cold.  Consequently  it  ought  to  be  carried  off 
at  once  whilst  it  is  above  the  heads  of  those  in  the  room. 
Now  how  do  we  act  with  our  open  grates  ?  We  suck  the 
injurious  gases  down  from  the  ceiling  by  the  artificial 
draught  created  by  the  fireplace  filled  with  burning  fuel, 
which  is  at  from  eight  inches  to  a  foot  and  a  half  above 
the  floor.  Consequently,  we  draw  down  the  mephitic 
vapours  to  the  level  of  our  lungs  before  we  carry  them  off. 

Common  sense  says,  open  a  ventilator  in  the  wall 
below  the  ceiling,  into  the  chimney,  and  then  all  the  foul 

VOL.    II.  B  B 


370  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 

and  poisonous  exhalations  will  be  carried  off  through  that 
as  fast  as  they  rise.     But  it  is  not  enough  for  us  to  carry 
off  the  bad  air,  we  need  a  constant  supply  of  good  air, 
both  to  feed  the  lungs  and  to  sustain  the  fire.     How  do 
we  manage  this  ?     We  allow  the  air  to  pour  in  through 
the  chinks   of  the   door,  or   through    the  joints  of  the 
window-sashes,  and  thus  we  create  a  draught  of  cold  air 
which  sinks  to  the  floor  and  rushes  to  the  fireplace.     Con- 
sequently those  who  sit  in  a  room  with   an  open  fire  are 
liable  to  complain  that  their  feet  are  icy  cold,  and  that 
their  backs  are  chilled  whilst  their  faces  are  scorched. 
We  suffer  far  more   from  chilblains  in  England  than  do 
Germans  or  Eussians.     If  we  stop  up  all  the  crevices  by 
which  air  can  enter,  we  act  very  foolishly,  for  we  create  a 
draught  up  the  chimney  to  carry  out  of  the  room  all  the 
air  in  it,  and  forbid  fresh  air  coming  in  to  take  its  place. 
Thus  we  exhaust  the  room  of  its  atmosphere,  and  then 
complain   that  we  feel  heavy  and    stupefied.     Air  must 
come  in.     It  is  necessary  for  our  health  that  it  should, 
but  it  is  not  necessary  that  the  air  should  be  cold.     If  we 
open  a  communication  with  the  external  air,  either  through 
the  wall  of  the  room  or  through  the  floor,  and  then  con- 
vey it,  in  a  pipe,  through  the  porcelain  stove,  when  it  is 
discharged  into  the  room  it  is  perfectly  good,  and  is  at 
the  same  time  warm.     Draughts  there  will  be  still  in  the 
apartment,  but  they  will  be  warm  draughts,  softly  cir- 
culating, which   we   shall   not   feel.     The  room  will   be 
deliciously  warm,  and  the  air  in  it  will  be  perfectly  pure 
and  sweet.     I  have  a  dining-room,  measuring  thirty  feet 
by  fifteen  feet,  and  twelve  feet  high,  heated  by  a  small 
open   fireplace  with   air    conducted   from    without   to   a 
receiver  behind  the  grate,  whence  it  pours  into  the  room 
through  perforations  in  the  face  of  the  stove.     The  room 
is  maintained  in  the   coldest  weather  at   a  comfortable 


The  Stove.  371 


temperature,  and  is  always  sweet,  owing  to  the  constant 
influx  of  hot,  fresh  air.  The  fumes  of  dinner  pass  away 
almost  with  the  meal. 

One  great  objection  raised  against  German  stoves  is  that 
the  fire  is  enclosed,  or  is  out.  English  people  love  to  see  the 
fire.  There  is  no  question  that  the  open  fireplace  with 
the  burning  coals  in  the  grate  is  a  cheery  sight.  In 
Berlin,  in  some  of  the  new  houses,  there  are  stoves  to  give 
warmth,  and  open  fires  to  look  at,  in  the  same  rooms. 
With  coal  we  cannot  fire  up  for  half  an  hour  and  then  let 
the  fire  out ;  we  must  keep  the  fire  up  all  day.  But 
even  so,  the  principle  of  the  German  stove  need  not  be 
abandoned.  In  the  Grand-Ducal  palace  at  Freiburg,  and 
in  the  palace  of  the  Prince  of  Thtirn  und  Taxis  at  Augs- 
burg are  open  fireplaces.  Immediately  above  the  mantel- 
piece is  a  recess  ;  partly  in  this  niche  and  partly  extending 
over  the  mantelpiece  is  a  porcelain  erection,  richly 
decorated,  coloured,  and  gilt,  and  certainly  ornamental. 
It  is  the  receiver  for  the  smoke.  The  smoke  mounts 
directly  into  it,  fills  it,  and  then  descends  to  pass  out  into 
the  chimney.  That  in  the  Grand-Ducal  palace  is  conical, 
decorated  with  medallions  and  portraits,  gilt,  of  the  Em- 
perors. A  richly  niched  terra-cotta  chimney-piece  which 
could  hold  statuettes,  china,  and  glass,  might  easily  be 
managed  on  this  principle,  and  be  very  ornamental  and 
effective.  It  would  be  a  huge  hot-air  tank  in  the  room. 

The  German  stove  is  by  no  means  necessarily  unsightly. 
The  porcelain  stove  lends  itself  with  peculiar  facility  to 
ornamentation,  and  in  combination  with  an  open  grate,  as 
suggested,  might  be  as  beautiful  as  an  old-fashioned 
Elizabethan  oak  chimney-piece.  Moulded  terra-cotta 
friezes,  bands  of  foliage,  niches  containing  figures,  would 
all  be  advantageous,  as  increasing  the  surface  from  which 
heat  would  be  radiated.  If,  instead  of  making  the  surface 

B  B   2 


372  Germany,  Present  and  Past. 


plain,  we  increase  the  number  of  angles,  add  pilasters, 
and  encircle  with  niches,  till  we  have  doubled  the  area  of 
surface  exposed,  we  have  very  nearly  doubled  the  amount 
of  heat  given  off. 

In  the  Bishop's  castle  at  Salzburg  is  a  handsome  stove 
of  the  date  1519,  as  good  as  when  it  was  erected  by  Bishop 
Leonhardt.  I  have  seen  one  of  about  the  same  date,  still 
in  use,  at  Niirnberg.  Heideloif,  in  his  '  Ornamentik,'  has 
engraved  two  old  porcelain  stoves,  and  it  is  possible  to 
obtain  reproductions  of  them  at  a  moderate  cost.  I  saw 
recently  at  Strassburg  modern  stoves,  very  tasteful,  the 
tiles  painted  with  Watteau-like  subjects. 

One  very  great  advantage  of  the  porcelain  stove  is  that 
it  provides  a  continuance  of  warmth  in  the  room  long 
after  the  fire  has  got  low,  or  has  gone  out.  With  an  open 
grate  the  room  chills  down  directly.  It  is  not  so  with  the 
earthenware  German  stove,  which  retains  its  heat  long 
after  the  fire  has  gone  out.  It  is  a  reservoir  gradually 
radiating  heat.  This  may  be  seen  in  the  common  earthen- 
ware cottage-oven.  It  is  heated  by  brambles  or  brush- 
wood being  burnt  in  it.  Then  the  fire  is  swept  out,  and 
the  bread  or  pies  are  baked  when  there  is  no  fire,  merely 
by  the  heat  retained  in  the  earthenware  and  given  out  by 
degrees. 


APPENDIX. 


As  it  has  been  impossible  forme  to  deed  otherwise  than  briefly  with  many 
subjects  of  great  importance,  which  hardly  admit  of  compression  into 
the  limited  space  allotted  them,  I  subjoin  the  titles  of  books,  for 
the  benefit  of  those  who  desire  to  pursue  any  of  the  subjects. 

CHAPTERS  I.  &  II.— THE  NOBILITY. 

Lohmeier,  J.    O.      Genealogische    Beschreibung    der    vornehmsten 

Chur-  und  furstlichen  Hauser  in  Deutschland.   Folio.   Tubingen, 

1695. 

Moltke.  De  Matrimonio  Nobilis  cum  Ignobili.  4to.   Rostock,  1707. 
Bur  germeister,  J.  S.     Des  Reichs-Adels  d.  dreyen  Ritter-Oraysen  in 

Schwaben,  Franken    und    am    Rheinstrom    Immedietat-Praro- 

gativen.    4to.    Ulm,  1709. 

Bericht  vom  Adel  in  Deutschland.     4to.     Frankfurt,  1721. 
Bur  germeister,  J.  S.     Graven-  und  Ritter-Saal.     4to.     Ulm,  1715, 

1721. 
Riccii,  Ch.  G.     Zuverlassiger  Entwurf  von  dem  landsassigen  Adel  in 

Deutschland,  dessen  Unsprung,  Alter,  Schuldigkeiten,  Rechte, 

&c.     4to.     Niirnberg,  1735. 
Schulenberg.    De  Privilegiis  ac  Prserogativis  Nobiiium  Mediatorum 

in  Germania.     4to.     Vitemberg,  1746. 
Semler.     De  Ministerialibus.     4to.     Altdorf,  1751. 
DulssecJcer,  J.  F.   Oommentatio  Juris  Publici  de  Matrimoniis  Persona- 
rum  Illustrium  in  Imperio  Romano  Germanico.     Nostris  l  Von 

den  Vennahlungen  derer  Standspersonen  in  Teutschland.'    Jena, 

1760. 
Ploennies.    De  Ministerialibus,  '  Von  dem  Zustand  des  nieder.  Adels 

in  Teutschland.'     4to.     Jena,  1757. 
Von  d.  Geschlechtsadel  u.  d.  Erneuerung  des  Adels.    8vo.     Leipzig, 

1778. 


374  Appendix. 


"Versuch  einer  pragmat.  Geschichte  der  Lehen,  aus  den  Zeiten  vor 

der  Errichtung   d.  frankischen  Monarchic   bis   zur  Erloschung 

d.  karolingischen  Stammes  in  Deutschland.     8vo.     Frankfurt, 

1785. 
JDulaure,  J.    A.      Kritische  Geschichte    des  Adels,    worinn    seine 

Vorurtheile,    seine    Raubereien    und    Verbrechen    aufgedecket 

werden.     8vo.  (without  place  or  publisher),  1792. 
Kotzebue.     Vom  Adel.     8vo.     Leipzig,  1792. 
Rehberg,   A.    W.     Ueber    den    deutschen    Adel.     8yo.     Gottingen, 

1803. 
Wedekind,  Frh.  v.     Das  Werth  des  Adels  und  die  .Anspriiche  des 

Zeitgeistes  auf  Verbesserung  d.  Adelsinstituts.     8vo.   Darmstadt, 

1816. 
De  la  Motte-Fouque  u.  F.  Perthes.    Etwas  iiber  den  deutschen  Adel. 

8vo.     Hamburg,  1819. 
Gohrum,  Ch.  G.     Geschichtliche  Darstellung  der  Lehre  v.  d.  Eben- 

biirtigkeit,  nach  gemeinem  deutschen  Rechte.     8vo.     Tubingen^ 

1846. 

Strantz.     Geschichte  d.  deutschen  Adels.     8vo.     Breslau,  1845. 
Vcdlgraff,    C.    Die  teutschen  Standesherren.     2  vols.  8vo.     Mainz, 

1851. 
Vehse,  E,    Geschichte  der  kleinen  deutschen  Hofe:    die  Hofe  der 

Mediatisirten.     5  vols.  8vo.     Hamburg,  1856-9. 
Fischer,  L.  H.     Der  teutsche  Adel  in  der  Vorzeit,  Gegenwart  und 

Zukunft.    2  vols.  8vo.    Frankfurt,  1852. 
Roth  v.  Schreckenstein,  Frh.  C.  H.     Das  Patriziat  in  den  deutschen 

Stadten.     8vo.    Tubingen,  1856. 
Kneschke.    Deutsche  Grafenhauser    der    Gegenwart.     3  vols.   8vo. 

Leipzig,  1859-60. 
Kiihns,  F.  J.    Ueber  den  Ursprung  und  das  Wesen  des  Feudalismus. 

8vo.    Berlin,  1869. 


CHAPTER  III.— THE  LAWS  OF  SUCCESSION. 

Knipschtttii,  Ph.     Tractat.  de  Fideicommissis  Familiar.  Nobil.  vulgo 

'  Stammgiitern.'    4to.     Colon.  1715, 1750. 
Beck.    De  Licita  Majoratum  et  Fideicommissorum  Familiarum  Nobi- 

lium  Alienatione.    4to.     Altdorf,  1750. 
Hersemeier,  H.    De  Pactis  Gentilitiis  Familiarum  Illustr.  atque  Nobi- 

lium  Germanise,  vulgo  '  Von  den  in  der  Privatfamilien-Gesetzge- 


Appendix.  375 


bungsfreiheit  hauptsachl.  begriindeten  Haus-  u.  Stammvertragen 
d.  deutschen  Adels.'    4to.     Mogunt.  1788. 

Danz.  Ueber  Familiengesetze  des  deutschen  Adels,  welche  nicht 
standesvermassige  Vermahlungen  untersagen.  8vo.  Frankfurt, 
1792. 

Moshamm,  Frh.  A.  Entwicklung  d.  rechtl.  Verhaltnisse  d.  deutschen 
Geschlechts-Fideikommissen.  8vo.  Miinchen,  1816. 

Salza,  C,  v.  und  Lichtenau.  Die  Lehre  von  Familien-,  Stamm-  und 
Geschlechts-Fideicommissen.  8vo.  Leipzig,  1838. 

Zimmerle,  L.  Das  deutsche  Stammgutssystem  nach  seinem  Ursprunge 
und  s.  Verlaufe.  8vo.  Tubingen,  1857. 

Kraut,  W.  Th.  Die  Vormundschaft  nach  den  Grundsatzen  des  deut- 
schen Rechts.  3  vols.  8vo.  Gottingen,  1859. 

Arnold.  Zur  Geschichte  des  Eigenthums  in  der  deutschen  Stadten. 
8vo.  Basel,  1861. 

Schroder,  R.  Geschichte  d.  ehelichen  Giiterrechts  in  Deutschland. 
3  vols.  8vo.  Stettin,  1863-74. 

Schulze,  H.  Das  Erb-  und  Familienrecht  im  Mittelalter.  8vo.  Halle, 
1871. 

Amir  a,  K.  v.  Erbenfolge  und  Verwandtschaftsgliederung  nach  den 
alten  niederdeutschen  Rechten.  8vo.  Miinchen,  1874. 

Schroder,  R.    Das  eheliche  Giiterrecht  Deutschlands  in  Vergangenheit, 

Gegenwart  und  Zukunft.     8vo.     Berlin,  1875. 

Witzmann,  Th.  Das  Erbrecht  im  Bereiche  der  preussischen  Monar- 
chic in  seinen  Grundziigen  dargestellt.  8vo.  Berlin,  1875. 

Lammers.     Die  Erbfolge  auf  Bauerhofen,  in  Faucher's  Vierteljahrs- 

schrift  fur  Volkswirthschaft.     Pt.  IX.     Berlin,  1875. 
Scheel,  H.     Eigenthum  und  Erbrecht.     Berlin,  1877. 


CHAPTER  IV.— PEASANT  PROPRIETORS. 

Autenrieth.    Ueber  Vertrennung  der  Bauerngiiter.     8vo.    Stuttgart, 

1779. 
Schiiz,  C.  W.  Ch.     Ueber  den  Einfluss  der  Vertheilung  des  Grund- 

eigenthunis  auf  das  Volk-  und   Staatsleben.     8vo.     Stuttgart, 

1836. 
Maurer,  G.  L.     Einleitung  zur  Geschichte  der  Mark-,  Hof-  und  Dorf- 

verfassung.     8vo.     Erlangen,  1856. 
Seeker.    Die  Almende.     8vo.    Basel,  1868. 


376  Appendix. 


JKoscher,    W.     Nationalokonomik    des    Ackerbaues.     7th  edit.   8vo. 

Stuttgart,  1873. 
Lehnert,  E.     Ueber  die  gegenwartige  Eintheilung  der  Grundstiicke 

in  Deutschland.     8vo.     Leipzig,  1874. 

CHAPTER  V.— MARRIAGE. 

Schulte,  J.   JF.      Handbuch  des  katholischen  Eherechts.      Giessen, 

1855. 
Friedberff,  E.     Das  Recht  der  Eheschliessung  in  seiner  geschichtlichen 

Entwicklung.     Leipzig,  1865. 

Friedberg,  E.     Die  Gescbichte  der  Civilehs.     Berlin,  1870. 
Kah,  K.     Die  Ehe  und  das  biirgerliche  Standesamt  nach  badischem 

Rechte.    Heidelberg,  1872. 

Knopp,  N.     Vollstandiges  Eherecht.     Regensburg,  1873. 
Schroder,  R.     Geschichte  des  ehelichen  Giiterrechts.     Stettin,  1874. 
Haron,  J.    Das  Heirathen  in  alten  und  neuen  Gesetzen.    Berlin,  1874. 
•Stalzel,  A.     Eheschliessungsrecht.     Berlin,  1874. 
Stolzel,  A.     Beutsches  Eheschliessungsrecht.     Berlin,  1876. 
Holder,  E.     Die  romische  Ehe.     Ziirich,  1874. 
Sohm,  It.     Das  Recht  der  Eheschliessung.     Weimar,  1875. 
Friedberff ,  E.      Verlobung  und    Trauung ;    zugleich  als  Kritik  von 

Sohm,  Das  Recht  der  Eheschliessung.     Leipzig,  1876. 
Sicherer,  H.     Ueber  Eharecht   und  Ehegerichtsbarkeit  in   Bayern. 

Miinchen,  1875. 
Hinseius.     Das  Reichsgesetz  iiber   die  Beurkundung  des  Personen- 

standes    und   die    Form    der  Eheschliessung,  mit  Commentar. 

Berlin,  1875. 
Kletke,  C.  M.     Gesetz  iiber  die  Eheschliessung  im  deutschen  Reiche. 

3rd  edit.     Berlin,  1875. 
Scheuerl,  Adf.     Die  Entwicklung  d.  kirchlichen  Eheschliessungsrechts. 

Erlangen,  1877. 
Einsiedely  H.  v.     Die  Verheirathung  ohne  Einwilligung  der  Eltern 

oder  des  Vormunds.     Leipzig,  1878. 

CHAPTER  VI.— WOMEN. 

Meiners,    C.      Geschichte   des  weiblichen  Geschlechts.      Hannover, 

1788-1800. 
Geist.      Sitten    und    Character  der  Weiber  in  den  verschiedenen 

Zeitaltern.    Chemnitz,  1793. 


Appendix.  377 


Munch,  E.  v.      Margariten :  Frauencharaktere  aus  alterer  u.  neuerer 

Zeit.     Cannstadt,  1840.     (Unfinished.) 
Jung,  G.      Geschichte  der  Frauen.     Erster  [and  only]  Theil  (die 

Unterdriickung  der  Frauen  und  ihre  allmahlige  Selbstbefreiung 

bis  zur  Erscheinung  des  Christenthums.     Frankfurt,  1850. 
Weinhold,  K.     Die   deutschen  Frauen  in  dem  Mittelalter.     Wien, 

1851. 
Duntzer,   H.      Frauenbilder   aus    Goethe's    Jugendzeit.     Stuttgart, 

1852. 

Weimar  and  its  Celebrities,  in  '  Westminster  Review.'     1859. 
Klarum,    G.     Die  Frauen  :  culturgeschichtliche  Schilderungen  des 

Zustandes  und  Einflusses  der  Frauen  in  den  verschiedenen  Zonen 

und  Zeitaltern.     Dresden,  1859. 
Wiese.     Die  Stellung  der  Frauen  im  Alterthum  und  in  d.  christlich. 

Zeit.     Berlin,  1854. 
Scherr,  J.     Geschichte  der  deutschen  Frauenwelt.    3rd  edit.   Leipzig, 

1873. 


CHAPTER  VII.— FOREST  ROYALTY. 

The  German  press  teems  with  books  on  the  subject  of  forest 
culture  and  forest  rights.  It  is  therefore  unnecessary  to  do  more 
than  mention  a  few  of  the  latest  and  best  works  on  the  subject. 

Bernard,  S.     Geschichte  des  Waldeigenthuins,  der  Waldwirthschaft 

u.  Forstwissenschaft  in  Deutschland.     Berlin,  1872-75. 
Bwnhard,  A.     Die  Waldwirthschaft.     Berlin,  1859, 
Heiss,  L.     Der  Wald  und  die  Gesetzgebung.     Berlin,  1875. 
Albert,  J.     Lehrbuch  der  Staatsforstwissenschaft.     Wien,  1875 
Bernhard,   A.      Chronik  d.   deutschen    Forstwesens  in  den  Jahren 

1873  bis  1875,  Berlin,   1876 ;  im  Jahr  1876,  Berlin,  1877 ;  im 

Jahr  1877,  Berlin,  1878. 
Gi'imert,  J.  Th.     Die  staatliche  Beschrankung  der  Gemeindeforstver- 

waltung  in  Preussen.     Leipzig,  1876. 
Binzer,  C.  A.  L.     Die  Oberaufsicht  d.  Staates  iib.  die  Waldungen  der 

Gemeinden.     Frankfurt,  1876. 
DoeU,   C.     Waldungen  und  Waldwirthschaft,  deren  Bedeutung  fiir 

National wohlstand  und  Landeskultur.     Elberfeld,  1876. 
Fuchbach,  C.     Lehrbuch  der  Forstwissenschaft.     Berlin,  ]  877. 
Obermaye)-,    Thdr.      Die    Lehren  der    Forstwissenschaft.      Berlin, 

1877. 


378  Appendix. 


Gayer,  K.     Die  Forstbenutzung.     3rd  edit.     Berlin,  1878. 

Mi'iblm,   A.      Beitrag  zur  Frage  liber  den  Waldschutz   gegen   die 

Waldbesitzer,  mit  besond.    Beziehung  auf  das  preuss.  Gesetz 

vom  6.  Juli  1875.     Reval,  1878. 
Oelschldger  u.   Bernhardt.     Die  preussischen  Forst-  u.  Jagdgesetze. 

Berlin,  1878. 
Hamburg,  G.  Th.    Die  Nutzholzwirthschaft  im  geregelten  Hochwald- 

iiberhaltbetreibe  u.  ihre  Praxis.     Cassel,  1878. 


CHAPTER  VIII.— EDUCATION. 

Horace  Mann.     Educational  Tour  in  Europe.   English  edit.   London, 

1846. 

Heppe,  H.    Geschichte  des  deutschen  Volksschulwesens.   Gotha,  1859. 

Education   Commission:    Reports  of   the   Assistant  Commissioners 

appointed   to  Enquire  into  the  State  of  Popular  Education  in 

Continental  Europe.     Vol.  IV.     London,  1860. 

Arnold.  M.     Higher  Schools  and  Universities  in  Germany.     London, 

1874. 

Laas,  E.     Gymnasium  und  Realschule.     Berlin,  1875. 
Kehr,  C.     Geschichte  der  Methodik  d.  deutschen  Volksschulunter— 

richtes.     Gotha,  1878. 

Laacke,  K.  C.  F.     Schulgesetzsammlung.     Leipzig,  1878. 
Schultze,  G.  V.     Das  deutsche  Reich  u.  die  Bildung  der  Jugend  nach 

Entlassung  aus  der  Volksschule.  Leipzig,  1878. 
Steiribart,  O.  '  Unsere  Abiturienten.'  Berlin,  1878. 
Grafe,  H.  Deutsche-  Volksschule,  od.  Burger  u.  Landschule,  nebst 

eine  Ge-schichte  der  Volksschule.    Jena,  1878. 
Cauer,  E.     Die  hoh're  Madchenschule  u.  die  Lehrerinfrage.     Berlin, 

1878. 

Giebe.      Verordnungen    betr.    das    gesammte    Volksschulwesen    in 
Preussen,  nebst  ausfiihrlich.  Lehrplanen  fur  die  1.  bis  6.  klass. 
Volksschule.     3rd  edit.    Dusseldorf,  1878. 
Jahresbericht    der    hoheren    Biirgerschule    zu    Karlsruhe    fiir    das 

Schuljahr  1877-78.     Karlsruhe,  1878. 

Jahresbericht  der  stadtischen  hoheren  Tochterschule  in  Karlsruhe  fur 
das  Schuljahr  1877-78.     Karlsruhe,  1878. 


Appendix.  379 


CHAPTER  IX.— THE  UNIVERSITIES. 

Hagelgans,  J.  G .   Orbis  literatus  Academ.  Musarum  Sedes,  Societates, 

Universitates.     Frankfurt,  1737. 
Meiners,  C.    Geschichte  der  Entstehung  und  Entwickelung  der  hohen 

Schulen  unsres  Erdtlieils.     Gottingen,  1802-5. 
Kuchhauser,  J.    Erinnerungen  aus  d.  hochstmerkwiirdigen  Lebens- 

geschichte  eines  Studenten.     Solothurn,  1848. 
Tholuck,  A.     Das  akademische  Leben  d.  17.  Jahrhunderts.     2nd  edit. 

Halle,  1854. 

Meyer,  J.  B.     Deutsche  Universitats-Entwicklung.     Berlin,  1875. 
Jfelmholtz,    If.     Ueber    die    akademische    Freiheit    der    deutschen 

Universitaten.     Berlin,  1878. 
Deutscher  Universitats-Kalender.     Berlin,  twice  annually. 


CHAPTER  X.-THE  ARMY. 

Notes  d'un  Officier  russe  sur  1'Armee  allemande,  in '  Bulletin  de  la  Reunion 

des  Officiers,'  Paris,  1877,  Nos.  13-49 ;  1878,  Nos.  2,  5.     (German 

officers  have  assured  me  that  this  is  the  best  account  of  their 

army  organisation  that  has  appeared.) 
Egidy.     Die  Dienstverhaltnisse  der  Mannschaften   d.  Beurlaubten- 

standes,  einschliesslich  der  Rekruten  u.  Ersatzreservisten.     5th 

edit.    Bautzen,  1878. 
Jfaber,   R.    v.     Die    Cavalerie  des  deutschen  Reiches.     Hannover, 

1878. 

Witte.    Das  Ausbildungsjahr  bei  der  Fussartillerie.     Berlin,  1878. 
Butow.     Die  kaiserliche  deutsche  Marine.     Berlin,  1878. 
Dilthey.      Militarischer  Dienstunterricht  fiir  einjahrige  Freiwillige, 

Reserve-Offizieraspiranten  u.  Offiziere  d.  Beurlaubtenstandes  der 

deutschen  Infanterie.     10th  edit.     Berlin,  1878. 
Eintheilung  u.  Standquartiere  des  deutschen  Reichsheerea.     Berlin, 

1878. 
Poten,  B.      Handworterbuch  der  gesammten  Militarwissenschaften. 

Bielefeld,  1878. 
Niemann.     Militar-Handlexicon.     3  vols.     Stuttgart,  1877-78.     (A 

capital  book.) 
Kirchner,  C.    Lehrbuch  d.  Militar-Hygiene.     Stuttgart,  1877. 


380  Appendix. 


Roth  u.  Lex.      Handbuck  der  Militar-Gesundheitspflege.      2  vols. 

Berlin,  1875. 
Militair-Encyclopadie,  allgeraeine.      Herausgegeben    und  bearbeitet 

v.  e.  Verein  deutscher  Offiziere.     Leipzig,  1878. 
Militar-Gesetze  d.  deutschen  Ileichs.     Berlin,  1878. 
Buschbeck-Helldorff.      Feld-Taschenbuch.  fur  Officiere  aller  Waffen 

der  deutschen  Armee  zum  Kriegs-  und  Friedensgebrauch.     4th 

edit.    1878. 

This  list  might  be  greatly  extended. 


CHAPTER  XI.— THE  STAGE. 

Devrtent,  E.    Geschichte  der  deutschen  Schauspielkunst.    Leipzig, 

1848. 

Deutscher  Buhnen-Almanach.     Berlin.    Appears  annually. 
Brachvogel,    A.  E.      Geschichte  d.    konigl.     Theaters    zu    Berlin. 

Berlin,  1878. 
Genee,  R.    Das  deutsche  Theater  und  die  Reform-Frage.    Berlin, 

1878. 
Kurschner,  J.     Jahrbuch  fiir  das  deutsche  Theater.     Leipzig,  1878. 


CHAPTER  XII.— MUSIC. 

Kiesewetter,  R.  G.     Geschichte  der  abendl.  europ.  Musik.     Leipzig, 

1804, 1846. 
ScKluterj  J.     Allgemeine  Geschichte   der  Musik  in  iibersichtlicher 

Darstellung.     Leipzig,  1863. 
Brendel,  F.      Geschichte   der  Musik  in  Italian,  Deutschland  und 

Frankreich.     5th  edit.     Leipzig,  1874. 
Reissmann,  A.     Allgemeine  Geschichte  der  Musik.     Leipzig,  1863, 

1866. 
Reissmann,  A.    Ton  Bach  bis  Wagner,  zur  Geschichte  der  Musik. 

Berlin,  1861. 

Riehl,W.H.   Musikalische  Charakterkopfe.   5th edit.   Stuttgart,  1878. 
Kostlin,  H.  A.     Geschichte  der  Musik  im  Umriss  fiir  Gebildeten  aller 

Stande.     Tubingen,  1875. 

La  Mara.     Musikalische  Studienkopfe.     4th  edit.     Leipzig,  1878. 
Mendel  u.  Reissmann.     Musikalisches  Conversations-Lexicon.     Ber- 
lin, 1878. 


Appendix.  38 1 


Wasielewski,   W.   J.      Geschichte  der  Instruruental-Musik.     Berlin, 

1878. 
Ambros,  Aug.  W.     Geschichte  der  Musik.     Leipzig,  1878. 

In  addition  a  vast  number  of  monographs  on  the  great  com- 
posers. 


CHAPTER  XIII.— THE  KULTURKAMPF. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  give  a  list  of  the  innumerable  pamphlets  the 
Kulturkampf  has  given  birth  to. 

An  abstract  of  the  laws  affecting  the  Catholic  Church  in  Germany, 
in  a  compendious  form,  will  be  found  in — 

Die  preussische-deutsche  Kirchengesetzgebung  seit  1871 :  vollstandige 
Sammlung  der  auf  den  Kirchenconflict  in  Preussen  und  Deutsch- 
land  beziiglichen  Staatsgesetze  und  wichtigeren  ministeriellen 
Erlasse.  2nd  edit.  Munster,  1876. 


CHAPTER  XIV.— PROTESTANTISM. 

Dewar,  Rev.  E.  H.     German  Protestantism.     Oxford,  1844. 

Laing,  S.     Notes  on  the  '  German  Catholic  Church.'    London,  1845. 

Laing,  8.    Notes  of  a  Traveller  on  the  Social  and  Political  State  of 

Italy,  France,  and  Germany  during    the  Ninteenth  Century. 

London,  1842. 
Religious    Thought    in    Germany.      Reprinted  from    the    *  Times.' 

London,  1870. 
The  Protestant  Church  in  Prussia,  in  the  '  Foreign  Church  Chronicle,' 

1878  and  1879. 

Of  German  books  and  pamphlets  the  number  precludes  their  being 
quoted,  but  the  following  deserves  mention  as  containing  annual 
information  concerning  the  events  that  have  taken  place  in  the  Evan- 
•  gelical  Churches  of  Germany  : — 

Mathes.    Kirchliche  Ohronik.    Herausgegeben  von  Pfarrer  Werner  in 
Gruben.     Altona  (annually). 


382  Appendix. 


CHAPTER  XV.— THE  LABOUR  QUESTION. 

Bamberger,  Lud.  Die  Arbeiterfrage  unt.  d.  Gesichtspunkte  d. 
Vereinsrechtes.  Stuttgart,  1873. 

Bohmert,  Viet.     Der  Socialismus  u.  die  Arbeiterfrage.     Zurich,  1872. 

Diefenbach,  JR.  J.     Ueber  die  Arbeiterfrage.     Stuttgart,  1872. 

Stafd,  Fr.  W.     Die  Arbiterfrage  sonst  und  jetzt.     Berlin,  1872. 

Felix,  Ludw.  Die  Arbeiter  und  die  Gesellschaft :  eine  culturge- 
schichtliche  Studie.  Leipzig,  1874. 

Sickinger,  C.  Das  alte  Zunftwesen  und  die  mod  erne  Gewerbefreiheit. 
Kirchheim,  1875. 

Berliner,  Adf.  Die  Lage  d.  deutschen  Handwerkerstandes.  Han- 
nover, 1877. 


CHAPTER  XVI.— SOCIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

Marx,  K.    Das  Kapital:   Kritik  der  polit.   Oekonomie.    2nd.  edit. 

Hamburg,  1872.     (Incomplete.) 
Contzen,  H.     Die  sociale  Frage,  ihre  Geschichte  und  ihre  Bedeutung 

in  der  Gegenwart.     2nd  edit.     Berlin,  1872. 
Danneriberg,   J.  F.   H.     Das   deutsche   Handwerk  und  die  sociale 

Frage.    Leipzig,  1872. 
Jager,  Eug.     Der  moderne  Socialismus :  Karl  Marx,  die  Internationale 

Arbeiter-Association,  Lassalle   und    die   deutschen  Socialisten. 

Berlin,  1873. 
Schvltze-Delitzsch.    Die  Genossenschaften  in  einzelnen  Gewerbszwei- 

gen.     Leipzig,  1873. 

Schuren,  N.    Die  Katheder-Socialisten.     Berlin,  1873. 
Schuren,   N.    Zur    Lb'sung  der  sociale   Frage.     2nd  edit.     Berlin, 

1873. 
Frobel,  Jul.      Die   V^irthschaft  d.   Menschengeschlechtes  auf  dem 

Standpunkte  der  Einheit  idealer  und  realer  Interessen.     I.  und 

II.  Die  Privatwirthschaft  und   die   Volkswirthschaft.      Berlin, 

1874.     III.  Die  Staatswirthschaft.     Berlin,  1876. 
Lassalle,  Ferd.     Zur  Arbeiterfrage.    6th  edit.     Braunschweig,  1875. 
Lassalle,  Ferd.     Arbeiterlesebuch.     Braunschweig,  1873. 
Lassalle,  Ferd.     Arbeiterprogramm.     Braunschweig,  1874. 
Pfeil,  GrafL.  v.    Losung  der  sociale  Frage.    Breslau,  1874. 


Appendix.  383 


Dilhring,  E.     Kritische  Geschichte   der  National-Oekonomie  und  des 

Socialismus.     2nd  edit.     Berlin,  1875. 
Goltz,  Th.  v.     Das  Wesen  und  die  Bedeutung  der  deutschen  Social- 

demokratie.     Leipzig,  1875. 

Treitschke,  H.     Der  Socialismus  und  seine  Goimer.     Berlin,  1875. 
Treitschke,  der  Socialistentodter,  u.  d.  Endziele  des  Liberalismus  :  eine 

socialist.  Replik;     Leipzig,  1875. 

Diest-Daber,  Otto  v.     Geldmacht  und  Socialismus.    Berlin,  1875. 
Rodbertus-Jagetzow.      Zur  Beleuchtung  der  sociale   Frage.     Berlin, 

1875. 
Schuster,  R.     Die    Socialdemokratie   nach  ihrem  Wesen  und  ihrer 

Agitation  quellenmassig  dargestellt.     2nd  edit.     Stuttgart,  1876. 
Calberla,  G.  M.     Sozialwissenschaftliches.     1.  Hft.  Karl  Marx,  'Das 

Kapital,'  u.  der  heutige  Sozialismus.  Kritik  einiger  ihres  Funda- 

mentalsatze.     Dresden,  1877. 
Hitze,  Ft:     Die  sociale  Frage  und  die  Bestrebungen  zu  ihrer  Losung. 

Paderborn,  1877. 
Mehrinff,  Fr.     Die  deutsche  Socialdemokratie :  ihre  Geschichte  und 

ihre  Lehre.     2nd  edit.     Bremen,  1878. 
Schaffle,  A.     Die   Quintessenz  des  Sozialismus.     3rd  edit.     Gotha, 

1878. 
Kritik  der  'Quintessenz  des  Sozialismus'  von  Schaffle,  von  einem 

praktischen  Staatsmann.     Bielefeld  und  Leipzig,  1878. 


CHAPTER  XVII.— CULTURE. 

Math.  Quad  von  Kinckelbach.  Teutscher  Nation.  Herrlichkeit.  Kolln, 
1609. 

Des  Bauernstands  und  Wandels  entdeckte  Uebelsitten  und  Laster- 
proben.  Osnabriick,  1713. 

Hullmann,  K.  D.     Stadtewesen  des  Mittelalters.     Bonn,  1826. 

Huscher.  Skizze  einer  Culturgeschichte  d,  deutschen  Stadte.  Culm- 
bach,  1808. 

Gagern,  H.  Ch.  E.  v.  Die  Resultate  der  Sittengeschichte.  6  vols. 
I.  Die  Fiirsten ;  II.  Aristokratie ;  III.  Demokratie  ;  IV.  Politik  ; 
V.  VI.  Freundschaft  und  Liebe.  Stuttgart,  1822-37. 

Rauschnick.  Das  Biirgerthum  und  Stadtewesen  der  Deutschen  im 
Mittelalter.  Dresden,  1829. 

Rauschnick.    Geschichte  d.  deutschen  Adela.     Dresden,  1836. 


384  Appendix. 


Rauschnick.     Geschichte  der  deutschen  Geistlichkeit  im  Mittelalter. 

Leipzig,  1836. 
Vehse,  Ed.     Geschichte   der  deutsclien  Hofe   seit  der  Reformation. 

48  vols.     Hamburg,  1851-60. 
Nork,  F.     Die  Sitten  und  Gebrauche  der  Deutschen  und  ihretNach- 

barvolker.     Stuttgart,  1849. 

Riehl,  H.     Culturstudien  aus  drei  Jakrhunderten.     Stuttgart,  1859. 
RieM,  H.    Die  Familie.     Stuttgart,  1861. 
RieM,  H.     Die  biirgerliche  Gesellschaft     Stuttgart,  1861. 
Rtehl,  H.    Land  und  Leute.     Stuttgart,  1861. 
Freytag,  Gust.     Bilder  aus  d.  deutschen  Vergangenheit.     Leipzig, 

1860. 
Kriegk,  G.  F.     Deutsches  Biirgerthum  im  Mittelalter.     Frankfurt, 

1868-71. 
Scherr,    J.       Deutsche    Kultur-  und    Sittengeschichte.       7th    edit. 

Leipzig,  1878. 


CHAPTER   XVIIL— ARCHITECTURE. 

Kalleribach,  G.  G.     Chronologie  der  deutsch.  mittelalt.  Baukunst  in 

geometr.  Zeichnungen.     Miinchen,  1844-6. 
Kallenbach,  G.  G.     Die  Baukunst  d.  deutschen  Mittelalters  chrono- 

logisch  dargestellt.     Miinchen,  1847. 
Heiddoff,  C.     Der  kleine  Altdeutsche,  oder  Grundziige  des  altdeut- 

schen  Baustyles.     Niirnberg,  1850-2. 

Heideloff,  C.     Die  Ornamentik  des  Mittelalters.     Niirnberg,  1851-2. 
Otte,   H.     Handbuch  der  kirchlichen  Kunstarchaologie.     4th  edit. 

Leipzig,  1868. 
Liibke,  W.    Abrisse  der  Geschichte  d.  Baustyle.     3rd  edit.     Leipzig, 

1868. 

Liibke,  W.     Geschichte  der  Architektur.    4th  edit.     Leipzig,  1870. 
Liibke,  W.     Grundrisse  der  Kunstgeschichte.     4th  edit.     Stuttgart, 

1868.. 

Liibke,  W.     Kunsthistorische  Studien.     Stuttgart,  1869. 
Deutsche  Renaissance:  eine  Sammlung  von  Gegenstanden  der  Archi- 
tektur,  Decoration  und  Kunstgewerbe.     Leipzig,  1878.      (In 

course  of  publication.) 


INDEX. 


AAC 

A  ACHEN,  theatre  at,  ii.  54 
A.    Aarau,  Canton,  i.  258 ;  ii.  129 
Abbess,  Protestant,  ii.  109 
Abiturient,  i.  298 
Abiturienten  examen,  i.  297 
Acting,  German,  ii.  54 
Actors,  German,  ii.  54-56 
Adam  Puschmann,  ii.  12 
Adel,  meaning  of,  i.   4,  29,  33, 

332 

Adelstand,  i.  74 

Ahr  valley,  replanted,  i.  240, 241 
Allmend,  i.  103-105 
Allodification  of  land,  i.  51,  52 
Allodium  nobile,  i.  34 
Alt- Catholics,  ii.  125-131 
Altar-pieces,  ii.  350,  351 
Altona,  theatre  at,  ii.  54 
Amelia  of  Weimar,  i.  194-199 
Anatomy  at  the  Universities,  i. 

315,  316 

Ancestors,  ennobled,  i.  35 
Angelica  Kauffmann,  i.  224 
Anglican    Marriage    Service,   i. 

142 
Anhalt-Dessau,  house  of,  i.  15- 

25  ;  ii.  320-322 
Anspach,  princes  of,  i.  46;    ii. 

326, 327 

Apses,  double,  ii.  347-349 
Are,  a  measure,  i.  Ill 
Aristocracy,  its  characteristics, 

i.  55 
Aristocratic   chapters,  i.  79 ;  ii. 

178 

Arminius,  i.  172 
Army,  statistics  of,  i.  393 
—  cost  of,  i.  393,  394  ;  ii.  142 

VOL.  II. 


BOI 

Arnim,  Bettina  von,  i.  220,  221 
Arrha,  i.  134,  137 
Auber.  ii.  91,  95 
Augusta  Bethmann,  i.  213,  214 
-  von  Stolberg,  i.  203,  204 
Aussteuer,  i.  85,  86,  89 
Austria,  Baden  sympathy  with, 
ii.  107,  108 


BACH,  J.  Sebastian,  ii.  73,  74 
Baden,  Evangelical  Church 
of,  ii.  198-201 
Baden  Liturgy,  ii.  199 
Baireuth,  court  of,  ii.  323,  324 
Balfe,  ii.  100 
Baring  family,  i.  62 
Barmen,  replanting,  i.  242 
Baro,  meaning  of  word,  i.  4 
Barons,  i.  1,  33,  47,  59 
Bathild,  Queen,  i.  178,  179 
Bauer,  the  German,  i.  128,  129 
'  Beamten  '  nobility,  i.  6,  14 
Beethoven,  ii.  85,  86 
Benedix,  ii.  63 
Bentheim,  house  of,  i.  29,  80 
Berlepsch,  Emilie  von,  i.  210, 211 
Bertha,  i.  185 

Bettina  von  Arnim,  i.  220,  221 
Bigamy  among  Princes,  ii.  302- 

304 

Biland,  attempt  of,  ii.  179,  180 
Birch  Pf eiffer,  ii.  60-62 
Bishoprics,  appropriated,  i.  18  ; 

ii.  105,  116 

Bismarck,  Count,  i.  16 
Bisula,  a  slave,  i.  173 
Bo'ieldieu,  ii.  91,  95 


C  C 


386 


Index. 


BOB 

Borough- English  (see  Minorat), 

i.  96 

Botany  at  the  Universities,  i.  317 
Brachmann,  Louise  Caroline,  i. 

202,  203 

Brachvogel,  ii.  63 
Breach  of  promise,  i.  143,  144 
Brentano,  Clemens,  i,  213 
Brenz,  his  view  of  marriage,  i. 

152 

Bride-capture,  i.  130,  140 
Broken- twig,  architectural  style, 

i.  243,  244 ;  ii.  352,  353 
Brunehild,  Queen,  i.  181-184 
Brunhild,  i.  173,  186-7 
Brunswick,    court    of,   ii.    305, 

329-336 

—  Church,  constitution  of,  ii.  173 

—  Sophie  Charlotte  of,  i.  191, 192 
Bucksburg,  Count  William  of,  ii. 

308,  309 

Biirger,  the  poet,  i.  212,  213 
Burger,  the  German,  ii.  338,  339 
Biirgerschule,  i.  286-289 


nALVINISM,  decay  of,  ii.  174 
\J     Canon-law  on  marriage,  i. 

144-146 
Canon-law  on  property,  ii.  242- 

244 

Capital,  migration  of,  ii.  236 
—  misunderstood,  i.  94,  95  ;    ii. 

276 

Cavaliere,  ii.  69 
Centralisation,  Prussian,  ii.  105, 

106,  121,  122 
Charles  the  Bold,  i.  87 
Charlotte  von  Kalb,  i.  49,  209, 

210 

Charlotte  von  Stein,  i.  204,  205 
Chemistry  at  the  Universities,  i. 

312 

Cherubini,  ii.  95 
Child  follows  inferior  hand,  i.  9 
Children,  proportion  of,  i.   119, 

120 

Christiane  Vulpius,  i.  205,  206 
Church  attendance,  statistics  of, 

ii.  160-162,  164 
Civil  marriage,  i.  131,  139,  140, 

151,  152,  155,  156 


EDL 

Civil  registration,!.  131, 151,  152, 

155,  156 ;  ii.  164 
Class  severance,  i.  59,  60,  331, 

368  ;  ii.  274,  292,  293 
Clemens  Brentano,  i.  213 
Clowns,  English,  ii.  17 
Coal  in  Germany,  i.  246 
Code  Napoleon,  i.  50 ;  ii.  106 
Colleges,  military,  i.  385 
Comedians,  English,  ii.  17 
Community  of  wives,  ii.  272-274 
Competitive     examinations,     i. 

280-282 
Confessional  statistics,   ii.    Ill, 

165,  166 
Co-operative  associations,  ii.  221 

-224,  256 
Coronets,  i.  46,  47 
Corvee,  i.  40,  41 
Counts,  i.  4-6 
'  Critique '  in  the  army,  i.  366, 

367,  375,  393 
Croaria  family,  i.  43 
Croly  (Dr.),  opinion  of  the  Ger- 
mans, ii.  292 
Crypto  -  Calvinists,     persecution 

of,  ii.  158,  159 


DAHN,  Felix,  ii.  65 
Dalberg,  i.  19 
Days  of  work,  ii.  219,  229 
Degrees,  University,  i.  228,  229 
Deism,  ii.  183 
Dictation,  i.  313,  314 
Disputations,  i.  318,  319 
Dissent,  ii.  125,  126.  166,  167 
Divorce,  i.  164-168 
—  statistics  of,  i.  164,  166,  167 
Divorced  persons,  remarriage  of, 

i.  156 

Dukes,  i.  5,  59 
« Durchlaucht,'  title  of,  i.  24,  29 


TIBENBURTIGKEIT,  i.  3,  7, 
1J  10,  14,  17,  29,  30,  34,  58,  61 
Ebleben,  palace  gardens  at,  ii. 

313,  314 

Eckhoff,  the  actor,  ii.  47-50 
«  Edler  Herr  von,'  title  of,  i.  33, 

35 


Index. 


387 


EDU 

Education  of  boys,  i.  297 

—  cheapness  of,  i.  296 

«  Ehre  und  Treue,'  ii.  245,  246 

Eichstadt,  ii.  353 

Einjahrigers,i.  341,  377-379, 381 

ii.  136 

'Ekkehart '  of  Scheffel,  i.  189 
Electoral  Counts,  i.  14 
Elenson,  ii.  24,  25 
Elizabeth,  Saint,  i.  67 
Entails,  i.  54 
Erbach  family,  i.  24 
Erbe,  i.  70 

'Erlaucht,'  title  of,  i.  24 
Errungenschaft,  i.  70,  91 
Esprit  de  corps,  i.  384 
Euryanthe,  i.  136  ;  ii.  88 
« Excellency,'  title  of,  i.  56 
Exemptions,  i.  36,  37 


TMHKENDES  Habe,  i.  68 
JD      Familienpact,  i.  84,  85 
Familienrecht,  ii.  246 
Family,  the,  in  German  law,  ii. 

248 

Feldwebel,  i.  353 
Felix  Dahn,  ii.  65 
Feudal  system,  i.  38,  69,  76 

—  rights,  i.  76,  77 
Fideicommissen,  i.  83,  84 
Flachsland,   Maria    Cornelia,   i. 

200,  201 

Flacians,  persecution  of,  ii.  159 
Flotow,  ii.  96 
Foreign  labour,  hostility  to,  ii. 

216-218 
Forests,  destruction  of,   i.    106, 

236-241,  251-253 

—  scenery,  i.  241-6 

—  statistics,  i.  252,  256,  257 
Formulary  of  Concord,  ii.  167 
Fortunes  in  Berlin,  ii.  251 

Prussia,  ii.  252 

Franke,  ii.  185-187 
Fredegund,  i.  181-185 
Frederick  I.  ii.  29 

—  II.  ii.  29,  300 

—  III.  ii.  25,  169 

—  V.  ii.  29 

—  William  I.   i.  191,  192,  238  ; 

ii.  25,  169,  294,  336 


HAD 

Frederick  William  II.  ii.  302 
Free  justification,  ii.  173 
—  love,  ii.  274 

—  men,  i.  2,  3 

—  trade,  ii.  215 

—  Imperial  cities,  i.  11 

knights,   i.    8,  17,  46,  47, 

53 
Freiburg,  archbishop  of,  ii.  116 

—  theatre  at,  ii.  57,  58 

—  Ursulines  of,  ii.  151-154 
Freiherren,  i.  6,  33,  35,  46-49,  53 
Freiwilliger    (see  Einjahriger), 

i.  377-379,  383 
Frohn,  i.  40,  41 
Fuel,  i.  246-248 
Fugger  family,  i.  31,  42 
Fiirsten  (see  Princes),  i.  7,  10, 

59 
Fiirstenrecht,  i.  9,  10,  84 


GANZ  von  Pudlitz,  family  of, 
i.  35 

Gefreite,  i.  356,  376,  379 
'Geheimrath,'  title  of,  i.  56 
Gemeinde,  i.  101 
Gesammte  Hand,  i.  77,  85-88,  90, 

97 

Gesperrter,  ii.  145 
Gewannen,  i.  103,  104,  109 
Girls,  education  of,  i.  289-297 
Glove,  derivation  of,  i.  136 
Gluck,  ii.  76,  78,  79,  81 
Gmiind,  church  at,  ii.  354,  355 
Gnesen-Posen,  diocese  of,  ii.  146, 

147 

Goethe,  i.  201-205,  209,  220 
Goetz,  ii.  96 
Golden  Bull,  i.  79 
Gottsched,  ii.  31-39,  43 
Gounod,  ii.  92 
Graf,  i.  4,  59 
Grillparzer,  ii.  65 
Gudrun,  i.  188 
Guilds,    i.    43-44;    ii.    224-228, 

248,  249,  250 
Gymnasium,  i.  285,  286 


HADEWIG,   Duchess,   i.    189, 
190 


c  c  2 


388 


Index. 


HAF 

Haf,  choked  with  sand,  i.  238 

Haftgeld,  i.  134 

Halevy,  ii.  92,  93 

Halm,  ii.  63 

Handel,  ii.  73,  74 

Hanover,  court  of,  ii.  305,  306 

Hans  Sachs,  ii.  10,  11 

Hasse,  Adolf,  ii.  71 

Haydn,  ii.  74,  80,  81 

Hebbel,  ii.  65 

Hedges  in  North  Germany,  i.  98, 

99 

Heimsteuer,  i.  85 
Henriette  Vogel,  i.  202 

Hensel,  Louise,  i.  214-217 

Heraldry,  i.  35,  42,  62 

Herder,  i.  200,  201 

Herrnhut,  ii.  188,  189 

Herzog,  i.  5,  59 

Hillern,  Frau  von,  i.  227 

Hochwald,  i.  254-256 

Hoffahig,  i.  58 

Hofrnetzgerei,  i.  126 

Holbein  family,  i.  42 

Horbs,  ii.  186 

Hosbach,  Dr.,  ii.  202,  203 

Hours  of  work,  ii.  218 

Hufenwirthschaft,  i.  103 

Humanists,  i.  308 


TLLEGITIMACY,  statistics  of, 

1    i.  163, 164 

'  Immediate '  nobles,  i.  6,  8,  10, 

11,  27,  46,  58 
Immunitas,  i.  8 
Indifference,  religious,  ii.  160- 

167,  169,  170,  173,  182,  185 
Instruction,  military,  i.  350-376 
Interimwirthschaft,  i.  97 
Intestacy,  i.  92 
Intolerance,   religious,    ii.    124, 

156-159,  171 


JESUITS,  ii.  118-119,  140, 141, 
143,  144,  155,  289 
Jew  usurers,  i.  37,  94,  114,  126, 

251,  275 
Joseph  II.  ii.  319,320 


LUL 

TTAISERSTUHL,  i.  125 

JV    Kalb,  Charlotte  von,  i.  49, 

209, 210 

Reiser,  Eeinhold,  ii.  72 
Kiss  to  bride,  i.  142, 143 
Klafter,  a  measure,  i.  246 
Kleinstadterei,  ii.  328 
Kleist,  i.  201,  202 
Konigsmark,  Countess  of,  ii.  109 
Koppelwirthschaft,  i.  103,   108, 

116 

Kreutzer,  ii.  89, 90 
Kriemhild,  i.  186-188 


LABOUR,  price  of,  ii.  240 
Landed  gentry,   abolished, 
i.  48,  50,  52,  61 ;  ii.  305,  306,  338 
Landrecht,  i.  76-78 
Landsturm,  i.  340-343 
Land  tenure,  i.  70-75 
Landwehr,  i.  342-345,  349,  379, 

380,  381,  388 
Lassalle,  Ferdinand,  ii.  257-260, 

264-267,  271,  274,  288 
Laube,  ii.  63 
Laufenburg,  ii.  128,  129 
Lazzi,  i.  3 
Lectures,  University,  i.  320,  327- 

328 

Lehnrecht,  i.  76 
Leibgedinge,  i.  85,  86 
Lenau,  i.  217,  218 
Leopold  of  Dessau,  i.  15 ;  ii.  320-3 
Lessing,  ii.  44,  48,  300 
Liechtenstein,  principality  of,  i. 

20-28 

Liegendes  Habe,  i.  68 
Lieutenants,  i.  337,  353-354 
Lili,  i.  203 
Lippe  saved  from  mediatisation, 

i.  21 
Lippe,  von  and  zu  der,  family,  i. 

28 

Lortzing,  ii.  90 
Lot,  lands  divided  by,  i.  76,  97, 

120,  125 

Louise  Hensel,  i.  214-217 
Lowenstein  family,  i.  14 
Ludwig  the  Saint,  i.  43 
Lully,  ii.  77 


Index. 


389 


LUP 

Lupfen,  Countess,  and  snail- 
shells,  i.  41 

Luther  on  marriage,  i.  146-148, 
152,  153,  162,  163 

—  on  submission  to  authority, 
ii.  172 

theatrical  performances,  ii. 

13 

Lutheranism,  decay  of,  ii.  174 


MAHLSCHATZ,  i.  137 
Majorat,  i.  54,  82-84,  120 
Malmesbury,  Lord,   on  German 

culture,  ii.  301 
Malthusian  legislation,   i.    159- 

160 
Mannheim  theatrical  school,  ii. 

50 

Manoeuvres,  i.  370-372,  374-376 
Maria    Cornelia    Flachsland,    i. 

200,  201 

Maria  Theresa,  i.  192-194 
Mark,  i.  100,  101 
Marlitt,  i.  227;  ii.  191 
Marpingen  miracle,  ii.  149 
Marriage,  difficulty  of,  ii.  285 

—  service,  Anglican,  i.  142 
Marschner,  ii.  88,  89 

Marx,  Karl,  ii.  253,  260-266-268, 

270,  274,  288 
« Mediate  '  nobles,  i.  678 
Mediatisation,  i.  20-23,  31,  84 
Mehul,  ii.  91 
Mendelssohn,  ii.  91 
Meyerbeer,  ii.  92-94 
Migrations  of  peoples,  i.  101-102 
Military  service  interferes  with 

marriage,  i.  161 ;  ii.  142 
Militia,  i.  340 

Ministerial  nobles,  i.  3,  6,  14 
Minorat,  i.  84,  94-96 
Missa  pro  sponsis,  i.  141,  143 
Mittelfreien,  i.  7 
Mittelwald,  i.  254,  255 
Monastic  orders,  ii.  112,  120-121 
Morality,   comparative,   i.    163- 

164 

—  low  state  of,  i.  162-164,  321- 
322 

Morganatic  marriages,  i.  14-17, 
30 


POP 

Morgen,  a  measure,  i.  Ill,  255, 

256 

Morgengabe,  i.  88-90,  140,  141 
Mortgages,  i.  75 
Mozart,  ii.  81-85 
Muhldorf  family,  i.  17 
Mundium,  i.  132-135 
Mundschatz,  i.  132 
Munich,  ii.  354,  360 
Minister,  diocese  of,  ii.  145,  146 


NASSAU,  House  of,  i.  12,  13, 
85 ;  ii.  33T 

Nassau    Usingen,    court    of,   ii. 
317-318 

—  Verkoppelung,  i.  117 
Neuber,  Frau,  ii.  30-46,  50 
Niederwald,  i.  254-256 
Nobility,     ill-treatment     of,     i. 

55-56  ;  ii.  305,  306,  338 

—  patents  of,  i.  45 


fiBERKIRCHENRATH,  ii. 

U     157,  158 

Offenbach,  ii.  96 

Old  Catholics,  ii.  125-131 

Oratorio,  first,  ii.  70 

Outpost  duty,  i.  369,  370 


T)ALATIN ATE,  synod  of  1877, 

X      ii.  196, 197 

—  various  religious  changes  in, 
ii.  156,  157 

Pantheism,  ii.  183 

Parallel  system,  ii.  195 

Pastures  reclaimed,  i.  106,  113 

Patents  of  nobility,  ii.  45 

Patricians,  i.  42,  45 

Pay  of  soldiers,  i.  394 

Peasants'  war,  i.  42 

Pfahlbauten,  i.  100 

Pflichttheil,  i.  92,  93,  95 

Philistinism,  ii.  338-341 

Piecework,  ii.  219,  221 

Pietism,  ii.  184-191 

Planquette,  ii.  96 

Police,  ii.  234-235 

Population  affected  by  subdivi- 
sion of  property,  i.  119-322 


390 


Index. 


POP 

Population  kept  down,  ii.  213 
—  statistics  of,  ii.  104,  105 
Portreves,  i.  5 

Prsetextatus,  murder  of,  i.  183 
Precedence,  order  of,  i.  56,  57 
Primogeniture,  i.  76,  79-88,  93, 

120 

Princes,  i.  5,  7,  9,  10,  26-28,  47 
Privatdocent,  i.  228 
Privileges  of  nobles,  i.  36 

mediatised  princes,  i.  22,  23 

Promnitz,  Countess  of,  ii.  189, 190 
Prostitution,  i.  167 
Protection,  ii.  237 
Prussia,    aggrandisement  of,  ii. 

104,  105 
Prussian  Verkoppelung,  i.  118,119 


r^TJEDLIMBURG,  abbey  of,  ii. 
U    109 


•pADEGUND,  Saint,  i.  180,181 
XI    Bahel,  i.  218-220 
Realschule,  i.  286 
Recruits,  i.  346-348,  353-362 
Recruiting  system,  i.  340,  350, 

346-348 

(of  officers),  i.  385,  386 

Reformation,  a  social  movement, 

ii.  178 

Regulation  exercises,  i.  364-366 
Renaissance,  ii.  357,  358 
Rent-banks,  i.  52 
Retrait  lignager,  i.  75 
Reuss,  princes  of,  ii.  187 
Revolution  of  1848,  i.  50-52  ;  ii. 

338 

Richter,  Jean  Paul,  i.  206-211, 222 
Rinuccini,  ii.  68 

Ritualism,  Lutheran,  ii.  124, 169 
Rococo,  ii.  358,  359 
Roman  law,  introduction  of,  i. 

130,  149;  ii.  244 
opposed  to  German  law,  i. 

68,  69,  72,  144, 145  ;  ii.  244-247 
Romilda,  i.  186 
Ronge,  schism  of,  ii.  126 
Rosamund,  i.  176 
Rotation  of  crops,  i.  104,  112 
Rumetrude,  i.  176 


SPE 

SACHSEN-SPIEGEL,  date  of, 
i.  6 

Salaries  of  professors,  i.  323 
Salic  law,  i.  3,  73 
Salm,  house  of,  i.  73 

—  Grumbach,  Count  of,  ii.  307 

—  Kyrburg,  Count  of,  ii.  309 
Sappers,  i.  372,  373 

Saxon    Evangelical    Church,   ii. 
204 

—  court,  ii.  303,  304 

Saxony,   subdivision    of,    i.    76, 

80,81 

Scarlatti,  ii.  70 
Schiefnoth,  i.  74 
Schiller,  i.  48,  49,  303 ;  ii.  50 
Scholastic  agencies,  i.  261,  263- 

269 

Schonburg  family,  i.  67,  158 
Schroder,  ii.  50 
Schultze-Delitzsch,  ii.  353,  355, 

356 

Schwaben- Spiegel,  date  of,  i.  7 
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt,    court 

of,  ii.  316 

—  Sondershausen,  court  of,  ii. 
309-316 

Schweinsburg,  Schenk  von,  i.  67 

Secession,  i.  157 ;  ii.  127,  128 

Secundogeniture,  i.  81,  83 

Seinsheim  family,  i.  66 

Seminaries,  ii.  132,  134,  137-138 

Semperfreien,  i.  7 

Seniorat,  i.  81-83 

'  Serene  highness,'  title  of,  i.  24 

Servitude,  i.  40 

Sexes,  dissociation  of,  i.  333  ;  ii. 

339 

Shakspeare,  ii.  50,  60 
Sheriff,  i.  4 

Short  sight,  i.  299-301 
Snailshells,  i.  42 
Sondershausen,  ii.  309-316 
Sophie  Charlotte  of  Brunswick, 

i.  191, 192 

—  Gutermann,  i.  197-199 

—  Mereau,  i.  213 

—  Schwab,  i.  217 
Spadework,    importance    of,    i. 

372,  373 

Specialisation,  i.  235-237 
Spener,  ii.  185, 186 


Index. 


391 


SPO 

Spohr,  ii.  87 
Standesherren,  i.  23,  24 
Stein  family,  i.  49 
Steinart  family,  i.  65,  66 
Strauss,  Johann,  ii.  96 
Strikes,  ii.  231 
Stubenberg  family,  i.  64,  65 
Subdivision  of  f  eof  s,  i.  1 1 
land,  ruins  the  nobles,   i. 

50,  78 
effect  on  agriculture,  i. 

124,  125  ;  ii.  277 
—  effect  on  population,  i. 

119-122 
equal  among  children, 

i.  75-78 
effect  on  stock,  i.  93,  94, 

123 
excessive,  forbidden,  i. 

115,  126,  251 
Sword  and  spindle,  i.  73,  74 


nPABAGKEE,  ii.  296-298 
1     Target  practice,  i.  373,  374 
Testaments  (see  Wills),  i.  72,  73 
Theodelinda,  i.  177, 178 
Theology  in  the  Universities,  i. 

309-311 
Thirty  Years'  War,  i.  128;  ii.  157, 

290,  291,  358 
Thusnelda,  i.  172, 173 
Titles  of  sons,  i.  59 
Trades'-unions,  ii.  212,  215,  227- 

229,  232,  234,  239 
Transylvania,  i/121-123, 165-167 
Trauung,  i.  131-132, 137-138, 143 
Tuniberg,  i.  124-235 
Turf,  production  of,  i.  246 
Turnund  Taxis,  Princes  of,  i.  12, 

26 


ULM,  ii.  353 
Ultramontanism,    ii.    114- 
118,  154,283,284 
Undine,  Fouque's,  i.  38 
Union  of  Churches,  ii.  121,  167- 

172,  176,  180 

Universitas,  meaning  of,  i.  306 
Universities,    founded,    i.     307, 
308,  325 


ZWE 

Universities,  statistics  of,  i.  325, 

326 
Unmittelbar  (see  Immediate),  i. 

6,  62 
Unterwalden,  wills  not  allowed 

in,  i.  72 

Ursulines,  ii.  150-145 
Usury  forbidden,  i.  40,  94-95  ;  ii. 

276,  284 
—  rent  regarded  as,  i.  40 


VELTHEN,  ii.  21-23 
Verfangenschaft,  i.  92 
Verkoppelung,  i.  113,  116-119 
Verlobung,  i.   131, 132,  137, 138, 

141,  143 

Vienna,  Court  at,  ii.  319,  320 
Volsungs,  i.  176-177 
« Von,'  prefix  of,  i.  45,  46 
Vormund,  i.  132-139 
Vulpius,  Christiane,  i.  205,  206 


WAGNER,  ii.  94,  97-100 
Waldeck  family,  i.  18 
Weber,  ii.  88 

Wedding,  meaning  of,  i.  135 
Wedel  family,  i.  14,  63 
Wehrgeld,  i.  133 
'  Wellborn,'  title  of,  i.  1,  2 
Welser  family,  i.  43 
Wette,  i.  135-136,  138-139 
Wiederlegung,  i.  87-89 
Wieland,  i.  197-199,  202 
Wildenstein,  castle  of,  i.  39 
Wildisbach,  Saints  of,  ii.  191 
Wills  first  made,  i.  72,  73 
Winter,  Peter  von,  ii.  90-91 
Witthum,  i.  86,  87,  132-135,  141, 

142 
Wiirtemberg,  ii.  22,  24,  53,  55, 

111,  115,  116,  126,  128 
—  princes  of,  ii.  304-305 
Wiiste  Marken,  i.  Ill 


f/JEHRINGEN,  Dukes  of,  i.  38, 
U    78 

Zimmern,  Baron  von,  i.  39 
Zinzendorf,  Count  of,  ii.  188-189 
Zweibriicken,  Count  of,  ii.  337 


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22 


A  List  of 


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Sir  JOHN  LUBBOCK,  Bart.,  F.R.S.  On 
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26 


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CONTENTS    <DF    THE    VARIOUS    VOLUMES 


IN  THE  COLLECTED  EDITIONS  OF 


MR.    TENNYSON'S    WORKS. 


THE    IMPERIAL    LIBRARY  EDITION, 

COMPLETE  IN  SEVEN  OCTAVO  VOLUMES. 

Cloth,  price   IOT.   6</.   per  vol.  ;    izs.   f>d.   Roxburgh  binding. 
CONTENTS. 


Vol.    I.— MISCELLANEOUS  POEMS. 
II.-MISCELLANEOUS  POEMS. 
III.— PRINCESS,    AND    OTHER 
POEMS. 


Vol.  IV.— IN      MEMORIAM    and     MAUD. 

V.— IDYLLS  OF  THE  KING. 
VI. -IDYLLS  OF  THE  KING. 
VII.— DRAMAS. 


Printed  in  large,  clear,  old-faced  type,  with  a  Steel  Engraved  Portrait  of  the  Author,  the  set  complete, 

cloth,  price  ,£3.  13^.  6d.  ;  or  Roxburghe  half-morocco,  price  ^4.  "js.  6d. 

***  Tke  handsomest  Edition  published. 


THE    AUTHOR'S    EDITION, 

IN    SIX   VOLUMES.    Bound  in  cloth,  38*.  6rf. 
CONTENTS. 


Vol. 


I.-EARLY  POEMS  and  ENGLISH 

IDYLLS.    6*. 
II.— LOCKSLEY     HALL,     LUCRE- 

TI US,  and  other  Poems.     6s. 
III.— THE  IDYLLS   OF  THE  KING, 

complete.     75.  6d. 


Vol.   IV.-THE  PRINCESS  and  MAUD.   6s. 
V.— ENOCH      ARDEN     and     IN 
MEMORIAM.    6s. 

VI.-QUEEN    MARY  and   HAROLD 

js. 


This  Edition  can  also  be  had  bound  in  half -morocco ,  Roxburgh,  price  is.  6d.  per  vol.  extra. 

THE    CABINET    EDI TION, 

COMPLETE    IN    TWELVE   VOLUMES.     Price  2*.  6d.  each. 


CONTENTS. 


Vol.  I.-EARLY  POEMS.  Illustrated  with 
a  Photographic  Portrait  of  Mr. 
Tennyson. 


II.— ENGLISH  IDYLLS,  and  other 
POEMS.  Containing  an  Engraving 
of  Mr.  Tennyson's  Residence  at 
Aldworth. 


III.— LOCKSLEY  HALL,  and  other 
POEMS.  With  an  Engraved 
Picture  of  Farringford. 


IV.— LUCRETIUS,  and  other  POEMS. 
Containing  an  Engraving  of  a  Scene 
in  the  Garden  at  Swainston. 


V.— IDYLLS  OF  THE  KING.  With 
an  Autotype  of  the  Bust  of  Mr. 
Tennyson  by  T.  Woolner,  R.A. 


Vol.  VI.— IDYLLS  OF  THE  KING.  Illus- 
trated with  an  Engraved  Portrait  of 
'  Elaine,'  from  a  Photographic  Study 
by  Julia  M.  Cameron. 

VII.— IDYLLS   OF  THE    KING.     Con- 
taining   an    Engraving    of    'Arthur,' 
from  a  Photographic  Study  by  Julia 
M.  Cameron. 
VIII.— THE     PRINCESS.     With  an  En- 

graved  Frontispiece. 

IX.— MAUD  and  ENOCH  ARDEN. 
With  a  Picture  of  'Maud,'  taken 
from  a  Photographic  Study  by  Julia 
M.  Cameron. 

X.-IN    MEMORIAM.    With    a    Steel 

Engraving    of    Arthur     H.     Hallam, 

engraved  from  a  picture  in  possession 

of  the  Author,  by  J.  C.  Armytage. 

XL— QUEEN  MARY:   a  Drama.     With 

Frontispiece  by  Walter  Crane. 
XII.— HAROLD  :  a  Drama.     With  Frontis- 
piece by  Walter  Crane. 


%*  These  Volumes  may  be  had  separately,  or  the  Edition  complete,  in  a  handsome  ornamental 

case,  price  yzs. 


THE    MINIATURE    EDITION, 


IN    THIRTEEN    VOLUMES. 
CONTENTS. 

Vol.  VII.-IDYLLS  OF  THE  KING. 
VIII.— IN  MEMORIAM. 
IX.— PRINCESS. 
X.— MAUD. 
XL— ENOCH  ARDEN. 
XII.— QUEEN  MARY. 
VOL.  XIII.— HAROLD. 

Bound  in  imitation  vellum,  ornamented  in  gilt  and  gilt  edges,  in  case,  price  421. 
This  Edition  can  also  be  had  in  plain  binding  and  case,  price  36*. 

Spottiswoode  &>  Co.,  Printers,  New- street  Square,  London. 


Vol.  I.-POEMS. 

II.— POEMS. 

III.-POEMS. 

IV.— IDYLLS  OF  THE  KING 
V.— IDYLLS  OF  THE  KING. 
VI.-IDYLLS  OF  THE  KING. 


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