The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-22

The date Of the birth OF Heinrich Heine
ID not certainly known, but Mr.. Brandes
deems 10 most probable that he was born
on December Is. 1877. His father was
a merchant In Dusseldorf. His mother
was o woman OF keen intelligence and deep
feeling, and was very musical. She had
received a good education, spoke French
and English as fuently as German, was a
disciple Of Rousseau and an admirer Of
Goethe. She early rebelled against pref
udice and conventionality and differed from
her husband, who reverenced Napoleon,
in being an ardent patriot. Education
was her hobby. and she taught her chill
dren with great care and patience. Both
parents were freethinkers in the matter Of
r~eligion-the father indifferent, the mother
a deist; but they brought up their children
in the observance Of the old Jewish ritual.
Heine's father and mother, on whom the
brilliant career of the Rothsohilds had made
a great impression, destined their Harry
las he was originally called, to be a mer-
chant. Accordingly, they sent him first
to a commercial school in Dusseldorf, then
for o few months to a banker in Frank
fort, and finally placed him in an Office
In Hamburg, where his uncle, Solomon
Heine, had risen TO be a great the com.
imeroial world. In 1918, with the help OF
sthis rich uncle, on whom he remained prac-
ssicaily dependent for the rest Of his life,
Heine began business for himself as a com
mission agent for English drapery goods.
1t will surprise none of his readers to learn
That in the following spring the firm Of
sHarry Heine 4 Co." stopped payment.
In the following year the prospective poet
\ left Hamburg INC travelled by Dusseldorf
to Bonn, there to study law and to work
for the degree which his uncle required
him to take. The certificate which he
received IT the university's matrioulation
examination In 1919 was to the effect that
he knew no Greek and possessed only a
ulight knowledge OF Latin, and was not
qualified to enter for examination in math-
ematics at all; but that he was mot entirely
wanting in knowledge Of history" and
that ~his German work, though strange
In style, showed praiseworthy effort,
At Bonn Heine attended lectures on the
history OF the German language, on the
SrGennania' Of Tacitus. on the N~iebelungen.
he'd and other historical and literary sub
jects, dividing his time between these
and the law course. lectures on Roman
law, German law, DC. A professor at
Bonn who for a time undoubtedly had
much infiuence on the young poet was
"A. W. Sohlegel, the leader OF the Romantic
spehoof. To him Heine showed such verso
ss be had then composed, and doubtless
also his play Of "~Almansor," which was
written apparently in Bonn, but not
published until 1923. 1t vi acted but
had no success, partly because Of intrinsic
worthleesness and partly because Of the
race hatred felt for it's author. In 1890
Heine proceeded to Gottingen with the in
tention Of applying himself diligently to
the study OF law at the university there.
The place proved distasteful to him, and a
twelvemonth later he moved on to the
University Of Berlin, where he attended
the lectures Of the first soholars Of the
day Hegel, to whom he was ardently
devoted; Bopp, the great authority on
Sanscrit: Wolf, the classical philologist,
and Edward Cans. the eminent lawyer.
The life. nevertheless, thai Heine led in
Berlin. which was but "A continuation Of
the dissinated life to which he bad aocus-
toned himself at Hamburg, was not COM
iatible with any proper progress in his
Studies. In 1923 he determined to turn
over a new leaf, and consequently left
Berlin, went first 10 his parents at Limo
burg, next to Hamburg. and thence re-
turned 20 ~Gottingen, where in 1926 he took
his degree Of octor Of laws. Immediately
sfterward he was baptized. He did no.
change his religion from conviction Of tho
truth Of Christianity; on the contrary, his
'antipothy to that religion was strong, and
.tf -.n